Theatre of War 2 : Kursk 1943 - PC
The largest tank battle in history - KURSK 1943
Kursk 1943 - major update: new features and sceens
Theatre of War 2: Kursk 1943 is a completely new game in the Theatre of War series of tactical World War II titles. It does not require any of the previous games to play!
The Battle of Kursk lasted for forty nine days, from July 5 until August 23, 1943 and has made its way into history as one of the most crucial conflicts of WWII. It was the last armored strategic offensive the Germans were able to mount in the east. The resulting decisive Soviet victory gave the Red Army the strategic initiative for the rest of the war.
Assuming the role of either the Russian or German battle group commander, acting under direct orders of division commanders Ivan Chistyakov or Walter Hoernlein, players will control their troops in historical scenarios on precisely reconstructed authentic battlefields.
Five days of July
In Theatre of War 2: Kursk 1943, you control the units of the battle group belonging to German division Grossdeutschland or the forces of the Soviet 67th Guards Rifle Division and 3rd Mechanized Corps, which participated in the defensive stage of the Kursk battle at the south face of the Kursk salient. There are two campaigns – German and Soviet:
Each campaign consists of up to 9 major battles and puts you in charge of a typical military unit from that period. Each soldier is a unique personality with specific characteristics and skills which can change during the campaign. Careful planning and force selection are recommended before each battle.
Key features
Take control over a powerful Soviet or German battle group in one of the battles which changed the history of the war;
Fully simulated visibility, ballistics and armor penetration systems. All vital vehicle systems and crew members are individually modeled;
Two historical campaigns (up to 18 major engagements in total) and an unlimited number of customizable missions waiting to be created with a few mouse clicks using the built-in Mission Generator;
Sophisticated AI for both enemy and your own units;
Over 60 Soviet, German and lend-leased US and British player-controllable units (not counting various infantry squads);
Unsurpassed management of your soldiers. You can assign, promote and award up to several thousand soldiers with their unique characteristics. You can even rename units for easier recognition in the heat of battle;
Team multiplayer for up to 8 players (control of key points or assault/defense) with reinforcements, artillery barrages and air strikes;
Tools for creating your own missions and maps (built-in Mission Generator, wizard-like Simple Editor, full-blown Mission Editor and 3D Map Editor).
New features
Detailed damage info modes
If you would like to see each exact impact of a rounds or projectile on a vehicle, you can enable the display of impact vectors with the F4 key (default). You can adjust the amount of data displayed (for example, you can choose to show penetrations only, etc.). If you zoom in the camera onto the damaged unit with this mode enabled, you will see impact vectors and information about the projectiles. Additionally, the game log at the bottom of the screen will start showing messages about the impacts, such as: ‘Turret front hit. Minor damage’.
The vector colors indicate the severity of the impact: white – ricochets, blue – projectiles destroyed at collision, green – hits not resulting in full armor penetration, and red – armor penetrations.
The impact angle in degrees is shown at the impact point of a projectile, as well as the effective armor strength (taking into account the hit angle). The projectile caliber in millimeters, its type (e.g. APBC) and designation are also shown.
The maximum amount of vectors displayed for a unit can be adjusted in the game settings.
This German Panther tank took quite a beating from Soviet ZiS-3 multi-purpose 76-mm guns during its advance, but only a few rounds penetrated it's armor (red vectors).The tank seems intact at first glance, but an APBC round hit the right side of the turret, went right through it, (most likely killing the commander and loader) and retained enough penetration capability to emerge on the other turret side.
Old-school top-down view
If you enable the Tactical Map, the camera will be located over the battlefield and directed down vertically, but zooming in and out will work as usual.
This way you can see the entire battlefield (if you zoom out far enough) and can keep full control over your troops. In this mode the game looks like a classic wargame – map, unit icons and some additional information are giving your full control to employ your tactical skills.
Continuity
All campaign battles are logically interrelated. In the German campaign, forces allocated to players at the start are all that are available for the rest of the game. Soviet players get more or less steady reinforcements in addition to the starting units. Losing too many troops in one mission may have a serious impact on later battles for both sides. Some units, like the Tiger tank, are unique. Depending on the outcome of the previous fight, each battle also has an effect on the next. Troops can move on to the next battle, so it is important to keep them alive.
Victory points
Special Victory points are given for the elimination of enemy soldiers and armor, as well as for the completion of orders received during a battle from High Command. You can spend Victory Points for reinforcements, air support and artillery fire during combat, but the more victory points you have at mission end, the higher your military skill level will be.
Built-in mission generator
The Mission Generator lets you create new single-player missions quickly. You can either specify parameters like soldiers experience, weather and others, or leave them completely random.
You can add new missions as a single skirmish or create a brand new campaign and fill it with missions created by you either in the Mission Generator or in the Mission Editors. If you want to create new maps, the powerful Map Editor application is also available.
Battle equipment
In Kursk 1943 you’ll have loads of carefully modeled battle equipment to play with:
Over 35 infantry weapons including grenade launchers and grenades (frag, AT and smoke);
Over 150 types of high explosive, armor piercing (AP, APHE, API, APHEBC, APC, APBC, APCBC, HEAT, APCR) and smoke ammo rounds;
Up to 152mm caliber off-map artillery, rocket artillery and mortar batteries (including Nebelwerfer and Katjusha);
9 aircraft capable of delivering up to 500kg bombs (PTAB included) and rockets: Bf-109G2, Fw-190A5, Yak-1B, Yak-7B, La-5, Hs-129B, Ju-87D3, IL-2 and Pe-2;
9 armored cars and personnel carriers: BA-10M, BA-64, Universal Carrier Mk.1, SdKfz 250 “Alt”, SdKfz 251/1 Ausf.C, SdKfz 251/9 Ausf.C, SdKfz 251/10 Ausf.C, SdKfz 232 8-rad and SdKfz 222;
9 artillery guns: 2.8/2 cm schwere Panzerbüchse 41, 3.7cm PaK 35/36, 5cm PaK 38, 7.5cm PaK 40, 45mm 53-K, 45mm M-42, 76mm ZiS-3, 76mm regimental gun m1927 and 85mm AT gun;
9 cars and motorcycles: GAZ-MM, Studebaker US6, Willys Jeep, ZiS-5, ZiS-5 Refueller, BMW R75, Kübelwagen, Opel Blitz S and Sd Kfz 7 prime mover;
5 Anti-Air guns, including self-propelled: 2cm Flakvierling SdKfz 7/1, 3.7cm SdKfz 6/2, 8.8cm Flak 36/37, 37mm 61-K and 85mm 52-K;
4 heavy machine guns: 7.62mm Maxim, 12.7mm DShK, schweres
MG-34 and MG-42;
5 howitzers and mortars (including self-propelled): 7.5cm LeIG 18, 8cm s.Gr.W.
34, SdKfz 251/2 Ausf.C, 50mm and 82mm mortars;
6 assault and self-propelled guns: 7.5cm Marder IIIH, 7.5cm StuG IIIG, 10.5cm ‘Wespe’, 15cm “Hummel”, 76mm SU-76 (SU-12M) and 122mm SU-122;
and 20 tanks: Pz.II Ausf F, Pz III Ausf.J, Pz.III Ausf N, Pz.III Ausf L, Pz. Bef.Wg III Ausf K, Pz.IV Ausf.F1, Pz.IV Ausf.F2, Pz.IV Ausf.G, Pz.V Ausf.D ‘Panther’, Pz.VI Ausf.H1 ‘Tiger’, T-60, T-70M, M3l (‘Stuart’), M3s (‘Lee’), T-34 plant 112, T-34 plant 174, T-34 plant 183 (pressed turret), T-34 Command, KV-1 and KV-1s.
System requirements
Your PC should meet the following minimum requirements for the game to run properly:
Recommended system requirements: