The Trenches

We write the year 1916, World War 1 goes into the third year. After initially fast successes of the imperial armies on western front, the fronts between axen powers and allied forces are hardened and an embittered position warfare raved between them in the trenches on French soil. Hunger, illness and death on both sides. Attack - defence - counter attack determines the life of the soldiers at the front. The calm before the storm, the fearful faces of the soldiers cowering in their ditches, then the signal, mg salvos and shell explosions ripping the calm. In the hail of bullets the young men rush off.... either for blaze and glory of the German Empire or in the name of the British Empire. They died, were mutilated or went insane of fear, and then the unspeakable one, "The Quiet Death" - gas. One of the ghastly weapons in World War 1.

Like the world-famous novel "All Quiet on Western Front" by Erich Maria Remarque, also the Half-Life modification "The Trenches" takes place exactly in this time. The player slip either into the role of the Central Powers, or take control over a soldier line up from the allied forces.

Models & Weapons

In the beta version of The Trenches which is played at present, are only 2 teams available, the armies of the German Empire and those of the British Empires. But the developers paid lots of attention to a high detail accuracy and a historical loyalty of models and weapons.

In each team the player has the possibility to select between 2 classes at present. On the one hand the infantryman, the foot troops on both sides, which formed the largest part of the army, on the other hand the bomber class. On both side the infantryman is equipped with one the time-typical carbine. The imperial troops with the Mauser Rifle 98, the troops of the British Empire with the Lee Enfield No.1 Mk.III *. Furthermore the infantry class is equipped with 1 hand grenade. In addition both carbines are provided with a bayonet, which represents a devastating weapon in the position fights.

The bomber class is not equipped with a primary firearm, only with a club, which is without effects in assault, but in trench combats it‘s an effective and potent weapon. But the bomber is despite of his moderate armament an essential class, because it is additionally equipped with 6 hand grenades, which forms an effective defence, or put the fear of God into hostile troops in the ditches.



But the weapons of the two opponents differ not only in the appearance, also in handling. Aiming accuracy, recoil and different fire modes differentiate between the two sides. The British grenades, which are called "Mills Bomb" possesses 2 fire modes. In the primary fire mode those shell is thrown uncurtailed by player. In the secondary fire mode the split pin of the grenade is pulled and the timer runs, therefore throw it better away. However the German "Stielgranate" has only one fire mode, the lanyard is pulled, and the explosion timers begins.

Gamemodes

In the current version The Trenches offers 3 different play modes, which resemble each other, but although offers small fine differences. The developers of The Trenches paid much attention on the play modes and maps, that historical scenes flow within, and that the battles take place at original places. But like in all Half-Life modifications, although in The Trenches – Teamplay is the key to victory. Single fighters will have difficulties, because the whole team is important to win the map and obtain the mission goals.



Most popular mode is the Trench Capture mode. In this mode the teams must occupy miscellaneous capture Zones with several players and hold them to win the game. Constantly attacking and defending, position losses, make this play-mode so attractive. The probably most-played map in this mode is tt_hill.



A strategically insignificant hill, which stands however symbolically for the pointlessness of the war. On the foot of the mountain the imperial armies and the allied ones have dug deep ditch system into the soil of France. Rain, bad weather, then again sun obstruct the troops, time and again shells hail blast downward from the crest of the mountain. Ceaselessly the troops storm up the slopes, occupy the crest of the mountain, try to hold it and fight against the storming soldiers, advance again. Days - weeks - months fight the troops for this insignificant hill, before this bloody battle ends.

A further play mode is the Territorially Push Mode or also called Capture the Flag Mod, which is known from games like Day of Defeat or the new Call of Duty - United Offensive. Here, both party’s must try to take all the flags successively started from of the Homebase on. From ditch to ditch the troops storm forward in hope to conquer the next flag. To win the map one team must take and hold all flags on the map. The map tp_zorn is the most played map on our server in this play-mode.



A small petty city, 50 km away of the Atlantic coast, which is used by Allied troops as supply post. But the armies of the emperor know, that the key to victory is disturbing the supply lines of hostile troops. And in such a way this small city becomes a bloody battleground. Murderous artillery bombardment and the constant attack of the German troops bring the defenders nearly to despair. They fight again and again courageously against the supremacy.... and the victory it‘s still in the balance.

The 3rd mode is the Team Battle Mode. It resembles to the "Team Deathmatch" in games like Unreal Tournament or other First Person Shooter. The only goal on this mode is, to reach with his team most kills and decimate the troops of the opponent. The team, which can prove most Kills at the end has won the map.

Features

From gameplay and handling The Trenches resembles very to the popular Mod Day of Defeat, but nevertheless there are some fine differences. One of the most important is probably the manual reloading of each individual shot, which makes the whole play more realistic. A further play-crucial feature is the bayonet attack - after the soldiers stormed over the open field in the hail of bullets, finally they reached with many losses the hostile ditches, then a murderous fight man against man raved, and the bayonet became a deadly weapon.

Face Customization

In my opinion a very successful Feature is the so-called face customization. Here is permitted to the player to give his soldier an individual face and lend him a personality in this way and stand out in such a way against the quantity. With these different models the developers shows a lot of historical accuracy. Beards and crops, are usual and common for the time period of World War 1.



Mp3 Player

In addition The Trenches offers an integrated MP3 Player. Apart from the normal functions the Player offers also the possibility to load your own Playlists. To load a Playlist simply type "playlist playlistname.txt" into the console.

Conclusion and outlook

The Trenches is a really successful Half Life Mod, which is not inferior in play passport and craze potential in comparison with the established Mods, like Day of Defeat or Counterstrike. Tactics, teamplay, the unbelievably binding atmosphere, the environment and sound give a special charm to this modification and an unbelievable flair.

What exactly the future brings, alone the designers and developer of The Trenches know it , but some little pieces they let us know. With the next updates new nations are integrated, new weapons as, a mg and pistols are added. Further gas attacks, and the guidance of the players by an officers will be following. Also in view of HalfLife 2 is positive to be announced, after the beta phase it is planned by the developers to work on a conversion for the new Half-Life version.

On the official The Trenches Homepage you can download this exciting Mod.

So join our "The Trenches server" @ 81.3.25.45:27016 and have much fun.