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Soldiers: Heroes of World War II
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Soldiers: Heroes of World War II is a 2004 real-time strategy video game by Ukrainian developer Best Way and is a precursor to the Men of War series, running on an early version of the GEM engine used in that series.
The game has four campaigns for the Soviet Union, United Kingdom, United States, and Germany (the British campaign notably makes use of permadeath, with the player controlling a small squad of British commandos whose inventory and surviving members carry over between missions, something not done in any other campaigns in the series).
The game received three expansions developed by Dark Fox, a Russian developer. One of these came to English-speaking markets as Silent Heroes: Elite Troops of World War II while the rest remained Russian-only. These expansions only feature the Soviet faction as a playable faction, despite the English box art for Silent Heroes depicting US troops. Some weapons also have slightly different names in Silent Heroes, often listing the weapon's real caliber despite still using the generic Pistol/Rifle/Machine Gun ammo system.
Gameplay is mostly similar to its successor, however the inventory system is much more limited and big battles are almost entirely absent, with the player only having control of a small handful of soldiers (who have increased health to compensate but are still cut down quickly if the player has poor tactics). The famous MoW series staple, the editor, must be downloaded separately from the game.
The game also makes an odd arcadey decision with weapon distribution that the first sequel, Faces of War, would continue, where submachine guns are the main weapons of all armies, with machine guns being not too far behind, and the should-be-standard bolt-action rifles being some of the rarer firearms. That said, rifles are generally far more deadly, possessing range and damage more akin to the sniper rifles of Men of War proper.
The following weapons appear in the video game Soldiers: Heroes of World War II:
Handguns
Colt M1911A1
The Colt M1911A1 appears as the US handgun. It is referred to as the "Col.45" and is one of the few handguns that gets a unique 3D model when used by a unit.
Walther P38
The Walther P38 appears as the "Valter" and its 3D model is reused for several pistols.
Welrod Mark I
The Welrod Mark I appears in the British campaign as the only suppressed weapon in the game. Likely for balancing reasons, it uses rare rifle ammo instead of pistol ammo, a design choice that would oddly stick around for later Men of War games, despite future installments introducing other suppressed weapons such as the suppressed Nagant that still use pistol ammo. It takes up 1x3 slots in the inventory as opposed to the 1x2 of other handguns.
In Multiplayer, the Welrod is used by the "Scout" unit for all factions due to being the only suppressed firearm.
Nagant M1895
The Nagant M1895 appears as the secondary Russian pistol. In what is likely a mistake, RAF pilot Jeremy Carpenter carries a Nagant M1895 instead of a Smith & Wesson M1917 in the British campaign.
Smith & Wesson M1917
A revolver appears as the "Web.45", but is clearly not a Webley revolver. Rather, it appears to be a Smith & Wesson M1917 and is used as the secondary sidearm of the US forces and more often by the British faction. It reuses the P38's 3D model.
Tokarev TT-33
The Tokarev TT-33 appears as the main sidearm of the Red Army.
Submachine Guns
M3A1 "Grease Gun"
The M3A1 "Grease Gun" appears and reuses the MP 40's in-game model. It is used by US and British troops. Oddly in multiplayer, it is only used by the British as an alternative to the Sten for certain classes (an odd choice to say the least, as the British made very limited use of the M3 during WWII) while all American submachine gun troops use the Thompson.
MP 40
As in many media depictions of the Second World War, the MP 40 appears as the most common weapon used by Germany.
MP 41
The MP 41 appears as as the secondary submachine gun of the German faction.
PPSh-41
The PPSh-41 is the submachine gun of the Soviet faction. It is fed with 71-round drum magazines and is highly effective in hosing down groups of enemies.
Sten Mk II
The British submachine gun of choice is the Sten Mk II. It is mistakenly referred to as the "Sten MK-I".
SIG Bergmann
The SIG Bergmann appears and is incorrectly named the "Type 100". It is only available in the editor and this same mistake would be repeated for Men of War, this is one of three unused Japanese weapons in the editor (and two hats) indicating a Japanese faction was cut.
M1A1 Thompson
The M1A1 Thompson appears as the "Thom Gun" and is mainly used by the American faction, with the British making light use of it it in the campaign. While the British made use of Thompsons throughout the war, the M1928 Thompson was by far the more commonly used model.
Rifles
Arisaka Type 99
A leftover from the cut Japanese faction and accessible in the original game's editor, the Arisaka Type 99 bizarrely appears used rarely by German soldiers in Silent Heroes, at least in the first mission.
Gewehr 43
The Gewehr 43 incorrectly appears as the "G-41" German sniper rifle.
Lee-Enfield No. 4 Mk. I
Called "EM-2" scoped and "EM-3" unscoped, the Lee-Enfield No. 4 Mk I is used by British riflemen. The naming convention is rather odd, considering the "EM-2" is a very different rifle from the Lee-Enfield.
M1A1 Carbine
The M1A1 Carbine is used in the campaign by both British and American troops; it doesn't appear in multiplayer. It is incorrectly referred to as the "M1 carbine" in-game.
M1 Garand
The M1 Garand is the main rifle of the US Faction.
Mosin Nagant M1938
The Mosin Nagant M1938 is used by Soviet soldiers and its model is used for all sniper rifles and most rifles held by units. It is referred to as simply "Mosin". In the British campaign, it oddly appears used by German machine gun tower guards in Dunkirk.
Mosin-Nagant M1891/30
A Mosin Nagant M1891/30 with an PU sniper scope is used in the introduction cutscene to Silent Heroes; it is replaced by an SVT-40 during gameplay.
M1903A4 Springfield
The M1903A4 Sniper Rifle appears as the US Sniper Rifle.
Sturmgewehr 44
The Sturmgewehr 44 appears as the "MP-44". It oddly uses pistol ammo instead of rifle or machine gun ammo and is often used by what the editor calls "Elite SS" German units, who carry the StG-44 alongside body armor.
"SuperGun"
Accessible via the editor is the "Supergun", a rifle that holds 10 bullets in a magazine and fires fully automatic, it re-uses the Mosin's inventory icon but actually has a unique 3D model.
SVT-40
The SVT-40 appears as the Soviet sniper rifle.
Machine Guns
Bren Mk. I
The Bren gun is used by the British faction as their machine gun of choice for both infantry and vehicles.
Degtyaryov DS-39
The Degtyaryov DS-39 appears as a mounted Russian machine gun.
M1918A2 Browning Automatic Rifle
The M1918A2 Browning Automatic Rifle appears as the main machine gun of American machine gunners, though a few under the player's command in the campaign carry the Bren instead.
Browning M1919A4
The Browning M1919 appears mounted on US armored vehicles and can be detached and used by infantry.
MG 34
The MG 34 appears mostly mounted on German vehicles but it can be detached and carried on foot.
MG 42
The MG 42 appears as the main German infantry machine gun.
Degtyaryov DP-27
The DP-27 appears as the Soviet machine gun. It is referred to as "DT-29", with the inventory icon depicting a Degtyaryov DT and being mounted on vehicles like the DT. The DP-27 does have a "proper" weapon entity in the editor with the correct icon and capacity, however this is never actually used, every single Soviet machine gunner carries the "DT-29" instead (even in the Silent Heroes expansion where the DP-27 is clearly featured in the opening cutscene, it turns into the "DT" as it is called once gameplay starts).
Nambu Type 96
The Type 96 light machine gun is the final firearm intended to be used by the cut Japanese faction and is mistakenly called the "Type 99" which later games that bring it back would repeat. It re-uses the Bren's model.
Anti-Materiel Rifles
PTRD-41
The PTRD-41 appears as the Soviet anti-tank rifle and their main anti-armor weapon.
PTRS-41
The PTRS-41 is used by the Soviets. It re-uses the 3D model for the PTRD-41.
Mounted Weapons
"MTB D3" mounted weapons
The "MTB D3", as the editor calls it, torpedo boat appears oddly being used by German troops guarding Dunkirk (as the D3 is a Russian class of motor torpedo boats). It appears only in the first mission of the British campaign and one of the few vehicles to not be carried over into future games.
Condor Squad can hijack it and use its torpedoes to destroy an enemy barge as part of the first objective as well as use its two mounted guns, "twin-12mm" machine guns and a 2cm FlaK 38 gun.
Launchers
M1A1 "Bazooka"
The M1A1 "Bazooka" is used by the US and sometimes Germany in the single player (why the Germans use it when the Panzerschreck is already in the game is a mystery) and all Allied factions in multiplayer.
Panzerfaust
The Panzerfaust is the rarer secondary German anti-tank launcher. It is held upside down.
Panzerschreck
The Panzerschreck is carried by German anti-tank troops.
Grenades
AN/M8 HC smoke grenade
What appears to be an AN/M8 HC smoke grenade appears as the "Smoke Grenade".
F1 hand grenade
The French F1 hand grenade appears as the Red Army grenade. It seems it was mistaken for the Russian F-1 that was actually used by the Red Army.
M18 Smoke Grenade
The M18 smoke grenade appears as the second Smoke Grenade and wrongly creates white smoke.
M61 Hand Grenade
The anachronistic M61 hand grenade (an improvement of the M26 hand grenade) appears as the grenade of the US faction. Oddly, it is used by German snipers in Silent Heroes.
Model 24 Stielhandgranate
The Model 24 Stielhandgranate appears as the main German grenade with the "M24X5 AT" Bundled Charge appearing as the main German anti-tank grenade.
Mills Bomb
The Mills Bomb appears being used by the British faction in Multiplayer and also the American faction in single player.
Model 39 Eihandgranate
The Model 39 Eihandgranate appears as the secondary German Grenade. It is more common in the British campaign.
No. 73 Mk. I hand grenade
The No. 73 Mk. I hand grenade appears as the American/British anti-tank grenade.
Panzerwurfmine
The Panzerwurfmine appears as the secondary German anti-tank grenade. An odd feature of anti-tank grenades exclusive to Soldiers is that they'll detonate automatically upon the user's death if equipped.
RPG-40
The RPG-40 anti-tank grenade appears as the main Soviet anti-armor grenade. The 3D Model for most anti-tank grenades appears to be an RPG-40.
RPG-43 Anti-tank Grenade
The RPG-43 Anti-tank Grenade appears as the secondary Soviet anti-armor grenade.
