{"id":26693,"date":"2023-06-12T13:56:14","date_gmt":"2023-06-12T12:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/?p=26693"},"modified":"2023-06-12T13:56:14","modified_gmt":"2023-06-12T12:56:14","slug":"the-news-stand-vbss-release-2-on-deck-from-combat-octopus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/2023\/06\/12\/the-news-stand-vbss-release-2-on-deck-from-combat-octopus\/","title":{"rendered":"The News Stand: VBSS Release 2 On Deck from Combat Octopus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Combat Octopus has just released the latest monthly update to all his Patreon backers. <\/a>This is the second part of the VBSS release we had the first part of back in February<\/a> and while that initial release focused on the main assaulters, this pack adds some more unique firepower. Containing both M14s with red dots and pump action 870 shotguns, these guys are here to add some flair to your force. For Sergeant, the additional options mentioned on the chart above is adding in some MP5SDs to go for some more sneaky shenanigans (which should be added to the stash very soon).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As always, CO’s releases include four modular figures with some pre-set poses, with a split across the waist allowing for you to swap them around to play with some new possibilities, both in this release and the last one. All four torsos support both weapon options in this release, and you may find certain parts from previous releases may line up with a few little tweaks (although the rifle stock grip is a little unusual).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As for heads, this release includes a total of 8 new heads. The Corporal level add three helmets with David Clark Flight Deck helmets with microphones deployed (as well as some dangerously 1990s mustaches) while the fourth is a modified Protec helmet with comms gear added. Upgrading to Sergeant adds four heads with AN\/PVS-5A night vision goggles mounted. The helmets used are a little varied so it might be a little tough to build a uniform squad but it’s a pretty damn cool looking piece of kit to get on your models. Now someone tell the Call of Duty character designers to stop using these NVGs from the 1970s on modern operator skins.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It’s safe to say I might have been one of the people asking for these bits, along with the rest of the reprobates on the Ultramodern Wargaming server. These VBSS guys definitely have that classic look of the early 1990’s Western Special Forces, probably most familiar to many gamers of a certain age from the original Rainbow Six. I’ve got some plans for them involving Bazistan and adding another set of troops to the Internal Security forces, going for an old school rapid reaction force (in balaclavas) ready to roll up in the open top Humvee I have on my desk waiting to be painted. Should be just the ticket to deal with some covert operators up to no good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As always, you can find Combat Octopus’s latest release on the Patreon at https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/combatoctopus\/<\/a>. The latest VBSS figures are available if you pay \u00a38.50 right now, while if you want the original set with the MP5 and M4, you find them on My Mini Factory<\/a> For the next theme (which will cover July and August) it seems like we might be getting some relatively low profile PMC operators, wearing street clothes with war belts and some interesting guns. Someone might have mentioned a certain Magpul firearm design that was all the rage in 2009\/2010, and I might be a sucker for it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Standby for more info as it’s released.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Combat Octopus has just released the latest monthly update to all his Patreon backers. This is the second part of the VBSS release we had the first part of back in February and while that initial release focused on the main assaulters, this pack adds some more unique firepower. Containing both M14s with red dots […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":26694,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1115,903],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-news-stand","category-wargaming"],"author_meta":{"display_name":"Michael Charge","author_link":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/author\/chargedog\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/image-6-4.jpg","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/image-6-4.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["The News Stand<\/a>","Wargaming<\/a>"],"unlinked":["The News Stand<\/span>","Wargaming<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 3 years ago","modified":"Updated 3 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on 12\/06\/2023","modified":"Updated on 12\/06\/2023"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on 12\/06\/2023 1:56 pm","modified":"Updated on 12\/06\/2023 1:56 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pvEn5-6Wx","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":26744,"url":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/2023\/06\/16\/the-news-stand-spectre-vbss-commission-released-for-free\/","url_meta":{"origin":26693,"position":0},"title":"The News Stand: Spectre VBSS Commission Released For Free","author":"Michael Charge","date":"16\/06\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Following up on Combat Octopus's 2nd VBSS release, I was approached by Paul (Paulidus on the Ultramodern Discord) messaged me about the set of VBSS figures he had commissioned from Spectre via their Director tier on Patreon. Paul has a keen interest in the 1980s\/1990s tactical chic (and will not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The News Stand"","block_context":{"text":"The News Stand","link":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/category\/the-news-stand\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Patreon_post_image-19.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Patreon_post_image-19.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Patreon_post_image-19.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Patreon_post_image-19.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Patreon_post_image-19.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":28337,"url":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/03\/18\/the-news-stand-18-03-2024\/","url_meta":{"origin":26693,"position":1},"title":"The News Stand: 18\/03\/2024","author":"Michael Charge","date":"18\/03\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Back to being on time and we have a new edition. As well as updates from Spectre, Combat Octopus and Flytrap, it's also Adepticon week meaning that we have events for both BPRE and InCountry. Read on for more details! As always, thanks to the News Fans and other patrons\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The News Stand"","block_context":{"text":"The News Stand","link":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/category\/the-news-stand\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/TheNewsStand29.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/TheNewsStand29.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/TheNewsStand29.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/TheNewsStand29.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/TheNewsStand29.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":26491,"url":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/2023\/04\/16\/the-news-stand-combat-octopus-april-2023\/","url_meta":{"origin":26693,"position":2},"title":"The News Stand: Combat Octopus – April 2023","author":"Michael Charge","date":"16\/04\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Oh no, he's back to writing news posts Combat Octopus has released this month's figure set today. It was definitely an eagerly awaited one, especially as for a long time CO had said that doing Regular US Army was not on his list of goals (seeing as they have been\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The News Stand"","block_context":{"text":"The News Stand","link":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/category\/the-news-stand\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image-1-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image-1-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image-1-2.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image-1-2.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image-1-2.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image-1-2.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":32232,"url":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/09\/06\/paint-rep-combat-octopus-sso-team-leader\/","url_meta":{"origin":26693,"position":3},"title":"PAINT-REP: Combat Octopus SSO Team Leader","author":"Michael Charge","date":"06\/09\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Been quite a while since I did one of these painting updates huh? Time to come back with an interesting one. Let's take a look at a single figure release from Combat Octopus.","rel":"","context":"In "Features"","block_context":{"text":"Features","link":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/category\/features\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/PaintRep5.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/PaintRep5.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/PaintRep5.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/PaintRep5.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/PaintRep5.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":31428,"url":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/05\/05\/paint-rep-combat-octopus-militia\/","url_meta":{"origin":26693,"position":4},"title":"PAINT-REP: Combat Octopus Militia","author":"Michael Charge","date":"05\/05\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"It's time for the largest PAINT-REP so far as we look at Combat Octopus's Militia figures with a few tweaks!","rel":"","context":"In "Features"","block_context":{"text":"Features","link":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/category\/features\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/PaintRep4-3.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/PaintRep4-3.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/PaintRep4-3.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/PaintRep4-3.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/PaintRep4-3.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":33479,"url":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/2026\/04\/11\/the-news-stand-10-04-2026\/","url_meta":{"origin":26693,"position":5},"title":"The News Stand: 10\/04\/2026","author":"Michael Charge","date":"11\/04\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Just in time for your morning trip to Salute (or for angrily sitting at home missing out on the fun because you can't make it to London), this week's edition of The News Stand gives you all the details you'll need from the Ultramodern Wargaming World!","rel":"","context":"In "The News Stand"","block_context":{"text":"The News Stand","link":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/category\/the-news-stand\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/TheNewsStand127.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/TheNewsStand127.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/TheNewsStand127.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/TheNewsStand127.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/TheNewsStand127.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}