"Buried Treasure Score-Baker Company and Froce of Arms" Topic

I blame Ged at Gringos, for getting me back into the Vietnam kick for the last two or three years. So digging through the storage boxes to find my older assembled minis to total up what I already had for a few years.

Nearly a company of ARVN that I flushed out with individual figures from Gringo, especially the leadership, radio, M79 and M60 figures.

A complete infantry company of the Baker NVA. Nine, full ten man sections, platoon HQs, a company HQ and a pair each of mortars and hmgs.

A full US infantry company of nine, ten man sections, platoon HQs, a company HQ. I think I need some mortars, recoilless or super bazookas to really flush them out.

Finding these guys all over again and falling in love with the figures all over again.

I even found a sealed blister pack of Baker Company door gunners.

But wait,,,,there's more to come!

Now going through that dark and dusty corner of the basement where projects go to be forgotten and digging some more and I must have hit the mother load of figures.

One box of Force of Arms. All of those little plastic ziploc baggies with the three white stripes from John at Force of Arms. (We miss you John,,,)

JUNCTION CITY!!!
WooHoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Enough little baggies for a complete platoon and even a bag of eight upper torso crew figures for afvs.

And now,,, wait for it,,, another second box of Force of Arms comes out of the depths. I have all the little ziploc baggies poured all over a table top as I type.

I better spread some kitty litter under the chair at the table, this day I am getting all over excited like a new puppy and better be prepared in case of an accident.

Might be a few hours before I get back to report.
I have to inspect them and tally them and let the adrenalin wear down.

Wow, I am still coming off what feels like a sugar high from a six year old who just snorted his way through a box of pixie sticks.

Second box had more of the Junctions City sets.
After looking though them I have a second complete platoon worth of US infantry. These are the airborne infantry sets John had done where they look really burdened down like mules.

Also in the box were a pack of the kit carson scouts and LRRPs. Figures with bush hats, bare headed and even one or two in berets. About fifteen figures altogether. Might be good choices to use as leadership in all my Mike Force and CIDG projects.

Also,,, in the box were a jumble of VC sets. Around 25 figures. These guys are either AK or SKS armed and in full uniform but light kit and floppy hats. Pretty much the bulk of an entire platoon.

Funny how good finding these guys makes me feel?

There is something about Gringo40s….we sold off our Vietnam kit and replaced it all (apart from soke civilians) with Gringos.

Don't get me wrong. I love Gringos figures too.

The old Baker and Force of Arms lines are what got me in love with the Vietnam rangess. The Gringos has just rekindled that love of them.

All three of these figure lines also share a sculpting style in my view.

To me I get the impression that there are two styles of figure out there. One style is where the material is added but then sculpted out and carved away. The details are there and detailed, but narrower and less defined and I find them harder to paint because of their fineness and the tend of the detail to easily meld into the figure. in the raw meta, I actually have difficulty picking out details of one peice of kit from another. Most of their detailing might not come out until they are primed.

I put Eureka and empress in that category. They are still nice figures, just challenging on my eyes and harder for me personally to paint.

The style I find I love is where the detils such as webbing and packs are added or layered on top of the figure. Maybe others have a better description of this style. I just find this style so much easier and more pleasnat to paint. Because the details are stadnding out ever so more slightly, the paint just flows into the crevices and is stopped by the natural contours from overflowing on to their parts. In the metal, these figures appear near cartoony, but to me they paint up absolutely easily and beautifully.

My favourites in this area are Gringos, Baker and Force of Arms.

I hope that makes sense.

I suppose that is why today's joy is from finding these again. Especially since Baker and Force of Arms are gone to us.

I am already trying to figure out the tally of what I need in Gringo VC in flopppy hat to flush out an entire platoon,,,.

So may RPGs, RPDs a rifle or two and how about command figure or two,,,.

Although Gringo 40's figures do look good I started with Empress Miniatures and was told a number of times that the two wouldn't mix well.

Mine are all gone to a better hole (all my 28mm stuff went to raise money for Waterloo Uncovered. They were all just languishing in the attic after all)

I did mix Empress with Gringos (although the latter made up the bulk of my collection). I have huge respect for Paul Hicks' work (nothing will better his Saxon Garde du Corps though) and the range of figures is quite remarkable. I would not put the two makes side by side on the table, but separate squads no problem. VN and other SEA figures will be smaller anyway and, fo kneeling and prone US figures any disparity is less obvious.

A day later and still like a little kid riding the sugar high.

Folk tend to forget, the whole idea is to have fun.

We can argue about ACW statues, facing colours for Lithuanian Napoleonic Pontonniers or the quality of the Sherman tank. But it is good to hear when someone "lightens up" a bit!