So, you've finally downloaded Darkest Hour. Now what? You will need to find a server and decide to join the Axis or the Allies. You will be forced to choose one faction if the other one is full, but what if they are balanced?

Overall there is no real big difference to either factions. You must know that, in my opinion, the game is fairly realistic. Whilst the standard infantryman of the German forces does have a bolt-action Karabiner 98 and the American GIs have the semi-automatic M1 Garand, the game is still fairly balanced. Rounds are won by team play and skill, not because one faction is more OP than the other one.

Allies
That said, you must know something about the Allies. In fact, they are divided into two factions; the Americans and the British Commonwealth. They are split by different colors; the Americans have a green text and the Commonwealth a blue text. In example, this means that when you got killed by someone with a green name, he was an American. The allied factions are bounded by map and can not be chosen. To make it concrete, you cannot choose which Allied faction you want to play as, as this is decided by the mapmaker. Some maps support both Commonwealth and American gear, but they are still either American or Commonwealth.

Axis
The Axis, on the other hand, are solely one faction. The Germans can be divided by two branches; the German army, and the SS. Same as the allies, these are bounded by map and cannot be chosen which to play as. Their gear, however, does not differ. They have the same weapons, the same voice acting and the same vehicles. The only main difference however, is their uniform. While the normal German army has the Feldgrau colored uniform, the SS mostly has camouflaged uniforms.

You spawned! Good! But now you might ask, as which class should I play? You can see which items a class has by selecting it and then the gear is shown on the right. Moreover, you can also change your name. Here is a quick rundown on all classes;

Rifleman

The rifleman is the backbone of the army. So yes, that is what you are, the backbone of your TEAM. Your task is to support attacks and hold positions when needed. The German and Commonwealth riflemen are armed with a bolt-action rifle, whilst the American riflemen are armed with a semi-automatic rifle. PING! Most of the times you are also equipped with some hand grenades. Very often map designers decided to give you some smoke grenades and/or a pistol too. Or they had a bad day, and decided to only give you a rifle. All standard primary rifles from the rifleman class can be equipped with a bayonet.


I RECOMMEND YOU TO PLAY YOUR FIRST FIVE ROUNDS WITH SOLELY THE RIFLEMAN CLASS

Machinegunner

Ah, you decided you wanted some more firepower, eh? The American .30 or the MG-34/MG-42 surely can give this to you, but can you hold the responsibility? You are tasked at the centers and extreme flanks of the front line in assault and at capture points during defense. You must shoot and suppress your enemies to make sure your fellow teammates can flank them and take them out. You are furthermore equipped with a side-pistol and extra barrels in case you selected the MG-42 or MG-34 (barrels are not equipabble). This is because the MG-42/MG-34 has a changeable barrel. Machineguns can get overheated and it is necessary to cool down the barrel or they will melt. All machineguns are air cooled, which means you have to let them cool down once the barrel smokes. The MG-42 and the MG-34 however, can change barrels. Press your default barrel change key to do so. You will need to deploy your machinegun to fire it. You do so by going prone or resting on an object. A white machinegun resting on sandbags will be displayed in your lower right corner when your weapon is rested. When your machinegun is rested you press your RMB to deploy it.

The MG-34 can be fired from the hip by pressing the RMB. You can be given ammo

Squad machinegunner

The Squad machinegunner is a class only for the allied troops. These men are either equipped with a BAR (Americans) or a Bren automatic rifle (Commonwealth). These men are tasked with supporting the advances with some extra firepower. Sometimes this class is compared with a German soldier equipped with a STG44. Sometimes you get some extra grenades with you. Both weapons can, like all other machineguns, be deployed. You can be given ammo

Ant-Tank soldier

The Anti-Tank soldier is tasked with, you guessed it, taking tanks and other AFVs out. The standard AT weaponry is the M1 Bazooka for the Americans, the PIAT for the Commonwealth and the Panzerschreck or the Panzerfaust for the Germans. You are furthermore equipped with a pistol and sometimes with some smoke grenades or a submachine gun. Keep together with the rest of your team to make sure you are protected and that you can protect your team. The M1 Bazooka and Panzerschreck create back blast, so be careful at your back. This can be lethal for you (if there is an object at your back) or a teammate if he/she walks behind you. Furthermore, you can be given ammo and you can be reloaded when deploying (aiming) your weapon.

There are many more classes I will not be discussing, ranging from vehicle drivers to mortar operators, as this is a guide for new players. I do not recommend you playing as them yet.

So there you are, you spawned with your preferred class, ready for going into battle! But wait, this is not the battle! I'm in a weird building with multiple doors! This is your spawning area, you can go to A sections (left flank) or B sections (right flank). The numbers correspond with the objective number. To make it concrete; at the start of the battle you spawn at stage one. Once the first objective is captured, you spawn at stage two etc. The doors to stage one are literally closed and the doors to stage two are opened once the first objective is captured.

Knowing this you run into a door, get into the battlefield, run to your objective and...get shot. You try again, and die again. And again. And again...and again. You WILL be killed as an inexperienced soldier when you mindlessly rush to your objective. Use cover as you progress to the capture zone. Once you are in there, the fun starts.

The capture zone

The most fun part of your job is to capture, or defend, zones. You can see them by pressing your map (the O button). Highlighted objectives are able to be capture, transparent ones are not. Once you are in the capture area you will see two bars. The upper, big bar will display who is in control, whilst the lower bar represents who are in the capture circle.

Lets say that there are three German and two American soldiers are in the capture circle and that it is 75% captured. The Germans attack and the Americans defend. In total there are five people in the capture zone. Three fifth are German, and two fifth are American. So, the Germans are capturing because they are a majority in the capture circle, whilst the Americans are a minority. This is represented in the lower bar where three fifth is red (German) and two fifth is green (American). The upper bar is 75% red (German controlled) whilst the other 25% is green (American controlled). Because the Germans are the majority in the capture circle the Germans are capturing. The more units of team A are in the capture circle, the faster the upper bar grows for team A (granted they are a majority).

Now you have captured your point, you get a nice 10 points! Good, eh! That concludes this large guide, and I hope to see you on the fields!