Bo Dai and Legionaires/Paras for DBP

All,

It's taken much longer than I expected, but I have completed my forces for French Indochina.  They are Vietminh regulars and a composite French force to represent the Legionaires, Paras, colonial forces, Vietnamese, whatever I need for a scenario to oppose my Vietminh Bo Dai.  On the workbench I still have a set of figures that will serve as Vietminh Chu Luc for Indochina and Viet Cong for the "American" Vietnam War.

The figures are (as always) 10mm, and are entirely from the good folks at Pendraken.  The Vietminh are entirely from the Bo Dai section of the Indochina range (except for one MG which is actually Pendraken WWII Japanese, but I had it to spare and didn't want to order another pack of Vietminh MGs).  The French are an interesting mix consisting of: French from the Indochina range, WWII Brit rifles and Stens in slouch hats, WWII US Paras from both the D-Day and Ardennes sections, and WWII US Marines from the USMC range.

On a side note, I can definitely see using the Vietminh as Korean War North Koreans or Chinese (summer time), or various other communist forces as needed for various scenarios in the late 40s, throughout the 50's, and maybe even some lower echelon forces from the 60s.

Here's the pics:

 Here is the entire collection, a company each.  They consist of:
-Commanding Officer
-Forward Observer
-Three Rifle Platoons, each with 1 Platoon Commander, 3 Squad Leaders, and 3 rifle squads, each consisting of a LMG team and a rifle team.
-One Weapons Platoon, consisting of 1 Platoon Commander, 1 Platoon Sergeant (in lieu of 3 Squad Leaders), 1 Machine Gun Section, 1 Mortar Section (60mm for French, 82mm for Vietminh), and 1 Recoilless Rifle Section.  The French also have an Engineer section (differentiated from the rifle squads by having a flamethrower on the stand).
-You may note that I have two of pretty much everything in the Weapons Platoons.  The reason for this is that I based them so that I can split a stand off each rifle squad, promote the Company Commander to Battalion Commander, promote two Platoon Commanders to Company Commanders, and promote eight Squad Leaders to Platoon Commanders and BAM, I have two Rifle Companies.  Someday I will purchase the necessary lead to round out the third Rifle Company and Weapons Company for each battalion.

 Here are the Vietminh.  At top is 1st Platoon, with the three squad leaders and PC behind them (to their left), followed by 2nd and 3rd Platoons, with Weapons Plt at bottom.  I just realized I didn't get the CO and FO in the photo...

 Here are the French, set up the same way, except you can see the CO and FO at top far left.

 Time for closeups.  Here's a look at a Bo Dai rifle squad, with LMG team at left and rifle team at right.
Actually, this photo reminds me that I used another pack of WII Japanese for the Vietminh (bottom right man of right-hand stand is a Japanese NCO).

 On left are examples of of Platoon Command stands (on left), consisting of an officer and a radio, and Squad Leaders (on right).  I know my garish colors will put some folks off, but it aids me with unit recognition for C2 purposes in my games.  It looks a little ugly, but requires no book-keeping or having to lift up the base to see who it is.

 Vietminh recoiless rifles.

 Vietminh mortars.

 Vietminh machine guns (top right is the Japanese MG team, which I hastily repainted and forgot to put a wash on).

 The Vietminh CO (left) and FO (right).

 On to the French, here a typical rifle squad, with LMG team on right and rifle team on left.  The stand at left has three French Indochina guys and a Brit Sten in slouch hat, while the right stand has two French (center two), with a US Marine at top and a US Ardennes Para at bottom.

 French Platoon Commanders in center, flanked by two different versions of Squad Leaders.  The left-hand SL is a US Marine, the right-hand is French.  You'll note that the 'red' (2nd Platoon) PC has a red Paratrooper beret, while the 'blue' (1st Platoon) PC has a green Legion beret, which makes absolutely no sense with regards to historical tables of organization, but, as I stated previously, this is my composite French force (there was no way in hell I was going to do up separate Legion, Para, 'regular,' Colonial, and Vietnamese forces).

 The French engineer stands, using D-Day Para flamethrowers and USMC radiomen (the other kneeling figures).

 French MG Teams (bottom right is D-Day Para MG, while the others are French.  The perils of basing two per stand with packs sold in threes...).

 French 60mm mortars.  These are all US figures.

 French recoiless rifles.  I am going to have to buy another pack as I have one floating around by himself...

 Time for some extreme closeups.  I'm certainly the most talented painter/modeler, but I am quite proud of the job I did painting and basing (and boy did it take me a long time).  I tried to mix and match the French uniforms quite a bit, first to aid in making them look 'composite,' as well as to reflect my understanding of how they looked in real life.  Both guys are wearing OD green pants and USMC 'duck-hunter' camo (brown-side out).

Another extreme closeup.  The closest guy is wearing OD green pants with a USMC 'duck-hunter' camo smock (green side out), while the next guy is wearing French camo top and bottom.  The last guy is wearing OD green pants with French camo smock and an OC green bush hat.

Can't wait to get these guys on the table.  I haven't played a doggone game for three weeks now.  A lot of it has been 'real life' intervening, but I've had some time, I've just devoted it to painting terrain and figures.  At first I was scared I was getting burned out on all my solo gaming (and couldn't get any buddies to come over, even for Veteran's Day!), but I realize it's not that.  The truth is that I have quite a lead mountain going on and I was starting to feel a bit of anxiety about not making any progress on it.  So I make no promises as to what I will get done next, it may be gaming or it may be painting, but take heart in the fact that I am still in the fight and will continue to post.

V/R,
Jack

French for Dien Bien Phu

All,

So, I'm patiently waiting for my order of French and Vietminh for Dien Bien Phu and, as I'd previously ordered some odds and ends to be used with them, I decided to paint them up.  Here's some pics; I have yet to give them a wash, which is now customary after being talked into it by the good folks on the Pendraken forum.  I must say, though, that I still cringe as I'm doing it, thinking, "Good Lord, I'm ruining that camouflage that took so long to paint."  But, it keeps turning out pretty doggone well, so I will keep doing it.  I'll get photos of them up once they're washed and based, but I need the whole force before I can base them as I believe this will be multi-based.

So, below is what I intend to use for my French paratroopers, plus the actual French paratroopers and some US Marines, once I receive them.

 These are Pendraken WWII Brit Sten Guns with slouch hats.

Regarding uniforms, you'll see I'm going with a hodge-podge of faded OD, French camo, and USMC WWII "duckhunter" (brown-side out) camo.  And it will be mixed and matched.  As you see in the bottom row, at left is French camo top and bottoms w/yellow bush hat, next guy is Fr camo top and bottoms w/USMC camo hat, next guy is OD top and bottom w/USMC camo hat, next guy is OD bottoms, Fr camo top, and yellow hat, next guy is OD bottoms, USMC top, Fr Camo hat, and last guy is OD bottoms w/Fr camo top and hat.  All the guys in the bottom row have leather boots while all the guys in the top row have the French green jungle boots (can't really see them in this pic).

 This group is WWII Brit rifles in slouch hat.

 Far left is WWII Brit Airborne radio, while four on right are WWII Brit AB officers.

 Reverse.

 The 1st and 3-5 guys are from WWII US AB Ardennes Forward Observers pack, while 2 and 3 are WWII US AB Ardennes carbines.

 Reverse.

 These are the only actual French paratroopers I currently have in my possession.  These guys are crew members for three recoilless rifles.

 Reverse.  I like the poses, but the folding-stock M-1 carbines on the three guys on the right are really tiny!

 Two of the recoiless rifles, with two flamethrowers from the WWII US AB engineers pack.

 Reverse.  The flame tanks are bit dark for my taste, but I wanted them to stand out from the colors I used in the uniforms.

A closeup to show some camo and the French jungle boots.  The green is too bright but looks good once there's a wash on it.  Sorry I didn't think to get a closeup of the USMC camo.

V/R,
Jack