Yankie Ranger Team for "InCountry"

Rangers Lead the Way!

from Army.Mil [click] 

It's hard not to think about the 75th Ranger Regiment when you consider the many operations the US has been involved with.  Along with the Marines, they are often among the first to be used in any operation.  Plus there's movies, books, etc galore out there.  

So no surprise that Enemy Spotted Studios sculpted these for InCountry 1e. and included them in the starter box. Now, INX.2e is in the hands of Echo Dark Studios [Click] and has moved to fictional near-future figs for the starter box.  But the Rangers are still available in resin as Green Beret Advisors [Click]. Regardless of what they're called, they are lovely figures and a pleasure to paint.

When last seen [click], they were primed and ready on the painting bench:

I ran a thinned wash of brown paint over them, just to fill in the cracks the spray primer missed and give them an even base coat since they are metal...

...and looked to my uniform OCP for some inspiration.

I should have gone to the website for inspiration, also, as their OCP paint job is quite well done. The 'effect' is there, altho some closeups and a tutorial would be nice...

...and here is how my first sample came up.  I wanted them to look good from a few feet away, so I darkened the dark brown color of the OCP, and lightened the beige color - this gives the figs a bit more pop to the eye:

[you can see the amazing detail in the gear on these figs!]

Generally, I just used a fine brush to mottle and blob colors on in a more linear pattern than the Flecktarn - which as you can see is what OCP looks like. 

- When I don't like a patch, I speckle some opposing or contrasting color on. 

- When it is too busy, I use the base coat brown to neutralize it.  

- The key is lots of little dabs of paint, strung along mostly linear then trailing off with a bit of up or down.  Don't overthink it!  Just get the paint on there.

After you get a couple Figs the way you want, it's not hard to do. And it is definitely a lot easier than I thought it would be! 

I got some feedback from the Discord and Fb, and went on to paint the other five in similar fashion, altho I did modify the sample a bit.  This is how they group foto:

As always, the goal with game miniatures is to get 'the effect' you want from about 2-3' away.  Beyond that, they are just little painted people shapes, anyway.

The Army is a bit less uniform that it has a rep to be, especially from the past [like, when I was in the first time, in the 1980s...]. Most Soldiers have local parameters and guidelines for uniforms [regs by commander, cantonment, operation, theater, etc], but they aren't issued everything they want, nor does gear have to be identical.  With more experienced and elite Soldiers, the variety of gear is often a bit more pronounced as they tend to keep things after the wear-out date, or buy their own once they have a defined preference.  So I see the little differences as what makes them more realistic when painting them up.

There are definitely times when "everyone is issued one" which I have experienced also.  Then, lots of people might have an identical widget. But still, others will keep what they already have installed, and of course some will trade or sell of the item as long as it isn't something that has to be turned-in [usually...]. I wanted to capture that vibe on this team, so using pics from the internet, I have different colors and patterns for some of the gear, helmets, etc.

For the optics, I just caught some pics of the net.  I like the blue, so went with that.

I also like the magenta tone, but didn't want to head that way for these guys - I'll do it in the future on some other Figs to differentiate them.

And below is the final product [unless I realize what a piece of gear should look like and I go back and redo it!] with as much gear figured out and painted as I'm able to at this point.

Next up, I'll be adding more Fire Teams in groups of four Figs, adding to these fellows.  I also have a bunch of Tallies and generic Insurgent types for more bad guys by Empress Miniatures.  They are a bit smaller [28mm] but they will look good since in real life they likely *are* smaller people.

Stay tuned and follow!

Classic "Squad Leader"!!!

The iconic cover lives on...with a $10 price tag!

"Honey, I just don't know what happened... I went into the FLGS to buy a couple of paints, and for only $10 this game was sitting there, and... I just *bought it*.  I couldn't help myself.  Hey, at least it was only $10, right??"

Yeah, that's what happened, man.  But to go into fuller explanation...

I had a lovely romance with CSL in the 80s, when me and a buddy both had it and played it a bunch.  I also played it a lot solo, cuz it plays pretty darn well solo!  I played a bunch of the scenarios, some repeatedly, and I dug it.

I then got into COI and COD, but eventually the rules were too much and I got interested in other things [girls, sports, the usual boy things] and Classic SL sat around in my parents house until they moved and threated to throw all my [well, all the kids stuff - my sister's too] into a dumpster if we didn't come get it. It then  went with me and was eventually stored in my garage, where a leak developed, and [due to my negligence] a bunch of stuff was ruined.  Including nearly all my SL stuff. The last surviving materials I was too depressed to keep, and sold the last of it off.  Then, I just didn't have any interest for a long long time.

Well, I did discover this binder, much to my surprise, and was tempted to trash it, but then I thought "hey, these are classic rules, with much to be learned from, so hang on to it!"  So I did. It has 4e. CSL...

likely the same of COI....

...and even COD rules...

...much to my surprsie, it had GAV, which I never owned.  Clearly, I photocopied it.

...Well, the binder sat around on a shelf, partially out of mind.  At a couple of points, I considered playing CSL with my 15mm FoW miniatures, but it just seemed like too much work.  I was into simplifying my rules overhead, since life was pretty demanding.

Then I stumbled upon this $10 [TEN DOLLARS...!!! WTH!] and I just...bought it.

I brought it home, and found [as the store said] that it was barely used and in good shape, and immediately reviewed the rules for Scenario #1 "The Guards Counterattack" and set it up. Childishly enthralled...

I then proceeded to play it several times over the next few days.  It was AWESOME!

As a [much] older person, I was able to digest the rules quickly, and they really weren't as tough as I remembered them.  Of course, a lot of it came back to me quickly. My first game was a nail-biter - with some errors of course - but it was enthralling to figure out how to start sneaking the Guards across the road and take building F5!  Their firepower trashed several squads in G6 and H5, and I realized that it was HIGHLY unlikely that the Germans would hold this building.

Many of the Germans Routed out of the building to some safety, and I was hoping to rally them and counter-attack F5 building, but that was ridiculous, I realized.

As the Russian attack developed, they gained a foothold in the building and the Germans failed to push them out.

...With an "oorah!" the Russian Guards pushed across the street, unstoppable...

...but with a natural '3', the Germans wiped out some stacks!  There's hope, comrades!

...but not for long.  The shattered remnants of elite German leaders and veteran squads retreated to other buildings across the deadly street.

The chewed-up Russkies were still able to deliver enough firepower to push the Germans, eliminating some of the better elements.

Eventually, all the Germans were broken!

The Russkies closed in to seal the deal and take the building at I7!  All the German squads were broken thru superior firepower and some great die rolls...

...and by Turn 5, the Russkies were sitting pretty on I7 with no effective counter from the Germans, who had actually made a play at building M5.

In a second game, I had the amazing misfortune to kill two German leaders by rallying them on a natural '12' - clearly, there are plenty of snipers around!

Unsurprisingly, game 2 ended with the Russkies again winning, despite a much stronger German attack on M5...

...which ended in disaster, as the Germans were wiped out in the assault, and ended up as "support weapon donators" to the Russkies.

Finally, the day for which I'd prepared came around - I had convinced a buddy [who had a battered, incomplete copy of CSL] to give them a go.  I think at some level he felt that they weren't that great, and were likely dated.  He also had the first ASL Start Kit which he had fiddled with, but not really gotten into.  But I was *determined* to play CSL for nostalgia purposes!

And above, here we go, with all set up!

As expected by me [having played 3-4 times at least] the Guards Counterattack was strong, and heavy losses were experienced by both sides. Unfortunately, the Russkies had a few squads go Berserk, and this gave them an edge on the assault.

With more attrition, there was was only one German squad left in the F5 building, and 7 Russkie Guard squads pressuring them - crossfire from J4 did help a bit.

...But eventually, the Guards took the building, which should have been renamed "Fritz's Used LMG Emporium" as they made out quite well on working support weapons.  Altho they didn't help a lot [there's only so many you can fire].

But as the game wrapped up, effective Russian firepower broke *a lot* of Germans and even with rallying some squads and saving building L6, there was no way the Germans would win.  The Russians almost won, but they didn't take a second building nor did they have enough intact squads to win at 3-1 [it was 12-5... so they needed one more German squad broken to win, but the Germans managed to rally a leader and a squad and "not lose"].

Well, after about 5-6 games, the last with a live opponent, I can say honestly, that CSL has aged very well indeed - pretty much it is better than I remembered it, which is more than you can say about a lot of things!  The game is a tense nail-biter, and easily manageable, at least as an adult.

Altho I haven't found any secret sauce for the Germans to win Scenario #1, it doesn't really matter - maybe they can win Scenario #2, The Tractor Works.

We'll see...more is definitely coming.  I'm tempted to commit to playing all original 12 scenarios, which I never actually did - I played most but not all of them.  But #2 and #3 are definitely happening!

Russkie PMC Team for "InCountry"

"The Donovian PMC "Hana Barba Rus" [HBR] is well known for their technology driven focus and data driven operations. With a Fire Team to secure client property and a Drone Team to provide protective overwatch and gather intel, they are ready to serve client needs in a number of kinetic and data-driven solutions."

Finally getting back to this cool project, kicking my painting doldrums. I forget when I got these, exactly, but there are about 20 metals and another dozen or so resin. The overall theme is Russkies and 'Merka, with 6 Rangers and two teams of PMCs, v. 6 Wagners and 4 Alpha team, with another 4 Goons / PMCs of some sort.

Toss in the 16 Rangers and 12 Insurgents from the InCountry starter box, and it's about 50 models.  Somehow lost track of how much stuff it was!

Below the mostly metal Teams are going first.

After much internal debate, I mounted all the figs on 1" squares, facing the corner. This allows their 90 Fire Arcs to be easily observed. Altho not the fashion much anymore, I prefer the option to have primary, secondary and tertiary Fire Arcs as being a lot more realistic, and a decision for the gamer / leader. These came with plastic circles for skirmish gaming, but that leaves at best two 180 Fire Arcs, Front and Rear, which doesn't offer enough tactical decisions, IMHO.

And this is the team getting painted first - Russkie contractors. A fire team and a specialist team with a drone.

Next up, 6 Rangers, a fire team and SAWs. 

 In background... OCP!  AKA Skorpion and a lot of other similar patterns.

For the Russkies, a Chinese knock-off of German Flecktarn, in an Eastern Europe Woodland pattern.  I wanted them to look unique, since they are contractors.

To the light gray primer, I put patches of Vallejo Orange-Brown.

Then splotches of a light gray followed by a very dark grey... 

...using some battered dry brushes.

I usually keep hobby tools even if I don't know a future use for them, and these former dry brushes have found a new purpose - little splotches for Flecktarn.

I went with a solid color for the battle-rattle, and typical black for small arms. I want there to be a balance of camo and "plain" items. The red caps are just to provide something interesting to catch the eye and mark the team on table.

I figure as PMCs, they want to be able to identify their people. They are somewhere between cops and full blown tactical military personnel who take the field and 'disappear' into the landscape. More like a SWAT team as guards / data thieves.

Below is the final product. I highlighted some of the colors that I want to catch the eye after the wash of thinned down Devlan Mud  which I applied pretty liberally.  Will likely also protect these with "miracle dip" solution.

After the wash, I returned and 'brightened' the Vallejo "Orange-Brown" splotches with straight Game Color "Orange Fire" from the bottle.

To make them a bit more appealing to the eye, note that they have some bright touches here and there like their cap and cap badge, as well as the orange bits on the Flecktarn.  

The bases match my favorite table cloth, but will likely have some suitable shrubbery in the future, of an arid middle eastern flavor.  Just seems like that's a likely place for them to get employment...

Next up, psyched to knock out these 6 Rangers in OCP.  Got plans for how to do it, and looking for it to match my uniform pretty closely, if not exactly.

Stay tuned, gentle readers!  And remember to "follow" to get updates.