Over the course of Company of Heroes 3’s sprawling and never-ending Italian campaign, you’ll be fighting your fair share of classic RTS battles. Probably quite a few of them. But to add some variety, there are also some non-traditional encounters that you can come across with their own rules and objectives, so you should pay attention. Until the Special Forces operation of 1944, the advance on Rome required ingenuity and adaptability to break through the Axis lines. We had to try just a few of these unorthodox scenarios.
They say the best way to stop a snake is to cut off its head. I don’t know who “they” are, nor have I actually tested this. Better leave the snake alone, right? But that could definitely be true when fighting the Nazis who brought us to one of my favorite Company of Heroes 3 missions so far: gardening jobs. It’s a stealthy Special Forces mission, providing a small number of highly specialized troops and no way to get reinforcements. And if possible, you need to escape with your life.
No time to expect to slug out of cover and outmaneuver your foes here. We also don’t have the manpower to bulldoze the entire map. So to this very tricky puzzle of choosing engagements, staying undetected, knowing how to use your squad abilities and making sure every shootout is heavily tilted in your favour. I’ve played it a few times and find that moving quickly and decisively is really the way to go. , defeat them before they even know what attacked them.
Of course, we couldn’t clear out all the guards before the VIP showed up. That meant my escape was made even more difficult when a surviving enemy squad joined the hunt. Not everyone survived. But we got the job done.
Coast to Coast
But not even one out-of-the-way Nazi commander could have won the war. It led to a cleanup mission. This would flank the German coastal defenses and ensure that they were not functioning so that more troops could be safely landed, or naval guns could be brought into range to assist those already there. There’s no timer, but it’s pretty nerve-wracking when you’re presented with overlapping defenses that seem ready for anything at every step towards your objective.
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I don’t want to spoil all the surprises hidden in this map or tell you exactly what to do. But it’s really about finding gaps in the armor, perhaps small spots where small sections of the line are vulnerable to certain types of attacks. , and take advantage of it in the split second before that window closes. It brilliantly captures the tension and paranoia of attacking a fortified point that isn’t on your side, and is a worthy challenge even for series veterans.
to the rescue
But with the coast literally and figuratively clear, the mission design team had to throw another curveball. Hill Highway Rescue begins with an Allied captain’s plane descending behind enemy lines. Our company is ordered to reach him and repel the waves of attackers before the Wehrmacht can level his position. There is a time limit represented by a health bar that indicates how long you can hold out without help.
Getting to the crash site was easy. Having mastered swift and deadly night infiltration in previous assassination missions, I was able to make my way through the moonlit countryside without pining. When armored and armored vehicles were involved, the old barn and some stone fences could not provide the hard cover needed to counterattack effectively. I did my best to place a powerful AT gun, but it was too late. The reunion with the captain was bittersweet. Because when the position was taken by the Axis powers, I shared the fate of the captain.
return to the beginning
You can’t beat them all. And with Company of Heroes 3’s unique mission variety, you’ll need to be prepared for anything. Sooner or later we will have a rematch. I was already thinking about all the things I could have done differently. It was more effective than waiting for them to come. After all, sometimes attack is the best defense.
