The Special Ops Rangers is sold in a bundle and has gotten it's own name, something I think only units have. What I can't understand is if that implies that the two separate Squads can be merged together so that you actually end up with a new squad called "The Special Ops Rangers"? Or is it just the site that happens to sell two squads in one package?

I know the question is out of the blue given there is no rules and nothing except the strangeness of Dust Studios sales model that suggest that would be the case, but want to raise the question nevertheless as I find it peculiar that it is marketed using a single squad (or is it platoon?) name that has no squad equivalent.

That's a really weird way of looking at it. Yes, the box is called "Special Ops Rangers", but in it you have two separate squad cards entitled "13 Foxtrot" and "Crack Shots", each depicting two of the soldiers in the box. Why you would ever think the 4 together make up a single 4-men "SpecOps Rangers" squad is beyond me. The box itself reads "Rangers Observer Squad and Sniper Squad", so it obviously contains two squads. By that logic you could also play that 26-men "Revised Core Set Squad"...

Yeah, as I wrote: "I know the question is out of the blue given there is no rules and nothing except the strangeness of Dust Studios sales model that suggest that would be the case"

I do however still maintain that it is misleading to sell two mini-squads bundled this way as they are the seemingly the only ones around that are bundled and 2-person crews. This is especially true from the shop/gallery view on the Dust Studio site where they are marketed like any other squad is (with the only obvious difference being they lack one soldier) - with a given name and a photo. Not all too intuitive for a newcomer, albeit also the only example of where it is done.

Why anyone would think it is not a 4-man squad from the shop view and given all other squads there is also beyond me. Info about it coming with two separate cards and text saying it's two separate units are counter-intuitive with the way it's sold, which is pretty much my only point here and also what caused me to question it at all when I first discovered the game.

Thanks for the clarification though.

It didn't even cross my mind that it would be one squad as there is nothing at all to suggest this. And combining both in one box is not counter-intuitive as its logical to do so to cut down on overheads such as packing and shipping.

Ulrike Meinhof said:

From your link:

"The Allies’Special Ops Rangers expansion contains figures and cards for both a sniper squad and an observer squad."

That's why. I really don't see how you can call that counter-intuitive.

It seems there is no way to convey my point here so I'll make a final attempt and do apologize for English not being my native tongue. Apparently I haven't managed to demonstrate the issue at hand.

What

What is counter-intuitive here to the newcomer is a particular shop view . Comparing http://www.dustgame.com/products.php?page=4&nid=13 with the specific view of where the Special Ops Rangers shown here >> http://www.dustgame.com/products.php?page=3&nid=13

That is likely to be confusing to the newcomer no matter if you as experienced players see it or not.

Why & How

Every item in that part of the shop is either a:

1. Game Expansion Box / Starer Box - indicated clearly by packaging, suggesting (new) rules, content, campaigns etc. In that shop view/section they can be easily identified by the photos showing boxes with graphics on them and so on, in contrast to the units.
2. Units - Squads and Mechs alike. Easily identified by them having their name as the shop item name and also by a photo showing the Squad/Mech.

...except of course the Special Ops Rangers (& Axis their equivalent). They are the only exception to this and the only instance of where 1 or 2 are not true. Yet, despite that, they are presented just as Units are in that particular shop view - with a group photo of the soliders in the so-called "sqaud". What, do you mean, is intuitive about that? Every other image in that section which portrays soldiers or mechs shows just one unit. Furthermore, each shop item uses the units name, except, once again, the Special Ops Rangers.

To me it clearly defies the inherent logic of how the products are marketed and sold at the shop, again, in that particular view. Once we click the items however we will realize that it is indeed not a single unit as Dust Studio suggested in their nice group photo of the two units. They have that info there as text and also with additional images of the units, suggesting they're two units and not one. By then however we have already clicked the item info in the belief that it was one single unit. Meaning, something went wrong here.

This is also one of my points in it being contra-intuitive: There is no way on earth any one of you could possibly know that it wasn't a single unit until you actually read the info. All logic dictates that you would assume it was one single unit when you clicked it. This is a problem for people that work with marketing/run shops because it confuses the customer, which up until that point will of course be rational and assume that all content in that part of the shop will fall into categories 1 or 2, and that there are no other sale-models.

Not seeing the problem?

Then I'm very happy that you defy the laws of what little logic can be applied in the shop views I have shown to you. The less people that see a problem with all of this and the less confused newcomers to the game, the better. That said, it doesn't make the problem go away. I am pretty sure my arguments about this being an issue are sound and that they can be easily evaluated in an objective manner, again, regardless if all of the current Dust Tactics community happens to already know that Special Ops Rangers is not a unit.

Constructive

What Dust Studio should have done instead or showing the product as a single-photo-of-what-seems-to-be-a-unit-since-all-units-are-shown-that-exact-same-way in that particular shop/gallery view is to either sell the items separate or to visualize them in a nice box, like the rest of the boxes that suggest that something is bundled and not a single unit.

I really don't see the problem here. Ok, so on your very first brief glimpse of this item's thumbnail entry, you might be led to think it's a single 4-man unit. Fair enough. But if you happen to take any interest at all in this item (say, by clicking on the link), you'll quickly get several clear indications that it actually contains two separate squads. If you simply click "add to cart" without bothering to investigate a unit any further than glancing a small thumbnail, then sorry but you deserve any misunderstanding that might occur.

Sometimes I figure its too bad that they are seperate; It would've been nice to have a 15 point 4 man squad with all 3 stats, granted you would likely have to up the points cost to 22-25 as they would all have Observer "hit on a blank" ability. Other times its handy to have a cheap 5 point squad to spot for my artillery, a few games ago I put Sigrid with the Snipers which lead to some hilarious results when she activated Bezerk with Sustained Fire.

They're likely in the same box because a 2 man squad per box would be a waste of packaging unless they reduce the actual box size further.

-- This is a double post, nothing to see here. Mods please erase this post. --

I would like to see an attachments box that gives you 3-5 troopers equipped with other weapons to swap out in my Ranger Squads.