Part 19: BF15 – Framm Granary

With the aid of Bly's masterful strategy, the Royal Army fended off Baldus and gained a new comrade, Mistel.

The Royal Army hurried down the Lenessey slopes to reach the Framm Granary region on the ouskirts of Paltina, the Kingdom's Capital.

The northern side of Paltina's defenses were composed solely of Inzaghi's patrol squad and Court Magician Eudy's garrison at the gates. With Bronquia's troops focused on Lenessey Mountains in the north, the castle gates were loosely guarded compared to the southern Orlando region.

The Royal Army pushed through Framm's rich wheat harvest and continued into North Paltina.







*yawn* ...Yeah, thanks. Man, this is boring. What's the point in setting up a watch station here? Baldus's guys have got the Lenessey Mountains covered.

Plus, Emperor Gulcasa's men are in front of Paltina. No one could get here without going through one of them...

No one would even be stupid enough to try! ...Hey, what's that?

Comander Inzaghi! I'm here to report --

I see 'em! That's... the Royal Army! Where the Hell did they come from!?





This map has quite a bit of sword users in it now, and even more that show up later. Nietzsche and Durant both work quite well here thanks to the variety of terrain options. Mistel and Rosary also work quite well thanks to their respective weapons, but the boss that shows up later has a little more muscle than either of them can handle easily.

Also note that these villages on the map aren't towns. It's a minor distinction, but it's enough that Mistel doesn't get her terrain advantage.

Since both of the spear users have quite decent stats at the moment I'm bringing both of them. Nietzche's Block Critical on her armour will also come to play here. Eudy and her Witches don't hang around, so we won't have to worry about them.

I throw a couple medallions at Yggdra and Milanor to bring them to roughly 4000.

Dammit! Hey, Eudy! We're under attack, if you can belive it!

I'll prepare things inside the castle. You stall them here!



At a respectable 3,3,2,3, Inzaghi is in decent shape – especially with his Banshee's Cry, which lowers our Atk to one star while it's active. That gives him an easy 2-star lead. His forces average in the 2's.



We start far from the enemy, so turn one goes to just moving up the troops. It's helpful to keep them all near eachother in this mission, but you need to watch your unions.



We're under attack! The Royal Army's here! Prepare the siege defenses! We'll wait for them here!

Y-Yes, Ma'am!



Eudy retreats from the map, and Inzaghi moves his troops up.



We take this chance for Durant to charge past the Bandit and take the bridge. With his muscle, and his Bridge , Durant can trench in and fend off anything Inzaghi can muster, at least under the other's catch up.



This level adds a new feature to the Union Mechanic – linking.

Every character that is in the union can link allies to the union. What this means is that each character spreads the union out one tile in their regular direction. We can see with this shot, Milanor is in the Union with Yggdra. Milanor has his links (indicated by light blue) and can bring Nietzsche into the battle as well.

Priority works like normal, with Linked characters coming in the end of the priority chain.

Nietsche, being linked into the union, cannot link anyone else in.

This should be pretty straightforward, but I'll point out links in the coming battles for clarity.

Anyways, the Bandit doesn't survive the round.





We can see here that the leading Fencer brings the two Knights into the Union. The first Knight links the second Fencer in. The second Knight can't link anyone in.

Thanks to Durant's defensive position, the first Fencer is wiped out. The first Knight is also defeated, but survives. The second Knight pulls off a victory because of Durant's penalty, and Banshee's Cry. The final Fencer also loses, but survives.

We took a loss out of it, but Durant is fine and we defended a critical spot on the map.



On our turn, Durant will lead an attack. This time he brings in Yggdra to the Union. Milanor and Nietzsche are both 1 tile away, in a + pattern, so Yggdra links them as well. They're linked in the same clock-wise pattern that Unions work as well, so we can predict the order.

Linking is incredibly useful in places we can't line up perfect lines, or only have one angle of attack.

The entire team has outstanding odds vs Inzaghi's toops. Durant finishes off the Fencer, which throws Nietzsche's opponent out of order. She faces the Bandit, and thanks to her Water tile, she finishes him off as well. Banshee's cry keeps the other two in the game, however. Since the penalty to Atk lasts during the results screen, they essentially get a 20% defense when they lose.



We'll quickly adjust with the rest of the remaining movement. Both of these villages have items, but we need to visit during while the residents are awake.





The lone Knight approaches, and dies.







Farmer's Daughter: Even here, we've heard the rumors of your victories. We're cheering for you, and we got you a a gift.







After collecting the loot, Milanor and Durant rush in and finish off this Knight. With the left-over movement, Durant blocks off Inzaghi's path. He also captures a road tile, gaining a terrain advantage.

Prepare yourself, mercenary!

Heh, you're the one going down this time!

Anyways, Inazghi rushes head first into Durant, and is knocked to 3000 morale.



Inzaghi has 3 Luk, meaning that Durant and Yggdra would both fail to take his item. Nietzsche and Milanor are both good candidates, though. But while Nietzsche with her Spear is a natural against Inzaghi, Milanor isn't. Mind change should even that out for Milanor, and even break Banshee's Cry.



Not that Milanor will even see action this round.





The enemy is on the run!

Keep pressing the advantage!



Our goal is the North Gate! All troops, to the main road! Let's go!



Thanks to our aggressive positioning, we're already near the road. It would be easy enough to get three people on the road, and leave one only a few tiles away. Instead, Durant will capture that bridge, and Nietzsche will join his union from the water.



What? Whose unit is it?

Messenger: It's the Valkyrie Aegina!

Forget 'em! We're almost there... Keep going!





Notice the Defeat Condition has changed. We now lose if ANY of our units our defeated.



And Aegina has nearly 3000 power on that card. A couple loses would knock out anyone.



And she has high status.



Regardless, we're in a good defensive position. Revolution will make them hard fights all-around, though. And we'll likely see it every time.



And here's why Nietzsche has the Shell Breastplate, with Block Criticals. In the end, Nietzsche still lost. Revolution stole the show, and Nietzsche took 1000 morale damage, dropping her to just over 2100. It's a good thing Water gives her a 50% GEO Defense.

Durant wins his first battle, but loses the second. Revolution is a harsh mistress.



Here we are at turn 12. 7 Mov will end the map, and give us the quick clear bonus. We're going to forgo the bonus, however, and collect sweeter rewards.



One of them is that sword. It ups her already high Atk and Tec, and gives the user a 50% critical hit chance. Damn.



Here's my idea for this round.

Mind Change is strong enough to kill every regular Valkryie on the map, with a good win. Nietzsche will be able to pull a few Valkyries off each clash, and kill the unit before she can use Revolution.

Durant doesn't have that luxury, and is up against Aegina. The first Valkryie should die with little trouble. Also, thanks to his Large size, he's stronger one-on-one than a small unit would be. Since he doesn't have to worry about Aegina's critical hits, he's a good choice to fight Aegina.

If all goes well, 3 Valkyries will perish, and Aegina will take a little damage (which she'll imediately heal through High status).











So I was close. The first two battles went well, and we killed off two opponents. Aegina also went well, and Durant came with a win there. Battle 4 took too long, and Nietzsche took a Revolution. Durant lost in round 5 to a bad Rebolution.

Overall, not bad. We're getting close to losses though.



With Mind Change, Nietzsche will take the water tile, and Yggdra will move up. I'm hoping the AI will attack Nietzsche instead of Durant, since she can't form a union. She still has Mind Change, so should come out with victories.



It all goes according to plan. Valkyrie one manages to get Revolution off after Mind Change, but she still takes a small loss. Aegina's critical hit is blocked again, but Nietzsche wins it. The final Valkyrie goes down before Revolution, and is eliminated.



That last extra Valkyrie is going to cause some trouble for my plan, though, and I can't afford another loss. They both must die here. I really, really didn't want to use Shield Barrier here, but it's my last good option. It blocks Revolution, so all of these fights should go well. Also, Aegina only has 2 Luk, so anyone but Durant can deal the finishing blow.

Durant leads the charge, and will take care of that first Valkyrie.

Nietzsche comes in second, and should provide an easy win. Yggdra comes in next. Between her immunity to Aegina's Holy damage (which High Status starts her in) and Shield Barrier, it's another easy win. Milanor is linked in through Union, and comes in last, but between Shield Barrier and his massive stats, he should be fine. It's a last resort, anyways.



Durant cleans up.



I have no words.



And Yggdra deals the finishing shot.



The level doesn't end, so we have the chance to get another item.



Nietzsche's never seen anything like this.



The last turn of this map is arguable the most important. I really, really wanted to finish off with Shield Barrier, but it wasn't gonna happen. The card you select when you step on the last road tile will be important next mission.





All troops are in position!

We did it!

The enemy is still off balance. Now is our chance. We must end this before reinforcements arrive.

Quickly, let us gain control of the North Gate!



Baldus has been delayed by the fog off the Lennessey Mountains. And Eudy's troops are still preparing for battle...

They'd better hurry! We won't last long at this rate...





Ah, General Emelia...! Our defenses around the North Gate need shoring up.

Messenger: Yes, Sir! We'll get on it right away!



A few turns too slow, but it was worth it.

Loot


Straw Hat: The stats are pretty negligible, but that Daytime (which stacks with other effects) can be awesome in the right maps, like ones locked at Day. Lasts 2 maps.


Nestle Bouquet: Trade item.


Soldier's Bandana: Not bad for two maps, especially at higher levels where those small star gains are more meaningful. A good item if you want to force someone an MVP.


Death Bringer: If you're sensing a pattern here, Fencers get awesome swords. There's a pretty minor Gen down here, but it's a worthy trade. 2 maps.


Golden Wheat: Each battle that would grant Exp, gives 1 additional point. This was easier to see in the GBA version, where each Exp bar was divided into 'ticks' instead of a solid bar. Obviously helpful if you want to bring up a lower level character. Lasts for 4 maps.

Notes

The first half of the map has nothing special, except a good time to learn Linking. Inzaghi, as usual, is a buster.

Aegina, on the other hand, can wreck up the place. If you're not comfortable fighting her, it might be best to wait out on fighting Inzaghi, and mass your units near the right side of the road. Afterwards, move up slowly, and you'll likely lure one Valkyrie out. Aeigina rarely charges forward early.
It should be easy enough to deal with a small number of them, and get to the exit tiles.

Again, try to exit the map with a good card. Shield Barrier is probably the best bet, but something like Blizzard or Ace Guard can work too.

We get attacked before our turn, so it's good to be prepared.