So with the pre-order beta releasing for Wargame: Airland Battle sometime today (I hope), I thought I would dive into the free "
Fatal Error" DLC for European Escalation. Mission 1 "Ride of The Black Horse" is twenty minutes long and is about a Soviet Guards attack against the exposed flank of a NATO spearhead east of the Fulda Gap.
I had some issues with the map and was too cautious throughout the battle. I was fearful of an attack on my flanks so I kept infantry and armor resources tied up waiting for attacks that never materialized.
The screenshots below are from the final minutes of the battle. After being driven back, US and German units have patched together a final line of defense west of their headquarters.
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A platoon of M60 Patton tanks hammers Soviet T-62s and T-55s as they cross open ground. |
The attack is driven off and while the Soviet Guards regroup for a final push, Bundeswehr Jupiter supply trucks re-supply the American and German units.
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NATO forces resupply before the Soviet attack resumes. |
With a minute to go the Soviet attack resumes...
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Soviet armor and infantry units mass for a final attack. |
I ended up losing this mission but enjoyed it very much. I held my own ground but lost on points at the end of 20 minutes. Can't wait to replay it and be more aggressive. The Patton tanks had awesome range and had I deployed more of them early on I think I would have beaten the first attack and not been driven back.
Comments
I am disappointed the beta is for multi-player only as I almost never play multi-player. They do have the option to save games (which I don't remember them having) and the battlegroups made it interesting. The Germans for instance don't have any attack helicopters which I think is historically accurate. The pre-set battlegroups though had all of the cards unlocked which gave me access to unit types I never had before. For EE I never played the game enough to unlock all of the units.
The graphics are great and the use of aircraft seemed well done. They won't dominate a battlefield and they add an important tactical element.
The three maps I saw seemed full of possibility. Urban areas are still a little weird but at least you can access these sections of the map now.