Bren LMG / 29 Sept 2007

The Bren gun, the longest in service machine gun in history. Adopted in 1935, it remained in service in to the 90's and remains in service in the reserves today.
It was Lightweight, accurate and effective. It was for many decades the standard section level machine gun in the the UK military.

Package includes:

• 6 animations
• 6 custom sounds
• civilopedia and pediaicons text entries
• standard and alternate icon sets
• and installation instruction

Preview:


Get the files here

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Version 1.1 update.

It includes
A minor fix to the units_32 icon file
A minor fix to the 4 civilopedia icons

And, 5 new animations
AussieLMG_LS_AttackA.flc. an attack with animation with lighter (transparent) smoke
AussieLMG_NS_AttackA.flc, an attack with animation with no smoke
AussieLMG_LS_Fidget.flc, a fidget animation with lighter (transparent) smoke
AussieLMG_NS_Fidget.flc, a fidget animation with no smoke.
AussieLMG_Linger_death.flc, a longer (lingering) death.


Light smoke attack & fidget shown along with the lingering death. The smoke free ones are the same except for the lack of smoke.
Get the patch only here

The link above to the main files has been updated to include the patch, so the patch is only needed if you downloaded it before I posted the update.

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Version 1.2 update.

A fix to all animations (re-centered, better civ color, some animations re-timed) Including those added by the V1.1 patch.
Re-did the units32 icon to not be so bright. Fiddled with a few detail items as well.

Great unit. You did a great job on the "hit the dirt" animation. Love his mighty cigar too, he could set up a smoke screen with that thing.

Smoking is baad, mmm'kay.
But this unit ain't

Nice unit, very very nice unit. The only quibble I have is that the smoke looks a little fake. Maybe it's just the preview. Not sure if it's ever possible to get real looking smoke, so I'll shut up now

Very good unit. I have to use it in my mod... But where??

Wow...nicely animated unit...very unique...

Thanks guys, I was kinda wondering if this unit would go over well or not. It is different. He has to fire prone. So that is his fortify animation. Similarly he has to stand back up, which is victory or death. The rest was most for fun and to challenge myself.

And, yeah smoking is bad. But this fella ain't too concerned about being nice. He cusses a little when he gets bored (fidget animation sound)... he smokes. He probably drinks and chases broads too, but lucky for us that didn't fit in the unit animations.

Miles Teg,
the problem with the smoke is the limited palette you have to work with. It is actually particle based smoke made up of nearly 400 seperate objects Was a bit of a booger to get to animate and renders took a while. It looks slightly less fake in game. The magenta background is not nice to stuff like that. Also, that is just the fidget animation. If you do not like it, you can remove it from the ini. The unit works with out it, although I think it adds some character to the little fella.

Bjorn, Absolutely wonderful unit. I'm very impressed that you pulled off the attack from the prone position. Great job!

"It's me bren gun. . ."

Awsome job I am speachless. You have raised the bar for unit creators in making this unit.

A must have.

Wow, that is a superb unit! This guy is more than a flavour unit -- he's a unit with his own flavour! I didn't know the Bren was the longest serving MG in the world, I thought maybe the MG42 had that honour (but I don't know these sorts of things). I do know that when I play Axis & Allies Minatures, I hate them dang Bren gunners, because if they get the jump on you, their fire suppresses yours and you can't shoot back at them! Argh!

Although, what's that line of smoke coming out of the barrel straight up into the sky?

Brilliant unit! Any idea's as to if this fella'd fit for India or Indonesia or some such ?

Awesome unit Bjorn!!

It makes a great commonwealth equivalent to the US and German HMGs already out there.

[EDIT]: plus the prone position is a nice innovation. I don't know of any other units out there that fight prone.

Thanks for all the wonderful comments guys.


Yes it was the longest serving "main" army machine gun. In use for 60 years, and still in limited use today.

The bren gun was used by all of the British empire, including India and in Indonesia. It was used by the chinese to fight the japanese and then by the chinese and north korean to fight the UN forces in the Korean war. It was used extensively by several groups (including the english) in Africa during the '60s.

It had a goofy range of 600meters. The orignal complaint was it was too accurate and the gunners had a hard time spraying bullets around as they tended to put multiple shots into a single target.

It is also one of the very few truely effective machine guns which did not require a gun crew, only a gunner.

Mithadan said:

Although, what's that line of smoke coming out of the barrel straight up into the sky?

Click to expand...

The line of smoke rising from the barrel after he stops with his burst of fire is because I found a clip of one shooting and it had a little smoke rolling off the barrel, so I added it too. In fact that is the reason I went and gave him a cigar and had him smoking and stuff while he was bored. I figured if I have to solve the "how to make smoke" thingy, I might as well use it twice. Plus I liked giving him some more character.

If the barrel venting a little smoke at the end of the firing bugs you, lemme know and I will release a version with the smoke deleted.

Gary Childress said:

the prone position is a nice innovation. I don't know of any other units out there that fight prone.

Click to expand...

Having done it, I have a pretty good idea why so few do it. My prone was made a touch more complex by the fact that the Bren gun has a carry handle and is not carried in a ready to fire position. I solved that and the repositioning of the gun by having a 2nd invisible guy which I parented the gun to. I moved this fella around insync to the main (visible) guy. Allowed me to more easily switch from firing position to carry position, and so on.

Hey Bjornlo, you managed that Attack Firing Position very well. Very good body movements to and from that position. Looks Natural...Love the Attack Flash and Details...Great Death too

Vuldacon said:

Hey Bjornlo, you managed that Attack Firing Position very well. Very good body movements to and from that position. Looks Natural...Love the Attack Flash and Details...Great Death too

Click to expand...

I cheated on the movements. I spent the first few years in the USMC as a m-60 gunner. So I acted them out a few times from memory, and then mimic'ed that in the unit.

Thanks for the comments. If you find any flaws, lemme know so I can get 'em fixed.

Having done it, I have a pretty good idea why so few do it. My prone was made a touch more complex by the fact that the Bren gun has a carry handle and is not carried in a ready to fire position. I solved that and the repositioning of the gun by having a 2nd invisible guy which I parented the gun to. I moved this fella around insync to the main (visible) guy. Allowed me to more easily switch from firing position to carry position, and so on.

Click to expand...

That is a Novel way to handle this complicated animation...I am impressed

I cheated on the movements. I spent the first few years in the USMC as a m-60 gunner. So I acted them out a few times from memory, and then mimic'ed that in the unit.

Click to expand...

Well it is excellent and you certainly made the animation Believable. I am sure this unit will be used in many Games.

Ooh! Very nice. Especially the bloody death. You don't get too many of those.

This is awesome, Bjorn! Many thanks, your units are always top quality!