Background
Back in March, there was a story published about a war game popular in the Marine Corps called “Down Range”. It was described as being: inexpensive to play, easy to learn, and favoring realistic tactics. The parts are 3D-printed on an FDM printer, which is a big selling point for me as a 3D printing hobbyist. In response to inquiries about the game, the author was able to publish the rules and 3D models publicly. Since I downloaded models to print for my own game, there have been more added, so it seems like something that is worth checking in on.
Unit Models
The models are 15mm scale and very easy to print on an FDM printer. I tested my default settings versus my settings optimized for miniatures, and despite a 4x increase in print time, I saw very little improvement; certainly none that would be noticed outside of a detailed examination.
I also took the signal and medic units as an opprotunity to explore using multiple colors in a print with a single-color printer. There are plenty of YouTube videos on how to do this, but I wanted to take the opprotunity to note that this approach worked really well with these figures where there are two color changes.
I will say, there were a few issues worth noting that are worth knowing going in. First is that most units require substantial supports to print correctly, and with all of the small pieces (e.g. rifle magazines, tripod legs), seperating the supports from the model is tricky. Also, printing long gun barrels for vehicles is a little tricky. I used an orientation with the gun pointed up.
Finally, the photos of people playing the game show unpainted figures, and the source books recommend different color filament for different forces. I thnk that works fine, but I will say it is very difficult to distinguish infantry units from each other if they are single-colored (e.g. riflemen and grenadiers).
Setup
I took two folding tables to make a 4’x6’ playing surface. I placed an objective in the middle, my kids made a road out of BRIO, and we added victory points, cover, and a hill to provide overwatch.
I did my best to craft a scenario by using the included source books to make a 2 fire teams for the USMC and PLANMC and have each side a vehicle and a drone.
Gameplay
The game is straightforward and well-organized which makes actually jumping in and playing the game pretty easy. Every unit has a playing card summarizing what you need to know about the unit, plus a picture of the unit. There’s also a quick start guide that explains the rules needed for basic infantry operations.
The quick start guide and cards covered 90% of what you needed to care about, and it is quick to find the right rule to answer question in the 32 page manual. Now that I’ve played a game, I am eager to dive back into another reading of the rules and get a better understanding of things. One thing that speeds the game along is there are no hit points. A successful attack means the defender is out of the fight until a medic can (potentially) assist them, or destroyed. Additionally, the speed of units, as well as the range of weapons means that arriving at the critical moment of combat does not take very long.
Despite the relatively simple rules and ease of picking them up, there is quite a bit of depth once the systems start interacting with each other due to the variable statistics of each unit. The nice thing about being fast is there is not some huge commitment for a successful game. Our 8v8 scenario took about 45 minutes to reach a conclusion in 5 rounds.
How Our Game Played Out
My friend took control of the USMC team with two fireteams (1 officer, 1 corpsman, 1 grenadier, 1 marksman, 1 automatic rifleman, 3 riflemen, 1 Black Hornet) and a JLTV. I controlled two PLANMC fireteams (1 officer, 1 EW specialist, 1 anti-tank missileman, 1 marksman, 1 automatic rifleman, 3 riflemen, 1 unarmed quadcopter) and a ZBL-09. The design was the Chinese were a bit better equipped as the attacker, but the Americans had terrain on their side in the form of a nice hill for overwatch. There were two objectives in the middle of the table, one on the left as a main objective and one on the right as a secondary objective as targets for Chinese sabotage. The scenario called for a maximum of six turns before the arrival of reinforcements meant the Chinese would withdrawl.
The way things went is that the PLANMC tried to use the ZBL-09 to take out the JLTV, but failed for several rounds. In the meantime, infantry began advancing. The JLTV went on the offensive against the PLANMC infantry, mowing down three units. Finally, the ZBL-09 took out the JLTV on the next turn, and finished up the bailed out infantry with a single explosive round. The American fire team on the ground took the overwatch hill, but the Chinese were able to use the vehicle as a shield to escort their units to their objective while unsuccessfully firing on the hill.
In the future, I would make two major changes. First is to include indirect fire to make signaling and the drones more essential to gameplay. Secondly, knowing the damage rules better, I’d be careful about ensuring each side had tools to counter each of the enemy units.
Further Thoughts
This was a very easy wargame to DIY without much expense or effort. Given the prices of ink, it probably cost more to print the manuals than it did to print the pieces. I think it is worth re-visiting personally, and something that could easily be expanded upon with a group of interested players.
One thing that is a tad difficult in the game is it isn’t always easy to distinguish the different infantry types from each other at a glance when they are monochrome and 15mm on a large table. I’m not sure how to get around it, but it was a recurring hiccough for us.
Final Thoughts
This was lots of fun, and I think if you’re interesting in modern wargaming and have an FDM printer, this is loads of fun. I think my next objective will be to try and expand things out to a larger scale, as the photos that have been shared show company vs. company operations