Update I: Armored Anti Tree Task Force
Alright let's get this going, welcome to the first update of this LP in which we are going to play Theatre of War 2: Kursk, It may say Battle for Caen up there, but ignore that since is only there from the installed expansion.
First up faction selection, by popular demand we shall play as Das Reich.
Alright after the intro cinematic comes our first mission briefing, in this mission we are to break through the Soviet defenses at Cherkaskoe, they are heavily dug in so this will be no easy feat.
Before we start the mission we get the chance to configure our forces for this mission, I chose the default setup for this one. There is a limited number of available vehicles of any given type through out the missions, so for example if we lose all our Anti aircraft guns in one missions and we need them later, well though luck! This also means that capturing enemy equipment can be very useful.
We are also able to directly configure our tank crews as such, for example we could take that very experienced crew from a Panzer III and asign them to a new Panzer VI to maximize its effectiveness, but were not doing anything of that right now.
Yay loading screen!
Alright, we are now ready to deploy our forces before the battle begins!
Overview map, here you can see our forces, you might not be able to make out what model every vehicle is but you can get a rough understanding of the strenght of our force. The enemy is supposed to have upwards of a battalion guarding this area so this won't be easy.
Further the enemy is well dug in, you can see an anti tank ditch here, this is going to make an assault quite challenging
To further complicate matters extensive trenches have been dug as well, how well guarded these are by the enemy we do not know, but we do know that Bolshevist scum shall break before us!
An overview of the area ahead, we can see the ditch in the middle of the valley and can see that the enemy is dug in, however we can not see their forces from here.For this mission we have air support and artillery support available, excellent this will aid greatly in overcoming the Bolshevists defenses, not that it is needed of course for the superior Aryan forces.
It may look like and APC, but it comes equipped with a mortar, mechanized mortar team excellent.
The mortars start firing upon the closest enemy position guarding the crossing, we have no idea what hides there but whatever it is softening it up a bit doesn't hurt!
The first vehicle to come to the top of the hill is one of our STuGs, the enemy open fire with at least one anti tank gun. We can hit them from were we are and frontal penetration is somewhat unlikely at this range so we have the advantage.
Through out the battle we can see the battle statistics, showing losses for both sides as well as any captured materials.Perhaps a bit gamey that we can see enemy losses so easily but it's not a huge flaw, and one doesn't have to look at it if one doesn't want so it's not a problem.
Here are our orders for this mission, our first objective is to capture the closest enemy position defending the trench.
The brackets around the unit ( an infantry man in this case) means that the unit can be heard however it is not seen. How we can hear them from this range is a bit puzzling, but I suppose that whatever Bolshevists do is rather loud.
With fire from our mortars/tanks/assault guns suppressing the enemy we begin the charge!
One ATG is spotted at the closest position
The Panzer V "Panther" here makes short work of it with a direct hit, take that Bolshevist scum!
However fire from another gun can already be heard coming from close to the first one, caution will have to be exercised
Another ATG makes it self visible as i fires at us hitting one of the STuGs and immobilizing it, well at least it can still fire upon the closest enemy trench and we know another enemy gun position to fire upon.
We call in some artillery support to aid our advance by hitting the enemy gun emplacements.
The fuck just happened here? Why is the Panzer V driving around the aimlessly and with it's side armor exposed to the enemy none the less, the enemy manage to immobilize it with a hit, I lack words to express this rage silly tank crew that can't follow orders properly.
One infantry squad has reached the first enemy position, using the light machine guns to lay down suppressive fire while the rest out flank the trenches.
Meanwhile the same Panther that got stuck before has gotten it self blown up, I don't mind the retarded tank crew blowing up, but a Panzer V is valuable damn it!
A Panzer III manages to get stuck in the mud, great.
I hope you like artillery shells Bolshevist scum.
The infantry squad has managed to take the trench with out losses, the enemy has already retreated from it. The Bolshevists have no honor, like a woman!
So far the mission is proceeding excellently despite the loss of the tank, and the other getting stuck.
And everything manages to continue to go well... oh shit Soviet close air support! Not good.
No problem though, the Bolshevists can not into aiming. And our STuG rolls on unscratched.
The Soviet planes come back for another go.
They really seem to hate that Panzer III this time
It is proven once and for all that Soviet pilots can not into aiming
Excellent a STuG has crossed the ditch, with armored support we will be able to easily take the next position and out flank the enemy from there
Looking to the Horizon, is it a bird? is it a plane? Is it a ... no it is enemy air craft
They seem intent to end the existence of our brave Panzer III crew
Meanwhile some artillery shells are exploding around the next Soviet line, that isn't my artillery, so does this mean the Bolshevists are shelling them selves? I guess one of the soldiers in the trench said something bad about "comrade" Stalin.
Once again going for one of the Panzer III
What was that? A bomb? Any way it doesn't bother the tank or it's crew much which just keeps on rolling towards victory. Not even this time can the Bolshevists hit our tanks.
And now the Panzer is in an excellent spot, having a clear line of fire on the enemy, while being covered from the other guns thanks to being next to that incline.
A Panther has crossed, now we shall show the enemy the true meaning of fear.
Take that filthy Bolshevist trees! Yeah tanks may be able to run over trees that are slightly to large for it in this game.
The fuck? I need to put some more competent crews in those Panthers.
I think it actually managed to damage its own track.
The good news is though that we have carried out our first objective towards victory! We have also successfully broken through the enemy lines and out flanked them, this should make the remaining considerably easier.
Enemy heavy machine gun opens fire on our infantry
It's hidden some where in those trees, I knew those trees were conspiring with the Bolshevists, good thing our tanks can run them down!
Still going good so far, though perhaps not quite as one sided as to begin with, but now we have done the hardest part.
The panther though immobilized can still fire upon the enemy and prove useful, especially further ahead you will see.
We bring the rest of the troops across now, though both of the recognizance vehicles have gotten stuck in the mud.
We have found the heavy machine gun, it was hidden in a pillbox, a direct hit from the Panther (as can be seen in this image) with a high explosive round should finish off the crew.
Verdamnt another tank maanaged to get it's track damaged! I suppose it is only a Panzer III, but every tank is highly valuable. No matter is will be repaired afterwards.
Several Soviet ATGs are sighted.
And another Bolshveist position is captured by the fearless wehrmacht infantry
Slightly to the south another infantry squad is securing the trenches, the enemy forces there have either been killed by the artillery barrage of withdrawn.
Not direct hits, but the Panther shown here manages to take out both the crew of an ATG and heavily damage the truck up ahead forcing the enemy to abandon it ( not with the same shot obviously)
The enemy has been pushed back far, victory is with in our grasp soon!
I have no idea what happened here, both why this STuG was there or how it was destroyed, most enemy anti tank weapons should have been cleared out that are are capable of hitting it there.
Interesting an Soviet mortar, this could prove useful in clearing out the last enemy positions if it is still operable.
Whats this the Bolshevists are charging us? Well with our machine guns we shall cut them down where they stand from behind our cover in the trenches!
Sadly our troops do not seem to be trained in pop a mole and some how are completely slaughtered, well that was unexpected.
Never the less the village has been secured, and reinforcements are available.
But then when the battle was thought won, an enemy armored counter attack is sighted. This is not good, we only have one fully functional Tank left, all of or other tanks or tank destroyers have been immobilized or are out of ammunition.
However despite our grim situation there is something to improve our chances, the enemies tanks are American made. And our old Panzer III manages to take one out with its first shot.
However if the enemy tanks are inferior in quality they are not in number and manage to heavily damage the Panzer III, we are now down to one fully functional tank and one immobilized one, this does not look good.
But there in the sky, a beautiful sight to behold, Luftwaffe Stukas. With air support when can yet win this!
Several enemy tanks are destroyed by the dive bombers, excellent. However many still remain.
Well this does seem to be once again be in our favor.
Two enemy tanks left.
They are reduced to burning wrecks by our one superior tank.
The crewmen are left to run or be cut down by machine gun fire from the tank and we also captured the gun in the pillbox as can be seen on the edge of the image.
Well we have won a victory here today! ....um.... sieg heil?
And here we can see the statistics from the battle, for every every german that died here today two Bolshevists perished. Also we lost one tank and one tank destroyer compared to the enemies six lost tanks, excellent.
And here is the post victory screen, here we can allocate skill points to every soldier that participated in the fight, the amount of points available for each soldiers depends on their actions in the battle, for example a tank crew that destroyed many enemy tanks gets a lot of experience while another that sat around and didn't do much only gets a little bit. However since I'm not much of a control freak I'll just let the computer auto assign skill points.
Well we have our first victory, next time we continue our offensive at Kursk. Also what do you think of image size and quality? I can have them larger if you think more detail is needed to see whats going on.
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