15mm Vietnam Reinforcements

So along with painting a horde of Australian infantry, I was tinkering away with some 15mm Vietnam US stuff too.

Just a few transports!

2 M113 from Battlefront Miniatures. The 113 on the right has a couple of crew from Flashpoint miniatures- those two guys usually sit out of the door of a UH-1.

2 M113 ACAV vehicles, both from Battlefront miniatures. With the addition of two M60 machine guns with gun shields, the ACAV (Armoured Cavalry Vehicle) was used in a scouting role, but for fire support- it is not bad at all! One has a Mark 19 Grenader Launcher rather than a 50 cal heavy machine gun.

An M106 Mortar Carrier from Flashpoint Miniatures. I am not as keen on the Flashpoint miniatures as the Battlefront ones, the resin that they are made of didn't like paint adhering to it, even after I cleaned it twice. But, it's not all bad, it came out ok.

A Flashpoint miniatures Lieutenant. When Flashpoint get miniatures right, they really get it right. Some of the miniatures I won't use, but I do love this Lieutenant, and his style with the 45!

Another of the Flashpoint excellent miniatures, this one is a soldier carrying a wounded buddy out of trouble.

Two "Kit Carson" local guides. There were some Vietnamese who served with the US forces as scouts, interpreters, translators or as ambush detectors! They had a reputation for "disappearing" when the bullets started flying, but as scouts they were useful (it seems)at detecting ambushes. They are armed with the earlier M14 rifle, rather than the more modern M-16 rifle.

So, more stuff painted, but they aren't auzzies. Positive is that it will give me time to get to painting Australians right? Right?

More painting needs to be done...

CP

Vietnam Week Part 2: Actual Progress!

EDIT: Now with photos that you can actually see the miniature in! Well, my plan of posting every day didn't even last a day! Sigh. Yesterday was not overly productive, but I did manage to cook a good dinner for some friends and get a whole lot of work done on the rules for our 6mm Moderns game. But what of the Vietnam painting? Well, I got home from work quick smart today (like I need an excuse) and got cracking into painting. I managed to put the finishing touches on a fair few of the models, so here are some of the finished results. Apologies for the photos, taking photos at 11pm at night, with a camera phone doesn't yield the best results (suprising right?) First up, are some Heavy Armour. Two M48 Patton Tanks. These things are absolute behemoths, I must do a scale shot tomorrow to compare! They are Battlefront miniatures, and are absolutely lovely.

Very cool tanks. The decals aren't shiny in person, cameras have a nasty habit of finding the smallest amount of shine off of things... Next up, the start of my Helicopter support. This AH-1 Cobra comes from Flashpoint Miniatures, and is in glorious plastic! It was super cheap, and is a really nice kit. It brought back memories from my childhood sitting assembling a plastic kit- although it was a bit weird that it was BLACK plastic not Olive Drab....

Decals came from Battlefront, the numbers were borrowed from the SS Panzer decal sheet, and I just painted the white in! So, a Cobra, all ready to rocket and roll! And now, we reach the real heavy hitters of the army. A platoon of grunts from the 101st Airborne Division. First Up, the command squad of an Lt, RTO and Sgt (Battlefront Miniatures)

Then First Squad (Battlefront)

And Second Squad (Battlefront)

And who could forget Third Squad? (Battlefront)

Then onto some attached Heavy Weapons from the Weapons Platoon. First up, two M60 Light Machinegun teams (Battlefront Miniatures)

And a 3.5 inch "Super Bazooka". Because of the lack of NVA Armour, these teams usually were disbanded, and formed into their own Rifle Platoon, or became part of another rifle company as casualties mounted. (Flashpoint Miniatures)

And there are also some additions for the HQ. First up, a Medic with a wounded GI (Battlefront)

And two Scout Dog Teams. These were incredibly useful in the jungle fighting, the dogs were adept at sniffing out the NVA and preventing ambushes. Plus, it ain't called the "Wars of Pooch" for nothing! (Flashpoint Miniatures)

So, there you have it. That is where I am at after a day and an evening of painting. What's on the block for tomorrow? UH-1 Slicks, some M113s and a couple more infantry stands. That should just about do it for my Vietnam painting for a wee while! CP

Vietnam Week at the Wars of Pooch

Over the next few days, I have decided to crack into painting some 15mm Vietnam figures, ready to play some Ambush Valley, the Vietnam variant of the Force on Force game.

This all started because I have been reading alot lately about the Vietnam conflict, started off by me having the book Matterhorn thrust into my hands, and express orders to read it! A good review is here, my (not so good) review is in the comments! So I started there, then read USMC legend Bing West's Small Unit Action in Vietnam and was rearing to go by this point!

I am heading away for a couple of weeks at the end of the week, so I am going to get cracking into my assembling/painting/writing over the week, so expect daily updates! If nothing else, I need to get some stuff painted, and I have had 15mm Vietnam stuff ever since Battlefront brought out some models for it!

So, to get me started, here is a comparison.

First up, we have a 15mm US Rifle figure from Battlefront Miniatures. It has typical Battlefront style, a pretty expressionless face, but well detailed kit and weapon. The pose is pretty good, I have a funny thing about weirdly posed miniatures. It is always in the back of my head when I hold a firearm that they are actually heavy, especially when it is a LMG! I personally like the miniatures that Battlefront produce (I have quite a lot), so I opted to use these for my US Infantry.



Next up, this is a 15mm US Rifleman from the Flashpoint Miniatures. I picked up their Company HQ pack, to add to the Battlefront range. There are some really neat things in their pack, soldiers carrying another soldier in the firemans hold, Scout Dog teams and a few other really cool pieces of kit!



But on the whole, the quality is not quite the same level as Battlefront. Not that it is bad, it's just not to my personal tastes. The lead that they are cast from is also not as forgiving as Battlefront's, I broke a couple off their bases trying to get them standing up straight! But for those quirky little things (Scout Dogs!) I couldn't be happier with them. Some of their miniatures are really good, but you will see those in the future, once they have some paint on them! They will mix ok with Battlefront too I think, not too many outwardly physical differences.



I like the Battlefront Miniatures, but at present their range is small, certianly for the US I will stick primarily to Battlefront, then supplement with Flashpoint miniatures. In saying that, Flashpoint do a range of ANZACs which are in a blister pack hidden away, and soon they will do a range of USMC with M14 rifles which I would dearly like.

So, there you have it, the start of Vietnam week. Tomorrow? US Infantry, talk of helicopters and maybe even some stuff fully painted.....

CP