Square Off
As my presentation comes to an end, Mosqueira loads up a level to give us
a quick demonstration of the two new armies in battle. Under the cover of darkness and a stinging rain, a couple of British squads cautiously stalk across open terrain to capture a resource point, with a Cromwell tank and their lieutenant standing watch. Once the point's been captured, Mosqueira has one squad build a slit trench while the other takes cover behind the standard sandbags. Lightning flashes overhead, illuminating the forces at work.

Minutes later, a couple of the half-track vehicles of the Panzer Elite roll into the square, with German soldiers leaning out of them, firing their Panzerschrecks at the Cromwell tank. However, they don't last long against the heavily dug-in British.

Time to even things up a bit. The steady rumble of a tank fills the air, and suddenly one of the walls of the square crumbles before the might of a Panther. Panzer Elite troops flood through the gap in the wall and the scene descends into chaos, with machine-gun fire filling the air and explosions rocking the screen. Mosqueira switches back to the British to call in some help courtesy of the Royal Canadian Artillery. Soon, shells begin to drop from the sky and the battle really heats up.

Panning around, the units that took cover behind the sandbags have been totally wiped out and the Cromwell's been decimated by the superior Panther. All that remains is a handful of plucky Brits in the slit trench withstanding hit after hit. When only one is left, it looks like the battle's going the way of the Germans. Suddenly, reinforcements arrive, and a neat bit of flanking exposes the weaker parts of the Panther's armour to the two newly arrived tanks, while the infantry reinforcements mop up any German stragglers. A moment to feel patriotic if ever I saw one.