The Download Munkey : Tracking the Treasure Down …

Featured the concepts for Tom Clancy’s Endwar back in December 2007 but missed out on the additional stuff in the fan site kit because it wasn’t available back then.

Apart from the usual logos, avatars, wallpapers and screenshots, there’s a trio of additional concepts and renders for each faction which you can preview below. The orginal images are 1638×1094 so there’s quite a bit of detail missing in the resized pics in here.

© Ubisoft

For the United States’ Joint Strike Force (JSF), we have a render of a C1A5 Archon Comand Vehicle. It’s not too far off from the US Army’s future XM1209 Command and Control Vehicle (C2V) which will also have a similiar capability to launch Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).

© Ubisoft

There’s also a concept of a JSF pioneer (combat engineer) in a powered exo-skeleton and armed with a man-portable anti-tank guided missile launcher similiar to the FGM-148 Javelin currently in service.

© Ubisoft

The third concept for the JSF is a AH-80 Blackfoot, simliar to the cnacelled RAH-66 Comanche minus the tail rotor and a main rotor with two very tough-looking blades as compared to the RAH-66’s five smaller blades.

© Ubisoft

For the European Federation Enforcer Corps (EFEC), we have a the concept for a 6-wheeled armoured vehicle, the AMX-26 Badger (a lighter, sleeker Finnish Patria AMV?) with 8(!) ready-to-fire ATGMs on a remotely controlled turret.

© Ubisoft

The heavily-armoured grenadiers (combat engineers) of the EFEC with an improved version of the French FAMAS Felin rifle. Also comes equipped with a laptop for playing Tom Clancy’s EndWar

© Ubisoft

A render of the EFEC Panther 1A3 tank with a microwave emitter on the turret top. Most probably inspired by the German Leopard 2.

© Ubisoft

A BTR-112 Cockroach IFV of the Spetsnaz Guard Brigade (SGB). The vehicle which most closely resembles the BTR-112 in real life is the Slovakian BRAMS although the turret is most probably based off the Tunguska or even the German Gepard Flakpanzer fielded in the 1970s.

© Ubisoft

Finally, we have a concept of the enormous MAZ-660 King Spider, a 14 wheeler command vehicle for the SGB which looks like a mobile fortress combining the multiple rocket launcher of the BM-30 Smerch, the anti-air missile/gun turret of the Tunguska and three additional turrets for close-in defence and a generous helping of smoke grenade launchers.

Download the fansite kit from the official Tom Clancy’s Endwar site (direct link (48.6 MB)).

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Next Generation Infantry Concepts from Tom Clancy’s EndWar
Command & Conquer : Red Alert 3 Units – Past and Present Inspirations
Tom Clancy’s EndWar Trailer from Ubidays 2007
Weapons in Ghost Recon : Advanced Warfighter 2
Possible Influences for Weapons in Frontlines : Fuel of War

Concepts and wallpapers of the US M103 heavy tank from Stormregion’s latest RTS – Codename Panzers : Cold War.

© Stormregion/Atari

Now, this tank is something new to me – I’ve never seen a model kit of it or even read about it before. Heavy tanks were never a major part of American armour doctrine during WWII unlike the Germans and Soviets so I was rather suprised that the Americans actually fielded a heavy tank during the early Cold War years.

© Stormregion/Atari

Note searchlight mounted on top of the main gun on the bottom M103

Sporting a larger 120 mm M58 main gun as opposed to the 105mm M68 gun of its successor, the M60 Main Battle Tank, the M103 was produced in very small numbers – a total of 300 – for service with the US Army and Marines to primarily counter the IS-3 heavy tanks in Soviet inventory at that time. A 120 mm main gun would not be fitted to any other American tank until the A1 variant of the M1 Abrams introduced in 1985. More detailed photos of a M103 at the Patton Museum of Cavalry and Armor can be seen by following this link.

Here’s some of the other concepts and walls from the official Codename Panzers : Cold War site.

© Stormregion/Atari

Objekt 416 (above) looks uncharacteristically Soviet but is probably a fictional or prototype design since I’ve never read about any Soviet heavy tank with that designation. It could be an experimental variant of the IS series of heavy tanks though, a selection which can be seen in this article The Last Tanks of the Soviet Union at battlefield.ru. Do leave a comment if you have additional info on this tank

Download these wallpapers and concepts at the official Codename Panzers : Cold War site.

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These booklets commissioned by Great Britain’s Ministry of Defence to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in 2005, are the perfect introductory material for Company of Heroes players (me included ) looking to learn more about the contributions and sacrifices of the Western Allies in defeating Axis militarism across the globe.

© Ministry of Defence UK

A total of nine books are available in this freely downloadable series chronicling the events and important facts of selected World War II operations in which British or Commonwealth (Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, Indian, etc) units participated in.

1. The Battle of Kohima, North East India (4 April – 22 June 1944)
2. The Battles For Monte Cassino, Central Italy (12 January – 5 June 1944)
3. The D-Day Landings, Northern France (6 June 1944)
4. The Drive on Caen, Northern France (7 June – 9 July 1944)
5. The Final Battle for Normandy, Northern France (9 July – 30 August 1944)
6. The Advance from the Seine to Antwerp (25 August – 30 September 1944)
7. Operation Market Garden, Netherlands (17–25 September 1944)
8. The Clearing of the Scheldt Estuary and the Liberation of Walcheren (2 October – 7 November 1944)
9. The Liberation of the Death and Concentration Camps, Europe (June 1944 – May 1945)

© Ministry of Defence UK

As seen above, seven of the books detail battles fought during and after the amphibious landings at Normandy on D-Day (6 June 1944) – the other two being the battle of Kohima which halted Imperial Japanese plans to invade India and the costly fighting for Monte Cassino around the histroic monastery of St. Benedict in Italy.

As for Company of Heroes players, a suggested reading list would be booklets 3 and 5 for the American campaign (Invasion of Normandy), booklets 4 and 5 for the British campaign (Liberation of Caen) and finally booklet 7 for the Panzer Elite campaign (Operation Market Garden).

© Ministry of Defence UK

Maps and photographs are liberally sprinkled throughout each booklet for illustrative purposes. Above shows British infantry and a Churchill tank advancing through Normandy’s distinctive bocage.

© Ministry of Defence UK

At the end of each booklet, accounts detailing the actions of recipents of the Victoria Cross (the British Commenwealth’s highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy) highlight the valour, tenacity and often self-sacrifice of these heroes who fought against all odds. The ninth booklet about the liberation of the concentration camp at Bergen-Belsen includes an corresponding section for the Special Operations Executive recipients of the George Cross.

Download these British Commemorative Booklets for World War II.

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Conquer Monte la Difensa in Devil’s Brigade Lux
Military History Books @ Focal Point Publications

A selection of concepts from Isotx’s fascinating Iron Grip universe as seen in their RTS-FPS offering Iron Grip : Warlord. This richly detailed steampunk-ish universe specially created for Isotx’s Iron Grip series of games draws so many constrasting influences from the past, present and future that it’s incredibly diffcult to pigeonhole the world of Iron Grip as being defined by any single time period.

Below are just some of the combat scenes featured on the offcial Iron Grip : Warlord website.

© Isotx, Inc

There’s a Herran Legion General of the invading Fahrong Army in Napoleonic dress (complete with the trademark bicorne hat) and scale armour (!) on horseback leading a line of the dreaded Herrad Legionnaires in gasmasks and armed with WWII bazoookas.

© Isotx, Inc

Armour of the elite Herrad Legion is distinctively WWI (also note Prussian-style spiked pickelhaube helmet) together with the inclusion of kneepads and the occassional ancient/medieval helmet – note 11th century Italo-Norman helmet influence (inset).

© Isotx, Inc

Confederate troops with WWII-vintage bolt-action rifles and a S54 Scarab which looks suspiciously like a British Daimler Dingo armoured car (right) on the advance supported by a trio of the spiderlike steam-powered walker tanks aka Arachs in the background. The above artwork by Slawomir Maniak.

© Isotx, Inc

Concept art for the Confederate S75 “Ontos” tank by Keith Thompson. More concepts of the vehicles of Iron Grip at his personal website (yep, the same awesome Keith Thompson I wrote about some one and a half year back after a tipoff by the mysterious e)

© Isotx, Inc

The varied arsenal of the Atelian militia (the faction that you play as in Iron Grip : Warlord) – there’re revolvers and assault rifles, a Praetorian heavy machine gun (top left) which resembles a man-portable Browning M1917 machinegun and even an antiquated Gamonov Autofiring Handgun not unlike one of those early firearms (a flintlock possibly?) modified to load from a magazine.

© Isotx, Inc

A motley militia of poorly-armed and equipped Atelians illustrated by Slawomir Maniak. Of special interest is the foremost character (probably an Atelian warlord because of his better equipment) wearing a helmet partially inspired by that worn by a Roman murmillo gladiator (either that or the morion of a Spanish conquistador).

Check out more fantastic artwork from the official Iron Grip : Warlord website, devinatART, grab the wallpapers or explore the world of Iron Grip. There’s also a demo for Iron Grip : Warlord – more on that in the near future.

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Keith Thompson’s Macabre Mechas
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When it comes to paintings and illustrations of armoured fighting vehicles, the first name that comes to mind for me is always Jody Harmon

Jody Harmon has illustrated a range of armoured fighting vehicles spanning the history of these vehicles from the early efforts of the British with their Mark IV tanks to the mighty modern tanks in service today.

© Jody Harmon

A British Mark IV, Hyacinth, stuck in a captured German trench. A photo of this exact incident was taken on 20 Nov 1917 and can be found at gwpda.org.

© Jody Harmon

Modern tanks (from top to bottom) : M1 Abhrams, Merkava IV and T-90.

There’s alsoa lot of works of armoured fighting vehicles in action from World War II to the Korean and Vietnam wars to the recent Operation Iraqi Freedom.

© Jody Harmon

Of course, the galleries wouldn’t be complete without a piece on the most famous armour vs armour conflict in history, the Battle at Kursk of August 1943.

© Jody Harmon

Famous proponents of armoured warfare who shaped armour design, strategy and tactics and feature prominently in the galleries include General Guderian, probably one of the best-known pioneers of armoured warfare, Waffen SS Tiger I tank ace Michael Wittmann and General Israel Tal who led the development team for the Merkava I in 1970.

© Jody Harmon

If you’re an armoured vehicle enthusiast like me, you’ll definitely not want to miss out on Jody Harmon’s other works at www.jodyharmon.com. And while you’re at it, you might even want to pick up a limited edition print or two

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Waltz With Bashir – Award-winning Animated Documentary
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