Skarper | 05 Sep 2020 3:59 a.m. PST |
link You can see pictures of these on the PSR website 'awaiting review'. I'm pleasantly surprised by how they look. |
nnascati | 05 Sep 2020 5:47 a.m. PST |
PSR must be having problems. I got an error message all day yesterday. |
Skarper | 05 Sep 2020 5:59 a.m. PST |
Me too – but back again now. |
mjkerner | 05 Sep 2020 6:37 a.m. PST |
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Col Durnford | 05 Sep 2020 6:48 a.m. PST |
Got there. Nice looking figures, to bad not my scale. One question, the prone figure in the late war ARVN seems to holding an ammo box for a light machinegun, but I can't see any gunner figure. |
deadhead | 05 Sep 2020 7:02 a.m. PST |
I too am impressed by some of these figures. To look like ARVN they need to be skinny little guys, dwarfed by their helmets and weapons and with very tightly tailored pants/overalls. Most of these have just that and I do look forward to seeing a review. This site never fails to impress me with its attention to detail and expertise. |
Legion 4 | 05 Sep 2020 8:04 a.m. PST |
I do like the poses, etc., of the figures in all 3 sets. I think they'd be pretty gamer friendly made in the type of plastic too. |
Skarper | 07 Sep 2020 4:26 a.m. PST |
I imagine the prone figure with the ammo box is meant to connect with the M60 gunner who is running…but it seems like a very odd thing to be doing even under the stress of combat. Minor quibble is they are all too tall. 1m73 is far above average for Vietnamese men even today. The sculptor has at least captured the frenetic energy of these units – what I once called the 'Keystone Cops' effect. The improbably thin arms and legs are well done too. |
Legion 4 | 07 Sep 2020 8:30 a.m. PST |
Yes they do look thin as they should, but most may be too tall. Maybe they were eating some US C-Rats ? |
Skarper | 11 Sep 2020 12:57 a.m. PST |
link There's a review of the Early War ARVN now. The difficult to ID SMG looks like an MAT-49 to me. I sometimes see these in the hands of soldiers guarding the gates of military bases/HQs even today. More often an AK-47 [or AK-56 probably] but I have seen an MAT-49 at least once or twice. |
Legion 4 | 11 Sep 2020 7:22 a.m. PST |
I can ID, M1 Carbines, M16, M3 SMG, some of the others I'm not too sure ? |
John Leahy | 13 Sep 2020 7:11 a.m. PST |
Just ordered all 3 sets. I do 1/72 Vietnam and always have wanted Arvn troops. I had been using Airfix 2nd edition US Marines painted up as them. Looking forward to painting these up! Thanks John |
Legion 4 | 13 Sep 2020 9:26 a.m. PST |
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deadhead | 13 Sep 2020 12:44 p.m. PST |
I will say it yet again. I want metal ARVN in 28mm. I want skinny guys, not muscle bound hunks, in helmets far too big, weapons the same size as their US counterparts, Asiatic faces, extraordinarily tightly tailored rig, especially nether garments. Neck scarf maybe. Anything less, whoever the maker (and I am a bit biased) and I will moan non stop. Imagine, we have here a forum that largely ignores one of the largest armies in the whole world at that time. |
Skarper | 13 Sep 2020 1:21 p.m. PST |
I get why no manufacturer wants to cover the ARVN. Vietnam is a niche subject relative to WW2 or other topics. And the ARVN have an image problem. They lost, nobody had a good word to say about them [justified or not] and except for the last few months they performed poorly in combat. I fear they just would not sell in any significant numbers. I'm surprised we even have these sets and they have not made a complete hash of them – rather they did a fairly good job. The excessive flash mentioned in the review is perhaps the worst problem. |
deadhead | 13 Sep 2020 3:36 p.m. PST |
I know what you mean. 100% But what proportion of the VN War did they provide? How can you refight VN without including one of the biggest armies involved in the conflict (indeed in the world at that time)? It is like North Africa without the Italians, Napoleonic Wars without Kingdom of Naples, or the Spanish the same in the Peninsula….all regarded as useless, but not necessarily so! |
Skarper | 14 Sep 2020 1:04 a.m. PST |
"It is like North Africa without the Italians, Napoleonic Wars without Kingdom of Naples, or the Spanish the same in the Peninsula…" Many do game these campaigns ignoring the unglamorous forces, however important they may have been. So it's not unique to this war. Here, we call the war 'The American War' and the GVN forces are called 'quislings'. I sometimes meet people who were on that side. They had it tough after 1975 and while some were guilty of warcrimes and deserved prison or worse, most of course were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. |
Legion 4 | 15 Sep 2020 7:15 a.m. PST |
Just for the record we in the USA call it the Vietnam War or War in SE Asia. We called the SVN Allies … We called the VC/NVA the Enemy … The US lifted it's arms embargo on Vietnam in the last year of the previous POTUS. IMO just to upset the PRC. So – 👍👍 The PRC is a much bigger threat than Vietnam and any in the former French Indochina. Last I saw Thailand is still a US ally as it was during the war. Of course my "favorite" story about this is my cane, crutches and walker. I got from the VA were all made in Vietnam. I'm sure the irony of that is not lost on the Vietnam Vets that medical needs are supported by the VA … Some may be using those items to assist with them walking because of injuries sustained in Vietnam. |
Skarper | 18 Sep 2020 1:24 a.m. PST |
The later version of the ARVN reviewed. link |
deadhead | 18 Sep 2020 6:24 a.m. PST |
Again a very perceptive and expert review. I think they have been generous with their scoring of the various domains in the end. I do however think these look so like the ARVN seen on the box cover, or that I recall from nightly News broadcasts back then….if much too tall by all accounts. Little guys, big helmets and weapons relative to their size, ultra tight fitted garments. Let's see them in 28mm metals |
Skarper | 18 Sep 2020 8:13 a.m. PST |
The review is not very encouraging. If I were trying to portray this army in 28mm, I'd find some 20mm WW2 figures, swap helmets [not heads] and weapons with some 28mm range of US infantry. You don't actually need to have ARVN to wargame the American War. The units seldom mixed in combat, any more than Marines and US Army would be fighting side by side. I don't think I have seen photos of US troops and ARVN in combat together, except for advisors. Ready to be proved wrong. |
deadhead | 18 Sep 2020 9:33 a.m. PST |
What a clever idea……Could even do it in polystyrene plastic that cuts easily, but, more importantly, glues together with ease. |
Skarper | 23 Sep 2020 2:12 a.m. PST |
link RUFF/PUFFS have been reviewed. |
Legion 4 | 23 Sep 2020 9:01 a.m. PST |
Good review including a little history. But I agree, many of the weapons were a little off and even a bit hard to ID. Even if I've used and had hand on experience with most of them, e.g. 'O3 which I may have confused with an M1 Garand, etc. The M16, M1 Carbine, Thompson, and M3 were easy, of course ! |
deadhead | 23 Sep 2020 9:28 a.m. PST |
What they seem to have done is to show little guys with relatively huge weapons, which I always ask for in ARVN etc, but at a much larger scale than 1/72! |
Skarper | 23 Sep 2020 12:30 p.m. PST |
I think these might look OK as 25mm? I read in someone's autobiography/novel about what I think was called a CAP [Combined Action Platoon] made of a a reinforced US marine rifle squad supporting a platoon of RFs. The autobiography and wikipedia suggest this was an effective counter-insurgency strategy. The fatal flaw as fas as I can see being it was only going to work as long as US forces remained integral to the CAP. I think it would make an interesting series of scenarios/mini-campaign. Especially the later 'Roving CAP' phase of the program. |
Legion 4 | 23 Sep 2020 4:00 p.m. PST |
CAP – Combined Action Program, link They could also probably work for Hmong, Nungs, 'Yards, etc., i.e. MIKE Forces working with Army SF and some "ANZACs". link |