How To Play Mud And Blood 2

Game-play during the first version of MnB, it really has come a long way

1 What is Mud and Blood 2?
2 How do I play Mud and Blood 2?
- 2.1 The Game Interface
  - 2.1.1 Current Interface
  - 2.1.2 Old Interface
- 2.2 Tactical Points
- 2.3 Advancing
- 2.4 Ranks and Information
  - 2.4.1 Wanker?!
  - 2.4.2 Brandenburger
- 2.5 How Do I Lose?
  - 2.5.1 German Overrun
  - 2.5.2 Out of Men
  - 2.5.3 Surrender
3 Deployment Options
- 3.1 Deploy
- 3.2 Ops Screen
4 Extra Info
- 4.1 The Dirty Half Dozen
- 4.2 Range Chart
- 4.3 Blitz Waves
- 4.4 Slang Terms and Abbreviations
- 4.5 Super-Soldiers
5 Specs. Explanations
6 MnB 2 Guide to Being a Noob
7 Real Life
8 Battlefield theory
- 8.1 Hints

What is Mud and Blood 2?

Mud and Blood 2 (MnB2) is a World War II real-time strategy (RTS) game based on small-squad tactics and randomized sandbox gameplay. It is set in the period of August 1944, during operation Lüttich. You control the Allied forces, and your only goal is to hold your ground and make sure that the Germans don't punch through your defense line for as long as possible while your Headquarters relocates away from the battle. There is no "winning" in MnB2, as the Germans will keep charging your defenses indefinitely. You can only aim to survive as many waves as is possible while getting as many points as you can. It will be unfair, random, and brutal. This wiki can be a lifesaver, though. It has almost all the info you need to win and even a Strategies section to get some quick and easy strategies. Click here to play Mud and Blood 2 on the Mud and Blood HQ website.

How do I play Mud and Blood 2?

After waiting for the game to load and clicking the shiny yellow button, you get a screen with three different options at the bottom. "Deploy" is to start the game, "Ops" is your User Profile it shows you your XP bar, all medals and badges that you've earned throughout your career, the different deployment options you can use, and "Intel", which gives you a short explanation on how to play the game.

The Game Interface

For deeper reading, see Game Interface.

Current Interface

This game has a minimalistic interface to allow more of a movie-like feel. When opening a game, you will see 6 yellow buttons in the top left-hand corner. 5 of them are categories, the top 5, and the bottom one is the mute button. Clicking on any category will give you more options and different orders to give your men. These can be hidden by the "shift" key. Now, the more interactive interface is the one where you click on the soldiers to move them around. When hovering over an Allied soldier, his stats will appear. When hovering over an Axis soldier, a brief description will appear.

Old Interface

In the older versions, there were no categories for sorting orders, so they were just lined up on both sides of the screen. Also, Germans had no descriptions when hovered over. All infantry was the same speed (Troopers, Spec-Ops, and Signallers were all the same speed). Leaving Germans behind when advancing didn't count as crossing your lines, either, which meant advancing could be taken advantage of.

Tactical Points

	TP at Start
Ribbon		TP Bonus
D-Day Ribbon		1 TP
Legion of merit		2 TP
Distinguished service ribbon		1 TP
Meritous Service Ribbon		2 TP
Remembrance Day Ribbon		1 TP
MnB2 Anniversary Ribbon		1 TP
Total		8 TP

These function like money throughout your games on Mud and Blood 2. Tactical Points (TP) will be spent on anything that you will need through the menu on the left-hand side of your screen. Units, artillery, air support, constructions, and commands all require TP, with only a few exceptions.

You will gain 1 TP every wave except for the first five waves, during which you will gain 2 TP a wave giving you a total of 10 tp by wave 5. You can also get TP from random crates that will be dropped on the battlefield by parachute, a few command options, and from the Field HQ construction, which gives you TP at the cost of losing all the TP gained if the building is destroyed or captured.

Advancing

"Advancing" means to move your units to the top of the map so that you enter the next one. To do so, you must move all your units to the very top, until they disappear. When the last one is through, you will appear on a new random map. You will also receive 1 TP and every troop will get 1 exp and 1 morale.

You cannot return to previous maps and all buildings and disabled units left behind are lost forever. Be advised that abandoning disabled units will give a morale penalty to all your men.

Ranks and Information

Main article: Rank.

Rank	Exp	Unlocks
Second Lieutenant	Starting rank
First Lieutenant	3000
Captain	6000	Hasty Defence
Major	12000	Close Protection
Lt. Colonel	24000	Special Operations
Colonel	48000	Proper Planning
Brigadier General	100000	Last Stand
Major General	200000	+10 TP to Last Stand
Lieutenant General	400000	+10 TP to Last Stand
General	800000	+10 TP to Last Stand
Mud and Blood General	2000000	+10 TP to Last Stand

Wanker?!

Some people in Kongregate talk about another rank, well Wanker.

The rank "Wanker" is not a joke.

A rank named "Wanker" does exist and is reserved for hackers and other unsavory types. Please do not attempt to achieve it.

Brandenburger

In reality, the "Brandenburg" patch is an anti-hacking mechanism. The message is not a joke and is real, as shown below. Do not try to achieve this, as it will delete your ENTIRE profile. But don't worry, this only happens if you are malicious and hack the game.

The Brandenburg arm patch

How Do I Lose?

Now, not that you want to, but this is how you can lose. There are three main ways, which are explained below.

German Overrun

A most common way of losing. You get overrun by 10 Germans. Bikes count as one per troop on the bike and the same with Opels. Infiltrators are a nasty thing and can lead to this form of loss. A PAK-38 may contain two crewmen but count as 1 troop. Note that vehicles that have lost their crew (such as abandoned bikes, Opels with their driver and people inside shot down) still count as 1 troop, until they disappear, so look carefully before you advance. Common ways to incur this type of loss are:

Blitzes
Infiltrators
High wave count
Rapid and unchecked advancement

Out of Men

The title says it all: you ran out of soldiers on the field. This is what limits you from having a 100-man gib, because it would instantly end the game. However, you can still lose without having deployed all your 100 allotted men. Common ways to get this loss are:

Slow whittling down of force
Lucky gibs on clumps of men
Major morale loss

Surrender

Most lame way of losing, as it decreases some of your stats. It ends the game with a white flag, see Surrender to learn about the order. Common causes for this type of loss vary per person, but the following are the most prevalent:

The shocking loss of men
Destruction of defenses
Too many trees or rocks on one map
Soldier stats not high enough

Deployment Options

The following is a list of the different deployment options you can use during your MnB2 career.

Deploy

When you hit the Deploy button, you will start out with 4 regular soldiers. On a brand new account, they start out with the Springfield rifle. You start with 0 Tactical Points, and gain +2 TP on each of the first 5 waves, and then +1 TP every wave after that.

Ops Screen

Hasty Defence

The first option on your Ops screen. Hasty Defense is unlocked when you achieve the rank of Captain. You begin with 4 randomly chosen squad members, instead of the regular 4 soldiers.

Close Protection

Instead of starting out with 4 soldiers already picked for you, you get to choose your own squad. This option allows you to start the game with 12 Tactical Points, but no soldiers, allowing you to build your squad yourself. This is unlocked when you achieve the rank of Major. Some Medals give you free units, they will not be affected when choosing this option.

Special Operations

Instead of 4 regular soldiers, you begin with 4 Special Operation soldiers. However, to pay for this start, you begin with -10 Tactical Points. This option is unlocked when you achieve the rank of Lt. Colonel. If you have medals that give you additional TP at the start, they will affect the minus ten TP by taking the amount of TP at the start closer to 0, not an immediate positive 1 TP start.

Proper Planning

This option is almost exactly like regular "Deploy", except that you begin with all the tactical points you did not use on your last game, to a maximum of 20 Tactical Points. You unlock this when you achieve the rank of Colonel.

Last Stand

Unlocked when you gain the rank of Brigadier General, you begin your round with 50 Tactical Points and do not gain any for the rest of the game. Every subsequent General rank that you achieve will add 10 Tactical Points to your starting amount, enabling you to have up to 90 TP at the start of the game even if you don't have any medals that give you TP at the start.

Airborne Challenge

Unlocked at the rank of 1st Lieutenant, you are commanding a quad of paratroopers behind enemy lines. Your objective is to reach wave 100 with only paratroopers, succeeding awards you with the Airborne Badge increasing the number of paratroopers deployed when called in during other game modes. You have 1 attempt per additional rank.

The Dirty Half Dozen

Keep in mind that when you have more than six men on the battlefield, Germans will start calling air and arty strikes, so make sure that your men have a cam net over their heads if your squad exceeds the six men limit. However, you get a medal when the German has fired 1000 Artillery rounds at you. To see some ways to counter arty, see support.

Range Chart

Curious about how accurate weapons are at different ranges? Click here to take a look! A must-read.

Blitz Waves

Ever have one of those insanely tough waves coming out of nowhere? These are called Blitz Waves. Click on the link to learn more.

Slang Terms and Abbreviations

Name	Definition
AP	While this term is commonly used to mean armor-piercing, in MnB2 it means Anti-Personnel.
Arty	Artillery – massive shells that devastate whichever side they are fired at.
AT	Anti-Tank generally used to refer to the M3 AT Gun, but also to a unit's or strategy's ability to deal with enemy vehicles.
Boomspam	Repeated throwing of grenades, usually by a SpecOps
Bottomburg	These are Brandenburger soldiers who spawn on the bottom of the battlefield and attack your guys from behind. This is a new feature implemented with the unfair events in version 2.2.6.
Brandy	Brandenburg, master flankers
CO	Commissioned officer. The guys that you buy that say "officer".
CO (real-life term)	Stands for Commanding Officer. You'll know him when you see him.
CQC	You'll see this around a lot. It means close-quarters-combat, or hand-to-hand. Sometimes also referred to as melee or CQB, for close-quarters-battle.
DO	Direct orders crate, which reduces the logical wave counter (not the one you see) and will affect the game's behavior.
EOD	Stands for Explosive Ordinance Disposal. aka: the worst damn job in the military.
Engy	Engineer, the guy that builds stuff
FF	Friendly fire is when one of your men shoots another, usually done by a bazooka or grenade.
FUBAR	A military term used to describe the condition of a mission, place, or person. stands for "F!@#?ed Up Beyond All Repair.
Gib	A gib refers to when a shell, bomb, artillery, grenades, or any other pyrotechnics lands directly on a unit's head, blowing it up. There are up to 21 different body parts that fly out when a troop is gibbed.
Grinder	Slang term commonly used by Drill/Training Instructors (also known as drill sergeants) Meaning Parade Deck.
Grunt	Military slang term used to describe lower enlisted (Pvt/E1 - Sgt/E5).
HQ	Headquarters, as in Field HQ. Gives additional TP.
Jerry	Slang term for Germans.
KO	Knock Out, KOed, meaning knocked out, as in "a zook can KO a tank with a direct hit."
LOS	Your Line of Sight is where your soldiers can see and shoot.
Leib	A Leibstandarte soldier, the best German infantry on the field
Meatshield	A unit placed in a position to soak enemy fire.
mm	Not really used in combat, it means millimeters, as in 20mm shells.
MP	Stands for Military Police.
Nade	Grenade, stick nades are the German ones
NCO	Non-Commissioned Officer, A soldier whose rank ranges from E-4, to E6. the successor of lower enlisted.
Nerfed	Not a war term, but a term that you will hear here and on the forums. It means "made worse," like the recently nerfed Tiger Tanks and RGs.
Parade Deck	A designated stretch of ground used primarily for drill.
Pin	When a unit goes prone to protect itself from incoming fire, at the cost of not being able to fire nor, sometimes, even to move.
Px	Short for pixels. in Real military terms stands for 'Post Exchange' an on-base convenient store or shop.
RG	A grenade that fires from a gun over a longer range than a frag grenade. Can only be used by soldiers armed with the Springfield, M1 Garand, or M1 Carbine.
ROE	Stands for Rules Of Engagement, normally given before any mission is carried out by real-life military forces.
Sccuttlebutt	Navy/ Marine Corps. slang for rumor, or water fountain.
SNAFU	A military term that came around during the Vietnam era, stands for Situation Normal, All F!@#?ed Up.
STA	A Marine Corps abbreviation for "Special Target Acquisition", also known as Scout Snipers.
Staff Non-commissioned Officer/SNCO	E-6 - Sergeant Major\|E-9/E-9S. The successor of NCO.
TO/E	Table of Organization and Equipment. A military document that describes the battle function and equipage of a type of unit in a real war.
Top	Military slang term commonly used by Officers when addressing high ranking enlisted (GySgt/E-7 - Sergeant Major/ E-9).
TP	Short for Tactical Points and is what is used to buy troops and call other upgrades. Basically, it is the game's currency, in the same way as the USA's Dollars.
URB	Coined after Urbanprophet (a.k.a. urb), the creator of MnB, it means Unfair Random Brutality, his trademark.
Volk(s)	Refers to the low quality German troop called Volkssturm.
xp	Experience points, both an individual unit's or your profile's. For more, see Rank.
Zook	Bazooka unit. Sometimes also refers to the Axis panzerschreck.

If you have any other abbreviations, feel free to add-on or inquire on the talk page.

Super-Soldiers

An amazing soldier

The game is randomized, sometimes you will get a super-soldier. A super-soldier has a higher than an average rifle and/or morale. If you have a better one, please add the pic!

Specs. Explanations

Unsure what the specifications on weapons mean? Click here to find out!

MnB 2 Guide to Being a Noob

Go to Noob in MNB to see how a true noob plays an amazing game. Warning!: The guide is not a tutorial, but rather a false game guide of totally EPIC FAIL strategies saying what a noob does or thinks. This Noob in MNB page is one of the most popular pages, based on the fact that it was here a month later than other pages! It has over 200,000 views and is a HIT! See the Sensation now!

Real Life

Operation Lüttich was a codename given to a German counterattack during the Battle of Normandy, which took place around the American positions near Mortain from 7 August to 13 August 1944. (Lüttich is the German name for the city of Liège in Belgium, where the Germans had won a victory in the early days of August 1914, during the First World War.) The offensive is also referred to in American and British histories of the Battle of Normandy simply as the Mortain counter-offensive.

The assault was ordered by Adolf Hitler, to eliminate the gains made by the First United States Army during Operation Cobra and the subsequent weeks, and by reaching the coast in the region of Avranches at the base of the Cotentin peninsula, cut off the units of the Third United States Army which had advanced into Brittany.

The main German striking force was the XLVII Panzer Korps, with one and a half SS Panzer Divisions and two Wehrmacht Panzer Divisions. Although they made initial gains against the defending US VII Corps, they were soon halted and Allied aircraft inflicted severe losses on the attacking troops, eventually destroying nearly half of the tanks involved in the attack. Although fighting continued around Mortain for six days, the American forces had regained the initiative within a day of the opening of the German attack.

As the German commanders on the spot had warned Hitler in vain, there was little chance of the attack succeeding, and the concentration of their armored reserves at the western end of the front in Normandy soon led to disaster, as they were outflanked to their south and the front to their east collapsed, resulting in many of the German troops in Normandy being trapped in the Falaise Pocket.

(From wikipedia)

Battlefield theory

Theoretical concepts about Mud and Blood and their suggested approach.

Envelopment

The unexpected appearance of enemy troops on a flank or from behind can damage an army's morale, and if a force is encircled it can be deprived of supplies or attacked from any side. Ultimately, if completely cut off, it must fight its way out, surrender or fight to the death. Envelopment is the classic example of maneuver warfare and has produced some of the most decisive victories in history. Stalingrad is a prime example. Brandenburg blitzes, and "bottom burgs" or Brandenburg marauders are prime examples of what can happen to you in-game.

Exchange of Fire

This concept is extensively used by the game engine. Exchange of fire is a theoretical term that measures the balance between the volume of fire applied to the enemy versus the same factors applied to friendly units. The effectiveness of the exchange of fire is judged by comparing the fire volume and its results to both sides of the exchange. Usually, the side with the superior effective fire volume will gain the initiative, will be able to maneuver, and will be more capable to dictate the outcome of the battle. The side with less fire volume will be focusing on self-preservation and defensive maneuvering (which can be as simple as being pinned) and as a consequence lose the exchange of fire. The exchange of fire and fire volume is not a set value and can fluctuate numerous times during a battle. Maneuvers and timely usage of specific weapon systems used versus specific targets will also influence the outcome. Inexperienced commanders will simply think that overwhelming firepower is the key to win the exchange of fire. While potentially a short-term solution, it is in reality exposing your capabilities to your enemy. It also depletes your offensive resources and limits your capability to escalating the conflict when needed. The particularity of the exchange of fire theory is that it is an aspect of the battlefield that is the most directly controllable. A commander who winning the exchange of fire has more latitude to adapt to other unpredictable events that the battlefield will undoubtedly present him.

Fire and maneuver

Fire and Maneuverare simply pinning down your enemy with one force, and surrounding, enveloping, attacking, flanking, retreating, or just moving another force. One group, made of heavy and light machine guns, riflemen, artillery, indirect fire units, and armor pin down the enemy, while another force of men completes their maneuver goals such as the ones listed.

Off balancing and pinning

It's often effective to pin an enemy into a position where firepower or maneuvering can destroy him, or where the enemy is so disrupted by off-balancing probes that he has little idea where the main attack will fall.

Surprise attack

The Surprise Attack is one of the oldest and most used theories, The basic idea is for a force of fast-moving and lightly armored units to quickly attack the enemy in his weakest spot at the most unlikely time. The result often being an overwhelmed and confused enemy that makes rash and hasty command mistakes. The blitz wave is a good example of this. A good real-life example of this is the Germanic attack on Roman forces at the Battle of Teutoburg Forest, in 9 AD. The only way to make use of this strategy is to have a very well disciplined and extremely dedicated force. To counter the threat of a surprise attack, always be alert and leave no openings. And never underestimate your enemy.

Hints

Remember the 6 man rule. This is one of the most important unofficial rules of the game. Only ever have 6 men in view (not under camo nets) at any one time. Otherwise, the enemy will send arty and air strikes purely at random.
Use a balance in your forces. Try to have some men dedicated to mowing down men, some taking out specific targets, some neutralizing tanks, and others healing or protecting your men.
The Germans will send a force to counter yours, particularly in the higher waves. Keep 4 TPs back for contingencies.
Flak Panzers hurt. So do most enemy tanks. Leave them alive at your peril.
Start a strategy and stick to it for most of the game (unless the units used are very adaptable).

Feel free to add more hints for other people

Want to learn more? Go look at the New User Help Pages.