First Squad of Viet Cong for Vietnam Project

    My first batch of 28mm Viet Cong from Crucible Crush's 'Black Sun' line check out a hamlet

Awhile back, I decided that I wanted my Vietnam games to be cooperative. All of my players would be controlling a squad or fire team of U.S. soldiers -- no one would command the enemy. Why? I feel that the closer to the present that a wargame gets, the higher the chance someone will feel "wrong" controlling one side or the other. I know we are just playing games, but I could perfectly understand a player balking at, say, setting off IEDs to blow up U.S. soldiers in Iraq on the tabletop. Although it is more than 50 years in the past at this point, I think Vietnam could still be the same for some folks. I know I am reluctant myself to control the German or Japanese side in a World War II game, and that is even longer ago! How to solve that moral conundrum? Make the enemy controlled by the GM or the game's mechanics.

    I painted my VC in the characteristic 'black pajamas,' but will likely vary things with future batches

So, my first batch of Viet Cong soldiers here will be entirely controlled by the event cards and "A.I" -- so to speak -- of the rules that I am writing. I could just as easily have bought a commercial set of rules and controlled them as the GM. Honestly, if the rules writing fails, I may yet still do that. That's what my friend Jim W is doing with his group in Michigan. All his players are on the U.S. side while he directs the actions of the VC in their tabletop encounters. Like him, I want the players to try to safely usher as many of their platoon though their year of service in Vietnam. Bring 'em back alive, and safe, boy! Thus, my players will take on the role of NCOs controlling the same squad or fire team members, with replacements (or FNGs) coming in as they take casualties. For those that don't know, the "NG" in the above abbreviation stand for "New Guy." I'll leave it to you to figure out what the "F" stands for!

    No fancy pre-mixed washes for the VC -- just a typical 28mm base coat and dry brush method!

Anyway, I am using more of a typical base coat and dry brush method for the Vietnamese soldiers in this project. I am painting their uniforms first -- most will be the characteristic "Black Pajamas" that many VC wore. I will then dry brush the black base coat with a dark gray. Next, I went out and bought a new flesh tone just for the VC. It is from Warpaints fanatic line and called, "Buffed Hide". I picked it out at a local store (Dragon's Lair, in the Polaris area) by pulling up Google images of Vietnamese faces on my phone. I held each of the prospective bottles of paints up to the images until one "seemed" to match. As I brushed it on to this first batch of Vietnamese, I felt perhaps it was more ruddy than I expected. However, after a dark brown vehicle wash, I hoped it would look less red and more SE Asian. I'm still not 100% sold on it, and would love to hear what you guys think. If anyone has a different paint suggestion for Vietnamese skin tone, I could still change what I paint the rest of the VC. Let me know in the comments.

    What do you think of the skin color? Did I pick a good one, or should I switch it out?

Most of the VC equipment I've seen pictures of is khaki, so that is what I painted the ammunition pouches, backpacks, bandoliers, and helmets. I've read that lots of VC wore sandals made of old rubber tires, so I went with a dark gray for them, as well. Luckily for me, all of the photos of the Black Sun range that I'm using have color photos on the Crucible Crush website. So, if I'm unsure how to paint something, I just enlarge the pictures on their website. And yes, that means I'm hoping their painter was historically accurate in his portrayal of the VC! That said, the images match the descriptions I've read in my research, so I'm fairly confident.

    The VC are patrolling a hamlet in countryside using my two scratch-built Jungle Huts

One thing I did not do that I typically do when painting these up was put a final black wash on the uniforms. I have had my dark gray highlighting disappear after a black wash in the past with figures wearing black. I did the wash on the weapons and shoes, while I did a brown wash on the skin and khaki equipment. All in all, I am fairly happy with how my first batch of Viet Cong came out. I know that I painted all of this batches' uniforms black, but I may also mix in some khaki or light O.D. green ones in the future, just to give them a more hodgepodge look. I may even give them the odd civilian shirt or pair of pants in a different color, too. 

    The jungle huts were built for my Pulp campaign from years ago but will work great for Vietnam!

I am doing the same dense foliage style flocking on these that I have done for the U.S. soldiers. I like how it looks, and it should blend it with the tabletop more (I hope). So, what else is on my painting desk right now? Well, I have the requisite other two batches in progress for this project -- another batch of U.S. soldiers and my second group of Viet Cong. However, I have also been touching things up to take to Drums at the Rapids convention at Fort Meigs, OH, for the flea market this weekend. And even before leaving, I have already sold my 33 Ancient Roman Gladiators (28mm scale) to my friend Dave E! Hopefully, that's an omen of good sales at the fort...! Once I return, I'll have about a month before Origins, then another month before Historicon. So, at least the conventions are doing a reasonably good job of spacing themselves out so that they don't interrupt my painting too much...ha, ha!

 Oh, and if you're curious about my scratch-built Jungle Huts, here are the links:

• Jungle Hut, part 3 (completed) 
• Jungle Hut, part 2 (in progress)
• Jungle Hut, part 1 (my ideas)

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 143
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 80 <-- see, it's going up!

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 19
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 22

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 54
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 57