Welcome to my blog, the story of my continuing journey into the World of Zombie Wargames.

Monday 3 June 2019

NAM - (FA#10)

As I hadn't had any thought towards this week's post I desperately risked life and limb to recover a box of what I thought were my 54mm western buildings, only to find it was a box of my Vietnam forces.
Here's a selection from the rather diverse forces I have.
On patrol (Bit twee - Ed.)
These tanks are Pershings, from what I recall, probably not used in Nam, but were the only tanks I could find (and afford) to use at the time.Whilst I'd bought them, my friend Nick painted them and added stowage etc.
The underside showing its cheap origin.




They were bought along with a lot of other suitable armoured vehicles in a Hammersmith department store (on one of my many visits to the Original Games Workshop) for the princely sum of 25p each!
They were originally made by "Airfix", made from Polyethylene, and came completely assembled even though they had 'clip-on' tracks and push-on turret.



I bought a lot of AFVs
The AFVs had to have a slight conversion to make them look more US than UK and the circular hatch was cut to a rectangular one, though some were left as mortar carriers with the original hatch left in place. Th e small commander s central cupola was openable - a nice feature for such a cheap kit.
One converted into a command vehicle.
Showing the underside.
My metal ACAV
The USA fielded ACAV (eventually in the war and the only model available in metal at the time cost a fortune (to me at least, as an impoverished student.) and so I never increased their numbers.
Cheap plastic on the left and metal ACAV on the right
Mortar carrier conversion
The whole AFV force. (note the one with open rear ramp and hatch)
It couldn't be NAM without some US grunts and I have about a company's worth (at 1:1 scale), made from various manufacturers:
{Plastics - Airifx or Matchbox, I forget which)
Close up (obviously)
Another close up of the above.
Metals (maybe Skytrex ?)
Metal originals, sculpted by my friend Nick
How they appeared on discovery - note the unit markings on their bases
The plastics -aarggh
 Along with the US, I had to have some VC, though they were very few in number as they rarely appeared visible in our games, mine were  a mix of plastics and metals (the latter again sculpted by Nick)
A platoon of VC
A selection of my civilians - mostly converted from "Atlantic" Ancient Egytians!
In addition to the figures shown, I have many casualty figures, more civilians, some Nuns, a News team, helicopters (of course),  fixed wing aircraft and probably  a lot more I've forgotten about !
I made some very shoddy buildings from scrap and a jungle from tissue paper and barbecue sticks - it may not have looked pretty but some good games were played over our coloured sand terrain.

All the figures were 20mm - even the chunky metals 9yes there was scale creep even in the 70's) and the whole project was made as cheaply as possible.

So, maybe it's not an army, but it was certainly forgotten and no doubt there's more its and pieces of it in various boxes in places I've forgotten.

That's it then for another week, thanks for taking the time to visit and I hope you've found something of interest and as always your comments are truly welcomed and very mush appreciated.

18 comments:

  1. I used to like those Airfix plastic vehicles - not so cheap if you try to buy one now!

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    1. Haha, I wouldn't like to think how much they'd ost now as collectors pieces. I had numerous landing craft, Tiger tanks,batteries of 25pdrs and a huge convoy of 6x6 trucks !

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  2. Another hidden gem of a collection. Great find Joe.

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    1. Thanks Michel, I do surprise myself at times with what I find.

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  3. Terrific posting, Joe. I'm thoroughly enjoying these trips down memory lane and your past projects. Fascinating articles, so please keep doing them :-)

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    1. Thanks Blaxx, even though this was an 'off the cuff' post about an accidental find, I'm pleased it turned out well enough to catch some interest.

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  4. I'd love to get into that Aladdin's cave of your's Joe, I sit & think what wonders I might find :)

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    1. Thanks Frankto be honest it's more like a maze of storage nooks and crannies wherein one might find just about anything !

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  5. Crikey, there's some absolute classics here Joe and some great conversion work - I especially like the command vehicle and the civilians :-)
    Your friend Nick is a talented guy too!
    So, what rules did you play to? If they were a commercial set, I'll take a guess at "Bodycount" ;-)

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    1. Thanks TWA, some of my stuff are probably antiques to many gamers; nowadays you can probably get everything you need for NAM (and just about anything else) in many scales.
      I used a 3 page (dpuble)-sided, hand-typed set of rules from the initial Conference of Wargamers and Nick went on to become a sculptor for many of the current wargame manufacturers btw.

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  6. Another fantastic collection sir!

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    1. Thanks you Michal, not one of my larger collection though.

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    1. Thanks Jay, it's been far too long a time since these were used.

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  8. Nice collection,I think the Pershing's and AFVs are great for the money and well painted up, the conversions using Atlantic Egyptians are inspired!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks Iain, it was a time when there so very little choice - how times have changed.

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  9. Awesome collection! Spoilt for choice now.

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    1. Yep,everything in every scale for every period.

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