Part 16: Mission 13: Nature Walk (or "Not quite a walk in the park")

Mission 13: Nature Walk (or "Not quite a walk in the park")



Looks like the plan is to continue and complete Blue Moon before we start Yellow Comet. Fair enough. Anyway, here's everyone's favourite snow lover getting a Christmassy makeover:



Victory lies just beyond those woods. Now, more than ever, we need Blue Moon to be strong...
Hold it right there, Boss!
How dare you! I'm talking to the troops!
We're walking into an ambush. There are enemy units in those woods.
Madness!
And that ain't all! They've got some crazy weapons pointed right at us. My, oh my... Getting through this is gonna take some doin'.
What should we do?
Don't fret none. This one's mine. I figure my abilities are best suited to take on those monster cannons.
Truthfully, Grit. Are you sure you can handle this?
I believe I'll muddle through somehow.





Blue Moon CO Grit. Your CO Power is Snipe Attack... You're an indirect-combat unit specialist. Did I miss anything?
You know your stuff, don't you, princess?
It's no big deal. I AM a genius, you know. The Black Cannon's my invention, too.
Black Cannon, huh? What's it do?
Do you really want to know? Well, its range of fire is much, much larger than yours. And I've tweaked it so it can now fire every day! I'm gonna destroy you way before you reach your goal.
I see... I reckon I'll have to sneak along through the woods then.
Are you seriously going to try it?
I suppose I am. I'm sure those cannons are as powerful as can be, but being the biggest don't always mean you're the best. I think I'm gonna have to teach you a lesson, princess.
Yikes! I'm so scared! NOT!
Listen up, soldiers! Our goal is to reach our HQ on the far side of these woods. Unit type is not a factor. Any one of you reaches the HQ, we win. As long as you're in the woods, you're safe from cannon fire, so rest there. Now, we cannot allow the HQ to be captured. So if you run into any enemy infantry, be sure to give 'em somethin' to remember you by. All right, let's move out!

Day 1



You heard the man, all we have to do to win is get a unit - any unit - on to that HQ. We don't need to destroy all of Lash's units, we don't even need to take down any of these Black Cannons. Although, for old time's sake, I'm going to take out two of them.



Those central Blue Moon cities will come in handy for checking up on the progress of Lash's infantry and mechs, and also stall them up as they capture them. On my first try at this mission, I screwed up and one of them reached the HQ, with me in no position to take it out. That only took ten days. So yeah, we do have kind of a time limit here - at least, to kill off these infs and mechs.



Well, let's get cracking. First of all I have a medium tank and a tank take out that recon we can see at the start. Moving them up reveals an artillery.



An artillery that I promptly take out with a rocket launcher.



Meanwhile, artillery and tank fire take out that small tank, and reveal a Neotank.



Rocket fire damages the neo, and I basically move my other tanks into position to do some scouting.



Loading up my infantry into these APCs. I'm not even sure why, but I guess from the infantry's point of view, it beats walking.



Now, the cannons can't hit what the AI can't see. Of course, the AI, massive cheat that it is, can see every square that isn't a wood square (although naturally it can see into wood squares if it's standing next to them). So units hiding in the woods are safe, and units outside of the cannon range are safe...

Day 2



... whiiich makes you wonder why I put a recon in a spot that was in cannon range, and wasn't a forest. Yeah, I'm an absent-minded so-and-so sometimes. I also forgot to take an "end of turn" screenshot, but you should be able to see where everything got moved to from here. Anyway, let's move on.



One of my tanks goes ahead to do some scouting, while my medium tank moves into the vacated forest square to finish off that neotank.



I bet that tank thought he was so clever, moving right next to my rocket and artillery so they couldn't hit it. Good job I have other units, really.



More scouting with tanks brings up a recon, a tank and one of those infantry that we're supposed to give something by which they might remember us. Can't do anything about it right now, though - even Grit's rockets can't reach that far.



Although they can reach this recon. Fun times.



Moving up some more units revealed a tank and an AA trying to sneak down my western flank. Can't do much about them right now, though.



And moving up the rest of my units.

Day 3



Why hello there.



Would you like to play? Guess not. Anyway, as well as knocking some units down to 1HP I also did a quick check on Black Cannon #2's range here. Basically, we've got a little bit of room here that isn't under the threat of Black Cannon fire.



So let's use it to help us take down this AA and tank.



Meanwhile, one of my tanks is doggedly pursuing this poor random infantry guy. Although that infantry always seems to be one step ahead.



And that's everything moved around for this turn.



Well, except where the bit where Lash launches Prime Tactics at us.

Day 4



She didn't actually attack me, though. Still, killing this tank with its extra defence is going to be a pain - and we need to kill it because right now it's revealing away the position of one of our rocket launchers to those Black Cannons.



Oh well, looks like Grit's artilleries can still do okay damage here.



Two rounds of artillery fire don't clear it out, though.



We need to use a small tank to finish off.



Anyway, let's just keep moving and... whoops. My medium tank ran straight into one of Lash's. And I've got no way of killing it. Which means that a) my middie's going to take five damage from the Black Cannon and b) Lash's middie will be on hand to finish it off. Not good news.



No use crying over spilt milk though, so let's keep moving. Once more that infantry gets spotted, still annoyingly too far away.



And that's everything moved.

Day 5



Lost quite a bit of vision there - not only did I lose that medium tank, but the 5HP recon also perished.



At least I can start taking on that Black Cannon. Even though the Medium Tank's parked right next to it, the cannon can't see it because it has no vision of its own - so that wood there is a safe haven.



Up ahead lies another Neotank.



And over here, I've spotted an anti-air.



Rocket fire takes it out, and up ahead there's an artillery. Let's get some more intel...



Lots of artillery.



More general moving of stuff.

Day 6



That's a lot of indirects.



But at least we can take out this first Black Cannon. Hmm, there's a medium tank down by my rocket. Best take that down...



Good old artillery. Power bar charged up, too, but I'll save it for now.



The rocket returns the favour by dealing with the small tank that was threatening my artillery.



Okay, time for a gamble. Getting rid of these infantry and mechs is crucial, so we need to damage as many as we can, as soon as we can. It does mean leaving my tanks horribly exposed to both the Black Cannons and that mass of long-range units, but I'd rather risk my technique score than risk losing the mission.



We can damage one of these artillery, at least.



And that's everything moved.

Day 7



Yeowch. Lost all of those tanks, and a lot of vision to boot. But at least they died performing their duty.



First up, let's finish off this damaged artillery with my AA.



A bit of exploring with artillery and oh damn. Stupid medium tanks.



More exploration. That recon is really helping me see stuff here.



And once more, shifting everyone up.

Day 8



Artillery down, and it looks rather like Lash is retreating here. Not that retreating helps me much, given she's between my forces and the HQ. But still.



Aha, there you all are.



Time for some super sniping.



I could take down the cannon, but to be honest there are higher priorities, like these rockets.



After all, that westernmost artillery is now in place to attack the cannon even without super powers. But yeah, starting to move up quite a bit here - another infantry damaged, by the AA this time.



Oh boy, more Prime Tactics.

Day 9



Eep, a Neotank. More importantly, a neotank with 160/170 stats. Can't really attack it this turn.



But at least I can keep moving up.



And I can start smashing up this second cannon.



Keep movin', movin', movin.



Though they're disapprovin'. Keep them doggies movin'

Day 10



RAWHIIIIDE! Ahem. Sorry. Song lyric re-use. Lash continues retreating from my advancing forces. Even in forests, the AI knows where you are. It's just not allowed to attack you without spotting you first. So you can still find the AI retreating from forces that it can't "see".



Aha, there's that Neotank.



Rocket power!



Medium tanks finish the job off and there's that rocket.



The recon manages to reach the rocket and finish it off.



Woo, finally a screenshot of an exploding Black Cannon as it happens.



Moving this APC closer. He's going to be the unit that I get to my HQ to secure the win. Well, why not, they're pretty quick units, and if he's just short then I can drop an infantry onto the HQ for a win that way.



Meanwhile, my other APC spots an infantry.



Take that!... although once more, I've left a unit in a vulnerable position. Tsk.



Oh well. Let's finish off by moving up this rocket.

Day 11



Yeah, I lost that medium tank



But let's just keep cleaning up. An arty takes out an infantry.



Another of Lash's footsoldiers falls, and more pressure gets applied.



APC in position. If all goes well, next turn should be the last.



Ah, there's that other mech.

Day 12



Oh hey, power meter charged.



Well, why not.



The last of the infantry falls.



That's all of that cleared up. All I need is to move my APC onto the HQ and...

Aftermath



I can't be defeated here... It's not possible!
You remember this day, princess. This is where you learned what it means to make Blue Moon your enemy.
Don't worry, I'll remember. Remember that I have to crush you! Next time we meet, the result will be different! Toodles!
My, oh my... Glad to see the end of that.
That was great, Commander Grit!
Well done, Grit! After today, I can see the day of our ultimate victory approaching! All we need to do is march out to meet it! Let's march!



I lost a few too many units, so my technique got hit. Not quite a walk in the park, but I still managed to scrape an S Rank. Let's see, so far my average score is... (297 + 6x300 + 217 + 296 + 300 + 274 + 300 + 280)/13 = 289.5. So we're still well up in terms of a push for a Hard Campaign S-Rank.



For some reason that picture of a tank trundling through a forest makes me smile every time .

At this stage it's looking like I may as well finish off Blue Moon first before moving on to Yellow Comet, a lot of people seem to want that. And a lot of people also voted to see Santa... er, I mean Olaf in action in T Minus 15. So...

Tune in next time for...



... giant missiles!



... a hero's return!



... and just what it is Father Christmas spends his time doing when it isn't December...