Arty Antics and Similar Stuff

[Animalmother]

I think there was a mission to destroy that gun in the last Sniper Elite game, you also had to destroy the Ratte in SE3.

[Raid]

I wasn't, although I don't think the concept of a heavy naval gun as a static installation is all that unique - it's the ones that move that I find the most interest in, because there is just absolutely no way they could have developed a powerful-enough drivetrain in resourceless Germany in 1944 even to move the 200-ton Maus (already by-far the heaviest tank ever built, 3 times the weight of a Tiger II), nevermind the 1000-ton Ratte. In fairness, reports of any testing are non-existent as they were presumably destroyed prior to the site being captured so I suppose that one is possible - we do know that it had a diesel generator powering an electric drivetrain. Even if these things could be built, the ease at which they could be countered by aircraft, not to mention a complete inability to transport them (even a 200-ton vehicle couldn't use roads or bridges as they'd never take the weight, so rail would be the only way to do it and you'd better hope there weren't any tunnels on the route) just makes them hilariously silly ideas. A 1000-ton tank would need to drive itself to the frontline, navigating all of the terrain in between.

I think we visited one of the Maginot Line forts in that battlefields tour I mentioned the other day, and they still had the cupolas of one of the guns in place (the gun itself had long since been removed). They certainly weren't of the same scale, but then these forts covered almost the entire French border and they just didn't need a 50km range.

[Wrathbone]

A 1000-ton tank would need to drive itself to the frontline, navigating all of the terrain in between.

I imagine it wouldn't so much drive over terrain as drive through it.

I'm also fascinated by the insanity of these superweapons. There's an almost childlike quality to the idea that the biggest possible vehicle with the biggest possible ordnance somehow equals victory. There's the Freudian angle too, of course, but I can only imagine that Hitler couldn't see a way to win through strategy and so, like a Bond villain, he resorted to trying to win by building something so ridiculous and seemingly indestructible that it would just steamroller over the allies.

I'd love for a team of engineers to try and actually construct the Ratte with 1940s technology to see what happens. Maybe not with operational weapons, but to see if it would even move.

[Maturin]

Even if they could have got it moving and firing, for much of the war Allies could send fighter-bomber raids at will across German front lines. It would be such a massive, slow target for Mosquitoes to get stuck into.

[Raid]

Exactly. Even if the thing had upper armour thick enough to repel bomb blasts, all you'd need to do to stop it is drop a few bombs at the foot of the thing to break the treads - there is no way you'd be able to replace them in the field.

[Wrathbone]

Maybe they could have built the Ratte II, twice as big with a multitude of AA guns on top. Or with a shield generated from the forest moon of Endor.

[Animalmother]

Some great stuff on this channel.

[Mantis]

Didn't get a chance to finish this weekend's due to gigging both days but here's how far I got with Massive. Similar theme.

[Raid]

I feel it'd be worth finishing when you get chance.

Day 30: Rush

Kenya's fly half charges up the field.

[Mantis]

Day 31 Fire

[Sly Boots]

Love it

[Snowy]

Yeah really enjoying these!

[Raid]

I have a concept for my last piece that I'd been planning for a while, but I absolutely didn't have time to do it justice today, so I'm going to take the rest of the week to have a go and see if it works.

We've got a few arty types on the forum it seems, would anyone be interested in doing Inktober 52 with me? One image a week feels far more manageable than one a day, but it's more interesting if there are more people doing it. It's not something I'd want to immediately leap into, but starting within the next few weeks maybe?

[Mantis]

I'd be up for that. Possibly not every week due to other commitments cropping up or just the prompt not being inspiring.

[Raid]

Inktober Day 31: Fire

It seems the baby dragon has grown up, and needs to protect its horde from the droid and the Gnomish knight.



Ehh, probably not my best, it's a bit busy looking. I did actually sketch in the slime knight too... as a puddle on the ground, but he didn't make the final cut as there was already too much going on. I actually had the idea of reusing characters from previous drawings quite early on. I wanted the dragon growing up to be a series (some of the later prompts would have been suitable), but it all came down to time or the lack thereof.

I've been largely happy with what I produced this year; I don't think the lack of time has necessarily resulted in lesser drawings. I hadn't produced anything in months prior to day 1, and I was surprised at how quickly I managed to get back into the flow of things. Things just seemed to click when it came to finding and using reference. I think I achieved what I wanted to; better use of (and more variation in) line weight. Most of what I've drawn was at the very least sketched in my lunch breaks, so most of the work was done in about half an hour, occasionally with the inking or tidying done when I got home. I was going to write a list of ones I really liked, but I ended up putting half of the month down. I suppose my two favourites were Massive (the only project Hitler didn't approve) and Saddle, as I think they were both technically strong. Guilty pleasure of the year goes to Angel, as the concept is so utterly stupid and I ended up silently giggling to myself as I drew it.