Aircraft Boneyard

Hey Guys

Spotted this news article about the world's largest aircraft boneyard, thanks to the world's largest airforce: the USAF. Interestingly, this place holds planes that hark back to WWII, and it was chosen due to its arid conditions that preserved the airframes. They took some photos from Google Earth and here are the results:

Just amazing how small the aircraft look like from far, and yet how numerous they are!

This post also goes out to those who played MW2 ;) Same setting, but different country...such an awesome stage in the game (and one of the hardest to boot). Btw, JQ hasn't played MW2, so try not to spoil the game for him :)

M60 Patton Tank

The M60 Tank was a mainstay during cold war era. Unlike its successor, it had a fair share of combat in many conflicts that involved tank to tank battles.

Th M60 tanks has a crew of 4 personnel. It is armed with a 105mm M68 Cannon and can travel to a relatively swift speed of 30 mph or 48 km/h.

While slower and less capable than its successor, the M60 has proved combat worthy and capable of taking out many of its Soviet/Russian Counterparts like T-54/T-59, T-55, T-63, Type 69 and even the T-72.

While the most common but up to date version of the M6o, the M60A3 is comparably less effective than the M1 Abrams MBT, it has a few features that outmatch its modern day successor.

Firstly, The M60A3 had a notably better thermal imaging system than that of the M1 up into the 21st Century, when many M1s had newer ones installed. However, considerably noisier, emitting a loud clicking sound audible several meters outside the vehicle. Next, it was able to use more types of rounds than the M1. Lastly, it has an escaped hatch located under the hull that the M1 lacks.


Two M60A3 Tanks with add on armor on the lookout for enemies.

The M60 Tank remains in active service by several operators. Among which, Egypt is one of its largest user.


A Backview of the M60A3 Tank. (Micromachines Military)


The M60 Tank was famous in its deadly efficiency in the Yom Kippur War in which Israeli made use of them against Arab Armour with killer results. However in recent days, the Israeli Army has moved on to using their own manufactured main battle tanks, the Merkavas (Many Variants).


Somehow or another, I just like the look of the M60 tanks. Furthermore, its design is the basis for many future generation or current modern day tank designs.

With Josh SLR Macro lens, we are able to absorb int he beauty of such a deadly and widely used tank that had a big role to play in many conflict zones and still remains relevant today.

Still doubt its power? World's Wildest Police chase shows how deadly a M60 Tank can be at the wrong hands even when not capable of shooting.

Check out this video


On a side note, I have completed my Ticonderoga VLS Cruiser and am in the midst of rehashing the Old Arleigh Burke Flight 1 Kit and also attempting to also do another one.

Looking at my 1/700 scale ships, I'm beginning to beam with more pride at the way I paint and how much I have improved. Furthermore, with a larger assortment of Naval Units, I can take shots with more ships on it. However, I would need to start making big dioramas of the sea where the ships can be placed.

MODERN MILITARY HOO RAHH!!

BSG Galore

So for all of you what the hell does "BSG" means, it stands for the greatest Sci-Fi film ever to exist.
Oh yes sir, it does. (Sorry to all Star Wars and Star Trek fans)

Battlestar Galactica is by far the most grittiest, "no bullshit", Sci-Fi show that i have ever seen.
The only failure in the show would probably be its Title.

Just a Short rundown on what BSG is: It is the epic journey of the last remnants of humankind trying to find their way to escape the genocide committed by their creation, the Cylons, (Robots/ Cybernetic Humanoids) and find a place to start anew.

It's an awesome show as morality, ethics and all sorts of dilemma is brought onto the show and makes you wonder what is right or wrong? The minute the show begins, you see the human race get wipe out.

NOW, What sci-fi show gives you that type of hard knocks so far?



Oh yeahh



The Cast of Battlestar Galactica. From Left, Colonel Tigh, President Laura Roslin, Admiral Adama, Commander Lee Apollo, Gaius Frakking Baltar, Kara "StarBuck" and Screw Up Thrace, "Helo" Agathon, Model 6, Sharon Valeri.



After having countless hours enjoying the TV Series, Me and My Buddies moved onto greener pastures but on the same plane of existence. In other words, delve into the BSG World and get our hands dirty in the Board Game.

Fantasy Flight Games provided us with that outlet. A very great adaptation fromt he TV Series, Fantasy Flight Games have made it great fun by taking out the essential parts of the show to make it into a highly interactive game.

My friend, Wei Ting, bought it from our local store, Paradigm Infinitium. Upon the dawn of our great holidays, It was non-stop action among friends and the game.

Let me put it in a perspective that is more understandable.
This game involves more bluffing skills than Texas Hold'em. There is more suspicion in this board game than Cluedo. And I have never knew that knowing your friends' character as a person and also the characters in the tv series plays a big part in the board game

Generally, If you are a Sci-Fi geek, and you are game for a sociable round of intense fun.
This game is for you.



ADAMA ADAMA ADAMA!

Check out the album on Facebook!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Toyconstruct/273964222832#!/album.php?aid=150175&id=273964222832

F35

Hey Everyone

Remember the next generation F-35 fighter jet? There's news about it...the general in charge of the project got replaced due to failure to achieve performance targets. It's a short article, and check it out here.

I remember the first time I heard about the F-35 fighter was in Jane's Fighter's Anthology, which happens to be a realistic combat simulator released back in 1997, and it allows you to fly planes from the 1950s to 1990s, including theoretical planes like the Aurora stealth surveillance aircraft.

Screenshot of a F-35 in Hanoi, from the game Fighters' Anthology.

Man, that game was really old school but I remember having a lot of fun with it as I played it with my older brother. It captured my imagination about the world of modern militaries, and I usually flew Russian aircraft in quick-missions, such as the MiG 29 and Su-27. Data-wise, the game had a whole load of it, allowing you to customize the load-out according to the hardpoints (I'm not sure how they made sure the payload was actually compatible with the hardpoints) and even presenting videos and info about the planes/missiles they had (but not for all of them).

The boxart of the game.

One of my best memories was flying in the Vietnam campaign, and I was in a F4J Phantom II. I was fighting against MiG-15s, and I was chasing one down in the clouds...and I managed to be right behind his tail and fired a AIM-6B sidewinder, killing the MiG-15 right away (in the game, the AIM-6B had lousy tracking, scoring a 65% hit percentage at ideal situations, like right at the back where the jet engine is hottest). It was really a proud moment for me :)

Playing that Vietnam campaign with 'old' technology made me really realize how challenging it was for fighter pilots in the past, who did not have the benefit of beyond-visual-range AAMs and laser-guided GBUs, and had to depend a lot on skill and luck to get through each day. Flying a MiG-15 is even worse than a F4J, you had no radar at all and you only had cannons to hit planes with.

Unfortunately, realistic simulators do not generate a lot of money in the consumer market (maybe in military training they do make a lot of money), and it's my observation that they have taken a backseat in the current gaming arena. We still have games that might fit the realistic bill like CoD MW2, America's Army, SOCOM, Rainbow 6, Ghost Recon etc....but I notice there's a trend of added artistic license to the games, like stylized uniforms (MW2 featured re-designed AK-47s interestingly) and even certain departures from the real world (to add more excitement? I have to admit the plot for MW2 was pretty outrageous but had a good pace to it).

Oh well, the Jane's series of military games provided me with good memories (I played Longbow Gold, Advanced Tactical Fighters and FIghter's Anthology), and these memories are gonna stay in me for a real long time. I think JQ also played with Fleet Command...

And again, thanks for reading and supporting us with your endless enthusiasm! It is always a great pleasure to put posts up on the passions we share in life :)

Take care,
Joshua

The Epic Battles between Bretonnian vs High Elf

And so this is the massive Entry of 3 Battles between the Wei Ting's High Elves and My Bretonnians.

All are pretty epic in proportion and some dragged on into mindless desperate fight till the last man standing.

I shall be running the overview with as much neutrality as possible. At the same time i will try and keep it Short and concise without going into too much details. Overall, Both Wei Ting and I are not really walking tacticas of Warhammer but we make do and try to provide a rather interesting report.
BATTLE 1

Turn 0
Setup

The Overview of the Battlefield


Bretonnian Line up. (Choose to have a bigger force of Knights of the Realm. I also decided to attach my Heroes in the KOTR and Grail Knights to pack a bigger punch)



High Elf Line up. (Wei Ting chose a more fundamentally efficient fighting force with Mage on a dragon as the highlight. Furthermore, he did add a Lord into the spearmen regiment to boost them up)

As the battle started and turn 1 commenced, Wei Ting used Magic to boost his fighting capability. I can recall one of them involved in giving the High Elves 4+ wards saves and another provides the High Elves with extra movement.

I decided to edge my Grail Knights and Men at Arms forward to prepare them for charges against the Elven forces.

However, Wei Ting had other plans, with a mad dash of craziness, he sent his dragon to fighter and destroy my Knights of the Realm. Amazingly, he was successful in destroying all 12 of them which was a real shocker as i failed my combat resolution and flee. However, My Pegasus Knights and My Paladin on Royal Pegasus got the better of the dragon and took the creature down with its riders.

This positive result for the Bretonnians continued with my Fliers being able to overcome his Dragon Princes only to have lost my last charge against his Spearmen with his Lord in it. (Of which i did not realize about his Lord in the Spearmen regiment.) Not only did the Bretonnian Paladin lost on his charge, he was slain and the Royal Pegasus flee on its own.

By turn three, the top half of the warboard was pretty barren. The bottom half was still in play with Wei Ting having a big advantge in numbers and units against me.

As show here.


Thing only got worse for the Bretonnians as the Grail Knight charged into a trap, I was unaware of how much stubborn could drag me down. While i gave landed a few wounds on the Phoenix Guards, their stubborn enchantment weighed me down. Later, The Grail Knights were flanked by the spearmen before ultimately fleeing from adverse combat resolutions and getting overrun. Of which this dragged my attached paladin down witht he knightly unit. (DAMN)

The Men at Arms had lousy rolls too and could only manage to survived one round before getting overrun by he greatswords.

By turn 5, i was left with a Riderless Royal Pegasus, A Lord on Hippogriff and my Last regiment of Bowmens. I managed to take a take out the spearmen regiment which had no heroes attack to it with my Lord and Royal Pegasus but the odds were still against me.

Wei Ting made a flow amidst the entire flurry of battle. While he could have consolidate and supported his forces, he sent his greatswords to the far corner to take out my Bowmen on the hill. It was a fatal flaw as my bowmen had great rolls, wiping lots of his Greatswords. His failed charged and bad leadership roll just made thing worse as i eventually wipeout his hard hitting asset unit through a flurry of arrows. Its an irony how the elves are put to death by human arrows.

Beyond 6 turns, it ended up with me isolating his regiments and taking them out one by one with my Lord on hippogriff and pegasus, followed by an array barrage of arrows. The last mage got wipeout by the flying monster at that pretty much summed up the first battle

BATTLE 2 (in summary)
The second battle involved Wei Ting taking up More Calvary than expected but still maintaining magic against me. I went for a more traditional approach of smaller regiments but more calvary units. Took out the Men at Arms and added a trebuchet for more damage. I added a Mage to get into the Business of using magic.

Yet Again Wei Ting came swooping down with his dragon and scaring my damsel off the board.
My Bowmen retaliated by firing a flurry of arrows which did cause some damage. But they were quick work for the Dragon's Fury. It was not until my Grail Knights had a successful charge that decimated the Lone Dragon and his mage.

Things started taking a turn for the worse for Wei Ting's forces when i had a lucky shot that took out the lone mage on horseback with my trebuchet and started decimating most of his calvary with my own successful charges of the Knights of the Realm and Grail Knights.

It was pretty clear cut by the end of the 6th turn who remained dominant. By the the end of the game, I had My Grail Knight Regiment with 80% complement intact. I had my regiment of Knights along with my Lord.

BATTLE 3

By far the most intense battle. This time around, Wei Ting and I have refined our armies. While Wei Ting took the best of his High elves that had all the abilities to counter every aspect of the Bretonnians. I decided to hone in something a bit different. While still remaining true to the Bretonnian Standard composition of Knights, I decided to go one better and replace my Lord with a Prophetess of the Lady on Royal Pegasus (So i can also outrun the dragon or stay in a safe distance from his crazy dragon). I fielded a more intensive magic army to compete with the potent magic that he wielded.

Terrain was pretty unique too. With a river separating the both sides, two Swamps on various points of the map, abandon grass huts and a forest, it was pretty hard for my knights to maneuver around.

The Battle started out with a flurry of magic and shooting against each other. While I moved my knights forward, I made it in such a way I wont cross the river, partly because I fear I would suffer from getting trapped by Wei Ting's encircling troops on the chokepoint route to his battlelines.

The Dragon did its brazen move by managing to get to my damsel and hitting her with full force. Only few inches away, lay my Prophetess. My Magic powerhouses were so close to getting roasted.


Bye Bye Damsel (Proxy Model)


Layout of the battlefield. (Yes the Toilet paper is the river, the deck of cars and container is the grass and hut. And the dvds are the swamps. So much for Real Looking Terrain :p)
My Paladin and his Pegasus Knight were able to take out the Dragon at this point of time before it could do further damage.

Things only seem to be going my side after I became more dominant on the magic phase in comparison to Wei Ting. But this was right after he melted my entire Knight Errant regiment away with the Most Heaviest spell from Lore of Metal, "The Spirit of the Forge"

Only the Champion survive the ordeal.


Eventually, I was compelled to cross the river to make a move on the High Elves before another unit of Knights fell victims to their magic. However, in response to such an action, Wei Ting charge his chariot onto my Knights of the Realm, trapping them on the river and inside the choke point.



Trapped


In response, I Retaliated with my Pegasus Knights and Paladin and took out a one regiment of spearmen and greatswords.

But the unit ran out of steam to the Repeater Bolt thrower. With only the Paladin left in the unit, he loses his panic test from the onslaught of shooting and fled the scene. To make matters worse, the chariot went on to defeating my Knight of the Realms.

My Grail knights responded to the defeat by taking on the chariot and defeating it. But I only had one Unit of Grail Knight left against His decent complement of Spearmens and Phoenix Guards.

At this point of time, The RBT took out the Royal Pegasus that my Prophetess sat on. The two regiments of High Elves defeated my Grail Knights in an intense match up. The RBT finished up killing my prophetess.

With only my Trebuchet left to fend for itself, the battle was pretty much lost.

All in all, this holiday, I had three great match up with Wei Ting. While both of us were rusty from not playing for a long time, we pick up new knowledge from the game and learn from a few absent minded ill fated errors that we committed.

For me, I regretted in the first battle to attached my heroes to the units. When they fail their break test and got overrun, it was painful as my heroes died together with the unit and was not as efficient as I meant them to be.

Wei Ting repeatedly made fail charges on the third battle as he forgot to take consideration what terrain was he on, especially when he was trekking through Swamp that quartered your entire movement rate.

All in all. GG - Good Game.

DAMN this a long post but in summary, 2 wins Bretonnia, 1 win High Elves.

Star Wars Awesomeness

Hey Everyone

Taking a slight departure from JQ and WT's warhammer exploits...I'd like to share a really funny picture I saw on the web:

Man, I love Star Wars since I was a kid...and still continue to do so now...except that the prequels kind of killed it a bit.

As a kid, I was amazed how people could collectively dream up a separate world in Star Wars, which seemed to have its own history and kept on evolving as the real world itself progressed through time, like a real and breathing imaginary world that was futuristic and yet gritty at the same time. X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter was a game I really loved playing, and I also collected a range of Star Wars micromachines, and some of the action figures too (mostly stormtroopers and clonetroopers). I'll still watch the old trilogy again and again whenever I can find other people to watch them with!

First up, I am an Imperial fan through and through. The rebels do stand up for good, but I really believe George Lucas is too kind to them and lets them win all the time...which explains why I believe The Empire Strikes Back was the best Star Wars movie ever made. But that's me...I tend to support the antagonists because they seem to have much more depth to them (as they face certain defeat in spite of their best efforts) and that it takes a lot more to empathize with their cause then the popular heroes.

But the new Star Wars right now is killing me. The driods (especially the Battle Driods) are brainless and serve more as doofus clowns then actual enemies which were actually designed to kill and help conquer the universe. The backstory for the prequels is indeed intriguing...but alas the touch of kid-friendly Lucas made it go downhill (in my opinion) with very one-sided battles and lame dialogue (smooth skin like sand anyone?). I remember how thrilled I was when news of The Phantom Menace first came out, and thought the Battle Driods could actually be pretty cool...but I guess that was probably the highest level of enthusiasm I could muster for the prequels.

I have also taken some pictures of my stormtrooper/clonetrooper figures, and maybe as a parting shot, I'll present one of them I took while in college:

Left to Right: Hawkbat Battalion trooper, Commander Keller, Snowtrooper (clone war version)

Cheers!

Elven Arrogance

An Elven Hero looking into the beyond. (I might add that once in a while, both SLR and Model look great and benefit from each others artistic aura)


It's the "Don't Touch Me!" Pose by The High Elf Hero


Close up on the Shield. High Elves are really fascinated with the crescent moon and sun and yadah yadah yadah. Nonetheless, it is some great drybrushing, blend work and painting by Mr. Tay Wei Ting

Good day again.
This time around we feature Weiting's infamous painted figure that is also a default on our blogskin. I must say, it is one of the most remarkable works from my friend. Took him an elven age to paint it too though.

HAHHA I may add, Painting is something that doesn't really stir my other friends, but when Weiting gets down to it and when he pays particular attention to detail, the outcome is pretty neat.

In any case, Wei Ting has been doing some trash talking with me about his High Elves. Admittedly, I had my own fair share.

So you must be wondering, How did we get to the point of being all guyish and vying for bragging rights?

Well lets get to the High Elf army. All these years playing with Weiting, Weiting has been complaining how crappy the High Elf army was. (Back then during the 5th edition) However, he had his fair share of victories here and there. Though i can only remember him defeating me once with his High elves against my Bretonnians.

However things took a turn for the better and the Current High Elf Army had many boost up. In fact, when the new High Elf army was released, I can recall them being dominant in many official tournaments.

Back closer to home, Weiting whooped Imperial and Chaos ass sufficiently. However, he was never able to break the track record of my Bretonnians. *Sniggers*
Have remained dominant, and still have.

But since we could vaguely remember when was the last time we met each other in a official "battle to the death" match between his High Elves and My Bretonnian, we decided to put it to the test again.

All I can say for is that I noticed that the characteristic of the player's army sometimes rub off on the palyer himself as Weiting arrogantly brags about how he is gonna MASSACRE and WHOOP my ass.

On top of drenching his weapons in Bretonnian Blood... It was hilarious to hear his trash talk.
All i can say for now is... stay tuned for the Battle Report.