Company of Heroes 3: North Africa Campaign Mission Hands-On – IGN First
North Africa in Company of Heroes 3 isn't just a different campaign structure and a sandy color palette. Compared to Italy, where the might of the US and British forces keep your offensive churning along, the Deutsch Afrika Korps often has to make a big difference with smaller, undersupplied forces and whatever they can find lying around – sometimes literally. In this brand new exclusive mission, Desert Route Raid, we went hands-on to see the kinds of challenges the dunes can throw your way.
This scenario, which takes place some time after the pivotal Battle of Tobruk, opens with Erwin Rommel detailing a high risk, high reward opportunity to hit British fuel supplies. There's no base building in this one. And worse yet, you don't even get any real armor to play with. It's just two armored cars and four squads of infantry, sent deep into enemy territory to take out some depots before a larger patrol returns. Sure, whatever you say, Feldmarschall…
These Sonderkraftfahrzeuge, or Sd.Kfz. if you prefer, are nimble and effective at suppressing infantry. But they don't have much armor and are very vulnerable to anti-tank rifles and grenades, so I found that I really needed to use them for quick, hit-and-run attacks before falling back for repairs. That, fortunately, is something the DAK is very good at, since even their basic infantry know how to staple a car back together. Losing even one can be disastrous, since there is no way to replace them. And just about every step of the way, you're going to be outgunned.
I found the tactical pause feature to be really useful here, since every movement had to be fairly precisely coordinated. But the real key to success ended up being to loot every squad weapon in sight. You can't train new
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