Tanks!

 

 Hello Again!


One of the Wargames on our list is a WW2 game called Rapid Fire, a fast paced 20mm game that allows you to field everything from Parachute Regiments to Panzer Companies.

With that my brother Trojan578 has built and painted a Sherman Squadron

The Squadron Comprises of 2 M4A4 Shermans and a 'Firefly' (in the centre)

 The Models are from the Plastic Soldier Company, and are easy build and very detailed

An M4A4 Sherman

Same Tank - Different Angle

 The tanks will form part of 23rd Hussars, 29th Armoured Brigade, 11th Armoured Division - their real life counterparts saw action at Caen, in the 'Falaise Pocket' and where involved in Operation Market Garden and during The Battle of the Bulge to name but a few.


That's all for now - see you next time

NFTR

Coldsteel

Warhammer Ancients

Hello there,

This week is a Wargame post, and so I've decided to start with Warhammer Ancient Battles

Macedonians Vs. Egyptians

For those that played GW's Warhammer (The one that they've stopped doing), you'll be instantly familiar with how Ancients works - less the magic, mythical beasts and monsters of course. The rules are fairly simple and easy to pick up, while still being complex enough to feel realistic. That said, small scale games tend to be over very quickly, and larger battles tend to be more fun as you try to outmanoeuvre each other.

The beauty of it is that it allows you to pick any army from ancient history, be it Greek, Roman, Celt, Egyptian and any in between, and then fight against armies that wouldn't have fought each other - Want to know who'd come out on top in a fight between Huns
and Persians? Well now you can find out.




My Brother, Trojan578's Macedonian Army  

The Start of my Celts

There are plenty of companies that do Ancient models - Warlord Games, Aventine Miniatures, Foundry and 1st Corps to name but a few. You're also not limited to 28mm, the system works well with other scales too

All in all - its a brilliant game and SB5 have loads of fun playing it

That's all for now, see you next time..



NFTR

Coldsteel

Future Projects: Gaming Videos

Hi All,

For a while now I have been recording our online exploits with the use of a handy screen capture software package, so that we can re-live our most epic victories if we hit something of a dry spell or to see what we could have done better for next time.

Until recently that was about it, however I have now purchased some video editing software....


..... see where I'm going here....

Trying to get to grips with the new software

That's right Ladies and Gents - SB5 will (hopefully) be heading to Youtube in the near future! Now you too can see exactly what we get up to! I'll let you guys know when it all gets up and running


That's all for now

NFTR

Coldsteel

Thank GhostWarrior its Friday!: Red Orchestra 2 (part 1)

Evenin' all,

Its Friday and I thought I'd dig through an venerable SB5 classic: Red Orchestra 2. RO2 is a first person WW2 tactical shooter and one of the best in my opinion.While the PC games industry is in no shortage of WW2 shooters the majority seem to feature scenes from classic WW2 films. Whether its the old sock grenade can knock out a Tiger tank trick from Saving Private Ryan (meaning that every American GI could knock out two Tigers) or a nod to Enemy at the Gates, they all seemed a little samey. Also, RO2 is set in what was at the time, quite rare setting of the Eastern Front.

It really is more of a tactical shooter than any previous game. For example; firing at anything on the move more than three feet away is a waste of ammo. Another feature is the aiming. You can set your iron sights and scopes to preset ranges (in increments of 100m) but you have no way of knowing the range to the target. At first this is frustrating as you can be emptying clips into people you think are 100m away and not hit anything. After time however, you start to get a better feel for the ranges and can usually adjust your sights after one or two rounds for mid range combat.

Tinglyed on the MG34, you can see the beautifully modeled weapons on this game

One of my favorite aspects of the game is the class system. Each class has its roll to play and it focus more on tactical doctrine form the time rather than a balanced game. For example MG's can dominate when used effectively, but require other squad members to support (including being handed ammo). Also a simple class and weapon upgrade system give nice rewards for persisting with a class.When I first began playing I was in my sniper phase and can honestly say it is one of the best sniper games I have played mainly due to the sight adjusting and bullet physics I mentioned earlier.

Me and Tinglyed back in the good ol' Sniper days

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

World of Warships

A quick update from Tinglyed today on World of Warships - the online game that's currently played a lot by SB5.  Because we're spread all over the country and people are back to work this week, wargaming is down to a minimum as we do some online gaming in the evenings (but plans continue to be hatched...)

My lovely Ishizuchi battleship!

I have a small flotilla of a destroyer (for competitive games) and the cruiser Aurora and battleship Ishizuchi (for fun 'arcade' games against bots).  I'm really into my naval history and this is immersive enough to be fun and realistic, but accessible to be played quite casually.

• Ghostwarrior is another primarily battleship player
• KB is playing cruisers at the moment, but looking to go for carriers
• Coldsteel is working down the cruiser line

We enjoy working together on this, normally the smaller ships 'orbiting' the larger ones and keeping destroyers away.  Have to say we're just getting into it so we're not brilliant, but it is a fun game.

In the vein of other Wargaming online games (World of Tanks and Warplanes) there is the opportunity to spend absurd amounts of money.  I was eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Tirpitz and was dismayed to find out it cost £43.  I would have probably paid that for the game itself - it certainly has that much playability.  Instead I opted for the cheaper Ishizuchi, a dreadnought-era ship much closer to my period of interest, which cost about £8.  Including the Aurora and some extra coins for upgrades I've probably spent about £20 which is my limit for these 'free' games.

Of course, the savvy/patient/determined player can plow through the tech tree without spending a penny, I just wanted some of these premium ships which look lovely.

So, any other WoW players out there?