Blood and Steel mod for Men of War: Assault Squad 2

Gameplay mechanics
This is loosely based on the Vietnam '65 game. The rule of thumb is to kill the enemy and not kill civilians. There are a variety of tools at your disposal.

Hearts and Minds Score
The H&M score reflects the local populace's leanings. If the score is lower, they support the insurgents, if it is higher, they are more likely to favor your forces. It is displayed on screen and goes from 0-100%, starting at 50%.

Killing or capturing enemies raises this score, killing civilians or taking friendly losses lowers it. This score also directly affects the probability of enemy spawning, with a lower score meaning more enemy will spawn in, as well as it being less likely that enemies will surrender.

Because your are in Germany, the H&M score gradually lowers anytime there are more than 10 enemy regulars on the map. The more enemy troops are in the area, the faster it lowers. It is essential to get out of your base and find and destroy the enemy.

MP/Reinforcement points
MP mirrors H&M score, with losses taking away MP and kills gaining MP. There are some exceptions to this, such as with convoy escort.

Enemy spawning
This happens in two ways. One is a sneak attack, where one of the civilians will turn hostile and pull out one of any number of weapons when near your troops, the other are map-edge spawn-ins of regular troops, anything from volksturm to panzergrenadiers, that will randomly take up ambush positions or attempt to attack your base.

Additionally, an enemy unit will occasionally spawn in and mine a certain area, usually along a road, at a chokepoint. The probability is low, but is not affected by H&M.

Occasionally, a "boss" will spawn. This may take the form of any enemy stronghold, the enemy taking civilian or friendly hostages, a heavier unit such as a light tank or rocket artillery, or any number of any other challenges.

Convoy Escort
You aren't the only one fighting this war, and every few minutes, with some warning, a friendly supply vehicle will need to cross your AoR. Get bonus MP for getting them across safely, or take H&M loss if they are destroyed.

Informants and Intel
Informants are posted around the map near campfires, and, when visited, will provide you with intel on enemy movements, if there are any. When the campfire is lit, intel is available. These informants are valuable assets, as the countryside allows many places for enemy troops to hide. Be careful not to get them killed, as they cannot be replaced.

The Map
The map is expectedly large, 800x800, for the number of troops available to you. A mix of industrial, urban residential, agricultural, woodlands, swamps, rivers, etc allows the enemy many places to hide. You will need to plan your patrols carefully to avoid danger areas and ensure that your troops are not caught with their pants down in the open.

Civilians on the map will mostly occupy buildings and work areas, but will also be driving cars and a train will even occasionally cross the map.

Your Base
Located in the center of the map, this is where your new recruits, upgrades, and logistics are located. Your base has a number of upgrades that offer new abilities or improve defenses. All base upgrades take time to research.

Defensive base improvements
These range from a guard tower that automatically calls out enemy troops near your base, even hidden ones, to a variety of simple barbed wire and sandbag fortification improvements.

Ability base improvements
A prisoner housing area allows you to process prisoners, as well as giving your officer the ability to force enemies to surrender under certain circumstances, even those still disguised as civilians.

A radio station allows you to receive additional intel from command, as well as signals command that you are prepared to escort friendly supply vehicles through the AO.

Unlocking equipment racks allows you to call in more and better weapons and gear for your troops.

A motorpool enables you to call in vehicles, vehicle crew, and vehicle supplies.

A loudspeaker system allows you to broadcast different types of propoganda for the chance to have different effects on the enemy and/or civilian populace.

Logistics
All new personnel, weapons, and supplies spawn into your base. From grenades and rifles to bandages and helmets are available at your equipment rack, and fresh crates of ammo can be called in there as well.

You are limited to 18 troops total, and only so many of any type of soldier at a time, and a total limit on the number of each available. Troops take time to recruit, and only one can be recruited at a time.

Vehicles follow a similar pattern, with only one vehicle and up to three crew members available at one time.

Logistics are intentionally time-consuming. You will need to balance the time spent upgrading your troops and managing your base with the time spend micro-ing patrols.

Fire support
One troop upgrade that is available at the equipment racks is a radio pack. When one of your troops is wearing this, you have the ability to call in a variety of air and artillery strikes.

Most of these are pretty standard kinetic stuff, that should be used with a high amount of caution as they have a tendency to cause civilian casualties.

A recon run is also available for aircraft, helping to scout an area or lock down the enemy position.

"Show of Force" artillery and air options are non-kinetic and designed to intimidate the enemy and make and impression on the populace. These have a random chance of causing an enemy to surrender and/or improving the H&M score.

Game Goals
Get your H&M score to 90 and you win. If it falls below 10, you loose. Because H&M affects the rate of enemy spawning, your own performance will dictate the difficulty. Also, keep your officer alive (but leaving him out of the action significantly reduces your chance of capturing prisoners, which are a big MP boost when successfully captured). There are a multitude of ways to complete your mission, and careful planning and management will be required.