The Download Munkey : Download This, Download That :)

© Take On You Ltd

Wallpapers featuring the player characters from the WWII alternate history board game Operation : Tannhäuser by French studio Take on You and published by Fantasy Flight Games.

Quoted from the Rule Book available for download at Fantasy Flight Games :

In Tannhäuser, it is 1949, and World War I never ended. Over the last 35 years, neither great power – the Union nor the Reich – has managed to tip the precarious balance of power far enough to claim victory. But now, darker allies are being awoken and ancient secrets of warfare, long forgotten, are poised to burst onto the battlefield. In the heart of Central Europe, the secular crypts that hide the Obscura Cardinal Cornerstones have just been discovered. The end is near, and this is just the beginning…

© Take On You Ltd

6 wallpapers in total featuring characters Hermann Von Heïzinger and Karl Zermann of the Reich Obscura Korps, Eva Krämer of the Reich Blutsturm Division and 42th Marine Special Forces soldiers John MacNeal, Barry Daniel Brown and Tala Aponi.

My favourites are those of Reich Marquis General Hermann Von Heïzinger (first) and explosives expert Tala Aponi (last). A wallpaper of an ominous Obscura Korps Schocktruppen in his massive greatcoat from page 30 of the Rule Book would be really cool

© Take On You Ltd

Compare and contrast the Schocktruppen design to Xbox 360’s Operation Darkness’s Waffen SS Panzer Daemon below

© Success Corp

Download these wallpapers from the Take on You’s site for Operation Tannhäuser @ www.tannhauser-thegame.com. A introductory brochure in English can also be downloaded there. Fantasy Flight Games even has a snazzy 27 MB promotional Quicktime trailer for this board game for those who prefer watching a video over poring over a PDF.

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Motofumi Kobayashi - Japanese Military Artist
Experimental WWII P.1000 Ratte Super-Heavy Tank
WWII Alternate History Mecha Illustrations by Keith Thompson

This fantastic artwork on a promotional wallpaper for BrikWars caught my eye as I was randomly browsing the web. It strongly reminds me of Kev Walker’s Last Stand artwork for Warhammer 40,000 Space Marines (bottom right picture).

© Mike Rayhawk

© Kev Walker / Games Workshop

Mikle Rayhawk’s BrikWars online rulebook for tabletop games of mini-fig warfare is a well-formatted and immensely enjoyable read for a rulebook (most rulebooks that I come across read more like my Mathematics textbook. Since combat between several mini-figs is a waste of the massive plastic brick collections that some collectors possess, rules are also provided for heroes and squad combat as well as for those who wish to include vehicles, large units and buildings for additional mayhem.

© Mike Rayhawk

The rules aren’t overly complex since they emphasize fun over rules-fiddling - I especially love the What I Say Goes rule in Chapter 1.2 which succintly states that “Players are smarter than rulebooks. Especially the ones with the highest dice rolls.” A very handy rule indeed for resolving difference of opinions during games

Unforunately the 8 chapters of rules are available as online HTML only so you’ll have to download it with a website copier like WinHTTrack if you wish to peruse it offline.

Read the BrikWars rules (10th Anniversary’s Edition - 2005) or download the cool wallpapers over at BrikWars. More of Mike’s artwork for BrikWars available at his official site.

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Devil Brigade Lux is a promotional game created by Sillysoft, makers of the Java-based Risk clone Lux Delux, for the TV series Devil’s Brigade. In the Devil’s Brigade TV series, modern Special Forces troops from the US and Canadian Army train in the methods and equipment of the WWII First Special Service Force to re-enact one of the FSSF’s most famous missions in Italy.

As the game title implies, it’s a variation of Lux Delux, therefore gameplay is based on rules similiar to Risk. Set in a custom map (61 territories) of the area around Monte la Difensa (Italy), you play the role of a commander of Allied troops (actually the First Special Service Force) as they attempt to wrest control of the mountain strongpoint from German hands.

Historically, elements of the First Special Service Force conquered Monte la Difensa in their first combat mission in December 1943 after two frontal attacks by US troops were bloodily repulsed by the well-entrenched Germans. Read more at Devil’s Brigade TV site.

© Sillysoft

In Devil’s Brigade Lux, the turn-based play is structured in phases. Players of Risk will immediately feel at home

1. Exchange card sets for extra units. Press Ctrl+D to view cards.
2. Allocate your new units. Bonus units awarded when specific regions are controlled. Press Ctrl+B to view bonus regions.
3. Attack by left-clicking on a friendly region to select the region to attack from and then left-clicking on an enemy region to attack it. Move your victorious forces into conquered region.
4. Fortify your regions - Right-click to move all units to another region or manually move units by left-clicking.

While the pretty graphics and polished interface are certainly welcome, hardcore armchair generals will probably find little to satisfy them as there isn’t much variation in tactics required as there’s usually only two fronts at any one time.

© Sillysoft

However, it’s still great for occassional short breaks as it takes less than 30 minutes to complete each session. Challenge yourself at the higher difficulty settings or attempt to break your own records in completing the game with the lowest number of turns or casualties possible.

The original Lux Delux (demo) should be quite interesting for Risk fans though. I haven’t tried it out yet since I’m absolutely crap at the actual Risk boardgame.

Download Devil’s Brigade Lux. (Windows, Mac and Linux)

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During a tedious meeting, have you ever dreamed that ninjas would appear in the meeting room from nowhere and end the meeting like this?

© FASA

On second thought, maybe sleeping through the meeting would be better (and safer :D)

The above picture by Doug Andersen. depicting rival agents literally terminating a boardroom meeting comes from the cover of Blood in the Boardroom, a Shadowrun adventure supplement published by FASA in 1998. BTW, the assassins are armed with what looks suspiciously like the Italian Beretta PM12S submachinegun.

Quoted from the Different Worlds Publications site where I found a high resolution scan of the above artwork describing the setting for Blood in the Boardroom as follows:

“The boardrooms become war rooms as the movers and shakers shift their fights from the stock exchange to the streets. Using everything from military-scale assaults on ultra-secure company compounds to stealth missions and sabotage, the fat cats have gone to war.”

Different Worlds Publications sells supplements for Shadowrun as well as for other pen & paper RPG systems like Kalibruhn and Valus and some really old gaming systems published by Gamelords, Judge Guilds. Each product description comes with a cover illustration which you can click on to view a high-resolution version of the cover artwork.

The cover of the Shadowrun supplement First Run! illustrated by Matt Wilson also features one great piece of cyberpunk artwork. View the rest of the Shadowrun covers at the Shadowrun page.

© FASA

Wallpapers created from the cover artwork of Spycraft 1.0 and Shadowforce Archer RPG manuals and supplements illustrated by Veronica V. Jones and published by Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG), Paradigm Concepts, New Breed, Mythic Dreams,etc.

Here’s a brief summary of the world of Spycraft extracted from Wikipedia. Spycraft is a d20-based roleplaying game system set in modern times world revolving around superspies and espionage. Shadowforce Archer is one of the campaign settings for Spycraft set on modern-day Earth but with the inclusion of mystical and psionic powers. There are also other campaign settings like Dark Inheritance and World on Fire.

Veronica’s page at Moonshines Fantasy Art provides twenty three wallpapers for download (all fixed at 1280×960 resolution)

Two of the wallpapers that really caught my attention.

© Veronica V. Jones

Emmi from Mission : Highly Improbable by New Breed - Note the uncanny resemblance to Cate Archer of No One Lives Forever below (taken from 2024 Games 24)

© Monolith Productions

And this one here…

© Veronica V. Jones

Covert Ops from Combat Missions by Paradigm Concepts - remember Sam Fisher from Splinter Cell below?

© Ubisoft

A selection of my other favourites below:

© Veronica V. Jones

I like the artwork for Spycraft a lot because the character designs represent their stereotypes so well, e.g Wheelman (from Soldier/Wheelman Class Guide)- the typical sportbike-riding killer in Hong Kong action flicks or Steyr - the tough as nails Ramboseque soldier (from Spycraft Modern Arms Guide).

Download the wallpapers from Moonshines Fantasy Art. Alternatively, T-shirts and posters created from her artwork are available for sale at her online shop @ CafePress.com.