“You want nuts? Let’s get nuts.”
Bruce Wayne, Philanthropist
We covered the creation and historic background of Japanese militia troops in our last episode, this time I’m looking at simple conversions with Warlord’s Ashigaru Missile Troops and Perry Miniatures boxes to give the force some character beyond just palette swapping Japanese infantry miniatures. This will be less of a sequel and more of a supplement, so please read the first article before diving into this one.
In order to make these conversions work, you need to use the old Warlord Games Japanese, who are in weedy true scale 28mm and can more easily swap around bits from the other kits.
Antiques at War (We’re Not Joking)
When Prime Minister Suzuki Kentaro inspected a Kokumin Gyutai (National Volunteer Corps) armory in 1945, he was shown their fine collection of matchlock muskets, bows, naginata pole arms, farming implements, and bamboo spears. To depict this, I’ve used a few tanegashima matchlocks and a bow from the Warlord Ashigaru Missile Troops box. I added these sparingly, because though potentially historically accurate, an entire squad of bowmen would have a hard time holding up as “count as” inexperienced military infantry with rifles.
The design of tanegashima matchlock muskets were centuries old, but due to isolation had continued to be produced in Japan until at least the mid-1800s. Muskets were introduced to the islands in 1543 and were quite the hit with samurai; Oda Nobunaga used them when unifying the nation in the late 16th century.
Go Up Thou, Bald Head!
A fun bonus to the Ashigaru set is the number of bare heads with chonmage. Snap the chonmage off and make the hair grey and you have a bunch of balding, middle-aged men! I also used a single jingasa helmet with Shimadzu clan markings to represent someone who’s decided he’s going to fight and die wearing what’s left of the family armor. One chonmage was also spared, as I figured he could have been a kabuki performer called to arms. I wouldn’t recommend having more than one miniature with a chonmage though, unless your squad is supposed to be a kabuki troop.
A Gun’s a Gun
After the restoration of Imperial rule in 1868, the fledgling Meiji government wasted no time in modernizing its military with the latest in foreign military rifles. From purchasing American Civil War surplus to poaching incomplete contract rifles from the Ottoman Empire, weapons from abroad armed the Imperial Japanese Army, Navy, and private military academies in the 1860s and 1870s. (This can be its own topic)
When the Japanese-built and designed 13th Year Murata rifle was accepted in 1880, these were gradually phased out of service and locked away in armories or turned over to the Ministry of Education. The ministry gave these to public schools where they could be used in martial training; preparing boys to become soldiers was one of the primary purposes of a proper public education after all.
Theoretically, these outdated Western rifles were still in government hands by World War II. Digging into my pile of shame, I gave some troops Martini-Henry rifles from the Perry British Infantry in Afghanistan Sudan 1877-85 and British Infantry Zulu War boxes.
The Martini-Henry rifle was used by the army and navy during the 1870s and into the 1880s. Referred to as “Peabody-Martini rifles,” this British design was produced in the United States for an Ottoman (modern Turkey) army contract, which means the markings were in Turkish, but it was ultimately fulfilled by the Japanese. In 1880 and 1882 many were rechambered for the new Japanese Murata cartridge, simplifying logistics until the new Murata rifles could fully replace the older foreign designs. And I thought the F-35 was an international sensation…
Murata-san
If you’re coming into this fresh and want to have troops carrying outdated weapons, but ones that for certain were in use then I recommend getting Perry’s Franco-Prussian War (1870-71) French Infantry Firing Line or French Infantry Advancing boxes which carry the chassepot rifle. Japan’s first homemade rifle was the 13th Year Murata, which at 28mm is identical to the chassepot. These were still present in great numbers, both in private hands and schools, in 1945.
The 13th Year Murata entered service in 1880 and was the first domestic Japanese rifle adopted by its militaries. It was designed by Col. Murata Tsuneyoshi who credited the French Model 1874 Gras and Dutch Model 1871 Beaumont, both chassepot successors, as influences. As a side note, the Imperial Japanese Army had some of its chassepot rifles converted with the Murata action.
Versions and improvements of the Murata would be built until it was replaced in production by the Arisaka Type 30 in 1897. I first learned about these on Guam, where either the Pacific War Museum or War in the Pacific National Park has one in its possession; the docent talked about a Japanese veteran visiting and referring to the rifle as “Murata-san” as it was the weapon he learned to shoot with.
I’m spreading these guys out across four squads, but this is how they look in one squad of otherwise regular looking and nominally armed “volunteers.” As these were civilians thrown together to fight using all available weapons, some of those Type 38 and 99 may actually be training rifles, smoothbore, single shot used by schools, instead of the real thing. I hope seeing these little additions has given you ideas on how to improve your own Japanese militia troops in Bolt Action or whatever gaming system you play.
BOXES FOR CONVERSIONS
https://us.warlordgames.com/products/japanese-army-sprue
https://us.warlordgames.com/products/ashigaru-missile-troops-1
https://www.perry-miniatures.com/product/vlw1-british-infantry-in-afghanistan-sudan-1877-85/
https://www.perry-miniatures.com/product/vlw-20-british-infantry-zulu-war/
REFERENCES
Japanese Imported Arms of the Early Meiji Era by Francis C. Allen, Chip Goddard, Takehito Jimbo, Doss H. White and Dr. Stanley Zielinski
Japanese Murata Rifles 1880-1897 by Stanley Zielinski