Just when I thought it was all over for me and WoT (my friends having moved on to Diablo some time ago) up pops a new line of British tanks. This has been talked about for a long, long time - before teh French tank line in fact - but has evaporated and sort of been forgotten about, so today's announcement was a bit of a surprise.

Of course there is one tank that everyone is waiting for - the Centurion!

This was - in the words of teh lager advert - probably the best tank in the world during the post-war period, helped along by one of the best tank guns ever designed. designed as a Tiger killed during the later part of WW2 it came along too late to see action, but was the main battle tank for the British Army - and countless other armies - during the early Cold War...

"The Israeli version of the Centurion earned its legendary status during the Battle of "The Valley of Tears" on the Golan Heights in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Less than 100 Centurion tanks of the 7th Armoured Brigade defeated the advance of some 500 Syrian T-55s and T-62s." [Wikipedia]

From Korea to Yom Kippur the Centurion proved itself against teh best that teh Soviet Union could produce and it's proven design meant it was still in service - in upgraded versions - well into the 1990s.

I should add that the trailer is wonderfully done.

Other tanks include the excellent Comet and the humongous Tortoise tank destroyer (which should give the T-95 a walk for it's money!

Can't believe this was over a month ago now! But here's some footage of the game day at Scarborough's Centurian Airsoft site taken by the excellent chaps from Centurian Airsoft...

I make a very fleeting appearance in my very dodgy khaki hoodie and skull mask and I look forward to getting back out to see these guys again.

Finished this last week, though it is just a bit of a practice model really where I was trying out a new painting technique. But still, another toy tank to add to the collection - this model is based on the WW2 Soviet KV-2 tank...

What was particularly nice about this one is it is one of the rather amusing tanks that you also get in World of Tanks - the Troll Canon. The big 152mm gun can really score you some impressive hits and is a nasty surprise for the big bully boys who think that because they are higher tier in a game nothing can damage them...Think again sucka!

Not so much a teaser for Ghost Recon future Soldier than a complete TV production really!

...OK - I'm mildly interested in the game now! LOL

Sorry...Can't type...Drooling...

OK, I have a thing for LMGs - but just how practical they actually are in the field, given their weight and unwieldiness, I don't know, but they do look the dog's danglies! And this replica of the famous Czech ZB-26 is no exception.

On a historical note - and the gun fans among you may have already have spotted the family resemblance - this is the LMG which inspired the legendary British Bren Gun.

Photo reblogged from The Firearm Blog - Source wayfaerer320

If, like me, you are a fan of the Eastern Bloc airsoft forum Red Alliance you will know that to even hint at the idea of attaching anything plastic or rail-like to the AK is complete heresy! So I can only imagine the froth of rage that they are working themselves into at the moment due to the photos coming out of the St. Petersburg Open Championship for tactical police units.

What many have suspected for a long time is actually true - the Russians do actually like Armalite style accessories like rails and crane stocks and Eotech scopes. Oh dear, the flood gates are open!

Perhaps worse is the intimation that Russians are quietly admiting the inherent problems with the AK-74 and - amazingly - suggesting (if the report be true) that they would prefer a AR-15 clone to replace it (at least for police and counter-terrorism units). That on top of the bad news about Izmash going bust, poor old Mikhail Kalashnikov must be wondering where it all went wrong!

Poor old Red Alliance!

Nip over to The Frearm Blog to read the full article: Tricked out AKs at St. Petersburg Open Championship

One of the upshots of last months return to airsoft was that I realized that I needed to tweek my loadout a little. Among the items that I wanted to upgrade before my next outing was my headgear, including the all important safety mask...

Read more...

I am Milgeek and I am a World of Tanks addict!

Well, I guess I feel that's how I should start any post on WoT as it's 'pay to play' model seems to cause some people so much grief. Sure it starts as a free game, but soon - if you aren't careful - you can be sucked in to the whole Premium Account subscription which starts you on that rocky road to shelling out real money on a regular basis...However...

Over the past few years I have regularly forked out on a monthly basis for new games anyway, a habit which started many moons ago at £15 for a new game but soared to £40 for the latest title just last year. The problem is that I just got fed up of churning out such a large amount for what we - the gaming public - was assured would be a 'blockbuster' but which turned out to be a big stinky pile of doggy-do. (Yes, I'm looking at you Battlefield 3 on the PC!)

But quite aside from the quality issues there is also the annoying feeling that once bought expensive games are left to wither on the vine, with promised 'extra levels' and new maps and 'forthcoming DLC' never materializing or being very thin when they do. This repeated disappointment turned me into a reluctant fan of the 'pay to play' model.

You see, since World of Tanks came on the scene I have not only found a game that is very enjoyable to play with my friends but also one that has had regular and meaningful updates, with new content added at every increment. Yes, we pay for this privilege - but I would rather pay money for a GOOD game and the support that comes with it than pour my money down the drain of the 'fire and forget' games that come out of some of the big developers and which sees no form of return for my investment.

The World of Tanks 7.3 update is a prime example of why I support this game with real cash.

With new tanks - some free to those of us with particular models in our garage - and two new maps the patch is enough to keep flagging interest alive, but it's the small touches that really convince me that the P2P model is doing it's job properly. There are a huge amount of little tweaks that come directly from user feedback and which make this game feel like it's 'our' game (and that as investors our voices are being listened to).

From the little audible 'ping' that notifies you that a new enemy has just been spotted, to the very satisfying icon that pops up when you score a ammo rack hit there are a plethora of almost unnoticeable improvements that serve to make your gaming experience more enjoyable.

Of course, as someone who has invested a reasonable amount in this game I sort of have to be enthusiastic about it. But, again, when I look across at my bookshelf and see the collection of PC titles I have bought over the past few years that have proven to be complete wastes of money (and which only saw a couple a couple of plays each before I consigned them to the shelf) I can feel sort of smug.

Yes, simply playing 'tanks' will wear thin eventually, but as I noted in an earlier post the developers have that base covered too with both World of Planes and World of Battleships on the radar. But even when I finally park my tanks for the last time I will do so knowing that my friends and I have enjoyed countless hours of entertainment per month for the same kind of money I used to spend on going to the pub in one week!

World of Tanks 7.3 patch Milgeek rating:

I was watching a excellent BBC report - by Frank Gardner - on protection squads aboard ships running the gauntlet of Somali pirates when I spotted an appearance of an old friend! It looks very much like the venerable 'Stupidly Long Rifle' still has life in it (as many of it's fans have quite rightly been saying for years).

Photo source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/

The report showed ex-Marine Brits who now work for one of the many marine protection companies using a variety of arms to 'deter' would be pirates. Apparently the long range of the L1A1 and it's 7.62 x 51mm round is very useful for putting one across the bow of any suspect skiff before it gets anywhere near a merchant vessel.

I should add the Frank Gardner is just a superb guy who I have no end of admiration for, and this is a particularly amazing report: BBC News - Dangerous waters: Running the gauntlet of Somali pirates

Off we go again, a day on my own to get some serious gaming in (and some well earned 'me time'). Just waved the wife off with the traditional lie about how I would miss her today and how I wish she was off to - that's not going to back fire on me some day is it! LOL

7.00AM - WALKING DEAD

I'm starting the day with something a little different and I didn't really want to go straight into some thing like World of Tanks while I was still half asleep. I've been a - slightly unconvinced - fan of the TV show Walking Dead but tend to get very frustrated with the characters and their inability to make what I see is easy decisions, so I thought I would have a crack at the game and see if I could do a better job myself!

It's a fairly run of the mill 'point and click' single player adventure, but it's ideal as a casual or commuting game (which is why I bought it) and it looks nice enough, being rendered in the same sort of cell-shaded style as Borderlands.

The gameplay is very ridged and linear and you are prompted throughout with a limited number of decision paths. But, according to the instructions, these decisions will have a decisive knock-on effect that will steer the course of the game in time. I personally found them a little tedious and would have preferred something a little more free-roaming and mission based like Borderlands was.

Everything starts pretty mundane as you find your character (you do not have a choice of character) in the back of a police car, but things soon take a strange turn and the inevitable 'jumpy bit' comes around.

8.30AM - OK, I'M AWAKE...LET'S TANK!
As much as smashing in a zombie's head with a hammer is fun, single player games are only fun for so long. So it's back online for some tanking with complete strangers from around the world... 

Today's mission is to grind my way to the T-30 American tank destroyer. However, first of all I have to run through my 'Daily Doubles' and take advantage of teh X2 XP bonus that you get with the first win of the day. Now while big tanks have a certain attraction I love my mediums (around tier 5) and I especially like my American TDs, like my M18 'Hellcat' and M36 'Slugger'.

The Hellcat is a particular favourite as it can run around and act as a light scout, but it has a very useful 90mm gun. And in this first game I put this to good use as I knocked out ALL of the enemy's artillery (3) as well as three of their tanks...

Ahhhh, the perfect way to start the day...Now for the rest of my fleet of tanks!

1PM - WORKING LUNCH
BIG Magnus & BIG Dewey joined me over the lunchtime period for some team tanking...Not altogether successful with a string of disappointing teams, but always a laugh in company.

2PM - iBOMBER PACIFIC
While Dewey went back to work and Magnus stopped for some lunch I decided to have a crack at the new version of iBomber - the nifty little tower defence game. I really liked the original game and this new version has some nice additions and improvements, including a new bonus secondary mission in every level. Well worth a lunchtime toodle.

3PM - TANKS A MILLION!
Well, if nothing else today has helped me top 4 million silver in the bank. I figure I will need a good chunk of this for when I eventually do grind up to the Tier 9 T-30 American TD. It's very expensive - but I should have enough change to maybe re-buy the KV in time for the 7.3 patch (as you get an extra free tank if you have it).

7PM - THE EVENING SESSION
Right, it's back to tanks for the evening - re-joined by BIG Magnus (and awaiting the rest of Team BIG). My grind with the T-28P is going very slowly - so far I am 30,000 XP away from the T30, on a good day I could expect to do that, but today has not been a 'good' day (win/lose wise).

Above: It's nice to give yourself little objectives during a good WoT session - and today mine was the merciless hunting down of the enemy's artillery. This can have a real impact on the game, as well as the fact that it's fun and usually sends the opposing team into a bit of a chaotic panic! So, I ended today as I began - a bit of a suicide run to the back of the enemy area to find the big guns. As you can see it ended in my demise, but we won the game and that's the important thing.

2AM SATURDAY MORNING - MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
Yawn! Well, it's been a long day and there have been more losses than wins I'm afraid but overall I did what I set out to do and this beasty now resides in my garage...

As yet it's not fully upgraded - I am still using the 120mm gun from my T28P - but even so it does feel nice to get back in a tank that does more than a snails pace across the map! I took her out for one spin and bagged a couple of scalps and we won the game, plus I won the Mastery Badge: Class III.

Time for bed!