Hello and welcome back to another Forgotten Hope 2 update.

Before we begin today, December has come round yet again and that means that ModDB are running their Mod of the Year competition yet again.

Today we are showing off some of the new improved quality sights that you will find in tanks, stationary guns and other vehicles in the upcoming update.

In total, more than 90 different vehicles and variants have been upgraded with more than 60 different sights for the British, Canadian, American, Soviet, German, Italian and Finnish factions, according to historical references, documentation and real material. Each nation reflected its adoption, priorities, and approach to the armoured combat in a different way. During the course of the Second World War the telescopic sights used went from simpler configurations to more complex ones conditioned by the increase in variety of ammunition types and the changes in calibre.

Top left: TZF 3A - SdKfz 222; top right: TZF 5F - PzKpfw IV Ausf. G; bottom left: TZF 9D - PzKpfw VI Ausf. B; bottom right: Cannocchiale Panoramico Tipo 1 Mont - Cannone da 47/32 M35

The superiority in the complexity and quality of the German "Zeiss" sights marked and conditioned many confrontations. For example, in the North African campaign the British with more obstructive crosshairs and lower magnification compared to the German "triangle" were at a clear disadvantage against the Germans in long range engagements. As the conflict progressed, the Allies captured and studied German sights and realized they would need to improve the quality of their lenses to overcome this "optic-crisis".

Top left: No.39 Mk.II - Churchill III; top right: No.43x3 L Mk.I - Sherman VC "Firefly"; bottom left: TMD-1 - T-70; bottom right: M70D - M5A1 Light Tank

It was not until 1944 that the first American "M71D" and "M71G" sights with 5x magnification started to equip the M4 medium tanks. The soviets had also improved their own with the "TSh-series" of the T-34-85 and IS-1, with more magnification and glass quality that imitated the sophisticated German "TurmZielFernrohrs".

Left: DT ironsights - T-34 model 1941; right: M6 Periscope - M4A3E2 Assault Tank "Jumbo"

Additionally, we have extended this change to the various ball mounted secondary machineguns on our tanks. The DT on most Soviet vehicles now is aimed over open ironsights, US vehicles are aimed purely by tracers through the operator's periscope, and you will be able to see the clever use of backup main gun telescopes by British hull machineguns. These changes have been made by the hard work of Seth Soldier, with the necessary research undertaken by Guarnere and Radiosmersh. You can see a full list of the sights that have been changed here.

That's all for today, but be sure to come back next time. Until then, feel free to visit our Discord, our public forums, our Twitter, our subreddit, and/or Facebook pages to discuss this update and other news.

Hello and welcome back to another Forgotten Hope 2 update.

Today we are showing off a grenade that will be replacing the RGD-33 in our later war maps, the RG-42.

The Soviet Union entered the war with the RGD-33 as their offensive grenade, but it quickly became clear that its complicated design meant that sufficient numbers were difficult to produce. The short lived RG-41 designed by N. P. Belyakov was the first attempt at a replacement, and was considered to be reasonably successful. Within a year the RG-42 designed by S. G. Korshunov had replaced it, with the main innovation being the switch to the UZRG fuse that was shared with the F1 defensive grenade. The RG-42 was easy to make and would be produced up until it was replaced in the 50s. Ours was made by Ashton and RedRogueXIII.

That's all for this week, but be sure to come back next time for another update. Until then, feel free to visit our Discord, our public forums, our Twitter, our subreddit, and/or Facebook pages to discuss this update and other news.

Hello and welcome back to another Forgotten Hope 2 update.

Today we are showing off a new rifle grenade for the K98k, and also using this opportunity to fill another blank in our set of renders.

The Gewehr-Granatpatrone 40 was a rifle grenade developed to give the Fallschirmjäger a light and portable anti-tank weapon. The design request went out in 1940, but the first grenades did not reach the field until the 1941 invasion of Crete. The GGP40 was found to be short ranged, inaccurate and not very powerful, and while plans to improve it were drawn up by 1942 the army had a much better alternative. The GGP40 was fired with a wooden bullet and launched from a spigot attached to the end of the rifle. This meant it was incompatible with the army's later Schiessbecher 30mm cup based system. Our GGP40 was made by Seth Soldier.

That's all for this week, but be sure to come back next time for another update. Until then, feel free to visit our Discord, our public forums, our Twitter, our subreddit, and/or Facebook pages to discuss this update and other news.

Hello and welcome back to another Forgotten Hope 2 update.

We have a rather unusual and little known variant of the MG34 to show off today, the MG34/41.

The MG34 was a very capable general purpose machinegun and had proved itself in the opening years of the war, however there was always room for improvements. The MG34/41 was one of these experiments, with a number of changes made to the internal components with more use of stampings, as well as most visibly obvious a barrel that was shortened by about 9.5 cm. Perhaps the most significant change though was to the recoil and buffer springs, which resulted in a rate of fire close to 1200 rpm. However, despite its compact size it was only barely lighter than the MG34.

The MG34/41 was produced only in very limited numbers. Around 1700 were made in 1941 and primarily shipped to several Jäger units on the Eastern Front for testing. Several would also turn up in the hands of Fallschirmjägers in Tunisia. The weapon was not overly successful since the high rate of fire caused significant stress on the internal components. Ours was modified by Seth Soldier from our original MG34 that was made by Master Minder, Subbo, Razer and McGibs.

That's all for this week, but be sure to come back next time for another update. Until then, feel free to visit our Discord, our public forums, our Twitter, our subreddit, and/or Facebook pages to discuss this update and other news.