This is the first outing in a Steel Fury campaign of ten scripted missions, leading a platoon of Panzer IIIs during the attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941. I'm playing in the STA 2.0 mod with the Dec. 2015 update, plus the 'scorching summer' and grey panzers mods, the latter being needed as the base mod applies later camouflage colours to German units. I suspect the campaign is also available with the STA 1.X mod.



The orders for the mission are brief; not all is visible in the pic below but that's the gist of it. I don't recall now but the orders hint, but I think maybe don't say outright, that this is a pre-dawn attack ie it will be dark! At least there'll be some artillery preparation. Another positive is that our tanks will all have the long-barrelled 50mm gun, which I don't think really entered service until early 1942.



With the orders turned off, you can see the battlefield. The STA mod supports larger tank platoons but three tanks is usually what you get. My three are the blue diamonds on the left; my own tank is the left-most, in a slightly lighter shade. The briefing doesn't say much about your force but I can see we've got two three-tank platoons and what might be a platoon of infantry. Who is going where and doing what can only be inferred; in this case it seems likely that the AI-controlled units will have been scripted/ordered to go straight for the bridge over the little river.

I don't want to play follow-my-leader and bunch up so I plot a dog-leg course for us, out to the left flank. My plan is to cover the other platoons by fire as they cross, then move over myself. I order column formation for the move. All orders have to be given from the map screen; one of SABOW's many steps forward as a tanksim was to add hotkeys for many platoon commands.



Sure enough, it's still dark when the mission loads. Except that all the tanks have their lights switched on! I quickly move to the gunner's position (while still in the external view) and order an HE round loaded. Strangely, SF's German TC's can't choose ammo. In this respect, the sim seems designed for the T34-76, where the tank commander was also the gunner. I think if playing from the TC's position, the AI gunner will select an appropriate round for the target being engaged.



My platoon immediately sets off on the ordered route, so I can afford to enjoy the ride. I turn off my own lights but the others keep theirs on!



I can't work out how to stop this nonsense so I have to put up with being silhouetted from astern. I'm tempted to order them into line so they'll be risking their own necks, not mine. But I'm hoping that can wait and that our route will keep us in dead ground. By this time, the artillery barrage is in full swing and something is already burning on the far side of the river. To our right, as expected, the rest of our force is advancing along the road towards the bridge.



My AI tank commander is still 'head out' and I know he will automatically duck down if he detects danger; so I feel safe enough, for now.



I can still see the stars in the sky, but also what looks like the first light of dawn, catching the higher clouds. But there's not much time to admire the view.



While we're motoring along, one thing I remember to do is illuminate the reticle in the gunner's sight. I also set the range to 400 metres, which is a bit long as it happens. While you can measure ranges on the map, in the 3D world, using visual estimation, I usually find that in SF, targets look further away than they really are. A 'battle setting' of 200m would probably be a better compromise in most situations.



Anyhow, we're all set. Now, we just need to cover the last few meters to what I hope will be a reasonably well-chosen fire position, to cover the assault!

...to be continued!

As we plough on, I'm prompted to get a move on...



...which I'm already doing. Some of our infantry appear briefly to our right. If they were supposed to be attached to us, the orders didn’t mention it. Night attacks can be confusing enough without clear instructions and knowing where everybody else is supposed to be!



We clatter along across open country. Rather flatter open country than I was expecting from the map, although the relative paucity of map contours was a good indication of that. Unlike SABOW and GT:OS, in SF you can’t view the battlefield in 3d before starting the mission, just from the map. Nevertheless there is a slight rise in the ground overlooking the bridge on the left, to which I had set up a route. I interrupt the automated path following as we come to the low crest in an effort to stay hull-down and minimise skylining my tank against the lighter night sky. Someone – perhaps our supporting artillery – is now firing illuminating rounds, which fall slowly under their invisible little parachutes. My AI tank commander senses trouble and drops down into his cupola.



Scanning for targets through the gunner’s sight, all I can make out is a couple of Soviet trucks, just beyond the bridge. I engage with HE but the round goes over, as the range set is evidently too great.



I drop the range to two hundred and give each truck another round. Nothing much seems to happen, and I decide not to waste any more ammo on them. By now, I can see that the other tank platoon – little Panzer IIs, by the look of them – is charging across the bridge, seemingly nose to tail. One of my own platoon’s Panzer IIIs has jumped the gun and motored forward from my position; at least he’s finally turned his lights out. In Panzer Elite, if you stop, your platoon stops. In Steel Fury, they tend to do their own thing unless you step in. Often this seems to end up in a mad charge at the enemy. I can see why some players treat them as expendable bots, a distraction to be ignored. Especially as they are harder to control than in PE or SABOW. Harder, but not impossible.



There’s a lot of small arms fire going on. The Panzer IIs make it over to the other side and engage unseen targets from there. I’m not doing much good staying where I am, so advance over the crest, without ‘jockeying’ to one side first. Which I get away with. I cancel platoon orders and instead, tell them to follow me, in column. We’re going over the bridge!



...to be continued!

Down I go, past my too-keen companion who is still in action. If the people firing the intermittent illumination rounds are our boys, they're doing us few favours. One minute it's the enemy who's lit up, the next minute it's us. Perhaps both sides are at it.



An intrepid NCO with an MP40 runs across ahead of my tank, and kneels in the middle of the bridge.



He then makes the mistake of turning around, running back, and kneeling in front of me. I halt. He stays put. Sod it, I’m not going to get my crew knocked out here for his sake. ‘Driver, advance!’ I’ll rely on him getting out of the way. Which he doesn’t. I close my ears to his muffled cry of horror and roll on.



Safely across, I go firm and wait for my other two panzers to rejoin. Things are a bit quieter; so much so, that my tank commander pops his head out again.



Suddenly, there's shooting and explosions nearby. Another starshell lights up the scene and there, right in front of me, is a trenchful of Ivans.



I know from experience that this is not a good thing. These devils have long, nasty A/T rifles and they like nothing better than to shower nearby fascist tanks with A/T grenades. Which is what starts happening. I get a bead on the Ivans and press the trigger for the main gun, smugly expecting them and a section of their trench to disappear in the explosion of my HE round. Nothing happens. First reaction is to repeat the order to load HE. None is loaded. I realise that somewhere in the last frantic few seconds, something really bad has happened to my tank and I’ve not noticed – loader killed or injured somehow, probably.

I let fly with the co-ax instead but it's too little, too late. Next second, the tank commander is clobbered and it’s Goodnight Vienna. Only STA 3.X allows you to play on after that happens, and this is STA 2.0 – you can move surviving crew members around, but if the TC get’s it, it’s all over. Which it is for me, now.



Naturally, I’m curious to find out what got me. So it's time to take Steel Fury's post-mission animated and annotated tour of the battlefield, while the fight rages on without me.

...to be continued!

So what got me? Quite a lot, apparently.



A lot of it's small arms fire, mostly 7.92mm which is a German not a Soviet calibre, some of it AP rounds. And I took a hit from one of my own tank's 50mm HE rounds. The critical hit will be the one from the enemy 45mm gun, a dangerous weapon. It could have been fired by the BT-7 fast tank on the right, which I never even spotted, but has now been knocked out in its turn.



Or perhaps it was fired by the T-26 light tank that's visible beyond this knocked out Panzer II...



...and which is still motoring about (the T-26, that is).



It can be interesting to watch what the AI get up to, during these reviews. The T-26 slams into the trench when trying to cross it, while a Soviet infantryman with a Degtyarev LMG takes position close by.



For some reason, the BT starts to burn. The T26 backs out of the trench then crosses it properly closer in, running over the MG gunner and another fellow with a PPsH SMG. They climb out of the trench and although the SMG carrier seems to have dropped his weapon, they are entirely unscathed, unlike the NCO I ran over earlier. Them's the breaks, I suppose.



Anyhow, it wasn't a good start to Operation Barbarossa. So much for kicking in the front door and the whole rotten edifice coming tumbling down, as Adolph reportedly predicted to his Generals. Fortunately, this campaign mission set is written so as to allow the player to progress without requiring successful completion. So I'll see if I can do better next time, hopefully in daylight when I can see the Ivans coming!

PS Steam has Steel Fury on sale for £2.34 until 31 Aug '20: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1351450/Steel_Fury_Kharkov_1942/?snr=1_7_7_151_150_1

Don't think it has the Tiger seen in the video clip but it runs sweetly from the get-go (Win 7, GTX580 here). Said not to be compatible with at least one version of the must-have STA mod but not sure why, the file structure seems the same at any rate.