NEWS FLASH. National forces clear rebel camp ahead of campaign

 Tuesday 23rd April 2022
Jose: People here in the capital are ecstatic over recent news that the national forces under the command of Centurion Pedro Nacho Fernandez Costa! we sent Laura to interview him and find out about the battle.

Laura: so Pedro what happened back there? I have heard the fight was quite fierce.
Pedro: Yes it was I feared for my own life at one stage but we managed to recover from some very heavy casualties. The rebels put up a brave fight to be sure, I have never seen so many men lose their lives for the rebel cause. I myself have lost many good friends, I saw them die before my very eyes, war is a terrible thing, but a cruel necessity if we are to live in freedom

Laura: and the rebels? not all of them were killed according to the reports you filed.
Pedro: Yes we took some prisons, these men are brave soldiers, I am not surprised that they were able to build this camp in what is essentially behind our lines. Their commander, centurion Manuel was a brave man I remember training with him back in 2016.  It is a shame that so many good men have betrayed their own country.

Laura: Are you angry at all? surely these men are the reason so many Friends are dead?
Pedro: Can I be angry? These men may be traitors and murderers but I recognise many people from training like Manuel. How can I angry with my former friends at a time that I have lost so many of my own friends? mercy is what they deserve, they fought with all the courage that is to be expected of a soldier of Oronegro, its just sad that they found themselves on the wrong side.

Laura: I have heard that your troops were not alone? can you tell us who assisted you?
Pedro: it was that fellow from the capital, James I think it is...
Laura: ep3?
Pedro: Yes that's the one. He must have been staying in the house. We did get a chance to talk to him after the battle but he left quickly and I did not get to know him well. he only said "I have work to do, your fight is just one of many I will be in during the war".

Laura: Assuming that the campaign in the north does not end the war.
Pedro: I think that is a dream, I cannot see this war being over so soon, not now that the rebel general has returned. I think that we are in for some hard fighting in the years to come.

Laura: well let us hope not. Thanks for your time centurion
Pedro: Your welcome
Laura: this is Laura Martinez reporting for Oronegro news, back to you Jose.

Jose: Thank you Laura, in other news more fighting in Europe as the Soviet Union continues its fight against Marines on its boarders. German forces on UN missions here are going to remain as a permanent force as Germany can no longer safely bring them back...

Well there you go a news flash from Oronegro.

The battalion- the independant century

in the previous post I touched upon the battalion, this force is essentially a century that is independent of a legion and under the command of a senior centurion or primus pilus. however as an independent force a battalion needs more support! however the exact needs of one battalion may be greater than another and so early on in Orangery's history the different needs of a battalion cause the creation of two classes/ sizes of battalion. Class A battalions containing 300 men and class B battalions containing 200.

the class A battalion
the class A battalion is the bigger of the two, over the years it has become more standardised in its support and even more importantly its role has changed. The Class A battalion has the normal 100 soldiers of a century, under the command of a standard centurion, but also 50 soldiers of a combat support team, under the command of another centurion 20 troops from an air arm and 10 of an artillery group! there is also a 20 soldier Strong transport and communications team which helps to keep the battalion fed and armed. there is of coarse the 100 Strong command/ support force however the distribution of them is different from normal! there are 30 command troops 8 NCO's with  8 guards 2 centurions with a guard and a Optio each the primus pilus and his body guard and a praefectus castrorum who organised the camp, training, equipment and supplies below him were 5 officers called praefectus (prefects) who just made sure that the supply team was doing its job.
the70 others were made up of 10 MP's, 10 medics, 5 bomb disposal 20 engineers, 5 civilian relations/ interpreters and 10 mechanics.
the air arm: the air arm is 20 men strong and contains 10 helicopter pilots, 6 gunners for the aircraft and another 4 ground crew who act as air traffic control - repairs are carried out by the mechanics and transport team. the group normally had 3 transport helicopters for deploying troops, crewed with 2 pilots and 2 gunners each the helicopters varied and most famously the rebels used the Hind O (o for Oronegro) there was also 2 attack helicopters operated by 2 pilots, this was either the lynx, Apache or another hind.
combat support team: the combat support team is essentially made up of armour, sniper and mortar groups. the Armour is the biggest consisting of 30 troops, it is made up of around 10 APC's normally the Bradley or the Warrior, the BTR-80 also is common, these take up 20 of the troops, 2-3 tanks are also common, 3 tanks when an auto loader is installed and only 2 if there is none, the additional troop is often put in one of the APC's. Mortar team consists of 10 men, these operate between 2 and 5 mortars depending on the size, often a mobile mortar is used in which case they only have 2 mortars with 2 driving the vehicle and the other 3 operating the mortar. and there is the 10 man sniper group.
Artillery group: the 10 men and women of the artillery group are some of the luckiest of the Oronegrean army. self propelled guns will require 5 of them to operate while in the odd cases that a non-self propelled gun is used they can get 2 troops to a gun depending on the size.
Transport and communications: The army needs transport, food and full HD, 300 channel plus, satellite television! apparently. 5 chefs, 10 truck divers, 3 electronic communications (also electronic warfare) specialists and 2 fixers/ stock takers. these men and women are the ones that keep the water running and the Bacon and eggs on the menu. the truck drivers drive their armoured and armed big rigs! (0.50 cal on the cab roof). they either carry supplies or if the battalion is on the move the soldiers hop on in and fight over who gets to ride shotgun or in this case machine gun!The chef have their own trucks which they drive poorly in some cases, the fixers can quite often have their own 4x4's and of coarse the electronic guys have their high tech trucks, which are often used as HQ's during battle. this group is also known as the trucker team for obvious reasons.
engineer groups: The engineers are known as the road workers of the battlefield, the 20 people who are involved in this group are used to doing the fun things, blowing up stuff, building stuff and then watching is get destroyed, mostly that is sand castles. they are armed like the normal infantry but do not be mistaken they do know all the finner points of what they are doing.
Mechanics: The mechanics are what keeps the modern mechanised war machine going, they have 5 trucks full of tools and nuts and bolts! the annual tank take apart and put back together competition brings the best of these teams to the capital for what can only be described as a practical sport!
Bomb squad: The advent of the IED has meant that the old mine clearer's have had to learn new skills but their role is still the same, find the bombs/mines before the troops find them.
Civilian relations team: Key to modern conflict is the idea of hearts and minds, and it is the job of the civilian relations team to make sure that the hearts and minds of the people are firmly with the National cause.
MP's: The military police team is very important to the Oronegrean war machine, they keep order in camp and if the battle means that a near by town is a possible place of regrouping in the event of defeat on the battlefield the MP's make sure that the town does not hold some nasty surprises for the army. They also arrest any disorderly troops, they will often arrest anyone who commits a crime, they earned a reputation during the civil-war for being more dangerous than the rebels in some places because they would arrest so many disorderly troops.
Medics: The role of the medics in any army is important and Oronegro is no different. the Medic is the injured troops best friend and as such they are some of the most popular members of the battalion.

the class B battalion
The class B battalion is very similar to the class A battalion, however it contains 200 troops! the normal century plus 50 others these are put under the command of another centurion. the command structure is similar to the Class A battalion. there being 1 primus pilus and 2 centurions with their Optios, body guards and 6 NCO's with guards and their guards and a praefectus looking after the supplies, so a total of 20 command troops. there is also 5 two man sniper teams (10), 5 MP's, 5 medics, 5 bomb squad members and 5 Civilian relations personnel. the Other 50 are made up of 30 Armour personnel, 10 communication and 10 transport. the Armour contains 1 tank which will take up the man power of 3 to 5 troops and the rest is a mix of APC's/ IFV's (20-25 personnel) and perhaps a self propelled gun (5 personnel)! The role of these groups is usually the same as the Class A battalion.

The cohort
A cohort is Oronegro's most usable force, under the command of a tribunus. The Cohort is in fact just a Class A battalion and a Class B battalion combined with one of the  primus pilii being replaced by the Tribunus the Cohort is also seen in the larger cities and most Military bases that are not very large contain a cohort, there are 10 Cohorts in Oronegro, but the number of Battalions in Oronegro includes those that are part of the Cohorts. there is only 3 Native Cohorts in Oronegro. the rest are made up of the settler population.

Native Battalions
There are approximately 30 Native Battalions in Oronegro the main ones are the 12th, 14th and 21st and 43rd Battalions, these 4 often join together to form 2 of the 3 Native cohorts. the 14th and 21st Battalion are class A and the other two are class B. Native troops are well known for their jungle warfare and they often use outdated equipment. Oronegrean tigers, and panzer's from the time when Oronegro was like the 3rd Reich in South America and M48's and M60's from a newer time mixed up with T-34/85's T-55's T-72's, Chieftains and crusader tanks and many more. However Native battalions will quite often swap out their Armour for more soft skin transports or just for Motorbikes, which allow 2 people to ride (driver and gunner sitting on the back). the Native battalions are quite flexible in their equipment and quite often have no real uniform size as they gather tribes to their cause. spears and machetes are quite often included in the arms list of these forces!

Oronegro was well prepared for a war, the civil war proved their biggest challenge!

The Oronegrean century- basic battlefield unit

as with ancient Rome so too does Oronegro have the century but in Oronegro the troops under the direct control of the centurion number 100 not 80. the structure is as follows starting with the smallest division and going up to the century itself

 the smallest group is the team of 5 men these can act independently from the century as a whole or together with others in a 20 man squad. Next is the Unit of 50 troops; 2 squads joined together with 10 specialist troops, 6 LMG's, 1 dragon armed soldier and either 3 Stinger or 3 Javelin armed soldiers (one unit has the 3 stingers and the other has the 3 javelins). 2 units form the century.
in charge of the century is the centurion who has under neath him 1 Optio his second in command and 4 NCO's each in charge of one squad.  The NCO's and the centurion each have a body guard armed with an LMG the Optio also acts as a body guard and is also armed with an LMG. in support of the century but not under the direct control of the centurion are 5x 2 man sniper teams, 5 MP's who patrol the area around the rear for any civilian (terrorist) counter attack, 5 medics, 10 engineers, 5 bomb squad soldiers and 4 civilian relations people who act as interpreters when needed.

so the century itself is in total 150 men Strong 100 of those being the troops and the rest fulfilling the command and support roles! this also does not include any transport groups who are put under the control of the leader of a legion (1000 men) of 10 centuries as shown here. in a legion there will also be at lease 500 supporters, these being those of the centuries. 200 will be devoted to the armour, tanks, APC's, etc. 100 will be devoted to transport 50 to the artillery, 50 as a separated engineering element to those in the centuries and 100 will be for the running of the camp/base where the legion will be based.

one additional note: in some occasions a century may be named a battalion, this is because it is an independent force and not a division of a legion. there are a total of 50 battalions in Oronegro of which 30 are native battalions, native troops being raised over larger areas cannot be easily formed into a legion

Chocolate and crude the two black golds

Oronegro literally means black gold but even though today it refers to the oil that the nation has an unusual abundance of the name comes from a time when oil was not the commodity that wars are fought over... no it all started with chocolate.

Oronegro is named after the delicacy that gripped Europe's nobles in the 18th century. The reason why it became so famous was that Oronegro produced large quantities of Coco, the black gold was transported all over Europe and some places in the imperial colonies of Spain. Many rich nobles from Spain would travel to Oronegro to sample their own "crop" each Nobel family would have a favourite farm or even field from which their own personal supply of coco came from. Oronegro became so wealthy that it was the rich coco crop growers that funded the revolution and established the political links that got the British so deeply involved with the nation in the early 1860's. So deals were struck over large mugs of dark hot chocolate and Oronegro was made independent. in fact it was called Oronegro from the start, it was meant to be a joke, a small pun made between the British and Oronegrean dignitaries. However, the attendants who stood by thought it was a great idea, in fact they went out after this initial meeting and told as many people as they possibly could. News spreads quickly when it is important and soon crowds formed calling them selves la gente del Oronegro. Yet why did they love the name?

Chocolate was an important commodity for Oronegro and the people of the nation had always known that the growing of Coco was important. So when they heard a possible name for the new nation was going to be linked to their nations strongest asset they loved it! so Oronegro was unofficially born... in fact it almost never happened, the negotiations were about to conclude that "tierra bonita" beautiful land had been liberated and had become official nation. But it was never going to become the nations name, Oronegro was now so accepted by the nations people that any other name could have been treated as an insult!

so it was that; "on 30th May 1867 that the Nation of Oronegro, as agreed by the nations of Britain and Spain, has been officially been given the right of self governance. in so doing is now given the recognition by these and all nations as an independent state..."

so that was how Chocolate or coco the first black gold of the nation gave it its name that it would bear for all time, though it was oil in the 20th and 21st centuries that would become the main representation of the "black gold of Oronegro". That is the story of Oronegro got its name.

James.ep3 the lone warrior revealed

well this will be a story made up on the spot...

meet James.ep3 hero of the land of Oronegero

James.ep3 is a member of an international group the ep3's what it stands for nobody knows!
(my mate came up with it... he was making his rune scape account years ago and saw the star wars monopoly in my room where the computer was and tuned C3PO into ep3, the name stuck and now we both use it... Kane.ep3 and James.ep3... James is my middle name of coarse)
In Oronegro James.ep3 earned a reputation for being brave in battle, intelligent, the lone warrior and above all a terrible team member... he nearly always communicated in a way that was either commanding or not empathetic (too autobiographical) But despite this draw back he stayed on until the end of that war aiding the national forces when it seemed morally right. However during the great fight for the old district he aided local rebels in the street fighting, it became apparent that the national commander was a man who felt no shame in damaging those rustic and beautiful streets. This action did attract criticism however later when the same commander ordered artillery to shell the gallery of fine art and Oronegrean literature James.ep3's actions were justified.... the gallery was not shelled in the end as the commander of artillery did not open fire instead he called the headquarters for the area and told them about the situation.

a gas mask was worn all the time, it saved his life many times

James.ep3 was mostly seen in La Ley where the fighting was the most suitable for a lone man on a mission to fight without needing a team to back him up and warn him of enemy maneuvers. James.ep3 fought outside La Ley on a few occasions, notably for the fight for San Antonio in the great farming plains! though he lived through that war he went missing after the fighting ended, some say he left Oronegro and joined the other ep3's preparing for other conflicts where a Hero would be needed and a nation saving from itself!


below is a small pic of James.ep3 from the game Red Crucible 2 from which this figure/ character is based

as you can see I did try my best when it came to sculpting the figure by hand... stated in a post about the figure on my model blog... I hope to create numerous adventures in Oronegro for this character and perhaps soon my friend Kane can have his own little version, he too is on the online game...

have a nice night/day

Rebels in La Ley

Now Oronegro was originally used to having to fight forces outside the main centres like La Ley. so when the civil war brought fighting to the streets the Soldiers who formed the rebel army were mainly from the outlying provinces and or the smaller towns. for this reason though they had the same standard camouflage pattern as the normal troops they were not equipped in exactly the same way and in some cases in totally different weapons and or body armour! though of coarse there were many armed in the same way causing much confusion for both sides it was generally accepted that the standard rebel soldier wore the - s5 peaked cap, the Mk 37 body armour and was equipped with either standard Oronegrean weapons like the M16O or weapons built in the factories in El Soldado, and as such were soviet in design like the AK-740.
One group of rebel soldiers gained great renown among the ground forces in the fight for La Ley, they were lead by a commander nick named el cuello roto literally the broken neck! as with many rebel and/or rebel sympathisers in the war his real name is a mystery. the forces under his command were called by all Los soldados del cuello- the soldiers of the neck. they came to La Ley in a squad of 20 however the first few days saw them loose most of the young men in the squad leaving a small group that would prove themselves time and time again until they were finally cornered and shot down by the Los Angeles Negros them selves! and the black angels say that thought they fought many things during the battles in of La Ley these soldiers proved their most worthy opponents though not the strongest and best trained, they were braver than a legion of the finniest men history has ever created!

\these few men would be the most famous rebel unit during the war

their famous leader sporting his neck brace with pride

in action they were fearless, cunning and though not completely accurate very, very deadly!

 so that was the Los soldados del cuello! though there were plenty of rebels in La Ley these were some of the best and would forever remain a symbol of the war that almost overthrew the country!
hello to my latest follower Remco from Remco's Miniatures great to have you here Remco!

Karri .C. Tuf the real story

have you seen this woman(?) if so do not go near her again

perhaps the most dangerous woman (?) that the world will ever see this large, and loud woman is the leader of an important and dangerous black market arms trade. She is known to all by the English name of Karri .C. Tuf but her real name and birth place is unknown!

there is wide speculation that she is in fact underweight and wears a complex bomb belt

so what is know is speculation... she was born during 1981 in Europe. She first registered as Karri .C. Tuf when in 2010 she was picked up in a small boat around the UK, the coast guard was suspicious of her, as she did not appear to come from around the area she was seen. She then lived east of London causing chaos and getting involved with criminal gangs. then she disappeared, it later occurred that she had, while working at the docks seen a ship that was unusually well protected by a ring of guards. Then ship "El Chico" was from Oronegro and carrying a dangerous cargo of weapons and explosive pens (Mi5). Though it would seem obvious, Karri got on the ship and sailed for her new life in La Ley! she almost straight away was building up a gang and by 2015 Los Diablos were the most notorious group in the land. during the war in Oronegro between 2023-2033 she backed the Rebels, and although they were defeated in La Ley where she lived during the clear out mission of 2025-6 she was not caught. what happened to her from then on in unknown. Some have even claimed that she never existed and was perhaps just an imagined character used by Los Diablos and later the rebels to fool the government! but there is evidence enough to show she existed even if a body or living person is not available for proof!

oh and followers!
Paul paulsbods
Davidmarshal at1/72.
Ion archdukepiccolo this is bold because of latin wars project he does and its links to oronegro 
Christopher commissarmoody
and Austin B   from ?
there you go and welcome guys!

the land of the jaguar!

well lets get it all started... again. I am not quite sure what to do because I have already posted so much on Oronegro on the other blogs... so I think that any new work will go here and I'll try and sort everything else out later. so  let us begin.

Oronegro was the small and insignificant nation that would become the cornerstone of foreign policy in the lead up and early years of WW3. perhaps it was most surprising that this nation even managed to become so important. However because of its arms industry, oil exports and strategic position in terms of distance from the USA and other major bastions of Capitalism that the USA feared greatly the chance of it going over to the USSR. the USSR in turn greatly sought for its inclusion in their alliance and because of their deals with the nation during the first cold war 1945-1991 that now its people were in revolt the big Russian bear would be welcomed by the jaguar into its land. Other nations too were keen to see it either prosper or die. Great Britain invested heavily in its weapons, the two nations had gained a strong bond after Great Britain aided it in its war for Independence from Spain. However Spain also is interested, the people have little care for Spain and if they do turn communist because of their revolt and ties to Moscow Spain fears for her influence in her current politics, such as the day of reconciliation where the Oronegrean people the Spanish monarchy and the "motherland" for founding their country. Germany and France also had arms deals with the nation and so even though their countries are threatened by the reemergence of the USSR they both send troops as UN peacekeepers to this place while at home they martial for war and in Germany's case actually fight!

but what will happen in this land, where law and people collide in a bloody episode that will shake the nation to its core!