My First Gringo 40s Vietnam Figs & Some 'Pinned Markers'

    Looking down the barrel of my two Gringo 40s Vietnamese snipers -- 1 painted as NVA, the other VC

My friend Jim told me that U.K. manufacturer Gringo 40s has a 28mm Vietnam figure line that size up well with the Black Sun range from Crucible Crush, where most of my collections is from. I'd almost pulled the trigger a few times and ordered some to be shipped across the pond to me. However, I really don't want to mess with the tariffs and international shipping costs. When a friend of mine said they were going to the U.K. to visit family and friends, I asked him if he'd pick up some and he agreed.

    A look at the NVA sniper - one of the things I was missing from my initial batch Vietnam troops

The bulk of my order was North Vietnamese Army (NVA) figures, which technically none of my Crucible Crush are supposed to be. However, I would think that the ones in khaki uniforms and the iconic almost "pith helmets" included in the Black Sun range could easily work for NVA in a pinch. Still, these Gringo 40s figures are cast specifically as NVA. Ged from Gringo 40s is known for doing his historical research. He was also very accommodating in making sure the shipment arrived on time where my friend would pick it up. Great guy!

Anyway, one thing I was definitely lacking in my Vietnamese figures was something to use as a sniper. So, I ordered two -- one in uniform and helmet that could be an NVA sniper and another bareheaded that I could easily paint up as a Viet Cong guerrilla. Gringo 40s also had two figures in their range to represent downed air crew evading capture. I ordered two of them and was disappointed when one was out of stock. Meaning well, Ged substituted a flight line crewman with a clipboard and baseball cap. Not what I had in mind for a figure meant to be trying to evade capture in the jungle! So, that figure and the South Vietnamese army (ARVN) gift figure will be going north to Jim for all his help and he will hopefully be providing me eventually with a 3-D printed airman figure at some future date. 

    I painted the bare headed sniper up as Viet Cong in the traditional all black outfit

I painted all three up as a batch, albeit a small one! The snipers are prone and are posed resting their arms and upper body on some sort of embankment. I epoxied both the embankment and the miniature onto a pill-shaped base I had originally bought for 28mm mounted troops. I tried to copy the way Gringo 40s' photo depicted them resting on the embankment, but to me it looked a little awkward, like he was raising his midsection up off the ground. I decided that I would cover that gap later with flocking, since I would be depicting the snipers in the jungle rather than the embattled streets of Hue. After priming them with Liquitex White Gesso, I painted one a medium tan called Bambi Brown and the other, who would be the V.C. sniper, in black. After dry, I highlighted each color very light tan and medium gray, respectively.

Next, I pulled out the color I'd bought for Vietnamese flesh and did their faces, hands, and the parts of their legs and feet showing. The bare-headed guy seemed to be wearing sandals -- perfect, since he was meant to be V.C. The uniformed guy had on boots. After painting some belts and straps khaki (if not already done so in the case of the NVA sniper), it was on to the gun. I used a medium brown for the wooden stock and grip and Iron Wind Steel for the metal parts. I painted the scope black, figuring that they would want to make it hard for enemy to see when the sniper was zeroing in on a target. A couple more highlights, the eyes, and these two bad boys were done! In my Surviving 'Nam rules, the snipers are indeed bad boys. They are the second deadliest Foe (after a bunker and machine gun) that Event Cards can bring onto the table.

    My Gringo 40s downed airman trying to evade capture in the jungle -- nice, clean figure!

Way back when I painted my American troops up for Vietnam, I helpfully labeled each shade of green that I used with a circled number for where they went in the process. It had been a few months since I finished my last Americans, so I thought it would be a cinch to follow my recipe, so to speak. However, I forgot that step two was not a dry brush. It was supposed to be the straps and pouches. So, I unhelpfully failed to follow my own recipe when painting up my downed airman. I don't think that is a real problem. Helicopter pilot uniforms don't get the same wear and tear that an infantryman's does, I imagine. So, the shades are bound to be different -- even assuming they were identical when issued! 

It was shades of painting my elves on this downed airman, with a lot of various greens. I wasn't 100% sure how to recreate the plexiglass visor. So, I decided to use Iron Wind Steel again with Pewter highlights for where the sun was striking it.  Otherwise, he was another easy figure to paint up. I like the pose, with him slightly crouched and leaning forward as if running. He carries a pistol in one hand and something else clenched in his other fist. I assumed perhaps a compass?

    I did not exactly replicate the uniform 'recipe' I used for my previous American troops, which is okay

All in all, this batch of three figures went quickly, as you can imagine guys in one color of uniform would. Flocking the snipers was a bit more fun, and I added a lot more tufts than I usually would. I wanted to give the impression of his concealment. A medium sized tuft when on either side of his upper body to conceal how it arched off the ground. Hopefully, it looks like he's resting against a slight slope, sighting down the barrel. I put more leaves on the ground, too, to make up for the lack of plastic plants. Originally, I put trimmed off sections of plastic plants on my bases for my Vietnam figures. In game use, I have found that these tend to pop off way more than they should. Note to self: No more plastic plants on figure bases!

    Bullet Impact FX from Green Stuff World make great 'Pin Markers' for my Surviving 'Nam games

On to the Pin markers! I spotted these Green Stuff World "Bullet Impact FX" markers at Michigan Toy Soldier Company on my trip up north last month. They screamed "pin markers" to me the moment I saw them (which was a bit awkward in the shop, as everyone assumed it was me screaming). I decided to base them up the same way I created markers to show figures that had moved in our games of Space Weirdos. I used tiny 1/2" adhesive cork circles. I used the adhesive side to attach them onto small washers with the same diameter. Originally, I was going to do just one impact marker per base. The more I thought about it, two in a row might give that look of machine gun fire spraying across an area of ground. 

    I wanted to give the effect of the line of a machine gun bursts striking the ground in front of troops

I separated the 3-D printed impact markers from their sprues. One went flying when I snipped the much thicker sprue part and I still haven't found it! After that, I used an X-acto knife to separate the bottom of the marker from its stem and left the very thick sprues alone. I used superglue to attach the marker to the cork, after digging out a shallow hole for it to settle into with a pin vice and X-acto knife. They attached easily, and I quickly switched to doing two in a row per marker for the smaller ones and just one single one for the larger impact markers. 

I'd asked advice on the Lead Adventure Forum on how to paint them up, and used their ideas in what I ended up doing. I painted them a base medium gray with a very light gray dry brush. For the folks who recommended bits of earth flying up, I did a relatively heavy brown vehicle wash. This darkened it up a tad more than I wanted but did give the effect of dirt flying into the air in some spots. I went back with my lightest gray and brush highlighted various parts of the tiny arms of the "explosion." I knew flocking them would be a bit of a challenge, what with how tiny and difficult to grip they were and also trying to getting flocking on the marker itself. I painted the base and sides my earth brown first. Once dry, I painted ground around the explosion as best I could with white glue and sprinkled on Woodland Scenics Blended Turf. I tried to tap off as much of the excess I could. I figured any that remained on represented dirt clods being hurled into the air by the impact.

    One box of these 3-D printed effects created 24 Pin Markers -- WAY more than I'll ever need!

A couple coats of Krylon matte clear and they were done! What's more, they were ready in time for this weekend's trip to Cincycon where I will run my Surviving 'Nam game twice. What is it about conventions for game masters? There is always one more project we are trying to finish in time for a convention game! In this case, it was two -- snipers and pin markers. They're done, though, and hopefully they look good on the tabletop this weekend.

What else is on my painting desk? Two batches! I have my next batch of elves for Dragon Rampant -- eight spear-armed troops. I also have some very odd figures that I won in a raffle (I believe at Advance the Colors 2024). They're weird Sci-Fi alien or robotic figures. Hopefully, they'll be perfect as enemies for Majestic 13. Stay tuned to see how they turn out and you can let me know if you think they fit the part.

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 95
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 52

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 0
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 21

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 2
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 48