Part 13: A Momentous Occasion At HALLEY

What Fearless said. It's brutal, yeah, but it's interestingly designed and overall a pretty satisfying finale.


Thanks! Since you mentioned the final mission, I assume you ended up coming back to the game later?

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Stage 12 - HALLEY



UNITS IN FACTORIES:
1 (Allies). Falcon, Eagle, Bison, Hawkeye, Pelican, Charlie, Panther
2 (Axis). Hunter, Pelican, Charlie, Panther
3 (Neutral). Falcon, Eagle, Bison, Rabbit, Seeker, Hawkeye, Pelican, Charlie
4 (Neutral). Eagle, Grizzly, Seeker, Hunter, Hawkeye
5 (Neutral). Hunter, Hunter, Hunter, Titan, Rabbit, Seeker, Hawkeye, Pelican, Charlie, Panther

As you can see, I wasn't lying at the end of my last post - there are seven goddamn Hunters in this map, and we'll have to shoot down a bare minimum of six of them. The Axis is going to get factory 5 no matter what we do, but if we're fast we can capture 3 and 4.

Could it be? The long-awaited day where the Allies finally get a Hunter of their own? Let's find out!



We begin, as usual, by unloading from our factory. The Charlie went into the Pelican, and it'll be moving to capture the southwest factory.



Everyone who was already deployed heads east and makes a giant unit blob to defend those hills and the Panther, who will be making a run for the northeast factory.



It doesn't take the Axis long to reach it. Luckily their first attack isn't especially impressive.




They follow up by deploying from their factory and sending a few units north. That Rabbit's going to make it harder to get the factory.



Back in the center lane, we've got bigger things to worry about. Let's see if we can take out the Rabbit and Slagger before the Hunters arrive - wouldn't want to get surrounded.



Shitty!



Better!



Inexcusable!



I know they're Panthers and all, but would it have killed them to finish off that Slagger?



guys this is not a good time for this bullshit



Ah, well. Nothing to do but get in formation to deal with the Hunters. That and hope the Allied forces actually start hitting things.



Things are going a bit better in the west, but that might just be because nobody's shot each other yet.



Okay, scratch that. Things are still going well there, though, with the Charlie both surviving and shooting down a Hunter.



Allied troops in the central corridor, meanwhile, continue to do far worse than statistics say they should.



Except these fellows, who are now 50% stronger because of the times a Rabbit tried to shoot them.



Another Falcon squadron is unlucky.



Really unlucky.



Damn, that's a clusterfuck if I've ever seen one.



Time's short, too - the Axis are making a run for the northeast factory.



The Allied and Axis armies have spiraled around each other while they were trying to surround each other. Can we get out of this mess?




Back in the southwest, we've taken the factory! If we push east from here, that'll ease the pressure on our forces in the north. Now, let's see what we can do about that nearby Hunter.



Allied unit doesn't do as well as it should, part Graham's Number.



Well, at least they have plenty of backup.




So far things are working out pretty well in the north, too!



Well, maybe not.





At least some people can hit their targets. Then again, those units were crippled to begin with.



It was harder than it should've been, but at least we broke the clusterfuck. Assuming nothing terrible happens, we'll have a Hunter next turn!



With their lines broken, we can start hitting their Seekers! With all the beatings our aircraft have taken, this is a pretty important step.



We get a nice, unexpected bonus from breaking through in the east when the enemy rushes a Hunter back to guard its prison camp. One less unit to worry about for now.





Even with their lines weakened, the Axis keeps hitting us in the center column. Once again, one of our Rabbits survives by the skin of its teeth.



And, predictably, their Pelican drops off its Charlie by the factory we're trying to capture.



Did you notice that their unit count increased even though I didn't say anything about it? That's right, they got Factory #5, and now we're staring down another 3 Hunters.



But you know what? It's alright.



Because the Allied forces just got their very first Hunter unit!



Of course we're dropping it straight away. Even if we can't kill that enemy Charlie before it takes the factory, we've grabbed the real prize.



We also blew up a Seeker, but that was really just me waffling while I decided whether to deploy the Hawkeye or the Grizzly in the last open spot.



I opted for the Hawkeye. Halley is the map above all others where you need all the AA cover you can get.




Turned out I didn't need to worry about the decision at all! The Allied air force started actually hitting things just in time to ensure that the shootout between the units of Factory 4 never ended up happening.




Seeing as how they're doing a good job of raining death from above, let's make sure they stay alive to keep doing so.



Our other units can hold the line until they get back, as demonstrated by this surprisingly solid hit by a Lynx.



It's time to make a push in the southwest. First order of business is, obviously, the Hunter.



Luckily we've gotten pretty good at knocking them out of the sky.



We have a spare Falcon after that's done, so we'll send it up north to help fend off the incoming wave of Hunters.



Then we deploy everyone else from the factory. The Pelican is, of course, carrying a Charlie.

Okay, this is it. What will our army look like by the time multiple enemy Hunters are done with it?



Hey, I can live with that. 1 Hunter for 2 Eagles is a pretty damn good trade!



This isn't too bad either!



Every Eagle that's been attacked by Hunters has shot down at least one. Allied bomber crews have balls of fucking steel.



The Hunter on the enemy's prison camp decides to join in!



Together with the Rabbit, it destroys a Bison. Considering we've just been attacked by 4 Hunters, though, losing one tank unit isn't really anything to complain about.



The Axis assault continues with their Seeker deciding to show our Lynx how it feels to take way more damage than you should have.



Just as planned, the Axis diverts some of their forces west to fight off our advance there.



They finish unloading from their new factory and holy shit that is a lot of anti-air



Remember when our Hawkeye attacked a Hunter unit and shot down seven of them? Yeah. This is two Hawkeyes attacking a Hunter unit and only managing to kill three. Military Madness, ladies and gents.



Good thing we had a Falcon around to clean up!



The firefight between the Allied Lynx and the Axis Seeker continues, but it's just about over.



A nearby Allied Seeker gets impatient and decides to speed things along.



While this is happening, the Rabbit that the Axis crippled earlier heads back in for repairs. Of course, the way the battle's going, it may not even need to go back to the front.



The southern force revenge-kills the Lynx as it heads east, but all those SAMs mean the Eagle will have to stay behind.



Now, this. This is the big problem I've been putting off the entire turn. We have a fair amount of anti-air power here, but will it be enough against three Hunters? Let's find out.




A couple solid hits start us off on the right foot, getting us a dead Hunter and a full-star Falcon.



As per usual, the crippled Eagle goes in for repairs.

Now, the only anti-air units we have left here that could reasonably attack the Hunters are the Seeker and our own Hunter. I could use the Seeker, but I think it's time to see something new.



Something we've been wanting to see for a long time.



Hunters are dangerous. Hunters used competently are flying death.



Eagle gets the kill. Good god, look at how much its anti-air attack is boosted by having a Falcon and Hunter nearby!




We don't quite finish off all the Hunters, but I'd say we came acceptably close. Say, come to think of it, we've got a pretty dangerous force built up here in the northeast, and we've got a Panther, with a path straight to the enemy prison camp...

Awful quick change from "OH GOD ENEMY BOMBERS EVERYWHERE," isn't it?



The enemy apparently sees I'm going to make a run for their prison camp, and in typical Axis fashion they send in the one unit least qualified to defend it.



While this is going on they continue their push in the center, making the Panther pay for its role in surrounding one of their Hunters.




Back in the south, they keep pummelling the Rabbit we put on point, who continues the fine bunny tradition of surviving and kicking ass in spite of the odds.



Realizing they're about to lose, the Axis take a page from Ender Wiggin's playbook by sending a Pelican on a beeline towards the Allied prison camp.



The funny thing is I could totally ignore that Pelican and I'd probably still get to their camp before they got to mine.



Speaking of their camp, now we can start taking shots at their Panther guarding it.



The best damn unit in the game, and the only real job we have left for it is to bomb some dudes on motorcycles. Kinda sad we don't get to keep it very long



...Yeah, we're going to win next turn, and there's literally nothing the Axis can do about it. No AA can reach our bombers in time, the Panther can't possibly survive a round of two Eagles and a Hunter attacking it, and our own Panther is in spitting distance of their prison camp. Here's the short version of what happened after this:



We cooked a bunny!



Then we roasted a stuffed bird!



Then we...uh...huh. I can't really think of a clever metaphor for killing a Seeker



The Axis got in one last "fuck you."



And we did one last bombing run with our Hunter. We probably won't get to use one again




I've gotta say, this level was pretty satisfying to complete. Back when I discovered this game via Virtual Console in high school, this mission was a brick wall for me and it ended in me shelving Military Madness for awhile because I just couldn't win no matter what I tried. It's kind of funny, now, coming back and beating it so easily even with all the shitty dice rolls I got this time around.

NEXT TIME: Everyone starts in factories for some reason at BORMAN.