Advance Wars 2 Part #29 - Interview 15 - “Fifteen Days To Die” (Or, “The Dream Team We Didn’t Know We Needed”)

Part 29: Interview 15 - “Fifteen Days To Die” (Or, “The Dream Team We Didn’t Know We Needed”)

Interview 15 - “Fifteen Days To Die” (Or, “The Dream Team We Didn’t Know We Needed”)

Welcome back, my dude. I have a missile-related mission for you today.

Oh, more Olaf, I'm always down for that.

Look at that! It’s… It’s…

Olaf: What… What… What in winter’s name is that?!?

Grit: It looks like a missile silo… A really big missile silo. I doubt we can just walk up and push that monster over.

Oh, Grit, you and your excellent ideas.

Olaf: Hit it with everything we’ve got! No Black Hole base is a match for our might!

Grit: Do you see the size of that thing? I’m worried about you, Chief.

He is very much the voice of reason.

Every country has at least one. Nell, Grit, Sonja... come to think of it, Green Earth doesn't really have one.

Wha-What should WE do?

Grit: Well, son, you and I are on intel duty. We’ve gotta find a way to beat that thing.

As the mission title suggests... there's a strict time limit on this mission.

15 days isn't that strict. It's pretty generous, actually, the Orange Star mission only had like 5 days.

Reserve judgement, Commander. You haven't seen the map yet.

Wait, they're not the right colour...

Ah yes. Here are the deployments for today... there's quite a number of new friends, and a few old friends too.

TODAY’S DEPLOYMENTS
Blue Moon
Ivan, Infantry
Anton, Infantry
Alina, Mech
Nika, Mech
Dimitri, Mech
Gavril, Mech
Ludmilla, APC
Elena, APC
Valeria, Anti-Air
Abram, Anti-Air
Boris, Anti-Air
Eduard, Anti-Air
Alder, Anti-Air
Anatoly, Artillery

Holy shit how big is this map

Inessa, Rockets
Mark, Rockets
Eva, Rockets
Valentin, Missiles
Diana, Tank
Ignat, Tank
Anna, Tank
Kira, Tank
Mikhail, Medium Tank
Zlata, Medium Tank
Felix, Medium Tank
Fenya, Medium Tank

Orange Star
Michael, APC
Von Panzer, Battle Copter
Alfonse, Battle Copter
Fred, Battle Copter
Paul, Battle Copter
Lucy, Fighter
Ingo, Bomber

And the profiles for the new units are here.

GAVRIL
Age: 24
Personality: Military weapons enthusiast.
Proficiencies: Mech, Transport Copter, Battle Copter

ALDER
Age: 39
Personality: Enjoys nature walks.
Proficiencies: Anti-Air, Infantry, APC

IGNAT
Age: 28
Personality: Likes trading cards.
Proficiencies: Battleship, Cruiser, Tank

ANNA
Age: 29
Personality: Amateur acoustic guitarist.
Proficiencies: Tank, Battleship, Submarine

KIRA
Age: 23
Personality: Obsessed with beauty.
Proficiencies: Tank, Mech, Neotank

FELIX
Age: 19
Personality: Nervous younger brother.
Proficiencies: Medium Tank, Infantry, Anti-Air

FENYA
Age: 22
Personality: Competent older sister.
Proficiencies: Medium Tank, Mech, Battle Copter

PAUL
Age: ??
Personality: Talented military strategist.
Proficiencies: Rockets, Battle Copter, Artillery

Hey, Paul's back! For another show-stopping appearance!

You're familiar with him?

He's an old friend, taught me a lot about strategy when I was starting out. He only made one appearance in my last campaign... looks like this is The Only Appearance Of Paul 2!

I see. Anyway, continuing on... Orange Star are here, as you've noticed.

I’m here to help!

Oh my god yes this is the team-up we needed

Hmph! It’s Andy of Orange Star. What are you doing here?

I can't believe you're happy to see Dipshit.

It's like schadenfreude. I get to see someone else put up with his antics, and who better than Military Santa?

I just told you… I’m here to help.

Blue Moon needs no aid! We have the power to…

That’s a giant missile silo. When 15 days have passed, it’ll launch a missile! That missile will take out half of Blue Moon’s troops in one blow.

As you can see, the situation is dire.

Madness!

I don't remember him doing it a lot in the last campaign, but I am really enjoying Olaf yelling "Madness!" and "Impossible!" whenever people tell him completely believable facts.

That’s what Nell said anyway.

Meanwhile, it seems all this intel came from Nell. I can't believe she entrusted Dipshit with such an important mission.

Nell moves in mysterious ways.

That… That’s… We must stop that missile!

I’ll help you! Let’s stop that missile together!

Grumble grumble… If you’re going to insist, you can help!

Anyway, my dude, you were wondering why 15 days was a strict limit, weren't you? Here.

Holy fuck. I take back what I said - this mission is gonna be a bitch. Who's running the Black Hole side of things?

Who else but the resident powerhouse, Flak? He's normally not much of a threat, but with an army this size backing him up...

So what's the victory condition here? That thing looks too big to capture.

We won't officially find out for a few days, but I have the victory terms memorised.

That was a startlingly good impression of Nell.

The soldiers gather on the eastern edge of the missile silo, in three different groups, but chatter soon comes through the transceivers as a group of Orange Star soldiers arrive.

"Hey! We're here to help, guys!" one of them says - she's chipper and upbeat, flying a fighter jet above them.

"Lucy, ain't it?" Dimitri says. The reply comes through on the transceiver.

"Correctomundo! Lucy Ophelia Maxwell and the aerial forces of Orange Star at your service!"

"You're Dimitri, right?" asks Michael. "Got crushed by a meteor during that battle against Sturm?"

"Three times." Dimitri says, sighing. "Yeah, that was me. Good to be fighting with you again."

"It's certainly a pleasure." Ludmilla replies, licking her lips. "That young man in the bomber looks utterly delightful..."

Ingo goes red. "I, uh, have a-"

"Hands off, missy! He's mine." Lucy replies, winking. "We don't have time for pleasantries, anyway. Black Hole's got a huge army lying in wait on the far side of that silo, with bombers and neotanks by the southern pipe!"

"The southern pipe?" Alina says, turning to Dimitri. "Dimitri, that's us. If they've got bombers and neotanks, the anti-airs won't be enough. We're sitting ducks!"

"You're right." Dimitri says through the transceiver, gritting his teeth. "We've got lots to handle, and not much time to handle it in. Let's get ready, soldiers. Move out!"

There is one stroke of luck for the soldiers, though. We didn't touch on it last time we saw one of these pipes, but as you can see, flying units can't pass over them.

Ah. So this map is effectively split into three - and if Olaf needs to capture those cities, he needs to get the infantry and mechs into that middle section. Those pipe seams will do the trick, though.

Correct. Dimitri and Alina begin heading north towards the pipe, hoping to buy some time before the bombers close in on them.

I'd have done the same - that airport is a trap. There's no way they could capture it and produce a fighter jet or something quickly enough to take out the incoming bombers, and Black Hole doesn't have any infantry nearby anyway, so may as well leave it.

Olaf thought the same. His forces gather next to the pipe, hoping to get out before the bombers arrive.

That's going to be an issue considering mechs have just 2 movement.

The central group simply move forward, meanwhile. Valentin has headed down, since missile support may buy some time for the southern group, but otherwise this first day is simply advancing.

And Nika and Gavril get into the APCs. There couldn't have been an APC in the southern area, could there? That would have sped things up immensely.

No use wishing for what-ifs, my dude. Anyway, this is the setup at the end of the turn. Andy's turn next.

Mostly setup again.

Andy doesn't have any foot units with him, so his ability to help on this map is limited to just providing damage.

Yeah, come to think of it, getting Lucy south might help. Fighter jets are the best way to combat bombers.

Flak's turn, meanwhile. All of his forces advance... and there are a lot of them.

Oh wow the southern group are fucked. How the hell are they supposed to get out in time?

Hey, Grit. What helpful strategy do you have for us today?

We found a way to put the kibosh on that giant missile base.

What was that? Are you sure?

There are 8 properties surrounding the launch tower. They’re supplying the power for the base to launch the missile. If you can capture those 8 properties, the tower should be helpless. It’s up to you, Frosty!

Grit's nicknames continue to be the best.

I’ll take care of this! Easier said than done… This accursed pipe is preventing my units from advancing!

If you blow up that seam, you can pass through the hole in the pipe. That’s what Nell told me!

That's the second time he's said that's what Nell told him... I get the sense that Nell told him what to do in very explicit detail.

Oh, yes… Of course! I already knew that! I thank you all the same, though.

Aw, he's being polite. That's cute.

Meanwhile, Valeria has discovered an issue with their escape plan.

Put simply, it's gonna take more than a day to destroy this seam.

Exactly. Even with medium tank support from the other side. The first part of this mission isn't really concerned with capturing the 8 properties needed - it's just finding a way to safely deal with the opening squad of copters and bombers in the south without losing the crucial foot units needed to beat the map.

"This seam won't stand up to much more. I expect you to take advantage of the opening that I provide." Fenya says coldly as she targets the pipe seam. Felix, in his own medium tank, wipes his brow.

"I, uh, be careful, Fenya..."

Meanwhile, Diana takes out some of her anger on the nearby rockets.

And I take it Kira does the same thing up north.

It's rather satisfyingly symmetrical, isn't it? Like his sister down below, Felix goes for the pipe seam.

But medium tanks and bombers are virtually all that can damage it - not even Anna can really scratch it.

Honestly, I'd have stopped Anna from attacking it. Andy's turn is up next, and Ingo in the bomber would easily destroy that seam.

Ah, but now he can't get to the pipe because Anna's there. I see.

It's an easy enough mistake to make. And down in the bottom left there, I can see battle copters... god, are they already here? There's no way the southern group are getting out of this unscathed.

It's certainly going to be rough. Up north, however, the units are gathered and ready to charge into the middle section of the map the moment that the seam is destroyed.

Andy's forces, meanwhile, are also waiting for the seam to open. Well, all except Von Panzer, who will be defending the northern group from the few Black Hole troops in the northern section.

Ah, perfect. The Great Wall of Von Panzer has returned, beautiful.

Flak's turn now. One more day before the chaos begins in earnest.

His rockets, healing from 4 to 6 HP, actually do a decent amount of damage to both Anna...

...and Valeria.

They should be easy enough to destroy next turn though - two medium tanks and two tanks can take out pretty much anything - plus, the areas around the missile silo are great chokepoints, actually.

And oh god they're here. Next turn, there's gonna be a massacre. Even I'm not sure how I'd deal with this.

I don't know, but you're right about the chokepoint idea. If Olaf can destroy those rockets and put his units in their place, that huge force of Black Hole troops will be virtually bottlenecked.

I'm worried about the rockets to the north of the silo, though. They'll be able to target anything that tries to choke the northern point.

Well, we shall see how our snowy friend handles it.

_{he's not my friend.}

First priority is, of course, the seams. Felix performs some impromptu plumbing up north to open this pipe up.

Fenya does the same. The way out is open, but getting out isn't going to be easy.

And Kira's taking the fight to the rockets. Hm... I wonder if Olaf's spotted the other rockets?

Either way, Diana can handle things down south without having to worry about it.

"I'll open the way!" shouts Zlata, preparing her cannons as she faces off against the horde of Black Hole soldiers. "Hey, Dimitri, uh... how are you getting on?"

Dimitri's grin is hollow as he replies. He knows things are looking grim. "Don't worry about me - focus on the mission. We need to clear those enemy troops so we can capture the nearby properties. I'll see you after the battle, alright?"

"I'll hold you to that." Zlata murmurs.

Oh, no, Mikhail's moved right into that rocket's range. He does kill that anti-air, at least.

Not quite. He brings it to 1HP, unfortunately.

In the bottom sector, meanwhile, the anti-airs have successfully escaped, but the mechs, Dimitri and Alina, are in no condition to get out quite so swiftly. It'll take them another few days at least.

And they don't have a few days. Dammit!

Oh? What's this?

Olaf's gambit - Blizzard.

As you can see, it's limited the enemy's movement, which has bought the squad an extra day.

I guess the rest of Olaf's forces have nothing to do but just kinda hang out in the middle here. This really was an excessive number of units to deploy.

You could've done it with fewer units?

Probably.

There is a side effect to the snow, however... it limits the movement of any CO that isn't Olaf. Which means Andy's planes can't head south to help out just yet.

God DAMN it Olaf, you are the worst CO. To be fair, this does pair well with Grit, since his long-range units aren't usually moving anyway, and having stationary targets in the snow is best for him to pick off. I'd love to see the pair of them fighting together.

And Von Panzer bullies this APC a bit, just for fun.

But nobody else can really move forwards with Olaf's units taking up all the space. God, this map is so restrictive to say it's one of the biggest maps we've seen in this campaign. Those seams are super awkward to deal with.

It gets worse, too.

Oh, god, he got his CO Power off.

Wait, he has his Super CO Power?!

It did fill up awfully quickly, didn't it?

No kidding. If Olaf's unlucky, this could really sting.

And of course the rockets immediately go for Mikhail, as I predicted.

The battle copters in range go after Fenya, meanwhile. Thankfully, the second one doesn't do nearly as much damage as the first, and she survives.

That's a relief.

But...

"Heh. This is where I go down, is it?" Mikhail murmurs to himself as a medium tank drives over, all cannons blazing. His own medium tank is badly damaged - a good couple of shots will destroy his squad.

"Mikhail, retreat!" says Ludmilla, but he shakes his head.

"Sorry, young 'uns. I can't come with you for the rest of this journey. But make me a promise. This missile silo... make sure it doesn't hurt a single Blue Moon soldier."

Dimitri nods, his heart heavy. "I promise."

Cannon fire rips through the northern chokepoint. Anna and Kira watch, unable to do anything, as Mikhail's medium tank explodes and his body is trapped in the wreckage.

"We have to hold the line!" Anna says. Kira nods, putting her mirror away.

"I look perfect. Time to show them what Blue Moon soldiers can do when they look their best!"

The rest of the troops rally around them, prepared to fight on.

"The last thing we want is for Mikhail's sacrifice to be in vain." Alina says. "We lost many friends in the Snowbound Free Company, and I've grown used to it. I know it's hard, but we mourn after the battle - not during."

"She's right. Everyone, gather up your squads! Push forward! We gotta capture those buildings, and we're runnin' out of time!" Dimitri orders.

Uh oh, one of the smaller tanks has gone for Kira.

She survives. The only issue now is holding the northern chokepoint.

Once the issue with the bombers in the south is sorted out, taking out those rockets next to the silo is top priority, I suppose.

Well, here we are. The culmination of the first phase of this mission - five battle copters and three bombers, and somehow two mechs and some anti-airs are supposed to fight them off.

Hm... yeah, this is not going to be easy. There might just be a way to do it, though...

First things first, Valentin is quite easily able to destroy a nearby battle copter with his missiles.

Obviously, the main threat at the moment is the three bombers. Weakening them will help massively, so first Alder goes in to attack the lowermost one.

Uh oh. Boris can't reach the other bomber - there's a battle copter in the way.

Yes, it does throw a spanner in the works somewhat.

Olaf is undeterred, however, and sends in Eduard to take out the battle copter.

That allows Boris to weaken the second bomber, but the third one is still alive and kicking. What's the plan here, Olaf?

You'll see, my dude.

Evidently I won't. He's moved onto the middle section now.

I said you'll see. Please pay attention. Anyway, yes, now Zlata is continuing to press the advantage in the south.

This allows Fenya to target the missiles. Remember this.

Up here, meanwhile, Olaf has realised that direct-combat units will be under fire from the rockets, so instead he resorts to Anatoly, who is in a prime position to fire on the opposition from his artillery.

Not bad. And now Kira's opening fire on the tank?

She's out of range of the rockets, and dealing with at least a few of the enemies should help. She is weakened though, so defensive measures must be taken before Olaf's turn ends.

And what measures are those?

Combining with Anna brings her back up to maximum capacity. Ignat, who hasn't done all that much lately, can fill the space that Anna just left.

Not bad, Olaf... not bad.

Ignat weakens the tank a bit more, too.

Great turn, but I still don't quite see how he intends to deal with that last bomber.

That's the secret - Olaf isn't going to deal with it.

Andy is.

Oh, I see now. Weakening the missiles means that Lucy can step in now.

"Hey, I'm here to help! Lemme know who I need to shoot!" Lucy says.

"The bomber, if you would." Alina replies. "Thanks, you're just in time."

"We're not out of the ol' fire yet." Dimitri mutters, eyeing the skies above. "Those battle copters mean business. This could be a rough fight."

Up north, meanwhile, Von Panzer decides to take out this offending mech before he cross the mountains.

Fred and Paul have decided to stay to help out Von Panzer, whilst Alfonse heads into the middle sector, just in case he's needed.

Well, this is going to be the roughest enemy phase we've seen in a while. God help you, Olaf, you'll need all the luck you can get.

Correct. First, the missiles open fire on Lucy, but thankfully, she survives.

And then, in possibly the best possible outcome for the Blue Moon troops... two of the damaged bombers join.

NICE.

The other bomber, however, targets Dimitri.

"Dimitri, get back, it's opening fire!" shouts Alina. Dimitri shakes his head.

"I'll lure 'em out, whilst you make a run for the seam, alright?"

"Are you going to be alright?" asks Alina.

Dimitri unshoulders his heavy weaponry and points it at the sky.

"Trust me, gal. If meteors couldn't do me in, a couple of bombs aren't gonna do squat. Now get going!"

Alina nods, and sprints towards the seam whilst Dimitri challenges the very sky itself, holding his guns aloft.

Oh fuck, more copters. They're everywhere.

"Ngh!"

Dimitri grunts as he hits the ground, feeling a wound pooling in his stomach. He eyes the sky with blurry vision, and nods.

"I... I'd best retreat for now."

"Holy shit, boss, you're still alive? After several bombs and actual, concentrated machine gun fire?" Ivan replies, his eyes widening. The reply on the transceiver is short, but reassuring.

"I'll have to go, but yeah. It'll take a hell of a lot more than just that to kill me."

Oh, he's OK!

I did notice that every country had one soldier that was somehow... immune to death. Michael in Orange Star, Dimitri here, and then... well, I won't spoil it.

With Dimitri retreating, the copters go for Alina, but they only score a little bit of damage. She manages to get through it safely.

God damn, that was scary. I think, though, that a couple of anti-airs should be able to clean up that southern area now.

Which is good - the neotanks will be here soon.

Even more bullshit? Wow, the south area really pulled the short straw here.

Olaf and Andy do have an ingenious solution for that, though. For now, though, Mark begins firing on the nearby medium tank, hoping to thin out the northern forces.

Chip damage is basically all they can do until those rockets are destroyed.

I see Anatoly is keeping up his chip damage too.

The ranged fun continues down here, as Valentin casually deletes one of the battle copters. It provides just enough cover for Alina to reach the seam safely.

For the plan to work, however, Fenya must destroy these missiles.

...Oh, I know what they're going to do. I've used this strategy myself, quite a few times.

Meanwhile...

The anti-airs just sort of...

Erase every credible threat...

...in this southern area.

I'm legitimately impressed that they only (unofficially) lost Dimitri. That was brutal start to the map.

It means Olaf can start focussing on the main goal - capturing the cities around the silo. To that end, Zlata pushes ahead, destroying everything in her wake.

Ah, the capturing begins in earnest.

Indeed. Elena safely drops Gavril off. Unfortunately, Ludmilla can't drop Nika off until those rockets are dealt with.

Still, looking at this map, I'm confident Olaf can just overwhelm Flak with sheer numbers now.

That's true enough. Von Panzer, meanwhile, destroys this mech. He probably wasn't a threat, but best to be safe, really.

Oh yes, I called it. Lucy's going to be parked right there for the rest of the map, I take it?

Pretty much. The enemy can't pass through her, nor attack her, so she can effectively hold off all the neotanks, rockets, and whatever else Flak has down here. The southern side is completely shut down.

I'm unbelievably pleased that Lucy in a plane is once more responsible for completely ruining Flak's plans. I hope this keeps up.

It amuses me also. The anti-airs are now effectively useless, however - they won't do much damage against tanks and all the planes are gone. So they can take it easy.

Hey, they did good work. I'm proud of 'em.

But good things never last.

This better not be

HIS FUCKING SUPER CO POWER? AGAIN?

You can't claim this one is bullshit. Olaf did take out several of his bombers, battle copters and heavily damage some expensive tanks.

...I guess, but I don't like it.

This recon picks a fight with Von Panzer.

It doesn't work out.

It doesn't work ou- what?

It's Von fucking Panzer, of course that was going to be your next line.

Well, true. Anyway, this tank attacks Ignat, but doesn't manage to do much damage.

Then this absolutely suicidal anti-air tries to punch Fenya, and gets blasted into next week for the trouble.

But the group in the bottom of the map... they're powerless.

Ha, serves them right.

The next job is somehow dealing with those rockets. To that end, Mark and Anatoly continue just shooting nearby things with too much HP.

That's a start. The pair of them are thinning the crowd quite nicely.

Fenya makes this anti-air her bitch, for want of a better phrase, and frankly I blame the anti-air for picking a fight with a medium tank.

Even with Nell's CO Power I wouldn't fight a medium tank with an anti-air.

Alina hops into the recently-vacated Elena, bound for the upper cities - once the rockets are gone, anyway.

Ooh, Ignat's clearing the way. But how to sneak past those rockets..?

...Oh, there's a really obvious solution, actually.

Zlata continues to attack- oh? And what would that be?

Send in Ingo. He only needs to worry about the missiles, not the rockets, and if he flies close enough to the missiles, he won't be in their range and he can take out the rockets.

Very nice. Anyway, Fenya and Felix decide to join for now.

"O-oh, sister, I..."

"Quiet, Felix. I'll be handling the operation from here. We must not show weakness. Do you understand?"

"I'll do my best..." Felix murmurs, falling quiet as Fenya takes the lead.

Anna/Kira head down south now, since there's more enemies there to face.

Additionally, Olaf has a fun surprise in store for Flak.

Oh, I wanna see this. The fury of winter!

A blistering snowstorm strikes the opposition.

Well, that was a dramatic way to end a turn.

There's more drama to come. We're barely halfway through this map.

Hey, look, I was right. Ingo can sneak in to destroy that medium tank there. Next turn, when the snow clears, he'll be able to head in to take out the rockets.

Correct as always, Commander. Almost.