More U.S. Soldier in Vietnam & Some Misc. Scatter

    A fire team of soldiers of 'The Big Red One' take a breather next to an abandoned Buddhist stupa

With this batch completed, I'm up to 20 U.S. soldiers finished. I'm having fun painting these guys. Each figure in each pack of five is different. Plus, there are enough packs in the Black Sun range that I have minimal duplication. These five soldiers are the same as one of the previous batches, so I decided to mix up their skin colors a bit. The soldiers I painted as white are now black or Hispanic, and vice versa. The Crucible Crush sculpts are detailed enough you can see that some poses are meant to be a particular ethnicity. However, I figure that on the tabletop, players will see the pose first, then skin color. So, I doubt someone will be picking up a miniature in my games and saying, "Heyyy...!"

    This is my 4th batch of U.S. infantry from the "Black Sun" range - I love the poses & details!

Anyway, no point in going over how I painted these guys. I've done that in the first post and previous one sharing my U.S. soldiers.  Once again, these are painted for the First Infantry Division, aka "The Big Red One." I'm reading a publication by The Nafziger Collection right now to give me ideas for scenarios for my games. I plan to base as many of them as possible off of actual engagements by this unit's soldiers. There will be some others, of course, that I took inspiration from the actions of other units, but if possible, I'd love to reproduce the unit's tour through Vietnam in my games. I think that would be neat.

    Details like the pack of cigarettes in the helmet band & my added tattoos help bring them to life

I'm also reading Mark Bowden's Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam. Bowden is an amazing storyteller and puts you right in the head of the people who lived through History.  Perhaps you've read his Black Hawk Down novel that the Hollywood movie was made from? Anyway, it is a thrilling account of the intense urban warfare that took place in Vietnam's second largest city during the Tet Offensive. I'm about halfway through it and have a hard time putting it down when it is time to go to bed at night!

   Hispanic (or my attempt at that skintone) trooper stalks through the jungle keeping an eye out for VC

I have also been working more on the rules that I will use for my games. I will definitely be making modifications to the core Sellswords & Spellslingers system. For example, I am thinking each figure will be permitted to roll for two actions per turn instead of three. I will also have a separate system for the player's movements before contact, too. I don't want to worry about soldiers in line having to leapfrog a buddy ahead of him because that one failed its actions. Once the shooting begins, though, it will be more chaotic and some players may freeze while others do their duty more efficiently.

    From the streets to the jungle of Vietnam -- an African-American trooper sweats it out in the bush

You may have noticed that I am showing each trooper individually in my photos with this post, instead of in pairs. I really liked the single photo from the Viet Cong batch, so decided to keep that up. With only five figures per group, it is not like it makes the posts that much longer, right? Plus, I like seeing both the front and back of the miniatures. There are all kinds of subtle details on these excellently-cast miniatures, and this format does a better way of showing that off.

    With 25 Vietnam figures done, I estimate that I am just under halfway through the project

Also included in this post are some scatter pieces that I finished up more than a week ago. I kept waiting to get a few more things done so that I could do a more substantial post. However, once I began working on pieces of jungle scatter for Vietnam, it meant the other scatter was sidelined for the moment. Two of the pieces are 3-D ones from A Critical Hit that I actually purchased last year, at Cincycon 2024. It is pretty crazy to have something that takes only a handful of minutes to spruce up for the tabletop to sit unused in your closet for more than a year. Both of these fit into that category. The other is a toy semi-tractor trailer I picked up from Menards.

    This towering scaffolding metal construct is actually 2 pieces 3-D printed from A Critical Hit

This giant, Sci-Fi scaffolding thingie is actually two pieces that I bought from A Critical Hit. The more I looked at them, the more they looked like they should be stacked on top of each other. They even had little pegs on top (?), although there was no corresponding hole on the bottoms. That was solved easily with a pin vice and some superglue to attach the two structures together. Once I looked at the piece even more closely, I noticed all the bolt and hexagonal nut heads along the structure. I decided to paint those Iron Wind Metals Steel. I also did two black vehicle washes on it to give it more definition in the recessed areas and a dirtier look than the bright bronze color it was printed in. I like the way it looks, though I'm still really not sure what it is supposed to be...!

    This 3-D printed iron brazier with flame needed just a black wash and the flames painted to be done

Another Critical Hit piece that had sat in my unpainted terrain/scatter closet for a year was this iron brazier with flames. Like most critical hit pieces, it was printed in a silver for the brazier and a deep red for the flames. I decided to do a black vehicle wash on the brazier to give it more definition and darken it a bit more. While I was at it, I pulled out the flame piece and painted it, as well. Even though my red, orange, and yellow may not be expertly done, I think it will stick out more on the tabletop than the deep red. You can still see that red in the open flame shaped spaces near the bottom of the brazier. Of course, this little thing may not see the tabletop that often because I have all my Bad Goblin Games LED flame scatter! As nice as this looks, they look better...

Menards toy semi-tractor trailer made of plastic and 'dirtied up' with rust coloring and black washes

I have been looking for a semi-tractor trailer in die cast for awhile, now, but had been unsuccessful. However, one day while in Menards, I found a bunch of toy trucks for only $4.99. One of them was a tractor-trailer, so I snapped it up. It is plastic rather than die cast, and a step down in quality from most die cast vehicles you see in various stores. However, beggars can't be choosers, so I bought it and also a dump truck.

    Did I put too much black wash on the tractor trailer? Perhaps - it certainly looks dirty & abandoned!

One thing I am still not confident or sure how to do is weather and "dirty up" the many die cast vehicles I have bought over the years. I have about a dozen sitting in my terrain/scatter closet waiting for me to figure out a way to do it. When I purchased the Menards trucks, I wanted to get it ready for the tabletop as soon as possible. I think that -- if nothing else -- it would look good sitting in a trailer part or post-apocalyptic cityscape. My first idea is to simply do a black wash on their exterior. However, the truck would likely need more than that. The chrome is simply to bright and toy-like. So, I painted the chrome pieces with Iron Wind Metals Steel. Some parts even required a second coat. 

    One of my post-apocalyptic survivors checks out the area before investigating the tractor trailer

I did have to put glue underneath onto to the wheels rods to keep them from moving. I should probably have done a gray dry brush on the rubber wheels. And maybe some more dark wash into the wheel wells and hubs. Honestly, this was my first real weathering attempt and I wasn't sure what was "too much" and what was just right. I still have the dump truck to do, so maybe I'll do better on it! So, what else is on my painting desk? Two batches of Viet Cong and one of U.S. infantry, of course. And for scatter, I have 12 circular wooden disks that I flocked and am putting various plastic plants on for jungle scatter. The plants are glued down, but I probably want to dull them up a bit to take off that plastic sheen. Of course, forecast says rain here for the next three days in the monsoon season of Columbus, Ohio! We'll see when I get chance to spray them with a matte clear coat...!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 143
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 85 

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 19
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 23

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 54
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 60

Star Wars with Space Weirdos: Imperial Boarding Action

    Allen's Star Wars rebel soldiers prepare to defend themselves as they hear the Stormtroopers advance

My friend Keith had a taste for some Sci-Fi skirmish, and wanted to get his Starship Vengeance 3-D printed cardboard terrain onto the table. The "box terrain" set from Gale Force 9 is pre-printed and cleverly goes back together like a Russian matryoska doll, with each slightly smaller box fitting inside a larger one. We decided to use Space Weirdos rules again, since we had just used them and they would be fresher in our head. I suggested a very Star Wars-like scenario with stormtroopers boarding a rebel cruiser looking for a high value target (in this case, "the Princess"). Keith brought along his Wizards of the Coast prepainted Star Wars figs, and we set up a simple, shoot-'em up scenario.

    Keith's very clever 3-D printed cardboard spaceship interior was our battlefield for the evening

We had three Empire players and three Rebels. Each controlled a sergeant leader and three troopers. The profiles were identical for both sides except that the rebels had laser pistols and the Stormtroopers had laser rifles. Of course, in the heat of the moment we promptly forgot to apply the weapon bonuses and restrictions until the very end of the game. We also forgot about our grenade's +1 on the damage chart, and our armor's +1 to Defense rolls. I have an idea on how to redesign the character sheets to make it less easy to forget all those fun things. It didn't imbalance the game as both sides completely forgot those modifiers until the very end of the game!

    My entry point was the bottom of the picture - but as we advance, Keith's rebels move to flank us

Keith laid out the very cool looking cardboard terrain to form the sprawling interior of a rebel cruiser. First, I had the Empire players discuss and then choose three breach points, one for each player, where they would board the ship. Next, the Rebel players returned to the room and deployed their figures. Jenny and I had chose to breach into rooms that led to corridors that essentially bisected the ship. Tom chose to breach into a perpendicular corridor that led left and right, so to speak. We figured we would come in the middle of the interior, so to speak, and then march right or left once we saw where the Rebels (and more importantly, the Princess) were. All three Empire players had a silent chuckle when they saw Joel deploy his four Rebels soldiers in the hallway Tom would breach into. To one side of the central axis, Keith had deployed his guys and the Princess in Engineering. To the opposite side, Allen had deployed his in the Control room. 

    Tom's Stormtroopers burst in through their breach point and quickly gunfire & blasts erupt

Crucially for me, there was another corridor that led from my access point to the back of Engineering. So, I feinted forward to look like I was going to reinforce Tom in the central hallway battle. Keith sent one of his soldiers to reinforce Joel, but the other three began moving towards the corridor, possibly to outflank me. This decided matters for me, as I would throw all four of my stormtroopers at his position. Before we engaged though, the battle was raging in the central hallway. We later nicknamed it the Hallway of Death for the Out of Action soldiers sprawled about the corridor. 

   Early look at the 'Hallway of Death', with two of Jenny's Stormtroopers at the bottom ready to join in

Tom raced through the breach point and immediately engaged the rebels in melee. I'd given each figure a grenade, in addition to their blaster, and the players were not shy about using them at all. Soon, shock grenades were going off all over the ship. Stormtroopers fell, Rebels went down -- anywhere that figures were bunched up within the half stick blast radius, a grenade would be tossed. Even with forgetting the +1 on the damage chart, grenades rolled 2d10 on attack vs. the laser pistol or rifle's 2d8. We debated whether it was possible to use one of your two Command Points each turn to "power up" the grenade to 2d12. It is possible to spend one point to power up your attack one dice level. We decided that it was possible, which made throwing grenades even more attractive. The sounds of booms soon rang through the hallways as men screamed and fell to the floor.

    Fortune was on the Empire's side as my Stormtroopers clear the corridor leading to Engineering

Tom pushed his attacks aggressively, drawing all of the attention of Joel and Allen. Jenny advanced to support him, keeping most of her troopers in the corridor leading to the Hallway of Death, though. While the battle raged there, it was mainly a distraction. It kept 2/3's of the rebels away from protecting the princess. All I would need to do would be to defeat Keith's three troopers with my four, grab the princess, and get out, and we would win.

    Unfortunately for the Princess, Allen's troopers remained pinned down inside the control room

Keith won the Initiative though and started turn 2 off with a bang. He threw a grenade which would catch three of my troopers in the blast. I used one of my two command points to have one Stormtrooper dodge out of the blast area. Only one of the other two was hit, and he was still up. I decided to use the movie tactics of the Stormtroopers and advanced to the attack, moving into his hallway and shooting with all of my Stormtroopers. We also tossed our share of grenades, too. It was a bloody battle, but my Stormtroopers were slowly getting the upper hand.

    My grenade tossed into the doorway leading to the Engineering knocked out a rebel & the princess

Keith's rebels began to fall back from the corridor. One of my men tossed a grenade in the open doorway leading to engineering. In the blast radius were three of his rebels AND (unfortunately, maybe) the Princess. The princess and two of the rebel soldiers were knocked out of action. He counterattacked knocking out one of my guys. Still, the doorway remained open at the start of the next turn. I had one of my Stormtroopers run in, pick up the princess, and dart back out into the corridor. I made sure I hung onto one of my command points, though, waiting for his rebels to pursue into the corridor and shoot my Stormtrooper carrying the princess. When he did, I played it, Dodging out of the corridor back towards my entry point.

    Bodies continue to pile up in the Hallway of Death, and amazingly Tom's Stormtroopers fight on!

Meanwhile, bodies continued to fall in the Hallway of Death. Allen's rebels, who'd been relatively content to hold the command center, finally came out to take on Tom and Jenny's stormtroopers. More grenades went off, more figures were either Knocked Down, Staggered, or put Out of Action. The Hallway's floor grew slick with the blood from wounded lying on the metallic floor. 

    Three of my Stormtroopers exfiltrating back towards our breach point with the princess' body

When we decided to call the game, my troopers were within one move of their exfiltration point and Keith did not have enough rebel soldiers left to stop them. He kept insisting the princess was dead, though I pointed out the rules say only "Out of Action," which doesn't mean dead. It was an imperial victory, especially considering the Sci-Fi medical advancements which could revive or heal the princess, we argued. Everyone had a great time, laughing as we made Star Wars movie references or comical dice failures beset us all. I think everyone is enjoying Space Weirdos. It is easy to pick up the concepts. There are a few questions that have arisen in our games, but we tend to be able to agree on the intent of the rules. If you're looking for a fast Sci-Fi skirmish game (they also have Sword Weirdos for Fantasy), with easy to learn rules, you may consider downloading the rules from Wargame Vault and trying them out. At only $5, how wrong can you go?

    For only $5, how wrong can you go picking up & checking out a copy of Space Weirdos?

Meanwhile, my painting of 28mm Vietnam figures continues to roll along, as does my work on jungle vegetation scatter terrain pieces. Look for pics of those soon!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 143
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 80 

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 19
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 22

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 54
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 57

Some Pictures from Drums at the Rapids 2025

    Lagertha, Ragnar, & another Viking raider break into the Anglo-Saxon church in search of loot

I enjoy going to smaller local conventions as much as I do the bigger wargaming shows. In fact, the atmosphere at these shows tends to be more friendly and intimate, with a greater feeling of camaraderie. One annual convention that I have made it to every year since its first is Drums at the Rapids, hosted by the Colby Street Irregulars. It is held in the Visitors Center of Fort Meigs, a reconstructed War of 1812 fort in Perrysburg, OH (Toledo area). My local Historical Miniature Gaming Society chapter (Great Lakes), has helped sponsor it since the beginning.

    Tod Kershner's 'Assault at Ft. Meigs' recreates the 1813 battle that was fought at the actual fort site

    Tod's lovely 54mm figures and easy-to-learn rules reenact the U.S. assault on the British lines

In an effort to save money, I have begun driving up Friday morning and staying only Friday night in an area hotel. Saturday, we attend the con, game until we are tired and ready to go home, and then drive back. It's a good way to cut costs but still enjoy both Friday and Saturday of a show. We've begun doing the same thing at Cincycon, which is held every year in March. In addition, Drums has a free flea market on the shelves or tables along the wall -- just set your stuff and folks interested in buying something come to you. No booth to man or table to sit behind. Just do your gaming and pocket the cash your fellow attendees bring to you!

    My friend Abel Delacruz made the trip up to Toledo to run his Samurai game using Test of Honor

    Players enjoy Abel's cinematic terrain and the quick--playing rules simulating samurai warfare

As always, there are fun games being run at the show. I set up my Viking Town Raid and ran it Friday evening and Saturday morning. My good fortune continued and it filled up both times. I had good groups of players both games, and even had one repeat player on Saturday determined to get more loot than he did on Friday night. That was helpful because he could assist other players in figuring out what the defenders would do when the card came up for all of the enemies on the table to activate and attack. 

    Rich Brown teaches new GL member Andrew how to play 'Chivalrous Bum' quick-play rules

    Two attendees at Drums 2025 play the Horse & Musket adaption of the rules called 'Frizzen Bum'

Saturday saw one of the rare times that the Viking raiders made it into the church and looted its treasures. In fact, Lagertha ended up winning based on her last-turn looting of church silver, stealing the victory from the player controlling her husband Ragnar, who had a big lead most of the game. Everyone said they had a good time and I think that Ganesha Games will likely sell a good handful of copies of Sellswords & Spellslingers based on the number of folks who took pictures of the rules cover or copied down the game's title.

    Tanks assault Martian walkers in Dave Elmore's 'All Quiet on the Martian Front' game

    'Here they come...!' Martian tripods bear down on the enemy in one of Dave's2 runnings of his game

I finally got a chance myself to play in demos being run by Rich Brown of RRB Minis & More. He brought along his friend Kyle, and the two were hopping all day Friday explaining the four games they brought along and set up. Both are based on a set of rules by David Bezio (Zombie RV fame) and are meant for Westerns, called Saddle Bum. Rich and Kyle enjoy the system so much that Rich has adapted it for Medieval (Chivalrous Bum) and Horse & Musket (Fizzen Bum). Jenny and I sat down to a game of Chivalrous Bum and well, she kicked my bum and good in the game! David had sent me a copy of Saddle Bum for feedback, but I had never played the rules before. They are very simple and easy to learn. 

    Mad Max style post-apocalyptic warfare in Justin Lynch's Gaslands game, which ran both days

    Players at Drums enjoyed Justin's atmospheric board and the fun, quick 'Gaslands rules'

I saw some attendees cycling through both of his games trying them out and (I believe) purchasing the rules. The two variants are available for download on RRB Minis & More's website. I also purchased his printed copies of Bezio's Mice-at-Arms and Sci-Fi game, Fictioneers. I have been wanting to give the anthropomorphic animal themed mice battle rules a try, but haven't gotten around to it yet. And every time Rich is running Fictioneers at a convention, it seems I'm busy running my own game at the same time!

    Convention Director Doug Johnson also found time in his busy days to run the Battle of Omdurman

    Even though it wasn't on the schedule, players requested an encore of Doug's 'Toledo War' game

Drums has always been a great convention for socializing. It is good to see old friends and connect with folks I see only at conventions. This year was no different. In the old days -- 10 years ago or so -- it was quite the party, with more than a dozen gathering at the local chicken wings place over beers. Nowadays, it is much more sedate. Jenny and I had fun hanging out with Rich and Kyle at Frickers and chatting about our respective game groups. I had told myself that once I retire I would make it to more conventions. I've found that has not been the case, this year. I'm attending pretty much the same ones I attended when I was teaching. 

    My own Viking raid game had a full table on both Friday night & Saturday morning

    So many mounted Saxon hearthguard defenders appeared they formed a 'horde' under to the rules!

However, I have been floating another idea. I would like to make the rounds of the local game clubs in various parts of the region and show up on their meeting days. Rich and Kyle have a game club in the far northeast of Ohio -- Hubbard Ohio Gamers Guild. So do Rusty and James, whose Fireland Games were the one vendor in attendance. There are several in the Cincinnati area, as well as Chilicothe, and other places. So, if you would like to have Jenny and I stop by some weekend when you're gaming, let me know!

    Trench lines & tanks defend Earth against Martian attack in 'All Quiet on the Martian Front'

 

    Two medieval knights meet in chivalrous combat on a bridge in one of Rich Brown's games

Anyway, Drums was a good time, as usual. I hope you enjoy the photos of the game. I'm continuing to make good progress on my 28mm Vietnam project. I have another batch of U.S. troops in the flocking stage, and two more sets of five in the pipeline. As far as terrain, I've started on some more jungle terrain scatter pieces. They're about halfway through the process, so look for photos of them soon. Until then, hope you're getting in some good gaming yourselves...!

    Saturday morning, and my Viking Raid game is set up and awaiting a new group of Viking players

    Saxon hearth guard from a shieldwall to protect the church from Viking raiders at Drums

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 143
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 80 

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 19
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 22

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 54
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 57

First Squad of Viet Cong for Vietnam Project

    My first batch of 28mm Viet Cong from Crucible Crush's 'Black Sun' line check out a hamlet

Awhile back, I decided that I wanted my Vietnam games to be cooperative. All of my players would be controlling a squad or fire team of U.S. soldiers -- no one would command the enemy. Why? I feel that the closer to the present that a wargame gets, the higher the chance someone will feel "wrong" controlling one side or the other. I know we are just playing games, but I could perfectly understand a player balking at, say, setting off IEDs to blow up U.S. soldiers in Iraq on the tabletop. Although it is more than 50 years in the past at this point, I think Vietnam could still be the same for some folks. I know I am reluctant myself to control the German or Japanese side in a World War II game, and that is even longer ago! How to solve that moral conundrum? Make the enemy controlled by the GM or the game's mechanics.

    I painted my VC in the characteristic 'black pajamas,' but will likely vary things with future batches

So, my first batch of Viet Cong soldiers here will be entirely controlled by the event cards and "A.I" -- so to speak -- of the rules that I am writing. I could just as easily have bought a commercial set of rules and controlled them as the GM. Honestly, if the rules writing fails, I may yet still do that. That's what my friend Jim W is doing with his group in Michigan. All his players are on the U.S. side while he directs the actions of the VC in their tabletop encounters. Like him, I want the players to try to safely usher as many of their platoon though their year of service in Vietnam. Bring 'em back alive, and safe, boy! Thus, my players will take on the role of NCOs controlling the same squad or fire team members, with replacements (or FNGs) coming in as they take casualties. For those that don't know, the "NG" in the above abbreviation stand for "New Guy." I'll leave it to you to figure out what the "F" stands for!

    No fancy pre-mixed washes for the VC -- just a typical 28mm base coat and dry brush method!

Anyway, I am using more of a typical base coat and dry brush method for the Vietnamese soldiers in this project. I am painting their uniforms first -- most will be the characteristic "Black Pajamas" that many VC wore. I will then dry brush the black base coat with a dark gray. Next, I went out and bought a new flesh tone just for the VC. It is from Warpaints fanatic line and called, "Buffed Hide". I picked it out at a local store (Dragon's Lair, in the Polaris area) by pulling up Google images of Vietnamese faces on my phone. I held each of the prospective bottles of paints up to the images until one "seemed" to match. As I brushed it on to this first batch of Vietnamese, I felt perhaps it was more ruddy than I expected. However, after a dark brown vehicle wash, I hoped it would look less red and more SE Asian. I'm still not 100% sold on it, and would love to hear what you guys think. If anyone has a different paint suggestion for Vietnamese skin tone, I could still change what I paint the rest of the VC. Let me know in the comments.

    What do you think of the skin color? Did I pick a good one, or should I switch it out?

Most of the VC equipment I've seen pictures of is khaki, so that is what I painted the ammunition pouches, backpacks, bandoliers, and helmets. I've read that lots of VC wore sandals made of old rubber tires, so I went with a dark gray for them, as well. Luckily for me, all of the photos of the Black Sun range that I'm using have color photos on the Crucible Crush website. So, if I'm unsure how to paint something, I just enlarge the pictures on their website. And yes, that means I'm hoping their painter was historically accurate in his portrayal of the VC! That said, the images match the descriptions I've read in my research, so I'm fairly confident.

    The VC are patrolling a hamlet in countryside using my two scratch-built Jungle Huts

One thing I did not do that I typically do when painting these up was put a final black wash on the uniforms. I have had my dark gray highlighting disappear after a black wash in the past with figures wearing black. I did the wash on the weapons and shoes, while I did a brown wash on the skin and khaki equipment. All in all, I am fairly happy with how my first batch of Viet Cong came out. I know that I painted all of this batches' uniforms black, but I may also mix in some khaki or light O.D. green ones in the future, just to give them a more hodgepodge look. I may even give them the odd civilian shirt or pair of pants in a different color, too. 

    The jungle huts were built for my Pulp campaign from years ago but will work great for Vietnam!

I am doing the same dense foliage style flocking on these that I have done for the U.S. soldiers. I like how it looks, and it should blend it with the tabletop more (I hope). So, what else is on my painting desk right now? Well, I have the requisite other two batches in progress for this project -- another batch of U.S. soldiers and my second group of Viet Cong. However, I have also been touching things up to take to Drums at the Rapids convention at Fort Meigs, OH, for the flea market this weekend. And even before leaving, I have already sold my 33 Ancient Roman Gladiators (28mm scale) to my friend Dave E! Hopefully, that's an omen of good sales at the fort...! Once I return, I'll have about a month before Origins, then another month before Historicon. So, at least the conventions are doing a reasonably good job of spacing themselves out so that they don't interrupt my painting too much...ha, ha!

 Oh, and if you're curious about my scratch-built Jungle Huts, here are the links:

• Jungle Hut, part 3 (completed) 
• Jungle Hut, part 2 (in progress)
• Jungle Hut, part 1 (my ideas)

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 143
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 80 <-- see, it's going up!

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 19
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 22

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 54
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 57

Second (3rd really) Batch of 'Big Red One' Vietnam Infantry

    "Incoming!" My next batch of 28mm Vietnam figures take cover as enemy artillery fire zeroes in

I am painting these 28mm Vietnam miniatures from Crucible Crush's "Black Sun" range in the batches of five that they come packaged in. For me, that's a nice, doable group which allows for at least the illusion of quick progress. So, although this is my second post of finished Vietnam miniatures, it is actually the third batch of five I've completed. Because of the way I'm painting them, I've decided to have two to three batches in progress at one time. So, the next batch -- U.S. infantry group #4 -- is about halfway through at the moment. Viet Cong infantry is next in line, though, and getting close to being done. Sorry if this is all confusing!

    I really like the Black Sun range of figures from Crucible Crush - great poses & crisp scultping!

These figures are one of the two "standard" infantry offerings in the line. This pack is called "U.S. Army Soldiers in Combat." There are six U.S. packs in total (not counting reporters, tank crewmen, etc.), meaning 30 unique U.S. infantry castings. I ordered two each of several of the packs and intend to try to paint them up slightly different, if possible, to give more variety. This pack also features the only time I have had to glue anything together in these mostly one-piece, metal castings. One pose has the arm holding its M16 separate from the rest of the figure. And now that I look at the picture again, I glued it on differently than they show on their website...oops! Oh well, I have a second one of these packs, so I will try to remember to glue the army hanging down at its side rather than swinging forward like I did with this one.

Like with batch #2, the recipe for these five figures began with brush-on, white Gesso primer. Next, the uniform was painted in a light olive drab craft paint called Light Timberline Green. Once dry, I painted the pouches, canteens, packs, and ammo belts in a craft sage green. The darker green camo patches on the helmet cover and the poncho are done in a medium craft green. After the figure has dried overnight, I paint it with a mixture of Vallejo Matte Varnish and Military Green. I am continuing to like how the darker shade of green "wash" settles into the folds and creases on the these crisply-cast figures. In my very first post on the project, I show a series of miniatures at these first stages in case you want to go back and look at them.

    I'm adding tattoos to about half of the figures - I think it adds an extra bit to bring them to life

At this point, it is time to do their flesh. That's the opposite of how I normally do miniatures (from inside out, so to speak). I have a ruddy craft paint that I use for the base flesh coat for Caucasian soldiers. Then, I apply a darker flesh wash I created similarly to the Vallejo Matte & Green one. It uses an orange, clay colored paint mixed with matte varnish and gives the white skin a nice, sun-tanned look. For African-American soldiers, I used a dark wood brown with a medium highlight. I go back and forth between dry brushing the color on or painting it full strength on the cheeks, nose, etc. It honestly depends on how deeply cut the folds of the skin are on the figure. I also do a Hispanic flesh tone. It has a medium leather color as a base coat, followed by a watered down brown vehicle wash (that I also use on Caucasian soldiers). African-American soldiers instead get the black vehicle wash that is applied to the uniforms and equipment at the end of the process.

Next up are the other details on the figures. I painted the plastic parts of their M16s black and the metal parts Iron Wind Metals Steel. A Pewter highlight was added to the metal parts that might get the most wear. The boots were also painted black with a dark gray dry brush. The shoulder patches are done in a yellowish color called Maple Sugar, with a tiny red "1" done with a Micron pen. So far, I have been happy with how the eyes have come out on my Vietnam soldiers. I do a flattened black oval first, fill that in with a smaller white one, and then do a Dark brown slit for the iris/eyeball. I know many gamers do not paint eyes, stating that -- at the scaled distance -- you wouldn't see a human's eyes. However, many gamers also pick up the figures and hold them up to take a closer look at them. Then they see the eyes or lack thereof...ha, ha! So, since I am reasonably successful in avoiding the "googly eye syndrome," I will continue to paint eyes at this scale.

    Leaves, plastic plants, and tufts all decorate the bases to make it look more "jungle like"

This batch included one soldier armed with a M79 grenade launcher (there are also two armed with this in the "Specials" pack). So, I will likely end up with more "bloop guns" than I will field. Speaking of which, I have put some more work on the rules that I'm going to be using for my Vietnam games. Inspired by the cooperative nature of Sellswords & Spellslingers fantasy miniatures rules from Ganesha Games, I am intending to do the same here. My thought is each player will control 4-5 soldiers, though I may need to scale that back after play testing. In a six-player game, like we typically have on Sunday evenings, that would mean up to 30 U.S. soldiers each taking their turns individually. That may cause things to slow down too much at that size, as opposed to if they had only, say, three soldiers each. My Viking Town Raid game features six players each controlling three figures. It pretty much finishes up in three hours or so (at conventions, a true finish may take a bit longer due to the rules explanation I have to do ahead of time that I won't need to with my group). 

I hope to figure out all of those parameters in the play testing phase, which will initially be solo. After that, I may invite just a couple players to test it out in smaller games. I'm really looking forward to getting this project on the table. I've been reading a lot of great books on Vietnam and using them for inspiration. I looked at about a half dozen lists of "Best Vietnam Histories" and compared them, looking for the ones common to most. I've been working my way down them, having just finished Hal Moore's memoir (made into a Mel Gibson movie), We Were Soldiers Once...And Young. If you haven't read it, I would recommend it highly, if nothing for the whole Landing Zone Albany segment of the story that gets left out of the movie. Right now, I've just begun reading Mark Bowden's book on the Battle of Hue.

    Another shot of the whole fire team with enemy mortar rounds getting dangerously close!

I hope to update this project fairly often, what with painting figures in batches of five. However, I promise not to laboriously go through how I painted each figure in future posts...ha, ha! I apologize if this was repetitive. I try to strike a middle ground between talking about how I painted up a figure or terrain with other discussion, such as how I will use it or what I learned. I think I will also begin to create some jungle vegetation pieces using plastic plants from craft stores and flocking. I'd like to scratch-build some termite mounds. The Vietnam memoirs I've read all mention those as being key cover in firefights. I'll try to include those items alongside posts with finished miniatures for more variety than, "Here's another five Vietnam figures"...ain't they purdy??

What else is on my desk? Next to be completed will be the first Viet Cong, as mentioned earlier. I've also been doing some modern or Sci-Fi scatter that I had been meaning to finish. I'll probably save those up till I have enough to do a post on them.

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 143
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 75 

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 19
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 22

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 54
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 57