WW1 Naval Campaign - War Is Declared !

It's that time of year again, Easter always heralds the start of our annual Naval Campaign and this year we are focusing on early WW1, which is a great excuse to get Project Jutland out of the boxes again and of course add some new ships to the collection.

Thankfully this time rather than doing a load of prep myself prior to the Campaign I am using the book below to guide us through our journey.

The book was a download from Wargames Vault and is highly recommended, it has two levels, the tactical tabletop based element (report below) and a higher level Campaign Event element. I have decided to introduce the world to T'Yarkshire Ferret Newspaper, this esteemed publication will bring you the gossip and tittle tattle of the Campaign Events whilst the more traditional blog format below will bring you the blow by blow game reports. Make sure you have a good look at Ferret for the latest stories.

The Könign Luise (or as close as I have in my collection)

With the game reports I will be reporting what happened in our games, if you purchase the Campaign book you will find that each game has numerous potential paths that are determined by dice rolls or Campaign Events so each time you play the scenarios they have the potential of being different.

Game 1 - Chasing Königin Luise - 5th August 1914

In early August 14 with war imminent Jellicoe and the Grand Fleet put to sea, encouraged by the King with the following message, (they were of course further moved by the message from The King in the North Geoffrey Boycott see the latest edition of T'Ferret)

"At this grave moment in our national history I send to you, and through you to the officers and men of the Fleet of which you have assumed command, the assurance of my confidence that under your direction they will revive and renew the old glories of the Royal Navy, and prove once again the sure shield of Britain and her Empire in the hour of trial"

The Könign Luise was a liner that had been hastily converted to a minelayer and she had been out at sea around 30 miles off Harwich laying mines when she was sighted by two RN destroyers who were on patrol HMS Landrail and Laurel and the chase was on. I gave the Könign a couple of deck guns to liven things up.

The game starts at 11.00 am, the two destroyers are heading East 10,000 yards behind the Könign Luise. With a top speed of 30 knots to 16 in the Destroyers favour the boilers were stoked and the game begins. Visibility is 12,000 yards but there are a number of squalls in the area where visibility is as low as 2,000.

HMS Fearless to the rescue

11.15 following a radio message from HMS Landrail the nearest supporting unit, a Active Class Light Cruiser Fearless appears out of the gloom 12,000 yards East of the Könign.

11.23 First shell hit of the war as the front gun from HMS Landrail lands a hit on the deck of Könign.

Strike One to Landrail

11.37 The Germans haven't been asleep though and 5 Torpedo Boats V1,2,3,4 and 6 appear at full speed 12,000 yards West of Könign heading towards the Minelayer.

German reinforcements arrive

11.45 A squall settles over the table reducing visibility to 5,000 yards, initially leaving only the two destroyers and the Könign in sight of each other, shot continue to be traded, the Minelayer is struck a couple of times but without any critical damage. HMS Laurel is unlucky though as one of the shells from Könign finds the base of her funnel reducing her top speed by 4 knots.

12.00 visibility increases to 7,000 yards bringing the German Torpedo Boats into visible range of the British Destroyers.

First blood to the Germans

12.07 The Germans sink the first ship of the game as V1 puts a round into the Magazine of the Destroyer HMS Laurel, without warning the ship explodes sinking rapidly.

12.15 Visibility increases to 9,000 yards.

12.23 further German ships arrive in the shape of the light cruisers Breslau, Regensberg and Rostock 10,000 yards South of the Könign.

British Light Cruisers

At the same time 12,000 yards to the east of Könign two British Light Cruisers in the shape of Lowestoft and Southampton steam into view.

12.30 Meanwhile it's all getting a bit messy in the middle of the table as the close range destroyer action continues around the burning wreck of the Laurel. It's not all going the Germans way as a hit on V1 from HMS Fearless starts a fire on board the German Torpedo Boat.

12.37 in the general Melee in the centre there is a narrow miss as the leading German TB narrowly misses HMS Fearless only for the next in line to strike her.

12.45 The fighting in the middle is getting nasty as the photo below shows, V3 has a none exploding magazine hit whilst V6 stumbles ahead blindly with her Bridge destroyed whilst the Germans pour fire on the slow moving Fearless who is getting underway post collision.

12.52 Torpedoes are in the water and heading towards the slowly accelerating Fearless, she is a small ship combing the tracks so all the odds are in her favour.

13.00 in what turned out to be the final turn as Visiblity drastically reduced again due to a Squal and the Germans took their first loss, the V3 was unable to extinguish an on board fire which raged out of control.

But at the same time even with all the odds in her favour Fearless was struck in the rudder by a torpedo causing massive damage and flooding she too quickly sank.

But it wasn't all good news for the Germans as they lost a further two Torpedo Boats in the post action phase, one failed to deal with damage sustained in the fight, the other had sustained so much damage that she was unable to make it back to port and had to be scuttled by her crew.

So in a quite bloody first encounter the British have lost a Light Cruiser and a Destroyer whilst the Germans have lost three Torpedo Boats, next time will see us cruising round the sights of Heligoland Blight.

Pocket PC - The Forgotten Era Of Handheld Video Gaming?

Fr Mark Higgins writes- 

Back in the early 2000s I was an owner of a Pocket PC, I managed to persuade my grandparents to buy me one when I was about 16, I owned, to begin with an HP Jornada 525, later on I had a NEC Pocket Gear 2060, then I had an Axim X5, before finally settling with an HP IPAQ 2495, this probably spans the years of 2002 to 2007, so that's a lot of devices in a short space of time.

Anyway, the reason I had so many of these things was because as a 16 or 17 year old I managed to find my way into reviewing games for Pocket PCs at a website now long defunct called PDArcade.com, in fact, eventually I more or less ran the news side of the site by the time I was 20. The site was pretty popular back in the day and we made a lot through ad revenues and I got a share of the pot.

Anyway, sites like PDArcade existed because PDAs were a major platform, albeit a niche one, for video games. There were other websites dedicated to PDA gaming reviews such as pocketgamer.org, forums dedicated to discussing Pocket PC gaming like, if I recall, pocketmatrix.com, and even Pocket PCs particularly marketed as gaming Pocket PCs, such as, I think some of the ASUS models. Peripherals existed like control pads to make gaming even easier.

And then, of course, there were software companies, often producing really, really impressive titles. PDA gaming, developer side of things, was a return to the days of 8-bit because games, that were selling 10000s of copies were being made by tiny teams of programmers. PDA game development also was a work of real creativity because often Pocket PCs did not have that much storage space. Some companies really excelled at being able to produce games that looked amazing, perhaps at times reaching close to game boy advance and they did so without the size of game going beyond 20mb.

 There was also a thriving emulation scene and at the end of its era the top Pocket PCs were able to play, without problems, all 8 bit, 16 bit and even 32 bit systems- that's quite something, considering that we are talking 2007 being able to play PS1 games released only 5 years previously- it would be like today playing a PS3 game on an iPhone using the hardware of the iPhone.

Perhaps if there is interest I will post some more on this subject, because I might well be one of the closet experts out there on it. I must have reviewed close to a hundred games for Pocket PC and played even more. The pictures in this article give you an idea of the kind of thing you could find on Pocket PC. 

Prices varied and top rate games reached up to $30 I think, but generally a top tier title would be something like $14.99. The place to buy games were the now defunct websites handango.com pocketgear.com and of course directly from the developers. Usually you bought the game on PC and then transferred it over to your PDA but it was technically possible to to everything from the PDA. 

There was a lot of innovation, creativity and excellence in the short lived Pocket PC gaming system. Of course there were ports and a lot of the pictures show this, but alongside ports, developers pushed the limits of the system. Some memorable and excellent companies producing high quality were Hexacto, Ziosoft, PDAmill, Momentum games, Crimson fire, eSoft Interactive and many more.

Hiring: 3D Artist

Title: 3D artist
Focus: Environment design
Type: Full-time, permanent
Last day to apply: 17th of June 2018

Frictional games are filled with terror, intrigue, mystery, and emotion. We want our environments to reflect that, from the shape of the landscape to the smallest rock, while subtly guiding players and helping to enhance the gameplay.

This is where you come in.

We are now looking for an experienced 3D artist, who will focus on environment design for our upcoming games. This means working closely with our gameplay programmers / designers, and using modelling, texturing, and design skills to create memorable, interesting, and functional environments for our players to experience.


What will you work on?
We are quite a small team, but we consider it our strength. As an environment artist you will get to work on everything from props to high-level design. This means your contribution will greatly influence how the final game looks, plays, and evokes emotions.

Here are some of the things you will be working on:

• Collaborating with designers to create level layouts, combining both gameplay and an artistic perspective.
• Taking levels from whitebox to a polished product.
• Creating basic models that make up the levels, such as walls and floors.
• Modelling props of various complexity, both with and without the help of concept art, and often having to take gameplay concerns into account.
• Constructing particle systems, both by drawing textures and using parameters in our editor.
• Combining various techniques to create special effects, such as flowing water or fire.

We also encourage working outside of your area of expertise, and always learning new things. The more areas of development you are willing and able take part in, the better!

For some examples of our environments, please check the video above!


What are we looking for?
The person we're looking for is creative, driven and self-sufficient. We have recently set up a central hub in Malmö, Sweden, and hope you can move over to our seaside city sometime in the future.

You have to be a European resident to apply.

Here are some essential skills we require:

• Good understanding of composition and player guidance.
• Ability to challenge yourself, make bold creative decisions, and try non-conventional things.
• A critical approach to your work, with the ability to take a step back and reflect.
• A strive for structure, efficiency, and clarity.
• Strong self-drive and ability to organise your own work.
• Interest in and ability to do research for interesting prop and environment solutions.
• Love for working on a variety of tasks.
• Fluency in English.

And here are some more techie skills:

• Excellent skills in 3D software. Modo preferred.
• Familiarity with Zbrush/Mudbox/similar.
• Excellent skills in Substance.
• Excellent skills in Photoshop or similar software.
• Familiarity with issue-tracking software.
• Experience in classic/non-PBR workflow.
• Basic rigging and animation skills.

If you want to impress us:

• Love for horror, sci-fi, and narrative games.
• A major role in completing at least one game.
• Great free-drawing skills.
• Experience in level design.
• Strong game design skills.
• Experience kitbashing/working with modular sets.

What do we offer?
We make games, because that's what we love. But we know there are other things we love, like playing games, taking part in sports, or spending time with our families. We believe a healthy balance between work and life reflects positively on your work, which is why we don't encourage crunch.

We also offer:

• Flexible working hours.
• Opportunities to influence your workflow.
• Variety in your work tasks, and ability to influence your workload.
• Participation in our internal game Show & Tell sessions, so you'll have input into all aspects of the game.
• Social security and holidays that are up to the Swedish standards.
• An inclusive and respectful work environment.
• An office in central Malmö you can use as much as you please.
• Fun workmates, game and movie nights, and other outings!

Apply? Apply!
If all of the above piqued your interest, we would love to hear from you! Send us your application 17th of June the latest - but the sooner, the better! Please attach your:

• Cover Letter 
• Why should we hire YOU?
• CV
• Portfolio 
• Link or PDF
• Preliminary work test
• See the test below
• Examples of works that have inspired you or blown you away 
• PDF, screenshots preferred.

Please note that we require all the attachments to consider you.

Send your application to apply@frictionalgames.com!


Preliminary work test
After 3 years of failed experiments, Professor Kim finally managed to reverse gravity. However, the professor died just as he succeeded, and the whole thing ran amok.

The player enters the research facility where the experiments took place. As they go through the level, they gradually learn about what the professor was trying to achieve. At the end they're met with a revelation, and see the disturbing results of the experiment. As they reach the end, the level must loop in a way where the player finds themselves near the entrance, where they first started.

We are looking for a simple design, done as a rough 3D sketch/white box. You are free to write notes and do paint-overs on top of the 3D.

This test is a first step in the evaluation process, showing us your basic skills, so we are not looking for you to spend a lot of time on it. Imagine this as a quick proof of concept you would present before doing a pitch or a design.

We will evaluate your artist vision, creativity as well as level design skills.

Put everything as a collection of images into one folder on Dropbox, Drive or similar, and send the link to us.

Privacy Policy
By sending us your application, you give us permission to store your personal information and attachments.

We store all applications in a secure system. The applications are stored for two years, after which they are deleted. If you want your your information removed earlier, please contact us through our Contact form. Read more in our Privacy Policy.

Watch Dogs 2 Free Download

Watch Dogs 2 Free Download PC Game setup in single direct link for Windows. Watch Dogs 2 is an awesome action and adventure game.

Watch Dogs 2 PC Game 2016 Overview

Watch Dogs 2 has been developed and published under the banner of Ubisoft. This game was released on 29^th November, 2016. You can also download Watch Dogs.

In Watch Dogs 2 you are going to play as Marcus Holloway who is an outstanding hacker living in San Francisco Bay Area. Marcus Holloway needs to team up with a group of ill-famed hackers in order to come up with the biggest hacking in the history. You need to take down ctOS 2.0 which has been developed for monitoring as well as manipulating citizens on a very large scale. 

In this game you will be exploring the dynamic world with loads of gameplay possibilities. You need to come up with different skills which will suit your playstyle. This game has got a Co-Op as well as adversarial multiplayer mode which will let you connected with your friends. You may also like to download Watch Dogs Bad Blood.

Features of Watch Dogs 2

Following are the main features of Watch Dogs 2 that you will be able to experience after the first install on your Operating System.

• Imposing action and adventure game.
• Play as Marcus Holloway who is an outstanding hacker.
• Need to take down ctOS 2.0 developed for monitoring citizens.
• Supports Co-Op as well as multiplayer mode.
• Explore dynamic world with loads of gameplay possibilities.

System Requirements of Watch Dogs 2

Before you start Watch Dogs 2 Free Download make sure your PC meets minimum system requirements.

• Tested on Windows 7 64-Bit
• Operating System: Windows 7/8/8.1/10
• CPU: Intel Core i5 or later.
• RAM: 6GB
• Setup Size: 24.5GB
• Hard Disk Space: 50GB

Watch Dogs 2 Free Download

Click on the below button to start Watch Dogs 2 . It is full and complete game. Just download and start playing it. We have provided direct link full setup of the game.

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Size:24.53 GB

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Virus status: scanned by Avast security

A Few Landmarks Of Sorts

The latest addition to the Austrian army: IR 37
The last couple of weeks have seen a few slightly notable points of interest.
First off, it was my birthday recently. Now once upon a time, birthdays meant wargaming related presents. That doesn't seem to happen as you get older. So any wagaming stuff has to be a "self-present", which is actually FAR better anyway, because you actually get what you want (not that I've ever really needed an excuse to spend money on wargaming). Also, getting older usually means you have more money, so, unless you are going to have a mid-life crisis and spend it on impressionable young women, you get some excellent "self-presents".
With all this in mind, I ended up in Foyles the other day (as opposed to one of those seedy basement clubs a few yards away in Soho..see "impressionable young women" above), where I spent a happy evening perusing the shelves in the silence you only get in bookshops. Three of the books I bought were ones I probably "should" have bought ages ago and just haven't got round to, a couple of the others were more impulsive.
First off, I got hold of the second and third volumes of "Thunder on the Danube" by Jack Gill. These are pretty much indispensible for anyone interested in the Austrians, particularly if you are leaning towards 1809 as I am. So they were long overdue. I've only dipped into them so far but they promise to be everything all the gushing praise I've heard for them  has suggested. Looking forwards to reading them.

More IR 37. Less pose variation than in the German regts, but plenty nonetheless
The third book I bought is Adkin's "Waterloo Companion". Now, I've only a moderate interest in the Waterloo campaign. It has always seemed a bit of an aberration to me in the terms of the Napoleonic wars overall. So much has been written about it, and so many people (wargamers) base their entire impression of how Napoleonic warfare worked upon the way this battle (and campaign) was conducted, when so much about it is highly a-typical rather than representative of Napoleonic battles. Anyway, thats a bigger subject than I've got room for here.
That does nothing to change the fact That Adkin's book is brilliant. Packed with all sorts of detail, some of which anyone who has boned up on the battle will be familar with, some less so. The text is nice, full OB detail which corrects a few errors found elsewhere, some really lovely original colour uniform drawings, Highlights of the battle rather than a full narrative, and for me, the real winner, is some brilliant maps and detailed deployment diagrams. It really helped me understand a lot more about the battle, especially in terms of time and space. There is a lot there even for someone not that interested in Waterloo
The other 2 impulse purchases were the 2 slimline "men and battles" series from Histoire & Collections: "Hanau and Montmirail" and "1809, Essling".
Both of these are great little books. They sort of out-Osprey, Osprey if you see what I mean, same money, not brilliantly translated text, but excellent diagrams, a few contempory drawings I've not seen before, LOTS of full colour, detailed OB, and a few pages of "Beano annual" style uniform drawings.
(If every Osprey was as good as this they might be worth the money).    

Painting Shakoes makes a nice change from helmets!
Other Landmarks recently are the passing of 500 figures painted so far for the year! Which is brilliant, because it means I'm bang on target for 1,000 by Christmas. The most recent additions are pictured here- Hungarian infantry. Less pose variation than the Elite Germans, but they still have plenty. I tried a slightly different white technique (through forgetfulness more than anything else), but they turned out fine. I just did Spray white, Army Painter and then Highlight white rather than add another off-white shade after the AP. It makes them a little brighter, but not that much.
Finally, I have had over 50,000 visitors to this little site. Which is ...extraordinary really... Thank you all very much for being interested in my little wargaming world...but, you really should get out more.  
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Happy Birthday, Texas!

Pinball FX3 - Williams Pinball Vol. 4: New Flipper Movement Physics Video - IGN Video

Pinball FX3 - Williams Pinball Vol. 4: New Flipper Movement Physics Video