Radio Operator and NCO

Here is the next figure or better group of figures for my US Marines in Vietnam. This is more like a little diorama as I placed two figures on one base. it is a radioman and an NCO using the radio. So they are connected by the Radio handset line and i couldn’t find a way to base them separately. At least convincingly.

First the NCO:

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second the Radioman:

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Notice the wounded hand the ripped trousers and the fag in the mouth of the radio operator . These sculpts are so full of character indeed. I loved to paint the pair.

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A bigger river

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Above you see the river I build for my gaming table a wile ago. Now that there will be brown water navy boats available in the near future, at least after the Corona lockdown is lifted, I thought that I would need a wider river to accommodate 28mm boats. I have a modular gaming table layout with extruded polystyrene squares for variety. The approach to the new waterway is a different one. I have a gaming mat permanently beneath the styrene squares which is used for naval wargaming. I thought about just building “shore” tiles and use the gaming mat as the river surface. In that way i can have the river as big as I like or I could even build a shoreline for amphibious landing games. Here is the result:

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The half wide “squares” are the new tiles I build.

What do you think?

Gunny Sergeant Frank Thomas

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This US Marine figure is Gunny Sergeant Frank Thomas who carried the Stars and Stripes in Hue and is seen getting it from inside his flak jacket. I painted the figure a bit different. The flag he is getting out of his flack jacket is painted to represent a map so the figure could be used in different settings ,too.

Attached war reporter

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I painted up a special figure the other day. Dale Dye who became famous for his work in Hollywood epics such as Platoon, Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers and Last of the Mohicans etc. See the camera and the attached film boxes round his neck and the cigarette in his left hand. Figure by Empress Miniatures Sculpted by Paul Hicks.

Water buffalo

Vietnam landscape without water buffalo ? As these animals can be found almost everywhere in Vietnam I needed some for my Vietnam war gaming table. The standing ones are from Empress miniatures the resting ones are 3D printed as is the chicken.

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There will be more animals in the future dogs, pigs etc.