Color for Japan

[DrLarsen]

@Tigerman77:

Sorry guys, You should  be  able to veiw this picture.  This weekend I’m also experimenting with Naval Tac bombers and Fighters for the US and Japan.  Naval Tac cost is +1, Att/Def is same except, while attacking if Tac rolls a 2 or less, naval Tac can target any naval vessal of its choosing. Same with Naval Fighter except naval fighter may target any unit!  Tell me what you guys think.  My veteran fighters are yellow like the infantry and my naval Tacs and fighteras are Blue like my jap marines.

OK, I see: looks like both your Japanese “specials” are oob with a home-made coat of paint… I’m still not getting why the blue as your choice for SNLF, but your “veterans” look very close to the color of the original MB Japanese non-infantry pieces.  (In the original MB version, the infantry was close to the current OOB color while the rest of the pieces were a distinctly yellowish tan that was a bit too close to the UK color…)  I was envisioning something with a more greenish tinge to it, which would maybe be perfect for SNLF, since, as I understand it, the only real uniform difference between IJA and SNLF combat uniforms were different helmet logos and a slightly more greenish or olive tint to the uniform.

On the naval aircraft angle, I tend to think that the key difference ought to be simply that they can take off from ships, which was really the main thing that separated them from IJA planes…

[DrLarsen]

@GoSanchez6:

Dr.larsen I mean kind of like the color in clue of col.mustard. Deep yellow with almost a hint of brown. I think it would be very identifiable on the gameboard and it is closer to the color of their uniforms than orange. I imagine most of us are watching the FMG pieces debate and I guess if he is going to make 2 colors for Germany why not Japan. I know he would do the orange first like he is doing grey for Germany first I just have read a lot of complaints about Japan color and I thought with a loud enough voice we might get some notice.

I think I’d rather see them in either the WF greenish yellow or oob, as either would give them better compatibility with another piece set…

[Pvt.Ryan]

SNLF are blue cause there marines. Just kinda fits. I mean green isn’t much better.

[knp7765]

Hey Dr Larsen, check this out.  Not all of the Japanese Infantry pieces from the Milton Bradley game were the darker shade of yellow.  I recently got a lot of pieces from a seller on eBay which included a bunch of the original game pieces.  I was surprised to find the Japanese Infantry were a very pale yellow, almost the same color as all the other Japanese units.  See the pic below, the one on the right is the current infantry piece from the 1940 games, the center piece is from the MB game and is probably what you are more used to, as was I.  The Left piece is one from this bunch that I just received yet it is ALSO from the MB game.  I didn’t know they came in this light a shade until now.

[GoSanchez6]

I know some people went with orange because of FMG’s awesome combat dice. I believe in an earlier post Jeremy said he might make black combat dice for Germany. If he does this maybe he would consider another one for Japan. I understand he has a lot on his plate this would be something I think for the future. I think a mustard yellow combat dice with the red rising sun would contrast and beautifully. It might be the best looking of them all.

[Pvt.Ryan]

You know I think my favorite part about the Japanese Infantry is the 2 foot long bayonet on their rifle. Ahhhhh good Ol bonzai house rules…

[DrLarsen]

@knp7765:

Hey Dr Larsen, check this out.  Not all of the Japanese Infantry pieces from the Milton Bradley game were the darker shade of yellow.  I recently got a lot of pieces from a seller on eBay which included a bunch of the original game pieces.  I was surprised to find the Japanese Infantry were a very pale yellow, almost the same color as all the other Japanese units.  See the pic below, the one on the right is the current infantry piece from the 1940 games, the center piece is from the MB game and is probably what you are more used to, as was I.  The Left piece is one from this bunch that I just received yet it is ALSO from the MB game.  I didn’t know they came in this light a shade until now.

Interesting… you learn something new every day…

For me the key is simply having decent infantry in 1 other color for some sort of elite/SNLF unit.  Since in the real world SNLF fighters were armed like and looked like IJA soldiers almost exactly (except for a slight difference in the shade of their uniform which is barely noticeable) a different sculpt isn’t essential for me.  Since I have plenty of Red AAP and olive WF infantry, I feel like I have this covered.  Throw in the fact that both WF and TT give a decent tank upgrade with a Chi-Ha in about the right size, that leaves me with the position that the main thing I’d like to see for Japan is a fuller naval line-up.  Since FMG seems committed to their program which includes only one of each naval type, and I haven’t yet seen much interest from any of the other venders in an expanded naval piece set, I’m increasingly thinking I’ll probably have to resort to buying and painting a bunch of Panzerschiffen to expand this side of the game…

[knp7765]

Maybe coach of many will make new ships with the new sets he is proposing.  He is planning on making new pieces sets that will fill in some of the gaps left by WOTC and FMG sets.

[DrLarsen]

@knp7765:

Maybe coach of many will make new ships with the new sets he is proposing.  He is planning on making new pieces sets that will fill in some of the gaps left by WOTC and FMG sets.

Well, I haven’t given up hope for such a thing, but I haven’t seen much evidence of much interest in a naval expansion either… as further evidenced by the lack of replies so far to my naval rules expansion thread.  Maybe I made it sound too complicated… its really not that complicated; so far it’s mainly just a way to give CA’s and BB’s more punch to make them more worth the cost by giving them additional attacks, give more national advantages to those nations for which sea control was a priority, and rank battleships into more categories by using a 20-sider-based gunnery system…

[knp7765]

Yeah, I took a peek at that thread.  To be honest, it did seem to be somewhat overly complex, at least for my liking.  That’s why I don’t play the A&A Naval Miniatures game.  I love collecting all the sets and I tried to get into the game but there were too many variables involved.  I just couldn’t wrap my head around them.  I just prefer the somewhat simpler rules for the board games.

[GoSanchez6]

I thought my mustard color would be doing better. That tells you what I know.

[Ritterkrieg]

@gosanchez6

Vallejo Japanese Army uniform for the win!