The Download Munkey : Finder of Things …

Been reading a lot of old books on the Vietnam War acquired from recent book fairs and apart from than the well known UH-1 “Huey” helicopters, F-4 Phantom IIs, two other interesting aircraft appeared in the books, A-1 Skyraiders used in Sandy rescues of downed pilots and the OV-10 Broncos which served as both an observation platform for forward air controllers (FACs) to direct air strikes and as a weapons platform in direct support of troops on the ground.

The passage below from Chapter 6 Support from The Sea, Air and Land from the Kevin Dockery’s Navy SEALs – A History Part II : The Vietnam Years brought my attention to the Broncos of Light Attack Squadron Four (VAL-4) “Black Ponies” which were one of two Navy air support options for the SEALs udring the Vietnam War, the other being the “Seawolves” of Helicopter Attack (Light) Squadron Three (HA(L)-3).

Flying small propeller-driven OV-10 Bronco aircraft, the handful of Black Ponies in the skies above the Mekong Delta could loiter on-site for hours. And when a target was available, the Black Ponies could swoop in with unbelievable firepower for their size. Rockets, both 2.75-inch and 5-inch Zunis, would roar out from under the wings of the Black Ponies and blast huge holes in the jungle, or in the enemy formations underneath. Cannon fire from 20mm guns and bullets from 7.62mm machine guns would rip through the ground that had been torn up by the rockets…

Photo displaying the Bronco’s impressive weapon loadout from Captain Donald J. Florko’s article To Ride A Black Pony used without permission from www.blackpony.org.

The story of the conception and development of this fascinating aircraft can be found at the website of Colonel KP Rice (USMC, Retired) who served as the Department of Defense Program Manager for the OV-10 and is now showcasing his flying car Volante as a viable form of private aviation.

Read more about the OV-10 Bronco at the unofficial association page for the men who served in VAL-4 “Black Ponies” at www.blackpony.org and Volante Aircraft.

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Preview of Air Combat Manoeuvres
CIA A-12
John Wallin Liberto’s WWII Military Aviation Art
Fighting High – WWII Allied Aviation E-Magazine

Wallpapers for Combat Arms published by Nexon Corp. It’s another multiplayer FPS I know – sorry if I’ve been posting wallpapers for games of this genre lately since I’m currently on a mission to find the wallpapers for as many of these multiplayer online-only FPSes (at least for those with a modern military theme)

© Nexon Corp

I sometimes find it strange that given the popularity of these modern military multiplayer FPSes, there is an interesting dearth of good predominantly singleplayer FPSes with the same theme – I can only recall Call of Duty 4 : Modern Warfare and the Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas series at the moment.

Download these Combat Arms wallpapers from the Nexon site.

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Call of Duty 4 Mini-Artbook PDF

Sean O’ Connor has been developing games for a long time – back when the indie game scene mainly comprised games distributed on the shareware model. I downloaded the demo for version 2.0 of Firefight, his WWII real time tactics game some ten years ago and now it’s at version 4.1. And yes, this game is one of my recommendations for my Indie Games Worth Buying (IGWB) series.

If you’ve played any of Atomic Games’ Close Combat series, you find the gameplay very similiar, the only major difference being that the later Close Combat games have a strategic layer to tie the tactical battles together with troops that stay with you for an entire operation or campaign. In Firefight however, you purchase the troops you require for a mission and the survivors return to wherever they’re coming from after the mission ends.

Battles occur as an engagement of two infantry companies – you’ll control a mix of infantry sections, mortar and machinegun teams, anti-tank-guns and individual tanks attached to your company.

Troop deployment

Both sides start at opposing ends of each randomly-generated map and attempt to attack or defend the mission objective (signified by the flag). Since Firefight is primarily an infantry-based skirmish, tactical movement, overwatch and mutual support are very important since the enemy AI will often open fire at close short range and pin down the leading sections. Without suppressive fire from supporting sections, isolated sections are quickly and easily suppressed and defeated in detail.

Contact!

Individual tanks, while expensive at the cost of three (or four) infantry sections, do provide an interesting addition to your tactical options since they are almost invulnerable to small arms fire at medium to long range and provide a mobile source of heavy firepower to extricate troops in trouble or support infantry assaulting enemy strongpoints in villages. Just watch out for enemy tanks, anti-tank guns and lucky direct hits from offmap artillery. They’re not invincible though – panzerfausts and their equivalents or a sufficient quantity of hand grenades will quickly disable any tank unsupported by infantry in the built-up areas.

Calling for a fire mission on a 88mm which has just destroyed two of my tanks.

Friendly AI is excellent – soldiers will automatically fire on enemies in range and use grenades in close combat and tanks will turn and back away when fired upon by other tanks and anti-tank guns. Tank crews will escape and attempt to crawl away to safety when their tanks are disabled. Mortar teams act with equal initiative and will provide supporting fires on enemy positions. You rarely have have to issue fire orders and can concentrate on manuevering sections around the enemy flanks or calling for artillery support.

In a nod to realism, off-map artillery has to adjust fire when calls for artillery are requested. Since this takes time to prepare, commanders must plan ahead and cannot simply request for fire support and expect an instant barrage of deadly firepower on top of their enemies’ heads. Adjusting shots that land near the targeted area are a warning that an enemy artillery strike is impending so wise commanders will move their troops out of range or hunker down in cover.

To simulate WWII technology, your HQ section’s radios work to a limited range only so moving your infantry too far outside the radio range will render them unable to receive orders until your HQ section advances into range.

The butcher’s bill

Morale is an essential part of any realistic tactical game and Firefight does it very well. Suppressed troops take potshots before returning to cover while pinned or badly mauled squads cower, hug the ground and refuse unachievable orders or evensurrender when they had enough. Likewise, the enemy break and surrender when their casualties reach unacceptable levels.

All in all, a very enjoyable and well-executed tactical game with infinite replayability thanks to the randomly generated battles.

Download the demo for Firefight (full game costs 20 USD) or check out Sean O’ Connor’s other games.

Other IGWB selections:
IGWB (I) – Mount & Blade
IGWB (II) – Battle of Tiles

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The Complete Wargames Handbook PDF

Saw this free-to-play multiplayer FPS, Sudden Attack over at g4g.it. The first wallpaper reminds me of Counterstrike, that’s all I can say

© CJ Internet Corp & GameHi

Download these wallpapers at Asiasoft’s official site for Sudden Attack.

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Exterminate the Alien Threat in Area-51

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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Command & Conquer : Red Alert 3 Units – Past and Present Inspirations
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Possible Influences for Weapons in Frontlines : Fuel of War