Well, now that I've conquered enemies to the west and to the south, where else can I possibly go?
Looking at the map, I tried to plot out all the known locations that I've been to.
After plotting them all out, I realized that I'd hardly gone north or east.
Since it was closer, I decided to go north.
Actually, I had a whole expedition to Scandinavia planned out.
Besides, now that I had no one to order me around, I figured it might be time to finish up what we had started.
I brought Goliath because since I knew it better, I felt better taking it into unknown territory.
My expedition took me to Karelia first.
This place reminded me of Redshire, with its hilly terrain and multiple angles of attack.
After a brief look around, I decided that the northern and center paths were too wide open, so I went to a valley in the south.
True, the enemy could still ambush me here, but their angles were limited.
Speaking of ambushes, I was attacked by a vehicle that resembled an American M3/M5 tank.
However, it appeared to be equipped with some sort of howitzer.
Regardless, I put it out of commission with a 152mm round.
I continued into the valley.
For a few moments, everything looked clear.
However, I encountered a KV-1S and an unidentified American tank ahead, possibly a medium.
One of them missed, and the other one hit me, but didn't even scratch me.
I aimed for the KV-1S first and blew it to pieces.
To my right, I spotted a small hill with a rock formation sticking out of it.
That looked like it would be good cover, so I waited a couple more seconds and started heading up the hill.
The American tank attempted to intercept me going up the hill, but my gun was reloaded, so I backed down a little and tried to lure him into following me.
It worked! When he backed down…
BOOM!
Knocked out!
I climbed up the hill the rest of the way, which was slow, but it was a short climb.
At the top, I had a good view of the central path and to a certain extent, the north.
Since there were plenty of bushes here, I used my camo net to cover the rear of the tank rather than the front.
Up here, I saw a few more American & Soviet tanks on patrol for me.
Plenty of fresh meat!
I aimed my cannon at an M6 – or what I thought was an M6 – and opened fire.
BOOM!
That tank was knocked out!
Some nearby tanks stopped and started looking around, but I don't think they spotted me.
Just to be sure, I tapped into their radio frequency:
"…nothing sighted so far! Everyone, maximum alert! 3C out!"
Sure enough, I hadn't been spotted, so I took aim at an M4A3E2 and fired…
BOOM!
"This is 3C! They got 1D! Still no sign of anything! Anyone else see him!? Over!"
"3C, this is 2B. I can't see anything from where I am! Keep searching, over!"
"Roger! 3C out!"
BOOM!
3C, an M2 medium, was destroyed!
All of a sudden, I got this call:
"Attention all troops, this is 1C, I've spotted an enemy KV-2 in Sector G7! I repeat, all troops head for G7, over!"
"1C, this is 2E, I am nearing that location now! 2E out!"
Well, now that I'd been spotted, I figured that there wasn't much point in staying here, so I removed my camo net and got a nasty surprise when I sighted a T-28 coming out of nowhere.
I dove behind Goliath to dodge his shot.
A couple of seconds later, I threw an anti-tank grenade at it and destroyed it.
Someone else had hit Goliath during this time, but didn't do major damage to it, so I got back into Goliath and drove down the other side of the hill, where I spotted a T-127 coming up.
Though I had never seen one in battle before, I did recall seeing it in one of the handbooks that I collected.
Its role in this battle was short, though, because I ran over it on the way downhill.
It wasn't quite as fragile as an MS-1, but I did smash its turret, nonetheless.
Speaking of the MS-1, I turned the corner and found one waiting for me, so I ran over that as well.
Another KV-1S rounded the corner, but I was quicker on the draw than him, so it became a burning steel corpse as well.
I kept driving, but all of a sudden, an SU-85 tank destroyer fired at me and damaged one of my tracks.
I started to take aim, but it ducked behind a concrete pillbox.
Instead, I aimed for the pillbox and fired, destroying the pillbox.
I fell back into a small alcove while I waited to reload.
As my 152 was close to being reloaded, I started to come out from my little corner, but something else hit my turret.
I looked left and saw a Panzer IV, but this was a weird one because it was painted in Soviet colors.
A captured German tank!?
Why haven't I seen one like that before?
I only saw it for a couple of seconds before it ducked back into cover.
When it came out a few seconds later, I had my 152 all ready for it.
BOOM!
Now that it was gone, I was free to engage the SU-85.
I saw that it was rotating in my direction and prepared to fire.
Once again, I had the upper hand.
The way to the base seemed pretty clear, but on the way, another unknown American tank came to engage me.
He hit my tank, but did minimal damage.
That was the last tank he'd ever hit.
At this hilltop base, there wasn't much else besides an up-armored SU-76.
Rather than use another shell on it, I destroyed it with an anti-tank grenade.
I observed the battlefield just in case there was an enemy tank that was still out there.
Sure enough, there was a Soviet tank of unknown type heading back this way.
I took cover behind a pillbox and fired at it.
He suffered plenty of damage, even a broken track, but he was still alive.
He took a few shots at me, some of which missed and some of which bounced.
I took only one other shot at him, which destroyed his tank.
As usual, when the smoke cleared, I ran a check on these guys, who, fittingly enough, were named the Soviet-American Alliance.
They were a sort of "foreign legion", made up of Soviet tankers and members of the Communist Party USA who had fled their own country to evade persecution.
Most of their tanks were already familiar to me, but here's what I found out:
What I thought was an M6 heavy tank was actually a T1 heavy tank, a prototype of the M6.
They had two tank destroyers called an M8A1 and a T49, both of which fit this new, unusual template of "tank destroyers with turrets", a phenomenon that so far seemed uniquely American.
Speaking of tank destroyers, that SU-76 I saw was actually an SU-85B, which was confusing because it looked different from the SU-85.
Finally, that other Soviet tank was called a KV-13, which proved to be the most enigmatic tank of the bunch.
It didn't look too much like any other KV-series tanks that I'd seen, except maybe the KV-1S.
In fact, it looked like a miniature version of the IS.
Maybe this was a prototype?
With all this new information, I fixed up any damage done to Goliath and pressed further.
Criticism is gold. Negativity and nitpicking are pyrite.