Monday, March 5, 2012

From Curt: 20mm Vietnam-Era American GIs


I've been reading through 'Force on Force' and overall have been fairly impressed by its mechanics and its treatment of modern combat (as much as I know of it anyway). Though it seems primarily focused on more contemporary engagements (i.e. post 9/11) it can also be used for earlier conflicts such as the Bush Wars in Africa, the Soviet incursion into Afghanistan and the Vietnam War to name but a few. 


I did my graduate studies on the Vietnam war and have always maintained a keen interest in that divisive conflict (though, admittedly, a little bit burned-out studying it). As such I've been sitting on these 20mm SHQ castings for years and thought I'd finally dig them up and do something with them. So I downloaded Stanley Karnow's superb 'Vietnam: A History' onto my ipod, put on my headphones and started painting.


Overall these were very nice sculpts to paint. I enjoyed the little details on these figures like the bug juice and Marlboroughs tucked-in the helmet strap and the draping of ammo belts and  various equipment on the figures. 


I've been torn between doing this in 15mm or 20mm. I like all the stuff you can pack on a table scaled for 15mm, but I also really enjoy the nice figures you can get in 20mm (not to mention the wide assortment of 1:72 diecast vehicles). I'll have to mull it over some more before I go whole hog in one scale.


This squad will give me 36 points. Next I'm going to try some Viet Cong and I've also started a big push on a BIG Napoleonic unit. More on that soon...

16 comments:

  1. Very nice!!!! Great basing as well!!!

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  2. Very nice, Curt. I like a lot the colour of the uniforms, it is perfect.

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  3. Lovely stuff - I thought these were 28mm!

    I've been tempted by 'Nam skirmish before, probably because there are plenty of figs with character and plenty of inspiration in film.

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  4. after seeing your 20mm figures all i can say is wow they look great

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  5. Excellent work Curt. Really nice.

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  6. Funny, Stanley Karnow's "Vietnam: A Television History" really defined to me the absolute futility of asymmetric warfare in a foreign country when the struggle was nationalistic. Nothing was learned though. How "they" every expect to win against the Afghanis just amazes me. My favourite bit of info from the series was the difference in the supply chain for the VC and the American forces. Each VC needed 1 kg of supplies/day to stay in the field, while the GI needed 1 metric ton/day.

    Nice figures,

    John

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  7. Excellent job Curt - I too thought these were 28mm figs!

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  8. Lovely work Curt but Ray's comment is false as I heard what he really said today at work!

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  9. Cheers guys, much appreciated!

    @John: Yes, it was a great series. Journalism/History at its best. I've always wanted to see if anyone has done a figure of a Viet Cong/Mihn hauling supplies on a bicycle. That would be a cool figure.

    @Fran: Oh? Do tell, inquiring minds what to know...

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  10. Great - i can almost hear the Huey's nice work

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  11. Wonderful work Curt! Basing really working for in addition to the painting!

    Christopher

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  12. Great stuff dude. I say stick with 20mm - good Vietnam gaming would be more about infantry than vehicles, I think

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  13. Really nice work. Not an era I'd like to play, but interesting non the less... I always feel sorry for the yanks in this one as the poor buggers on the griund never really had a chance to win the campaign as the political aims didnt meet the military requirements to 'win'.

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  14. @ Greg: Yes, I think you are right. 20mm might be the right scale for these. Ultra moderns, with all the vehicles zipping about might lend themselves better to 15mm - not sure.

    @ Scott: Oh, I totally agree and that is why I'm attracted to gaming with them. The doomed nature of the conflict I find quite compelling, also we should not always assume that the Americans are the clear-cut protagonists here...

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  15. Curt - Britannia Miniatures did a model of a VC/PAVN cargo bike. I tried ordering a bunch from FAA/Wargames some time back, when they were distributing them in North America, but never got them in the end...

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  16. Thanks Tim! I'll have to check that out. I like FAA stuff as well (though it can sometimes be a bit big).

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Thanks for your comment! As long as you're not a spam droid I'll have it up on the blog soon. :)