A RPG armed VC with a “No’n La” hat

2. September 2021 thomasriepe 28mm, 28mm figure, 28mm Miniatures, 28mm Wargaming, Empress miniatures, Head swap, Paul Hicks, RPG, Viet Cong, Vietnam war

Another head swop done. This figure is armed with a RPG and a AK 47. Figure and new head from Empress Miniatures sculpted by Paul Hicks.

And the original figure on the left next to the kitbashed one.

Another VC with a head swap

31. August 2021 thomasriepe 28mm, 28mm figure, 28mm Miniatures, 28mm Wargaming, Empress miniatures, Head swap, Paul Hicks, Viet Cong, Vietnam war

Here is another Viet Cong soldier with a conversion job done. I changed the head against one with a traditional

“No’n La” headgear.

Here the figure is shown next to the unchanged one:

Recoilless rifle on the move

20. July 202120. July 2021 thomasriepe 28mm, 28mm figure, 28mm Miniatures, 28mm Wargaming, Empress miniatures, North Vietnamese Army, NVA, recoilless rifle, Vietnam war, wargaming, wargaming miniatures

My newest addition to the ranks of my NVA force is a recoilless rifle on the move. This one comes with another one deployed in the same pack. Figures are from Empress Miniatures from their indochine war range. Works for the American war, too.

Below are pictures of the 1st assistant gunner.

And the ammo bearer:

The gunner with the gun:

VC with “No’n La'” headgear

14. July 2021 thomasriepe 28mm, 28mm figure, 28mm Miniatures, 28mm Wargaming, Empress miniatures, Head swap, Paul Hicks, VC, Viet Cong, Vietnam war, wargaming

Here is another VC soldier with the traditional vietnamese “No’n La’ ” headgear. The head is from Empress as is the body of the figure.

As usual I used GW contrast paints

Below is a picture next to the original figure:

The start of a M551 Armored reconnaissance Vehicle

16. June 2021 thomasriepe 28mm, 28mm figure, 28mm Miniatures, 28mm Wargaming, 3D printed miniatures, 3d printed model, Empress miniatures, M551 Sheridan, Sheridan, tank

The M551 “Sheridan” AR/AAV (Armored Reconnaissance/Airborne Assault Vehicle) was a light tank developed by the United States and named after General Philip Sheridan, of American Civil War fame. The first combat deployment of the Sheridan was in Vietnam. it had several advantages: it did not get stuck in the mud as often as the 52-ton M48 Patton tank did, nor did it throw its track off as often. This was enough to win the tank crews’ love. The light weight and high mobility proved their worth, and the gun proved an effective anti-personnel weapon when used with either the M657 HE shell or the M625 canister round, which used thousands of flechettes as projectiles. The reliability of the engine system and gun of the tank was, however, not fully up to the task. So that many M551 had to be repaired quit often. A serious setback was the typ of Ammo for the main gun. it used a powder charge in bags so that projectile and charge had to be loaded after each other. This system made the tank very prone to explosions when hit with an RPG.

I got a 3D file of the tank through a kickstarter ( 3D printable US Vehicles of the Vietnam War). This was printed on my Anycubic photon resin printer and i must say the files are really worth every penny I paid!

The stowage is from the kickstarter too. The comander figure is from Empress.

Now on to painting of the vehicle…..

VC RPG gunner

15. June 2021 thomasriepe 28mm, 28mm figure, 28mm Miniatures, 28mm Wargaming, Empress miniatures, NVA soldier, Paul Hicks, RPG, VC, Viet Cong, Vietnam war, wargaming

This is a figure with a head swap. The figure is a regular NVA RPG gunner . I changed the head against a head with a traditional hat to make him look more like a VC. The head and the figure are from Empress.