Reinforcements for the Viet Cong from Gringo40s

    More excellently sculpted 28mm metal Viet Cong for my Surviving 'Nam games from Gringo40s

I finished my second batch of Gringo40s Viet Cong, this week. All of them are armed with assault rifles and will be more reinforcements for the V.C. forces my players of Surviving 'Nam might will face. I noticed that in larger games, I've come close to running out of Foes a few times. So, these eight will help with that. I've will also begin a second solo campaign to be published on my new YouTube channel as "play through" videos at the request of numerous people online. I'm balling the channel Lead Legionaries on YouTube in honor of this blog! I created the first "Getting Started" video and published it on Sept. 9.

    I painted these V.C. in a mix of their trademark black pajamas, khaki, gray, & faded olive drab

This is the second of three batches I'll paint from the figures a friend brought back with him from a visit to the U.K. earlier this year. The final batch all have arms holding their rifle that must be glued in place. Naturally, I deferred those to a later day! I also have a few more specialty figures from the purchase to paint up, but I'll likely save those for last. To get these ready for paint, I based them up first and brush primed them with Liquitex White Gesso.

    For this batch, I picked out a mix of kneeling, advancing, & standing poses

I decided to paint these in a hodgepodge of black, khaki, gray, and faded olive. I always feel that the more variety there is in an irregular force, the more accurate it likely looks. I decided the ones with the helmets would be most likely to have access to cast-off uniforms, so I did those in khaki. The bareheaded ones were more likely to be in the trademark "black pajamas." I wasn't completely random in choosing colors. I also intentionally mixed up the equipment colors -- the web gear, bags, and straps -- in both tan and faded olive. The goal was to have no two figures completely alike among the eight. It was interesting that all eight of these miniatures had the grenade pouches strapped to their back. Fewer than half of the Crucible Crush ones from my first five batches had those. In fact, at first I was confused what the heck they were until I went back and referred to my sources, again!

    These minis probably had the least amount of flash of any metal figures I've ever painted!

These painted up fairly quickly as there weren't really that many things to paint up differently. Skin was first, then their uniform color I selected, then equipment, rifle, and sandals. The equipment was all the same color except that grenades inside the pouches required a color for the handle and the metallic "potato masher" part. In fact, when I finished the grenades protruding from their pouches, I sat back and was surprised it was time to paint the eyes next. Wow, that seemed to go quick! The eyes on these V.C. were SO much easier than my Wood Elves inside their helmets...ha, ha! They came out fairly well, I thought, and there were none I was particularly unhappy with.

    Gringo 40s lets you pick out individual poses from their line when ordering, & their prices are great!

Once that was done, it was time to do their wash. I decided to do my dark brown vehicle wash on all of the colors except for the black, which I left alone. I did use a black wash on the assault rifles -- I like the effect it gives on guns. Once that was finished, it was on to flocking. I added the 3-D printed resin vegetation to the bases of these, as well. I considered the experiment with them on the bases of the V.C. female fighters a success, and will continue doing this. I may even buy more varieties next time I see Green Stuff World products to add them to my "normal" (as opposed to jungle) basing scheme.

    Last look at this batch of 8 V.C. that will be reinforcements for the enemy in my games

What else is on my painting desk? Well, the twice-delayed Pulp Sci-Fi ladies are coming along nicely, and will be completed shortly. I even decided on a name for their unit -- the Blue Angels! I have to come up with a name for their race, though, after I stole the "Valkeeri" name from Hydra Miniatures. Oh, and you may have noticed that both my "Miniatures Acquired" and "Painted" went up with this batch. I succumbed to temptation and bought seven unpainted Mycenaeans to use as my contingent in games of Ilium. Thanks, Keith! I plan on working those in right after the Blue Angels are done.

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 217
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 193

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