War Front: Turning Point

German Mission 10: Point of No Return

Pushed into the icy steppes of their Motherland, the Russians have accelerated their research in a frantic attempt to come up with a weapon that can stop at least slow the Allied and German juggernaut. As John Lynch leads the Allied armies in the north, Hellmann is hurrying to a German base that has sounded the alarm indicating a Soviet counterattack. Arriving at the outskirts of the base, he learns that the Soviets have indeed come up with a new weapon: an Ice Bomb that has the same awful power wielded by the Ice Spitter tanks, but which covers a much larger area. And when a target has been frozen, even weak, plentiful units like Katyushas or small tanks can send even large buildings crumbling to the ground with just a couple of hits.

And as if they weren’t enough for Hellmann to deal with, there’s the issue of Preiss. The good news is that Hardt has found out where the old man is being held; the bad news is that the camp is surrounded by Soviet bases to the east, west, and north. Getting Preiss out of the POW camp might not be all that difficult, but getting away from it safely is an entirely different matter….

Primary Objectives

• Rescue Preiss  
• Capture the Long-Range Radio Station
• Survive Until the Reinforcements Arrive
• Destroy the Southeastern Soviet Base  

Secondary Objectives   

• Capture the Russian Oil Rigs    
• Destroy the Ice Spitter Factory

Key Tactics and Battle Tips

• Seizing Oil Rigs near base is a top priority
• Have Wirbelwinds escort all armored battalions
• Use Flame Bunkers to protect against APC Moles and Paratroop attacks
• Sneak an Engineer to the northeastern corner of the map and build a mine when it is safe
• Simply hold on and protect the Aggregator and Radio Station until reinforcements arrive
• Call-In Bombers and V2s should be used to weaken the SE Soviet Base
• Choose the Force Shield Generator as a Core Unit

Map Legend

1. Start point; protect buildings with heavy concentrations of defensive bunkers
2. Oil Rigs; capture as soon as possible
3. Assembly point for force to rescue Preiss
4. German prison camp; attack with armored units augmented by Wirbelwinds
5. Russian War Factory; attack with Jetpack Infantry and Call-In Bombers
6. Radio Station; attack with Core Units backed by Wirbelwinds
7. Mine; deploy Engineer to this location after Soviet attacks have subsided
8. Oil Rigs; capture to achieve
9. Russian Airfield
10. Ice Spitter Factory
11. Southeast Soviet Base

When the mission opens, Hellmann, Elsa, and your Core Units are just west of the base, which has just been hit by an Ice Bomb. What you do over the next few minutes will decide whether you can carry the battle, so plan your moves carefully as this force moves into the frozen base.

Pause the game at the very start of the mission and select the Engineer and, if you followed our advice for Mission 10, two Wirbelwinds. Send them ahead of the heavier armored units; the Wirbelwinds will shoot down the Russian planes that dropped the Ice Bombs (and earn valuable experience points), and the Engineer will be able to construct the buildings you need the very second the Command Center thaws from the Ice Bomb.

You are severely pressed for two vital commodities: Resources and Power. Luckily, you've already got a Supply Depot in place; order it to produce three Opels as soon as it's thawed out from the Ice Bomb and then upgrade it with Turbocharger capability. Next, select the Engineer and press the Shift key so you can queue the construction of a couple of buildings: first a Power Plant, then a Barracks. You might be tempted to build the Barracks first so you can capture the Oil Rigs on the western side of your base more quickly, but low power means your AA Bunkers won't operate at full efficiency — and initially the Russkies will be using air power to try and put an end to your mission before it's even begun. Order Hellmann, Elsa, and the remaining Core Units to the eastern side of the ravaged German base as these buildings are going up.

The moment the Barracks are completed, upgrade it with the Capture Buildings capability and produce four or five Wehrmacht Infantry to capture the two Oil Rigs to the east. The Engineer should now construct a Tank Factory and produce two types of cheap but important Tech Level 1 units: Wurfrahmen to protect against Partisan attacks and Wirbelwinds to bring down the Soviet planes that constantly appear over the base. Send some of the Wirbelwinds to the center and west of the base, while others join the rescue force led by Hellmann and Elsa in the west. You’ll also need Flammwagen APCs to carry Wehrmacht Infantry to the POW camp because it needs to be captured, not destroyed. (You could build an Airfield early on and use the Drop Paratroop option to get the infantry to the camp, but there’s a chance that Soviet AA vehicles will bring it down.)

Expect a steady stream of attacks on the western side of your base as the Soviets try to capture the Oil Rigs and/or destroy your buildings here. Remember those Wurfrahmen we told you to build? Place them in Guard mode and they’ll drop their artillery on anything that moves in the vicinity. Throwing up Flame Bunkers near the Oil Rigs should be considered absolutely essential to victory, and also try to produce a strike force of Jetpack Infantry to make sudden strike at the large Russian installation directly north of your base (and west of the POW camp). They’ll be killed before they can take out more than a building and an AA vehicle or two, but just diverting the enemy’s attention is worth the Resources it takes to manufacture them.