I intend to do several more of these story-based pictures. You can skip the literature if you don’t care, though.
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***May 17, 2010 - Keinrund, Rausland, Independent Former German Territory
Corporal Alex Brant, 177nd Infantry Division***
*I was kind of excited to go to war, gleefully oblivious to the reality of it all. Rausland, a tiny territory in Northeastern Germany, had declared it’s independence. Germany had been at odds with the Rausland people for a while, and they were almost glad to see them go. It wasn’t that easy, of course: Rausland had decided to go to war with Germany herself. Ridiculous as it may sound, they began to make progress with their tiny, but well-trained, army. The Germans were slowly overwhelmed and begged for help from anyone who could; idealistic mercenaries from Poland and France even joined Rausland in some sort of misguided sense of revenge for Germany’s role in the second World War. Troops from the United States and Great Britain arrived to quell the situation. Even as support for Germany arrived in massive numbers, more and more people mysteriously backed Rausland. Some Germans even joined the cause in an act of repentence for their country. It was maddening and outrageous.
My unit was one of the first called up to fight. We arrived two months into the conflict, with only three other divisions deployed ahead of us; in total, there were about ten thousand of us on the ground at the start. Our helicopters landed on the western border, where my battalion got off and marched ten miles to our waiting escort. Then we drove along fifty miles of treacherous mountain roads in the pouring rain to get to one of the larger cities in the country. There, we were briefly informed of the conflict’s status, where we were needed, who would be there, and who would be there and wish dearly we weren’t. The Rausland army had a gigantic presence on the front lines far to the west, but there were only a few hundred at home. If all went according to plan, we would cut them off from home and surround them. Most of the OpFor were hiding in buldings in the city of Urtheim, their third largest. The city itself had been evacuated as a precautionary measure, though they had not seriously expected anything to happen. Even as they sat smugly in their bunkers and fortified skyscrapers with the notion we would not touch them for some time, American bombers were screaming towards them.
The day came for our active involvement. For our first assignment, the commander informed us that our squad was to clear a large warehouse suspected of being used as a munitions store with a subterranean barracks manning it. Our HMMWV pulled up in front of the building, and we rolled out with what I thought was a sluggish excuse for urgency. Each of the men walked up to the building rather than ran; the distant gunfire seemed to lull them, not scare them. We eventually received our orders from the lieutenant leading the building clearing squads. I, another corporal, and a sergeant were to make our way around the side of the building while the rest of our squad watched the front and kept the enemy occupied should they be tipped off prematurely. Approaching the door with the other corporal behind me, I readied my M4A1. The sergeant produced a flashbang grenade; through the nearly opaque window, we could see the sleeping forms of guards inside. I knew I was the one who would kick the door open. Mustering what courage I could, I assumed my role and bashed the thing in. Beside me, the sergeant tossed the flashbang. We three withdrew until it detonated, and then we entered, weapons ready. If I had known what was about to happen, I might never have enlisted.*
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There are three versions.
Original:
http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/2518/abandonnedbuilding0000.jpg
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Rain Edit 1:
[media]
http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/8227/abandonnedbuilding0000e.jpg
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Rain Edit 2:
[media]
http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/8227/abandonnedbuilding0000e.jpg
Picture Notes:
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The left-most soldier’s butt is tucked in fairly well. I couldn’t get it to look good no matter how I did it (seems to be an optical illusion).
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The blue light could be anything. The map itself is very dark, and it needed more than a lamp.
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Yes, that lamp is from the Garry’s Mod lamp tool.
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The soldier on the far right is preparing a flashbang grenade. His rifle is impied as strapped to his chest while he works with both hands. It sort of looks weird, but there’s not much I could’ve done with it (apart from having the grenade ready, but that brought on even move problems when I tried it).
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I wish the rain edits could have more visibility/depth, but I couldn’t really figure out how to do that (they could also have the excuse of standing under an awning - that lamp probably isn’t hanging from the air).
C&C. Which one do you guys think looks best?
