Elephant Grass, Take 2 (Three??)

 

    One of my 28mm Vietnam figures trying to find his way through my 3rd version of elephant grass

My readers here on my blog gave me a thumbs up on my first attempt at elephant grass for my 28mm Vietnam. Over on the Lead Adventure Forum, though, some commenters echoed some concerns that I had about how my first few bases came out. The blades were too wide. It was way out of scale. The stalks of the "grass" didn't mimic what pictures of elephant grass from Vietnam depicted. So, I decided to do a "Take 2."

    Snipping off the cat tail itself, I thought these O Scale JTT scenery products might work

 

The more I looked at the JTT Cat Tails scenics handing from their hooks at Hobby Lobby, the more I thought they might do a better job of looking like grass instead of some random jungle plant. Yes, I would have to cut off the one brown cat tail amongst the green stems shooting up, but that would be easy. I figured that four of them would look right on one of the 1.5"wooden discs. So, I flocked up one of the discs first, then drilled holes with a pin vice where the stems of the plant would go. 

    

    I trimmed off part of the bottom stem & put 5 plants per base, filling the gaps with JTT bushes

After putting four of them a disc, I decided the ground area looked pretty blank and I would need more vegetation on the disk. I added some of the green bushes I used in the first attempt at elephant grass, placed in between each stalk and also in the center of the disk. Next, I added green flocking tufts in the gaps between the bushes. I showed it to Jenny, and she echoed my concern that it looked a little bare. Plus, she said the fact that the cat tail piece went straight up then suddenly flared out halfway up looked odd. It didn't look like long stems of grass. 

    This view from above shows how there are 3 levels - grass tufts, JTT bushes, & the trimmed cat tails

So, on version 2.1 I cut the cat tails down and also added in a fifth piece in the center instead of a bush. I still put the buses in between each cat tail piece and the tufts between them. I liked it a lot better. I dry brushed the tips of the stems the same Maple Sugar that I had done the plastic plants in my first attempt. I showed it to Jenny and she agreed -- definitely better. Neither her nor I were happy about the very "stepped" appearance. You have the flocking tufts that go up a certain height. Next you have the bushes that go up higher. Finally, you have the cat tail pieces which go up more than twice as high as the bushes. if all those stalks were intermixed amongst each other, that might look okay. However, I still wasn't 100% sure this was my elephant grass solution.

 

    I had never heard of 22mm tall grass tufts! I like how lush & dense they are (& easy to make!)

Enter Version 3 -- or at least 3.0, haha! I visited Michigan Toy Soldier with my friend Mike a day or so later. Mike had to go up to Michigan to pick up some painted figures from the amazing Ted Bender. I pitched a visit another hour and a half north to the store as part of the trip, and I'd go along and buy him lunch. He agree. Well, at the store, which has an amazing selection of modeling materials and paints, I found 22mm high tufts from Green Stuff World. Think about that. The minis I'm using for Vietnam are 28mm. These tufts are almost as tall (and would be based on a wooden disk). I took one look at them and grabbed all three blister packs of them they had hanging from the pegs.

    Looking down, you can see how much thicker they are, plus they have a little lighter yellow color, too

I took it to the counter and explained what I was looking for to the store manager. He opened one of the blisters up and I pulled out the painted figure I'd brought along from the Crucible Crush Black Sun range. We both agreed that the flocking looked good coming up over his chest. Honestly, I had never seen a tuft 22mm tall! Actually, Green Stuff World carries four different colors of them. Thankfully, all three they had hanging on the peg were the same color! I picked those up, along with a number of other scenic items. They didn't have any of the miniatures that I was looking for, so I didn't come home with anything but flocking or scenic items.

    I bought mine at Michigan Toy Soldier, but your local shop might be able to order them

For Version 3.0, I simply did my normal flocking job on three wooden discs. Once that was done, I opened up a pack of the 22mm tufts and found that the diameter of each piece was a bit smaller than I thought. I ended up having to put four tufts on each circular 1.5" base. I did the math and the three packs I bought of these tufts would cover 16 bases (4 pieces of elephant grass terrain?). That should be enough for just about any game. I am still thinking of dry brushing the tops of these stems of grass with the same Maple Sugar color. I'm curious to hear what my readers and those on the Lead Adventure Forum think, though.

    One final look at Version 2 -- which do you like best? Version 2 or 3??

    

Which version do you like best? I really want to hear your vote! The original, very tall but broad elephant grass? The stepped Version 2 using the JTT Cat Tails? Or Version 3.0 with the 22mm tufts? Please respond in the comments if you have time -- I would certainly appreciate it!

 

    For those who don't know, here's what it is SUPPOSED to look like...

Meanwhile, what else is on my painting desk? The next batch of orcs (and armored troll) are very close to being finished. You will probably see a post on them within a day or so. I also have more terrain besides the elephant grass that I am working on. I have the crashed spaceship sections primed and ready to be painted on my desk. Once I get this batch of orcs off of the table, I will have room to work on those. So, they're next, then my penultimate group of orcs. Woo-hoo! Almost done with another painting project!!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 6
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 15

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 0
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 2

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 0
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 5 

King of the Hill with Dragon Rampant (2nd Game)

    My 'Bonefish Band' advances to seize the central hill before Mike S's Undead army can do so

Everyone had enough fun last week in our initial game of Dragon Rampant, 2nd Edition, that they were willing to play it again this Sunday. We changed venues to Keith's Man Cave (or Orcafinn's Basement). That chopped off a couple feet in table width, so we picked a "king of the hill" type scenario from the book to focus the action on each narrower 2.5' wide by 4.5' deep area. The armies were also reduced from 36AP to 30AP. Most players tinkered with their previous lists and brought the same army as last week. Andy changed to Undead, though, as did the opponent for my Bonefish Band -- Mike S. Joel was using his own orc figures rescued from storage, while his brother Allen did the same with his medieval knights. 

    Once again, we had 8 players fighting across the tabletop in four different matchups

A large hill was placed in the center of each pair of opposing armies, along with a few other pieces. In the scenario, you received 1 victory point for each turn that you had more units than your opponent touching the central hill. So, there was incentive to advance forward and seize it first and force your opponent to try to knock you off. I deployed my two units of goblin archers in front, as usual, with the armored orcs on either side of them. The second line was composed of my wolfpack on the left, commander and his elite bodyguard in the center, and trolls on the right. Four of my seven units are subject to "wild charge," which means if they are in range of an enemy unit at the start of the turn, they will most likely charge (usually 5+ on 2d6). I had pre-measured and knew that even my speedy wolfpack couldn't reach the hill on turn 1. 

    My necromancer opponent, Mike, suffered from poor rolls to activate his troops - especially at first

Mike's Undead army had a Level 4 wizard, which allowed him to choose from four "colors" of spells. That meant he had a possibility of getting a unit there on turn one, but his spellcaster failed his roll to cast Teleport. If he had hurled a unit forward magically, and then had the unit advance onto the hill, he could have stolen a march. However, Mike's activation rolls were absolutely abysmal early on, and continued to be subpar most of the game. Three of his four units failed to do anything on turn 1, and at least 2-3 did nothing on turn 2, as well. This allowed my faster-moving armored orcs to barely make it to the hill on turn 2, while he had none. His goblin warg riders (Why are they in an Undead army? Oh yeah...more bones to gnaw on...ha, ha!) barely nicked the edge of the hill, wisely staying behind its crest out of sight of my goblin archers. On turn 2, the Bonefish Band was up 1-0 in VPs.

    Armored orcs of the Bonefish Band have begun to seize the hill, while the rest of my army moves up

On turn 3, I had three of my four wild charging units in range of enemy. The trolls were just out of range, as I'd given them the fantasy ability "Slow" this game, reducing their move from 10" to 8". This seemed more troll-like, and took care of one of those six points I had to give up to field my army. My rolls took a brief hiatus, too, with both units of armored orcs staying put and failing to charge (rolled less than a "5" on 2d6...twice!). However, the wolfpack went howling in against one of his units of armored skeletons. Mike's combat rolls were not suffering from the same malaise his activation and spellcasting ones were, though. Each of us took two casualties, and my wolves were driven off by his band of skeletons. Under the rules, "Undead" troops round up on melee casualties but do not do so on missile hits. However, they do not suffer becoming "battered" from failing morale checks. Only if they fail checks badly enough (score of "0" or less), though, do they melt away and are removed from the board. 

    While some goblins linger in the rear, the army firmly controls the hill & faces down the enemy

Much to my surprise, Mike did not charge my orc "Bellicose Foot" who are actually much less effective when being charged as opposed to when initiating it. Instead, his heavy foot units formed "Wall of Spears" and awaited my charges next turn. That surrendered control of the hill to me for another turn. We were up 2-0, now. On the following turn, the armored orcs went pounding in against the skeleton bands opposite them. We won both fights, and pushed the skeletons further away from the hill. The wolves followed up against last turn's opponent. Once again, the skeleton heavy foot proved deadly in defense, and my pack was down to two models. They failed their courage test and loped to the rear. Frustratingly, the trolls -- my stars of the battle last game -- continued to sit there and not activate to move forward. We joked that they were checking out the "pretty birds" in the forest next to them ("Ooh, lookee, Bill! Ain't it pretty?"). The goblin archers and my commander's bodyguard took possession of the hill with the departure of the orcs.

    On the other battelfield, Joel's orcs struggle to find a winning combination against Jenny's Vikings 

Mike cleverly tried a gambit to get kill my army commander on his turn. He magically swapped positions of the bodyguard and the armored orcs who had charged off the hill last turn. I actually didn't mind. Elite foot is very tough on defense while Bellicose foot is more vulnerable. He charged in and surprisingly killed two of the six bodyguards. The commander and his hand-picked orcs savaged the enemy in return, though, and the magical force binding the skeletons together dissipated and their bones fell to the ground. Mike's warg riders (Light Riders) were unable to cause any casualties with their shooting as the armor of my elites and orcs were too high. Once again, the Bonefish Band retained possession of the hill and we were up 3-0, now.

    Chances of pushing the Bonefish Band off the hill diminish by the turn for Mike's Undead

In addition to rolling poorly to activate his troops, Mike was not doing much better on his Courage tests. His damaged units of skeletons began to score 0 or less and disappear from the board. Meanwhile, my wolfpack was the only unit in danger of being eliminated, though the number of casualties the orcs were suffering had begun to mount. The goblin archers were unable to really play an effective role in the battle. One unit did occupy the hill, though, while the other kept failing to activate and also struggled to find a shooting lane around the central hill. Although the orcs earned a victory point for turn 4, we also saw both of our units of armored orcs barreling for the rear. 

    Tom, at bottom, cleverly tweaked his Bog People army & aggressively attacked Andy's Undead 

Once your units have suffered enough casualties, it gets hard to pass Courage tests. Units suffer a -1 to their Courage test roll per figure they've lost. So, it is hard to get your badly damaged troops to stand in DR! I really like the game's morale mechanics. A unit may get lucky and pass one check after taking grievous casualties, but eventually it is going to fail. And once they're battered, each time they fail again after that, they take an additional casualty (which increase the chance they won't pass on subsequent turns). So many other rules sets see troops battling to the last man. Dragon Rampant definitely does not. Troops fail morale and run from battle, just like in the fantasy novels and movies!

    Tom's beastmen and wizards advance up the hill against Andy's 'Tomb Kings' army

Mike had one final magical gambit left to play and did seize control of the hill for one turn. However, his warg riders (who had been teleported forward by the necromancer) were surrounded by four or more of my units. One by one, they chased the traitorous goblins and their wolf mounts off the hill and towards the edge of his board. We eventually earned our fifth VP token and the game ended. The Bonefish Band was firmly in control of the hill and had 4-5 units remaining while the Undead were down to just two unts.

In the other games, my Lizard Wizard opponent from last game, Tom, was also facing Undead (controlled by Andy). Tom had reworked his army after our game and came up with a surprising tweak. He added four Level 1 spellcasters to his army. This proved amazingly useful as he could teleport units onto their central hill or otherwise used magic to put his troops in advantageous positions. Andy was unable to mount a concerted push towards the central hill. It appeared that Tom's Bog People had possession of it most of the game, much like my Bonefish Band did. Tom and Andy's game was the first to finish. It appeared that the Lizard Wizards gave the Undead a good drubbing. Andy admitted he didn't really pay attention to the scenario objectives, which put him behind the eight ball early. 

    Mike S's Undead finally get underway and advance towards the hill ready to contest it with my orcs

Keith was using a retooled version of his orcs and goblins in a rematch against Allen. I tried to get him to switch up and play a different opponent. He insisted that since he was using his new "old" army and it wouldn't be a replay of last week. Allen was fielding his old Warhammer Brettonian army rescued from storage. I'd helped him create a list which featured three units of Elite Riders (knights) as the bulk of his force. He also had a unit of spearmen, archers, and insisted on a wizard, as well. Allen sent his mounted troops forward to seize the hill first, but Keith cleverly used the knight's impetuousness to their disadvantage. He forced him into charging a solid block of pikemen and a unit of foot located in the woods. Any successes Allen did have were pounced upon by Keith's waiting giant lizards (Greater Warbeasts). 

When Allen had lost all three of his knight units, the handwriting was on the wall. Keith was able to mop up the rest of his army and seize control of the hill, forcing an end to the game. Perhaps when I built Allen's list for him, I should have given him more foot units. He insisted on the wizard, though, which I think hurt him. I still feel spellcasters in DR! are under-powered and potentially not worth the points. Allen could have used some more foot units to screen off his own knights off from the enemy. That way, he could spring his wild charges only when he was ready. We are learning the game, though. For a simple "big skirmish" game, there are a lot of tactical nuance in these rules.

    Although Mike is smiling, his dice rolls aren't giving him much to be happy about early on...!

It wasn't a good night to be a Sams brother, apparently. Allen's brother Joel was also playing an old rescued Warhammer army, this one of orcs and goblins. This one had far fewer painted miniatures, though. So, I struggled to build it up to 30AP list using the troops he had on hand. I did give him two units of orc "mixed weapons" -- spear and bow combined into one unit, though. I was curious how they would work out. Joel said he liked how they performed. His opponent, Jenny, leading her Vikings, admitted they savaged her units with bowfire once or twice. However, Jenny quickly took control of the hill with her two units of heavy riders and never really relinquished it. Joel's army had seven units, but four of them were missile troops. He probably lacked enough attack troops to charge in and drive the Vikings off the hill. 

The Vikings were able to triumph and suddenly we looked around and saw all four games were done -- only two hours or so after we'd started! Dragon Rampant plays very quickly. I had suggested the king of the hill scenario in the rulebook to Keith, but perhaps we should have just done a straight up like last week, instead? At least a couple of the players didn't really wrap their heads around the fact they had to advance quickly and contest the hill. And Mike's failed activations early on meant he couldn't get his admittedly slower troops moving to seize the objective in time. All of those games ended up being lopsided in score. I think I will recommend us to play a more straight up battle next time.

    Zooming in on Jenny & Joel's battle, as the Vikings advance toward the hill in strength

 I was happy with how my tweaked Bonefish Band performed. I needed to give up six army points to get down to 30AP. I started by giving both goblin archers the fantasy trait "Weak." That means they'd roll one less die in attacks or shooting than normal -- not a big disadvantage, I figured, for -1AP each. I also removed "Large" from the goblin  units, as well (two more points back).  I added "Cowardly" to both armored orc units (-1AP each), meaning they'd retreat a full move instead of a half move. Since Bellicose Foot is vulnerable to counter-attack, I reasoned this might actually be an advantage! The final tweak was adding the "Brutal" fantasy trait to my commander. Andy had done that for his orc commander last week and it made a lot of sense. I paid for that point by giving the trolls the "Slow" fantasy trait, as mentioned before. These minor changes allowed me to keep the same seven units that I felt performed so well in the last game. That's one of the things I like about the rules. There is a nice tool kit in them to create the fantasy army you want to represent.

Probably the coolest part was that everyone played their own army with their own miniatures this time. Getting us to that point with DR! certainly didn't take long! Apparently, I was the only player who had to paint their 28mm fantasy army from scratch for DR! Everyone else was using figures they already had, including Saga armies old Warhammer armies, or even figures from role-playing. Now that my orcs are nearly painted, I am seriously considering buying figures for a new army. Perhaps Elves? I could field them as Light Foot (who are very effective troops in DR!) and give them the Mixed Weapons rule which allows them to shoot. That seems very Lord of the Rings-like to me. So, who knows? Perhaps soon you will see pictures of new 28mm miniatures I bought...haha!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 6
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 15

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 0
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 2

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 0
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 4 

More Armored Orcs for the Bonefish Band

    9 more armored orcs for the 'Bonefish Band' - my orc & goblin army for Dragon Rampant

Some of the miniatures that I bought for my Dragon Rampant orc & goblin army from my friend Jeff were primed or even partially painted. I held off painting them to make sure I had my own way of doing them down. When 2026 dawned, I decided to get them ready as my first batch of orcs for the year. I wasn't sure if I should start from scratch and repaint everything? Should I leave some of what Jeff painted "as is"? In the end, I decided not to re-prime them, but otherwise to mostly paint over them completely. About half had only primer on them, some had their armor done, while one or two were even further along. 

    These are from 28mm orcs from the 'Ragnarok' line by Gripping Beast -- I really love these figs!

Jeff had given spears to eight of the nine figures. The empty handed orc received a sword to even out the weapons some. For some reason, I decided to use white glue and temporarily affix them to cardboard squares, which is how I have traditionally held onto miniatures while painting them. For this army, though, I've been putting them on their round base and simply holding onto that. I honestly have no idea why I glued these to cardboard...haha! Anyway, the first step was to paint my base Walnut Brown flesh on the orcs. I followed that up with the two dry brushes of Raw Sienna and Khaki, and then went to work on their armor.

    Close up of one batch -- I like the orc with the 2-handed grip on his spear & snarl on his face!

It kind of pained me to paint over Jeff's chainmail he'd done on some of them, but I didn't want the armor of this batch of orcs to look different from the rest of the army. I have to admit, his armor looked nice, but I like mine with the Iron Wind Steel as a base coat better. I was also painting their helmets at the same time while doing the armor. I really do like the sheer variety of helmets that these Gripping Beast orcs from the Ragnarok line are sculpted with. I feel it really adds to their rag-tag appearance. This is probably helped by the variety of tunic, pants, and cloak colors that I use. No two figures in a batch tend to have the same tunic color (except for the warlord's bodyguard, who were painted semi-uniform). The same holds true for shields and even pouches at their waist. I usually use four different colors, mixing them up on each orc.

    Middle & orc on right had their shields 'brush painted,' while the rest were with my micron pens

While painting these nine figures, I actually got a chance to play my first DR! game with the Bonefish Band, as I call my horde. It dawned on my while painting that I really didn't need these figures to field the army. What's more, there are at least two more batches worth unpainted orcs and goblins in the drawer (if not three). So, why even paint them? Well, there's always the chance I may want to field two forces using my orcs and goblins for an evening of gaming. Not all of the Sunday Evening group have their own armies. If I have enough for two, I could lend one of them out, right? I like having nicely painted miniatures on the tabletop, and I'm pretty happy with how they've turned out! Especially in our skirmish games, all of the figures on the table are mine. So, why not paint all of these?

    Speaking of shields, here is the obligatory 'shield shot' of all nine lined up in a row

I did my usual "tribal-themed" designs on each shield for this batch, too. I was reading my National Geography History magazine recently and had to do a double take. There was an article about ancient scripts that have yet to be deciphered, such as Linear A, Rapa Nui (Easter Island), and early Elamite. They reminded me quite a bit of the Google Image I had downloaded with supposedly tribal patterns and designs. I may have to pull up and save an image of each of these scripts to use for future projects. They were all pictograph based and struck me immediately as being possibilities for future shield designs on some project!

    Close up of the last three orcs ready to create some mayhem on the battlefields on Sunday evening!

So, what else is on my painting desk? Would you believe...more armored orcs? I guess it didn't dawn on my how high a proportion of the miniatures I bought from Jeff were armored as opposed to unarmored. I know that I just said that I already have more than enough troops for a DR! force, but I may actually end up buying more figures from the Ragnarok line. These would be unarmored goblin warriors (not archers), though. I have only about half a dozen of this variety, and I need quite a bit more for skirmish games using Sellswords and Spellslingers. Most scenarios differentiate between goblins, who are less powerful, than orcs. I need more ordinary goblin warriors -- I DO have plenty of archers.

    Final look at this batch of orcs posed on my brand new 'Blood Moon' stone Cigar Box battle mat

I should go downstairs and count how many I have remaining, but I don't want to be disappointed. As much as I'm enjoying this project, I am just about burn out on painting armored orcs. Side note -- some of these may actually be armored goblins, but the Ragnarok line didn't do a clear size difference between the orcs and goblins. So, I am considering anyone wearing armor an orc, while those without or goblins. It certainly makes it easy to tell them on sight! I'm also working on some terrain at the moment. My next Star Wars scenario will involve investigating a mysterious alien spacecraft that has crashed on Tatooine. So, I am making a half dozen or so bases of crashed spacecraft sections. So, look for those soon!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 6
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 15

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 0
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 2

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 0
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 4 

Rescuing a Downed Chopper Crew in Vietnam (Scenario Playtest)

    Pfc. Carter of the Big Red One searches a patch of jungle for the missing & injured helicopter crew

After the flurry of playtests of Surviving 'Nam in November, things have been kind of quiet here on my blog about Vietnam. I have been busy writing the campaign rules section, as well as researching the squad organization for the various nationalities that helped South Vietnam resist its communist insurgency. However, I still need to get some scenarios play tested, so it was time for another solo game. I had been wanting to get the Big Red One back out into the field for awhile, and see how Cpl. Frey and the boys are progressing in their year-long tour.

    In the 'Downed Airmen' scenario, two wounded crewmen are in one of the six interior terrain pieces

With the loss of Lt. Cooper and Cpl. Kern in the Perfect Ambush scenario last month, the platoon needed some reorganization in leadership. A new "butterbar" lieutenant, 2nd Lt. Fickell, was given the platoon, while Pfc. Griffin was promoted to corporal and given charge of Cpl. Kern's fire team. They also received a new "cherry" from stateside in the form of Pvt. Elliott to bolster the squad's ranks. It was none to soon, as Lt. Col Meyer called Fickell and his NCOs together with an urgent mission for the squad. A helicopter had gone down in their operational area due to enemy fire. Weather had closed in soon afterwards, and the aerial rescue had to be scrubbed. It was up to the Big Red One to truck it out there, as close as the roads could get them, and beat the bushes to try and find any surviving crew.

    My 'chopper down' terrain piece I created for my post-apocalyptic games stood in well for this game

The scenario called for a heavily-wooded board. In the center, I placed a crashed chopper model I'd created for my post-apocalyptic games. The wounded crew would be either in that terrain piece or one of the other five on the interior of the board. It would be a race against time, though, as the V.C. were assumed to be actively searching for them, too, wanting to take them prisoner. "Keep your asses moving, Fickell - you understand?" Lt. Meyer stared at the new lieutenant, then at each of the team leaders. They all chorused affirmatives or "Yes, sir!" Cpl. Frey took Fickell under his wing and suggested parceling out the M60 team to his team, and that he and his radioman, along with the medic Specialist 4 Frank, go with Cpl. Griffin -- the newly promoted leader for the other fire team. 

    Cpl. Frey (center) moves his fire team up quickly through the clearings in the thick jungle tabletop

Frey and his men deployed in the gap between wooded sections on the left while Griffin and his group did the same on the right. Each sent a point man quickly forward, with the rest following behind slightly more cautiously and grabbing cover where they could. Frey motioned Pfc. Carter towards a patch of jungle giving hand signals to move fast. Carter nodded and jogged towards the trees. Frey motioned his bloop gunner Cpl. Janowicz to take cover in the trees to their left, while the machine gun team of Boston and Warfield were sent into the trees to the right. The FNG Elliott stood staring wide-eyed into the dense undergrowth. "Elliott!" Frey hissed. "Go with Carter." The terrified soldier nodded, his eyes wide, and moved off slowly after Elliott.

    As Pfc. Carter prepares to search a patch of woods, Frey positions his fire team in cover

On the other side, Griffin sent Pfc. Tatum and his M79 bloop gunner Pfc. Cassidy into the patch of woods to their front. He followed behind, while motioning the C.O., his radioman, and the medic into the trees to their left. "No use all of us getting gunned down in an ambush," Griffin thought, and then followed his two point men. He had been reluctant to take on leadership of the team when Kern got injured. However, the platoon sergeant told him that, before he was medevaced out for his "Da Nang Holiday," Kern had recommended him for the spot. Griffin shook his head. He guessed it was the least he could do for Kern, who had always treated him as a valuable member of the fire team. Griffin scanned the trees ahead. "Come on, flyboys, where are you? Let us find you and get the Hell out of here!" he whispered.

    In a stroke of luck, Carter finds the two wounded crewmen in the first patch of jungle he searches!

Frey's head jerked up when he heard Carter's voice from the trees ahead, "Jackpot -- got 'em! They're injured, but okay." The corporal mouthed a silent "Holy Shit!" How could they be so lucky as to find them in the first patch of woods they searched? Sure enough, the injured crew chief had seen Carter coming and called out to him quietly. He was crouching over one of the pilots, who was in obvious pain and would need help going anywhere. The crew chief looked like he might be able to limp out on his own. He told Carter to bring the pilot out and motioned to the crew chief to come towards him. He frowned as he saw the crew chief wincing with every step -- his back probably got badly wrenched on impact. Frey motioned the FNG Elliott to help Carter with the pilot.

    As luck would have it, the Viet Cong squad arrives in a nearby stand of trees just as we find the crew

"Heads up," Janowicz whispered from beside him, "we got company." Frey heard them too, now. At least a squad of V.C. were moving through the vegetation in the woods up ahead and to the left. Frey stayed in cover instead of moving to help the crew chief, and crouched surveying the woods. He saw movement -- there they were! He could tell by the excited chatter that Charlie had been seen his men, too. Frey aimed at a shadowy figure and fired off a 3-round burst. There was a scream and he saw the shadow fall. Beside him, Janowicz snapped his bloop gun's barrel shut, sighted, and pulled the trigger. While the grenade was on the way, the handy Janowicz was loading another, raising it, and firing it off, as well. Two flashes of orange brightened the jungle and more screams indicated he was on target -- as usual, Frey thought. Janowicz had probably bagged more V.C. than anyone else in the platoon. He was glad he had him on his fire team! 

    Another V.C. squad and rifleman arrive fortuitously on the far edge of the table

The V.C. in the woods began to fire back, wildly, obviously shaken by the sudden deaths of their companions. Suddenly, another burst of AK-47 fire rang out, but from behind and to the left of he and Janowicz. More and more bursts rang out and he could hear the angry bees of their rounds in the trees over his head. Both he and Janowicz hit the dirt, looking over their shoulder trying to locate the new enemy that had outflanked them. Just as he was about to yell for Boston, he heard the rhythmic bursts of his M60 gun, hosing down the patch of woods where the AK-47 fire was coming from. Their shooting stopped momentarily, but soon started up again. Janowicz yelped in pain and mouthed, "Muthaf -- ow! I'm hit!!" Frey raised up to shoot again at the first batch of V.C. Boston probably couldn't see them with the a thick cluster of trees in his way. He hoped the M60 gunner and his assistant could keep the new V.C. off of his and Janowicz's backs. He shouted for the medic, not exactly sure where Spec4 Frank was in all of this mess.

    The V.C. are also hunting for the downed crew and would come running when the shooting started

Tracers streaked through the woods, both from the squad and returning fire from the V.C. He heard more gunfire coming from where Griffin's team was, also. What had looked like a cake walk was fast becoming a snafu. A bullet smacked into the tree just about the corporal's head and he ducked. Looking up, Frey saw Pfc. Otis race through the clearing to Carter's side. Together, they began moving the pilot more quickly back towards the shelter of the woods while sniper rounds whistled through the vegetation around them. He saw the crew chief still standing there, wincing, and Frey yelled at him to get a move on. The trooper began to slowly hobble after Carter and Otis. Frey squeezed off a 3-round burst and saw another V.C. fall. There was the whistle of incoming mortar rounds overhead and several flashes as they impacted in the V.C.'s woods. "Get some, L.T.!" Kern whispered.

    An overhead table view showing our positions and where the V.C. arrived just as we found the crew

There was a rustle of vegetation to his right as Spec4 Frank darted up to take a look at Janowicz's wound. He bandaged the cursing bloop gunner's thigh. When he tied it off, he tapped him on the helmet. "You should be good, now," the medic said. Janowicz nodded, grimaced, and let Frank help him to his feet. Together they two began to shuffle back towards the rear. "BOOM!" What the Hell? Frey cursed and turned around. Both the medic and Janowicz were down. One of them must have tripped a booby trap. There was another whistle and a mortar round impacted near Frey, showering him with dirt and leaves, but luckily no shrapnel. 

    Frey watches as Carter carries the wounded pilot from the woods, with the crew chief limping along

"Warfield," Kern yelled to Boston's assistant, "I need some help here -- both Frank and Janowicz are down!" Bandoliers of M60 ammo jangling, Warfield sprinted to the medic's side. He shook him, and turned him over, then started to chuckle. "Man, you are the luckiest SOB ever, Doc! You ain't hit at all...again! You just got your bell rung!" Frank shook his head to clear it, and checked each of his limbs to confirm it was true. Once he realized he was unhurt, he turned to Janowicz. He turned him over, eliciting a yelp from the bloop gunner.

    Hearing that Frey's team has found the airmen, Cpl. Griffin (right) sets up in woods to cover them

"Doc, did you really step on another tripwire?" Janowicz groused. "What is that, three missions in a row?" he tried to laugh but it turned into a hiss of pain. "Get me up and let's get out of here!" The two once again struggled to their feet, though Janowicz seemed to be in more pain than before. He leaned on the medic who directed him to the rear. Frey gave a thumbs up to Warfield, who sprinted back to Boston. Frey stood and jogged to the limping crew chief and took one of his arms and threw it over his shoulder. "Let's go, buddy. Let's get you guys back to base!"

    A V.C. sniper pops up due to an event cards drawn in response to my soldiers' activation failures

Firing had died down as the V.C. in close proximity had all been killed or suppressed. He could hear shouts in the distance, which meant more were on the way, though. Yeah, it was definitely time to go! As they moved back down the trail towards where the truck had dropped them, he did a quick head count. Everyone was there, but Griffin appeared to be hurt, too. He was being supported between two of his team members, and didn't seem to be conscious. His head lolled with each step Cassidy and Tatum took. So, Janowicz and Griffin appeared to be the only wounded besides the helicopter crew. They'd had worse missions, sure. But god, he hoped those two would be okay! They were squared away soldiers, and their loss would hurt the platoon seriously.

    Bloop gunner Cpl. Janowicz is right on target, as usual, with his aim against these two V.C.

This game was relatively short compared to some of my other play tests. The Big Red One was very lucky to find the helicopter crew in the very first of six patches of woods they had to search. I also rolled well to get them three Countdown to Contact turns before the Viet Cong arrived. As soon as we found the helicopter crew, though, the doo-doo seriously hit the fan. Still, my die rolls in general were good. The M60 gunner Boston probably took longer than he should have to suppress and kill the V.C. that outflanked us. Lt. Fickell had himself a hell of a first mission, though. He shot and killed two V.C. riflemen and then accounted for two more with a Fire Mission. Griffin was out of action and looked "messed up" early in the shooting on his flank. Luckily, Cassidy (whose bloop gun had quickly accounted for a V.C. sniper that was troubling Frey's team) and Tatum were on hand to drag their new team leader back to the rear.

    Holy crap! An outflanking V.C. squad appears in the same patch of jungle as both Janowicz & Frey

Now, would my luck hold for two more rolls? I needed to roll for the recovery of the wounded Griffin and Janowicz. First, I rolled for Janowicz. "Lightly wounded" is +4 and "Made it off table" is another +1 (you want high on the roll). I picked up the 20-sided die and rolled a one! Noooo! Janowicz scored a "Million Dollar Wound." That leg must have been worse than it looked. The squad will miss Janowicz big time as he was flown back to the States to recuperate from his wound. They were called "million dollar" because they were bad enough to keep you out of Vietnam for the rest of your tour, but caused no debilating permanent injury. I rolled low for Griffin, too, who "Lost a Limb." Crap! All those good rolls throughout most of the game and suddenly my dice go cold right when it matters! That was two squad members gone for good!

    INCOMING! V.C. mortar round lands perilously between a half dozen U.S. soldiers

Lt. Fickell and the platoon sergeant would have to put their heads together and figure out how to piece things back together in time for the next mission. There was definitely going to be some promoting to do to fill out the ranks. And speaking of which, all of the original survivors who hadn't missed any missions due to injuries would be promoted to Veterans after this game. That means they activate on 7+ instead of 8+ for each action. They would also receive a second roll on the Trait chart (which are positive bonuses to accomplishing certain tasks). So, even though the squad lost its deadliest shooter in Janowicz, they should see an increase in effectiveness. 

    The badly wounded pilot has almost been carried to safety by Pfc. Carter and Pvt. Elliott

The mission was a lot of fun to play. The idea came from Bob, one of my U.K. play testers. I made some tweaks to it and will make a couple more after this play through. Surviving 'Nam continues to be fast, fluid, and full of unexpected twists and turns. I'm having a good time following the adventures of Cpl. Frey and the boys. The rules seem to flow well and provide an entertaining game that creates believable results. I am going to keep playing through scenarios (and hope my play testers do, as well) and give it that final push to write the last of the rules. Then it will be time for editing and proofreading.

    Spec4 Frank, the medic, has been a magnet for booby traps -- here he triggers another one!

Stay tuned to see what's next for the Big Red One's fifth mission in their year in Vietnam!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 6
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 6

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 0
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 2

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 0
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 4 

    Cpl. Griffin, in his first mission as fire team leader, is carried off the battlefield unconscious

    The squad exfiltrates through the elephant grass and has almost reached safety of the board edge

Please Keep Off the Elephant Grass!

    Do these bases of plastic plants do the job as giving the effect of elephant grass in Vietnam? Or no?

I have been slowly working on terrain for my 28mm Vietnam games. I started with a couple different sizes of jungle scatter, added in rice paddies, and most recently worked on patches of bamboo. Only one type of iconic Vietnam natural vegetation was left -- elephant grass! This can grow in height over a man's head. I looked at how other miniature gamers had done it and also paged through a lot of Google Images. Armed with that knowledge, I headed off to Michaels craft store with my Christmas present of a $50 gift card. 

    The giant mat I found composed of individual circles with long blades of plastic 'grass' attached

Unfortunately, I didn't find anything that jumped out at me at Michaels. Boo! Next, it was off to a nearby Hobby Lobby. There I did find a very interesting square mat of plastic plants that looked like it would work. And yes, I had brought along a 28mm miniature in my pocket to hold up to the various options to see if the sizing would be right. The mat passed the test, and what's more, would supply more than enough pieces for all of the elephant grass that I'm likely to ever create. The mat consists of multiple circular pieces (with long blades of grass) attached to a square plastic mat. It looked like three of the circles would fit on 1.5 " wooden disc. However, the center of each circle of grass was completely bare. 

  'Green bushes' from JTT Scenics that I would apply in the center of each circle to hide the bare area

I would need to find something to fill that bare circle, though the blades of grass did a semi-decent job of covering it up. Still, I kept shopping and found a sheet of small green bushes from JTT Scenics that would fit inside of the plastic grass. They would end up being the more expensive part of the components, as the grass mat and 1.5" wooden circles were incredibly cheap. Now, to get it all home and see if it looked halfway decent once I put them all together!

    One base with the first circle & bush attached and the second one epoxied & tacked into place

I decided to paint the base first with the earth brown ground color I use. I did a light coating, which soaked into the wooden surface, and hopefully would not get in the way of the plants adhering to the surface of the wood. To attach them, I decided to use 5-Minute, two-part epoxy. Knowing the grass blades stuck out pretty far in all directions and might "push" neighboring circles away, I epoxied one circle at a time, waiting for it to cure before attaching the next piece. In fact, I decided to wait about an hour or so rather than the five minutes it normally takes. Plastic can be slippery, and some of these did not sit 100% flat, meaning I could have a tricky bonding situation. My fears proved well-founded, as supposedly cured pieces of epoxy came unstuck once or twice during the process. So, I began using a thumbtack to affix it to the wooden base while the epoxy cured. In the end, all three circles of grass were attached to the bases. At that point, I put the scenic bushes inside the center of the grass circles. Once they dried, flocking was the next step. I brushed my premixed 50/50 white glue and brown paint in the gaps between the circles of grass and along the edges of the base. I sprinkled Woodland Scenics Blended Turf atop the glue-paint mix and set them aside to dry. 

    Ground level look at a squad of my 28mm American infantry advancing through the elephant grass

The next step was to trim the blades of grass. I pulled out some of my Vietnam figs and placed them between the four bases of elephant grass. I trimmed off the "wild hairs" and shortened the longest pieces down. It was an eyeballing thing, of course. Yes, I realize the individual blades of grass are still wildly out of scale for my figures. It is the effect that I am shooting for. Once I was happy with all four bases, the last step was to dry brush them. Many of the photos of elephant grass I had seen showed the stalks yellowing and turning brown. I went back and forth on which color to use, but ended up choosing a yellowish-brown craft paint called "Maple Sugar." I took my widest flat brush and dry brushed the grass here and there to give a more varied effect. I was pretty happy with how that transformed the look of the grass blades and made it look way less "plastic-y." At that point, I decided that I needed some green grass tufts to mask where each pair of circles joined. I chose the largest size and they did a nice job of making the surface of each base look more natural. The only remaining thing to do was the acrylic matte spray coat. And just like that, my first four test bases of elephant grass for Vietnam were done. 

A look from above at my first 4 test bases of elephant grass next to some 28mm miniatures

I let them sit a few days before taking photos of them with some of my 28mm Vietnam miniatures. I am very curious to hear what you think about whether they look good or not. The individual grass blades are wider than what would be 28mm scale, but do they give a good effect? Or does it look like some large jungle plant instead of elephant grass? I won't be offended if you give them a thumbs down. I just wanted to get some feedback before doing any more bases. Thanks!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 6
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 6

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 0
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 2

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 0
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 4