Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Mr. Petrie (R.E.) is minutes away from losing control of 2C again. The Ascension Day questions started harmlessly enough (“How fast did he go up, Sir?”, “Did he wave to the Apossums?”) . It was only when Angela Jessop opened her mouth that the lesson began to disintegrate. Angela is of the opinion that Daedalus and Icarus were frauds, and Jesus was, technically, the first aviator. Her assertion that the Son of God probably owned an invisible helicopter, is, like all of Angela’s assertions, difficult to dispute. Mr Petrie mumbles something about omnipotence then closes his eyes, surrendering to the growing hubbub. Mentally he’s already at home, a glass of chilled Budvar in his hand, an evening of undisturbed Formula Truck and DCS UH-1H Huey stretching blissfully ahead of him. Read the rest of this entry »

For the last twenty years Eagle Dynamics have been turning complicated contemporary warbirds into complicated contemporary warbird sims. In their latest DCS World add-on, flight is optional and cold start cold sweat highly unlikely. Half real-time wargame, half barebones tank sim, Combined Arms is a game that anyone however dense, work-shy, or prone to airsickness can enjoy. Need proof? Here’s a battle tale from a dense, work-shy, airsickness sufferer. Read the rest of this entry »

Thanks to a pair of heavily patched barrage balloons and an antique ex-Latvian Army Bofors gun, yesterday passed uneventfully in the Flare Path household. Using the derelict abattoir across the valley as cover, Cupid tried one pop-up attack, but a flurry of 40mm fury quickly sent him packing. “The little rascal really needs to work on his tactics” I thought to myself as, back at my desk, I perused correspondence from Eagle Dynamics’ Matt Wagner and KillHouse Games’ Dan Dimitrescu. “Either that or trade-in those arrows for Brimstones.”
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Times are tough in FP’s neck-of-the-woods. If the illegal logging conducted by fuel-poor locals continues, pretty soon there’ll just be a larynx-of-the-woods. Thank heavens high-quality, low-altitude entertainment can still be picked up for the same price as a lungful of fresh air and an eyeful of superior sunset. After rolling with the rather wonderful War Thunder last week, this week I thought I’d get my free firmament thrills courtesy of DCS World’s Su-25T Frogfoot and SAM Simulator’s ZSU-23-4V1 Shilka. Read the rest of this entry »