“Raging Eagles” Campaign out now!

Now it has been finished, “The Raging Eagles”, a semi-historical, 104-mission campaign, where you are a Japanese Fighter Pilot, all the way from the so called China Incident in 1938, through the different phases of the Pacific War, up to the bitter end over Japan and Manchuria in 1945.

I should have posted this earlier, but I’ve lost my password to WordPress – silly me!

Anyway: this 104-mission campaign (yes, one hundred and four!) starts in 1938 and goes on all the way to the end of the Pacific war in August 1945.

When the Campaign starts in 1938 you are a Japanese Army Fighter Pilot, just about to graduate from Flight School, and who is then sent over to the Fighting in China. After that follows the following campaign segments: the Nomonhan Incident 1939 (fighting the Russians), Back to China 1940 (mini-campaign), Singapore late 1941 (the Pacific War starts), Java early 1942 , Burma early 1943, New Guinea summer 1943, Home Defense against the B-29’s over Japan early 1944, Battle for the Philippines late 1944, Home Defense of Japan summer 1945 and finally facing the Soviet Invasion of Machuria in August 1945.

You will go from meeting enemies that are easily overcome, to running into more and more stiff opposition, until you finally have to fight just to stay alive, against odds that are slowly getting worse and worse – just like it was for the JAAF pilots. Especially in the later years, many times if you just make it back to the base in one piece, it will be treated as a successful mission. But note: you are never without a chance. Right up to the end, the JAAF had quite a bite.

You get to fly ALL the JAAF aircraft in IL-2 1946, and then some! These are the one you will use: Ki-27-Ko, Ki-27-Otsu, Ki-43-Ia, Ki-43-Ib, Ki-43-II, Ki-61-Ko, Ki-61-Otsu, Ki-84-Ia, Ki-84-Ib, Ki-100 AND the Ki-200 (the japanese version of the German rocket fighter Me-163). And you also get to fly a captured P-40E in a mission (yes, the JAAF used captured P-40’s operationally.)

You can download it from mission4today!

Singapore Campaign finished!

So, now I have finally finished the Singapore Sub-Campaign, spanning from the start of the Pacific War, in December 1941 until the capitualtion of Singapore in mid-february 1942. It has taken pretty long time, as I wanted to get all the historical facts right, at the same time that I had to do some geographical cheating in order to encompass the whole campaign in that single Singapore Map.

Here you can see some pics, two from the just completed Singapore Sub-Campaign, and one (the one at the top) from the Palembang Sub-Campaign, that takes place immdeiately after the fall of Singapore.

Raging Eagles – Update 1

The work on this super-JAAF-campaign is moving along.

The sub-campaigns left to complete are:

• Malaya-Singapore 1941-42
• Home Defense Summer 1945

The rest have been finished!

A change have been made, however. I have decided to skip the Okinawa sub-campaign, simply because of historical facts. When the battle for the Island started, the Japanses had evacuated the airfields on these islands, and destroyed them. There were no Japanese aircraft operating from them during the Battle. They were insteda flying from bases in Japan proper.

Possibly I will make a mini-campaign, showing the situation prior to the battle, with JAAF aircraft skirmishing with USN Carrier aircraft during sea patrols.

Work in Progress: “Raging Eagles”

I have now started working on a BIG JAAF campaign, encompassing the entire war. You start out as a young fighter pilot in the Japanese Army Air Force, and if you survive you will eventually participate in all its major campaigns, from the China Incident in 1938, until the final fight against the Russian invaders of Manchuria in 1945. The final campaign will consist of some 90+ missions.

You will get a chance to fly ALL the flyable JAAF aircraft in the game, and most of the variants, that is:

• The Ki-27
• The Ki-43
• The Ki-61
• The Ki-84
• The Ki-100

In addition to this, you will also get to fly single missions in these aircraft:

• The Ki-200 (The JAAF copy of the Me-163 rocket interceptor)
• The P-40 (Captured P-40’s were actually used in combat by the JAAF)

And perhaps some more.

The idea comes from the fact that I have already made a number of JAAF campaigns, and my aim is to link them together, making new sub-campaigns. Also, the sub-campaigns will be tied together using small ntrk-films. (Yes, I’ve learnt to do these. It takes time but it’s worth it, as it makes the jumps between the sub-campaigns much more logical.)

It will consist of the following sub-campaigns:

• Flight School, Early 1938 (Ki-27) √
• China, Late 1938 (Ki-27) √
• Nomonhan Incident, Early Summer 1939 (Ki-27) √
• China, 1940 (Ki-27) ≈
• Singapore, December 1941 (Ki-43) −
• Java, Early 1942 (Ki-43) √
• Burma, Spring 1943 (Ki-43) √
• New Guinea, Late 1943 (Ki-61) ≈
• Home Defence, Summer 1944 (Ki-61) √
• Philippines, Autumn 1944 (Ki-84) ≈
• Okinawa, Spring 1945 (Ki-84) −
• Home Defence, Summer 1945 (Ki-100) −
• Manchuria, August 1945 (Ki-84) √

The symbols at the end of each line have the following meanings: √ = Completed Sub-Campaign, ≈ = Work in Progress, − = No Job done on this one, yet.

“Raging Eagles” will also come with a large number of skins, both skins for the Players aircraft, but also other aircraft, not least so called “Skin hacks” that enable you to use aircraft types that are not present in the game as such, for instance the Ki-44 Shoki. And, yes, I will even include som Japanese Pilot skins.

Because of the large number of missions, filmtracks andd skins, I am now looking into the possibility of packing the camapign with an installer, to take the pain out of installing it.

Right now I am working on the Philippines 1944 Campaign, more specifically a mission when you are ordered to attack the US Navy off Leyte. The problem is the large volume of FLAK thrown up by a large group of warships, lagging the computer quite a bit.

So, there you have it!

When will “Raging Eagle”be ready? I hope to complete it during the aututmn, but who can tell really. The Philippines Campaign is coming on smoothely, anyway.

Hayabusas over Burma – Beta version!

There was quite some time since I posted anything here, but I’ve been busy moving house, AND working on this new campaign: “Hayabusas over Burma, 1943”.

This is a semi-historical, 23-mission campaign, set to start in the middle of February 1943, about the time when the Allies launched the so called First Chindit Offensive, striking in a guerilla-like manner across the Chindwin river, through the jungle, to the Irrawaddy, deep into the Japanese rear. The campaign ends with the coming of the monsoon season in May, which put an end to all serious fighting. You are Japanese Fighter Pilot in Sentai 64, 3rd Chutai.

This period in 1943 is actually quite interesting if you want to fly the Hayabusa. The Ki-43-II is better armed than the earlier variant, but still very nimble. And it is still pretty evenly matched to the Allied fighters employed here (mainly the Hurricane and the P-40). This changed later in 1943, when the Allies numerical strength increased, at the same time that new fighters, quite superior to the Haybusa (the P-51, the Spitfire, the P-38) was introduced in Burma as well. (Burma had for a long time been treated as a secondary front by the Allied High Command, and for a long period of time had second priority when it came to modern equipment.)

Most missions come in several configurations, giving the Campaign a small random element. (Even if you replay it, you will never be exactly sure what will happen.) And all Fighters Patrols do not result in enemy contact – as in real life. But in that case, if you just make it back to the base in one piece, it will be treated as a successful mission – again as in real life.

It includes five great skins by Macwan, Imme, Upmedia and Martinek/Archie.

The beta version can be found here. All kinds of feedback is welcomed!

Tough…

Me being used to those late-thirties Fighters, is having some problems adjusting to the fast, heavy fighters of the later years of WW2. I find myself either crashing or getting shot down all the time. And it makes me wonder. are the missions too tough, or am I not good enough? I wonder…

I have finished 6 missions of the Hien over New Guinea Campaign now, and actually made it through them once – but then I was a bit lucky. And I haven’t even sstarted to meet the P-38, not to mention the P-47.

Work in Progress: Hiens over New Guinea

 

 

I have now started working on Campaign, where you are a Japanese Fighter pilot, flying the brand new Kawasaki Ki-61 “Hien”. It is late spring 1943, and the Battle for New Guinea rages. A year ago Japanese forces were on the offensive, pushing southwards on the Kokoda Trail, towards Port Moresby. Now the plans the take Port Moresby (and thereby threaten Australia directly) have been more or less shelved. Japan is instead fighting a defensive battle, trying to hold the Allies back. Last December they lost control over Buna, after a long and hard-fought battle. Now the front lines are in front of Salamua, Japans southermost base on New Guinea. If they can hold on the Salamua, and stop the offensive of the Allies, Japan could perhaps regain the initiative again. If they lose, Japan will eventually be pushed out of New Guinea.

The Ki-61 Hien is a fun, powerful, very “un-japanese” fighter aircraft. It didnt have a radial engine like all other Jap Fighters, but instead a Kawasaki V12 liquid cooled in-line engine. (It was a license-built version of an engine the Germans were using in their highly successful Bf109.) It was the first JAAF fighter NOT optimized for maneuverability, but instead designed for speed, and power.

The Hien had a maximum speed of no less than 580 km/h, which meant that the Allied Fighter pilots got quite a chock when they attempted their old tactic, i.e. to make a fast pass and then dive away – that worked fine on the Ki-43. Also: the Hien had self-sealing fuel tanks, real armor protection and plus heavy armament: four 12.7mm Ho-103 machine guns, with 200 rounds each.

Now the snag. The big problem with the IL2 New Guinea map , is that it’s only useful if you want to recreate the air war of 1942 – and then it’s of course perfect! But it can’t be used for 1943. This is simply because that after Buna was finally taken, after a hard and bitter fight in late december 1942, the closests Japanese airfields lay at Salamaua and Lae, on the coast due north of Buna, and – annoyingly enough – JUUUST off the edge of the map. (And there the war stood still practically during the whole summer of 1943, again with the Allies attacking the heavily dug-in Japanese. It was a re-run of the Buna battles.)

The solution to this is another in-your-head map tweak, a bit of the old “suspension-of-disbelief”, but actually not too much.

So: in this Campaign the New Guinea map still represents New Guinea. But the Milne Bay complex – Gurney, Turnbull, No.2 Strip – is here set to represent the Buna complex (both of them containing a lot of airfields) with *Wedau* standing in for Salamaua.

Hence the general situation of the summer of 1943 is the same: a fortified Japanese airbase to the north, with an active front close by and a whole cluster of Allied airstrips to the south; an inland covered with jungles and mountains; most of the action going on up and and down the coast in a south-north axis or – very important – over the sea. (Remember, of the 1308 sorties the JAAF flew in New Guinea in July 1943, 494 were convoy escort missions.) And the big islands to the northeast standing in for New Georgia.

China Incident Campaign ready now!

Now, thanks to all the support given from this Forum, it is available: THE CHINA INCIDENT, a semi-historical, 19-mission campaign, set during the autumn of 1938. You are Japanese Fighter Pilot flying the Ki-27 Ko.

At that time the Japanese incursions in China had escalated to full-scale war. The actions of the campaign take place on the Hankow front, on the central coastal areas in China.

Quiote a lot has changed since the Beta version: more missions, more skins, more random elements: most missions come in several configurations, giving the Campaign a small random element. (Even if you replay it, you will never be exactly sure what will happen.) And all Fighters Patrols do not result in enemy contact – as in real life. But in that case, if you just make it back to the base in one piece, it will be treated as a successful mission – again as in real life.

The Campaign now comes with 11 skins, mostly for Chinese aircraft of different types, includibg the Gladiator I, the He-111, the I-16, the I-153, the SB-2, the TB-3 and the C-47.

SPECIAL THANKS to Graf1119 (Sentai 77 Ki-27 Ko) and Macwan (CNAF C-47) who volunteered to do custom skins for this Campaign!!!

You can find it here!

“The China Incident” – Beta version ready now!

My Campaign “The China Incident” is now out, in a beta version. In it you are a Ki-27 Ko pilot flying in China in 1938 for Sentai 77 (the first one to use the “Nate” in combat), facing chinese Gladiators, I-153’s, SB-2’s, Curtiss Hawk, and others.

This is a Beta version, and if anyone like to help me by testing it, I would ever so happy! It contains skins for four planes (Gladiator I, I-153, SB-2 and Hawk 75 A-4), made by Imme, Bobsqueek, Sparky and Vongraz. And more are hopefully under way.

I have used the Manchuria Map as a stand-in for the area between Nanking and Hankow, being a pretty good look-alike, actually, both with the chinese topography & architecture, but also the relative positions of some major cities and major rivers. Althought this is a standard static campaign, all missions comes in several variants, allowing for a small random element.

Get it here:

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Skins for this Campaign

I started working on this campaign in earnest when I was surprised to see that there were a number of skins for the Chinese Airforce (Kuomintang), in specific the Gloster Gladiator, The I-153 and the SB-2. (I think that the skinners are a most important group when it comes to IL-2: their wprk is often outstanding, and very inspirational!)

I soon got help at the IL2 Official Forum to find more, and when I asked if there were Sentai 77 skins for the Ki-27 Ko, and any Chinese skins for the C47, two persons very generously volunteered to do such skins: Macwan and Graf1119. Amazingly helpful!

Below you can see samples of their beutiful work. Both will release them as part of skinpacks.