HC12: T-Minus 15

Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising
Hard Campaign Guide

Mission 12: T Minus 15


Difficulty:

Player COs: Olaf, Andy
Enemy CO: Flak
Perfect speed limit: 12 days

This mission requires you to capture the 8 cities surrounding the giant
missile within a 15 day time limit. There are essentially three fronts on this
map. Firstly, we have the northern front where Flak has a relatively small
force. Here, Andy helps you out with a couple of Bombers, B-Copters, a Fighter
and an APC. Also, Olaf keeps his most important units here: his two Infantry
and Mech units. These are essential to acquire victory, so keep them at full
HP at all times.

Secondly, we have the middle front. This is where most of the fighting will
happen, as Flak’s main host resides there as well as the giant missile with
the cities surrounding it. These are well guarded by Rockets, Missiles and
A-Air that you need to take out first. Olaf has a sizeable army here
consisting of MD Tanks, two additional Tanks, a Rocket and a Missile.

Thirdly and lastly there is the southern front where Olaf’s defenses are at a
bare minimum. You only have three A-Air, two Mechs and a Rocket to hold off
Flak’s aerial division consisting of Bombers and B-Copters. These will head
straight for your precious units, so watch out! Fortunately, you can capture
the airport just before Flak’s Bombers can reach you. Also, Flak will have a
single base here and a couple of assorted units.

This map all boils down to careful micromanaging your units. At all times,
before you move your units into position, check the enemy attack range and
make sure that you don’t accidentally move into the range of a Rocket or a
Missile. If you can do that, you should be able to win this map. Don’t forget
that indirects can fire across pipes! Use this to your advantage.

Now for strategy. Have Olaf on the northern front capture the neutral cities
first. Keep the other units out of the range of the Rockets near the missile.
Andy should send a Bomber and the Fighter towars Olaf to strike down the pipe
seam here. The Fighter won’t have much use except for blocking off the
entrance to the seam, so no enemy units can hurt the Bomber after it destroyed
the silo. The rest of Andy’s forces should first dispose of what little units
Flak has on the northern front, then move in to the middle section to attack
Flak from the rear.

On the middle front, you should advance until you reach the range of the enemy
Rockets. Keep out of their range until Flak’s assault is over. He will first
send two Tanks and two A-Air towards you, but keep your MD Tanks at the head
of your army to protect your other units. You can dispose of them quite
easily. The next wave of units will be larger, but by then you will have
managed to pull off a Winter Fury and have moved your indirects into position
enough in order to repel this assault as well. Once it’s over, Andy will have
moved in and finished off the western part of the units protecting the
missile. Dispose of the Rockets and Missiles and head in with your Infantry
and Mechs to capture the cities.

The southern front is easily worst off, but even with this few units you
should manage. You can capture the airport before Flak can reach you. Move
your A-Air around it, but keep out of Bomber range. Flak should use his first
Barbaric Blow before he has the chance to reach the airport with his bombers,
doing you little harm with it. Now you have first strike on three of the
Bombers with your A-Air. With a bit of luck (as Barbaric Blow is still in
effect at this point), your A-Air should survive with enough HP. The Rocket
that you have should move north, then west along with the second Mech. You can
use them to lure the Bombers and B-Copters into the range of the Missile on
the middle front. With your surviving A-Air, you can take out all of the enemy
air units. Build a Bomber from the airport when you have acquired the funds to
dispose of the Artillery guarding the pipe seam, then have it destroy whatever
Flak sends your way. Continually build B-Copters after you’ve built the Bomber
to assist it.

Be sure to carefully place the Infantry and Mech units to capture the cities
in an efficient way, so you finish the mission objective with a couple of days
left to spare. If you finish with 4 days left on the clock, you should receive
a perfect speed score.

Strategy by HPD. Map image by Tsuruya.