In my recent posts about American and Filipino forces in early (1941-42) World War 2, I looked at the organization of those forces for Too Fat Lardies' Chain of Command rules. Now in their second edition, along with several theater specific handbooks, they have become one of the most popular World War Two tactical sets here in my part of New England. As many readers will know, these rules are primarily platoon/company level actions using 20 or 28mm figures. Needless to say, they are among my favorites.
But what about 54's? I have a special affection for these big guys. These were the plastic figures my buddies and I played with as boys growing up in the 1950's and 60's. While one could adapt Chain of Command to this scale and play a game quite successfully in one's garden or a large table, crawling around on my hands and knees or stretching across said six foot wide table is something my seventy-five year old limbs rebel at the thought. Surely, there must still a place for them and with that, my quest began.
My first thought were the books by the late Donald F. Featherstone. To anyone who did any war gaming in the sixties and seventies, he along with Phil Barker of WRG, greatly influenced and shaped modern gaming into its form today. I have seven or eight of Featherstone's original books as well as some reprints. The rules were simple, playable, and for the most part gave a game that was both fun and exciting. But before rules, one needs figures and this is my topic for today.
Bags of green and tan plastic soldiers used to be found in every toy store, and are still readily available both online and local dollar-type stores here in the US. Better still, they remain relatively cheap.
Sophisticated (?) as I am, the thought of pushing around unpainted plastic figures was something I wasn't quite ready to revert to. Having a bag of green and tan American and Japanese toy soldiers purchased years ago (for a project I don't remember) and at hand, I needed to paint some up. These are BMC or Marx re-issues purchased online. Washing and priming took only a short time and some of the results are shown below. Bases are laser-cut 3mm plywood from LITKO (www.litko.net) and have a magnetic sheet on each. The metal plate the figures are on were picked up a while ago, also online and are great for organizing squads. Next time I'll go into their organization and if room, the rules.
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| Some Japanese Infantry |
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| Some American Infantry |
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