Solo project, GEM Editor, June 2015 - September 2015

The Ardennes Offensive Levels  (1.42 MB)

Instructions are provided in the download.

The Ardennes Offensive is a series of Real Time Strategy levels made in the GEM Editor used by the Men of War game series. The levels are part of a theoretical campaign set during the Ardennes Offensive of WWII. The project features three out of the campaign's six intended levels. Generally, the game of Men of War: Assault Squad revolves around intricate micro-management, cautious movement, and unforgiving combat. Infantry and vehicles can be manually controlled by the player, as well as given traditional RTS orders. Additionally, vehicles have armor values that can block or deflect incoming shots and internal modules that can be knocked out. The entire campaign follows this play style, though each level requires its own specific strategies and tactics. Each level will be described more in depth below.

The overarching campaign is set during an alternate 1944 - 1946 during WWII. In the campaign, German Ardennes Offensive succeeded in its intended goal: the capture of Antwerp. The levels featured are the first, second, and final (sixth) in the campaign and features playable units from Germany, America, and the United Kingdom. The campaign begins with the successful German capture of the town of Bastogne and culminates with the Allied siege and retaking of Antwerp. The German forces capture Antwerp by Level 3 while the Allies retake the city by Level 6.

It should be noted that this project is a work in progress. I began this project in my spare time while working at iD Tech and continued to work on it throughout the summer and into September. However after I was hired by Mojo Game Studios, I switched focus to Hill 262 to learn Unreal Engine 4. My overarching strategy for the project was to work on the actual environment of each level, then go back through and add the scripting, objectives, and reinforcements for each one. The first level has some of these elements in it as I was testing them out as a proof of concept, but it is still incomplete. The second level features completed environment, but no scripting or reinforcements. Finally, the third level's geography is incomplete as I was hired by Mojo while still building it and switched over to Hill 262.

Level 1 is set during the German assault on the city of Bastogne. As this level is the first one in the campaign, it is a fairly straightforward. The objective is simply to capture the square in the town. The player must command the German forces from one end of the map to the other; across an open field, through the American lines, and into the town. The player is given a large amount of reinforcements and is able to continuously churn out infantry and vehicles to push through the defenders. In addition, he or she is given a self propelled gun to provide focused artillery support on troublesome positions. The enemy has no armor but does have access to machine guns, AT field guns, and howitzers, requiring the player to more or less execute fast dashes across the open field and into the forest. When in the forest, the player's units have more cover, but are still under heavy fire, forcing them to keep the momentum up. The heavy armor provides a useful edge, but must be supported or else they will be quickly destroyed. The only objective of the level is to capture the town square. 

Level 2 is set during the German breakout of the Ardennes Forest towards the port of Antwerp. The player is given control of two German Panzer VI B "King Tiger" tanks and two squads of supporting infantry. He or she must use these forces to flank around a fortified town and attack it from behind, carving though a defensive lines and entrenched vehicles. The King Tiger is one of the most heavily armed and armored unit in the game and can easily take on multiple enemies at once. However, due to the combat nature of the Men of War series, even inferior enemies can destroy the King Tigers. As a result, this level requires much more cautious movement than the first one. The player must cautiously advance while keeping a constant eye out for enemy positions. When the player is engaged by enemy vehicles or AT guns, it is vital to only expose the strongest armor while hiding the weaker areas. The King Tigers are key to progressing through the level, so advancing will be much more difficult if one or both are destroyed. While not currently implemented for the reasons listed above, the player will be given the option to bring in armor reinforcements after the river ford shown above is captured. Furthermore, the difficulty and enemy units encountered after the vehicle depot have not been finalized and are not shown in the walkthrough video below. The objectives for the level are to 1) capture the river crossing, 2) destroy the vehicle depot, and 3) capture the town and bridge.

The sixth and final level is is set during the Allied recapture of Antwerp. In this level, the player is given command of American and UK forces as they enter into the city and capture the German command headquarters. The gameplay of this level centers around urban combat; i.e. careful house-to-house movement and deadly street-fighting reminiscent of Stalingrad or Berlin. The player is initially given command of a small group of light tanks and infantry squads and must destroy German positions to gain access to heavier US and UK units. This level also contains numerous ambushes from hidden vehicles, AT guns, and infantry. As a result, the level necessitates constant vigilance from the player to prevent vehicles from being knocked out or squads cut down by unseen enemies. Large amounts of powerful reinforcements are available to the player for when his or her units are inevitably destroyed. The objectives for the level are to 1) destroy the German roadblock, 2) capture the canal bridge, and 3) capture the German headquarters.

The walkthrough videos for each level. It should be noted that all three levels are works in progress, as listed above. They do not have scripting, objectives, or reinforcements added and, as a result, have not been completely balanced. They should be taken as displays of the environments, units, and the general gameplay of each level and are as close to the intended final experience as they can be. However, due to the nature of Men of War's game mechanics, the exclusion of elements like reinforcements do alter that representation somewhat.

It should be noted that the four tanks being dragged on to the street (7:15) is a stand-in for those units appearing on screen after the roadblock objective is completed (both King Tigers are destroyed). As scripting is required to spawn in units when an objective is completed, this feature has not yet been implemented. In addition, the empty area to the right of the roadblock is the part of the level that is not yet implemented (due to the reasons listed above).