RJW - Japanese Imperial Guard Division, 1st Army

The Imperial Guards Division is the second division I've completed painting and fielding for my Russo-Japanese War games. Most of the figures were already painted when I bought them, but I had to rebase, flock and do some touch-up painting to prepare them for battle. It was quite a lot of work.

  

The Imperial Guard was part of the Japanese 1st Army and fought in the following engagements during the war: Yalu River, Motien Pass (Motienling), Liaoyang, Shaho, and Mukden. The division fought in all major engagements outside the Port Arthur siege\assault.

The Imperial Guard uniform had red cap band and red collar, while the LINE regiments had yellow cap bands and yellow collars. These figures are in the early war winter dark blue uniform but the Guard Cavalry is in the khaki uniform that was issued later. All regiments and brigades are color coded on the back of the base for easier identification during a game.

Infantry figures are 95% Frontier miniatures (15mm), while there are a scattering of Irregular miniatures throughout the commands stands. One command stand has Falcon USA figures in it, which are very nice. Artillery is from the Really Useful Guns range sold by Irregular Miniatures. Cavalry figures and their dismounted counterparts are also from Irregular miniatures. Flags were made from clipart, and touched up to add blue-ish outline, which I then touched up with paint.

The commander of the Japanese Imperial Guard is Lieutenant General Hasegawa, and he was in command of the Imperial Guard throughout the war. He can be seen in the photo below.

Below is General Baron Hasegawa in front of the artillery regiment.

Imperial Guards Division (1st Army) Order of Battle

Commander: Lieutenant General Hasegawa

1st Brigade: Major General Asada
     1st Guard Infantry Regiment (3 battalions of 4 companies each)
     2nd Guard Infantry Regiment (3 battalions of 4 companies each)

2nd Brigade: Major General Wabanabe
     3rd Guard Infantry Regiment  (3 battalions of 4 companies each)
     4th Guard Infantry Regiment (3 battalions of 4 companies each)

Attached:
     Guard Artillery Regiment (36 guns) 6 batteries of six 70mm Arisaka Field Guns (Col. Kumamoto)
     Guard Cavalry Regiment (3 squadrons) (Lt. Col Kasa)

Entire Guard Division

1st Brigade on Parade

Major General Asada, commander of the 1st Brigade, Imperial Guards:

Below is my version of Major-General Asada of the 1st Brigade along with his regimental commanders:

2nd Brigade on parade:

Major General Watanabe, commander of the 2nd Brigade, Imperial Guard:

More of the 2nd Brigade, 3rd and 4th Guard regiments

Guard Artillery Regiment, six batteries (stands), with 6 guns per battery.

Colonel Kumamoto, commander of the Imperial Guard Artillery Regiment (figure on round base above):

Guard Cavalry Regiment, with dismounted stands. Cavalry regiments attached to the division were small 3 squadron regiments of about 300 men per regiment. I gave this regiment a Hotchkiss MG too.

That is my Japanese Imperial Guard Division! So excited to get them on the table!

Japanese 2nd Division here.
Japanese 12th Division here (tbd)