Painting river colors in Vietnam

[MGH]

Pretty much what the title says, gentlemen.

I am well into a 6mm project of the Vietnam War but not the usual American focus. I'm doing the fall of Vietnam after the Paris peace accords. So North v.s South Vietnamese. Though some might think the South collapsed easily, the actual story is quite different. There was a lot of tough bloody fighting.
One stat alone should help make the point:  The Americans lost about 55,000 deaths in a decade there. The South Vietnamese military lost 52,000 dead in the first two years alone after the Paris treaty.
And the final North offensive to take Saigon and bring the war to a close was a hard slog with constant battles.

Anyhow I stray -   I have painted a bunch of sampans and a few PBRs for riverine scenarios and since I mount everything on stands I'm trying to figure out what colors to use to portray the water on the base. Somehow a blue might not be appropriate. I googled some photos but those were just that photos - that showed quite a spectrum.

Anybody out there painted water for Vietnam games?   I'm open to your suggestions.  Thanks in advance!

[Commander Roj]

I had a similar problem for Vietnam Air War. Initially I painted the rivers on my home made mat an amateurish blue. Subsequently after further investigation I changed that to brown. There is a LOT of silt in those rivers!

[carlos marighela]

Obviously dependent on height, light, atmospherics, angle etc, etc for scale representation but from personal observation of rivers around and through Saigon and up towards the border around Cu Chi they range, up close, from greenish brown to the colour of shite.  Similar deal in the North between Hanoi and Haiphong. The Red River...... isn't.

Seen from the air  that will vary.

[MGH]

Thanks guys.

My other issue is - all the rivers I have in my terrain collection are blue. So if I paint these boat bases a muddy color they will stand out like sore thumbs on those blue river tiles.  What's a poor gamer to do. I have no ambition to make all new brown river tiles.

[Cat]

Well, the Mobile Riverine Forces certainly lived up to their title of 'the brown-water navy'!

[MGH]

That they did!    But they didn't have to paint their rivers like I have to 

[carlos marighela]

Think of them as miniature cruise liners moving from place to place surrounded by their own cloud of effluent.

[MGH]

So if my stands for the sampans are brown on a river of blue, the effluent would be...............oh, dear. I think I get it.

[carlos marighela]

It's purely an aesthetic choice that ultimately, only you need to be happy with. Paint the bases to match your rivers, or paint the rivers to match the bases. If you use the rivers for other things and can't be bothered repainting them then the choice is simple.

As for effluent, I think one of the most extreme examples of an adventure sport I've seen was a group of young lads jumping off a bridge into the Song River in Saigon/ HCM City. The water where they were swimming was putrid. That said, I've swum in the Piscinão de Ramos in Rio without any ill effect and the water there is quite literally body temperature. Certainly going to kill tinea, just don't swallow.

[Paul @ Empress Miniatures]

This is my colour as per the Brown Water Navy.

 

[MGH]

Looks good!   Sadly all the rivers I currently own for terrain are blue. Not sure I'm up for having to make a brand new bunch of brown river sections just for Vietnam. I will have to think on it.

[FifteensAway]

Blue rivers in the "real" world, in my experience, are pretty rare.  They tend to be either green from the reflected light of the plants along its banks or a muddy brown (the muddy brown varies based on the local dirt source turned to mud).  Or clear water in the healthiest of rivers.

I would opt for a brown river with some green elements - especially in more stagnant pools of the river. 

So, maybe repainting your rivers might be a better deal than you suspect.  As others say, up to you.  And you seem to have more or less made up your mind to stick with blue.

[MGH]

Well, yes and no. I don't want to redo all my rivers - yes!

But  no - I'd like the river scenarios for my Vietnam games to have brown rivers.  So I went and bought a lot of brownish felt pieces I can cut up as I see fit and no painting needed. I will simply have felt rivers then. It's not like I'm taking this stuff to a big time convention to compete with some of the spectacular terrain boards we often see. This is just for our little group games.

Thanks everybody though for all your replies to this thread!