Over The River And Through The Woods
The first mission of a game traditionally is the easiest. This one isn't. It's not very hard either, but it's definitely no walkover and it's harder than some of those that follow. It requires great care and above all patience. Impulsive or hasty actions will be severely hazardous to your characters' health.
MISSION: Get across the river to the assigned point, by way of a single-track railway bridge. (Since as we all know commandos couldn't swim, or construct an improvised raft even with a number of cut and ready logs on hand.) The mission completion requirements don't specifically call for eliminating all the Germans in the area, but in practice there's no other way to do it.
CONDITIONS: Night. Heavy rain. Visibility shit.
THE OPPOSITION: The bridge is guarded by a number of sentries, mostly armed with scoped rifles - which makes no sense, but be glad of it; one machine gun covering that bridge and you'd never have a chance. A couple of the guys on the other side have MP-40s instead.
There is a guard walking a regular beat at each end of the bridge. Slightly odd pattern, and worth understanding: he walks alongside the tracks away from the bridge, turns around and walks back, and then either goes onto the bridge a little way or else moves on down the bank, before turning back to repeat the cycle. He alternates his route each time: bridge, bank, bridge, bank.
There is a third guard who walks back and forth across the bridge, next to the railroad track; and there is a fourth who does the same along the walkway under the bridge.
At each end of the bridge is a guard shack. In the one on the bank where you start, there are two guards inside who will rush out at the first shot. The one on the far side contains only a single guard but he's a killer marksman.
Finally, there are two more guards on the other side. One is standing near or behind a big boulder on the left side of the tracks, just beyond the bridge. The other is behind a pile of logs off up the tracks from the bridge. More on these two later.
PERSONNEL: You could do this one solo if you wanted; if you do it right you'll be the only one shooting anyway. But you're going to have a chance to pick up some very useful loot, so you might want to bring the other three as beasts of burden. Pick your three strongest men; skills won't be relevant.
EQUIPMENT: You don't need much. A Sten and a sniper rifle are all you really need. You could even do it with just the Sten, since you're going to have a chance to pick up an excellent rifle early on. You won't need much ammunition: 25 or 30 rounds for the rifle, a clip or two for the Sten and a little more just for insurance. You might bring a few grenades on general principles. The other three men don't even need to be armed, but if you like you can give them a Sten apiece, and a little ammunition, just for atmosphere.
AT THE START: You and the other members of your team are scattered out along the river bank, with the river on your right.
PROCEDURE: Leave the others where they are. Repeat, leave them where they are. They're nothing but trouble if you try to bring them along. You can collect them later.
Walk or run along the river bank until you come to a big whitish boulder. You'll see that there's a rock outcrop to your left, forming a ridge or shoulder running up the hillside. Climb up along the rock, keeping the rocky shoulder between you and the bridge. When you get close to the top, turn right and move cautiously toward the edge. From here you should have a good view of the end of the bridge, including the sentry walking back and forth. Watch him a little till you get the feel of his pattern.
At this point most walkthroughs call for getting out the sniper rifle and taking him. You can do that, if you really want to, but it's not necessary and it makes things more difficult. Because when you shoot him the two sentries will run out of the shack, and it's very hard to get them both with that clumsy rifle; and then one of them runs and hides behind the log pile and you have to winkle him out.
No need. Just use the Sten. It may not look like it, but the bridge is in effective range of the Sten. Accuracy is poor at that range, but you can lay down enough lead that it doesn't matter. Put a long burst into the sentry; use about half the clip, he'll go down and stay down.
Then when the guards come running out of the shack you can gun them down too. In fact I've done it with one long burst, just swinging the Sten down from taking the sentry and using the rest of the clip on those two bozos from the shack. They all hit the ground about the same time.
(It's important, before opening fire, to make sure you've got a clear shot at that area in front of the shack, near the woodpile. Move up to the edge as far as necessary to be sure.)
Now head back down the ridge and run at a crouch to the shack. There's an outside chance you'll be fired at but it's not likely. Go behind the house - there's just barely enough room - and on down to the far corner, and lie down. Wiggle out onto the flat area next to the shack, keeping an eye on the bridge. Switch to the rifle and wait for the sentry to show up. You may have a long wait, but be patient, in time he'll appear and then you can shoot him. If he appears before you can switch weapons, just use the Sten on him. You don't really need the rifle to get him, it's just that you might as well get used to using it because you'll need it in the next phase.
Right, now get up and run down the bank and lie down near that little dock and pan your rifle scope along that catwalk underneath the bridge. Chances are you won't see anything, but check anyway. Assuming you don't, zero in on the catwalk just before it vanishes into the fog, and wait. Eventually the other bridge sentry will appear, walking along the catwalk, and then you can bust him. It's very important to take this one out or he'll kill you as you try to cross the bridge. He may even pick your men off as they walk along the bank.
At this point you should have two dead Germans by the shack, two on the bridge, and one underneath. Good. Now you own this side of the river. Now you can call up your men. You can either walk them forward or use the map to give them movement commands. Just bring them up somewhere near the guard shack and have them loot the bodies. By now you should have helped yourself to one of those scoped Mausers the guards carry; they're better than the Enfield, with a longer effective range. Don't forget to have somebody roll the one on the catwalk.
Leave the men somewhere near the shack, well away from the tracks - they have a tendency to wander around when they hear gunfire, and sometimes they'll wander right in front of a train - and head out on the bridge, carrying your rifle, which of course you've reloaded. Stay over on the right and watch out for those trains.
Notice the little side gates in the railing, where ladders give access to the catwalk. There are four of these: one at each end, two out on the span. When you come even with the third one - counting the one at the head of the bridge - slow way down. Better, lie down. Zoom your scope out to maximum. Start crawling very gradually toward the end of the bridge. When you can clearly see the ferns growing beyond the bridge pier, stop.
In a little while a sentry should appear in your glass. Maybe more than a little while; he's pretty slow. If he doesn't show up for some time, you may be too far away; wiggle yourself a little farther. He's on exactly the same routine as the one you took out first. When he comes up on the end of the bridge, shoot him. Shoot him again if necessary.
As soon as he's down, reload and turn and look up at the guard shack on that hill on the far side. Using the scope at full zoom, see if you can make out the firewood pile next to the shack. If you can't, move very gradually forward until you can see it, and stop. See if there's a man standing next to, or on top of, the woodpile. If you don't see him, look more carefully; move very slightly closer. If he's there, you've got to kill him. Try to get him with a headshot; if you only wound him he can get down behind that wood and then he's hell to winkle out.
Once you've got him, or if you're absolutely sure he's not there, get up and move over to the other side of the tracks - do not proceed any farther ahead - and use your scope to study the area to the left of the tracks, just beyond the end of the bridge. You'll see a big rock and a tree. If you're very lucky you'll also see a man. If you do, kill him immediately.
You probably won't. This one tends to lurk behind the rock or the tree. (Look very carefully at that tree, though; sometimes you can make him out standing on the other side.) You have to flush him out. This isn't difficult if you've already nailed the one up by the guard shack, but if not you have to do it without going any farther across the bridge, because the instant you kill him that son of a bitch up in the guard shack is going to come out and stand by the woodpile and if at all possible he's going to kill you.
What I do in that situation is start tossing grenades - German potato mashers, they're better for this; by now you should have a supply, taken off those guards you killed. Wait till a train has passed, so you've got a little safe time, and then move out into the middle of the bridge and start lobbing potato mashers in the general direction of that rock. Just stand up straight and use 100% throwing force, occasionally varying a bit to 80 or 90. Adjust your aim by the flashes. Throw half a dozen or so at least. It's not very likely you'll kill him this way (though it happens, and very satisfying when it does) but you've got a good chance of smoking him out of his hiding place; the explosions make him nervous and he starts moving around. Sometimes he'll even climb up on the rock. When you're done with the bombardment get out the rifle again and examine the area and you'll probably find him.
But if you've already got the one up on the hill, then there's no need to screw around; just move gradually closer until you spot him, and pick him off. He's not easy to see as he stands behind those bushes, but take your time and you'll spot him.
Keep this in mind, though: sometimes killing the one by the rock is a trigger. If the guard up on the hill wasn't standing out at the woodpile, then when you get the one by the rock he will come out and station himself there and, if he sees you, shoot your young ass off. So if at all possible you want to get the one up on the hill by the shack first, but if not then you need to get the one by the rock without moving far enough across the bridge to come under fire from that sharp-eyed bastard by the woodpile.
If you killed the one by the rock first, then run back to the right side of the bridge and use your scope to check the area beside the guard shack. By now the rifleman will be out there standing by or on the woodpile. You can just barely make him out. If you can't see the woodpile then you're still too far off; move on farther across the bridge, taking it very slow and gradual and stopping to scope that woodpile every single step. Eventually you will see the bastard standing there and then you can ventilate him.
Now you've only got one guard remaining but he's the hardest to spot. Move up to the end of the bridge - don't go past the white piers - and lie down. Look off ahead of you, parallel to the tracks but a bit to the right. With your scope out at max zoom you should be able to make out a pile of logs lying on the ground. There is a man behind, or on top of, those logs. Snake forward slowly slowly till you can see him and kill him.
That's it. Now stand up, take the MP-40 off the nearest cadaver, and move to whatever location you like. Go and get your men and move them manually, one by one, across the bridge. Don't even think about using the map; they walk in front of trains and into the river and all sorts of whimsical things. Besides, you need manual control to have them loot the bodies. At the end of this gig each man should be carrying a fine Mauser rifle and a couple of them should have MP-40s as well, not to mention a stock of grenades. Take the pistols too if you want but they're completely useless.
(One exception: if you want to add a touch of "realism" you might say that you've told the men to come across on your signal, and then use one of the looted pistols to fire shave-and-a-haircut or some such.)
Now gather your faithful followers together and give them follow-me and led them along the trail past the humming transformer (nice touch) to where the truck is parked - no partisans in sight, you never do get to meet them. You'll just barely have time to get in the cab and start the engine before the mission ends. Congratulations, you're off to a fine start.