The Vietnam Battle Set

In my first post "My Story" I spoke about the Vietnam Battle Set I received at 8 or 9 years of age. Today I dug out as much of the original set I could find. Unfortunately alot of pieces were missing like the tan jeeps and trucks but I still have the majority of the soldiers plus the tanks and a few other bits.

I put together a small battle scene between the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) which are actually 1/32 scale Airfix British 8th Army remoulds and the US Army which are Airfix US Paratroop remoulds.

Enjoy.


Somewhere in Vietnam 1970, US forces prepare to attack the NVA positions and send out an attack column. The NVA are relatively well dug in and await the assault.

The NVA gunners lie in ambush, awaiting orders to open fire, when they spot a silhouette in the distance, "FIRE!"

As the column approaches the NVA defensive line, the front recon Jeep swerves as a blast from an NVA gun emplacement tears into the troop transport truck behind them.

Direct hit. The US troops scramble out of their vehicles and prepare to engage whilst trying to navigate the confusion and chaos. Most of the troops in the truck have been killed or incapacitated. The troops radio back to their lines "This is Bravo Company we've been hit, multiple casualties, troop transport is out, requesting medevac".

The G.I's find cover behind their vehicles and begin to lay suppressing fire on the NVA positions while the tank opens fire.

The tank misses it's target and the NVA gun opens fire again hitting the tank on the turret and knocking it out of the fight.

NVA reinforcements poor onto the field as the US troops are outnumbered and out-gunned and eventually defeated. 

Back at the US defensive line, the G.I's have received the distress call and prepare for an NVA counter offensive. Small in number and unable to help their fellow troops, the G.I's prepare to fight to the death and request back up.

Two sentries guard the entrance and wait nervously. They are half expecting to see retreating G.I's from the assault that left no more than an hour ago. 

But none return....

As predicted the NVA launches an infantry assault. 

The two American sentries are startled as shots ring out from the tree line. One sentry is hit in the chest as the other returns fire.

The injured G.I falls to the ground and attempts to crawl back to his lines, his comrade kneels in front of him and empties his magazine into oncoming NVA troops.

The brave G.I takes out as many as he can but know's his fate is sealed. The NVA push on through the gate lead by a young officer determined to crush the US position. The US Lieutenant gives the order to open fire as every man picks his target.

Casualties are high and several US troops die in the ensuing combat.

NVA casualties are also high and when their officer is shot, the fatalities mount and the NVA turn and flee whilst others provide suppressing fire.

The G.I's have gallantly held their position and await reinforcements.

THE END

Scale of the US Paratroops

As mentioned before the remoulds in this pack are considerably smaller than the original Airfix figures,

I took a few shots to compare -

The Airfix figure (left) is spot on 54mm whilst the remould is about 47mm. Another example -

The difference in size isn't actually that much, if you take into account men in real armies could be anywhere between 5ft 6' and 6ft 6', these guys can work together just fine.

This is the first of the battle scenes lined up for the blog, this one was a little off topic being about Vietnam, but I wanted to keep the original set together and play it out as the original pack intended. Both sets of troops have since been re-drafted into the Allied Armies ready to take on their Axis opponents.

You may have noticed many of the cheaper soldier packs come with WWII miniatures that are used to represent different factions at different periods in history, such as this Vietnam set. Feel free to post up your experiences with the cheaper soldier packs and how the manufacturer's attempted to sell them off.

Keep an eye out for my next post showing a range of recently purchased 1/32 scale WWII troops and vehicles from ebay.

Dave