Burning Sands: Africa '42

[Skaven 0]

It's looking amazing MehMan, congrats

[MehMan 0]

Thanks Skaven!

Here's another update:

The SMLE No.1 MkIII*

Comments and crits welcome!

[Skaven 0]

crits = Can you please hurry up and stop teasing us?

Comments = Amazing work so far, congrats MehMan.

[Bracken 0]

I agree with Skaven.:)

This is really something else, everything looks so good and the models look very clean and well put together.

If you don't mind me asking, how long have you been working in 3d for?

Really cannot wait to see some of these in game when the time arrives.

[gavinthecat 0]

Yeah mate this looks really promising! I remember editing ww2 stuff aieeee - i released the old gavin infantry pack lol

Anyway if theres one tip i can give you - or even plead with you to remember! Is not to go too fast on your work - to take time cos its exhausting even making a mini mod. Thank god your keeping it to a mini mod (cos look at what happens to mods that are overly ambitious!

So take your time and good luck- it looks like an excellent mod could be in the working here gents

[Col. Faulkner 0]

So, at last an update. And this is another weapon for the germans, the MG 34. ...

After April 1942 the first examples of the MG 42 were being

evaluated in the W. Desert so you could build one of those

too and still be authentic (if you wanted). They were

introduced at about the same time as a major reorganisation

of the DAK infantry units. After the reorg' each Schützen

Regiment had almost twice as many LMGs as before (232

as opposed to 119) and more organic A/Tk capability (PzB 41

and PaK 38s).

It's a shame that not much can be done to portray the

special conditions of historical campaigns in ArmA, especially

when said conditions had a real, tangible effect on the

conduct of the campaign. For the desert war in WW2 it

should include the effects of heat haze, ground glare,

sandstorms and dust (both because of the clouds raised by

any and all movement as well as mechanical problems caused

by it). The autumn and winter of 1942 was also unusually

rainy and cold which badly hindered operations. Are you

thinking about any ways to try to introduce some of these

into the mod?

Not really relevant as far as ArmA goes, but men also had to

deal with:

- crashing heat during the day (if I knew how to rip DVDs I

could post a clip of DAK tank crewmen frying eggs on the

fender of their panzer)

- cold at night

- flat featureless terrain making all movement during the day

extremely dangerous

- navigation at night almost impossible due to the terrain

- problems with weapons reliability due to sand and dust

- crap Italian rations (if German - most Germans lost a great

deal of weight and many became ill because of the inferior

Italian rations they were issued)

- poorly designed tropical uniforms (if German again - which is

why captured British kit was popular among DAK personnel)

- sunstroke

- thirst and inability to get clean (if British - the Germans

were rarely ever short of water)

- prolonged periods of actual starvation (rations often didn't

come up the line for several days at a time due to logistical

problems)

- huge swarms of flies (so bad that special "fly killing" units

were formed)

- dysentery (some units had as many as 50% of their

complement down with dysentery and other illnesses).

- inability (in most regions) of digging proper positions and

lack of suitable top cover, so that men at the front had to

stay motionless during the day under the hot sun, amid huge

swarms of flies with many men ill with dysentery.

Anyway it might be interesting to bear all of that in mind

when our avatars are (eventually) running around on

the "Burning Sands".

[JdB 151]

This is in all aspects the perfect subject for a mod that is using the ArmA engine. Huge environments with little features and buildings (easier to build, and less chance the Ai will make itself look stupid), not much in terms of modern technology, mobile warfare, desert (textures already in ArmA), very little entrenchements (not the easiest thing to accomplish in this engine while staying true to realism).

A sunstroke might be possible, knock up some sort of script that will cause blackouts (already done in WGL for OFP) when you don't drink enough water (and have that water only last so many times before it needs to be replenished, or suffer the consequences).

Of course this is all nice to think about for the future, but right now the most important thing is finishing the addons for the smaller and simpler R1 release like Mehman said

[Col. Faulkner 0]

This is in all aspects the perfect subject for a mod that is using the ArmA engine.

Yes, I agree that a desert war scenario exposes the

deficiencies of the ArmA engine less painfully than others,

but as I indicated there was in reality a bit more to it

than "huge environments with little features". Anyway it's

entirely up to "MehMan" whether he wants to try to represent

any of the special conditions of the desert.

Quote[/b] ]

"mobile warfare",

This, I suppose, depends on the definition of "mobile warfare"

used, but by the time that the mod deals with (mid to late

1942), the campaigning had broken down to a stalemate after

Rommel's attack on the Gazala line had run out of steam and

the Allies were consolidating themselves behind the Alamein

defensive line. Fighting then consisted of (for the most part

unsuccessful) assaults on heavily defended static positions

through large minefield "boxes" with armoured and artillery

reserves countering any local breakthroughs (eg. El Mreir,

Miteyra Ridge, Alam-Halfa Ridge etc).

Anyway, all of this is academic, of course, if the mod is

intended to present more of a pastiche of 1940s desert

warfare than a model of actual events in mid-late 1942.

Again that's entirely up to "MehMan" once he starts

designing his missions.

Quote[/b] ]

"very little entrenchments"

Fighting positions were extensively used, of many types

depending on location and the condition of the ground. Both

sides used what were termed "squad strongpoints" on a deep

front with fire and minefields defending the gaps. In wadis

and depressions ordinary fighting positions were dug, near the

coast shallow emplacements had to be used because of the

high water table, in other places they could break down

through the hard, chalk crust and dig horizontally, in other

places built up rock sangars were the only option. Sandbags,

perhaps surprisingly, were in short supply so revetments were

made of rocks, sand-filled ammo boxes and sand-filled petrol

cans.

In short, positions used in the W. Desert and N. Africa  

varied from the "Tobruk" bunkers to basic shell scrapes. In

the frontline and outpost locations built up positions and piled

up spoil were usually avoided, so in areas with hard ground

this meant that only shallow positions could be used - leading

to exposure as described in my last post.

The inability to dig in properly in ArmA is a major annoyance

to those wanting to realistically represent any war from the

American Civil War to the Falklands.

[Warrior Xâ„¢ 0]

Those are all very nice looking models there MehMan. I now get where you got your skills. Practice practice practice!  

Nice job m8! Certainly gonna track this in it's development.

Keep it up!  

[Kristian 47]

cool! now, you need to make:

Nazis

US WW2 desert troops

some locals

and british troops with their ugly weapons

I dont mean that models are bad, just dont lie thompson1928 and sten mk1 or 2, bren and lee enfield are cool!

great work! love this

[MehMan 0]

cool! now, you need to make:

Nazis

US WW2 desert troops

some locals

and british troops with their ugly weapons  

I dont mean that models are bad, just dont lie thompson1928 and sten mk1 or 2, bren and lee enfield are cool!

great work! love this  

Nazis?

Germans. They were germans. And not all of them were devout nazis.

US troops will not be introduced in R1, if ever.

[Kristian 47]

ok, nvm, I still love WWII

I know, I have read comics called "commando" its british WW 2 comic book, and yes, I know that all of em' were nazis, many were just normal people forced to fight for that crazy bastard (hitler)

so, do you have eny arma soldiers remodelling in progress?

[MehMan 0]

Not as of yet. I've got some refrence drawings but I haven't started working on the models. I have the german WIP model which I'll use in one way or another, but for the british one, nothing right now.

@Bracken: I've been working in 3d for about 5 years now.

@Everybody else: thanks for the support guys!

[MehMan 0]

Here's a bit of an update, I've started importing some stuff, all still WIP.

US troops found some old Thompsons left on Rahmadi   . They were found boxed up in a basement of a house in the city. They all seem to be in pretty good condition and they work.

Here's one of the officers doing some target shooting.

We managed to get him on tape.

Hope you like the vid.

Nothing special though.

Vid should be up and running by the time I post this.

[CodyLang 0]

Video not working:(...yet

[Bracken 0]

Quote[/b] ]US troops found some old Thompsons left on Rahmadi   . They were found boxed up in a basement of a house in the city. They all seem to be in pretty good condition and they work.

Must of been left over from Arma43  

Looks very good.  Look forward to the video when y-tube sorts itself out

[MehMan 0]

Fixed it now. Youtube doesn't like audio in ogg.

Here's the fixed link

Link also fixed in original post.

[Col. Faulkner 0]

cool! now, you need to make:

Nazis

US WW2 desert troops

some locals

and british troops with their ugly weapons  

I dont mean that models are bad, just dont lie thompson1928 and sten mk1 or 2, bren and lee enfield are cool!

great work! love this  

Well, they were all commonly termed "Nazis" in those days,

and many other traditional names besides, but I doubt that

that was the intention here.

There were no "US WW2 desert troops" in the sense of GIs

wearing special sand coloured uniforms and kit. GIs in N.

Africa in late 1942 just had the usual "Parson's" field jackets

and HBT trousers (but, as has been already stated, they

don't feature in this addon set).

"Locals" did not figure much in the war in N. Africa and the

W. Desert. This is why it has been termed the "last clean

war".

@MehMan:

There were many variations of uniform used by the British and

Commonwealth troops in the period and theatre you are

representing, and winter and summer clothing again differed.

A basic battle order for summer 1942 was:

* Khaki drill (KD) aertex shirt and KD shorts (sleeves usually

worn rolled up - or even cut off short in the field). Depending

on season or time of day, men could also wear any

combination of KD shirt, KD shorts, KD long trousers, Khaki

wool serge Battledress (BD) blouse, wool pullover, BD

trousers, khaki wool greatcoat, Tropal coat, brown leather

jerkin.

Please also try to make all the clothing look dirty and dusty if

the men are meant to be out in the field. And don't bother

trying to add battle insignia or divisional signs - that was

hardly ever worn on KD in your period, and you'd likely get

into a mess with it anyway as it's a vastly complex subject

and formations were always changing.

* long khaki hose (socks),

* wool puttees or webbing anklets (unblancoed),

* black leather ammo boots (unpolished - toe plate, heel

plate and 25 hobnails) or suede "desert wellies" ("chukka"

boots).

* '37 pattern infantry battle order (unblancoed - the webbing

was unblancoed in the desert because its natural shade was

buff and because appplying and renewing blanco needed

water). Beware, some modern illustrations show British or

Commonwealth troops in N. Africa with Green blancoed

webbing - this is a mistake.

* Mk II helmet painted either Light Stone no 61 or Medium

Stone no 62 on the outside, standard light olive semi gloss

finish on the inside. Sand was often thrown over the wet

paint on the outside to make a rough surface finish.

Light Stone was approximately this shade:

Medium Stone was approximately this:

A box of old Tommy guns sounds more like an IRA arms

cache - was there a Provisional Sahrani Republican Army ?

Until recently the British Army were still occasionally finding

old IRA Thompsons that had been in cache since the 1920s.

Mehman, for authenticity the guns should look matt (no oil

on weapons in the desert! ) and dusty. Remember also that,

in the Middle East, the British filled in the witness holes on

Thompson magazines with solder and painted them over in

black (the holes let in dirt and dust too much).

[MehMan 0]

Col. Faulkner you are a treasure cave of information! Thanks man, I really do owe you one.

[-AIF- Kris 0]

Ive been looking at this thread since day dot and ive loved what you guys are doing with it i would really love it if you could keep in contact with me.

kris022@hotmail.com

[-AIF- Kris 0]

PS British troops rule we were the main army fighting the Germans then the yanks come when theres one year left thats bullshit i hate the yanks for not coming in sooner but you cant change history . I understand they sent a handful of troops to africa to support the British and the Commonwealth. Take for example El Alamein British and australian troops pushed forward then back with out any help fighting one of the germans best leaders (the desert fox Rommel) but lucky the commonwealth managed to win with the biggest assault in africa (El Alamein), You had the 1st/10th/1Q10th/7th tank brigade, 9th Australian, 2nd NZ, 1st South Africans, 4th Indian, Greek, 50th/44/8/10/30 British, 1st french. On the Axis side you had 21/15/littorio/ariete tank brigade, XXI/X German/ 90th light Italian/ (unknown on rest).

P.S i love the MG 34

[Shashman 0]

You are the weakest link. Goodbye.

[CodyLang 0]

You are the weakest link. Goodbye.

What he said,lol...somebody has to learn there history;)

[-AIF- Kris 0]

You are the weakest link. Goodbye.

What he said,lol...somebody has to learn there history;)

I havent spent 5 years of my life studing it :P so i do no what im talking about XD

[BraTTy 0]

Americans were only helping...we were attacked by Japan and declared war on Japan.

And I am German descendandt and know that the Germans were people good at following orders is all