Lt. Col. Shiba Gorō

Whoops. I forgot to paint his mustache. A great figure of a Japanese officer from Crusader Miniatures.

Shiba Gorō (柴 五郎, June 21, 1860 – December 13, 1945) was a samurai of Aizu Domain and later a career officer and general in the Meiji period Imperial Japanese Army. Shiba Gorō witnessed the events of the Boshin War as a child when Aizu was attacked by the imperial forces in 1868. With the abolition of the Han system, he moved to Tokyo and enlisted in the fledgling Imperial Japanese Army in 1873. He was in the 1877 class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the artillery in 1879.

I’m not going to cover this remarkable warrior's entire career but focus on the Boxer Rebellion and the Russian Japanese War. In March 1900, Shiba returned to Beijing as a military attaché, and was thus present at the Japanese legation during the Boxer Rebellion. There his small force fought tenaciously and suffered almost 100% casualties over a 60 day period. He served with distinction during that campaign, aided by his prior knowledge of Beijing and by a large network of local spies. He protected the citizens and diplomats alongside several Western powers during the siege, and was subsequently awarded decorations by many of the western nations in the Eight-Nation Alliance. Shiba's role in the Boxer Rebellion is often highlighted in Western accounts of the conflict. In the 1963 film 55 Days at Peking about the siege of international legations he is a supporting character, played by future director Juzo Itami.

In March 1901, he was returned to Japan and attached to the General Staff. In June 1901 Shiba was appointed commander of the IJA 15th Field Artillery Regiment, which he continued to command after the start of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, where he was awarded the Order of the Golden Kite (2nd class), for bravery in battle.

Here is my painting guide for Lieutenant Colonel Shiba Gorō which, with minor changes, will be used for my other Japanese Infantry.

For 28mm figures I like to glue them to soda caps with all purpose white glue for easy handling. Wait for the glue to dry! I first painted the flesh CC Darkoath Flesh and I was quite pleased with the results.

When I’m trying to work out which paint colors to use on a new unit/army I rarely use an officer figure; but this Crusader Miniature looked so cool I had to give it a try. My gut feel for the uniform was to use a base of Vallejo Prussian Blue and then to highlight with Vallejo Dark Blue. And then I said to myself, “Self, let’s try a heavy coat of Citadel Contrast (CC) Ultramarine Blue. When using contrast/speed paints it’s important to use a quality primer (trust me on this one!). I used Citadel Wraithbone.

He wears the dark blue Atilla blouse and the black braid (it’s hard to see in this picture), boots and cap brim are CC Black Templar. I initially used CC Blood Angels Red but I realized I would need to use Vallejo Flat Red with a detail brush to simulate the finer, well, details. Oh by the way, there was no way I was going to try painting the Austrian loops on the sleeve. The red (technically scarlet) indicates a member of the Imperial Guard.

After doing more research, I realized that I made the trouser stripe too narrow. As a field grade office it should be about twice as wide. I’ll fix that later.

It was also at this time (nothing like carefully checking before you paint!) that he should also have 2 rings on his cap as a Lieutenant Colonel and two stars on the front of the cap. All leather is also CC Templar Black.

As mentioned earlier, I used Vallejo Flat Red to clean up the cap and Vallejo Shiny Gold for the stars. He carries the M1888 officers sword and I used Vallejo Shiny Gold for the details and Vallejo Silver for the scabbard.

I used Vallejo Flat White to make the trouser stripe wider and used CC Blood Angels Red for the stripe. The figure is glued to a 25mm Litko wood base and I used my normal sand mixture and static grass to finish the base. Don’t forget to protect the figure with a clear matte spray.