Gringo 40s Female Viet Cong Soldiers

    Six female Viet Cong soldiers from Gringo40s in the UK - excellent 28mm metal sculpts!

 I bought these female Viet Cong soldliers earlier in the year when a friend went to the U.K. Gringo 40s are comparably sized with my own Crucible Crush V.C. that I've been using for my games of Surviving 'Nam: an Infantryman's Year "In Country." Ged of Gringo 40s was very accommodating, and had my order mailed post haste to where my visiting friend would be staying. Gringo 40s has a HUGE 28mm Vietnam line and their prices are very reasonable. I would heartily recommend them to folks living in the U.K. (or elsewhere). In particular, their line of Viet Cong Women Soldiers caught my eye, and I ordered a batch of them, plus some other things.

    I really like the variety of poses you can purchase individually on the Gringo 40s website

I picked out six of the women soldiers and cleaned them up. I would honestly say that these metal miniatures had the least amount of flash that I've encountered in my more than four decades of painting minis! They're great sculpts and are not over-burdened with equipment to the point that painting them becomes a chore. Just to be sure, I pulled out some of my V.C. I'd already painted and did my best to match them. I depicted them with the "black pajamas" uniform rather than use any khaki or olive because they appeared to be wearing the typical loose clothing of V.C. guerillas. I did toss in some other colors on the two that had bush hats, and also mixed the equipment colors between khaki and a very faded olive.

    These figs were easy to paint and I think turned out very nicely -- I look forward to painting more!

I dry brushed their loose, black clothing with a medium gray to give some highlights. I made sure to NOT give the clothes a black wash, for fear it would simply hide the definition I'd just given them! The straps, pouches, skin, and weapons all got a dark wash, though. The skin, khaki, and straw hats were given brown and the weapons and faded olive equipment black. 

    Since they are irregulars, I tried to mix up some colors of equipment & hats to give some variety

One thing I'd been disappointed with in my previously painted U.S. and V.C. soldiers was the small bits of plastic plants I'd included on the bases with the flocking. These have been popping off over the months of use the miniatures have seen. Plastic plants just don't seem to stick well, even with two-part epoxy. On a trip to Michigan Toy Soldier Company and Rountable Games in Dublin, OH, I picked up some Green Stuff World 3-D printed resin vegetation. My plan was to use these small leaves and such instead of plastic plants. I waited until I was finished with the second stage of flocking (Woodland Scenics Blended Turf Brown) before epoxying them to the bases. I painted the plants dark green and dry brushed them light green. I also like the way the leaf scatter I've been using for the last year or so look on miniature bases, so added even more of it to these VC than I had done previously.

    Good look at the Green Stuff World resin plants that I put on each of bases instead of plastic ones

All in all, I am very happy with how these Gringo 40s V.C. women came out. They were fun to paint and included enough details and variety of poses to make each look different (well, except for the pose that I bought two of...!). I will be alternating batches of Vietnamese from Gringo 40s with my Hydra Miniatures factions as my "New" figures. So, look to see more of them until the 30 or so I purchased are all painted up. I've found that in some games, the unfortunate U.S. players stir up a hornet's next and I've needed more V.C. So, the enemy needed reinforcements. Gringo 40s (and my friend Will) came through!

    Final look at my squad of V.C. female soldiers prowling through the jungle past temple ruins

What else is on my painting desk? I have another batch of the Hydra Miniatures figures that I've begun. Thinking of that just now made me pause, though. Did I just screw my plan to alternate batches of new figures with old? I think that with all of the scatter cluttering my desk, and the 3-D printed Diabolical Terrain mosque I'm working on, I may have lost track and done exactly that! If so...oops!! I guess I need to snag a batch of old miniatures and have them cut rudely cut in line ahead of the Sci-Fi ladies. Hmm...what should I paint up? It will definitely be something from my horror figures for Devilry Afoot...but, what should I paint?

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 210
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 179

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 14
• Terrain painted in 2026: 36

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 34
• Scatter painted in 2026: 75