The Download Munkey : Tracking the Treasure Down …

Behold Alien Assault, a recently released freeware offering by Swedish development team TearDown, the rules of which will be instantly recognizable to players of Games Workshop’s Space Hulk.

Your team of soldiers in their green S.P.A.R.T.A.N battlesuits will take the fight to vicious aliens lurking behind heavy steel doors and prowling along dark claustrophobic corridors. But not to worry, a very intuitive mouse-driven interface and a comprehensive tutorial campaign makes learning the ropes of Alien Assault a breeze even if you’re no Space Hulk veteran.

Unfortunately, the close quarters combat in Alien Assault is brutally unforgiving and your troops rarely survive once those pesky aliens get to servo-gauntlet’s range to use their sharp claws Positioning your soldiers in areas with clear fields of fire, mutual support between soldiers (the standard issue Thunderbolt assault carbine can be frustratingly inaccurate at times) and the proper use of overwatch mode will hopefully retain enough survivors in your team to enable you to complete the mission objectives.

Uh-oh. Blips = BAD!

Sound effects are suitably atmospheric – from the crunch of your soldiers’ heavy armoured boots to the growl of hungry aliens attempting to tear your team into bite-sized pieces. I haven’t really got much other information to offer about Alien Assault apart from the rather obvious stuff stated above since I’ve been constantly sending soldiers to become alien snacks in Mission 7 : Onslaught

Don’t get too attached to your soldiers – the lifespan of each soldier is violently short

Download Alien Assault.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Aliens – The Board Game (Flash Version)
The Art of Space Hulk
C-Dogs SDL – Tactical Action Game
DoomRL Revisited
Explore 3000 Rooms & Kill 10000+ Monsters in Meritous

Fished out this old US handbook on WWI artillery from The Internet Archive while mucking around in the WWI towed artillery category of Wikimedia Commons, particularly on the French C17S howitzer (below). Always thought that Project Gutenberg was the only major source for public domain books but I guess I was wrong there

This book titled Handbook of Artillery : Including Mobile, Anti-Aircraft and Trench Matériel was published by the US Ordnance Department in 1920 and a digital copy scanned for the University of California was graciously uploaded to the Internet Archive in 2007.

The first section presents the workings of the firing and recoil mechanisms of modern artillery pieces as well as brief descriptions of the various vehicles that accompanied the guns in the era of towed artillery from carriage limbers to caissons for ammunition storage and battery, forge and store wagons.

What follows after is a whole load of technical details on the major artillery systems in service with the US armed forces during the Great War and the post-war years, presented with very thorough descriptions and specifications of each gun and their specialized support vehicles with a generous sprinkling of scale diagrams.

A 37mm infantry gun

A 7-inch naval rifle

A Vickers 9.2 inch heavy howitzer

Pieces ranging from the 37mm infantry gun, the 75mm light field gun to heavy artillery like the British 60 pounders and French 155mm howitzers e.g the C17S are covered together with monstrous 7-inch naval rifles and 9.2-inch Vickers heavy howitzers thrown in for good measure.

There’s a short section on anti aircraft guns still in their infancy with an interesting truck-mounted 75mm field gun (above), together with a brief coverage on trench mortars.

But the most interesting bit would be photos of probably the world’s first self propelled artillery, the Mark II (below) in which a 155mm gun was mated to a treaded chassis. Only 8 were delivered which suggested that it was probably constructed for evaluation trials but not adopted for front-line service.

Download the Handbook of Artillery : Including Mobile, Anti-Aircraft and Trench Matériel (that’s the actual title) or browse through other Ordnance Department books and manuals. On a related note, check out www.cannonartillery.com’s Cannon Walk feature for a glimpse at the history of US artillery from past to present.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
A Simulation of Trench Warfare : Warfare 1917
ACE Armoured Vehicle Scale Model Boxart
British Commemorative Booklets for World War II
MINDEF Commemorative Books – Apaches, Crewcuts & Detention Barracks
Test-Driving a T-72 in Iron Warriors

What better way to introduce a yet unfeatured artist here at The Download Munkey than to overload your senses with lots of delicious eye candy Let’s just say all this is a brillant masterstroke by artist Steve Argyle to win the hearts of new minions (as he affectionately refers to the subscribers of his mailing list like me).

With his recent release of 65 wallpapers featuring 55+ different pieces of Steve’s awesome work for the likes of Legend of the Five Rings, Magic : The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons, I’m pretty sure hordes of new minions will be eagerly flocking to his website and mailing list

A preview of some of my favourite wallpapers.

© Steve Argyle

Chuda Ruri of the Snake Clan from the Legend of the Five Rings.

© Steve Argyle

A gigantic samurai gets his moustache cleaned in Return of the Shogun.

© Steve Argyle

The Kaiu Wall which guards the Crab Clan from the beasts beyond.

© Steve Argyle

Nightlife in Scorpion City.

Don’t like samurai? How about some Star Wars instead? Perhaps Darth Vader suits your taste better

© Steve Argyle

There’s more in the Star Wars section including an awesome Rohlan Dyre commissioned for the Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide, a Star Wars RPG supplement.

© Steve Argyle

Maybe, sci-fi’s not your cup of tea? Good old fantasy should do the trick then, like this lithe Naya Battlemage from the Shards of Alara expansion set for Magic : The Gathering.

© Steve Argyle

Age of Tyranny (above) and Dwarf Barbarian from Dungeons & Dragons.

© Steve Argyle

This small selection of artwork is just the tip of the iceberg – there’s plenty more eye candy at Steve Argyle’s official site. And if 1600×1200 wallpapers are not enough, you always have the option to purchase prints of your favourite artworks

Check out Steve Argyle’s official website or head down right to the wallpaper collection.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Mini Ninjas Demo Impressions
Urban War Wallpapers : Cyber Samurai!
Afro Samurai Wallpapers
The Art of Phil Wohr – Halo Wars & More!
Pablo Vicentin’s Concepts for Lone Wolf : Flight from the Dark

Wallpapers from Crimson Gem Saga, a PSP game published by Atlus in the US.

© Altus U.S.A, Inc

Download the wallpapers from the official American site for Crimson Gem Saga.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Luminous Arc 2 Wallpapers
Luminous Arc Wallpapers
Metal Gear AC!D Wallpapers
Square Enix Member Fanzone Exclusive Wallpapers
Project Coo! Wallpapers

© Fantasy Flight Games

A brand new board game from Fantasy Flight Games based on Games Workshop’s Warhammer Fantasy universe, Warhammer : Chaos in the Old World pits four players against each other in a quest to corrupt, control and destroy the nine major regions of the Old World as one of the four Ruinous Powers of Chaos.

© Fantasy Flight Games

While it isn’t practical for me to buy this board games since it’s rather hard for me to find another three disciples of Chaos to play the game, the plastic figures designed by Michael Jaecks to depict both human and daemonic followers of Chaos are a constant temptation to order Warhammer : Chaos in the Old World as an (expensive) collectible

© Fantasy Flight Games

Coloured in blood red for Khorne, diseased green for Nurgle, eldritch blue for Tzeentch and decadent purple for Slaanesh, these plastic figures are just part of the beautifully crafted game – just check out the game board which was intentionally designed to resemble a map of Old World stitched together from pieces of skin flayed from some very unfortunate humans.

© Fantasy Flight Games

© Games Workshop

Interestingly, the banner a the official site uses the cover art from the Warhammer 40,000 : Chaos Daemons Codex instead of the Warhammer : Daemons of Chaos Army Book.

The other recently released board game by Games Workshop, Space Hulk, didn’t hold the same attraction for me despite the lovingly-detailed miniatures – Space Hulk loses much of its immersion and appeal when playing with unpainted or badly-painted miniatures

Download the rulebook for a peek at the game mechanics or watch the introductory trailer for the game at the official Warhammer : Chaos in the Old World website.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Rogue Trader – Forsaken Bounty (Free Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay Adventure)
More Warhammer Online – Age of Reckoning Artworks & Concepts
Frank Frazetta’s Death Dealer vs Adrian Smith’s Karrig Sturn
Mark of Chaos – The Collected Concept Art
Favourite Illustrators of Warhammer 40,000 (IV) – Andrea Uderzo