Mission Four: Into The Mountains

Secure The Two River Fords/Secure Both Fords ASAP

There are two control points lying across the nearby river, and you need to conquer both of them. Despite Webb's comment about infantry being powerful here, you may find it advantageous to stick with the mechanized forces, which are going to be much more quick when moving around. We initially deployed a light artillery unit, three Humvees for repairs, and four light tanks. That'll let you move around quickly, which is best if you want to secure the secondary objective.

Sit your tanks on high ground to get a tactical advantage and fire from a distance.

Begin by heading to the northern control points, which have the small building in the middle of them. There's some light infantry here when you arrive, which your Humvees will be able to take care of. After placing your troops in the two control points on your side of the river, scout the other side with a light tank, but be ready with your artillery; there'll be a couple of Soviet tanks on the small hill near the last control point. Destroy them with command abilities or your artillery fire, then move the bulk of your remaining forces across the river. Hold there for a couple of minutes, popping smoke when enemies arrive, and you should be fine. You can use your artillery to fire on the ground in the direction that the enemies approach for some lucky kills.

When the points are fortified, Webb will come along to take control of the area, so withdraw your forces to the river and head south. There's a large hill overlooking the remaining control points, so place your troops up there while you pelt the three points with light artillery barrages.

When you're ready to head down the hill, move a unit down until you can get an idea of where the anti-tank fortifications are, then start pelting them with mortars (since you get another few deploy points after taking the first control points, it might be wise to summon another artillery unit here). When the first point near you is clear, move down and take it, then split your crews up and move over to the other points after softening them up with more artillery. You may also want to napalm the forest between the two points here, as there is a bit of infantry in there. You'll be dealing with more armor at this point, so be sure to move your drop zone and quickly call for reinforcements if you take losses.

Secure The Bridge/The Bridge Must Not Be Destroyed/Hold Until Bannon Arrives

You get extra reinforcement points here, so use them all and quickly make your way north to the bridge. You should be able to arrive before the Soviets come, so get the bulk of your troops across it to the far side and start fortifying. You can use napalm on the forests here to clear them a bit.

You're going to need to paste your opponents with tactical aid if you want to survive until Bannon arrives.

This is a straight-up waiting objective: just hold position until your reinforcement menu is removed and the Soviet artillery appears on your map. You can try to use artillery on them, whether via tactical aid or your artillery units, but they're spread out, so you'll probably need to move a few tanks out to deal with them, while still keeping the bridge fortified with troops. Get rid of them quickly, then fall back and keep your units around the bridge.

Now, at this point, you just have to wait. Put most of your tank on the eastern side of the bridge, but hang back at least a couple on the other side, where your artillery should also be located. Have the artillery firing at the ground along the approaches that the Russians are using.

Eventually a huge Russian attack will come your way; they'll take up positions around your forces and start to fire away. There's not much you can do to save your units, but you can call down artillery on the Russians to weaken them a bit. After 20 or 30 seconds of this pounding, you'll see Bannon coming up to the rear of the Russians. After he pounds them, you'll win the mission.

Mission Five: Last Stand

Secure And Hold the East Bridge

You've got to drop your men quickly here, as the Russians will be attacking you in just minutes. Drop two or three anti-tank units here; they'll be helpful in the upcoming battle, and you get some free transport units to match up with them. They'll probably be more useful to you than the light tanks will be at the moment, so feel free to concentrate on building a couple of armored transports instead of the tanks.

Anti-tank soldiers in the homes here will make for a powerful defense.

When you drop, quickly shuttle your troops up to the control points and let them help you capture and fortify them quickly. When the timer on the Russian attack meter gets down to around 15 seconds or so, move the soldiers into the homes nearest the control points. Be sure to have a couple in the homes nearest Webb's tank, as they'll be helpful in destroying the tanks coming from that direction, but be sure to cover both sides of the street, as tanks will be approaching from the direction of the small town nearby, as well.

The AT infantry inside the buildings will be able to destroy pretty much anything that comes your way, and Webb's tanks will do a good job of holding back the other tanks, so you should be set at this point. Use your tactical aid artillery on the forces as they arrive, if possible, and hold your position.

Secure and Hold the West Bridge

Eventually you'll change your objective and be asked to switch positions and head to the western bridge near Bannon. Leave one or two anti-tank units in the buildings here, but eject the others and load them up into your transports and get rolling.

You get some reinforcement points here, so immediately change your drop zone and deploy as many light tanks as you can and move them to the western bridge. You have to very quickly get your troops into the circles here and reinforce the area. You can't move your anti-tank units into the greenhouses, so you'll have to leave them in the open. This section is another slog, but if you manage to rebuild light tanks as they get destroyed and move them back out to the reinforcement points, you should be able to hold. Don't forget to call down artillery barrages on the enemy tanks as they amass.

Hold The North Bridge/Eliminate the Soviet Recon Squad

When you get the call, move up to the north bridge and start fortifying it. You'll be able to call in anti-air units now, but you may not even need them; a few helicopters will come your way, but you can use an air-to-air tactical aid ability to get rid of them, and the anti-air fortifications, or your Bradleys, should be able to handle the rest. Keep in mind that the southern part of this bridge will be the one that the Russians attack most heavily, i.e. the one closer to the center of town. Fortify that first.

Be sure to intercept these recon units before they escape!

A Soviet recon squad will eventually appear and start heading up the eastern side of the map. You need to destroy them before they reach the edge of the map if you want to complete the secondary objective. If you left your anti-tank units in the buildings near the first bridge that you held, they might be able to destroy them; if not, pull two or three light tanks away from the current bridge defense and move them to the northeastern corner of the map to intercept and destroy them.

Retake the Town Center

When the carpet bombing comes in, quickly mass your troops and move them to the south, towards the town center. Ivan is coming in force, so you'll need to split your troops up and place a couple into each control point. Webb and Bannon will help, but only a bit, so call down reinforcements after making sure that your drop zone has been adjusted. Light tanks are the way to go here, with the occasional Bradley being used for anti-air support.

If you can make it this far, you've probably already won. Just keep calling for reinforcements on your light tanks. When Sawyer gives you the bad news above enemy reinforcements, drop back to the high school and use tactical aid to summon Shiva, the destroyer of worlds. When Bannon gives you the position, drop the nuke and end the mission.

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