...you might be in for a rather large, lumbering surprise...



Specifically, a Panzerkampfwagen E-100, backed up by some grenadiers and a couple of SP guns. All patiently waiting to spring an ambush on a US spearhead 'somewhere in Germany', May 1945.

'Spring' in this context is relative, meaning in practice rumble slowly forward to the edge of the wood, when the observation post on the other side of the valley reports the enemy are in the killing ground. And not before.



And a killing ground it soon becomes, with my own tank claiming six various M4s and a brace of M26s and shrugging off numerous hits. The others mopped up the half-tracks, infantry and surviving M4s.



Turret traverse is really ponderously slow, even when supplemented by turning the tank. Likewise, the speed of reloading the 12.8cm AP rounds. However, the co-axial short-barrelled 7.5cm gun helps fill in the long gaps. It's a well-designed mission, perfect for a player who's not in a hurry, but likes blowing up stuff without getting blown up.

Mission comes with the Japanese community pack available here: https://wikiwiki.jp/pzfr/Steel%20Tank%20Add-on

Bigger is Better!

What mission is that from?
What is with the red exhaust stacks? Are they 'cherry red' from those two big old diesel(?) engines working so hard to move that behemoth around?

Hmmm, it seems it might be more efficient to save your ammunition and just wait, with the enemy's rounds bouncing of, until they get close enough and then just drive over them and squash them into the ground.

S!Blade<><

Mission's from the JCM pack which I think is a separate download from the Japanese site. Called something like Unknown, X May 1945 (E-100). There's also at least one mission one for the Maus, which I haven't tried yet. Also one for the '88' at Halfaya, where you get to blow up Matildas. I couldn't find a gunner's sight view (even after using the 'G' key) and trying the targeting mode ('F' key) didn't seem to work very well. So I ended up ordering fire at will (cycled via '0' key) and basically just watched the action. Shout if you can find the gunner's sight!

If you want to play for the US Army and NOT get beaten up by Wehrmacht super-heavy tanks, you can always use one of these 'hypothetical' jobs, if you don't mind arriving at the fight after most of it's over...



...which can take out a Maus, never mind an E-100...



...but it was one of these, that finally got me (Pak 43/41 lash-up):