Irene, Irene, Irene. The word is "Irene".

Ah, life can be interesting. Of course interesting is rarely pleasant, but it beats plodding along day in and day out. After closing my practice, going through a divorce, getting ready to move abroad, I finally got the urge to paint little plastic (or metal; I am not particular), sniff styrene glue and write on this blog. It's been a year, but what a year. I hope this is as bad as it gets.

So, Irene is NOT the name of my ex-wife. If you have seen "Black Hawk Down" (and if you haven't seen it, go read another blog, one that does not have pictures of toy soldiers in it), "Irene" was the "go" codeword for the combined Ranger/Delta operation in Mogadishu that resulted in a monumental screw-up, a cool movie and an even cooler book.

Having gotten a bunch of Cold War Americans (Esci and Revell) and some Somalis (Caesar and Elhiem metals), I decided to paint me some Rangers. I started off with one chalk: two fireteams, an M-60 team and a chalk leader. Each fireteam is composed of one grenadier (M-16/M-203 combo), one SAW (M-249), fireteam leader and rifleman. The M-60 team is gunner and assistant gunner. All in all, 11 figures. I started them off sometime in 2013 and finished them off yesterday:

Fireteam 1:

M-60 Team:

Fireteam 2:

 Chalk Leader:

I had some problems with the flat coat (frosting in a couple of figs) but I am too lazy to repaint the area. The Mog was dusty anyways. I primed the Elhiem Delta teams as well, but it might be a couple of weeks before I get around to painting them. I've found most of the stuff I need for Mogadishu (Humvees, Blackhawks, Somalis, Rangers, Delta, Blackhawks, Blackhawk crews) except Little Birds. There are kits for it out there, but I haven't seen one in Athens yet.

That's all from Athens for now. Tune in for another update soon (I hope).