Hoagie's Vietnam war in 15mm (New US figures painted- 2025-08-08)

[Hoagie]

Okay, so I'm very happy to have found this forum, and as a step in trying to get off certain social media apps I'm getting back into "old internet", i.e forums and blogs. I'm also ressurrecting my until recently rather inactive blog for this purpose, have a peek for my almost finished 10mm GNW horse&musket project.

As a long time fan of Warwick Kinrade's excellent ww2 ruleset Battlegroup, I was very much intrigued by his latest ruleset Nam'68. It sure reads like something I haven't tried before, especially the way it creates non-symmetrical battles.

It will be some time before I'm ready to set up a game. I don't have any suitable jungle terrain pieces lying around, tho I'm slowly working on trying to rectify that. What I have finished is a fire team of US infantry, and a handful of Vietcong fighters, with more on the way. For Nam'68, that's enough figures to get a game going. I've never been closer to start a project in 20mm scale (so many great options for the Vietnam war), but I eventually went with Flames of war's 15mm 'Nam range, as they are reasonably easy to get a hold on in the EU. With that said I'm also pleasantly surprised by their quality, great looking sculpts all around!





I've always loved the look of the Sikorsky H-34, so while the rules only gives specific stats for Hueys', this lil' guy will do the airlifting in USMC based games. As I haven't found suitable plastic model kit in 1/100 scale (there are ones in 1/87 which I may well get at some point), I got a friend to 3d print one for me. Decals come from https://helicopter-decals.de/



For my painting recipes, Michael Farnworth's book "Modeling and painting Vietnam Wargames" has been very useful, and I can wholeheartedly recommend it.

 
That's it, for now. I'll try to come back soon with more finished figures.

[Altius]

Beautiful work on those! I hope you post more photos as you go.

I love the H-34 you’ve done. I built a similar H-34 for my 28mm marines, only to realize that the model kit may be a bit too fragile for gaming and the rotors keep snapping off. I’m mulling over some more durable remedies for that.

[Hoagie]

Thank you! To be honest I'm quite pleased myself, it has quite inspiring to get into a (for me) completely new wargaming era, with new uniforms, new history to sink my teeth into. Annoytingly enough I'm out of plastic 20mm bases atm, and so has a bunch of finished minis who only needs basing lying on the table.

On the subject of rotors breaking of, to be fair they shouldn't be visible on a running helicopter, if you can see them while in a hot LZ you're in trouble. The 3d printed ones I got with the 3d print are neither straight nor sturdy, so I might make my own in plasticard. We'll see.

[Ady]

Love it! My favourite period in my favourite scale

I've been trying to get hold of a copy of that book for a while now, but the website has gone dark, and the only place I've seen a off seems dodgy as all out...

[Hoagie]

I got Modelling Vietnam Wargames from Caliver Books who is the UK publisher of it nowadays, which a serious business and very good, their webpage is a bit... vintage.

[Ady]

....The number of Times I've tried the search engine on there and not found it...

Now.. One look.. and there.

Sheesh. Still, thats ordered now.. so... Yay!

[cuprum]

I thought you could strengthen the fragile blades of the model helicopter by gluing metal spokes of stiff thin wire to the underside. If you have the right skills, you could even cut a groove for them on the underside with an engraving machine. Or cut a circle of a suitable diameter from a transparent material, like plexiglass, which would represent the rotating blades in action.

https://scalemodels-ru.translate.goog/articles/3981-imitacija-vrashhenija-vinta--video.html?_x_tr_sch=http&_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=ru&_x_tr_pto=wapp

[Hoagie]

Or cut a circle of a suitable diameter from a transparent material, like plexiglass, which would represent the rotating blades in action.

Thank you for the video, this is definitely something I've considered!

[mikedemana]

I used transparency material printed with a blurred rotor blade in motion design. Here's a pic:



Mike Demana

[CapnJim]

Looks good so far.  We just finished the 2nd game in our Nam '68 Tour of Duty - see my "Vietnam Stuff" thread...

[Hoagie]

Progress is slow as always but I finally got the UH-34 in the photo booth, as well as two prone VC fighters. I find the VC use of all black clothing quite considerate, a pleasant reprieve from Peadot and Denison smocks.

[CapnJim]

Looks good so far.  Keep at it!

Love that King Bee....

[Hoagie]

Progress has been slower than usual as a shipment containing bases has been delayed since early february. Peter Pig on the other hand, ships lightning fast, fantastic service as usual. (if only they could get some more EU friendly shipping or EU stockist).

As you can see, Indochina scenery is in the pipeline. I haven't seen these painted up, so I would appreciate any tips for links with that.

[Hoagie]

Finally got around to basing a few Vietcong fighters I painted ages ago, still issues with an order I put in back in january that hasn't been sent, including a lot of plastic bases I was planning on using for this project. Anyway, I've resigned to go with metal washers for now though I find them just a smidge to thin to easily pick up for skirmish level play but eh, one can always go back and rebase them later.

Next up is basing another batch of US and after that it's civilians. The weather has at last proceeded into spray can season here in the frozen north, so there will be terrain to come too.

[mikedemana]

These are looking great! I'm moving along on my project with you in a parallel, 28mm universe... 

Mike Demana