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Made in us
Stalwart Veteran Guard Sergeant






The First Indochina War as always been a conflict that has intrigued me and when i saw Red Star Miniatures' Dien Bien Phu range i couldn't help but pick up some of the figures. I was really impressed with the sculpts and decided to expand my small force into a platoon sized element. After doing a little research and internet searching i found a could color scheme to paint up the paras in their TAP47-52 uniforms and i think they came out pretty well.

First up is a close up of an NCO





I don't quite have the bases done but that's mostly because I've never don tall grass before and am unsure how to go about it, so ideas are most welcome.

Anyway, next up is my command section with an officer, two adjutants, and a medic.



And my three complete rifle squads







I also have an M8 greyhound in the works to provide support for these guys and sooner or later some Viet Minh OpFor

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2014/06/07 04:08:41


"We will hold out until our last bullet is spent. Could do with some whiskey" Commandant Pat Quinlan 
   
Made in gb
Powerful Irongut






For the bases, use some sand and PVA, add a few small stones, When it is dry paint it with a sand or earth colour, and then ink wash. Then dot the base with a few spots of PVA and sprinkle on some static grass. You can get clumps of long grass from ebay or modelling shops which are also good.

Apologies if the above sounds like advice on sucking eggs....

   
Made in us
Stalwart Veteran Guard Sergeant






I know the pictures aren't great, but I've done the first half of your suggestion. Its just doing tall grass that i haven't done before. I may hold for now and do a little more research because i want to see if these guys are also appropriately equipped for Algeria, if they are i may do something different on the bases so that they can be correct for both conflicts.

"We will hold out until our last bullet is spent. Could do with some whiskey" Commandant Pat Quinlan 
   
Made in gb
Powerful Irongut






Hence my comment about sucking eggs...

These maybe what you are looking for, http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mixed-size-Static-Grass-tufts-Self-Adhesive-basing-wargame-miniature-models-/281064401092?pt=UK_Trains_Railway_Models&var=&hash=item4170be68c4

Another way to make long grass is to use the bristles of a yard brush.

   
Made in jp
[MOD]
Anti-piracy Officer






Somewhere in south-central England.

20mm? You can use groovy vehicles like the Chaffee light tank.

What I do with that kind of base is build up around the figure's individual base with putty, to fair it in. Then use sand or something. If you want long grass, the Army Painter and similar tufts are very good.

I'm writing a load of fiction. My latest story starts here... This is the index of all the stories...

We're not very big on official rules. Rules lead to people looking for loopholes. What's here is about it. 
   
Made in us
Stalwart Veteran Guard Sergeant






28mm actually, but most vehicles i need are in that scale too.

Would it look odd if i added another layer of sand since the first layer of sand looks a bit light on some of my bases and then did tall grass and foliage?

"We will hold out until our last bullet is spent. Could do with some whiskey" Commandant Pat Quinlan 
   
Made in jp
[MOD]
Anti-piracy Officer






Somewhere in south-central England.

If you put more sand on you could try putting the glue around the lower bit of base outside the figure's baseplate. Then hopefully the sand would build up to the level of the baseplate. However it might not work that well, but you could try one and see how it does.

If you are going to add stones and tall grass that can be used to conceal the edge of the figures's bases.

Not everyone worries about concealing the figure's base anyway.

I'm writing a load of fiction. My latest story starts here... This is the index of all the stories...

We're not very big on official rules. Rules lead to people looking for loopholes. What's here is about it. 
   
Made in us
Stalwart Veteran Guard Sergeant






I think i'll at least give it a try, good basing helps bring miniatures to life.

Which brings me to my next question, for those who might know, is if there is a good way to make foreign legion troops for indochina?

"We will hold out until our last bullet is spent. Could do with some whiskey" Commandant Pat Quinlan 
   
Made in gb
Guard Heavy Weapon Crewman





Leicester

If I remember correctly the foreign legion troops That were deployed to Indochina were Paratroopers so your Paratroopers should suffice. Also epic minis I have been thinking of getting some of these myself after seeing these I think I may.

"Incoming Fire has right of way"

My website http://vox-tower.com

 
   
Made in us
Stalwart Veteran Guard Sergeant






There were foreign legion paratroopers but my reference books say that foreign legion regulars also made up a size-able portion of the mobile groups as well but i have a plan to convert warlords plastic marines into generic colonial infantry. The minis themselves are gorgeous and my photos don't really do them justice. I highly recommend them.

"We will hold out until our last bullet is spent. Could do with some whiskey" Commandant Pat Quinlan 
   
Made in us
Stalwart Veteran Guard Sergeant






I just finished assembling the tamiya 1/48th scale greyhound to give these guys some light armor support


"We will hold out until our last bullet is spent. Could do with some whiskey" Commandant Pat Quinlan 
   
Made in us
Stalwart Veteran Guard Sergeant






More stuff to present for my slowly growing French army

Test scheme for a French NCO in the M1947 fatigues





and a 105mm howitzer







"We will hold out until our last bullet is spent. Could do with some whiskey" Commandant Pat Quinlan 
   
Made in jp
[MOD]
Anti-piracy Officer






Somewhere in south-central England.

It's fun to use the left over WW2 equipment in a different setting. Korean War offers a similar opportunity.

I'm writing a load of fiction. My latest story starts here... This is the index of all the stories...

We're not very big on official rules. Rules lead to people looking for loopholes. What's here is about it. 
   
Made in us
Stalwart Veteran Guard Sergeant






Since both sides used what ever they could get their hands on in Indochina theres a huge variety of surplus Allied and Axis weapons and equipment that were used.

"We will hold out until our last bullet is spent. Could do with some whiskey" Commandant Pat Quinlan 
   
Made in us
Stalwart Veteran Guard Sergeant






Here's an in progress shot of my French regulars



I'll finish up these guys along with the chaffee and by then my deuce and a halfs will be here and once those are done i can move on to the viet minh forces

"We will hold out until our last bullet is spent. Could do with some whiskey" Commandant Pat Quinlan 
   
Made in us
Stalwart Veteran Guard Sergeant






It's been a while but i got some more stuff in for my First Indochina War forces. Unfortunately due to school, work, and various social obligations always seeming to get in the way I haven't had time to start painting any of the new stuff.

I bought a couple of warlord's 2 1/2 ton trucks for missions during the battle of RC4. Warlord has been pretty hit and miss with me but i think the trucks are pretty good models. I still need to put the headlights on but since the Viet Minh owned the roads at night I'm not sure whether or not i will bother with it.



Only Red Star has made any actual Viet Minh figures so far and while i will eventually get some i wanted to have more rifle armed guys to mix in with the high number of sub machine gun guys Red Star put in their units so i bought some of the Viet Cong armed with SKS rifles as well as 2 with bazookas from The Assault Group.



On top of this stuff I made an interesting find at a flea market over the weekend. There was a table set up selling a bunch of poorly painted and beat up 1/35th scale modern armor but there were a ton of small boxes loaded with extra weapons and gear of varying scale as well as sand bags and some scratch built terrain. The guy at the table gave me a box and said for $10 i could have everything i could fit in there so i loaded the box up with the sand bags, camo netting made from gauze, the scratch built terrain and then i started going through all the boxes of weapons and that when i found these,



3 M18 recoiless rifles. Eyeballing them at the table i thought they were about the right size and i got pretty excited since i haven't been able to find anybody who makes them in 28mm but when i got home and compared them to some of my stuff they looked a little big.





In all honesty though, I don't know much about these weapons or how big they are compared to the average person so they may be the right scale. For those plus my box of stuff for $10 it was still totally worth it, now i just need to make some crews for them.

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2014/04/16 05:19:17


"We will hold out until our last bullet is spent. Could do with some whiskey" Commandant Pat Quinlan 
   
Made in us
Stalwart Veteran Guard Sergeant






I haven't been completely satisfied with the look of my paratroopers so i decided to dry brush them with some khaki and I'm pretty happy with the results





and i finished the Chaffee which i also think came out pretty well


"We will hold out until our last bullet is spent. Could do with some whiskey" Commandant Pat Quinlan 
   
Made in us
Stalwart Veteran Guard Sergeant






i have 10 of the viet minh painted up and i think i found a way to do their bases that i like


"We will hold out until our last bullet is spent. Could do with some whiskey" Commandant Pat Quinlan 
   
Made in ie
Buttons Should Be Brass, Not Gold!




Kildare, Ireland

Dont forget the 251...



 Strombones wrote:
Battlegroup - Because its tits.
 
   
Made in us
Stalwart Veteran Guard Sergeant






0_o

"We will hold out until our last bullet is spent. Could do with some whiskey" Commandant Pat Quinlan 
   
Made in us
Stalwart Veteran Guard Sergeant






Got a small Viet Minh force painted up and ready for some gaming against my french paratroops








"We will hold out until our last bullet is spent. Could do with some whiskey" Commandant Pat Quinlan 
   
Made in ie
Buttons Should Be Brass, Not Gold!




Kildare, Ireland

Recoilless Rifles look about right size to me...

Nice Viet Minh.

 Strombones wrote:
Battlegroup - Because its tits.
 
   
Made in us
Stalwart Veteran Guard Sergeant






thank you

"We will hold out until our last bullet is spent. Could do with some whiskey" Commandant Pat Quinlan 
   
Made in ca
Posts with Authority




I'm from the future. The future of space

Cool stuff. Love that you're including trucks. More games need trucks

Balance in pick up games? Two people, each with their own goals for the game, design half a board game on their own without knowing the layout of the board and hope it all works out. Good luck with that. The faster you can find like minded individuals who want the same things from the game as you, the better. 
   
Made in us
Stalwart Veteran Guard Sergeant






thanks. the trucks are going to be good for scenarios covering the battle of route colonial 4 and the battle of an khe

"We will hold out until our last bullet is spent. Could do with some whiskey" Commandant Pat Quinlan 
   
Made in ca
Posts with Authority




I'm from the future. The future of space

The M18's should be just over 5 feet in length, so about the height of a slightly crouching miniature, so those ones are pretty big. I think though, that with the camo netting, sand bags and some paint, they'll still look the part.

The way that I look at it is that putting on a historical miniatures game is like producing a historical war movie. You need to decide how much you care if someone in the audience says something like "the barrel on that M18 is way too long. They were only 5ft 1 in long and that thing is at least 7 feet!" or "The uniform jacket of the time had 7 brass buttons and these guys only have 6 and they're steel."

Balance in pick up games? Two people, each with their own goals for the game, design half a board game on their own without knowing the layout of the board and hope it all works out. Good luck with that. The faster you can find like minded individuals who want the same things from the game as you, the better. 
   
Made in ie
Buttons Should Be Brass, Not Gold!




Kildare, Ireland

If you are really worried on the size, just use it as an M20 as that was nearly 7ft long... and they had them...




And for comparison an M18...




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Dunno if you have seen these...





This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2014/06/07 23:03:02


 Strombones wrote:
Battlegroup - Because its tits.
 
   
Made in ca
Posts with Authority




I'm from the future. The future of space

Big P-- great pictures. I also forgot the M20 even existed. Good call on that.

Balance in pick up games? Two people, each with their own goals for the game, design half a board game on their own without knowing the layout of the board and hope it all works out. Good luck with that. The faster you can find like minded individuals who want the same things from the game as you, the better. 
   
Made in us
Stalwart Veteran Guard Sergeant






Thanks Big P, the guns i have do seem more M20 sized so i may just go that route. i have seen a couple of those photos but the one in color is interesting. Is it a South Vietnamese greyhound?

frozenwastes i get that feeling a lot with historical stuff. If someone can actually walk up to me and tell me that i did the uniforms wrong i will give them one of 2 responses. The first is to point at a table and tell them to go set down and twidle their thumbs while i play games and have fun OR i will start asking them questions about the uniforms so that i can get some blanks filled in.

Also been working on this sikorsky h-19


"We will hold out until our last bullet is spent. Could do with some whiskey" Commandant Pat Quinlan 
   
Made in ie
Buttons Should Be Brass, Not Gold!




Kildare, Ireland

The Greyhound is a French one... dont forget, most of their troops were Vietnamese and Vietnam wasnt partitioned at this point.

 Strombones wrote:
Battlegroup - Because its tits.
 
   
 
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