.:Ansaldo Magrini Mangiapan:.

It's been quite awhile since I posted any new D-day news, that doesn't mean I've been sitting idle tho. I have lots of new (& old but unreleased) content to post, which I plan to start churning out on a weekly basis. To start things off tho here is a little known WW1 tank for the Italians.

Ansaldo Magrini Mangiapan




The Ansaldo Magrini Mangiapan was designed in 1916 by major Magrini as a "mobile fort" and was one of Italy's first tank designs. It featured multiple sets of tracks to help it traverse the crater filled battlefields of no-man's land. To power these tracks there were four 200hp engines in the centre of the tank which then drove two electric motors at the front and back, propelling this massive 70t vehicle to an estimated 20 km/h. It also unusually for that era featured two rotating turrets equipped with 76mm (some sources state 75mm or 105mm) cannons, as well as having multiple machine guns fitted around the hull. The design was approved by the direzione generale del regio esercito but was cancelled soon after because of the high cost and feasibility of such a complex design. Instead interest moved to the Fiat 2000 and purchasing tanks from France and Britain.

Posted February 25, 2017 by Mig Eater

.:Girls und Panzer units:.

The tanks of Ooarai Girls High School storm into D-day with a new set of units from the hit anime series Girls und Panzer. These rare units can only be obtained by collecting the bonus crates that randomly appear on the battlefield. So hunt them down & take out your enemies in style!
 

















For those who are not familiar with Girls und Panzer here is the official trailer.

Posted May 28, 2016 by Mig Eater

.:Chi-Ri Tanks:.

Moving back to Japan, here are four variants of the Type 5 Chi-Ri, their last & largest tank of WW2.


Click of the unit names to visit their D-day wiki page for more information & pictures.


Type 5 Chi-Ri (Plan 1)



With the threat of invasion looming in 1945 the Japanese started work on the Type 5 Chi-Ri, a tank that could defeat anything the Americans world throw at them. However with limited time and resources it was decided to split the Chi-Ri project into two variants. Plan 1 would using the best of the current tank technology in order to start production as soon as possible and Plan 2 would instead explored a new experimental design. Soon after it was decided that Plan 1 would be dropped and work would concentrate on the Plan 2 design.


Type 5 Chi-Ri



Japan's last and greatest tank design of the war. The Type 5 Chi-Ri was an experimental design fitted with a 75mm cannon and a new belt fed auto loading system, which would have given the Chi-Ri the ability to fire a shell every 2 seconds! To deal with such a high rate of fire the gun was placed in large turret which could also store 100 rounds of ammunition. An incomplete prototype was captured by the Americans after the war and taken back to America but sadly all trace of it was then lost.


Note:
It has been a long held belief that the Chi-Ri was planed to be fitted with a 88mm cannon but no mention of this can be found in Japanese documents. It is believed to be a presumption made by the Americans forces who captured it and has since been repeated in English history books.


Type 5 Chi-Ri (TRI)



During the development of the Type 5 Chi-Ri several different experimental wheel and suspension designs where proposed. In the end it was decided to use the same suspension used on previous designs to cut down on development time. The one seen here was designed by the Technical Research Institute, known as the Chidori suspension it used eight interwoven road wheels supported by torsion bars in a similar manner to German Panther and Tiger tanks.


Type 5 Chi-Ri (MHI)



During the development of the Type 5 Chi-Ri several different experimental wheel and suspension designs where proposed. In the end it was decided to use the same suspension used on previous designs to cut down on development time. The one seen here was designed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, known as the Bugatti suspension it used six large road wheels paired to three coil springs.

Posted November 10, 2015 by Mig Eater

.:Ke-Ni & Ke-Ho Variants:.

Continuing from the Type 95 Ha-Go based vehicles seen in the last news post. This news post shows some of the vehicles designed to replace it as the as the war in the pacific intensified. Because of the destruction of Japan's industrial capabilities it wasn't possible to put any of them into mass production & the Ha-Go was left to fight with ever decreasing effectiveness until the end of the war.

Type 98B Ke-Ni Otsu

At the same time Hino Motors were developing the Type 98 Ke-Ni Mitsubishi started work an alternative design using four large road wheels attached to coil springs in a similar layout to the Christie suspension system used by the Russians and British. During testing Hino Motor's Ke-Ni with Bell crank suspension proved to be superior and work on the Ke-Ni Otsu was stopped.

Type 98 Ke-Ni Kai

A proposed upgrade of Type 98 Ke-Ni changing the turret for the one used on the Type 97 Chi-Ha "Shinhoto". This design didn't leave the drawing board and remained only a proposal. This design is often mistaken as an early or alternative version of the Type 5 Ke-Ho but they are separate projects.

Type 2 Ke-To

The Type 2 Ke-To was an upgrade of the Type 98 Ke-Ni, replacing the turret with a new taller version & changing the main cannon from a Type 100 37mm to the newer Type 1 37mm. Even thought it was originally designed in 1941 production didn't start until 1944, only 29 were eventually built before the end of the war and none where used in combat.

Type 5 Ke-Ho

With the failure of the Type 98 Ke-Ni to fully replace the aging Type 95 Ha-Go work started in 1942 on a completely new light tank design to counter the growing allied threat. At the time there was more interest in developing new medium tanks, the navy also had priority for steel so the project was put on hold. By 1945 the Ha-Go was now gravely obsolete and suffering heavy losses, with no available replacement production of the Ke-Ho was finally authorized. With japans industrial infrastructure destroyed and severe shortages of materials it was impossible to start mass production though. It is believed that a single prototype was completed before the end of the war but no photographic evidence has been found.

Type 5 Ku-Se

The Ku-Se was a proposal to modify the Type 5 Ke-Ho by removing the turret and replacing it with a fixed structure equip with a 75mm Type 99 gun, creating a fast and agile light support vehicle. The war ended before a prototype of the Ke-Ho and in turn the Ku-Se was completed.

Posted April 2, 2015 by Mig Eater

.:D-day v3.7 beta release:.

It's June 6th, D-day!

This year marks the 69th anniversary of the Allied landings in Normandy, it's also the 11th year that D-day has been in development. But more importantly it's the 1st anniversary of D-day's public release. To celebrate all these anniversaries I'm proud to announce the release of version 3.7 of D-day.
 

The last year has seen a lot of work done to D-day, many bugs have been fixed, improvements to the game play, updated graphics & over 100 new units!

The main addition to v3.7 is the inclusion of Hungary as a new playable country, with 47 new buildings & units, most of which have never been seen in a WW2 game, or even mod before.

America has also been split into two sub faction, the Army & Marine Corps. Playing as the Army gives you units most commonly seen in the European theater, choosing the Marine Corps though lets you play using units from the Pacific war.

There are also four new maps to play on all of which are based on real life locations:

First is the map of Berlin which has gone through several iterations over the last decade, each one more detailed & accurate then the last. This one being the first to reach a playable state, it is however still a work in progress & is missing a few things, which will be added in the next beta.







Staying in Europe the second map is based on Arnhem which most will know from Operation Market Garden, where British paratroops held the bridge single handily against German forces for over a week!



Next is the first Pacific themed map to be added to D-day, Wake Island. This tiny spot of land in the middle of the Pacific Ocean was attacked just after the bombing of Pearl Harbour & after two weeks of fighting fell to Japanese forces.



Lastly is D-day's first desert map the Suez Canal. Even though no fighting ever took place around this vital water way it was one of Erwin Rommels main objectives during the North Africa campaign. The British managed to stop him though & then go on to defeat the German forces in Africa.



Unfortunately there are a few things that didnt make it into this beta too:
 
Naval warfare is still a work in progress & isn't included in this release, several sides are still missing the ships needed for all sides to be balanced.

Superweapons are also still not available, The majority of the code is done but they still require a lot more artwork before they are finished.

The capture point system that I recently posted about isn't complete either, it will take some more time to code all the AI scripts necessary to make them use the cap points efficiently.

Posted June 6, 2013 by Mig Eater