Part 73: Chapter 73 (Battle) - Will The Real My Dude Please Stand Up?

Update 73 (Battle) - Will The Real My Dude Please Stand Up?

Is it go time? It's go time.

Let's check out our COs!



First things first, the orange team is our boy Javier and our other boy Hawke. Javier will be hard-carrying this map, as he can get three com towers by like, day 3 or something stupid. At that point we utterly outstat Von Bolt. Slam Guard gives us a bit of physical bulk, Ranger and Pathfinder give us an advantage in all the forests in the middle part of the map, and of course, Tower Power because com towers aren't broken enough yet.

Hawke, as he will be just sitting back and watching Javier go to fucking town, is just bringing all the usual synergy skills, and Tower Power for a bit of a bonus if I do need to switch to him for whatever reason.



Next up, for the blue team, we're bringing Grit and Sonja! Again, Grit's doing all the work and Sonja's sitting back. As you can see, I've made the bold choice of not bringing any skills on these two because they don't have any. Next!



And for the green team, we have Sasha and Rachel. Honestly, I could've brought basically anyone to back up Sasha, since 90% of her contributions are "Market Crash". Still, it feels right to have Rachel with us. Sasha's bringing Slam Guard, Slam Shield and Seamanship for basically one single matchup against an enemy fighter, but it's an important matchup. Obviously, Star Power for quick Market Crashes, too.



So, without further ado, let's roll. We stand at the edge of the battlefield, about to take the fight to Von Bolt and halt Black Hole's ambitions. Behind me, the COs are getting into position, and the soldiers are beginning to deploy to the three different parts of the battlefield. Rose stands beside me, watching it all with a look of faint concern.

Rose’s hand creeps into mine, which takes me by surprise. I look down at her, and for a brief moment, I don’t see the Flower of Desolation, premier ACO of Yellow Comet, the embodiment of cold, calculating ambition. I see an eleven-year-old girl with a big bow in her hair, a coat themed after her biggest inspiration and a look on her face that tells me everything I need to know.

She shouldn’t have to do this.

“My dude…” Rose murmurs. “I am… afraid.”

“I’ll be honest with you, Rose. Before a battle like this, I’m always afraid.”

Rose looks up at me. “You are?”

“I am. But I have a way of getting myself ready for the fight. So, repeat after me, alright? Today.”

“Today.”

“Everyone…”

“Everyone…” Rose repeats.

“...gets to go home.” I finish.

“Today, everyone gets to go home…” Rose says quietly. The words are simple but the meaning is heavy. I squeeze her hand.

“Well, you’ve said it now. All we have to do is make that statement into reality. So… ready?”

Rose nods. “Ready. Thank you, my dude.”



And so, we begin. The deployments are as follows:

Today’s Deployments
Orange Team
Dave, Infantry
Alfonse, Infantry
Rin, Infantry
Michael, APC
Vanessa, Anti-Air
Dimitri, Tank
Von Panzer, Tank
Kyril, Tank
Zlata, Medium Tank
Boris, Medium Tank
Lena, Neotank
Selena, Megatank
Ingo, Artillery
Inessa, Rockets
Mulligan, Missiles

Blue Team
Fliss, Infantry
Nika, Mech
Carter, Mech
Eva, Battleship
Lloyd, Aircraft Carrier
Valeria, Cruiser
Khepri, Cruiser
Alina, Submarine

Green Team
Conrad, Infantry
Arqa, Mech
Lysander, Mech
Darwin, APC
Peregrine, Fighter
Andromeda, Fighter
Howard, Fighter
Lucy, Bomber
Klara, Stealth Fighter
Diana, Battle Copter



Let's see what you've got, Von Bolt.



I'll explain the strategy for this map in a second, but first, let's get our units to where they need to be. We've got very little time to waste in these first few turns.



First, we need a third infantry unit to nab the final com tower - Alfonse!

"Hey, Dave, Rin... how are things looking out there?"

"Nothing's movin' yet, but I'm wary." Dave mutters. "We're gonna be in the open if we go for the com towers. Ready for a fight, you two?"

"Born ready." Alfonse replies, grinning.

Rin nods. "Beside you two, and Michael? We're going to be fine!"



And we need more tanks - we're getting 10k a turn with the orange team so may as well use that money for something. Von Bolt's got a lot of units, so multiple weaker units, like tanks, will be more useful that one or two stronger units, like medium tanks, since they can divide their firepower.

Remember, we're going to have three com towers in a turn or two - we will not be lacking for firepower.

As such, we deploy Dimitri!

"Dimitri's Mercenaries are ready to roll. This ol' battle isn't going to last long with all of us fighting together." Dimitri says. "Zlata, keep yourself safe, alright?"

"Will do!" Zlata replies from her medium tank.

Diana, in a battle copter on the green team, scoffs. "You're one to talk! First chance I get, I'm coming over there to back you up, Volkov."



Dave and Rin make a move on the com towers. Michael is directly to the north of Alfonse, so he can hitch a ride to the final com tower next turn.

Look, if the game didn't want me to curbstomp Von Bolt using Javier, then it wouldn't have given me three free com towers.



Our units organise themselves like so. Selena, in the megatank, will be handling the bulky physical units that Von Bolt has, whilst Lena, in the Neotank, and Zlata, in the medium tank, will be backing her up. The three of them will squash basically anything threatening.



So, strategy. Let's get into it.

Von Bolt has amped up the usual Sturm strategy - instead of having one opening gambit, he has three. The middle group have to contend with that set of tanks and artilleries, which will come charging at us right away. On the left, we have the botening gambit, and whilst Grit's battleship has an advantage, his cruiser and sub certainly do not, so we'll need to be careful with how we approach that. And on the right, we have the most dangerous one, the planening gambit - that fighter and bomber will cause real problems if we don't figure out a good way of getting rid of them. Thankfully, I have a plan for that.

Ultimately, the only thing we need to do is push through the middle, through the seam, and to the obelisk. The left and right teams will be destroying the minicannons and taking out the other two gambits in order to make that push easier. And of course, Sasha will be regularly confiscating Von Bolt's CO Meter - we've done this song and dance before.

So, how are you going to get this done?

First, we nab the com towers...

Crush the enemy's opening gambits...

Spam everyone's CO powers to hell and back...

Lure Von Bolt's Super CO Power...

And crush him with our superior units.

You make it sound so easy. Listen, my dude--I'm counting on you.

I know. I'm not going to let you down. Not here. This clone is going DOWN.



That's the black obelisk--the pinnacle of Black Hole technology.

I ain't worried about that ol' thing. I've seen my dude send Sturm packin', and this fella's not nearly as dangerous-lookin'.

That's true. I'm confident in Rose's capabilities, even up against a clone of my dude.



Right, Grit time. First things first, we'll get the land units on their way.



They're just on capturing duty for funds and stuff. We actually already have enough to do what I need to do, since these buildings give us 9k a turn, but may as well get more, just in case things go wrong. Nika will be capturing the property right next to her, whilst Fliss and Carter start heading north.

"You guys all ready for the fight?" Nika asks the other members of the Snowbound Free Company, who are all part of the naval force.

"Yup! I've got Eva by my side - I can do anything!" Alina replies, beaming.

Valeria shakes her head. "You must be sure to pay attention, though, Alina. This isn't going to be an easy battle."

"There's a my dude on either side of this battle. Feels like a coin flip." Eva mutters. "We've got to see if Rose's presence can even the odds."

Khepri gives a wide grin. "Even the odds? Rose has got this battle on LOCK, I promise you! We've nothing to worry about!"

You know, there's one really nice thing about having Grit for this side...



Eva doesn't even have to move from her starting position to land a hit on this minicannon. This helps massively, since later on, we'll need Eva to shoot things that aren't the minicannon, but also, the minicannon needs blowing up to help the middle team.

Everyone, move out!

I'm the commander of the allied forces! I will not lose this fight!

My dude, Rose...you've made miracles happen for us throughout this campaign. Can you give us one last miracle?



So, the plane team. They've got lots to do as well.



Again, there's a nearby property to grab immediately. Arqa nods at Conrad and Lysander.

"Alright, let me grab this one for you, boys." she says. "I'll leave the northern properties to you, yeah?"

"Yeah, we're on it." Conrad says, turning back to the battlefield.

Lysander watches Arqa walk away, unable to take his eyes off of her form as she recedes into the distance. "...Damn. I knew I made the right choice getting deployed on the green team. No mothers around, either... perhaps I should make my move."

"Dude, she'd eat you alive." Conrad replies, shaking his head as he heads off. "C'mon, we've got work to do."

"Right, right. Look, you only get to see an ass like that once every blue moon, so..."

"Really don't want to hear it, Lysander."



Since Lysander can't go very far, being a mech and all, I deploy Darwin as an APC to ferry him forward. That should speed up capturing on the green team's side - and we need every bit of funds we can get to make Market Crash more effective.



Now, this fucking fighter jet. This bastard is the reason that we brought all of those very specific skills on Sasha. However, we can't lure him this turn, since our planes have other things they need to do. As such, we need to stay just out of his range for now.



Our plane girls, Peregrine (fighter), Lucy (bomber) and Klara (stealth) position themselves like so, whilst Diana begins attacking the minicannon - as promised, she's planning to reach Dimitri and back him up as soon as possible.



...It's time.

...We've come a long way to be here, but we're finally taking on my dude.



So, outside of the obelisk up north (which isn't really close enough to warrant worrying about), there's three black crystals along this part of the map, and they'll do the usual healing/refuelling of Von Bolt's units. We'll be smashing a few of them as we head up.



So, uh, Von Bolt's units just kind of fucking charge at us. His opening gambits don't fuck around. The important things to note are that the fighter didn't move very much - because it doesn't want to get into Peregrine's range, and honestly, I get that - and that the bomber has joined the middle group. We'll have to deal with that sooner or later.



But that's tomorrow's concern. Our turn again!



Alfonse hops into Michael...



...and gets dropped off at the com tower. He can start capturing it next turn, we should have them all done by day 4.



Dave and Rin start capturing their com towers, too.



As I move Dimitri up, I can explain the setup here. Von Bolt's Neotank can either go left or right around the crystal. The only important thing we need to do is make sure our megatank, Selena, is on the same side as it, since she can pretty easily trade blows with it. It went right this time, so Selena's handling the right whilst Lena and Zlata arrange themselves on the left side. They are in cannon range, but both minicannons will be gone by the end of this turn, so it's fine.



fuck it, more tanks

And of course, it's the man, the myth, the Most Von Panzer!

"This Von Bolt is nothing more than a sham! I vill not allow you to conquer this land!" Von Panzer cries.

Michael shakes his head. "Man, it must be tiring to give it 100% all the time. I'd get bored."

"He feels very strongly about Black Hole, doesn't he?" Rin replies. "I guess he knows what they're capable of. He doesn't want to see them continue to exist."



And this is how our troops line up. We're almost ready to actually fight Von Bolt's units! But not quite yet.



Bote time, then.



Nika finishes capturing her property.

...This dick captures a property: 1.

Did...did he just..?



On Grit's end, we need to lure and destroy this cruiser as soon as possible. Once it's gone, our sub, Alina, can take on the battleship with no problems. However, as you can see here...



...I can put our cruiser, Valeria, in that very spot, and lure the cruiser right into Eva's range. In the meantime, though, Eva will finish off the left minicannon.



And that 9k a turn has now doubled, so we can deploy a second cruiser, Khepri. Grit's bad at direct combat, and the cruiser-vs-sub matchup is not ideal. Having two cruisers guarantees that we can finish off the enemy's sub with no trouble.

"I'm ready to roll! Let's do it!"



I move Alina into position to attack the battleship soon, and I move Lloyd, our aircraft carrier, north too. His absolutely gigantic range means I can prevent the bomber in the middle from moving too far down, since it won't want to get into a carrier's range.



Right, onto the green team's turn. We've got a few things to do today.



First, Arqa nabs this city.

...This dick captures a property: 2.

He IS! Motherfucker, that's MY gimmick!

I do believe that's the point, my dude...



Anyway, Lysander hops into Darwin, bound for the properties to the north.



By moving our foot units like so, Lysander can reach the nearest city whilst Conrad goes for the one that's three spaces away. Perfect planning!



Now, our plane units have a trickier job. This fighter can reach the minicannon, so we need to block it off - we ONLY want Peregrine to be in range.



Positioning Peregrine here allows our other units to focus on the minicannon without fear of being murderated.

"Hah! You ready to come tangling with me, little Von Bolt fighter jet?!" Peregrine yells. "I'll crush you, see if I don't! Come get some!"

"Ahah! You love to get fired up, don't you?" Klara says, smiling. "My stealth fighter is ready to back you up, hee hee!"



So, the reason we took Seamanship on Sasha is because, unlike every other terrain-related effect, planes do in fact receive the 10% bonus for being on a sea tile. That gives Klara just enough damage to smash the minicannon after Diana weakened it.

And, since we used Klara to break the minicannon, Lucy is still available...



...and she's got exactly enough damage to obliterate the pipe seam.

*hacker voice* We're in.



Well, I say that, but we're not actually going in just yet, because there's still some anti-airs hanging around. We'll need to weaken or destroy them first.



Still, time for clone my dude and Von Bolt to be annoying.



First things first, they're dicks and they're capturing a property.



Second things second, they're diving their submarine. We have to be really careful about positioning our units next turn - you absolutely do not want to lose track of that sub.



...Let's get Selena out of the way, though.

Oh, the fucker. He thinks he can hurt Selena.

"I was once nervous about my potential, always striving to be perfect... but now, I am not nervous." Selena says proudly.



"Because I know I can do this! You'll fall, just like all the others!"

Selena lands a stunning counterattack on the Neotank. That cannot possibly have been worth it, Von Bolt.



We have some good news on the other two fronts, though - this cruiser took the bait, firing on Valeria.

"I've taken a hit - target confirmed." Valeria reports. "Eva, got visual?"

"Ready and waiting! He's never gonna see THIS coming!"



And the planening gambit took the bait on this side - the fighter comes over to harass Peregrine.

...I'm going to kill this fucking kid.

"That the best you got?! Gimme a proper challenge!" Peregrine yells.

"Don't tempt fate, Perry!" Lucy says, and Peregrine nods.

"Alright, alright - but watch me turn this fuckin' plane into scrap!"



Meanwhile, the rest of Von Bolt's units in the middle head down. There's... quite a few of them. The four artilleries, the two medium tanks and the bomber are our primary concerns.



So, let's get started on cleaning up. There's an easy way to do that, thankfully.



It's called "Javier with 1 or more com towers".



"Towers down! Nice job, kid." Dave says, as he spots Rin finishing her capture of the Black Hole com tower. "Alf, how's it lookin'?"

"Almost done! I need a bit more time - can we hold off the enemy any longer?"

"It's going to be tight." Lena replies. "We'll do what we can, though. Sister, are you ready?"

"Born ready." Selena says. "You and Zlata push on - I'll cover you. Just beware of that bomber lurking at the back."

And indeed, we have a bomber to be worrying about. But it's hanging back right now.

"Why's the bomber hanging back, Post?" I hear you ask, and I pat your head lovingly as I explain the answer.



Because, like I said, it's fucking scared to death of Lloyd in the Grit-powered aircraft carrier. That's 10 goddamn range.



It's time for our ranged units to get off their asses and actually help. Inessa, in the rockets, weakens the rightmost medium tank.



And Ingo blows up the Neotank that was trying, and failing, to harass Selena.



Vanessa, in our anti-air, is helping command the ground forces. She does this by deleting this enemy infantry in a nice, clean, one-shot.

Vanessa, don't overextend. We need you to deal with the bomber.

On it! But I just need to take this guy out - the others will cover me!

We planned for Vanessa to overextend a teensy bit. It'll be fine.

I know we planned for it, but I still don't want to see Vanessa get unnecessarily injured...



With that infantry eviscerated, the tanks start moving in for some tank-on-tank action. First, Zlata finishes off the tank that Inessa weakened.



And Lena opens fire on this medium tank. Fuck me, if it wasn't on a forest tile that might've been a one-shot. Javier is insane, that's my main takeaway from this playthrough.



Speaking of Javier being insane, we've done just enough damage to move on to phase 2 of my plan for this turn: spamming Tower Shield.



You know, I love everything Javier says, but that one might be my overall favourite.

...Wait. Are you the one that sent that army-wide email about starting the "Javier Fan Club"?

I don't think so? Try asking Raynald of Châtillon--he's a big fan.



Now, a Jugger fan club? I could start that.

Perhaps it's just COs whose names start with 'J'.

The J-club! Wait, no, that sounds wrong.



With the additional power of Javier's COP, Dimitri now hits hard enough to finish off this medium tank, just barely. I know it doesn't look like a kill...



...but trust me.

"We're not holding anything back today! This ol' land is going to be freed, and we're the soldiers that are going to do it!" Dimitri roars, opening fire and shredding the medium tank.



And then I decide to have Selena just megatank the fuck out of this recon. Partially this was "hee hoo big number funny" but also, it's strategically useful because Selena really benefits from using as much movement as she can each turn - this position allows the enemies to surround her, giving her a ton of opportunities to attack without things being too far out of her range.



There we have it. The only other small tweak I've made is moving Michael to be north of Alfonse - if anything does come down to bother him, it'll have to get through Michael first.



So, let's get on with the Grit side of things.



A Grit-powered battleship can shred a cruiser even harder than usual, so Eva easily lands the killing blow here. That's one part of the botening gambit dealt with, but that fucking battleship and the hidden sub are still going to be problems.



Thankfully, my units are safely out of battleship range this turn, so I can leave Valeria in position to lure the sub next, and take it out next turn.



In order to prepare for dealing with the battleship, Alina moves to the left and dives.



I move Khepri upwards to help out with Valeria and the submarine. Two cruisers should be totally fine.



Plane time now... but Von Bolt's CO Meter is getting awfully full, isn't it..?



The foot units start capturing the other properties, anyway.



Klara charges forward, the bloodlust suddenly filling her. "You think you can threaten my friend?! I'm going to CRUSH YOU OUT OF EXISTENCE!" she screeches, firing off missiles furiously.



"Nice fucking shot, Klara!" says Peregrine. "Allow me to finish it!"



Now, this infantry is on a forest, so Lucy can't actually one-shot him. As such, it's probably best to do something else with her turn.



For example, if I have Diana attack this guy instead, since both she and Lucy can two-shot this guy...



...then I can use Lucy's superior firepower over here, for example. Another cannon down!



Excellent. Now then, Von Bolt, you have a lot of CO Meter charge. I don't like that.

I won't go easy on you!



Booyah! And we don't have many funds, but we have enough.



Von Bolt's CO Meter drops immensely. That's what we like to see! God, Javier and Sasha, what amazing COs.



So yeah, whatever Von Bolt had planned with that Ex Machine SCOP this turn, he's not gonna do it.



He is going to do this, though.

This Dick Captures A Property: 61

And it's an airport, so he could deploy any number of horrible things. We have to get that sorted out, pronto. I do have a plan, but it's gonna take a few turns to perform.



The rest of Von Bolt's turn will be spent harassing my units with artilleries. And hey, Javier's extra ranged defence on top of his CO Power and two com towers...

...Artilleries are the best unit in the game.



Tink.

"Was that... an artillery shell?" Lena says.

"That doesn't even look like it did damage." Mulligan replies.



Same thing happens to Selena in the megatank, too.



Tonk.

"Hmph. You can't break us with such weak shots." Selena says. "We've got a mission - and we're going to see it through."

So yeah, all four artillery units waste their turns by doing no damage to Selena and Lena.



Von Bolt's other units don't fare as well, either. The sub attacks into the cruiser for decent damage, but it's the only real threat on this turn.



And then there's the bomber, which you'd think would be a threat, but...



It does 1 damage to a megatank.

"We've got this!" Dimitri says, watching the bomber uselessly flail at Selena. "If we hit 'em with a counterattack now, they ain't got a chance!"

"You're damn right! Everyone, prepare to surge forward!" Dave commands.



This mech moves in on Michael, but he's totally fine - it's the one that Diana weakened, so it does like one point of damage.



The submarine gets repaired by the black boat, which is slightly irksome, but we should still have enough damage to sink it next time.



And that's it! Von Bolt definitely has a ton of units, but they aren't actually very threatening now that stuff like the Neotank and medium tanks have been cleared out.



"Alfonse, we need that last com tower!" Dave says. "Selena, Lena and Zlata are gonna push ahead, and we need to keep communications strong!"

"Who d'you think you're asking?" Alfonse cries. "Dave, Michael... we've come so far since we first started out together, and I've never been able to properly thank you for this. So let me show my gratitude by contributing everything I can towards this final battle - I am Alfonse Strickland, youngest son of the Strickland family, and proud member of the 11th Division!"



Dave turns to the transceiver. "Y'know, I don't think I actually knew your last name, Alfonse. Huh."

"I don't think it's come up in conversation before, no..." Alfonse muses.

"But we fully agree with what you said - you've come very far." Michael replies. "Thanks for everything, Alfonse. The Big Three of Orange Star are ready to roll!"

Anyway, Ingo takes out the mech that was annoying Michael. It's time for our counterattack.



Inessa rockets the mech over here before he can do annoying things like shoot Dave.

"Hey, I got one! Hope that helps - the rest is up to you guys!" Inessa cries.



Now, we don't have our ENORMOUS RANGED DEFENSE (it's still good, but not Tink. levels of good) so we're going to be destroying the artilleries this turn. Lena makes a start on that.

"With each foe that goes down, we get closer... to the world that I want to build." Lena murmurs.



Von Panzer goes for this one. This is a kill, thankfully!



Now, the order of operations here is pretty crucial. So, first things first, Zlata's going to clear out this mech. "Hope you're watching, Dimitri! We're going to free Omega Land, together!"



This allows Selena to move the four spaces needed to reach this artillery and blow it to kingdom fuck.



Dimitri can then catch up and slam the anti-air - we need to weaken that so our planes on the right can come in and murder things.



And now Vanessa can move into the space that Selena was just in and one-shot the bomber. Fuckin' finally, we don't have to worry about this.



Michael resupplies Selena in order to keep her ammo up, too. We do not want a repeat of the last few times we've fielded megatanks.



Right! We've moved forward. Vanessa's in a bit of an iffy position, but I'm confident that Javier's sheer defence can get us through it.



I have decided that there's not enough medium tanks for a final map, so I deploy Boris.

"The more of Dimitri's Mercs, the better, I guess. Let's just get it done now."



And I can afford another tank - Kyril.

"I'm here representing my family - for Emperor Kanbei, my uncle, and for all the citizens of Yellow Comet... I'll do whatever it takes!" Kyril cries.



Let's get Grit into a slightly better position in the meantime, shall we?



First thing we can do is finish off those buildings with Carter and Fliss.



And this goddamn black bote is outta here. Eva finishes it in one shot as per usual.

I do love Grit battleships.

Grit anything ranged, really.



So, we've got to be careful how we do this, since the battleship moved down. Valeria is going to attack from the left, because it's the only way to guarantee her survival.



"There we go... Khepri, there's an opening! Get to it!"

"Valeria!" gasps Alina. "Please don't-"

"I'd push myself further than this if it meant victory. Don't worry about me." Valeria replies.

Khepri nods as she sails up to the enemy submarine. "Thanks, Valeria... I'm going to sort this sub out, don't worry!"



And indeed, Khepri's got enough damage to finish the sub off.

Now, Valeria is on 1HP, but crucially, she's right next to the enemy battleship, so it can't fire on her and kill her. Even a weakened battleship will finish off Valeria in that state, but by arranging our troops like this, it can only shoot on Khepri or Lloyd instead.

"But it can oneshot Khepri-"



Not if it's weakened. Alina slices through the battleship, weakening it enough to ensure it's not a threat. We can pretty safely say the botening gambit is over!



And thus, that's how our troops shape up on this side of the battlefield. There's a few more things Grit's units need to do, but we'll get to that later. Right now, they've done good work.



On the green team, we've still got a bit more to do, mostly in terms of "making sure the middle team don't get fucked up". Also, you'll notice that Von Bolt's SCOP has been charged for a while now. We're eating that no matter what this turn.



And a bit more capturing - we need funds for Market Crash. We can't use it this turn, but we'll need it later on.



Diana comes in to back Dimitri up, and fires on the last of the artilleries - since this one is in range to shoot Vanessa, we definitely want it to be weakened.

Dead would be preferable, but I'll take what I can get.



This battle copter might be problematic for our other units, seeing as this load of tanks and shit up here is definitely going to eat the Ex Machina. I weaken it with Peregrine. Even damaged, she still packs a punch.



And Lucy's killed everything cannon-related on this side, so may as well get the crystal too.



Klara decides to stealth up in the meantime. I've moved her a bit south...



...so that Darwin can immediately refuel her. Stealths really do have problems with fuel.



Now it's Von Bolt's turn.

...Hello, nurse.

Is this thing fucking broken?



Von Bolt, meanwhile, is just kind of creepy.



So, now our big groups of tanks is going to take damage and lose a tur-



What.

What?

What?!



So, uh, I didn't even plan for this, but Ex Machina just hit... three infantry units, an artillery and a medium tank. Our megatank, bomber, fighter, Neotank? Totally unscathed.

I am absolutely not complaining.



This port's also been captured. It could prove troublesome, so I kinda want to get that sorted - Grit's units will be moving north to take control of this next.



The battleship fires on Lloyd, but since Lloyd isn't going to be contributing much anyway, I see this as an absolute win.



This, though, could be trouble. Vanessa gets attacked by a tank.

"Ngh!" Vanessa says, standing strong against the blow.

"Van, everything OK?" Peregrine says.

"Yeah, I'm fine. We've got this." Vanessa says, but she knows she's trying to convince herself more than anyone else.



The mech attacks her next.

"Vanessa, wait-" Dimitri cries, but it's too late, and the shot goes off.



...Heh. I said, we've got this. Rose and my dude planned everything to perfection.

Absolutely. We're not letting some fucking clone beat us!

Let's not lose our focus, then. Vanessa is safe and well--all soldiers, prepare for the second half of this battle. There's more to go.



The copter goes for Selena, but doesn't do very much damage.



Rose is right, though, we're not through the worst of it yet - the clone my dude has deployed a fighter. And you know how much I hate dealing with fighters. If we don't get Lucy out of there somehow, she's going to get murdered.



That, however, will have to wait for next time. With the opening gambits dealt with, next time we'll be pushing through the middle of the map, crushing everything that clone my dude throws at us, and then finishing off the black obelisk! Hopefully.

See you next time - and don't forget that votes are open for Their Finest Hour 2, the LPAWDS popularity poll!

***

Update 74 (Intermission) - Approaching The End