The Marines Have Landed

Time to send the Marines!

As usual the post will mix a little fluff and some (bad as usual) pictures. 

The III Marine Expeditionary Force

The other main component of US Force China is the III MEF. Once being a full Amphibious Corps, the Vth, the III MEF has shrunken and grown according to the whim of Washington. At the moment, It has been expanded to MEF sized again, but until March 2025 it was just a single Expeditionary Brigade, the 4^th.  The expansion has been hurried and unit have been thrown up as fast as possible to create some sort of deterrent force in time. Still they are the most organized and cohesive force beside the PLA. The III MEF comprises the full 1^st Marine Division, the 3^rd Marine division (still a sort of rump, it was brought up to strength in 2015 for the China War then after the ceasefire again reorganized as a rump to save money), and the 4^th Marine Expeditionary Brigade. The Two divisions comprise the Vth Amphibious Corps and the 4^th MEB is the theatre reserve.   The Marines have not changed much in the past 10 years. The failure of the F-35 Project has left with a legacy force of proven F-18 and AV8B. The airframes have been constantly updated and probably they are much better than the amorphous machine that was supposed to replace them (yes I do not like the Joint Silly Fighter,  ask the BAE program manager…). Vehicles had stayed the same. The china war stopped the corps cold with his idea of replacing the LAV and the war expenses killed the AAV replacement program. To a certain extent the 2015 War in China has sent shock waves and almost frozen several new equipment programs worldwide. Huge losses in equipment, the realization that depending on technology for game changing miracle was a fool’s errand, and the necessity to rapidly expand conventional forces to cope with a conflict of such proportion have forced a revision of several programs (plus I got to use my toys that is the main reason of the campaign…). To a certain extent the US had been force to quickly refurbish older generation tanks (M48A5 and M60A3) for the 2015 war and it still maintain large stocks of them to allow rapid mobilization of reserve forces at bargain prices.

The 4^th MEB

Having been the only resident unit in Shanghai the 4^th MEB (or, like some officers called it the 4^th Marines) had been a critical element in US policy in China. In the last three years the brigade has provided mainly a standing force and security patrol (mounted, dismounted, and riverine) along the easternmost part of the Blue Line. It has never been employed along the ‘Corridor’ to Beijing. While officially in a reserve posture the Brigade had several clashes with bandits that have recently escalated with the rise of the CPPW (Chinese Party of Peasants and Workers). The Brigade is made up of the 4^th marines (3 battalions) one artillery battalion from the 11^th Marines (usually on rotation), and company sized attachment from the 1^st Tank battalion, 1^st combat engineer Battalion, and other support units. The command staff was drawn from the 1^st Marine division. Usually an additionally afloat MEU was on call. With the deployment of the 3^rd and 1^st Marine divisions in spring and early summer 2025 the Brigade had been restructured and named III MEF Theatre Reserve. It has lost the 2/11^th Marines and the company attachments, but gained several reserve elements, the 1/23^rd, the 4^th Tank Battalion, the 4^th Light Recon Battalion, the 4^th Combat Engineer Battalion,  the 2^nd battalion 14^th Marines (155mm Artillery) and elements of the 4^th Amphibious Tractor Battalion. The reserve attachments are intended to be temporary  while the administration and the JCS debated the idea to call to active service the whole 4^th Marine Division. The speed of the Russian assault and the semi-conventional Tet style offensive of the CPPW in the area around shanghai ensure that the brigade was committed as it was, instead of being the nucleus for a third Marine Division in China.

The commander of the Brigade, General McDaniels, had been the main point of contact with the other national contingents and the PLA, often straying away from official guidance from the State Department’s Mission to keep the multinational force together. His work with other officers still ensured that when the enemy offensive came there was some kind of cohesive response. The 4^th MEB had also spawned the man who, almost singlehandedly destroyed the Administration plan to cut and run.  

The Miniatures

 

The Marines are Eureka, bought at salute in 2012 and finally completed last April. Now have been reinforced by 2 MG and one smaw team waiting in the painting line (actually waiting until miss Mya is back into London so I can get my forward deployed painting set again). I have decided to go for a Desert Marpat theme opposed to a woodland. Well it was a quite difficult decision. I like both schemes (and you can see the images of the Recon team in Woodland) and probably I am a bit better with the woodland than with the desert. Still the troops had been secured with the aim ot employ them into Fallujiah and Anbar province first. The first fire team had been painted almost immediately after Salute 2012. I am not 100% sure of the scheme, It works from a distance but well… I am more satisfied with the Multicam and ACU. The pictures I have seen in recent books are sometime puzzling, sometime the overall impressions look more creamy (as in my guys) sometimes more sandy. The rationale is that some of the Marine Units deployed are coming from different theatres so they are saddled with the equipment already distributed. The III MEF had been hurriedly built. On the other hand the Majority of 28mm Scenarios will use only one reinforced squad usually, so probably I will be able to have sufficient troops in woodland Marpat. I will definitely  do Woodland when I will get the Empress new arrivals… (well first KS has to… well… start). Supporting this force I have 2 deAgostini LAV25 die-cast (1/43 more or less) that I have repainted in three tones  NATO camo and 2 Hobby master 1/56 M1A1, one desert and one NATO Camo that are quite nice. It was a real shame that hobby master did not pursue its range of 1/56 vehicles.

Well I found an old image of the desert version of the M1A1...

The weathering was done by default I paid it very little (around 28$) and I was really impressed.

The M1A2!

Well I found some pictures of my Imprint M1A2... yes the eagle eyed will have spotted it before... it is also on Imprint website...

Anyway here it is in NATO 3 tones camo!

I Like it, I like the camo (again the flash killed a bit and made the green look quite strange... I promise I will take better pictures!)

The US Army is coming!

A Brief Description of US Army Forces China and US Army Force Korea.

By 2025 the bulk of forward deployed Army units were stationed in China, Korea with attendant reserves in Hawaii and Japan. At the height of the first phase of the US commitment to China in 2015 more than 10 division equivalent had been deployed there. In the ten subsequent years the force has shrunk down to one full division (4^th Infantry) Defending Beijing, to Forward Divisions command (1^st Armoured and 25^th Infantry)  stationed in Shanghai without real troops assigned and to full divisions in South Korea, (2^nd Infantry and 1^st CAV) watching the new DMZ. Usually one or two brigades were deployed in rotation to Shanghai to provide some show of force. By December 2024 the USAFC was at its minimum levels, with the talks of withdrawing two of the BCT (Brigade Combat Team) from Beijing and the two Forward Division Command post from Shanghai. In a duel of wills and wits between State (advocating withdrawal of the entire USAFC) and Defense (asking for deploying at the least the components of the 1^st Armoured and 25^th Infantry) the SECDEF was able to have a brigade of the 25^th and a National Guard Brigade sent to China in January. Increased instability and a scandal damaging the reputation of the entire State Department Mission in china (their director of operations had been caught using State and Defense channels to smuggle archaeological artefacts and people from China) strengthened the hand of Defense allowing the SecDef to win presidential authorization to deploy a an additional brigade from Hawaii to China. Further embarrassing revelations on the extent of the crappiness of the State Department China team, including discovering the Head of the Mission, Ambassador Laureen Carleton being in cahoots with a planned Russian-backed group of plotters in shanghai, further allowed the deployment of an additional brigade of the 25^th to China. A series of sharp attacks along the corridor linking the Yangtze River Basin and Beijing involving regular Russian troops  in March and April 2025 further deteriorated the situation until the 1^st Armoured division was finally put on alert for deployment overseas.  When the Russian launched their Operation Spring Dawn in early June 2025 The USAFC were in a better position than six months before but still woefully unprepared. 

Years of lack of a real strategic direction in ground warfare coupled with internal battles between the COINistas and Conventionalist factions inside the Army had crippled what in 1991 was the best army of the world.  In the name of rapid deployment the Army is relying on Stryker brigade of proven combat incapability. Despite their disastrous performance during the 2015 China War and its associated Second Korean War the Striker had been retained as the main combat vehicle of the Army. The failure of producing and M1A4 program after the China War had further reduced the importance of the ‘legacy’ component, despite troops having nicknames the Stryker  the ‘Crappier’  during the last war. The disastrous performance of the 2^nd ID Stryker brigades in Korea and the virtual destruction of the 25^th Infantry against soviet armoured forces had done nothing to redress the balance. Until 2023 the Army was under the direction of General John B. Kramer, a convinced Naglite and COINistas  who was virtually opposed to the maintenance of the China Mission. Kramer command style, purging officers that did not share its own idea had further decreased the confidence of the US Army. In 2023 the appointment of General Robert K. Leonard, a form tank officer had gone a long way to redress some of the morale and efficiency problems, but not the equipment imbalance. The Army is still short of heavy divisions.  General Leonard had also been a staunch supporter of the necessity of finding  a complete solution to China, kicking the Russians out before removing US and Allied Forces. This has put him at odds with the official administration policy to find a way out as soon as possible. He had also lobbied, with varying degree of success, in the congress to increase support for the army and the necessity to keep a strong US gournd foce in China as balance to other factions. Privatley he had admitted that, barring a change of policy, the multination force is exercising a negative impact on China, fostering international enclaves, restraining the rearmament of the PLA, and being military inefficient.

At lower level the troops in china are a mixed bag. The 4^th ID is one of the top formation of the Army, and, being deploying in direct contact with Russian forces, being kept at high readiness. The unit deployed in southern China tend to be of uneven if indifferent quality. Troops are noted for poor relationship with other national contingent and, being rotated in and out as complete units to not have any idea of what the local conditions are. While the units have proved themselves able to carry out garrison duties and small security operations there is no evidence they are up to date in conventional operations. On the other hand, when General Church, the new commander of the re-activated 6^th US Army China (6^th USAC) in March 2025 training had stepped up, as unit readiness and overall effectiveness. Still the troops are worried about their own equipment and lightness.

Well…

The Infantry

Stop with the fluff… go with the pictures. Here are some of my 28mm US Army forces that have been earmarked for the project. I have decided to keep them in ACU rather than Multicam. Why? Oh well… I already painted them, the basic idea at the time (and if Empress put out also Koreans) was t use them for the 1-9 Manchus in Korea (you can see the Indianhead patches) and also for the Stryker units of the 2^nd ID deployed in Iraq.  From pictures the 2^nd ID seems to have kept the ACU. Furthermore they are also to be used in Iraq and Afghanistan historical scenarios. I will not repaint them. The miniatures are Empress (of course).   The colours of the infantry varies according to the pictures… but not in the reality…More on that later.

Vehicles

The infantry was supposed to be followed by my M1A2 and mt two  M2A2s but I cannot find the pictures so I have just the latest Hummer from Imprint I painted. It is armed with a Mk19 AGL to provide some fire support during convoy escorts.

Final Notes on taking pictures of miniatures.

Well for one I have some thoughts about photographing my babies. Using washes leaves a little invisible dust over the paint. You do not see it until you fire the flash. The flash has also spoiled the windows’ effect. Well it is embarrassing to get these stuff 3 weeks after you took the pictures and when you realize the subjects are around 1100km from you… I am lazy, if I had downloaded the pictures earlier I would have discovered how crappy they were and taken some new ones, plus I would have done a bit better job at Salute. Hall hail the crappy photographer. I am embarrassed but these are the pictures I have at the moment.

Going Chinese!

No sadly, I have not charmed a PLA beauty (not yet…) but it is time to unveil the big 2013 project!

Red Dragon Struggling

The year is 2025.< play music from Ghost Recon!>

10 years before a Russian conventional invasion of China coupled with a limited nuclear exchange had left the once powerful People Republic of China weakened and in need of international assistance. A multinational force came to the rescue but accepted only a stalemate as result and a temporary cease fire leaving the Russians in control of the industrialized northern China and some of its restless western regions .  Now in a land beset by local warlords, bandits, occupation forces, and squabbling and rapacious  allies the fate of the world hinges again on the balance. Accompanied by a failed nuclear strike the Russian Army and its proxies, the Uighur National Army, the Korean People Army, and the newly established Chinese Party of Peasant and Workers are again on the offensive.

Facing them is a shaky coalition made of the People Republic of China, the United States and its Nato allies, Australian, Vietnam, Japan, and South Korea, former enemies turned allies of convenience. With a political leadership in far away countries in denial of the crisis it is one shoulders of the soldiers on the grounds, leftover of an unfinished war to held the tide at bay. Undermanned units with outdated equipment, heirs of budgets cuts and botched programs are thrown in the fire in an arrogant display of strength to hide their real weaknesses.

Will the Allies held the line? Will the Russian Army remove the Chinese threat once for all and restore the dreams of the Czars and the Soviets?

The Setting:

Well it looks far fetched… but what hypothetical campaign does not look this way? Well, the recent PLA releases from GHQ, Heroic&Ros, Rebel Miniatures and the announcement of the new Kick starter from Empress  had made me thinking. I like East Asia, in my day ‘job’ I pretend to be an East Asia specialist. Still I am becoming a bit uneasy with the idea of PRC being the source of all evil… well, I have friends in the PLA, friends in China at large, it made me uneasy casting the stunning young woman with whom I had the pleasure to have a lunch in the part of the villain of my games. It would also meant that I have to cast a lot of people in that part, some of my old students, some of the people I have helped in revising essays and even writing doctoral proposal. People who have been guest at my home too… let’s face it I am not overly anti-PRC. Despite what the US Navy and some other people are saying the PRC has shown a large amount of strategic (but not operational or tactical sadly) restraint in the past decades. One of the thing wargamers (especially the bunch of idiotic pundits that often frequent TMP…)  and policy makers forget is that Russia and China have their own spats for centuries. I am also willing to cast the Russian government in a more villainous roles (Georgia anyone?). There is also an historical titbit that had always puzzled me. Russia often has regarded areas we now associate with China has its own. As recently as 1945 Josif Stalin had forced a Sino-Soviet friendship treaty (what a name) on Jiang Shie-ji (Chiang Kai-Scheck) giving Sinkiang and Manchuria to Soviet Union and retaking Port Arthur, these areas stayed Russians more or less until the Stalin’s death and the end of the Korean War. I am not overly persuaded Russia  Two superpowers sharing a land borders are quite interesting and create a quite volatile situation.

Thus I have a good background for a campaign setting. Now… I wanted to distance it a bit more from today because… because I do not want to be too pessimist.  I wanted also to accommodate two kind of warfare, high speed high intensity armoured clashes (smaller scales involved) and more infantry actions (28mm). This for two reasons. First, if you will ever read my academic flights of fancy you will realize I am quite enthralled by the idea of hybrid warfare were you shift between full conventional and small scale patrols. It is much more common than we thinks. Second I like 28mm miniatures but I am not so rich to deploy full tank supported mechanized companies and have a table to give them the proper combat space, I also think 28mm battles, at least contemporary ones, are better if kept small, because you can then put more effort in the miniatures.  So my setting has to have place for both tank clashes and small patrols. I am also interested in the interwar period in China. I watched the Sand Pebbles, read books and did serious research. Thus is created a setting were Foreign forces are in china, formally doing ‘peacekeeping’ or ‘supporting’ roles but, until the campaign starts, also doing what their historical counterparts did in the interwar period, supporting their countries interests in China.  

Is this situation possible? Why not? We have seen a rise on conventional and semi-conventional warfare despite what the outspoken prophets of COIN tell us. We have also seen assertive Russia and the fact that the US conventional and nuclear deterrence is taken less seriously than before (Korea). We have also a quite instructive example of what this could lead us in the form of 1950’s invasion of South Korea. And if people want to debate that US and Russia have never fought head to head… non one has ever heard of the Black Tuesday over Nam-si?  Well I find my scenario possible, not highly probable now, and not even auspicable (even if I think that if we have a global war I will prefer to side with the PRC than with the Russians).  As far the nuclear element goes… well I ma not so sure about deterrence as I was five years ago. Hopefully I am wrong, but if deterrence fails nuclear weapons become just an additional part of an arsenal.

One last word is required on the Japanese… I like Japan, I have Japanese friends, I like the Self Defense Force, I had also meet some JSDF officers, including a former Chief of the Fleet. I have also studied the Imperial Japanese Army, read Chang’s Rape of Nanking and Drea’s Japan Imperial Army. I know what they did in China, but the idea of having them uneasy allies with the Chinese (albeit with some less than pleasant traits in the background stories) is interesting. I am also a bit uneasy with the continued awful portrayal of the Japanese in Chinese Media (varying from utterly evil bloodthirsty people, to utterly evil bunch of incompetent extras ready to be butchered by the hero… it is interesting that they always complain on anything Tokyo’s government said  and then continually bashing the Japanese). Having them side by side it is my answer.

A Project is Born

The Plan

Well I love telling stories, but first of all you need to get the basics done. In our fields basics means, miniatures, terrain, and rules.  How I plan to proceed? Well this is my big 2013 project so I will devote a lot of my spare time to it. Also a lot of my meagre financial resources will go into it… It will also be an hybrid project, combining different scales and different medium. Rest assured that this will not be a metagaming experience, tried it in the past did not work, just I want to tackle several different aspects of the problem. I have several map based games involving the belligerent, including the very good Red Dragon Rising from Bruce Costello. Yet they are cast in the usual PLA versus the Blue team. Recently I scored an old used copy of S&T China War. It is a little nifty game that has a very nice map of china with population and resources and cover… well a Soviet invasion in the late seventies early eighties. I think that with minimal addition (like the one Brian Train did in his 2008 civil war scenario) it will be perfect.  It will be a quick way to test the strategic and operational setting. This is phase one. 

Phase two will involve my extensive 6mm collection. I have sizable forces for every nation involved in my plot except the PLA but GHQ and H&R will cover this void (incidentally I also need some additional French). We need Koreans, but I have been told something is moving on this area. I will use mainly Strike Legion: Planetary Ops taking material from their WW3 supplement. It is a battalion level game. Units are battalions composed by companies, 1inch to the kilometer. Why this approach? Well it allow me to have all the elements on the table, combat force, logistic and artillery, air-power. I also like the idea to be able to field a full division in a playable manner. I will have to add some PLA brigades to my force mix, but it will be reasonably easy. I will play the action along the ‘Corridor’ the thin line connecting  The ‘safe area’ of the Yangtze basin to Beijing. Here the bulk of the Russian offensive will unfold. There will be scenario covering large tank battles.

Farther south the 25^th Infantry Division, the Marines,  and some allied units will push north from Shanghai to reinforce the Corridor, Phase 2. Strykers in action…  well the Stryker is cool, maybe not the best thing you want in a real war but despite its shortcoming it is here to stay.  Khurasan miniatures is releasing some nice new US Army troops and vehicles in 15mm and also a T-90. I have already a good collection of PP ones with some QRF and loads of vehicles, I have also French and British troops and Soviet/Russians. I can add some PLA from Rebel, but they will be simple leg infantry, there are no modern Chinese vehicle in 15mm… sadly. Some scenario here will scale down from massed action to smaller stuff in 15mm, using Cold War Commander. I plan to have company actions where one stand is a squad or weapons team and Vehicles represent 2 or three (as in Battlefront WW2) real vehicles. I have found this is a great way to use combined arms companies in 15mm. It will not only be a full conventional war. Troops will have also to keep the Line of Communication open… here the invention of the CPPW will become useful to have some nice convoy actions. 

Phase three will 28mm… It will not follow large units or companies, but squads and reduced platoons fighting to keep Shanghai secure and the so called ‘Blue Line’ of the Yangtze clear. The PLA and the multinational allies will be fighting their daily battles in rice paddies, canals, and small villages. Force on Force and Crossfire (with some little tweaks) will be used, I am also eyeing the new Chain of Command from TFL… it could be easily adapted. Some of the battles will overlap actions from Phase Two, but in smaller tactical scale, heroic and not so heroic character will made their appearance.  To support Phase three I have my Empress modern british that will play the part of the Royal Marines of the shanghai garrison and the Infantry Brigade from Hong Kong (I mentioned the help was not completely free). I am drooling for an Imprint Challenger but this time I will refrain (maybe next serious job). As much I love the Charlie 2 I want some gritty infantry focus. Also because I am afraid (more on that on another post) the British Army has, like some other European armies, embraced a twisted approach to lightness and flexibility.  The heavy force will be in a different area of China, defending Xian (and the house of one of my best friends) from the Uighur National Army.  Well I hace Charlie 2 in 6mm and 15mm I can re-role for a while. Next allied force will be the US Army. I have a decent Empress force, 1 M1A2, 2 Bradleys, plenty of hummers in 28mm, A Stryker would be nice… or not, again this year expense are to be controlled. I already have Strykers in 6mm, Acheson has a nice one in 15mm and Khurasan is also doing them shortly. Can afford only to ‘strykerize’ in 15mm or 28mm, have to decide, or maybe I can just infiltrate a single Stryker in 28mm. I have Eureka modern marines and SEALS. I want the new ones from Empress. Vehicles… at the moment the only 28mm vehicles for this project is the Imprint AAV7A1. You need the Tuna Boat, trust me you need it.  Plus I need PLA, I have a single squad from Colonel Stone Compound. Need the new Empress.  On the plus side I have some Eureka (small Kriegsspiel sub-brand) Japanese.