Announcement

**zorbop** · August 19, 2003, 22:49

I've never heard of it, but i'm all for a new RTS, Since the dissapointment called generals. I will have to check it out.

one question, is there the option of skirmishes, or is campaign the only mode?

**Cal** · August 19, 2003, 22:52

Originally posted by zorbop
one question, is there the option of skirmishes, or is campaign the only mode?

Sure, there's the option of just playing random missions. You can also make your own with the built in editor. A few people online have done this and made some good scenarios. There are a few here: http://www.roadtovictory.co.uk/

Kucher's Panzer Circus in particular is very good.

**Grumbold** · August 20, 2003, 05:26

I've played it and its certainly better than a run of the mill RTS but its not realistic enough for my liking. Having enemy soldiers positioned within spitting distance of your base camp, the massive enemy superiority in most missions and the glaring paper/scissors/stone setup of the units irritates. Just being able to call in your fighters to escort your bombers would be nice, instead of having to watch them get slaughtered because you can only fly one plane at a time. The unit sight ranges are also far more RTS than reality.

All in all, I'll stick with the aging Close Combat series for realtime WW II action.

**Cal** · August 20, 2003, 06:13

Originally posted by Grumbold
I've played it and its certainly better than a run of the mill RTS but its not realistic enough for my liking.

Hm.

I don't think the massive enemy superiority is ever unrealistic when it comes to historical missions (random missions are another thing). I'm not sure what you mean by "paper/scissors/stone," and only being able to call one type of aircraft out at once encourages the player to be clever. For example, if you wait for the opposing side to call out aircraft first, then you don't have to worry about them calling in their fighters suddenly.

I think there are a few mods out there that solve the sight ranges problem. (The Axis 88mm gun in particular becomes very deadly.)

If you go for realism in combat all the time, well, some situations where your side had the clear advantage in history may become boring. Blitzkrieg is always a challenge. And when it comes to units and the care concerning their strengths and weaknesses, it's really very realistic. (Inferior tanks being unable to even pierce the armor of more advanced tanks, different armor values for location the tank is hit in and from how far away, etc.)

But it's good that you tried it.

**Verto** · August 23, 2003, 19:02

I tried a demo of it. Nice looking units, good graphics, but it just didn't feel right...there was something about it that kept me from really enjoying it.

**Cal** · August 23, 2003, 21:13

Strategy

In my free time, I've written out a complete strategy for playing through the German Campaign in Blitzkrieg. If you don't wish for the game to be spoiled for you or anything, please read no further. I apologize for any typos.

The battles, with difficulty on a scale of 1-10, units you'll get, strategies, and secret objectives. It also includes a list of any reinforcements you get.

1. Poland 1939
Diff: 3
Units: You won't have your artillery core units for this map.
Strat: Use your sniper to take out the sentry on the bridge, then use it to take out the nearby artillery crews. There's one in the corner of the town you can't easily get to, so you need to paradrop another sniper in the dense trees, and hope no one sees him. Use this sniper to take out the artillery crew there. Advance with tanks. Capture the Polish artillery piece with your supply trucks. Use the snipers to spot the tanks in the plowed field near the town, and the opening road into town. Destroy all three tanks with the artillery piece. Then roll your tanks over the polish soldiers, and you've won.
Secret objectives: I don't think there are any... I could be wrong.
Reinforcements: None.

2. France 1940
Diff: 4
Units: All core ones, and lots of infantry and light tanks.
Strat: Call out paratroopers where the game tells you to. Take the artillery guns. Continue on with tanks and infantry to the mansion, and take it. Then move forward, and take the railway station. Be careful, as there are allied AT guns near the road to the railway station. There aren't any AA guns near the railway station, so you can call in a reconaissance airplane to help you with your artillery. After taking the railway station, you get a new objective, set up defensive positions and wait for an attack. The enemy will have superior tanks, but they'll only have three of them. Take up spots on the ravines and defend. Now, you have to take the north town. You can either fight through the town's frontal defenses, or build a bridge in the north western corner and go through the rear. I always go through that way. Just be careful for ambushes, and the last objective should be easy.
Sec. Obj: There's a car in a small set of houses in the south... destroying it gets you the secret objective of: "Destroy the General's Car." You can even do this with blind artillery fire if you know where to look.

3. North Africa 1941
Diff: 5
Units: You start off with only your core tanks, a few other light tanks, and infantry.
Strat: First off, you start with lots of infantry, and a few tanks. You have to take the town. Do so, but be careful of AT guns and mortars and machine guns. Use your StuGs to take those out, if possible. After taking the town, you'll need to defend against tanks and infantry coming to take it back. Set up some defensive positions, as they'll arrive from the west. It shouldn't be too hard. After that, you'll get reinforcements. You now need to take the northern town. You can either attack from the south, or wind through two other towns and attack from the west. If you decide to attack from the west, don't be surprised if you get the message: "objective completed, defend against attack." After you take the town in the north, troops from the west will attack, but if you go to the west first and destroy them there, then you'll get that objective before you actually take the town, as the British will have nothing to send to fight you with. Anyway, the Allies only have light artillery in that area, so carpet bombing is recommended if you can ensure the Allies won't call out fighter planes. Either call the bombers out after the Allies call out their own air support, or make sure you have AA guns nearby to take out the Allied fighters that show up. After that, if you didn't attack from the west, you'll need to fend off one last attack, and then you've won.
Sec. Obj: After taking the first town and repelling the first attack, if you drive to the west, you'll find an artillery group, protected by one tank. If you can destroy it, and the artillery group, you get the secret objective: "Destroy the enemy artillery group." It'll also make things MUCH easier for you, so it's highly recommended that you do it.
Reinforcements: Your core artillery units, AA guns, lots of infantry, lots of good tanks, will show up after you take the first town and repel the first enemy attack.

4. Operation Barbarossa 1941
Diff: 6
Units: You won't have your core artillery on this map. You'll get a medical truck in addition to some light tanks as extra.
Strat: The Soviets have set up defenses behind a bridge, so you need to go the long way around to another bridge to approach them from behind. There Soviets also have an artillery group you need to destroy on the other side of the bridge area. First, you need to either go south, or wind your way through the forest. The Soviets have one building full of infantry in the south, but that's it. After that, you can press onward. There're two trenches full of infantry and AT guns behind them before you can reach the other bridge. Destroy them. Continue onwards, and cross the bridge. Now you want to go for the artillery group. Head for where the orange circles have been and destroy them all. Be careful, as AA guns are nearby, and so is a KV 1 tank. Do not engage the KV 1 tank. You also have to take the north western corner of the map. There's mortars, AT guns, and a KV2 tank with disabled treads and half it's life nearby. Use your scout to find where they are and destroy them with your StuGs, or swarm them with infantry. Now you need to head south. There's a KV 1 tank in the middle of the road, so it's best to use a scout as the spotter and use your StuGs to get rid of it. Pressing onward, there'll be more AT guns and tanks and a few AA guns near the last objective, so do your best to remove those without being killed. That's the last objective.
Sec. Objective: I haven't been able to find any.
Reinforcements: You'll get several Panzer III Ausf. E tanks, but they're worthless. Don't use them.

5. Operation Typhoon 1941
Diff: 7
Units: You get your core armor and artillery units, plus some good units in the north.
Strat: You need to send your northern troops up against the Soviet defenses to confuse their reinforcements so you can roll your southern troops over the defenses in the south, press on, capture a warehouse and take a railroad junction. But before you do ANY of that, you should know the Soviets get a railway artillery piece, and lots of artillery in the north east corner near a depot. You either need to take a sniper out so you can kill the artillery with your own, or use the sniper to take out the artillery crews and then go after the railroad artillery. I don't recommend using the sniper to take out the crews, as the Soviets get lots of supply trucks and they'll just replace them. Then again, if you want to destroy all the supply trucks, you can do that. Just make sure you destroy that artillery. It'll give you no end of trouble otherwise. Then after doing that, move your sniper up to the northern place and get ready to help the group there have an easier time by taking out anti-tank guns and such. Be prepared for two things: when you start firing your artillery, the Soviets will send some tanks out to you. When you start attacking the North, the Soviets will send some tanks there as well. Strong T-34s. But if you're clever you can stop them. Also, the Soviets will call out their air force periodically. Il-2 planes. They'll likely go after your artillery. If you call out your fighters, you'll notice something. The Il-2s shoot down your fighters!! WTF OMG?!!?!
Il-2s are fighter-bombers. Therefore, you want to wait until they get *kinda* close enough to your troops before you call out your fighters. Don't let any of your troops get destroyed.
After all that, proceeding with advancing over the defenses should be easy if you use your sniper to spot AT guns. Be careful for anti-tank mines. Taking the warehouse should be no problem. After that, you'll probably just want to destroy the Railroad Junction with artillery, as the soviets have a lot of troops nearby which could make the task of actually taking it very difficult. It counts the same whether you just destroy it or invade it. And after that, you've won!
Secret objectives: Your northern troops... if you manage to do more than engage the enemy: actually roll over their defenses and press onward, it counts as a secret objective. It's not that hard if the artillery's gone and you can successfully counter the Soviet tanks.
Reinforcements: None. Good luck.

6. Kharkov 1942
Diff: 8
Units: Your core armor, artillery, and a ton of other troops...
Strat: Your first objective is to protect an artillery group in the north. The Soviets will send out two forces against it, and they can counter the first one, but if you don't get reinforcements over there FAST, then the Soviets will roll over them with the second wave. Furthermore, your armor group in the north west near a bridge is about to be attacked by Soviet tanks. If you turn them to the west and fortify them quickly, you should be able to fight them off. Meanwhile, you need to get troops to The artillery group... you must run the gauntlet. Run your core tanks between Soviet AT guns and their fortifications in town, hope you don't encounter trouble, and cross the bridge to the artillery group. If you get there in time, you should be able to fend off the Soviet attack. Meanwhile, you should deploy your artillery pieces where it'll be safe, but can still reach all areas. If you have the very heavy artillery piece, this map will be much easier. With that, suppress all Soviet fire. The Soviets artillery should be too far away to attack yours. Move a sniper up to where your artillery group is, and use it to spot for your artillery so you can roll over the defenses and clear out the east. This part is optional, I guess, but I prefer to completely wipe out the eastern defenses before going for the town in the center. Use your engineers to build a new bridge, don't let your tanks get destroyed by artillery fire. You might want to use your other artillery to get rid of all the Soviet AT guns and stuff in the west. After you do all this, and take any AA guns you want for yourself, you're ready to attack the center. Like last map, you have no AA coverage provided for you, so you have to either steal their guns, or call in fighters to shoot down any Soviet planes that appear.
After Taking the center, the game will give you three minutes or so to set up defenses before a Soviet offensive shows up. Prepare! Use all your best units. Take all of your vulnerable artillery pieces and move them safely to the south across the bridge. The Soviets will show up in force, and you don't want to lose anything. With luck, and determination, you should be able to stop the Soviets before they overrun you, and you'll be declared the winner. Congratulations on passing the hardest mission yet!
Secret objectives: None that I could find... I destroyed almost every Soviet unit on the map, and still couldn't find one.
Reinforcements: None. Good luck!

7. Kharkov 1943
Diff: 7
Units: You get your core armor and artillery, and some supply trucks, and a few more units, and a Karl 600mm artillery monster.
Strat: You have three things to do, basically. Repel a Soviet attack, march some supplie trucks into a railway junction, and destroy a bunker. You also have to ensure the Karl 600mm mortar survives. If you have good units, then repelling the soviet attack is easy. Before you do anything, march a tank, any tank, over the bridge to the east, and fortify yourself there. Why? Soviet Katyusha rocket launcher is coming to fire on your artillery and supply trucks and will make life hell for you if it succeeds! It's easily stopped, though, if you have a tank there. Now, you should get prepares to counter the soviet offensive. On the far west, the soviets will send infantry, so put any unit there except an elephant and you'll counter that. If you have lots of good units, for example: two elefants, one panther, and one tiger, then this map is easy. Put the elefants at the junction they have to take up through the ravine, but don't fortify them, they have to be able to turn. Stick your tanks on top of the ravines, and they'll be able to handle anything. Set up your AT guns too, and wait. After what seems like too soon, the offensive is over. The Soviets should've started firing artillery on you. I have a strategy for taking it out that may sound a little unorthodox: rush your tiger tank unit at them. Really. As long as you don't get swarmed, or surprised by AT guns, you should be able to penetrate deep into Soviet territory and take out those guns. If you don't have one, then I guess you'll have to try to use your own artillery to counter there's. After that, you'll need to march your supply trucks to the railway depot. Just take a few good tanks, and be ready to clear out any infantry from buildings, and you'll do fine. Lastly, there's a bunker you need to destroy. I suppose you could use the Karl 600mm mortar for this, but if you have long range artillery, you don't need it. Just target the bunker with suppressive fire, and that's all folks! Mission accomplished. Not so hard when compared to the last one.
Secret objectives: I haven't been able to find any. If there are any, they don't involve clearing out the area to the east of your starting point, over the bridge.
Reinforcements: None.

8. Ardennes Offensive 1944.
Diff: 9
Units: Quite a few. You get your core armor and artillery, a load of units, including several panthers and a MAUS SUPER-HEAVY TANK in the far east of the map, and some scattered Panzer IVs, Hetzers, 105mm AA guns, and such. Your best units however should be your core units. If you've been playing through all the bonus missions, you should have quite an arsenal. Jadgtiger's, Jadgpanthers, Tiger II tanks, etc.
Strat: Ooh boy. Where to begin. You have five objectives: destroy the enemy artillery, take the town in the upper east, take a town in the lower west, press on and capture a warehouse, and finally, take out an armor group in the middle of the map. The main problems: the allies outnumber you, and can call in Air Support against you anytime they like. It's your dozen units or so up against their several hundreds. No exaggeration.
I'm going to split this into sections:
Taking the town in the upper east:
Your Maus should be at the front, but be careful with it. It's more like a mobile fortification then a tank. If it gets destroyed, YOU'VE LOST. You might as well restart the map. That being said, be prepared to suffer HEAVY LOSSES. You notice how you have no AA cover? You have two wirbelwind mobile AA batterys, and no 105mm guns. For this reason, the enemy DELIGHTS in calling out HEAVY BOMBERS to attack your eastern units. If that happens, the only thing you can do is scatter your units in an attempt to get away. You can't move units over there to help out, so if your wirbelwinds get destroyed, you're fresh meat for the ground bombers. Luckily, the ground attack planes can't penetrate your Maus. Move your troops foward, try to let your panthers and infantry deal with the infantry while the Maus concentrates on the tanks. The way it worked for me, all of my panthers got destroyed, and so did a lot of my supply trucks, so I was left with one supply truck, one repair truck, and the Maus. Once you take the depot, an objective should come up stating that you need to "repel enemy attack." Keep moving your Maus up, and be prepared to fight infantry in buildings. You may want to call in your artillery to level any buildings near the depot. When you move your Maus up, you should find something to make your blood turn to ice. In response to your Maus super-heavy tank, the allies have sent out a super-heavy tank DESTROYER. ...As long as infantry isn't nearby, you should be able to kill it. After that, you're done in the east. Don't try to move your Maus over the bridge, it'll get destroyed.
Long range artillery: The way I did it was to take my own artillery and suppress it blindly. It worked. I suggest you do the same, but be careful, as the allies have a lot of artillery in this area and you should try to suppress it all without leaving your artillery pieces and the things nearby them as vulnerable.
Taking the town and the warehouse:
You'll want to stay far to the west, away from the building full of infantry. As long as you're careful, and send damaged units back to be prepared, you'll do okay. It'll go smoother if you move all of your core units together, as they should be able to fend off anything. The only hard part is that there's a row of M26 Pershing tanks near the warehouse. Destroying them is no easy task. You might want to use artillery, if you can. DO NOT try to take the town proper, as there's too much infantry in the building. By pass them by going to the far west and going to the warehouse that way. Move up your AA units too.
Finally, you need to destroy an armor group. If you still have a living sniper, and living artillery pieces, you may want to try spotting for artillery with the sniper. But it'll be hard, as you'll need to move him around to the warehouse and out that way. Remember, the biggest threats to your tanks are infantry in buildings, and being swarmed with lots of allied tanks. I managed to do it and keep ALL of my core units intact. If you've been keeping your core units intact throughout the entire game, they should become elite in this mission, if they aren't already. Remember, the Jagdpanther and the Panther tanks are the weakest of your "indestructible" units. If you can overrun the armor group, you've won.
Secret objectives: I couldn't find any. I doubt there are any. This map is huge, and you already have a lot to do.
Reinforcements: None, what you start out with is all you get. And any losses you suffer are irreplaceable. Such is Germany's position in the late stage of the war. Good luck.

After that, you've won the game. The highest rank you can get is Generalmajor.

**Grumbold** · August 28, 2003, 09:48

Originally posted by Cal
I don't think the massive enemy superiority is ever unrealistic when it comes to historical missions (random missions are another thing). I'm not sure what you mean by "paper/scissors/stone," and only being able to call one type of aircraft out at once encourages the player to be clever. For example, if you wait for the opposing side to call out aircraft first, then you don't have to worry about them calling in their fighters suddenly.

Take aircraft, as one obvious example. In Blitzkreig all aircraft are exceptionally vulnerable to AA fire, so you really can't use them at all until the AA units are dealt with in the areas your planes will overfly. So you have to scout with ground troops to find the AA sites because the recon spotter plane usually gets shot down before it can locate one, let alone several, AA sites. Thats pretty silly.

The next step would normally be to send in your fighters to establish air superiority before unleashing your bombers, or to send in bombers escorted by fighters. Instead you have to wait until the enemy uses an aircraft mission and then decide whether you need to counter it with one of your own or can afford to ignore it and launch one of your own when they are prevented from sending fighters. Nobody can establish any kind of control over the air.

Then take artillery. In most maps you start with all your artillery far too close to the front and clustered near one single ammo dump. You can't spread them out. If the enemy chooses to counterbattery fire then they are qute likely to score a hit because you simply haven't got the ground space to split up enough. Theirs of course are dotted around all over the map. But once the enemy artillery threat is neutralised, you can pretty much pound the enemy to pieces with artillery because no other units will react, they'll just sit and wait to die.

I could go on, but essentially it boils down to the same thing. Blitzkreig is a fun RTS with a WW II skin. It annoys me because the tactics to winning a Blitzkreig mission are nothing like the tactics you should use were it a true battle or a more accurate sim.

**jdd2007** · August 30, 2003, 22:33

Played demo, and was not impressed. Historical accuracy is a big plus, but it doesn't matter when the game itself is boring. I'll pass.

Announcement

Has anyone played Blitzkrieg? WWII RTS

Has anyone played Blitzkrieg? WWII RTS

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment