Task Force Helmand Modification

[-Chris- 0]

Who are we?

We are a group of Armed Assault players, modellers, 2D artists and advisors with military experience who all share an interest in particular with the British campaign in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Our team has ages ranging from 19 through to 26 and we are able to base our addons on first hand knowledge and use of virtually all of the kit.

What is our aim?

Our aim is to add into the game as much of a representation of the British presence in Helmand as is possible within Armed Assault. This includes troops, weapons, equipment, vehicles and structures. We also want to build accurate islands modelled on areas of Helmand Province, hopefully being able to recreate some key locations within the campaign.

What we are working on:

We currently have the following things in the works (this list is not exhaustive):

- British infantry soldiers - DPM and desert (including osprey and all individual kit

- British weaponry - SA80A2 and all of its variants (LSW, UGL), both with SUSAT and ACOG, Minime LMG, GPMG, ILAW, Javelin, 51mm Mortar, 81mm Mortar, L96A1, L121A1, L115A3

- British vehicles - All Landrover variants (Snatch, WMIK, 110, ambulance), Jackal, Mastiff, Warrior, Challenger 2, FV430

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- Taliban fighters - variety of Terry for the British Soldiers to use as target practice

- Taliban weaponry - Whilst most Taliban equipment is old soviet made kit already available in ArmA, we will be making a few extra weapons and things such as IEDs to fit the terrain.

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- Civilians - Afghani populace with native dress

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- Misc. - FOB templates for mission makers, sangars, islands based on Helmand terrain, native buildings and vehicles

Recruiting!

TFH Mod are currently looking for skilled members to join the team. We have vacancies for the following positions:

- 3D Modeller

- 2D Artist

- Config Writer

- Script Writer

- Animator

- Military Advisor (All advisors must have relevant real life experience and/or hands on access to equipment. We are unable to accept google image searchers)

- Sound Engineer

Whilst we do not rule out applications from younger or less experienced members of the community, we do require all applicants to have a base level of experience in the field for which they are applying and a willingness to build on their skills.

Please note that TFH Mod does not accept applications for beta testers under any circumstances, so please don't ask.

When will the addons be released?

At present all projects are WIP and it would therefore be unrealistic for us to give a set time frame for release. All we can say is that we are as keen to get the addons in game as anyone, but we want them to be as of high a standard as we are able to produce. We will endeavour to keep the community updated as regularly as possible with WIP screenshots and updates.

Where are such giants of men found?

We shall be sure to have an active presence on community forums, however we do have a dedicated website and forum which we welcome people to sign up to. It is beneficial to sign up to the forum if you would like to contact us, discuss our projects or to view the smaller updates and inside information provided by the team.

Task Force Helmand Mod Website

Task Force Helmand Mod Forum

Do these mysterious folk have names, like us mortals?

The Team:

- Chris / Modeller and 2D Artist

- [Chris] / Military Advisor and general forum bitch

- DannyCon / Modeller, 2D Artist

- Ewaar / Terrain Editor

- U|K Jungle / Military Advisor

- Mack / Military Advisor

- OChristie / Terrain editor, Modeller

- Scotia / 2D Artist and website guru

Thank you for your interest,

TFH Mod Team

[manzilla 1]

Yeah this sounds wicked. Thanks guys and best of luck to you all.

[-Snafu- 78]

Very interesting mod. Good luck with it.

[dannycon 0]

Rock on!

[wld427 1705]

Good luck with your project fellas.

Just a thought kinda how we are doing with Project RACS. Link up with a few of the other modern British MOD teams and help them out with thier projects in return you can use a copy for your MOD. Then you can add your paint scheme, external equipment modifications etc.

It would be a shame to see three different mod teams all making a warrior or a challenger2 all at the same time... seems a waste of effort.

I wish you all the best

[-Chris- 0]

I should also add that we are hoping to gain interest from other areas of the community due to the presence of troops from Denmark, Netherlands, Canada and the US in Helmand. In the future we may look to develop the mod further to include elements from each of these countries, as this would help to add a bit of realism to any campaigns made.

This would be dependent on community interest and having the time ourselves to make it though, our priority at present is the British kit and the terrain.

[-Chris- 0]

Thanks for the replies all.

@wld427

I think there may be a bit of mixed feeling regarding this. It seems half the community would like to see different mods out there to provide a bit of variety, whereas half would like to see just one big mod.

I think personally, I can see that the likes of P:UKF who make fantastic, high quality addons and I would love to see their own release. Just the same as I would like to see TFH Mod release our own addons to add more variety into the community.

We don't see this as a competition; we all share the same interests and want to get the Brit kit into game. For now at leas thought we would just like to concentrate specifically on Task Force Helmand.

[Callsign 128]

Great idea guys, just out of interest, will there be any specific campaign or missions included in the mod?

[-Chris- 0]

Great idea guys, just out of interest, will there be any specific campaign or missions included in the mod?

I will be working on a few missions once this is done and hopefully there will be the opportunity for a few mini-campaigns. The main reason we want to include FOB templates is to allow such things, allowing missions ranging from being on a QRF to mounting offensive operations against nearby Taliban locations.

We have several quite skilled mission makers within the mod and therefore it's quite likely we'll get something sorted out further down the line.

[SaBrE_UK 0]

Hope this project goes well, good luck guys

[PSYCHOSIM 0]

Nice idea. Looking forward to seeing updates about this.

[MehMan 0]

And again no screenshots.

There are many mods that come here posting that they need help without screenshots but with good plans. What would be great is if you posted a few screeenshots where we can see the stuff and the level of quality you guys want. Otherwise it's just a shot in the dark what you'd like.

[-Chris- 0]

And again no screenshots.

There are many mods that come here posting that they need help without screenshots but with good plans. What would be great is if you posted a few screeenshots where we can see the stuff and the level of quality you guys want. Otherwise it's just a shot in the dark what you'd like.

Screenshots are to follow shortly.

Our priority at the moment is to make useful and informative posts, not just random o2 screenshots to prove how fast we are working.

I wasn't aware that we were obliged to provide a full portfolio on our initial post - this is just a post to inform people that this mod is in existance. WIP screenshots will be added when we believe their posting will be beneficial. Whilst we do have vacancies within the mod, this post is mostly an introduction to the community.

If people are interested in applying for the vacancies, they are more than welcome. If they require screenshots of our WIP first, then the vacancies will probably still be there by the time that happens in the near future.

[Messiah 2]

Always good to see more interest in the British side of things, good luck with the project from me and I agree about the variety as opposed to competition comment, as thats how I also see it.

Just a quick note, and please correct me of course, but I can't recall there being CR2s based in Helmand as yet?

[-Chris- 0]

Always good to see more interest in the British side of things, good luck with the project from me and I agree about the variety as opposed to competition comment, as thats how I also see it.

Just a quick note, and please correct me of course, but I can't recall there being CR2s based in Helmand as yet?

Thanks Messiah.

You are indeed correct! I should've posted up on here in response to da12th's post on armaholic - basically the models had already been started and we therefore thought it'd be silly to discard the work, so we're throwing Chally2 and FV430 in as well just as extra kit.

I'll have a word with the MoD, see if they'd deploy a few out there so that our mod is accurate. I won't hold my breath though.

[Messiah 2]

Hehehe, well the 430's I wasn't sure what you were entailing with those, as I could well imagine they may have shipped some cymberlines out to give mortar cover at Bastion (merely thinking out loud, so I could well be wrong), but bulldogs are certainly more at home in Iraq

But aye, a shame to discard work

[Elite SEAL 0]

Just out of curiosity will you be doing any 22nd SAS or any other Special Operation unit in this mod? I'm not too clued up as to whether the SAS are even in Helmand Province or not, but figured what with this being a british forces in afghanistan mod you may have included some SAS anyway?

[wld427 1705]

@ Jan. 20 2009,12:24)]Thanks for the replies all.

@wld427

I think there may be a bit of mixed feeling regarding this. It seems half the community would like to see different mods out there to provide a bit of variety, whereas half would like to see just one big mod.

I think personally, I can see that the likes of P:UKF who make fantastic, high quality addons and I would love to see their own release. Just the same as I would like to see TFH Mod release our own addons to add more variety into the community.

We don't see this as a competition; we all share the same interests and want to get the Brit kit into game. For now at leas thought we would just like to concentrate specifically on Task Force Helmand.

I was not implying competition.....

i was merely suggesting helping each other out seeing as you are all making variations of the same exact kit.

either way..... good luck with your project

[-Chris- 0]

Just out of curiosity will you be doing any 22nd SAS or any other Special Operation unit in this mod? I'm not too clued up as to whether the SAS are even in Helmand Province or not, but figured what with this being a british forces in afghanistan mod you may have included some SAS anyway?

This is a good point to bring up this subject as I know there is quite a high interest in Special Forces units.

At present we've not got any Special Forces models in the work - we don't like to announce things that we haven't actually already started just because it then avoids disappointment. There is a good likelihood that Special Forces units will be designed for this mod in the future, however this is just a 'wish' as opposed to a guarantee.

If you were to see SAS style units, which style units would you be looking for? The SAS operates in all sorts of roles and therefore it would be far too big to any/every weapon and uniform combinations. If we make any of these style units, it will likely just be operators kitted out for desert operations. We probably would not be doing any of the black 'counter-terrorist'  style units as seen on TV, as that would not fit with the mod.

Hopefully we'll be able to get a few SF operators in there in the future that will fit with the modification and tie in nicely with any missions/campaigns made.

@wld427

I see where you are coming from, however I think most of the British addon making community would like to release their own kit to add a bit of variety in the choice of addons out there. We enjoy the making of the addons as well as the release of them, so we'd quite like to keep this project independent of other projects. I think most of the other mods/teams will probably agree in this case

[da12thMonkey 1943]

I could well imagine they may have shipped some cymberlines out to give mortar cover at Bastion (merely thinking out loud, so I could well be wrong)

We got rid of Cymbeline a few years ago. I think some of FV436 hulls were converted to Bulldog 2 or 9s.

We were using MAMBA mounted on a BV206 (basically the Swedish ARTHUR system) and more recently COBRA (mounted on Foden IMMLC) in Iraq at least, but I've only seen LCMR in 'ghanners.

[Messiah 2]

Odd, wonder why they were specifically requested then - Forgot about the MAMBA system, makes more sense.

[-Chris- 0]

We'll be releasing a WIP update later on today (fingers crossed) showing hopefully some shots of the terrain we're working on, the progress on our L85A2 model and a vehicle WIP.

We also welcome Ewaar to the team - he'll be working on island making for us. From now on I'll keep updating the first post in this thread with the names of new team members as and when we get them so that I don't spam the thread with it.

[metsapeikko 0]

I'm actually quite interested in this mod. And well, Afghanistan in general.

Ah well, Helmand province is particularly interesting since I've seen some documents regarding that area, and it feels kinda interesting.

I suppose no-one minds if I share some stuff that might interest some:

Ross Kemp In Afghanistan

Afghanistan: Battle in Helmand Province

Inside Afghanistan with Ben Anderson

And yeah, if anyone got any interesting documents/possibly interesting combat footage, let me know, I'm kinda interested.

[-Chris- 0]

Work In Progress update #1

As promised here is a bit of a WIP report for you. I did earlier say we'd get a WIP shot of the SA80s, but at this time we don't feel it'd really be worth it and we want to get a bit more work done on them. The island will have WIP pics posted in the next few days, but I've been unable to get any shots sent to me due to me not being on at the same time as Ewaar today.

Please remember that all of these are works in progress and in the early stages, however at least you know that we have things in the works and the ball is rolling.

Mastiff WIP

Mastiff is in use in Afghanistan as a Protected PatroL Vehicle. It is a heavily armoured, 6 x 6 wheel-drive patrol vehicle with the capacity to hold six soldiers plus two crew. It's primary use is for protecting troops on road patrols and within convoys, though it is also used by Royal Logistics Corps Ammo Techs in the bomb disposal role.

Charactaristics of the vehicle include: V-shaped steel hull, run-flat tires, shock-mounted seating, and internal spall liners. It can be armed with the GPMG, .50 cal or GMG meaning that it has a good amount of firepower as well as protection. It is fully equipped with the Bowman communications system and electronic IED countermeasures.

The models and textures for this are being done by Chris.

Mastiff

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Click for full size

Terrain WIP

The first area of Helmand that is being put in game is part of Sangin, a large town north of the capital of Helmand Province; Lashkar Gah. Sangin is located in the North East of the province and has been the site of heavy fighting for British troops. As of 2006, it has been the site of FOB Gibraltar, which was built next to the Helmand River.

Sangin is a network of walled compounds and buildings and is located on the Helmand River. Below is an image of the area currently being worked on. It is in its early stages at the moment, however we shall be posting updates as and when we feel we have progressed enough with this to warrant WIP pictures.

Sangin

Click for full size

[PSYCHOSIM 0]

Nice work guys.