This is an extension of SSI’s original PG II CRUSADE IN THE WEST American Campaign. At its core are the six scenarios of the original campaign. To that I core, I have been adding more and more scenarios as time has permitted. For v.2.0 of this campaign, I have had the great pleasure of collaborating with my good friend Joel Illian. For 2.5, our good friend Steve Brown has contributed another take on one of my favorite scenarios, “Reds in Dessau”.

After a few training scenarios in Georgia and Alaska against British, French and Japanese forces starting in 1939 before the real shooting war gets under way, you get to command your own units against the Germans, the Vichy French, the Soviets, Italians and the Japanese until 1946. You'll be dealing with a variety of new equipment. You’ll fight on land, on sea, and in the air. You'll start out with green troops, light units and no aircraft in 1939. Your best units will be lowly GMC M-3 anti-tank units and garden variety artillery. But by the time you have finished, you’ll have a vaunted force of experienced veterans who have shown the other great armies of the world how to fight. At your disposal, if you have enough prestige, will be some of the best equipment in the world including, powerful 8 inch guns which could fire 32 km (20 miles), and fleets of bombers that have the enemy abandoning their hardware on sight, and much more. But your enemy will have some interesting equipment as well even when they don’t necessarily have a preponderance in numbers. You will have to build a well-balanced core force to succeed. Just because you don’t need AA in one scenario doesn’t mean that you won’t need it in the next. You may not do well the first time, but that is what will have you playing this over and over.

This should be a lot of fun for anyone enjoying a well-researched campaign designed by a historian who is also a Panzer General buff. The campaign involves realistic scenarios along with plausible "what if" scenarios for 1946 along with training scenarios and a few surprises, such as an all-out assault of Malta, a chance to liberate Greece, and more, along the way. This campaign also has realistic force levels so that you don't find yourself fighting hundreds of units of Tiger tanks in a battle that you know had only 20. There are also different versions of several battles. You'll have the opportunity to encounter all this and much more Screaming Eagles and Shattered Steel!

Type: Europe/Asia, 1939-1946

Equipment File: Waffenkammer 4.02NS (included in this zip file)

Max. Scenarios: 16

Player Country: USA

Designers: SSI, Narayan Sengupta, Joel Illian, Steve Brown

Size: 230 kb

Additional maps: None

Additional downloads:

Sfx.zip (optional if you want all of the sounds)

Sfx2.zip (optional if you want all of the sounds)

Gfx.zip

PGII, v. 4.02 or better

v.1.0 June 2-6, 2001

Original campaign completed on trip to Alaska.

v.1.1 August 7-12, 2001

Revision of sound files, changed video files, renamed .cam and some other files for clarity, fixed the first scenario to have different turns to achieve different victory levels. Used as a Challenge Campaign at JP’s Panzer Forum (JP's Panzer Forums: http://pub88.ezboard.com/bjpspanzers).

v.2.0 September 8-October 27, 2001

Added five more scenarios and changed most of the rest to some extent or other. Also adjusted prestige settings. Joel Illian contributed the two wonderful scenarios around Strasbourg! Changed title, with thanks to Jawn Henry! Play tested by Nikolaos G. Koutsis and Nils Vogelgesang. Many thanks Nikos and Nils!

v.2.0a-2.5 November 19-December 19, 2001

v.2.0a of October 31, 2001 changes some text files and decreases prestige for three scenarios. V.2.0c of November 3-4, 2001 changed some unit arrival turns and the map for the Rising Sun ’46 scenario. Extensive revisions, including: tweaks to e-file, created a new Alaska map (Lillihammer with some modifications) and assigned the existing Alaska scenarios to it. I have tweaked or added terrain names and unit names to many scenarios and even added airport, highway, forest, swamp, mountain, park names to most of the scenarios. I have decreased prestige, increased reinforcements, and, in some cases, increased the length of scenarios. I added more map files (based on existing maps – so no additional downloads required). Thank you Steve Brown for updating the Reds in Dessau scenario and Lasse Jansen for his feedback. Thanks again to Nils Vogelgesang for all of the play-testing and the whole Challenge Campaign #8 team for their feedback and great suggestions, and most of all, to Luis Guzman for his PG2 Scenario Editor, which he was kind enough to keep upgrading to make my work here easier! Approximately 95 out of 205 files changed in all. Almost every scenario has been changed or refined in some way or other.

v.3.0 1^st Quarter, 2002

Projected. Add several more scenarios, especially those against the USSR.

Scenario Path Summary

I have included this campaign summary so that you can determine your own path to some extent or other. If you want to play a shorter campaign, then you can see how to Lose so that the game ends.

ID	Scenario	Main Enemy	BV	V	TV	Loss	File Name[1]	Skill (1 to 10)	Added in Version
0	Training in Savannah	UK	5	1	1	1	NS_Spain	1	1.0-2.5
1	De Gaulle in Savannah	France	5	5	6	5	NS_Spain2	2	1.1-2.5
5	Training in Anchorage	Japan	10	10	11	11	NS_KhalkinGol	3	1.0-2.5
6	Training in Anchorage	Japan	10	10	11	11	NS_KhalkinGol2	4	1.1-2.5
10	Alaskan Samurais	Japan	12	12	12	15	NS_Finland39	6	1.0-2.5
11	Alaskan Samurais	Japan	12	12	12	15	NS_Finland392	6	1.1-2.5
12	Torch ‘42	France	13	13	13	17	NS_Torch	3	2.0-2.5
13	Tunisia	Germany	14	14	17	17	NS_Tunisia	4	2.0-2.5
14	Malta	Germany	16	16	15	15	NS_Malta	6	2.0-2.5
15	Salerno[2]	Germany	19	19	20	20	NS_Moscow	4	1.0-2.5
16	Salerno	Germany	19	19	20	20	NS_Salerno	4	2.0-2.5
17	Greece	Germany	19	19	19	Loss	NS_Greece	5	2.0-2.5
18	Training in Oakridge	USSR	20	20	20	20	NS_Oakridge	5	3.0
19	Overlord: Longest Day	Germany	29	29	30	Loss	NS_Dday	4	2.0-2.5
20	Overlord: Longest Day	Germany	29	30	30	Loss	NS_Stalingrad	4	1.0
29	Clash at Caen	Germany	32	34	35	35	NS_Caen	6	2.0-2.5
30	Clash at Caen	Germany	32	32	35	35	NS_Leningrad	5	1.0-2.5
31	Free Dunkirk	Germany	36	36	37	37	NS_Dunkirk	5	3.0
32	Arracourt	Germany	35	35	35	35	NS_Finland44	5	1.0
34	Metz Reinforced	Germany	37	36	39	38	NS_Metz	5	2.0
35	Metz[3]	Germany	36	37	39	38	NS_Seelow	5	1.0
36	Attacking the Bulge[4]	Germany	38	38	37	37	NS_Bulge	7	2.0
37	Erasing the Bulge[5]	Germany	39	38	38	38	NS_Bulge2	8	2.0
38	Training in London	UK	39	39	39	45	NS_London	4	3.0
39	Dash to Dessau	Germany	41	40	40	Loss	NS_Salerno46	6	1.0
40	Reds in Dessau [6]	USSR	45	46	45	46	NS_Sedan46	9	1.0
41	Reds in Dessau [7]	USSR	45	46	45	46	NS_Sedan46	9	2.5
45	Anchorage	Japan	Win	Win	Win	Loss	NS_Normandy	7	1.0
46	Anchorage 2	Japan	Win	Win	Win	Loss	NS_Normandy2	8	1.1
47	Rumania	USSR	48	48	48	50	NS_Rumania	8	3.0
48	Leningrad	USSR	49	49	49	50	NS_Leningrad47	8	3.0
49	Kursk	USSR	50	50	50	Loss	NS_Kursk	9	3.0
50	Moscow	USSR	Win	Win	Win	Loss	NS_Moscow47	10	3.0

	v.2.0 by Narayan Sengupta
	v.2.0 by Joel Illian
	v.2.5 by Steve Brown
	Ideas for v.3.0 (projected)

Note that at the end of this campaign, unlike the stock SSI campaigns, you get to see your score even if you lose! Such situations are indicated by “Loss” in the above table.

Scenarios with a File Name bearing a “2” suffix are similar, but harder than their non-2 counterparts. In other words, Finland ’39 2 is more difficult than Finland ’39. So if you want more of a challenge, then you can deliberately go for the harder scenarios since you have the scenario path above.

With all of the many changes in v.2.5, some of the paths described above may no longer be accurate.

Thanks To

The first and foremost thanks goes to my wife Janel. Second most important (or perhaps equally so) is my good friend Joel Illian. Joel has contributed three centerpieces of this campaign: the two fabulous scenarios centered around Strasbourg “Attacking the Bulge” and “Erasing the Bulge” along with the “Training in London” scenario. I’d also like to thank Steve Brown for his support and a revision to the “Reds in Dessau” scenario. Jorge Gabitto and several others have provided great feedback. Thank you to Nils Vogelgesang, Nikolaos G. Koutsis, Jawn Henry, Philip Nelson, Paul the Wanderer, and Lasse Jansen for their feedback and testing and play of the Challenge Campaign that has created so much excellent feedback as well. Jawn Henry deserves a second round of thanks for letting us use his great title: “Screaming Eagles and Shattered Steel”, which is much better than the previously mundane “U.S. Extension Campaign” that I had. Finally, I would like to thank Luis Guzman. About 70% of the changes that I have made in v.2.5 (terrain, name, map, unit and other changes) have been due to using Luis’ PG2 Scenario Editor. If you haven’t used it yet, and you are a developer, then you must look at this tool!

Other than that, I would like to thank pretty much everyone who has contributed to the various sites, which I have used as reference and inspiration.

A very special thanks goes to the creators of PGII, who have developed such an interesting an extendable game.

Installation

This should be everything you need to know to upgrade sounds, icons, maps, and equipment for this custom campaign.

Also note that I have reused the same file names for multiple campaigns. So if you are expecting an American campaign, but see file that are Russian in theme, don’t worry. They are the correct files.

If you have already started a campaign, please make a backup copy of your saved game files before you do a full game install if you have to start with a clean Panzer 2 install per the notes below.

Start with clean Panzer 2 install**

Download and install the following in order:

Download and install the US or UK or German or French (depending on which game of you have) v.1.02 Patch.**

Download and install the Sound Upgrade**, 1st Icon Upgrade**** and 2nd Icon Upgrade*

Download and extract the Screaming Eagles & Shattered Steel to PANZER2/SCENARIO folder.

Back up your original "equip97.eqp" and "equip97.txt" files that are in your PANZER2 folder.

Download and extract the 5 Star General PG2 Equipment File to PANZER2 folder.

Download and extract the PG2v0102UK.exe***** to the PANZER2 folder and then open it to play the game.

* This was last updated in January, 2002. Reinstall if you don't have the latest version.

** Do this if you haven't already done so. This only needs to be done once ever for your game.

*** If you haven't already done so, then copy the MAP folder from your CD to your PANZER2 folder.

**** Last updated June, 2001. Reinstall if you don't have the latest version.

***** Fixes bugs and allows 2000 units and 2000 icons.

If the links have changed from the time of this writing (July, 2002), then please go to Builder’s Paradise to find the newer links. There will probably be a Panzer General II link where you can find everything. Please let me know if you have ANY problems with installation, and I will do my utmost to clarify anything.

Maps:

Not that there are any custom maps in this campaign, but if you are using these instructions generically, and if there are ever any custom maps in another campaign, then do the following any time before launching PG2v0102UK.exe to start the game:

Create a PANZER2/MAP folder***

Download and extract the MAP organization files to PANZER2/SCENARIO folder.

Download and extract the following map graphic files to new PANZER2/MAP folder.

Click on http://xferla3.fileplanet.com/strategyplanet/panzergeneral/PG2maps/MapName.zip where “MapName.zip” is the name of the zip file containing the map you need. Repeat this for each map.

Uninstallation of this campaign

Remove all files starting with “NS_*” that are in your Panzer2/Scenario directory.

You may also restore your original equipment files if desired.

Known bugs

The Alaskan Samurais scenario against the Japanese fails sometimes on some machines during naval combat. However, it failed on mine PG II v.1.0, but not on the play-testers’ machines. This can be easily defeated by concentrating on sinking the Japanese naval units as rapidly as possible. Please save frequently during this scenario, just in case.

None of these will affect game play. However, just in case, make sure that you save at the end and at the beginning of every scenario with a different name each time. This way you can always restart from a saved scenario from wherever you want.

If there are any bugs, please e-mail me immediately so that I can address them as quickly as possible.

FAQs

Are the text file names supposed to be the same as in other campaigns I have designed? Yes.

Design Notes

This campaign was designed for use on the US version of PGII. It hasn’t been tested on any other versions, though I assume that it will work on other versions as well. Quite a few others have played this using the UK, German and other versions of PGII and have not had any problems.

The scenarios in this campaign are not designed to be played individually.

I haven’t really spent any time with the voice or music files, so they will not be accurate or necessarily even working for the scenarios.

If you find any bugs in the campaign, please let me know.

I have added many terrain names and unit names. Where possible, I have consulted with maps (some extremely detailed ones) to make these names as accurate as possible. However, in some cases, I have guessed or simply made up names to add flavor. For some maps, such as the ones used for the Torch, Tunisia and various Alaska scenarios, I have used existing maps for other regions as substitutes so that players wouldn’t be forced to download maps. So by definition, the names may vary from what is expected. Also for the North African scenarios, I had a very difficult time finding road names. For OOBs (Orders of Battle) and proper naming of units, I named units as I had the time and the patience. My key goal was to make a dramatic improvement over the PGII scenarios and the way units are named in them. Interestingly, in all of the naming, I came across several interesting things. But the most interesting thing/dilemma was that the maps sometimes don’t match the historical resources. For example, there are frequently air bases on the maps that don’t appear to have existed in real life.

This campaign was designed to be a historically plausible one. In designing it, I endeavored to use the following parameters: short enough to play in a weekend, challenging enough to require playing several times before being able to attain many brilliant victories, having some scenarios where Brilliant Victories may be impossible (without certain leader specials), varying the complexity of scenarios to provide variety, using plausible unit strengths, changing theaters to provide a variety of opponents and terrains, etc. I have also stuck with the Waffenkammer equipment file, which accounts for things such as their being only two American classes of aircraft carriers, which in turn explains the Yorktown being present in the Mediterranean theater.

This originally started out as a very easy campaign, for the casual player. But then many players gave me feedback saying that it was too easy. So I toughened it up, but still got feedback that it was too easy. Then I started getting feedback that it was too hard. So I have made it easier. I have thought that it was pretty easy from the start, even if there were some tough scenarios. Just remember to keep a balanced force, even when it doesn’t look like you’ll need it. You may think that you can get by concentrating in armor initially, but then you’ll probably find later on that your fighters are weak and that you don’t have enough AA. So keep it balanced.

References

One of the main references has been myself. I have been an avid WWII buff since I was six years old. I have been to numerous tank and aircraft and naval museums such as the Saumur Tank Museum in France, the Patton Tank Museum here in the US, naval museums in Toulon, France, naval bases at Pearl Harbor, Bombay, Newport, Norfolk, etc. I have been to Normandy three times and been to several other battlefields as well. Still, that only gives one an intuitive feel for what went on.

This is a partial listing of the sources referenced. It does not include several excellent web sites, encyclopedias, travel maps, etc.

“The Illustrated Dictionary of Fighting Aircraft of World War II”, by Bill Gunston

“A Frozen Hell, The Russo-Finish War of 1939-40”, William R. Trotter

“Ostfront, Hitler’s War on Russia 1941-45”, Charles Winchester

“When Titans Clashed”, David M. Glantz & Jonathan House

“Clash of Wings”, Walter J. Boyne

“The Navy Times Book of Submarines”, Brayton Harris

“Fighting Aircraft of World War II”, Bill Gunston

“The Iron Cavalry”, Ralph Zumbro

“Victory in Europe”, Gerald Simons, Time Life Books

“The Soviet Juggernaut”, Earl F. Ziemke, Time Like Books

“Red Army Resurgent”, John Shaw, Time Life Books

“Russia Besieged”, Nicholas William Bethell, Time Life Books

“Stalingrad to Berlin”, Earl F. Ziemke and Magna E. Bauer

“Stalingrad”, V. E. Tarrant

“Blitzkrieg, From the Rise of Hitler to the Fall of Dunkirk”, Len Deighton

“Why the Allies Won”, Richard Overy

“Jane’s Fighting Ships of WWII”, Jane’s Information Group

“Jane’s Fighting Aircraft of WWII”, Jane’s Information Group

“Artillery of World War II”, Chris Chant

"Panther Variants, 1942-1945", Hillary Doyle & Tom Jentz

"Flammpanzer, German Flamethrowers, 1941-1945", Hillary Doyle & Tom Jentz

“Aircraft of WWII”, Stewart Wilson

“Blood, Tears and Folly: An Objective Look at World War II”, Len Deighton

“Dirty Little Secrets of World War II”, James F. Dunnigan and Albert A. Nofi

“Historical Maps of World War II Europe”, Michael Swift and Michael Sharpe

“The Time-Life History of WWII”, Time Life Books

“World War II”, Ivor Matanle

“Hitler’s Luftwaffe”, Tony Wood and Bill Gunston

“Clash of Chariots”, Tom Donnelly and Sean Naylor

“Illustrated Atlas of the World”, Rand McNally

Not too useful, but consulted nonetheless:

“The Spanish Civil War”, Introduction by Raymond Carr

“Armor on the Eastern Front”, Walter J. Spielberger

“What They Didn’t Teach You About WWII”, Mike Wright

Disclaimer

This software is freeware and may be freely distributed as long as it is not modified. The author makes no warranty as to the suitability of the software for its intended or any other purpose. Furthermore, the author is not responsible for any damage to your system nor is he liable for any other damages whatsoever that may be incurred by use of these files.

How to Contact Me or for Feedback

I look forward to getting feedback on how to improve this campaign as well as anything else that might apply to this document. Note that the .doc version of this document is easier to read than the .txt version of the same.

Thanks,

Narayan Sengupta

NewFrontiers@Mindspring.com

http://www.peachmountain.com/5star (for campaigns, scenarios, utilities, and information on PG, Allied General, Pacific General, PGII, People’s General, PGIII)

Play Tips

[This will be added to as I get time… This was started for version 1 of this campaign. I have not had time to update it. If you need more in the way of playtips, then see JP’s forum mentioned at the beginning of this document.]

Do not read this if you enjoy surprises and more of a challenge…

Reds in Dessau is perhaps the hardest scenario in the group. I lost about 8 core units on the first turn, which is probably more core units than I have lost in the campaign thus far. So I reloaded. Then reloaded again. And again, and again. It wasn’t until the fourth time that I finally got it right.

I tried several different methods to get it right. Nothing seemed to work until I figured out the right way to play the scenario defensively. I pulled everything as rapidly as possible to the west of the river, and then held on while the Reds and their German allies assaulted with so much of what they had.

I won the scenario on the last turn, and barely at that.

I was not able to win the last scenario, and closed the campaign on a down note. I hope that you can do better. E‑mail me if you need any tips…

Final tally was 7 BVs, 1 V, 1 TV and 2 Losses for 218 points in all.

[1] These file names may look incorrect, but aren’t. These are the file names that I used for my first campaign (“Russian Revenge”); it was more expedient and better for quality to use the same names again rather than rename 90 odd files and have a chance misspelling ruin the campaign.

[2] Salerno, St. Lo, Caen, Arracourt, Metz, and Dessau were all originally created by SSI and Asylum Entertainment, the producers and authors of PGII.

[6] Modification of Seelow Heights scenario by authors of PGII.

[7] Steve Brown modification of Seelow Heights scenario by authors of PGII.