Part 26: Campaign Mission 11: Kanbei's Error? as Sami

Mission 11: Kanbei's Error? (or "Quote Central")

All right, here we go, it's That Mission. With That Line. And That Other Line.


superior number of bases, but they really just outlasted you, Father.
But Sonja...
Father! Stop that whining! You're the Yellow Comet commander for goodness' sake!

Plus you've got some issues when your daughter can you at will...

Yes, you're right... I am. What should I do?
Well, first of all, we obviously need to match their number of bases.
Of course! Kanbei must have bases, too!
Yes, but we also...
It is decided! Kanbei shall secure bases near the enemy!
Father? Ohhhh... gone again. Doesn't he realize that the proper location of bases is just as important as numbers?

Clearly not. I guess in a way I've got it better than Sonja. At least Andy listens to me.



Thread went with Sami, distributing our COs nicely between the three Kanbei missions. Sami has some obvious strengths on this map, but also some big weaknessses. But I think we should pull through.



Let's go jump up and down on some buildings until the residents give in and paint them orange. All while listening to kickass music.

Day 1


On top of that, we have to seize properties to win.

Wait, hang on, how do you actually know that? Did you have a meeting with Kanbei before the battle and decide it?

Looks like things are gonna get rough.
But look! This time we have an airport!







... yeah. I guess there's not much else to be said at this point, but I'll try. The supposed mechanical genius boy wonder does not know what an airport is. Or at least, he's forgotten. I just... I just don't know.

Airports let us deploy air units! Plus, damaged planes and copters can go there to recover HP.

And the best part? Max answers the question completely straight, without any kind of put-down. I guess he's just used to Andy's little foibles by now.

Oh, OK. Got it! That's cool, but isn't that Kanbei's base right there?
Don't worry about that one. Take a close look. That base deploys ground units, right? Well, it's out in the middle of nowhere. It's completely useless!

Hah, figures that when he finally gets access to a base he has no clue how to use it.

Let's ignore that one and Capture some other bases and cities. We need to Capture fifteen properties to win.



I kind of played this one by ear a bit, to be honest: it's quite an open, freeform map. I think in some ways Max is probably the best CO for this mission (ironically, given he got the fewest votes): the extra power that his air force packs is probably more valuable than Sami's footsoldier and transport bonuses. But hey, it's not the end of the world.



Basic strategy for the first couple of turns is to sit tight and let Kanbei's air force come to you: Sami's best options against Kanbei's air force are her missile launcher and AA, and they're no good if you try to use your air units to take the fight to Kanbei. Once you've got air superiority, sending out the T copters becomes easier. The three westernmost islands are basically ours, but that only gets us up to 12 properties - a nice looking option for the other three is that north central island with its relatively light defences. Alternatively, we could just swoop in and capture Kanbei's HQ - but there's a lot of AA hanging around just waiting for us to try that. Hmm... if only we had a way to distract them... Either way, it's Game Over if Kanbei manages to capture all the stuff on his main island, plus the base and three central island properties. The last two cities he'll reach are the two "peninsula" ones on the mainland. We've got to win this before then.



But we can't do any of that before we've captured the stuff on our own island, can we?



And crank out a couple more infantry - standard Day 1 procedure, really. But before we go on, I need to note that "What's an airport, again?" isn't the only mimetic line in this mission. We also have:



Look what I have found! A brain for Kanbei's head!

Day 2



Kanbei's bomber saunters casually up to our front line before realising that it can't drop bombs on fighters or B copters.



Yeah. Our units are pretty well positioned at the start, with our air units nicely shielding the missiles from that bomber. That's why I didn't move any of them.



Fighter finishes the job that the missiles started.



Capturing, transporting and building a second T copter. Not for transport, though - it's a decoy for Kanbei's fighter.



. But on the plus side: the Yellow Comet fighter plane! Just look at that thing. It's like someone took a single-prop plane and replaced the propellor with a jet engine. And yet somehow it works. And is better than the average plane, given it's being commanded by Kanbei.



Similarly, the YC B copters, which I think I will always think of as "M*A*S*H copters". Again, thanks to Kanbei they're somehow way stronger than your average B copter - and this only gets worse in AW2 with the arrival of Sensei.

Day 3



Anyway, enough laughing over the destruction of my own units. Let's get back to laughing over the destruction of the enemy's.



Ugh, 46%. Sami vs. Kanbei in direct combat is a real struggle at times.



And then my fighter follows up with 39%, leaving the fighter at 1HP. Dammit, Sami.



Still, I guess it's done the job well enough. 9HP of damage without taking any in return is pretty cool, regardless of how you get it.



And Sami's missile launcher makes a rather better fist of taking on Kanbei's B copter. Even so, that wasn't a guaranteed kill.



Building and loading another T copter, while walling the fighter in in the process. After all, everyone knows that fighters can't fly over ground units. It's just common sense, man!



A spot of capturing...



... and sending the original T copter back to pick up another passenger. You may have noticed that those infantry moved about rather more than they needed to just then. Yeah, wasn't really thinking. On the other hand, the day an infantry unit runs out of fuel (food?) is the day that pigs start flying because the ground's too cold.



That um... that's a bit rich coming from you, dude. But yeah, this mission has a deserved reputation as Quote Central.



Heh. And the best thing? That damage is just going to get healed up next turn.

Day 4



Granted it sucks funds out of my cash supply that could have been put towards, say, a B copter. Still, never mind eh?



T copters head on out on property capture missions.



While my infantry that's already out there grabs a property. Eight down. Seven to go?



Finishing off Kanbei's fighter.



And my own fighter, with nothing to do, has a bit of a mid-life crisis and hangs out in the middle of the sea for a bit. Hmm. Wonder if there's anything I could be doing with it?



2HP B copter heads back for some repairs.

Day 5



Okay so far - although you'll notice from the little counters above the tile info box that Kanbei only needs four more properties to win.



Let's see if we can catch him up a bit.



Loading up the T copters again, preparing for a mission to the north central island - or at least, that was the original plan. Because at this point I suddenly have a brainwave.




Should have thought of this sooner, really. Mind you, maybe it synchronises better if I think of it now rather than earlier.



4HP B copter moves off the airport so I've got room to build a fresh one.

Day 6



Worked like a charm. All the AA went "OH MY GOODNESS A FIGHTER" and started chasing after it, getting dragged out of position and leaving Kanbei with only an easily-avoided missile launcher for HQ defence.



So let's drag them a little further.



The rest of the air force moves up in a gaggle of squiggly lines.



So I'm using my fighter as a decoy for my transports. Bizarro- (also: Yellow Comet AAs! They only get one gun barrel).

Day 7



Kanbei's AAs are now even more out of position. But I'd rather not lose that fighter.



T copters continue their advance, taking care to stay out of missile range.



"I'd rather not lose that fighter" So I send in a B copter as a sacrifice instead . Hey, at least this way we can damage one of Kanbei's infantry and make it trickier for him to get those last two cities.



In other B copter news, may as well take on the units guarding that north central island.



Dum dada dumm dumm, dum dada dumm dumm... *sigh* It's not quite the same without Sensei. Anyway, once more it's everyone's favourite game: spot the stupid mistake!



Yup, I left my AA in range of one of Kanbei's "island base" artillery. You kind of forget that that base is there, really. Maybe it's of some use after all...



Kanbei's tank on the north central island tries to get some revenge.



And he also attacks that 4HP B copter with another tank... wait, with a tank?

Day 8



He's got three AAs down there. How did he manage to... what... I... so yeah, AI logic. Light tanks move before AAs and medium tanks (you should have noticed the LT > MT problem in the last mission), always. And AAs moves before non-capturing infantry. So the tank attacks, blocks AA access to the B copter from the north, and on the southern flank the AA moved before the infantry had cleared a way through for it. Mmm.



Oh well. Gift horses, mouths, etc. Let's drop these infantry off at the HQ.



And since 8 + 2 makes a nice round ten, might as well join these two B copters together.



And my fresh B copter can finish off that tank.



Sending out another infantry-loaded T copter because hey, why not. Getting my AA out of range of those indirects, too.

Day 9



Kanbei's realised his error and has started sending his AAs back around to the HQ. Hopefully he'll be too late. He's also managed to park a tank on top of one of the two remaining neutral cities he needs to capture. Good going, there.



Let's get to capturing it. At least I have some insurance here, with Sami's capture skills.



Speaking of insurance, we still haven't used Double Time. Well, why not.



Maybe Kanbei will attack this capturing infantry unit instead?



Anyway, enough worrying about that. Let's do a bit of damage. Not that we can do all that much damage as Sami, but still.



Dropping off another infantry.



Well in the end Kanbei decided to go for neither of the two capturing infantry: he went and destroyed a T copter instead. Welp.

Day 10



All right, we could finish the job now. Let's get a few more attacks in though.



Finish off this T copter...



One of Sami's infantry finally gets to see some combat, even if it is just finishing off a unit that a B copter had attacked.



And let's do something with this bomber. Good grief, only 67% for a bomber attacking a recon.



Still, while I'm here: YC recons



Okay, enough fooling about.


What a horribly useless base that was! And I was defeated in such a short time!

Again, the "short time" thing only gets said if you win inside the 12-day time limit.

Was that base in a poor location?

Gee, you think?



S-Rank, but a little off perfect on the Power score. Well, if that base achieved one thing for Kanbei, it upped his unit count high enough that it became difficult for us to do well enough on Power. Playing as Sami didn't help there, either: Max would have probably managed it (given that none of our infantry took damage during that mission, I think Max would have been a better bet all round). I guess I'll use him in the offscreen runs and post some more highlights at some point.



Another rank up, and we're no longer a Rat - we're a Gray... er... Grey Hen! (so I was wrong about the Ox. Ah well). We've also completed all the criteria necessary to unlock the bonus missions. So tune in next time for...



... a new opponent!



... forced CO choices!



... and Our Heroes getting split up!