Rice Paddies

23. March 202023. March 2020 thomasriepe 28mm, 28mm figure, Rice paddies, terrain, Vietnam war, wargames terrain, wargaming

I hope you are all safe and sound in this world wide pandemic! here in Germany the normal life doesn’t exist anymore and that is good to battle the virus. As we are more or less all at home and boredom will set in sooner or later , I will try to post something every other day to keep you a bit more occupied and to divert your thoughts away from Corona.

So for a start here is a rather big update. I finished my rice paddies for my Vietnam games.

I got the STL files from 3D Alienworlds.

Here are pictures of the printed paddies.

As you can see the paddy itself comes blank. So you can just paint it as an empty field or you can ad strips of rice plants to have a field with rice planted. The file is done to be able to ad artificial water effect to it.

As I didn’t want to use a water effect I changed the STL into this one:

So now it looks like the plants are partly submerged. I will use paint and gloss varnish to create a water effect like i did with all my water features for my gaming table.

So here are pictures of the finished rice paddies:

Without plants.

With plants.

Some more pictures of my table layout with the rice paddies:

Next up lots of new NVA Soldiers!

Danger in the jungle clearing

12. March 2020 thomasriepe 28mm, 28mm figure, Empress miniatures, North Vietnamese Army, NVA, Paul Hicks, Vietnam war

Here is another NVA Soldier armed with a AK 47 . An Empress miniature figure.

More to come

More Elefant grass

9. March 2020 thomasriepe 28mm, 28mm figure, Elefant grass, Empress miniatures, terrain, Vietnam war

We had a game on my Vietnam war table at the weekend. I haven’t managed to sort the pictures I took so instead here are a few pictures of additional terrain pieces for the table. pictures of the game will follow during the week.

I build some strips of elephant grass to add to the elefantgrass I already have. I made them in the same way as the rest.

The pieces:

And with miniatures ( Empress marines) for size comparison:

In situ on the table:

The Village

6. March 20206. March 2020 thomasriepe 28mm, 28mm figure, One-Hour skirmish wargames, This weekends game, Vietnam war

I had some time last night to assemble a village layout on my gaming table for a game at the weekend. Here are some pictures of the village containing the buildings I showed you the other day:

The complete layout.

A Huey on arial recon misson. VC on the trail? More on Monday!

Fields for my Vietnam games

4. March 20204. March 2020 thomasriepe 28mm, 28mm figure, fields, rural Vietnam, Vietnam war, wattle fencing

I finished two wattle fenced fields for my Vietnam village, the other day. The wattle fencing is 3D printed.

This field has a broken down rear fence section.

Curved rear fencing could be printed like that.

Next some rice paddies.

The village buildings completed

2. March 2020 thomasriepe 28mm, 28mm figure, hootch, vietnam terrain, Vietnam Village, Vietnam war

I completed my 3D printed buildings for my Vietnam village over the last weekend. Here are pictures of the finished property:

House No 1:

House No2 with hidden underground entrance:

HouseNo3:

HouseNo4:

And a 3D printed house I bought from the net.(to be found here):

Altogether I have 5 new houses now to ad to my growing Vietnam terrain. Next up will be some fields with wattle fencing and of course some rice paddies.

Back to more VC on the trail

27. February 2020 thomasriepe 28mm, 28mm figure, Empress miniatures, NVA, Paul Hicks, Viet Cong, Vietnam war

Another NVA soldier by Empress miniatures painted up as a VC.

More to come.

One-Hour Skirmish Wargames in Vietnam

24. February 202024. February 2020 thomasriepe 28mm, 28mm figure, cold war, game revue, John Lambshead, NVA, One-Hour skirmish wargames, US Marines, Viet Cong, Vietnam war, wargaming rules

I was asked which rules I would use for my Vietnam wargaming. I decided to give the “One-Hour skirmish wargames” rules by John Lambshead a try

The game is a true one figure is one soldier game. Meaning the smallest maneuver unit is not a platoon or squad but a single soldier. The game doesn’t use dice but ordinary playing cards ( think poker) to introduce randomness . I try to show a few turns of a game I played the other night as an example.

You need two complete sets of playing cards including jokers , one for each side.

I drew a 7 clubs for the VC and a 5 clubs for the US to find out who goes first in the first turn. As the VC won they go first. Next the VC player draws a card to determine how many actions he has. He drew a 8 clubs so 8 actions.

The first action is to shoot at a US Marine up on the cliff . shooting comes from the VC in the middle of the picture. The VC player draws a card from his deck, a 9 clubs. The US player draws a card from his deck a 6 club. As the VC card is higher the Marine is hit and the figure is turned on the side.

That was the first action spend. 7 left.

Next another VC soldier shoots on another Marine.

The VC player draws a 10 clubs the US player a 7 clubs the marine is another casualty and the miniature is turned on the side.

Another action spend 6 to go. next the same soldier shoots again . As he spend an action before he needs to spend two actions for this.

The VC player draws a 7 spade the US one a 8 clubs . As spades are higher the clubs ( Spade, hear, diamond, clubs) the VC wins again ! Another US casualty.

For actions for the VC player left. Next another firefight. The VC shoots on jet another US Marine.

2 Spade for the VC , 9 heart for the Marine , pups another US casualty.

The rest of the actions left are used for a bit of relocation of the VC miniatures. A soldier can move 6 inches per action.

So now its the US players phase of the 1st turn as the VC spend all action points or didn’t want to do more this turn.

The US player draws a 10 heart , so he has 10 actions !

First action is to shoot on a VC on the cliff. As the Marine shooting is armed with a M60 he draws two cards and discards the lower one. The VC player draws one Card.

The VC card is the queen of hearts , The US player has the 4 spades and the 3 clubs , he discards the 3 clubs card. As Spades are higher then hearts the VC soldier is hit and turned on the side.

The rest of the action points is spend on moving Marines into better positions as there are no clear lines of fire this turn.

That ends the US phase of the first turn. Now the Morale phase for both players starts.

Every player draws a card from his deck for the figures lying on the side ( casualties). If the card is a heart or diamond one ( red cards) the figure is removed from the game. The soldier is severely wounded or KIA. If the card is a spade or clubs ( black cards) the figure is set upright again. He was only gone to ground because of the enemy fire. The figure can used as normal in the next turn.

A dead VC.

A surviving VC.

This concludes the first Move. The game flows very easily and quick . All the weapons used in Vietnam can be represented from the M16 or M60 up to the Blooper or a mortar everything is possible. Vehicles tracked and wheeled are also included. The only missing asset is the chopper, I have to think something up for this iconic piece of equipment.

All in all a fast paced game like a Hollywood movie! Recommended !

Bell UH-1C finished

20. February 2020 thomasriepe 1/50, 28mm, 28mm figure, Bell UH-1C, Huey, Vietnam war

I finished the 1/50 models of the Bell UH-1C Huey and the flight stands . The only thing missing are the door gunners ( big hint Paul Hicks!!) Here are some pictures: