Saturday, February 3, 2024

"In Country" Figures: Review, Prep

Crossover isn't just your car!


"In Country" [click] is a modern, perhaps even "contemporary" and possibly even "near future" game. It is part of the Enemy Spotted Studio [click] family of figures and games, which are available in a wide variety of mediums, including metal, STL files, and resin.  All their products are worth considering by anyone interested in modern wargaming in 28-32mm, and everything I've gotten has been incredibly well done. They're almost intimidatingly realistic...sometimes, I think they are more real than me in my own battle-rattle!

I signed up for this game release in spring 2023, I think.  The cardboard bits ended up slowing the release so I got it in summer2023. Fortunately, while I was eager to get this, I didn't have immediate plans I couldn't proxy and work something else out for, e.g. Stormtroopers v. Rebel Scum. Still, when it arrived I was thrilled to get it, and the wait was worth it!

There were 25 resin figs included, and plenty of 2D cardboard terrain, which sometimes is the best way to easily demo and otherwise travel around with a game.

The figs are just breathtaking, and included three Ranger teams and three insurgent teams. Each side has a bit of weapon and other variety, including grenade launchers.
As pictured above, the cardboard terrain is great!  There are rooms, buildings, walls, vics, etc, as well as cards for Intel. The game board is solid and nicely done, and obviously can be used for other games. 

2D terrain may not be ideal, but it is less fiddly, rarely gets knocked over and doesn't catch on your sleeve!  Of course, a little blue-tac will prevent slippage, too.  It's an option that some people may want to consider under certain circumstances.

There was one fig who had a meltdown of sorts.  I sent this pic to customer service, and they sent me a complete blister of 4 Rangers!  No complaints there!  I'll use him as a casualty marker or something.
...maybe partially buried in sand, face-down?

All the rest of the figs were perfect. Amazing detail, realistic poses [all standing]. Some comparisons with pictures and the actual figs are below.

Following directions, I washed them with mild dish soap and a soft toothbrush to get rid of the release agent [or whatever].

For priming, I did a few colors as uniforms are pretty much only uniform when they are on the rack at the Exchange. As I'm going "OCP / Skorpion" for the Rangers, I used two shades of brown / tan.
The lighter one below is a Testor's color.
The theory is that the lighter uniforms have sun bleaching.
primed, you can see the amazing details better.  There is no mold or flash that I noticed - perhaps a few little bits came off in the cleaning process, but definitely easier than metals.

Green is for "Goons"!
If they were bigger, they'd be in movies!
I did carelessly bust the RPG's front off...
It was an easy fix, with glue
as a reinforcement, I put piano wire alongside...as everyone knows, the RPG7-V5 had metal supports...maybe...ahem...

Cleaning and priming was pretty easy.  Now, to figure out the painting of camo, especially the Insurgents, as I know a lot less about what is in fashion with those guys than in the US Army!

Overall, I see this as a 10/10 purchase. I ended up with 28 figures and everything I needed to present the game easily and transport it in a small container.  It falls into place alongside similar "boardgame with miniatures" that I have, like Aliens: AGDitC, Terminator Genysis, and the Space Marine games from GW. 

If you aren't a terrain maker / buyer, and OK with 2D flat terrain, it will suit many other modern games and you can't go wrong with that.  

To summarize: buy it!