World of Tanks MMO – Beta Preview

World Of Tanks is a free MMO PC-game currently in development and beta-phase by the Belorussian development team behind Wargaming.net and scheduled for release later this year. For those unaccustomed to online gaming, MMO is short for Massive Multiplayer Online. In the case ofWorld Of Tanks (WoT) you will play with up to 60 players, 30 vs. 30, driving tanks on a single map.

Check out my full World of Tanks preview here ->

Gettysburg Battlefield Panorama

On the afternoon of July 3rd Confederate general Robert E. Lee ordered Pickett's division (amongst others) to attack the Union position on Cemetery hill in an all out effort to break the Union line. After an hour (or more) long cannonade, which achieved little damage as the Confederate artillery mostly overshot, Pickett, reluctantly, sounded the attack and forward went some 12.500 men in what would be later called Pickett's Charge.

Pickett's three brigades came in from the left half of this view, to the left of Codori's farm (the red building) marching obliquely to the wall. Pettigrew's six bloodied brigades came on from the center and right in a straight line. After crossing the wooden fence bordering Emmitsburg road) musket-volley's intermingled with cannon fire and wrecked the attacking formation.

The Copse of trees where the Pickett-Pettigrew charge hit home on the afternoon of July 3rd is on the right of this picture taken at 'the Angle'. This location and moment in history is called the 'High Water Mark' of the Confederacy. It was here Armistead broke through for a moment, raised his hat on his sword and shouted his men on only to be mortally wounded moments later when the Union troops reformed and counter-attacked.

On the right side of the picture we can see the wall making a sharp angle to the right and a few dozen meters to the rear -in front of the markers- the continuatie of the stone wall. It was here Pettigrew's (formerly commanded by Heth) battered division assailed and crossed the wall. And in fact got further then Armistead at the 'High Water Mark'.

Eventually all Confederate troops where beaten back and streamed across the field towards Seminairy ridge. Lee whept and could only mutter "It is all my fault".

Panorama picture taken from The Gettysburg Daily, a great site for information on Gettysburg amongst which dozens of panorama pictures.

World War II in animated maps

There is nothing better if you want to understand the actions and movements in war then looking at a map. Hence I have a shelve full of historic and militairy atlasses depicting wars, campaigns and battles. These days however, there are numerous animated maps to be found online which are quite convenient. They of course don't have the 'depth' of these -quite bussy- maps in an atlas but the animation makes them usefull and very interesting all the same.


For an easy understanding of World War II you can acces a some great maps through the links below.

• War in Europe: 1939-1941
  
  
• The War goes Global, June 1941 – end 1942
  
  
• Military Operations in Asia 1944-1945

A Canadian on the Eastern-Front

Whilst on vacation in beautiful Southern-France I read a handful of great and interesting books on military history. About a few of those I would like to share a word with you.

Panzer Gunner is a very special book, not only because of the style in which it is written: a very personal, very open biography, but more because of the strange history of its writer: Bruno Friesen. The sub-title of the book says it all: "From my native Canada to the German Ostfront and back."

Only now, after all these years, mister Friesen has decided to tell the remarkable history of his youth. Born in a German-speaking Mennonite family which emigrated from the Ukraine to Canada to seek their fortune away from the Communists Bruno's father sends him and his brother to prosperous Germany in 1939. Many a good chance and a good future he hopes to find there for the two young lads but that turns out not to be the case as they are separated and threated as "The Americans".
Bruno tells in a very personal way about his experience on a farm in Northern-Germany, his subsequent job in the shipyards and the change of the early war years.


By 1942 he is drafted into the Wehrmacht like many young 'German' boys and trained as a driver, and later as a gunner, on the panzer IV. Here the true magnificence of his biography starts, the detail of the account makes it stand out from all other 'panzer-biographies'. He tells about the sergeant's bullying tricks during training, the experience on garrison duties in Italy (after the Italian defection), visits to the brothel in Trieste and the battles on the Eastern-Front. Bruno's account is not a simple one, telling about the fights, the action and the stress of battle. No, he takes you into the driver's seat of the Panzer IV and explains how it is driven, how gear-changes work and how the steel monster is navigated. The same for the Jagdpanzer IV, tank-destroyer. Which crewmember does what, how is the gun loaded and above all how is it adjusted, aimed and fired. Truly fascinating stuff and a must read for everyone interested in the period.

After the war Bruno Friesen returns 'home' to Canada. His war-experience is a serious drawback for his career and makes life difficult. So he decides not to speak about it, until now. And I am glad he did.

- Panzer Gunner by Bruno Friesen fascinating 'in-depth' personal account of the job and life of a panzer's driver and gunner 4/5

HOI3: Semper Fi Preview-AAR

I will have to explain the somewhat cryptic title of this article. Last August I wrote a rather successful After Action Report (AAR) of my experiences with the Beta version of Hearts of Iron 3. Of course Paradox interactive (developer and publisher of the HOI series) completely agreed with it because companies aren't too fond of it when people show their beta-games to the world. With their approval I did and it was a nice success: over 500.000 views.

Now, almost a year later, the add-on to HOI3 is about to hit the shelves, D-day will be on June 6th. With the preview version of this add-on I set out to do the same I did in August: write an AAR of my experiences.

It can be found here.

Achtung Panzer: Operation Star; an Interview with Graviteam

Graviteam (the developers of Achtung Panzer) was kind enough to allow me to interview them about the sequal to Achtung Panzer: Kharkov 1943.

I hope many a question, will be answered in the interview published on Armchair General.

The Most Iconic Tank in History

Which is the most iconic tanks of history? The mass-produced Sherman or the powerful and frightening Tiger, used time and again in movies art and pictures? Or perhaps neither of these but instead the machine which, debatable, won the war: the T-34?

Where are the other ' monsters of war' on this top-ten list, the Abrams, Mathilda, Stuart 'Honey', the tanks from WWI, the T-60 etc? And what would your list be? Take into account we are not talking about the best but the most iconic tank, a profound difference. 'Iconic' as in, which tank will be remembered from a certain nation and/or timeframe. Which most of the time has nothing to do with the technical quality of a tank.

After an extensive survey and some long discussion we came to a top-ten. Agreeing on the first three wasn't all that hard. Heated discussion started when the Abrams and Centurion had to be placed and about place 10...well, we never reached an agreement.

The Top-Ten Most Iconic Tanks in History

1. Mk VI Tiger (GER)
2. M4 Sherman (US)
3. T-34 (USSR)
4. T-55 (USSR)
5. Renault FT-17 (FRA)
6. The WW1 Mark series (UK)
7. M1 Abrams (US)
8. Centurion (UK)
9. Mk V Panther (GER)
10. Mathilda II (UK)

Napoleon's Veterans Captured on Camera

Early photographs are always very fascinating. There is, for example, a superb series of color pictures from Tsarist Russia at the turn of the century. One of these depicting a splendidly clothed warlord.

If we are looking into military history there are many pictures of interest from the period of the 1850's onwards. During the American Civil War Mathew Brady was especially productive and from this war date the first pictures of real action. Now, don't expect much of them as it wasn't possible to capture movement on the plate in these early photographs. We see however, the smoke hovering over the battlefield at Antietam and the bombardment of a fort. Much more of an impression make the pictures of the aftermath of the battles and those of the veterans.

Veterans of earlier wars are photographed as well and there even are some pictures of splendidly uniformed veterans of Napoleon's Grande Armee. A set of pictures depicting fifteen Napoleonic veterans can be found here. These soldiers have probably been photographed in 1858 on the 5th of May. On that date veterans donned their old uniforms and honored their general and emperor at the yearly anniversary of his death in Paris. So most of these men are in their late 60's or seventies.
They are however not the earliest born persons in photos, that honor goes to veterans of the American War of Independence.

Grenadier Sergeant Taria wears a bearskin and the uniform of the Grenadiere de la Garde of 1809-1815.

Monsieur Moret wears the uniform of a grand hussar of the 2^nd Regiment, 1814/15. Red pants, green jacket and gold embroidery on the tassel.

M. Dreuse of the 2^nd Light Horse Lancers of the Guard, circa 1813-14 wears a splendidly plumed shako.

Twelve more splendid and interesting photographs of the Anne S.K. Brown collection can be found here.

Legio: Chess meets Warhammer | Interview and Preview

Legio is a turn-based game for one or two players that requires careful strategies and cleverness. Described as a cross between chess and Games Workshop’s Warhammer game it places players in command of a small army of fantasy warriors with their only goal eliminating the opponent’s army.

To learn more about this hybrid wargame, I interviewed Jonas Fjellström of ICE Game Studios. You will find the interview here.

Subsequently, I wrote a preview of Legio which can be found on Armchair General as well: here.

Wings of Prey Review

It has been quiet out here for some time but for a good reason. Several weeks ago I was asked by Armchair General to write game-reviews for them. As you can imagine I didn't decline this great opportunity. Over the weeks I have played games for quite a lot of hours and written about them. The first one is up, a review of the flight-sim Wings of Prey, and more will follow soon.

Of course I am also working on some other articles which will appear in the next few days and weeks.