The Download Munkey : Download This, Download That :)

Received an email a few days back from one of my favourite military history publishers, Osprey Publishing, about a 25% (!) discount code for purchases made at their online store. Since Osprey Publishing have already announceed it on their official blog, I think it should be OK to spread the good news here

Some of the general military titles are really value for money even without discount as they combine material from several previously published books and with the current discount code which lasts until 8 Feb 2008, it just serves to make new purchases much sweeter. If you haven’t read an Osprey Publishing book before, you can browse the selection available at Borders, Page One (Vivocity) and especially Kinokuniya (Ngee Ann City).

I’ve finally narrowed my shortlist to the following books from the 10+ books that I was orginally interested in. I mainly opt for the paperback editions over the hardback versions where available in order to purchase as many books within an approx £50 budget but that’s just my personal preference

© Osprey Publishing

1. Warriors of Medieval Japan by Stephen Turnbull - Paperback, 288 pages, £12.99 before discount.

A book on samurai, ninja, Buddhist warrior monks and ashigaru (common spearmen/arquebusiers/archers). Being a avid enthusiast of samurai and ninjas, picking this book was a no-brainer. Comprises content from previously pubblished books - Warrior 29: Ashigaru, Warrior 64: Ninja and Warrior 70: Japanese Warrior Monks which retail around 34-38 SGD individually so it’s pretty value for money.

© Osprey Publishing

2. Out of Nowhere - A History of the Military Sniper by Martin Pegler - Paperback, 352 pages, £12.99 before discount.

Tracing the origins of the military marksman from medieval times to the present day snipers, this should be a good read for anyone interested in the field of sniping as well as the personnel, weaponry and tactics involved.

As an example of the savings involved as opposed to purchasing these books from local (in this case, Singaporean) bookstores which are selling Out of Nowhere at ~41 SGD (~£14), buying this book from the online store after discount costs less than £10. Do note that shipping to Singapore is a flat rate of £5 so you do need to purchase several paperbacks or at least a hardback before the savings are substantial enough to warrant an online purchase.

© Osprey Publishing

3. Airborne - World War II Paratroopers in Combat by Julie Guard - Hardback, 304 pages, £20.00 before discount.

A book on the German, US and British paratroopers of WWII as well as the tactics and airborne campaigns of WWII (Crete, Operation Market Garden (Arnhem) and Utah Beach).

© Osprey Publishing

4. War on the Western Front - In the Trenches of World War I by Gary Sheffield - Hardback, 272 pages, £20.00 before discount.

Describes the troops of WWI as well as the tactics formulated for trench warfare of that war.

Other interesting titles include Rome and her Enemies (only hardback available, waiting for the paperback edition ), Aztecs and Conquistadores and God’s Warriors (The Crusades)

Buy Osprey books at the official Osprey Publishing site. (remember to enter your discount code 8JAN before checkout)

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Osprey Publishing’s Military Art “Advent Calendar
Armada International’s Complete Guides
Free Military History Books @ Focal Point Publications

© Česká Zbrojovka

Saw this official promotional wallpaper of a vz. 61 ‘Skorpion’ submachine gun manufactured by the Czech company Česká Zbrojovka, probably better known for its range of CZ 75 pistols.

The attachment of accesories (reflex sight, sound suppressor, foregrips and tactical lights) to the diminutive SMG (217mm with the shoulder stock folded) seems quite inelegant when compared to Western SMGs with Picatinny rails like the H&K UMP (see official H&K photo below). To be fair, the vz. 61 does have a Picatinny rail in front of the magazine which is used for mounting the combined foregrip and tactical light as shown above.

© Heckler & Koch

Download this and 5 other wallpapers at the wallpapers section or check out the high-resolution cutaway diagrams of CZ pistols (below) and rifles as well as their official catalogues available at the public download centre.

© Česká Zbrojovka

Cutaway diagram of the CZ 75D Compact pistol

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
M4 Carbine Accessories
High Resolution Photos of FN Herstal’s Firearms
Heckler & Koch Catalogue 2007
Tokyo Marui Airsoft Gun Wallpapers

A collection of concept art for Ubisoft’s Xbox360 game Tom Clancy’s EndWar feature what the designers believe will be in service with the three in-game factions - US Joint Strike Force, European Federation Enforcer Corps and Russian Spetznaz Guard Brigades in a fictional world war in 2020.

All images taken from the IGN gallery found via this thread on the official EndWar forum. I’m quite surprised that game forums nowadays contain a lot of goodies and information not found on the actual “official” sites. An good example being the BurningTruth.com for Kaos Studios’ Frontlines : Fuel of War - there’s a lot more information and graphical assets in that forum than the official site. Or additional official Dawn of War Dark Crusade wallpapers at RelicForums for that matter.

Infantry from the three factions are primarily equipped with weapons from the real-life Future Soldier programmes e.g American Future Force Warrior, French FELIN and the German IdZ.

© Ubisoft

The US JSF infantry are shown with the XM8 and H&K G36 with XM320 grenade launcher although this Gamespot article states that they’ll be armed with the SCAR (albeit in an A1 variant) which looks totally different from the concepts in real life. Seems very strange but the radical appearance of the XM8 looks much more appropriate for a future war than the relatively conventional looks of the FN SCAR.

The weapons available to an Enforcer Corps Kommando includes several weapons from European countries such as Belgium (E3000 Carbine), France (FMS AG2 Assault Rifle), and Austria (UAR 7 Bullpup Support Weapon).

© Ubisoft

Shown in the concept art (above) for the Enforcer Corps Kommando are the UAR7 (left) which resembles a H&K MP7 with an additional suppressor and reflex sight and the FMS AG2 (a FAMAS modified for the Felin programme ) wielded by the right Kommando with the distinctive Felin aka “Star Wars Imperial Navy Trooper” helmet.

© Ubisoft

In the Enforcer Corps screenshot (above), we have a trooper with the E3000 carbine (influenced by the Belgian FN F2000) and the other is aiming his large calibre sniper rifle (could have been inspired by the South African Denel Mechem NTW-20)

© Ubisoft

Next up we have the Wolves Riflemen of the Russian Spetsnaz Guard Brigades. Interestingly, they’re still armed with the suppressed AKS-74U-UBN with an underslung suppressed grenade launcher BN-1 (More at Modern Firearms) in 2020. The rifleman on the right is using the suppressed VSS ‘Vintorez’ with what looks like a collapsible buttstock.

© Ubisoft

In the screenshots for the Wolves, the left soldier is shown with a modern AK-107/108 with the GP-30 grenade launcher whereas the female sniper on the right is shown with a sniper rifle (known as OSV-120 in-game) that looks like nothing in the current Russian inventory (although it looks like the Austrian Steyr HS.50 from certain angles. See Airborne Combat Engineer)

© Ubisoft

As a bonus, IGN provides a 3D render of a menacing Russian tank armed with a massive cannon. Looks like a T-90 with additional twin 30mm cannons taken from the Tunguska M1 for anti-air defense. Of interest are the four boxes in front of the turret which probably contain sensors and countermeasures for an passive defense system like the Shtora used in the current T-90. Also check out the mine plow, ERA bricks protecting the front hull and the generous array of smoke grenade launchers on the turret front.

Download these concept art, screenshots and renders from IGN or Eurogamer (higher resolution concepts but missing the tank render)

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Tom Clancy’s EndWar Trailer from Ubidays 2007
Possible Influences for Weapons in Frontlines : Fuel of War
Weapons in Ghost Recon : Advanced Warfighter 2
Official US Army Photos & Factsheets of Modern US Infantry Equipment and Weapons

Saw this nifty 2nd Amendment font over at Steve’s The Firearm Blog last week. Created by Daniel Zadorozny of Iconian Fonts, the font set contains silhouettes of 46 (or is it 47?) different firearms.

© Iconian Fonts

All the usual suspects are in there like the AK-47 (P), Luger (N), H&K MP5N (K), FN P90 (B), Colt M16A2 (O) (above) with some rare ones like Calico M950 (G), Sako TRG41 (X), Enfield EM-2 (2) (below)

© Iconian Fonts

The 2nd Amendment font is an example of a Dingbat font which has symbols in place of the usual alphanumeric characters inside a font. More info about Dingbat fonts @ Wikipedia.

The selection of Dingbat fonts over at Iconian Fonts is pretty interesting. Here’s two sets that I like.

© Iconian Fonts

God of War - Symbols of warfare through the ages from the Greek Corinthian helmet to the infamous IMI Uzi.

© Iconian Fonts

Time Warriors - Silhouettes of warriors both past and present … mmm Samurai (second row, third from left):)

There’re also Dingbat fonts of US Army and Air Force insignia on the same page, togehter with many other non military-related fonts like Halls of Heroes and Illuminati.

© Iconian Fonts

Download the 2nd Amendment font via The Firearm Blog or view the entire collection at Iconian Fonts.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY
Thompson Encore .45 Single Shot Pistol
M4 Carbine Accessories
Rogue Status Firearms Wallpaper
Hornady’s Ammo Poster
Dark Horse Comic’s 300 Wallpapers

Another of those interesting-looking weapons that I discovered from games. See, games do teach you stuff

The single-shot Encore pistol was one of the more exotic firearms available in the expanded virtual armory of the JA 1.13 mod for the tactical mercenary game Jagged Alliance 2 (more about JA 1.13 here - Part I, II, III). Images of the Encore from the JA 1.13 mod.

Although the in-game mercenaries aren’t limited to standardized firearms as in regular army forces, using exotic weapons like the Encore wasn’t a very good idea in game. Apart from it being a single shot hunting weapon (albeit for big game) in real life, the scarcity of the ammo - in-game: .454 Casull, real-life: .45 Colt, as well as the logistical nightmare of managing multiple characters with weapons requiring different imcompatitible ammo types make cool weapons like the Encore practically useless from a military standpoint.

The Encore pistol is currently being manufactured by the American company Thomson/Center Arms Co. Pictures below are taken from page 15 of their PDF catalog.

© Thomson/Center Arms Co.

An account in the catalog states that it’s accurate to 300 yards which is several times the effective range of an semi-automatic pistol like the Beretta M9. Then again, it’s single-shot and intended for hunting big game which don’t shoot back

The Encore also reminds me of a similar single-shot pistol used by the villain in the Stephen Chow’s superspy spoof From Beijing With Love.

Download the 2007 catalog (55 MB) or read more at the official site. Airborne Combat Engineer has a post on Gary Reeder’s Custom Mini-Beast Encore which comes chambered for even bigger calibres.

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De Lisle Commando Carbine
M4 Carbine Accessories
Zacca 1/6 Guns Collection & World Weapon Collection