Battlegroup42 1.7: Armoured Cars and Hungarian Tanks news

Our modeller Kraetzer, who has already produced some fantastic models has done it again and created two brand new models and skins. The first one is already well known by Battlegroup42 fans: the heavy armored reconnaissance vehicle SdKfz 234/2, also known as "Puma". Although our old model wasn't too bad we were now able to replace it with a more detailed and better textured model. The "Puma" was an improved design based on the older eight-wheeled armored cars. With its 50mm cannon it was one of the most heavily armed scout vehicles of World War II. This weapon was only meant for self-defence since the Puma was far too weakly armoured for offensive operations. About 100 examples were produced in 1944 and evenly distributed to the reconnaissance units on the Eastern and Western Front.

The second model resembles a fairly unknown French vehicle: the AMC Schneider P16. It was armed with a short 37mm gun and was ordered by the French Army in 1930 to serve as a reconnaissance and light fire support vehicle. In the 1930's they were mostly used for training purposes and were supposed to be replaced by new light tanks like the Hotchkiss H35 in 1939/1940. However, at the time of the German attack on France several dozen of these half-tracks were still in active use. Although obsolete and worn out due to their long service they proved to be quite useful in combat. In Battlegroup42 the P16 will be fighting alongside the French battle tank Char B1 bis.

Both models were coded by Sarge31FR. The Puma has a second player position with a full traverse telescope which can be used to call in arty support or lay down a smoke screen.

In the third and final part of this news we'll tell you something about the earlier mentioned cooperation. As of now we're working together with the team of the Battlefield mod "Hungarian Front" (HF) which asked us for support in creating a stand-alone Hungarian Front mod which will run with FH 0.7 without the need for FHSW and for mapping support. We gladly agreed to that suggestion since the active BF42 modding scene has become somewhat smaller, making solidarity a must. In return for our help we are allowed to use all content from HF, including vehicles, planes, hand weapons and even radio commands in Hungarian language. So look forward to new toys on old maps with Hungarian troops and two brand new maps which resemble Hungarian army actions in the years 1941 and 1943.

That's all for now from the Battlegroup42 team. As usual we'd like to point out that we're always on the lookout for new team members who want to contribute content to the mod. Just visit our forum on www.battlegroup42.de - you'll find more news there shortly ! So stay tuned !