WORD FROM THE FRONT- RECENT UPDATES
Task Force Echo-Four currently hosts 197+ scenarios created by this team and members of the SB community for all SB games.

23 February 2009



25 January 2009

October 2008
           26 October 2008
  •   Now hear this! -  Well, it's been almost exactly a year to the day since the last update but I'm very happy to say TFE4 is still here presenting the Squad Battles community with outstanding content. And this time I think you'll agree we present something very special indeed. The long awaited and eagerly anticipated IronX modern warfare mod  "The Long War." Since the last update two new official HPS Simulations Squad Battles titles have been released.  The Winter War and The Soviet-Afghan War. And more are in the pipeline!  RedMike...out.
  •   Added The Long War Mod -  Added a new mod by IronX entitled "The Long War" which is based on the latest version of  HPS Simulations  The Soviet-Afghan War and which is a prerequisite to playing The Long War. You must own a copy of  The Soviet-Afghan War in order to play The Long War.  You'll find a new page dedicated to supporting IronX's stuff in  the Combat Ops section.
  •  Added Soviet-Afghan War Variant Scenarios -  Added Kunar Sweep Variant pack by Mike Cox. You'll find it in the  Combat Ops section under The Soviet-Afghan War. 


October 2007
   
             27 October 2007
   
  Official Update -  Thanks to BigRedOne, who was kind enough to forward a copy of F. Lee Harmon's long lost article  Squad Battles Vietnam morale ratings, I have uploaded a copy for your reading pleasure to the Article Archives section. A  Big thanks to the BigRedOne!!


September 2007
   
           30 September 2007
   
Official Communique!! -  Since the last TFE4 update Soviet-Afghan War has hit the streets so we will be adding new content supporting that title as well. Perhaps even a mod in the offing using the new engine. Who can say ? HPS  is continueing to develop some really great new titles in the SqB series . So play hard and look out for some really cool stuff coming your way.  RedMike...out :)

 Added Custom Eagles Strike Scenario Pack -  Added a new Eagles Strike battle pack #3 by Ozgur Budak. Features Hedgerow Hell and a bunch of ASL conversions for your gaming pleasure. Find it in the Eagles Strike Combat Ops section.

     Added Africa at War Scenario -  By Ozgur Budak. Oz takes us back to...The Ivory Coast!  Looks like another  job for   
                Le  Legion E'trangere. Mount up in the Africa at War Combat Ops section.


April 2007
  15 April 2007

General News Flash!! -  Been awhile since the last update but I want to let all and sunder know that things are brewing in the Squad Battles World. Standby for some really cool things coming your way. This game just keeps getting better and better. RedMike...out :)

Added Custom Eagles Strike Scenario Pack -  Added a new battle pack by Marc "Bayonet" Bellizzi. Find it in the Eagles Strike Combat Ops section.

Added Advance of the Reich Custom Scenario Battle Pack -  By Ozgur Budak. Battles for State Farm 79. Find it in the Advance ~ Reich Combat Ops section.
Added z1812's 2D Graphics Mod -  By z1812. This mod is for Eagles Strike. You will find it in the Eagles Strike Combat Ops section.
Added Africa at War Battle Pack #2 -  By Barnacle Bob. Four cool new scenarios covering  everything from Angola to the Congo. Pick them up in the Africa at War Combat Ops section.


May 2006
  2 May 2006

Added Proud & Few Sound Pak 2 -  Added some new sounds and made some adjustments here and there. This one is forProud & the Few only as the new jungle background sounds are not necessarily appropriate to all areas covered by Pacific War. Find it in the P&F_Pacific War Combat Ops section.

Added Advance of the Reich Custom Scenario -  By Marc "Bayonet" Bellizzi. West of Butovo, Russia 4 July, 1943.  Adapted from HOB scenario FF9. Find it in the Advance ~ Reich Combat Ops section.
Added Unit Counter Highlight Mod -  By Barnacle Bob.Adds a stronger highlight around the unit counters for all nations, all games. You will find it in the Advance ~ Reich Combat Ops section AOTR Resources Section.
Added Africa at War Battle Pack #1 -  By Barnacle Bob. Two cool new scenarios, and variable setups, covering the Wars of  Liberation from Portugal and Wars with Angola. Pick them up in the Africa at War Combat Ops section. I've added an Africa at War Battle Pack section to house this and all future Battle Packs.


January 2006
        11 January 2006

Added Self-Extracting ES All-In-One Mod -  This should simplify the installation of the Allied Add-On Mod for Eagles Strike. Just point the extractor to wherever your HPS Simulations folder resides and it will put all the files in the correct places. Piece of cake! Look for it on the Eagles Strike page.
Added a High Resolution AotR Unit Graphics Mod -  In the Volcano Man tradition, I have created a new improved unit graphics mod which I feel is truly AWESOME!! Hope you enjoy it. It still needs some final touches but I didn't want to keep it hanging any longer since time is short, and projects are many. I plan to follow this one up with similar for ALL titles.

November 2005

    16 November 2005
Added Stalingrad Campaign Game -  Achtung! Marc "Bayonet" Bellizzi comes through with an awesome updated version of his Stalingrad Mini-Campaign game. This version covers the grim fight for the Red October Factory. Check out the newly added  Stalingrad Campaign Game  section  in the Combat Ops Advance of the Reich section for details. This one's for the true grognards out there. Enjoy!
Eagles Strike - Custom Scenario Pack -  By Rich Hamilton
Rich has crafted some scenarios based on the Fire & Steel series published in the Armchair General Magazine for your gaming pleasure. They can be found in the Combat Ops Eagles Strike section. Thanks Rich!

        12 November 2005
Change of Command -  It's official. Echo-Four has been reassigned (TAD) for an undisclosed period of time. The scuttlebutt is he's leading a "non-existent" unit of the SADF deep into Angola on some unfinished business. Good luck, Frank! Keep your powder dry! In the interim I shall be acting squad leader of Task Force Echo-Four, and shall endeavor to carry on the high standards set by Frank Lee Harmon Jr., aka Echo-Four, who has put together one hell of a nice site. There shall follow the usual working up period as I get into the swing of things. There's been a shakeup in our TO/E as well. Randy "RedDevil" Plume has been deactivated and is working on the Matrix edition of the Campaign Series. So the best of luck to RedDevil! Marc "Bayonet" Bellizzi, I'm happy to say, has joined up as a full member of the team and has some really cool projects in the works. Gonna be good! In the meanwhile I will be uploading and linking a bunch of stuff that's been in the pipeline for awhile now. So to all, I say, let it be known that Squad Battles is alive and well, with lot's of good stuff coming down the pike. Thanks to all for their patience. RedMike...OUT.


June 2005
10 June 2005
Status report - to all of you who may have thought that this place was done for...well that is just not the case. As of very recently, life has thrown me quite a few curveballs and it has taken a while to pull my head from the proverbial gutter and get things back in motion. I have been spending quite a bit of time trying to get into the swing of single life and being able to manage time between spending time with my daughter, being a full time student and also working. Although it seemed daunting in the beginning, I have managed to get things under control. None of this could have been done without the outstanding efforts of Greg "RedMike" Colman. For those of you who know Greg, your appreciation should indeed be focused on the former in lieu of myself. Now that we have the reasons for the hiatus out of the way....lets get on to the stuff you guys have been waiting for. This is a hell of an update...thanks to all for your efforts.

Africa at War - Custom Scenario - Operation Civet - Barnacle Bob - Civil War has erupted in the Ivory Coast! Rebel Forces threaten to exterminate UN personnel assisting locals. French commanders in the area  have deployed a combined arms force to eradicate any potential threats.
Africa at War - Custom Scenario - Hostage Crisis at  Bunia - African Regional War #2 - Frank Harmon - Part Two in the African Regional War series. Destroy Rwandan forces holding Bunia and rescue hostages held by enemy forces.
Africa at War - Self Extractor - RedMike - RedMike has engineered a self extracting installer for Africa at War. This will alleviate installation issues for those of you who have had difficulty with getting the ball rolling in Africa. * You must own Pacific War.
Africa at War - Self Extractor - Sounds Mod - RedMike has also made self extractors for his sound mods. These are also available in the supply section.
Africa at War - Loads dat fix - Barnacle Bob has corrected the range for 20mm AA cannons. It was previously erroneous at 0.
Advance of the Reich - Sounds Mod extractor- RedMike has engineered a self extracting installer for Advance of the Reich sound mod.
Advance of the Reich - Eagles Strike - Unit Mod  by Wodin with due credit to Thomas Wolfes. Handsome unit box art which replaces default versions in alternate art mod.
Eagles Strike - Self Extractor - Allied Add-On self extractor -  Red Mike has made a self extractor for the ES Allied Add-On. These are also available in the supply section.
Eagles Strike - Self Extractor - Sounds Mod - RedMike has also made self extractors for his sound mods. These are also available on the Eagles Strike page.
Korean War - Self Extractor - Sounds Mod - RedMike has also made self extractors for his sound mods. These are also available on the Korea - Nam page.
Korean War - Vehicle Art Mod - Ozgur Budak and Bill Brockman - New vehicle art for Korean War owners.
Pacific War - Self Extractor - Sounds Mod - RedMike has also made self extractors for his sound mods. These are also available on the Pacific War page.
Counter Mod - Wodin  - An extensive counter mod which replaces default counters for all nationalities in all Squad Battles games. Due to space reasons, this is available on the Korea -  Vietnam page.


March 2005
31 March 2005
Custom Scenario Spreadsheet - I have assembled a spreadsheet that lists all custom scenarios that I am aware of for all SB games. This page has been done after numerous requests for the same and is located in the Supply Section of this site. If I have missed any scenarios, (which I more than likely have) feel free to send me the name and files for the scenario(s) that have been overlooked. This page will also be updated as future scenarios are included.


February 2005

Information Update  I have received numerous woe-filled emails inquiring if this site has gone belly up for quite a while now and the answer is NO. To diffuse further e-mails concerning the same topic, I will now make clear just what has exactly put a damper on things hear at TASK FORCE ECHO-FOUR.  For those who do not know me personally, I am a full-time student at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas. I began taking classes again for recreation in the Spring of 2004 and recently decided to go back as a full-time student. Although this was intended as a hit and miss experiment, I have managed to hit more so than miss. That said, I am a member of the University Honors Program and working on a major in History (Political Science & German Language Minor). Couple this educational commitment with the fact that I am also a husband and a father and time becomes rather slim. In addition, I am working on a new Squad Battles title for John Tiller and transfering all of my goodies on to this new high-falutin' laptop of mine, so all this soaks up plenty of my free time.
- To combat this: I have decided to assign Greg "RedMike" Colman a bit more responsibility here at the site (uploading goodies and such), but we are in the process of getting all of this straightened out with the higher-higher's before we can get the ball rolling again. So, fret not because we are still in motion. I know it may not be as quick as many of you desire it to be, just hang in there. - Frank

December 2005

20 December 2004
After Action Report - SB Korean War_Jason Rimmer delivers a new AAR covering the stock scenario: Always Airborne! Jason writes an entertaining account of his opponents struggle to liberate Suk'Chon from the grip of the NKPA.
Africa at War - Custom Scenarios (5) - Barnacle Bob of Blitzkrieg Wargaming Club fame delivers 5, thats right 5, scenarios covering small unit actions during Mozambiques' War of Liberation from the Portuguese. For all of you Africa fans: Merry Christmas!
Advance of the Reich - Custom Scenario- "Thunder at Karelova" - Ozgur Budak delivers another scenario offering to the SB world with this 1942 action on the Ost Front. Just would not feel like Christmas without having your troops freezing to death courtesy of General Winter.
New Tactics Article - Tanks! The tactical series of articles continues as Marc Bellizzi touches on the deployment and utilization of armor in the SB series.
Tactics Article_Tactical article #10 "Blockbusting (MOUT)" is now available for download in the Tactics Article library.


October 2004
04 October
Eagles Strike_Modified Unit Boxes- Forgot to make a link to Bob Bannermann's unit bases. This is now remedied and you can download them from the ES page.

03 October
Eagles Strike Allied Powers - Axis Italian Add-On - 2 scenarios - Hats off to Ozgur for keeping this place going with the submission of two more scenarios for the ES_BGP project. The man delivers again with two ASL conversions "Hide & Seek" and "The Attempt to Relieve Peiper". All available on the ES page.
Eagles Strike_Modified Unit Boxes- Bob Bannermann has created a set of unit bases in 2D100 and 2D50.bmp modes that make the unit bases appear more visible by lightening their shades. Thanks to Bob for his submission.

September 2004
03 September
Eagles Strike Allied Powers - Axis Italian Add-On - 4 scenarios have been added to the collection by the master of Eagles Strike scenario creation, the infamous; Oz. All of these are available on the Eagles Strike page for your strategic enjoyment.
Eagles Strike Allied Powers - Axis Italian Add-On -  OK, I screwed up, again. I forgot to include 2D100 & 2D50 symbols.bmp's, flag.bmp's, as well as the most current weapons.dat for the added nationalities included with this mod. If you have not downloaded this yet and wish to, the complete download now contains the correct files so you need not to worry about missing anything. If you have downloaded the prior version and need only the missing files, I have created a separate download for this reason below the mod (Eagles Strike Page). This package contains only the files that were excluded from the original download (200'ish kb). Alles Klar?

August 2004
14 August
Eagles Strike Allied Powers - Axis Italian Add-On - Ozgur has added a handful of vehicles and other goodies in this final update to the ES Add On. 4 new scenarios are being playtested at the moment and more on the way. If you are curious you can read the descriptions on the Eagles Strike (European Add On section) page but the scenarios are not yet available.
Advance of the Reich - Waffen SS projekt scenario update_ "The Day the World Exploded" has been updated as of this date. The update increases the amount of turns in the scenario from 18 to 23 to allow the German player a bit more time to attempt to take Polish objectives.
Troubleshooting_We here at Task Force Echo-Four appreciate any reports of broken links at the site, but when reporting these please be specific as this place contains a very large number of links in general. An e-mail that states "there are a bunch of broken links at the site" is appreciated but it doesn't do us much good when we don't know what to fix. Unfortunately life does not afford me enough time to check every link at the site when something of this nature happens. For those who have problems on a regular basis with downloading materials  from this site, I would suggest picking up the freeware version of Download Accelerator Plus. I use this program and even when I get a 404 for a page the program will find the file if it is there. Thanks Again - Frank

03 August
Eagles Strike Allied Powers - Axis Italian Add-On - Condensed all of the updates for the ES Add-On into one easy download for matters of convenience. For those with no reason to download this due to it's skimpy two scenario offering, you will soon have reason as Ozgur is working on a series of scenarios that deal with the Free French and Crete.
Africa at War - Scenario Update_Incorrect version of Ozgur's Vortex #3 was posted on the 1st and the correct version has now been uploaded to the site. Africa at War-Hypothetical section.

01 August - HUGE UPDATE!!!
Site News - please see the site news below in the Rifleman's Herald about how the site has been rearranged. We cant have all of you regulars becoming lost and then e-mailing us asking and complaining about where everything went..lol
Articles Archives Page Added - Added a page to archive all of Marc Bellizzi and Frank Harmon's prior tactics articles for Squad Battles. Also uploaded quite a few of the old SB Raiders historical articles that used to be available on the SB Raider page. I figured these works were better off still available to the public than just sitting on my HD.
Advance of the Reich - Waffen SS projekt scenarios (2)_ Frank hits us with 2 Waffen SS scenarios for Advance of the Reich.  The first "The Day the World Exploded" is a hybrid scenario that covers the assault of  SSVT Deutschland on the first day of the war in Poland. The Second "die Ritterkreuz von Jochen Peiper" covers the action in which the infamous Peiper won his first Knight's Cross @ Krasnaya-Polyana. Both are available on the Advance-Reich- Waffen SS section.
Africa at War Scenarios (2)_Ozgur supplies all of you modern fellas with 2 new scenarios in his Vortex series. "Foxtrot Hotel One" and "Afrikaaner Nightmare". Modern Africa Page_Hypothetical Conflicts. He has skipped Vortex#4 for the meantime so do not worry about missing a scenario from the series. Africa at War-Hypothetical section.
Africa at War - Scenario Update_Frank has updated a new version of the extremely difficult "Striking at UNITA" scenario. Uploaded to Africa at War_Wars with Angola.
After Action Report - Pavlov's House_Bill Brockman answer the call for AAR's that cover TFE4 scenario with his entertaining narrative of his assault on Peter Dawson's determined Guards at Pavlov's House in Stalingrad. Tactics section.
Eagles Strike - Board Game Project Scenario_Breakthrough! BGP Scenario #22 for the Eagles Strike.  A balls to the wall meeting engagement between German and American forces in Tunisia, Dec. 1942. Sorry, there is no desert terrain. You will just have to use your imagination. Eagles Strike Page.
Eagles Strike -2D Allied Add-On Update_This update the corrects errors with a file that prohibited Lee-Enfields, Carcanos and French Rifles from having sound. Eagles Strike Page/Resources Section.
Pacific War - Stock Scenario Update_ Frank has updated the original version of Olankhuduk "Prelude to War" that was included with the stock version of Pacific War. This scenario has been optimized for PBEM and play versus the A/I. P&F-Pacific War Page.
Hobby Enthusiasts_Joe Carvalho is a military hobbyist who specializes in creating diorama's with his line of miniatures & toy soldiers. For those interested you should give his site a look at www.freewebs.com/joesoldiers


July 2004
10 July
Error corrected - Link fixed to new Advance of the Reich BGP scenario.

09 July
Advance of the Reich - Board Game Project Scenario_Frank adds yet another scenario to the AvR arsenal with #21 in the BGP series "Lead Sky, Steel Chariots and Iron Will". 1.Kompanie/373. Infanterie Batallion "Legion Wallonia" attempt to hold off a battalion sized infantry assault of the Soviet 57th Army with armored support. Armor, Infantry and air support from the 100.Jagerdivision are in route. Can you hold?
Advance of the Reich - Scenario Battlepack_. Scenarios 11-20 in the AvR-BGP project have been condensed into one .zip file for download. So if you missed downloading any of these scenarios they are all located in the same package as of today.
New Tactics Article - Artillery_ The tactical series of articles continues as Marc Bellizzi gets into the finer deployment of the "King of Battle" in this months' artillery article.
Tactics Articles_Tactical articles #8 "Obstacles" and #9 "Breaching" are now available for download in the Tactics Article library located on the Mods-Resources page.
Advance of the Reich 2D Vehicle Art_Bill Brockman and Ozgur created a new 2D vehicle Art Mod for Advance of the Reich that looks really good and uses high res color plates for vehicle graphics. This is now on the site for your downloading pleasure. Mods-Resources page.

01 July
Pacific War Scenario_Red Mike has converted Bryan Melvin's Proud and Few scenario "Hey, You Wanna Live Forever!" to Pacific War format. Please read the text of the scenario where in Greg states that he converted this scenario without permission and any inquiries or complaints about said conversion should be directed to him and not Bryan Melvin.
Advance of the Reich scenario update_Ozgur has corrected a few errors in Thomas Wulfes scenario "Dead of Winter". Previously the German trenches and fortifications were Russian owned; only allowing the outgunned Germans only half protection. Playtested by Ozgur and crew, he says it makes for much more of a fight. You need to download it from the following link, because the original version is located in the AvR Scenario Battlepack #3 and I will have to download the battlepack and replace the original files before the next update. download
Advance of the Reich - Board Game Project Scenario_Ozgur hits again with his conversion of ASL scenario 101 "Blocking Action at Lipki". Elements of the 1st Moscow Motorized Rifle Division move to intercept the spearhead elements of Guderian's 18.Panzerdivision.


June 2004
26 June
We are not dead (yet). Wowza-wowza what a summer this has been outside of the wargaming world. Between some domestic issues, tornado season here in Kansas, biting off a little bit more than I can chew this summer at school and staring at the the bottom of a 5th of Bourbon, I have been lucky to even get on this PC to do anything short of type a thesis statement or something of the nature. This is all subject to change very shortly during my hiatus from school until late August.
The people at Pheonix Publishing have been gracious enough to send me a copy Brig. Benjamin Adekunle's war memoirs from the Nigerian-Biafran War that is a wealth of information on  the 3rd Marine Commando Division during that conflict, so meaningless to say the Africa at War scenarios will continue coming in the coming days. If the book sounds interesting to any of you out there you should check out their website at www.blackscorpion.org
Greg Coleman is also pounding away on some scenarios and Ozgur has updated an existing AotR BGP scenario. Also have my hands on a new 2D Vehicle Art Mod for AotR that will go up as soon as I get enough stuff to make opening the FTP program worth while.
So fret not! The goods will continue to come and the updates are soon to become more regular.
Wayward Groundpounder
Frank

April 2004
30 April
Africa at War_Scenario Updates (errors) - I forgot to include a file with The Battle of Kisoro and there was a slight glitch with Modern War, Ancient Curse.  These have been corrected and the new files now replace the old. Thanks to all who pointed this out. Enjoy.

23 April
Update Error! - I accidentally named the latest Africa at War scenario (.zip file for download) incorrectly and to compound the matter, I renamed Ozgur's Vortex #2 scenario to the name of the new Africa scenario. If you're confused, join the club..lol. To simplify the entire situation here it is in a nutshell. If you downloaded the latest Africa scenario (The Battle of Kisoro), you have the wrong scenario files and you need to download it again to have the correct scenario. Sorry about that. Thanks to Greg for catching it.
New Tactics Article _Blockbusting (MOUT) - The in depth coverage of Squad Battles tactics continues. Marc Bellizzi addresses the fine art of Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT).

21 April
It's been a slow month here at TFE4, but we are not dead in the water. Real life has been putting a cease fire on pixel warfare periodically, but we managed to whip up some action for you despite the woes of reality.
Advance of the Reich_Version 1.01 Patch has been released by HPS. This upgrade adds bridge demo, addresses AFV's assaulting infantry in covered terrain and other things. Advance of the Reich 1.01 Patch
Advance of the Reich_BGP Project Scenario_ Ozgur delivers a small urban brawl for Advance of the Reich. "Pavlov's House" has been uploaded to the WWII Europe page.
Africa at War scenario_Scenario One in the hypothetical 1990 SW African Regional War series "The Battle of Kisoro" has been uploaded to the site. The Legion Etranger conducts a combined arms assault coordinated with a Paradrop on the Ugandan town of Kisoro near the Zairian-Rwandan-Ugandan border to prevent Ugandan forces from using the region as a staging area for assaults into neighboring countries.



Volume 8 - 2nd Quarter 2004

01 August 2004 - Site redone for your convenience
As of August 1st you will notice that the site has been rearranged a bit. To make things easier on me and for all of you surfing this place, each game now has it's own page. What this means that is everything that has been done on this end for Advance of the Reich (for example) will be located on the Advance of the Reich page. That includes everything; mods, scenarios, etc.
The only exception to this rule is that the Africa at War mod will still maintain a page separate from it's scenarios. This is being done because it is a large amount of information and putting the two previous pages together gets jumbled and confusing and secondly because it is our crowning achievement thus far here at TFE4. So to all of you regulars it may be a bit confusing at first, but you'll get the hang of it soon enough.
El Commandante.

TFE4 wants your After Action Reports!!
Depending on just how this works out, I am wanting to start up a new section at the site that showcases After Action Reports of scenarios created by the team (that were played versus a human player preferably - but not limited to H2H play) and we need brave volunteers from the wargaming web to step up and show us their AAR finesse. Fans of this site who contribute their AAR's will be rewarded by being granted a scenario request. If AAR's start piling in (which I doubt), they will go on a waiting list to be published on the site. Once published, you will receive the forementioned "reward". Anyone is allowed to submit an AAR.

So in a nutshell, if you play one of our scenarios and submit an AAR you get to choose an action you would like to see made a scenario and you may choose the platform for said scenario. Of course this scenario has to be within reason (the entire Market Garden Operation for example will not fly) and is also dictated by terrain types available (we can not make desert scenarios in Chad for Africa of course).

All AAR's submitted to the site must include the following.
At least 3 pages (print - can be double spaced)
At least 3 images captured from your game (640x480 minimum)
Your AAR and images are then to be compressed into a .zip file and mailed to the team at tfe4@alaska.net

Allow us some time to get your AAR read and is also a possibility it may be put on a waiting list to be published if other AAR's have been submitted. Once your AAR has been posted at the site it will remain for 1 month. There after it will be archived and made available by download only.


Bad News for those waiting for 3D Graphics for Vietnam~Tour of Duty

Unfortunately it appears that the Nam projects are not going to materialize. Wyatt Kappely recently had to leave the team for reasons of being overwhelmed with life responsibilities and the hopes of 3D graphics for Nam and TOD have gone with him. Truth be known, Wyatt's true wargaming love is Talonsofts' Campaign Series (he worked on the Divided Ground crew) and is still committed to projects for that series of games. So yes he will be missed, but he is a great guy who does a lot of after market stuff for the fans of those games.


Good news for Africa fans, maybe. . .

I am looking into making a 3D graphics mod for Africa at War. This will be a side project and involve a lot of time and effort. I will have to do a bit of research work and also quite a bit of leg work finding images suitable for AW. I am also back in school at Washburn University as of the spring semester, so this will all be as time permits given my other obligations ala school, scenario creation and corrections, site maintnance, etc. So my advice to you is not to get your skivvies in a bunch concerning this possibility, but then again do not be surprised if it does pop up somewhere down the road.



Squad Battles Developments in the works?
One thing that fans of John Tiller games and HPS Simulations have always enjoyed (and what keeps many of us faithful to their titles) is not only the level of detail covered by their games, but the amount of influence we (the designers and the fan base) have on  improvements, enhancements and changes to the systems we enjoy playing. During the past month John has been confronted with numerous suggestions that have been brought to a head over time concerning game play the in Squad Battles Series and I am delighted to say that many of the most controversial issues may soon be dealt with accordingly. So, in communication with the chieftain himself, we at Task Force Echo-Four have become aware of and are participating in a few tests that may change the game system in the near future.

The issues that are being addressed and are listed below and covered very generally.... (this does not guarantee that they will happen)

Vehicles assaulting infantry in covered terrain ... the days of taking a PzMkIVH and remorselessly running over squads in covered terrain ala woods, villages, towns and city hexes may have come to an end. Although this may still succeed, the ratio at which it does may be reduced greatly and the chance for the vehicle to become an immobility kill increased dramatically. Also after extensive discussion, the possibilty of having armor crews make a morale check to see if they abandon their vehicle when immobilized has been decided against. Can't win the all. ;-)

Troop Quality Modifier (Optional Rule) ... Much like the Panzer Campaigns Series rule of the same nature, Squad battles may soon offer an optional rule that applies a bonus modifier to troops based on their quality. A troops will receive a 20% bonus to fire, assault and movement rates, B troops may receive a 10% in these aspects and C morale will be used as the base. Troops of lower caliber would suffer penalties starting at -10% for D, -20% for E, and -30% for F morale.

Other issues are also being discussed such as shoulder fired rockets, and others but a few of these will be entirely new features in new games in the series and are currently of the classified nature (as are the games). However, I will enjoy torturing you by saying they are very cool features indeed.



Commandante TF Echo-Four