"First Terrain Tile for 15mm Vietnam Project" Topic

All,

And here we are again, and I'm quite proud of myself, a lot of catching up the blog happening here. So here's the deal: if you're not aware, I'm a former US Marine. Now I proud myself on that fact, as well as my knowledge of Marine Corps history (and military history in general). But I was sitting on the couch not long ago watching The Military Channel (or whatever the hell they're calling it), and a show called "Against the Odds" came on, which features various battles in which one side fought a numerically superior enemy and, if not win, they at least gave good account of themselves. So this episode was called "The Battle of Dai Do," and I sat there and watched I was both fascinated and sickened. Fascinated because the story was fantastic, and this single, three-day battle saw two men win the Medal of Honor and several more win Navy Crosses (2nd highest award for valor).

I was sickened, and I still am, because I'd never, ever heard of this battle before. We're talking Vietnam, up on the 'Z; we've heard of Da Nang, Rocket City, Monkey Mountain, Hue, Khe Sanh, The Hill Fights, Operation Buffalo, etc…, but I'd never heard of Dai Do (sometimes referred to as The First Battle of Dong Ha). Here's the Readers Digest version: immediately in the wake of the failed (from a North Vietnamese standpoint; the Viet Cong were eliminated as a force in the South) Tet Offensive, the NVA pushed an entire division of infantry across the DMZ, looking to eliminate the major logistics hub of Dong Ha and cut I Corps off from the rest of the country. The NVA division successfully infiltrated unnoticed, but they blew it when one of their patrols fired on a Navy landing craft on the Cua Viet River (major artery running east-west in northern RVN). The Marine Corps decided to send a company up there to check it out, and that's when all hell broke loose.

Ultimately the entirety of 2nd Battalion, Fourth Marines (the "Glorious Bastards;" I actually floated with them once on the 31st MEU) was committed to this battle, even reinforced with another infantry company, Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines (I did a Tandem Thrust exercise in Australia with them), but they were committed piecemeal and with limited arty and air support. Ultimately, five Marine rifle companies ATTACKED an entire NVA division, throwing them out of four separate villages, one at a time (the largest being the village of Dai Do), before reaching for a fifth village and ultimately being kicked out of the fourth village and back into the third village. But at that point the Marines had so badly bloodied the NVA division that it fell back across the DMZ into North Vietnam to reconstitute.

So I quickly went to Amazon and picked up the book, "The Joint Army-Marine Defense of Dong Ha," which laid it all out for me. I took copious notes and (focusing only on the Marine part of the battle, for brevity's sake) I compiled a book of ten separate company-sized scenarios that I want to play out on the tabletop, playing the Battle of Dai Do out (for the Marine units) in its entirety (the Army had a battalion assigned as reserve for the 3rd Marine Division, and it was called up to assault a village to secure the right – eastern- flank of the battles at and around Dai Do).

To do this I decided I needed some terrain. Having seen several wargamers make good use of these foam mats, I decided to give it a shot, so I bought a bunch of 2' x 2' foam tiles and I'm making terrain to play out the ten scenarios. Each table will be four tiles, so 4' x 4', and I've figured out I need to make a total of eight tiles to play this out (with a little bit of fudging ground scale). I've been cutting, gluing, painting on latex, spray painting on texture, hand painting on dirt, drybrushing the dirt, spray painting water ways, and putting flock on like a champion, and I've just finished my very first terrain tile.

I'm very happy with it, so I figured I'd show you guys.

Here it is, 'naked.' I plan on adding buildings, trees, and foliage when playing, but you can see a tributary, road, space for the village, rice paddies, and several trenches and fighting holes.

To see more pics, including some with troops and terrain added, please check the blog at:
link

I'm very proud of how this turned out, only seven more to go… The only problem I'm having is with flock; I need to figure out a way to protect it, i.e., fix it in place, make it a bit more resilient to touch. Maybe a matte spray? I heard old fashioned aerosol hair spray might work? Tell me what you think or know, please, it's already showing some scuff marks.

More to come!

V/R,
Jack

I swear by the Scenic Cement from Woodland Scenics. It may just be thinned white glue but it works a treat and dries flat.

Jack, the tiles look terrific. They're gonna make for some awesome gaming.
My Dad and his three brothers served in the Marines, two in Korea where one was awarded a Silver Star for action at the Chosin Reservoir.

Mark – Thanks, I think I've got some of that lying around somewhere (for some trees I still need to make).

Ragbones – Thanks, and I can't wait to get these finished, but a lot of work still ahead of me. And four Marines in the family, very cool.

V/R,
Jack

This is looking great, Jack. And I would highly encourage you to join the Fields of Fire Vietnam forum as the gang there would love to see this!

link

Fantastic start dude! Keep at it!

As Extra Crispy says, Woodland Scenics Scenic's Cement works really well. After one coat has dried, I spray on a second.

My understanding is that it is not watered-down white glue, but rather matt medium. However, do not experiment, just spend the money and buy the stuff.

You've put a lot of time into creating very nice terrain. It deserves the best.

Tom

Okay, just to make sure I'm tracking with you guys: you're saying to spray some Woodland Scenics Cement on the flock AFTER I've applied it, and that will help protect the flock from scratches and scuffs, right?

I've got no problem getting the flock to stick to the mat, I just need to protect it once it's on.

V/R,
Jack

Oh, and Buckeye Darryl: I've seen that site and visit occasionally. I'll give a look at becoming a member, but it's hard as it is keeping up with all the websites!

And thanks DSG, I'm determined to stick this out until I've got my eight terrain tiles, then I'll play out ten company-sized scenarios for Dai Do.

V/R,
Jack