Burning Sands: Africa '42

[MehMan 0]

Hello everybody. I'd like to reserve this spot for a WW2 North Africa (mini) mod which will cover the North African battlefield, in the first release it'll be fictional because currently I am the only one working on it, with a bit of help from Sgt. Anderson and another member of the mod who modeled a soldier for us, Redmond.

Well for the first release, or R1, we'll be going in small, as we are planning for a small scale mod at first, with only a few units and one island. Currently we plan to do one armour unit and APC unit for each side, ones that match each other in capabilites as much as possible, while keeping historical accuracy.

The time shall be set somewhere around mid/late 1942.

The island will be fictional in R1, in later release as the mod grows we hope to include a real part of North Africa to better represent our mod.

Also we hope to include more tanks, APCs, weapons in general to enlarge the mod.

In R1 we shall cover only the ground units, while I hope to have some planes in R2 at least.

We can always use members to help us out, currently the biggest problem is the texturing, as most of the modeling is done and I have lots of texturing to do.

So if you can:

-Model and texture

-Code

-Make islands

send me a PM or email me at: errormuncher[at]gmail[dot]com

Just replace the [at] with @ and [dot] with .

We are also looking for a place for our soon to be website that will be able to host our mod and screenshots.

And now for some WIP renders, I warned you, these are works in progress, so don't expect super great stuff yet, some of these are in the old state because I am simply too lazy to upload newer renders, or make better renders since I'd rather complete the weapons and show you something decent.

Well anyway, model shots:

Quote[/b] ]The Sonderkraftfahrzeug 251 (SdKfz 251) half-track was an armored fighting vehicle built by Germany during World War II. They were produced throughout the war.

The first two models were produced in small numbers. The C variant had a larger production run, but was a quite complex vehicle to build, involving many angled plates that gave reasonable protection from small arms fire. The D version utilized a much simpler design, and can be easily recognised by its single piece sloping rear (with flat doors).

The standard personnel carrier version was equipped with a 7.92 mm MG34 or MG42 machine gun mounted at the front of the open compartment, above and behind the driver. A second machine gun was usually mounted

at the rear on an anti-aircraft mount.

Quote[/b] ]The MG 34 was used as the primary infantry machine gun during the 1930s, and remained as the primary tank and aircraft defensive weapon. It was intended that it would be replaced in infantry service by the related MG42, but there were never enough of the new design to go around, and MG 34s soldiered on in all roles until the end of World War II. It was intended that it would replace the MG-13 and other older machine guns, but these ended up still being used in WWII as demand was never met.

Thompson M1928

SMLE No.1 MKIII*

German Soldier WIP

Any C&C on these models will help us make the mod better. Even if you are rough.

[JdB 151]

The triggerguard on the Enfield shows a small gap where you can look through (not fully attached).

[Pic]

Edit: a long time there are no mods about the war in North Africa during WW2 to be found, and in 1 day, there are 2

[MehMan 0]

Ah yes, I already fixed that, but thanks for spotting none the less.

Well, I chose Africa because it hasn't been raped over and over again and it offers brits. We hope to do the Pacific too someday, but I think there's already an ArmA mod for that.

[Mabes 0]

Good work, defiantly looking forward to seeing more about this. I posted this on the front page of Total Armed Assault for you, so hopefully you'll get some people offering their help.

[MehMan 0]

EDIT:

Look at the first post.

[Col. Faulkner 0]

Your British weapons are rather untypical

for your chosen period and theatre.

Neither the Sten machine carbine nor the

No. 4 rifle were on widespread issue in N.

Africa in 1942. 2nd Army in N.W. Europe had

priority for both these weapons. Only 1st

Para Bde had them on general issue in N.

Africa (in Algeria and Morocco) at the very

end of 1942. Otherwise, only a very few

were used in N. Africa (particularly by 78th

Inf Div of 1st Army - formed in May 1942 -

in Tunisia). 8th Army, for example, never

got Stens issued at all until 1944.

[MehMan 0]

I am aware of the issue with the sten, I added it for to balance the MP40 and add a bit of variety. For the no. 4, I thought it was widely used in NA? But if you have a replacement for the sten and the no. 4, I'd be glad to model those.

Historical accuracy sadly isn't our second name right now. But we can improve on that.

[alloisi 0]

i have a wip model for your mod!

My Webpage

[abs 2]

I think you guys should take his model.

They're all looking really good, btw.

Abs

[Curatalo 0]

Wow, nice job guys.

these things are lookin sexy

[MehMan 0]

Updated the first post with another WIP of the PzIII.

[MehMan 0]

There we go, the model is finished, perhaps a bit of tweaking here and there.

C&C?

[MehMan 0]

Digging this up to post this:

Comments and crits welcome.

[Stag 0]

I am aware of the issue with the sten, I added it for to balance the MP40 and add a bit of variety. For the no. 4, I thought it was widely used in NA? But if you have a replacement for the sten and the no. 4, I'd be glad to model those.

Historical accuracy sadly isn't our second name right now. But we can improve on that.

The rifle in use by the British Empire and Commonwealth at the time (ended production in 1941) was the Short, Magazine Lee-Enfield (SMLE). SMG would have been the Thompson.

SMLE

Your mod is looking good. Hope this is of help.

[archsceptic 21]

This looks an interesting project MehMan, ArmA should be much better suited for a WW2 theme than ofp because of the larger battle possibilities.

You might know about this site anyway, but if you dont there are loads of referance pics here:

http://www.toadmanstankpictures.com/allied.htm

Should be useful!

[MehMan 0]

@Wardog, thanks for the link, it'll help

@archsceptic, nope didn't know about it, but now that I do, great refrence! Thanks!

[mrj-fin 0]

Any new island where is Caserine Pass what about italian vehicles and units? However I am rly to forward to see proper WWII style warware on this big islands.

[MehMan 0]

Well for the first release we'll only be covering the fights between the British and the Germans. Perhaps I'll throw in the Italians in the second release and americans in the third, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

[Col. Faulkner 0]

I am aware of the issue with the sten, I added it for to balance the MP40 and add a bit of variety. For the no. 4, I thought it was widely used in NA? But if you have a replacement for the sten and the no. 4, I'd be glad to model those.

Historical accuracy sadly isn't our second name right now. But we can improve on that.

The rifle in use by the British Empire and Commonwealth at the time (ended production in 1941) was the Short, Magazine Lee-Enfield (SMLE). SMG would have been the Thompson.

SMLE

Your mod is looking good. Hope this is of help.

Well, strictly, "S.M.L.E." ceased to be official nomenclature in

1926. For 1942 it's officially "Rifle, .303 inch, No. 1 Mk. III*"

(ie. Mk. III* - with magazine cutoff deleted, no volley

sights, No. 1 "B" rear leaf sights, No. 1 "B" cocking piece and

a straight fore end. BTW you should beware of using First

World War S.M.L.E. references for making a Second World

War No. 1 rifle - if you are concerned about strict historical

authenticity). The S.M.L.E. Mk III* was introduced in 1916

and by the Second World War (as the No.1 Mk. III*) had

almost completely taken over from the No. 1 Mk. III in British

service (the Lithgow factory in Australia continued to

produce some No.1 Mk. III variants until 1941, but unless

you are making Aussie troops this need not concern you).

Incidentally the No. 1 rifle continued to be manufactured (in

India) up until 1974!

When I was a spotty-faced Army cadet many years ago

some of our rifles were No.1 Mk. III*s dated 1941 and earlier.

I wish I could remember the S/Ns as I could trace their

history now! If they came from our local parent regiment

(Gordon Highlanders) they could probably have seen serious

action in France, N. Africa and Italy.

No.1 Mk. I (Patt '07) bayonets were used with the No. 1 Mk.

III* rifle.

Like I said, the No. 4 Mk. I rifle was used in N. Africa in small

numbers by certain formations but is definitely not typical

(unless you are modelling 1st Para Brigade).

The "submachine gun" (officially "machine carbine" to the

British) was the .45 inch Thompson M1928 and M1928A1.

Both front pistol grips and straight handguards were used

(which is good since ArmA men cannot hold front pistol grips

correctly). By 1942, 20 round stick magazines were the only

ones normally used (drum magazines had been tried earlier

but were prone to stoppages and in any case were heavy

and awkward to carry in webbing). Some guns retained the

Lyman rear leaf sights ("this is never to be used" advises the

1940 Tommy gun manual, and says that aiming must be done

using the slot in the cocking handle instead) while others had

fixed rear peephole sights.

At infantry section level, you'll also need Bren Mk. I or Bren

Mk. I (M) light machine guns in the proper British configuration.

I'd also advise you to think about making an infantry tank

(Matilda Mk. II for example) to use in concert with your

infantrymen. The Crusader was what the British termed

a "cruiser" tank and was intended to be fast and mobile

and to operate independently of infantry.

[MehMan 0]

Well the Matilda is planned for R2, currently I'm trying to keep this small as I'll have a lot to do. Once I get R1 over I'll work on getting more stuff ingame, mainly completing the arrangements of tanks and making an actual part of NA, along with proper historical missions or campaign.

[Col. Faulkner 0]

Are you considering any sort of collaboration with the other

N. African campaign mod that is going on? It might cut down

on development time and allow you to do historical missions

and campaigns a bit sooner. It'd be rather difficult to make

them really historical without all of the necessary materiel.

[Curatalo 0]

Do you have ANY idea on the release date for this one?

[Monkwarrior 0]

Really looking forward to this one

Keep up the good work lads.

Monk.

[MehMan 0]

Do you have ANY idea on the release date for this one?

That depends wildy on when the tools are released. I can do the model and texturing, but beyond that I'd rather not play with the old tools and wait for the new ones to get things working like they should.

[anzacmick 0]

what???....no aussies in north afrika??...bit like no rum in the coke...somethins missin`.... remember Tobruk