Planning Your Forces and Force Structure

It was my intention from the outset that all forces would be organised as far as possible in accordance with their historical counterparts. To this end I set out to decide which figures and armaments the various stands should be composed of.

Stands

Since all figures were to be based on what are called 'stands' I determined that there should be a number of different types of stand and two different sizes of stand.

The basic infantry stands are Company HQ, Platoon HQ, Rifle, LMG, Mortar, HMG and RCL Groups.

The two different sizes of stand are: 3cms x 2cms (used for all groups except Platoon HQ) and 2cms x 2cms (Platoon HQ).

Stands consist of the following figures:

Figure Suppliers

Having decided on the composition of the different types of stand it was necessary to ascertain who supplied the figures, how many figures I was going to require, and how much they were going to cost. The question of 'how many figures' was to be determined based upon the Tables of Organisation and Equipment (TO&E) for the various factions as shown below.

So far as I have been able to ascertain, there are only four main suppliers of models and figures at this scale and these are; Pendraken Miniatures, Bren Gun Miniatures, Kennington Miniatures and Skytrex. I should emphasise that the Skytrex range are designed around a 6mm figure scale and although I possess some of their vehicles and figures, I have not used them in this project since they are considerably smaller than the other figures available and do not mix. Kennington Miniatures do not produce figures for this scale but are producers of terrain items and Riverine craft. They do not have a website that I have been able to find but can be contacted by email at newhopedesign@hotmail.com

Therefore, the primary figure manufacturers are Pendraken Miniatures and Bren Gun Miniatures. I believe that I am right in saying that the original Vietnam range produced by Pendraken was something of a 10mm/6mm hybrid and was subsequently sold to Bren Gun Miniatures. Pendraken are currently revamping their Vietnam range to 'true' 10mm scale (this is quite clearly demonstrated when you compare their early Huey models with their current model - the size difference is very noticeable). However, whilst Bren Gun Miniatures may have taken over the old Pendraken range, they have also gone some way to revamping the figures.

For my own collection I have mixed figures from both manufacturers. The Pendraken miniatures are a little taller than those supplied by Bren Gun Miniatures but the difference is so small as to be imperceptible and they work fine alongside each other. Pendraken offer more figure poses than do Bren Gun Miniatures although one or two of the figures from both manufacturers simply do not appeal to me.

Figure Availability

Whilst most figures from both Pandraken and Bren Gun are supplied in packs of 10 figures, when it comes to calculating how many packs of each type of figure you are going to require there are a number of considerations.

• Pendraken produce both a US and NVA command figure (both supplied in packs of 10). Bren Gun do not produce a command figure.
• Both Pendraken and Bren Gun infantry figures come in packs of 10 miniatures. The Bren Gun pack is a complete squad of mixed poses that contains an RPG gunner. Packs from Pendraken contain only a single figure-pose.
• Pendraken supply M60s in packs of three with 6 crew but the machineguns are tripod-mounted (personally, I think they look pretty good even if they are a little static).
• pendraken do not produce an RPD figure for the NVA/VC.
• Bren Gun supply M60s and RPDs in packs of five along with 5 infantrymen with either M16 or AK47. Both the RPD and the M60 figures are depicted advancing with their weapons.
• Both supply US 81mm mortars in packs of 3 with 6 crew figures.

I personally am quite happy to mix and match. Since neither Bren Gun or Pendraken produce the same figure poses, I have simply purchased packs from both manufacturers and mixed them up for greater variety.

What can you get for your money?

At the time of writing (April 2003) figure packs from Bren Gun and Pendraken cost £0.90 and £0.95 respectively. As a rough guide, it will cost you about £10 - £12 for a full US Company and only about £9 - £11 for an NVA or VC Company.

I already mentioned that one of my reasons for choosing 10mm scale was cost. To give some idea of how cost effective this scale can be, here are some price comparisons:

As a general guide, a 110-man US Line Infantry Company will cost you about £11.00, £24.00 and £44.00 respectively in 10mm, 15mm and 20mm scales.

These differences in costs and what you can have for your money become considerably more obvious when it comes to vehicles.

A 10-vehicle US Armoured Cavalry Platoon of 3 x M48 and 7 x M113 ACAV will cost approximately £9.00, £49.50, and £68.00 respectively in 10mm, 15mm and 20mm scales. These are whooping differences!

In effect, you can field more than a full Troop of three Platoons at 10mm for the cost of a single Platoon at 15mm. Better still,  you can have a complete Armoured Cavalry Squadron of three Troops at 10mm for the cost of a single Platoon at 20mm.

It's clear that you can have a lot of troops for a reasonable cost at 10mm scale and although there is a definite trade-off in terms of visual appeal and 'feelability', I think this is well worth it if you are determined to fight those big games or you are on a tight budget. Besides, visual appeal can still be achieved even at this small scale and the fact that 10mm figures can be painted reasonably well adds further to their appeal.