Previous thread: ayy
>Although this does mean I get to reuse my last OP image and pretend its fresh
Pastebin shit: http://pastebin.com/2MSV2Y8m
(contains info dumps, summaries, and other crap; not up to date because of eternal procrastination)
I honestly should summarize more in the starts of threads so I’m going to start doing that so people don’t have to read through the oh god amount of text in the back before participating if they want to.
You are Lukas Weisenkranz, war veteran, convicted murderer and servant of the Kaiser of the Grossreich of Czeiss, who will lead the empire back into the glory like that of days long dead. In service of the Kaiser, you lead a company under the 5th Light Division.
The Grossreich of Czeiss was once the greatest nation in the world, holding sway over nearly the entire continent of Linceyo, almost one hundred fifty years ago. All of this expansion had occurred under the first Kaiser, Kaiser Franz, and the Grossreich had decayed rapidly after his death.
Much of the continent owed a great portion of their culture to the Grossreich. They spoke the language of the Reich, they shared the same faiths, their names and roads, many nobles of former imperial land had their titles granted to them by Kaisers of the past, before they forgot every favor the Reich had given them and rebelled. These ungrateful nations thought of the Grossreich as a mob of evil, greedy despots when the Reich had merely come back to take what was rightfully theirs.
You are taking part in an invasion to take back some of the Reich’s rightful land, as part of an assault upon the nation of Delschau. Delschau was one of the first insolent nations to rise up and force out the old Reich. They were supported by Naukland- a people who considered themselves stalwart and hardy but only cowered behind their great mountain ranges until Kaiser Franz died. Their time would come, but first Delschau would fall.
There was, naturally, the trouble of famine, but as an acquaintance of the Kaiser you heard more of this ambition than of the reason most people supported wars against the rest of the continent. The famine had only been going for a few years, however, the rest of the world cruelly refusing to assist in fear of strengthening the Reich. The Kaiser’s ambitions had germinated in his heart when he was a boy, barely educated about the flow of history and the death of nations.
Your company had broken through the borders of Delschau, and smashed apart their fortifications before coming under counterattack. You were able to save your 2nd Platoon, the element most at risk, until your Oberstleutnant, in command of your battalion, communicated a new plan to you. You would have rather helped your company fend off the attack, but your superior ordered you to take the elements of your company that were behind enemy lines further, and to order the elements being attacked to retreat. Your element was to assist a group of paratroopers who had been stymied in their attempts to take an important objective; a fortified hilltop and town.
You had taken your tanks about whilst a heavy platoon attached to you bombarded the fortifications of their flanks with their tank mounter heavy cannon. A band of militiamen had delayed you, if only because you attempted to show leniency, but you managed to get in position to break through the hill lines in a timely fashion nonetheless.
In the meantime, a set of Delschean self-propelled guns had showed up to duel with your heavy tank platoon. As they were running low on ammunition, you gave the order for them to retreat. A flight of bombers was almost back, and a quick request was railroaded through the normal red tape in light of your mission. Aerial reconnaissance had produced decent maps of the area; all you had to do was request the absolute devastation of a single grid square and you no longer had to concern yourself with anything there.
Not that you had time to watch the elegant performance of the twin engine dive bombers swooping down upon their prey. The town where you predicted the command element of this fort to be was close, and the chance to take this fort with as little fighting as possible would not last if you dallied about with your flock of panzers.
You press onwards, the booms of aerial assault washing over you and echoing back from the distance. The disorganization of the Delschean defense becomes increasingly clear with every kilometer you cover. Past conflicts and misfortunes have educated you on the common positioning of pickets, and you spot none. Either the paratroopers were giving the defenders a much harder time than High Command knew, or they had counted on the counterattack you had managed to completely avoid to seal the hole in their lines. They had indeed plugged the gap when you were last there, but not soon enough. If that was their plan, perhaps they concentrated their forces in an attempt to rout the disheveled airdropped soldiers?
Your platoon climbs to the height of the vast hill. You are somewhat disappointed to have not found a staffed command post; there is only the remnants of a small post, encoded pages hastily torn apart and half buried. Your window of surprise is closing more quickly than you thought.
>Leave a part of your force to intercept possible enemies coming from behind
>Take everybody to overwhelm any resistance in the town and capture the fort’s command
>>44154375
>Take everybody to overwhelm any resistance in the town and capture the fort’s command
Klotzen, nicht Kleckern. Death or Glory.
>>44154375
>Leave a part of your force to intercept possible enemies coming from behind
Been awhile man. Give me a moment to draw up a game plan
>>44155204
After platoon 3 secures our rear, we can perform an echelon attack to take the CP and surrounding area and try to link up with the Paras
>>44155775
Not to piss all over you, but I didn't actually expect the map to be used as a planning reference so I didn't specify exactly where you were.
The red X is where you are right now, not the green circle I somehow completely forgot about. You're basically right in front of the town.
Gud map qm
>>44155910
/trip
To actually illustrate
>>44155960
Well shit. Just send a platoon to reinforce the Paras and what them send us some infantry so we can assault the town.
>>44154375
>Leave a part of your force to intercept possible enemies coming from behind
Normally I wouldn't do this, but I don't want to delay more than I already have so I'm combining a bit.
You look about your pastiche demi-company, and around the terrain. You had a bit of room to maneuver, you think, but best to keep close and flexible.
“3rd Platoon, take your tanks around the town and try to find some of the paratroopers. I’d rather have the option to combine our forces if necessary. All others, stay on me. 1st Platoon, stay back within visibility and watch the rear.”
The platoon commanders relay the order to their men, and you roll towards the town, loose congregations of steel and cannon. You’re unsure of the disposition of the enemy regarding the town; if there was practically nobody, as the terrain up until now indicated, it would be child’s play to storm the command station yourself. That would be a dangerous thing to assume, however.
As much as it would tickle you to rename this town as you did the nothing village you captured on the way here, you actually know this town’s name. Höhe, an idyllic hilltop town; a relatively recent settlement, born of middling trade between the young nations of Delschau and Strosvald. It was an arranged grid of white stucco and brown shingle; a beneficiary of new urban planning theories, airy and spacious as opposed to older towns that suffered from the tangles and knots of settlements that grew too quickly for their own good.
The town’s streets are empty, and the curtains of every house visible have been drawn shut, their lights out. The townspeople, however, clearly have had no time to evacuate. The telltale signs of an exodus of refugees are nonexistent; automobiles and wagons remain where they would be during a normal day. This town, however, might be spared from destruction with some luck.
>raid the houses for some unwilling informants
>bombard the houses and make a forceful assault
>make your way for the town hall, the likely CP, as quickly as possible
>>44156303
>make your way for the town hall, the likely CP, as quickly as possible
No need to waste time with unarmed civvies
>>44156303
>make your way for the town hall, the likely CP, as quickly as possible
Keep the Objective in mind
You scan the houses, the brush around them, and see nothing. No disturbances to the terrain appear recent at all; anybody here likely went into hiding as soon as any warning came. You wave your platoon forward; any opposition in this environment worth considering would have done something by now, with your commanders turned out, judging by what you’ve fought thus far.
You’re almost past the first houses when you hear a door slam open. You hurriedly motion for the platoon to halt when a small shape comes around the corner. A young boy dashes out and into the road in front of your tank, and stands in the road, arms outspread. He stares curtly up at you, brow furrowed and wordless.
The boy is an oddity of the sort you have heard of but never seen. His hair is the color of the evergreen forests, a trait of the people of the mountains, specifically those of the Naukland Range, the belt of high peaked mountains that sheltered the ancient Nauk Kingdoms and the present day Naukland federation. They were a reclusive and sparse people, but occasionally a few would come down from the mountains and mingle with the outside world. Their emerald locks were oft bred out in the first generation of a mixed family; this boy’s parents would have had to been both of pure mountain blood.
You are unsure of whether they are all this much of pains in the ass.
“Get out of the way,” you say. He does not notice if you said anything. “Move,” you try in Emrean. Other than a brief look of confusion, there is no response from the boy.
>Kidnap it
>Roll forward and try to intimidate him
>Think of some other way of dealing with the midget (Write in)
>>44157577
>Roll forward and try to intimidate him
>Think of some other way of dealing with the midget (Write in)
Maybe shoot at the ground next to him.
>>44156303
>make your way for the town hall, the likely CP, as quickly as possible
Damn T. Square
>>44157577
>Roll forward and try to intimidate him
Let's not accidently kill him
>>44157577
>Think of some other way of dealing with the midget (Write in)
Start screaming at him?
>>44157577
Kidnap him for glory and lels
Made some possible tanks in your absence, hope you don't mind :) , this one is a take on the Ram Kangaroo and is basically a kt24 with its turret removed to make room for a section of infantry.
>>44158074
I don't mind at all. It's flattering, to be perfectly honest.
If there was any chance that he couldn’t understand your quite reasonable requests, there was the request in the universally recognize language.
“Driver, forward.” You order. There is some hesitation before you crouch down and say “Don’t squash him, just make him move.”
The tank’s engine roars and the tracks clank over the drive wheels with increasing speed. To punctuate the matter, you draw your sidearm and shoot a particularly outstanding pebble a few paces away from the boy. This has the opposite effect you intend, as instead of running away he flinches and falls backwards.
“STOP!” you cry. The tank grinds forward an agonizing smidgen too close for comfort before finally coming to a rest.
The boy is breathless and visibly shaken, but he looks up at you with the same blank look as before. It is surprisingly embarrassing for what looks like an eight or nine year old to call your bluff.
“For heaven’s sake,” you groan, heaving yourself out of the hatch. The boy is still lacking in cognizance due to the near hit, and notices your hand too late to do anything about it. You hold the wriggling little peak monkey off the ground and ponder what to do with it.
>Ensure it doesn’t cause any further trouble by storing it in the tank
>Throw it back in the house from whence it came
>>44158470
>>Throw it back in the house from whence it came
Always knew those inbred mountain folk were all retards
>>44158470
>Throw it back in the house from whence it came
No time to deal with this.
>>44158470
>Ensure it doesn’t cause any further trouble by storing it in the tank
Hahaha Mascot time
Pictured is a KT24 Befehlswagen. Complete with high powered radio transmitter, an expanded command cupola and a longer main gun, to take advantage of the crew and commander's experience, while allowing the machine to stay at a respectable standoff distance.
>>44158766
Damn that radio compartment is huge
>>44158820
All the better to scream for air support with my dear :)
>>44158855
What big road wheels it has too.
You take the lump to the front door of the house, and it comes open easily. You expected some sort of lock, but don’t question the convenience of it.
“Hello?” you call inside, “You can have this back, I don’t want it.”
There is no response. You explore the house briefly with the boy in hand, off the ground and writhing dejectedly in your grip, but you find nobody. The house is dusty and unkempt, save for a few photos that have been kept clean. The floor is covered in small footprints; there is a curious lack of anything larger.
You aren’t the Kaiser’s adoption service, though. You hurl the kid into the bedroom and close it, shoving a nearby shelf in front of it. If the runt was stupid enough to hurl himself out the window, he’d be in no condition to impede your march.
You do make a mental note to revisit the place once you were through, however.
Nothing else tries to stop you on your way to the town hall. Eyes peer out from under window blinds and curtains, but nobody is suicidal enough to try and take up issue with your presence.
The first enemy contact you meet in a while are a pair of motor pool guards keeping a crew under guard. As soon as you round the corner they drop their weapons, and are immediately beaten into the dirt by their prisoners. The prisoners are quite well dressed for their current position; as you come closer you notice a KT-30 in one of the sheds; incredibly out of place, all things considered. None of the formations prepared for the invasion had any of that type of tank.
“Excuse me, gentlemen.” You interrupt the impromptu beating, “You’re coming with me. I need you more than your friends do.”
They look up, annoyed, and give their victims one last boot for good measure before wordlessly climbing onto your vehicle. The town hall is in sight, and you’re not going to allow for anything to happen that could be prevented.
You stop inside of the hall’s courtyard, the wreckage of the gates crumpled under your tracks. You spied a few guards fleeing as you approached, apparently lacking in any suitable weaponry to fight your armored beasts.
You were willing to bet that the command wouldn’t lay down if you asked nicely, so you made plans to enter the compound and overwhelm the staff to put an end to this as quickly as possible, be it through intimidation or through stealth.
>Breach Loud
>Breach Quietly
>>44159096
>Breach Loud
We're in tanks. It's always loud.
>>44159096
>Breach Loud
“Enemies of the Kaiser!” you call out to whoever is listening in the building, “Surrender now and exit the building out of the back if you do not want to explode. If you are thinking of anything clever, I suggest you abandon that idea in…five seconds.”
You radio to your platoon to purposely miss a few shells first. Staff officers were much more valuable prisoners than your typical peasant soldier, and less mess was preferable; you had enough ammunition for such a merciful luxury.
The racket of explosive shells redecorating the front halls of the Town Hall sends a few scurrying out to meet you, but far fewer than you had thought. You supposed that most retreated further inside, or were too afraid to go around out front with all the fire coming in.
You rouse your passengers and arm them with the weapons from your platoon’s vehicles. “No playing around, we go straight for the heart,” you say, snatching the spare drums for your submachinegun from the turret of your tank, “If anybody is armed, shoot them. They’ve had their warning.” You turn to your crews, “If we don’t come out, burn the place.”
You encounter nobody willing to resist. All the pencil pushers and paper stampers let you pass unmolested, groveling in your wake. They all appear to be more afraid of something that has come before you; you encounter no guards inside.
You finally come up to what would normally be the Mayor’s office, now the commander’s post, as you’ve coaxed out of your hosts. From within, a furious argument seems to be being made, with one participant notably much louder than the other.
>Listen in
>Interrupt
>>44159546
>Listen in
>>44159546
>Listen in
>>44159546
>>Listen in
Oh yay, this is running.
You press yourself up to the keyhole and peer in. What you see surprises you quite a bit. Inside the room, with a Delschean officer dressed for his high rank, is one of your old war buddies. Pieter Vals; legendary tank ace, and the last person you expected to see here. You had heard he was on a diplomatic mission, but you expected to see him in a city if anything, not in a small town right on the border.
The CO and him were apparently having a disagreement about who should be surrendering, and it came to a head as soon as you peered in.
The commanding officer drew his sidearm and pointed it at Pieter.
“You’re in no position to negotiate!” he shouted, “Tell us whatever you know of this operation right now!”
Pieter tilted his head from side to side, stretched, and leaned back in his chair. “I think not” he said flatly.
The Delschean officer’s arm trembled. “You still draw breath because of my mercy! Do not make me reconsider my decision!”
“Or what?” Pieter droned, “You’ll shoot me?”
The Delschean’s pistol suddenly flew upwards, as if ripped from his grasp by some unseen force. It cartwheeled lazily through the air before landing in Pieter’s waiting hand. Pieter began to spin it merrily on his finger, crossing his legs. A toothy grin seeped its way across his face.
“Huh…how?” the CO sputtered, as one would expect one to in his situation.
You choose now to make your entrance.
“Hello,” you say warily, as the CO snaps around towards you, wide eyed, “I am Hauptmann Weisenkranz of the Grossreich, 14th Light Division. I am here to accept your surrender.”
The CO sags; he has all but admitted he has lost control of the situation. Before you can prompt him, he collapses to the ground, overcome.
“Lukas?” Pieter laughs, standing up, “Of all the people to come to my rescue, it was you? I must be the luckiest man in the Reich.” He steps over to you, gingerly, over the fallen officer, “If you had come a moment sooner, he would have nailed me.” You look over quickly to the officer and see that the pistol has somehow gotten itself beneath one of his flabby arms. You didn’t see Pieter place it there; you’re not sure of how it possibly could have gotten there.
>It doesn’t seem you needed rescuing
>It was no problem
>that was a neat trick you did there
>>44160287
>It doesn’t seem you needed rescuing
>>44160476
>>that was a neat trick you did there
“It doesn’t look like you needed any help,” you say, looking back down at the gun, “not with tricks like that up your sleeve. What was that?”
Pieter’s smile vanishes. “What was what?”
“What do you mean what was what?” you choke out a hoarse laugh, “That thing where you took his gun without even touching him…then put it back under him?”
“Ah.” His fingers twitch and you feel a strange tingling down your spine, like hundreds of tiny tendrils stroking your insides, beyond the skin. “You saw that, did you?”
He snaps a hand up, and you see little threads of light emanating from his palm. It is a sight you have never seen in any way before. Just after you see it, he closes his hand and you feel yourself fall, pulled to the ground by the same feeling as before, now pulled taut with incredible force.
“I’m sorry, my friend,” you hear Pieter’s voice fading away, “You’ll have to forget that. Fear not, I will take good care of your company until you wake…”
And that's the end of this side story for now. Next thread will be back on track.
This was a short thread, but to be honest, this was supposed to be included with the last thread, so that's why this is so brief. Apologies to those who expected more, but the next round should live up to expectations. I've been planning the scheme of it for a while now.
>>44161577
The son of a bitch. What about the boy we were going back for.
