DBC1

Germany Again

This one is so damn silly it's embarrassing. The Third Reich in its final extremity has managed to create a revolutionary new jet aircraft - one so advanced that the Allies have mounted a special operation to try to steal the prototype - so what do they do with it? Keep it at a special test base, under heavy guard? Nahh. They just park it in an open hangar at a little pissant airstrip out in the woods - roughly comparable to the average county airport, and just about capable of handling the smaller products of Cessna and Piper - guarded by a handful of third-rate troops most of whom hole up in the barracks, rather than manning their posts, because it's raining! Even the guards on duty at the gate don't check papers or anything of the sort; anybody who shows up in a German uniform can drive right in.

(Though this ridiculous little airfield does have a truly amazing and sophisticated sewer and drainage system, which would do credit to a good-sized town. Why they didn't simply dig a few ditches, we cannot guess.)

In any event, the Allies have sent in one of their top secret agents, who has gotten himself captured. So the Germans, having caught an enemy agent snooping around their top-secret airplane, lock him up in an office at the headquarters building - not even tying his hands or cuffing him - and put a single sentry outside the door. Their lack of concern, however, proves justified, since he makes no attempt whatever to escape....

And then, and then - but what happens after that is just too bizarre to talk about.

This is a God-damned silly couple of missions and no mistake about it. But the first one at least is a good deal of fun, if you can push the premise to the back of your mind for a little while; and the second one wouldn't be bad, if it weren't for a single mind-boggling bit of stupid mission design.

This campaign, however, came very close to persuading me to drop the whole thing and go no farther with the addon missions. And that would have been a mistake, because something much better lies just beyond.

Which is reason enough to play and complete this campaign, so you might as well try to have some fun with it.

PERSONNEL: Almost any reasonably good men can complete this one; it's not terribly demanding. The main thing is that they all have excellent reactions and reasonably good shooting skills. Note that you're only allowed to take three men in the first mission, so there's no point in filling up the whole eight-man campaign roster.

EQUIPMENT: The MP-44 has been ruined in the addon mission - it no longer fires full-auto; God knows what idiot was responsible for the change - so it's back to the good old MP-40. Or the Sten if you prefer, but MP-40 ammo is easier to replace. However, since the AIs never make proper use of automatic weapons anyway, you can give the men 44s if you like. The newly-added Thompson isn't as good, because of its limited (and incorrect) ammo capacity.

A couple of sniper rifles are needed too, but you won't have to carry a lot of ammo; forty or fifty rounds apiece is more than enough.

A Bren or a German MG is worth taking, though, for the second mission. And lots of grenades, also for the second mission, both fragmentation and potato masher versions.

You will have to have a minimum of six explosive charges for the first mission, but take ten. There's something special you need them for.

Finally, a flare gun is useful in the second mission.

All right, let's get this farce moving.

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