A Good Find

Bolt Action - War in the Pacific

Bolt Action's scale enables gaming in the Pacific more so than other popular WW II games.

Japanese Army Type 95 and 97 Tanks destroyed on sandbar

I am interested in the Pacific theater, but I am also interested in modeling US Army operations, as an Army veteran.  The American Army supplement lacks a Theatre Selector list for the Army in the Pacific, so I hit the Internet for inspiration, stumbling on a wonderful resource: the US Army's Center of Military History.

The Army published a series of detailed accounts of operations in World War II, known as the Green Books. These great histories are now digitized and available on line:

http://history.army.mil/html/bookshelves/collect/usaww2.html

Guadalcanal

Although I knew of the US Army's role in operations in New Guinea and the Philippines, I learned from the Green Books that soldiers fought alongside the Marines early in the longest battle of the Pacific: Guadalcanal. The 168th Regiment, a North Dakota National Guard unit subordinate to the Americal Division, arrived as reinforcements, equipped with 37mm AT guns, mortars, trucks, and, interestingly, 16 British Bren Gun Carriers. The Marines provided supporting firepower with 75mm tank destroyers and M3A1 Stuart tanks.

Bolt Action Options

I think this battle may fit as the inspiration for my initial Bolt Action effort: the US Army vs. the Imperial Japanese Army. Because I have never painted 28mm figures before, I plan to paint up Wargames Factory Americans as my first effort because they are less costly. My second project will be Warlord Games Imperial Japanese. Eventually, I will add a Marine platoon to the fight, mirroring the force mix during the early fights on the Matanikau river against the Japanese 28th Infantry.