When tanks are hit, the game determines penetration based on shell type, armor at the location hit, and the angle of the strike. Damage varies realistically, from destroying the tank and wounding crew members to knocking out the main gun or immobilizing the tracks. As in real life, when the firing stops, an attacker finds he has just as many badly damaged tanks as he does dead ones.

Subscribe Today

• Subscribe to Armchair General Magazine
• Subscribe online and save nearly 40%!
 

TOW2 also models hits on soldiers as well as their vehicles. Air and artillery attacks are down-right scary when they are falling in the right place. Unless troops are entrenched, they don’t have a chance in the middle of an artillery barrage. Flying shrapnel and bullets easily wound limbs, and torsos, affecting the soldier’s ability to continue the fight. Troops also have morale and at some point when casualties are high, they break and run.

One of the very nice features is detailed crew management. Each soldier is rated for several abilities, including skill as a gunner, driver and leader. If your heavy hitting Pzkw IVf2 has a badly wounded driver, replace him with that healthy driver from the Pzkw IIIj that just bailed out. Want to make certain your M10 tank destroyer can hit with one shot? Look through your crews, find the best skilled gunner, and put him in the M10.

The ability to manage crews is often an important part of winning some scenarios. In the German Kasserine Pass scenario for example, the player can take Wehrmacht crews and infantry to man captured British anti-tank guns, and American 105mm howitzers. The guns, turned on their former owners, help stop a British counter-attack, and root out dug-in American gun emplacements.

The true test of historical accuracy for any tactical game, is how well real-life tactics work on the game map. In terms of tactical fidelity, TOW2 gets an “A.” Charge enemy trenches with infantry in the open, and you will be wiped out. Infantry advances must be covered with smoke and large-caliber suppressive fire. Tank advances work well by using hull-down firing positions, and bounding overwatch, i.e., one section covers the other while moving. Want to take out an enemy infantry team in a house? Don’t charge in with guns and grenades; take the house down with high explosive rounds from a tank.

While all of this detail and behind the scenes number crunching just tickles the fancy of every true grognard, not everything in combat works exactly as it should. Infantry are vulnerable to any type of fire, and the AI has too many eagle-eyed gunners who can pick off a lone infantryman popping his head over a sand dune at 500 meters. Unless the player is very careful with how he uses his infantry, 90% casualties are just another day at the office.

The game comes with three campaigns, British, German and American. Each campaign has a handful of linked scenarios where core troops from the previous battle are advanced to the next. Between battles, the player distributes experience points that increase the skills of those troops and crews who survived.

Just before entering battle, the player can also set up the units he will be attacking with. The player can use an optional organization screen to purchase additional units or trade for different types of equipment. Making good choices here often makes a big difference on the battlefield.

Each mission in a campaign easily takes one or two hours to play. Battles have nested objectives that are revealed as the player progresses through the scenario. In the German Kasserine scenario for example, the player starts off by attacking prepared US positions in the pass. But if the player chooses to outflank the American emplacements, the player is given another objective, and more tanks, to smash the American right flank. The maps are large, and objectives diverse enough that playing a battle two or three times does not become stale.

In fact, most players will have to play each battle a few times anyway. The campaign will not let you progress until you win. While the scenarios can be difficult, they are not impossible. Most players will have to restart each scenario a few times, but they will also enjoy the challenge.

Help Armchair General by bookmarking to