Wednesday, July 11, 2012

NVA & US Stands, Ia Drang, 1965

Well there you have it.  The first-run of my LZ Xray project has been posted.  Here is a "stand" of US Aero Rifles (1st Platoon, B Co, 1-7 Cav) and an NVA Regulars stand for the Battle of Landing Zone X-Ray.  These stands will adequately represent squads for Vietnam Crossfire or Platoons for Cold War Commander.  (They are actually being painted up for a large Cold War Commander game).

The GIs are Command Decision mini's and are actually, upon further inspection, US Marines from early in the war, circa Operation Starlight.

However the reader will have to excuse the rough kit and "pretend" they are wearing US Army kit.

That being said, the large, yellow patches painted on their arms should help with your visualization efforts!

The NVA are painted in the old GW Graveyard Earth, which is my favorite drab-khaki color for totalitarian armies.  The special helmets are painted folk-art "ivy green" or some shade like that, that was purchased years ago specifically for their helmets!

So for the American player - 1 stand down, about 20 more to go.  For the NVA player, 1 stand down, about 51 more to go!!!!!!  Huzzah!
The stand looks nice - wasn't easy to get that effect either!  glue sand down, then paint black, then drybrush a few different shades...and on and on and on

Nice shot

THey are wearing marine kit but that's ok - everyone gets the idea


Hardened regulars from the PAVN...

I actually like the dynamic poses with the CD modern minis.

Here they are, fanatically charging towards American M-60s!

I will experiment with different khakis but overall I like this color.

8 comments:

  1. The result looks like it was well worth it. The detail on the canvas jungle boots, red stars, and air cav badges really make them pop! The guns came out well also.

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  2. Thanks Ben! As always I appreciate the comments. I thought they turned out pretty nice. Just wait until there are 2 Regiments of them and a full US Battalion on the table! With paper model helicopters!!

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  3. very nice. on the road or in the town the USA can win with ease but in the jungle of Vietnam...

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  4. The basing looks great! "I can hear the choppers coming. They're flying overhead...." :-)

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  5. Great looking stands Steven. Nice attention to detail.

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  6. Thanks Gowan, I am thinking the US player won't have an easy time with CWC rules or even GHQ rules. The rifle companies are outnumbered 3:1 locally with no hope of good reinforcements.

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  7. Dave,
    I was singing that cadence as I was painting :)

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  8. Thanks Paul - the question is - can I give them that same attention to detail, 51 more times over?!

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