102:, I have attempted to do two things. First, I wanted to give the wargamer a realistic simulation of Ranger operations. Second, I felt the need to keep the game playable. Most tactical games have hundreds of complicated rules to memorize, but bear no relation to actual field maneuvers ... Patrolling suits solitaire gaming fairly well. While conventional operations are the result of the efforts of numerous commanders and staff officers, patrols generally depend entirely on the patrol leader's actions ... I made every attempt to present the tactical situations as the patrol leader would experience them. I wanted the game system to avoid excessive administrative bookkeeping and rules memorization ... I tried to simulate patrolling from my own experiences and not be tied to more standard wargame conventions ... The element of chance throughout Ranger is by design. No patrol leader can control his environment. He can only plan for as many possibilities as he has time and be alert and prepared to implement these contingency plans if necessary. Even the most experienced player making all the correct decisions will occasionally be destroyed. Combat is always dangerous, but even more so when forward of friendly lines.
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game now allow patrolling in wooded, mountain, jungle and desert terrain. Face the challenge of planning and executing a Ranger patrol on the modern battlefield. Missions include squad reconnaissance or platoon ambush and raid patrols. Experience the actual decisions faced by today's U.S. Army Ranger. The first of these exciting solitaire games simulates operations in a jungle environment.
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The classic solitaire wargame returns! Our first game and one of the biggest selling wargames of all time returns in an all new, revised 3000 Line edition completely updated with new weapons, equipment and tactics. The new maps are UV coated allowing the use of dry erase markers. Four versions of the
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A Second
Edition went into production in May 1984, with rewritten rules and graphics brought up to current wargame industry standards. Artwork delays, however, set the expected release of the second edition back to the autumn of 1984, but actually the game shipped in April 1985 to critical success.
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was selected to be the first release. The game was playtested by graduates of the US Army Ranger School's
Infantry Officer's Advanced Course. Names of their friends were used as characters in the game, to add verisimilitude. The game was released in November 1983, and the initial print sold enough
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On
October 16, 1988, the Northern Province of Puerto Oro was invaded by the forces of Costa Verde. The neighbouring country had provided the rebels with both material support and sanctuary. The outnumbered Government Forces fought a valiant delaying action against the better equipped invaders, but
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Once the mission is planned and rehearsed, it ... is resolved using a paragraph system. Since the situations are more generic and abstract, the system leads to more variability with replays. Many paragraphs can only be played once, and then you know the contents of the paragraphs and any replay is
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After consulting with congressional leaders and the joint chiefs of staff, the
President of the United States ordered the deployment of the 82nd Airborne Division. 3 Battalion, 75th Infantry (Ranger) was deployed in support of the 18th Airborne Corps (Forward). The U.S. forces quickly stabilized
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In late 1988, the
President of the Central American Republic of Puerto Oro requested military intervention by U.S. Forces. Puerto Oro's Army was losing control of the countryside to communist rebels. For several years, the rebels had been held in check by the Government Forces. The rebels could
225:), the weapons carried, the composition of the squad, the infiltration and exfiltration routes, what areas of the planned mission will be rehearsed, and so on. Just about everything is under the player's control except the mission, the method of insertion, and availability of certain support ...
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The actions at the target are abstracted so it is difficult to investigate various tactics for actually accomplishing a mission. This action is resolved by a die roll. So if you are trying to destroy some target, it is simply a die roll, modified by your preparations. In this regard,
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is not a traditional board game. It is a solitaire game that is played on a laminated map. There is no hexgrid, or counters. Play starts by selecting a mission. Then you have to plan and organize the mission. Factors under the player's control are the size of patrol
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is billed as the game of modern patrolling. You would expect it to capture these operations well. Actually it does. The emphasis is getting to the target and getting home again. Most of the actions are handled with an abstract combat system.
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in that it was paragraph driven; however the latter game included counters and did have the "excitement of stalking through a building looking for the hostages" (in fact, quite literally, since one of the missions in
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In the summer of 1983, US Army
Captains Bill Gibbs and Mike Modica formed Omega Games in Columbus, Georgia, and explored the idea of starting a wargaming company. Of three titles they had designed (
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is not very exciting. It is also why the game works best as a solitaire system. If you want the excitement of stalking through a building looking for the hostages, then you need another game.
54:. It was billed as a "game of modern patrolling". The game was designed by Bill Gibbs, and focussed on contemporary small unit actions, placing the player in the position of a patrol leader.
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had a much more serious approach to the subject, and Rooker felt the game could even be considered a training aid for actual military patrolling due to its realism.
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The overall context of the game - a speculative game (taking place two years in the future) dealing with a fictional setting - was given on the back of the box:
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October 19, 1988, a patrol from C. Co., 3rd Capital Battalion captured Colonel Yuki Kicharov, the first proof of actual Soviet support.
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the situation. Presently, the front lines are stable. The U.S. forces are expected to take the offensive as soon as deployment of the
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The two expansion kits were eventually merged into one kit, and sold as a companion to the newer version of the original game in 2005.
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add-on module, was to track down and rescue half the player's squad, who started the mission captured.)
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Several editions of the game were published, the 4th
Edition was released in 1992.
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copies in military communities to warrant further production.
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and the remainder of the 18th
Airborne Corps is completed.
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Omega Games went on to become a successful game company.
40:Ranger: Simulation of Modern Patrolling Operations
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494:Board wargames set in Modern history
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279:AO (Area of Operations) Sierra
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447:Fire & Movement Magazine
436:Number 49 (July/August 1986)
342:Two 11" x 17" laminated maps
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300:Two 11" x 17" laminated maps
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199:Fire & Movement Magazine
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151:laminated game map 16" x 20"
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401:From Omega Games' website:
154:laminated Patrol Record Log
94:From the Designer's Notes:
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145:Patrolling Tactics booklet
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229:not very interesting ...
157:plastic Tactical Template
169:Extended Patrolling Card
166:Tactical Reference Card
148:Tactical Events booklet
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372:This section is empty.
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348:Extended Mission Card
306:Extended Mission Card
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178:China (grease) pencil
142:Rules of Play booklet
130:7th Infantry Division
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463:Omega Games website.
434:Fire & Movement
412:AO Sierra/AO Victor
163:Combat Results Card
18:Ranger (board game)
351:Two Play Aid Cards
309:Two Play Aid Cards
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499:Tactical wargames
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16:(Redirected from
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374:You can help by
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345:18 Mission Cards
338:Game Components
327:very similar to
303:18 Mission Cards
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172:18 Mission Cards
72:Main Battle Area
31:2005 Edition of
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296:Components
90:Description
64:Carrier War
483:Categories
421:References
383:July 2010
329:AO Sierra
315:AO Victor
291:AO Sierra
273:AO Sierra
183:Game play
253:Move Out
45:tactical
257:Ambush!
247:Ambush!
223:platoon
58:History
469:Ranger
396:Ranger
333:Ranger
325:Ranger
287:Ranger
283:Ranger
261:Ranger
242:Ranger
235:Ranger
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33:Ranger
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