Going from bad to worse. The first Greek mission at least was tactically interesting and had some exciting moments, if you ignored the silly-ass premise and the Weird History. This one is just long and tiresome.

Not that it's boring; it's too difficult for that. On the contrary, it's very stressful - but a slow, nerve-racking sort of stress, nothing exciting.

It's nearly all sniping and countersniping, and that can be fun but not when it goes on and on like this, with almost no change or relief.

And the premise is utterly stupid; why do these guys have to travel the length of this canyon, rather than simply going around it? If there were some target in the canyon itself, OK, it might make sense; but there's nothing, not even a worthwhile rebel strongpoint. And who created this system of trails - professionally made, obviously involving the use of dynamite and a large labor force, at considerable expense - and for what purpose, since they don't go anywhere that you can't get to by other means?

Well, let's get on with it.

MISSION: To travel from one end of this winding canyon to the other. That's it. No target to be destroyed, no required body count. Just get there, with the jeep intact.

CONDITIONS: Daytime. Clear and sunny.

THE OPPOSITION: The debriefing screen says 40. Could be, I haven't taken a count. A whole bunch of Greek rebels, anyway, scattered out along the canyon. Most are posted as snipers up on the trails along the cliffs, with a couple of fairly strong roadblocks and several smaller ones. They're armed with a wide variety of weapons, the most common being the bolt-action iron-sights Mauser but with plenty of MP-40s and a few packing the PPSh. Several scoped Lee-Enfields, a few machine guns, a couple of Browning automatic rifles. Quite a few armed with Panzerfausts, including snipers on the cliffs. Yes. They snipe with Panzerfausts. Against human targets. Accurately. At very long ranges. Jesus X. Christ.

Several machine gun emplacements, fortified with sandbags (in a country of endless loose rock). Quite a few mines, though no minefields as such.

PERSONNEL: You'll need all four, but they don't have to be top guns. Even though it's a sniping mission, you don't need to take crack snipers such as Smedley; you're going to have to personally control them in all their shooting, so the AIs' talents don't really come into it.

On the other hand they do have to be very durable, the snipers especially but really all of them are likely to take hits at various times.

EQUIPMENT: Even though there will only be two more or less full time snipers, each man needs to carry a scoped rifle, because you might lose one of your snipers and have to replace him - and in this mission there's a good chance he might fall where nobody can reach him to retrieve his weapons. The Lee-Enfield is better for this than the Mauser because it doesn't have to be reloaded as often and sometimes you'll be shooting at multiple and/or running targets. The two snipers should carry big supplies of ammo; 100 rounds apiece would not be excessive and you might even want to go higher. The other two men ought to carry at least 50 rounds apiece.

The #1 man should also carry an automatic weapon of some sort. Since the rifle and its ammo are so heavy, you might want to give him a Sten, which is lighter than the MP-40 or the PPSh. #2 likewise should have something of the sort. #3 and #4 should pack MP-40s or Stens as their primary weapons, with good supplies of ammo; note that they will have chances to pick up MP-40 ammunition off bodies, but if they take Stens they're stuck with what they can carry.

Everybody take plenty of grenades, both frag and potato masher types. And finally, either #3 or #4 should carry an explosive charge.

AT THE START: Standing around the damn jeep as usual, at the end of another damn dirt road. Bad guys right up ahead, over the next rise.

PROCEDURE: At least this one starts up fast; you don't have to walk or drive all over the country to find the action.

If you'll check the third-person view, you'll see that there's a man just a little way down the road, standing on a small stone bridge. Deploy #3 and #4 into the middle of the roadway, covering the crest of the rise in front of you, and move #2 over out of harm's way. Now try firing a few shots down in that general direction, still in third person. You can't hit him, but usually this will be enough to piss him off and he'll come charging up the road and when he gets to the top of the rise your boys can gun him down. Or else if you prefer you can just walk forward up the rise until you see him and then blow his head off - and then hit the deck, because one or two of his buddies may charge you too.

Preliminaries over, let's get moving. On either side of the road you'll find a trail going upward along the face of a cliff. These two trails are where you'll be spending most of the mission, and if you're anything like me you'll come to hate them.

Move one of your snipers to the start of the trail on the right and the other to that on the left. Note: for purposes of clarity, in this walkthrough I will refer to the sniper on the right side as #1 and the one on the left as #2, with #3 and #4 the ones remaining on the ground; you can work out your own assignments.

#2 should immediately focus on the large ledge area high up on the cliff almost straight ahead, near those peaks. There is a sniper there and sometimes you can just barely make him out from the start of the trail. He's very hard to spot because he hides among the rocks, but if you see a patch of color that doesn't match the background, shoot at it. He's wearing one of those yellowish-pinkish sort of cowboy-looking shirts so that makes him easier to pick out.

Move #1 up the trail on the right till he gets near the first bend. Crawl or crouch-walk him forward and sidewise (careful with the sidewise, he doesn't have much room) while carefully studying the left wall, across the canyon. Locate the trails along the cliff and learn to spot them - not always easy - and find the lower one and watch it as you move on very gradually around the bend. Eventually you will see a man with a rifle on the lower trail - he's wearing another of those cowboy shirts so he shows up well. He may spot you before you see him, and he may shoot at you, but he's a lousy shot so you'll still get him.

But now STOP. Don't go any farther. There is a man with a PPSh standing just around the bend in the trail, waiting to blow your head off. Stay put; you might even back up a little. You could switch to your own MP or Sten or whatever just in case he comes after you.

Back to #2. There are two more men down past that bridge and they'll shoot at you if you move much farther up the trail. You will have to move very gradually up the trail - moving sidewise is best, then you can keep the area under steady scrutiny - until you spot the first one. He's probably down by the bridge or a bush or something. Get him as soon as you see him, he's got very fast reactions.

Now you may not have this problem. He may charge up the road instead. For this reason you should have #3 and #4 in position to cover the road; have them up by the crest with their sights on the bridge area.

Either way, there's one more son of a bitch out there and he's a real problem because he's got a machine gun. He's over by that big rock, which you can't see now but you'll find it on the map.

But right now you've got a three-way problem. You've got to get the machine gunner, but you've also got that sniper up on the high ledge to worry about - if you didn't already get him, and it's really impossible to be sure at this range - and then there's that one with the PPSh waiting around the bend in the trail on the right side. So as you move up the trail, periodically check all three of these. Scan the area on the valley floor, then the trail ahead of your buddy #1, then up at the top.

The one on the valley floor is tricky as hell. Look very closely and try to spot the tip of his machine gun when it appears. Get sighted in, then, because the next sidewise move you make, you'll see him, and you better shoot fast and straight before he gets you.

There is an alternative way to do this. If #1 is careful, he can grenade at least one of the men down on the valley floor. It's not as easy as you might think - it's hard to get any accuracy from this height - but if you can do it, it will make life a lot easier on #2. Use third person to check around the bend and see if that cowboy with the PPSh isn't too close - you certainly don't want to give him a target while you're jacking around with your grenades - and if he's not right there, then by all means try a little bombing. Even if you don't hit them, you may make them nervous enough to move around and expose themselves to fire from #2. Potato mashers work best on the whole.

The one by the bridge is pretty easy but the one with the MG, over by the rock, is really too far to hit with a grenade. However, you may be able to pick him off with the rifle, if you can do it without giving anything away to that punk around the bend with the PPSh.

Now #2 must look across the canyon and continue moving gradually up the trail until he can see the man standing on the right-side trail, out of sight around the bend from #1. Take it gradual and be ready to shoot instantly, because he'll fire as soon as he sees you and he'll probably hit you.

It may be that he won't be there. If you get where you can see clear along that ledge and he's definitely not there, then something rather funny may have just happened.

As you'll soon learn, one of the most maddening things about this mission is the behavior of the AIs up on the trails. In particular, when they hear shots or, especially, explosions, they get nervous and move around. If you don't watch out they'll move right off the cliff and fall to their deaths. For this reason, any time you're about to use a grenade or any other explosive, it's best to get your other snipers as far back from the edge as possible and give Wait commands.

And if you grenaded those poor Geeks - sorry, Greeks - down on the canyon floor, and then the punk isn't waiting for you on the ledge, it's eminently possible that he simply fell off. Later, when you've secured the area, #3 or #4 can move up and check for his remains if you like.

But he'll probably be there, waiting. End his wait forever and move on up the trail just a little way. Check that big ledge regularly; even if you're pretty sure you got that guy, check anyway.

With the right trail cleared, #1 will now move on around the bend, continuing to watch the lower trail on the other side of the canyon. There is a second cowboy there, farther along the cliff from the first one you shot, and you'll have to get him too before #2 can move much farther.

Now #2 moves on up the trail, almost to the point where it divides, and turns to the right to look way off down the canyon to the distant wall where the canyon starts to make its next big turn. There is a man on the ledge there, on the right side. He's very far off and very hard to see, but you can spot him with patience and you can shoot him with near-impunity because he's too far off to hit you with his iron-sighted rifle.

And now run on up the trail, taking the fork that leads up to that big ledge area - which you will now see is not a ledge at all but a big hole in the rock. Pause before you get too close to the top and switch to the Sten or whatever #2 is packing. If you got the sniper, he'll be lying there where you can see him. If not, you have to assume he's still in there, alive.

(It just may happen that he'll come running out, just as you arrive, and start firing at #1 across the canyon; and then you can have the distinct pleasure of riddling his worthless ass at short range. This happened to me once.)

Either way, it's very possible - at Hard level it's virtually certain - that he'll have a buddy back in the hole somewhere. Use third person to check; see if you can see anybody lurking in there. If so, use a grenade - Mills bomb works well, don't use a potato masher - to clean that hole out, and then go in with the Sten ready.

Surprise, surprise; the hole comes out on the other side, above the area beyond the bend. Switch back to the rifle and very cautiously ease out into the mouth of the hole so that you can see the trail below and off to your left. There should be two men on that trail. Shoot them both. There are lots of other people down on the canyon floor, and you can start sniping at them in a minute, but right now just get those two and move back into the safety of that hole.

Back to #1, who can now move on farther up the trail. Looking south and a little west, study the right wall as it bends. There's a man with a Panzerfaust on the trail. Get him. Don't let him get a shot at you; they use those things like sniper rifles in this mission.

At this point bring #3 and #4 forward to a point near that little bridge - not quite up to it, it's not entirely safe yet, just close - and give them their rifles, and have them cover the lower trail running along the left wall, toward where it climbs up to the hole where #2 is hiding. Give them Guard on the trail.

Keep going. Farther on around the bend, still on the right wall but much higher up, is another man. When you shoot him, a man will come running along the lower trail on the left side of the canyon, on his way to try to climb up to the hole and attack #2. You can get him from where you are, but it's difficult to hit a running target at that angle. Better just have #1 lie down out of the way, and then switch quickly to #3 or #4 and take him over and delete the Guard command and shoot the running man when he comes into view. If you're not good on running targets you might prefer to let the AI do the gunnery for you.

All right, back to #2 now. Move cautiously out to the mouth of the hole and scope the area below. There are several people walking or standing around down there, and you can pick them off easily enough. Down below the swinging bridge, on top of a big rock at the base of the cliff on the far side of the canyon, is yet another Panzerfaust cowboy; shoot him and don't give him a chance to shoot back.

If you're pretty sure you got all the guys down on the canyon floor, #2 can now move on down the trail to a point about half or three-quarters of the way to the end of the bridge, and scan the upper trail off to the right, high up on the outside of the bend. There's one more Panzerfaust jock up there and you need to get him. Again, he's fast and impossibly accurate so watch out.

At this point #3 should switch back to his MP and go over and cross the creek and climb the trail on the left side. Instead of going up to the hole, though, he runs along the lower trail toward the bend. As he gets close to the bend he should get down and crawl. Use third person and eventually you'll see that there are three men below, in the middle of the bend, manning a roadblock. One is over by the creek bank and the other two are closer in, near some bushes. #3 should move up just enough to shoot the one over by the creek and then back up so he's hidden again and grenade the other two into oblivion. Potato mashers are perfect for this job and effect instant and total attitude adjustment.

(As always, carefully settle #1 down up there on the trail before using grenades, or the explosion may cause the silly son of a bitch to move around and fall off. #2 can just move back into the hole, where he'll be reasonably safe from his own nerves.)

If the trails on the outside of the bend have been cleared of snipers, then #1 can now move on around the bend to the end of the swinging bridge. Have him cover the lower trail on the far side of the canyon, over near where #2 shot those first two guys.

#3 can now run on down the trail to the canyon floor and across the road - watch out for the mines - and up along the creek bank to the nearest cover.

Switch quickly back to #1. When #3 runs around the bend, this may trigger a new arrival: a man with a machine gun who comes up the trail on the left side of the canyon. You'll need to shoot him quickly because once he deploys that thing he's very dangerous. I hope you're good on running targets; there are a lot of them in this mission.

#2 can now step out onto the swinging bridge and eliminate at least one of the machine gunners in the two posts directly below. #1 may have to get the other one; the angles are pretty tricky.

#1 can now run along the trail till he reaches the point where it divides, and look down and kill the remaining MG gunner. GO NO FARTHER. Around the bend and farther down the cliff is a man with a PPSh.

#2 should therefore go on along the trail on his own side until he can see off down the canyon on the right, and locate and kill the PPSh cowboy. This is a bit tricky; he'll get you if he sees you first. As with most of this mission, you have to move slowly and carefully and watch for very small targets and be ready to shoot fast.

With him eliminated, #1 can now go on around the bend, staying on the lower trail, and look down into the canyon near the bend, where there is a man in ambush by a big rock. Shoot him and now #4, or whoever is left, can bring up the jeep to the area underneath the swinging bridge.

The trails are open now for a pretty good distance. #2 can run on up the trail on the left side to the next bend, where he will see a wrecked bridge against the sky. Just around the bend if he looks down he'll see another area where the canyon floor opens out, and a lot of wreckage. There is a man down there behind a big rusty girder. Shoot him and then hold position. Watch out; there may be a man coming up the trail on the left. #2 might want to have the Sten ready in case of a sudden confrontation.

Bring up #1 to a point just past the next trail junction and check quickly across the canyon to see if there's anybody on the trail ahead of #2. (If there is he'll be shooting at you by now.) Then look down and move gradually until you can see over on the right side of that big rock formation, where there is another rusty girder. A man is lying behind it and another is off to the right side out in the open. Make sure you get them both.

There is one more man up next to the cliff, behind that big rock between the creek and the base of the cliff. It's possible for #2 to get him, but dangerous - he's got a straight shot at the trail - and it's also possible for #1 to grenade him, but besides the usual risks, this is tricky because the overhang of the cliff makes it hard to get close enough.

The best way is to have #3 or #4 come up and get him on the ground. Cross the creek and run along by the base of the cliff till you can see the big rock and then get down and crawl, using the rock and the bank for cover. It's not hard to get into position to grenade him - taking, of course, the usual precautions against AI suicide - or even just shoot him.

Finally, #1 must proceed on up the trail to where it starts to drop off steeply, and shoot the machine gunners in the bunkers.

With them dead, you've now secured most of the canyon's defensive areas. Bring the jeep forward now, being careful to go around the mines - it looks hard in some places, but the jeep's agility will let you scramble around and get past - until you come in sight of the wrecked train blocking the road. Don't get too close, and don't do anything about the train just yet. The jeep's OK where it is for the time being.

Time now for the last act. #2 moves on up to the point of the next bend until he's overlooking one more open area. Looking down to the north, #2 can see three men in a short shallow trench. It's easy to snipe these three; get the one in the middle first, he's the most likely to return fire with any accuracy. Leave the machine gunner for last, he's no threat.

#1 is almost ready now to come on down the last bit of trail to the canyon floor. First, though, he's got one more man on the left wall to deal with. This one is some distance away to the north, and he's pretty easy to see because he's wearing a dark outfit and holding a Panzerfaust. Either #1 or #2 can get him; he'll probably be a bit easier for #2, though, because the range is a shorter.

Once he's been dealt out of the game, it's time for #1 to get down off the cliff. There's a big rock near the end of the trail where he can take cover for the time being.

#2 needs to move up the trail a little farther till he's got a view of the right side of the canyon floor, enough to see the second trench to the right of the one he just cleaned out. This one will hold another machine gunner, and two men, with two more men out in the open behind the trench. Move around so as not to expose yourself to too many of them at a time and pick them off one by one. Again, leave the machine gunner for last. He's hard to kill; you may have to do quite a bit of shooting to get him, but he won't shoot back.

This leaves one more bastard off to the right side of the open area, and he's very hard to get from the trail. Anyway you're probably tired of sniping by now. Have #1 switch to the MP or PPSh or whatever and jump into the stream and run along it, crouched over or even crawling, watching in third person till you can see the last of the cowboys standing over by some bushes. Now just stand up and waste him with a good solid burst and Bob's your uncle, and, if you're from West Virginia, quite possibly your father as well.

This leaves only one enemy alive, but you've got to get him before anybody else can come down the canyon. This of course is the gunner in that MG bunker on top of the big rock. Climb up onto the rock and go up the swinging bridge and then along the trail till you can see his head and blow it off. Then come back down to the canyon floor and have #2 do the same.

Now, and only now, you can blow up that train blocking the road, with no worries about AI ninnies killing themselves. #3 or #4, whichever is carrying the explosive charge, simply runs up and places the charge next to that boxcar that's blocking the road, sets a short delay, and runs back. The explosion will be followed by a secondary explosion and you'll have to wait while it burns out, so during this time #1 and #2 can do a bit of looting up where they are.

(The loot situation isn't worth a damn on this mission - most of the Geeks are carrying useless junk or stuff you've already got - but there are two exceptions worth looking for. One, some of them have scoped Lee-Enfields with probably more ammo than you're carrying, so here's a chance to replenish your .303 supply. And, two, by the end of this mission you should have been able to fix all your men up with those neato PPSh burp guns, which with their great magazine capacity are very good for fire fights. Good enough that it's worth doing some looking around for them; #3 and #4 should be keeping their eyes open as they move through the canyon.)

When the fire has burned out the boys can simply drive the jeep through the gap and on up the road, still keeping on the alert for mines; and when they get to where #1 and #2 are waiting there's nothing left but to get everybody on board and head on up the road till the completion message appears.

God, what a mission. But at least it's over.