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Author Topic: (COMMERCIAL) Empress Miniatures' NEW Vietnam Range  (Read 384951 times)

Offline Paul @ Empress Miniatures

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Re: Empress - Hue 1968 - First Glimpse of the New Range
« Reply #525 on: May 16, 2019, 08:28:04 AM »
You can see them in a lot of pictures of the period. They are cans fixed to the MG, as mrcleh has said, to reduce stoppages.

A great touch from Empress/Paul Hicks. I was thinking about to make them, if they were not included with the miniatures.

Actually true credit should go to Ian Armstrong who did the weapons for this range as he mentioned it to me. Stating the obvious if you do not want to have the field modification on just cut it off the belt.

A little story;

We have a secret advisor in a way. In the village that we live in on the edge of the glorious Cotswolds also lives an American chap who potters about and looks after the village war memorial for the village. All unpaid. Lovely guy.  He chats to the Empress Christine when she is queuing up in the local post office. He was fascinated when she explained what was in all the boxes that she takes down every day and about 6 months ago he suggested we pop along to the village history group meeting as he was doing a talk on Vietnam. Intrigued we did and was welcomed by Pfc John Lindquist in his full Marine dress uniform. He then spent the evening talking about Tet and how he arrived at the very end and then did his tour in a firebase in the DMZ until he was bombed out then sent to recoup in logistics convoys of which he did over 100 journeys sitting in the lead vehicle. We now chat about the details of the conflict and he LOVES the figures. He especially liked the detail of the can on the ammo belt. He is currently checking out a special detail on the use of the 60mm mortar for us. Very useful contact and I am still stunned that we met in the village. Kismet?   ;)

Offline Ragnar

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Re: Empress - Hue 1968 - First Glimpse of the New Range
« Reply #526 on: May 16, 2019, 08:39:07 AM »
What a great little story.  Nice bit of serendipity.
Gods, monsters and men,
Will die together in the end.

Offline mrcleh

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Re: Empress - Hue 1968 - First Glimpse of the New Range
« Reply #527 on: May 16, 2019, 08:42:46 AM »
Nice story indeed!

And now you got me all curious as to that little detail you mentioned in connection with the 60mm mortar use. ;)

Offline Ultravanillasmurf

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Re: Empress - Hue 1968 - First Glimpse of the New Range
« Reply #528 on: May 16, 2019, 08:43:44 AM »
I don’t claim to know very much at all  :D

I’m learning too  ;)
Well my base of knowledge is (if put politely) limited and is affected by films and the writings of a former enlisted interrogator (not writing about Vietnam) so on a good day nothing ^___^.

Carlos mentions doctrine being largely unchanged since the '40s, I asked as from limited (WW2) reading individual initiative amongst the rank and file was limited. British squads broke down into two commanded by an NCO.

Was it that the USMC were better trained and four marines could be left to command themselves? Or am I misunderstanding the term "fireteam"?
« Last Edit: May 16, 2019, 08:53:59 AM by Ultravanillasmurf »

Offline Ultravanillasmurf

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Re: Empress - Hue 1968 - First Glimpse of the New Range
« Reply #529 on: May 16, 2019, 08:47:25 AM »
@Empress - please thank him from us for his insights.
« Last Edit: May 16, 2019, 08:54:20 AM by Ultravanillasmurf »

Offline Paul @ Empress Miniatures

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Re: Empress - Hue 1968 - First Glimpse of the New Range
« Reply #530 on: May 16, 2019, 08:55:43 AM »
@Empress - please thank him from us for his insight.

Don't worry he will be bought a few pints. ;)

He told us some very funny stories about his time out there. For example when he was sent to recuperate from his nervous twitch he was ordered onto the columns. The sergeant sent him to get into a vehicle and he asked which one as they were all green! The sergeant said it was the one with the red container on the back!!!
He actually took a picture of it. When he asked the driver what was in it the driver said we lead the column so its red so they can see it and its full of bread. "What money?" ......"no white bread." It was considered totally expendable as everything else was necessary such as ammunition so was at the front to either find mines or get shot at.  Not sure how that helped his twitch. Tough love  lol 

Offline carlos marighela

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Re: Empress - Hue 1968 - First Glimpse of the New Range
« Reply #531 on: May 16, 2019, 08:59:32 AM »
Actually true credit should go to Ian Armstrong who did the weapons for this range as he mentioned it to me. Stating the obvious if you do not want to have the field modification on just cut it off the belt.

A little story;

We have a secret advisor in a way. In the village that we live in on the edge of the glorious Cotswolds also lives an American chap who potters about and looks after the village war memorial for the village. All unpaid. Lovely guy.  He chats to the Empress Christine when she is queuing up in the local post office. He was fascinated when she explained what was in all the boxes that she takes down every day and about 6 months ago he suggested we pop along to the village history group meeting as he was doing a talk on Vietnam. Intrigued we did and was welcomed by Pfc John Lindquist in his full Marine dress uniform. He then spent the evening talking about Tet and how he arrived at the very end and then did his tour in a firebase in the DMZ until he was bombed out then sent to recoup in logistics convoys of which he did over 100 journeys sitting in the lead vehicle. We now chat about the details of the conflict and he LOVES the figures. He especially liked the detail of the can on the ammo belt. He is currently checking out a special detail on the use of the 60mm mortar for us. Very useful contact and I am still stunned that we met in the village. Kismet?   ;)

Small world! As I child I lived in Bourton on the Water. Perfect spot for gamers. Laurie Lee, the SCW veteran and noted author used to take his constitutionals along the Windrush, Peter Scott, the chap that designed the Western Approaches camouflage scheme lived in the village and of course there was the model village. Mind you, I’m not suggesting you upscale to 1/16 figures to fight your way through the model village. :)
Em dezembro de '81
Botou os ingleses na roda
3 a 0 no Liverpool
Ficou marcado na história
E no Rio não tem outro igual
Só o Flamengo é campeão mundial
E agora seu povo
Pede o mundo de novo

Offline carlos marighela

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Re: Empress - Hue 1968 - First Glimpse of the New Range
« Reply #532 on: May 16, 2019, 09:07:27 AM »
Well my base of knowledge is (if put politely) limited and is affected by films and the writings of a former enlisted interrogator (not writing about Vietnam) so on a good day nothing ^___^.

Carlos mentions doctrine being largely unchanged since the '40s, I asked as from limited (WW2) reading individual initiative amongst the rank and file was limited. British squads broke down into two commanded by an NCO.

Was it that the USMC were better trained and four marines could be left to command themselves? Or am I misunderstanding the term "fireteam"?

If I can find it when I get home I’ll dig out a paper on US Army squad organisation and the perambulations it took between the war and now. The central issue being span of control. Fireteams were in part something they picked up from the USMC but trial and error suggested that 12-13 man squads were too big for effective C&C.

On paper each of those USMC fireteams was headed up by a corporal (in the real world, what anyone else would call alance corporal). That’s not to say they were independent entities any more than the rifle, scout or gun group of a contemporary Australian section were. They were more convenient groupings that could act in concert to create fire and movement.

Offline Paul @ Empress Miniatures

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Re: Empress - Hue 1968 - First Glimpse of the New Range
« Reply #533 on: May 16, 2019, 09:10:38 AM »
Small world! As I child I lived in Bourton on the Water. Perfect spot for gamers. Laurie Lee, the SCW veteran and noted author used to take his constitutionals along the Windrush, Peter Scott, the chap that designed the Western Approaches camouflage scheme lived in the village and of course there was the model village. Mind you, I’m not suggesting you upscale to 1/16 figures to fight your way through the model village. :)

How weird!!!

Bourton on the Water is a real tourist magnet so we rarely bother although it does have a good model train shop that sells terrain  ;)

The model village is still there although the house prices have increased a little  lol

The Windrush flows just below the bottom of our back garden. 

Offline Ultravanillasmurf

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Re: Empress - Hue 1968 - First Glimpse of the New Range
« Reply #534 on: May 16, 2019, 11:11:15 AM »
On paper each of those USMC fireteams was headed up by a corporal (in the real world, what anyone else would call alance corporal). That’s not to say they were independent entities any more than the rifle, scout or gun group of a contemporary Australian section were. They were more convenient groupings that could act in concert to create fire and movement.
Thanks, that makes sense.

So the four man fireteams would be given separate "orders" (covering fire, overwatch, move etc.), but would have to remain in shouting distance of their NCO.

Offline Silent Invader

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Re: Empress - Hue 1968 - First Glimpse of the New Range
« Reply #535 on: May 16, 2019, 02:12:36 PM »
You can see them in a lot of pictures of the period. They are cans fixed to the MG, as mrcleh has said, to reduce stoppages.

A great touch from Empress/Paul Hicks. I was thinking about to make them, if they were not included with the miniatures.

They a great bit of detail
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Offline Ultravanillasmurf

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Re: Empress - Hue 1968 - First Glimpse of the New Range
« Reply #536 on: May 16, 2019, 02:17:05 PM »
Well spotted.

Offline Paul @ Empress Miniatures

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Re: Empress - Hue 1968 - First Glimpse of the New Range
« Reply #537 on: May 16, 2019, 03:38:14 PM »
Well here is the first of our command packs for the Vietnam, Tet offensive, Marines, with special emphasis on the battle of Hue 1968.

This pack includes, from left to right,

Lt Col. Cheatham who served as the CO of the 2nd Battalion 5th Marine regiment.

Dale Dye who became famous for his work in Hollywood epics such as Platoon, Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers and Last of the Mohicans etc.

Here are some interesting details of his service from Wikipedia (obviously its correct from that source! )
 Dale Dye did three tours of duty.

He had hoped to attend Annapolis but after failing the entrance exam three times – "my math and science skills were weak, and my English skills were huge" – and having exhausted his family's meager funds getting through military academy, he enlisted in the USMC in January 1964. His unit was among the first to deploy to Vietnam in 1965. Officers in the unit noticed his keen observational skills and literary interest and encouraged him to reclassify as a combat correspondent. He became one of a very few Marine combat correspondents. He sent stories to military publications and to the home town newspapers of fellow Marines. As a correspondent, he saw more battle than many low-ranking infantrymen. Dye developed an immense respect for the grunts who took the brunt of any action.

Dye was wounded during the Tet Offensive in 1968. While recuperating in a rear area, the 2nd Battalion 3rd Marines, the unit he had traveled with, was preparing for Operation Ford. Dye persuaded the battalion commander to let him accompany the battalion as a war correspondent. During the next week, the battalion engaged in a number of fire fights with units of the North Vietnamese PAVN. On 18 March 1968, Dye replaced an assistant machine gunner who had been killed. The machine gun position was isolated forward of the remainder of the battalion. Although he was wounded, Dye exposed himself to "intense enemy fire" to retrieve ammunition for the machine gun to help hold off PAVN soldiers during an all-night firefight. During other engagements, he exposed himself to enemy fire in order to rescue several wounded Marines and a Navy corpsman. As a result of his actions, he was awarded the Bronze Star with combat V for heroism.

Captain Christmas. His unit captured the Citadel and lowered the famous and one off North Vietnamese unification flag and raised the Stars and Bars.
 Next to him is Gunny Sergeant Frank Thomas who carried the Stars and Stripes and is seen getting it from inside his flak jacket.

We are also going to release two flag sheets for the Vietnam conflict that include these flags and some others. Details in the not to distant future.

I have also put up the reference pictures that we used.
« Last Edit: May 16, 2019, 09:45:06 PM by Empress Miniatures »

Offline Ash

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Re: Empress - Hue 1968 - First Glimpse of the New Range
« Reply #538 on: May 16, 2019, 04:22:32 PM »
Awesome. Which weapon is Dale Dye carrying?

Offline Paul @ Empress Miniatures

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Re: Empress - Hue 1968 - First Glimpse of the New Range
« Reply #539 on: May 16, 2019, 04:34:01 PM »
M1 Carbine.