As turn 3 opens, the Federalists have the upper hand. All of the small scale BNP attacks have been destroyed with their survivors countable on one hand.
Meanwhile the comboints have been mowed down and blown up to where just some 20 of them survive out of the original total of five score.
Hey, what is this?
A strange pillar has appeared south of the comboint hive.
The pillar is the cloak field generator for the BNP command staff. They've been watching over the battle this whole time!
High ranking party elites scan over battle maps as they monitor the fighting and plan futures moves.
The hooded BNP Premier arrives flanked by his gene-forged bodyguards.
"Greetings, comrades. How goes the battle?" he asks as he nears the command post.
"Rrrr, it's an unmitigated disaster!" roars the Generalissimo of New Men in the red cape. "All our flank-hitting forces are wrecked. Those were scarce resources to come by, even for us! And now your vaunted stratagem of your monster-men are running out of steam as well.
The hell have you been doing with our time, Premier? What do you have to say for yourself?"
"I say it is time for the second wave, Generalissimo..."
"Second wave?" asks the angered official.
"Yes, the second wave," begins the Premier.
"The first wave was just a probing attack, you see. Find out what their strengths are and where. Now, I have arranged for the hive weapon to begin disgorging its second set of creatures to attack the fort."
As he monologues, more comboints emerge swarming out of the hive.
Some seventy of the beasts in total come rushing out of the massive birthing chamber and head into combat.
"More of the same at them, then?" says the Generalissimo sarcastically.
"Oh, I think not. You're perfectly able to begin landing your own contingent to push up the right flank, yes?" asks the Premier.
The Generalissimo takes the bait and interprets the words as a challenge, but before he can unleash an "OF COURSE I AM!" the Chief of Subversion speaks up.
"Ha, like his forces were 'able' at Septic Springs? He'll just fail here as his creations did there!"
A moment of awkward silence follows before the Premier speaks again.
"Failure, eh? You know, chief, all your insurgents and buccaneers were destroyed without really producing any results. Which reminds me, my bodyguards have a reward for your service."
Before the Chief can say anything further the Premier's freak bodyguards set upon giving their grisly reward.
"As you may have gathered, your services are no longer required," says the Premier.
The Premier speaks to the command robot as he turns to it.
"Command Unit 2249, land your forces along the left flank and move up in support of the comboints."
"YES PREMIER!"
Following this, the last party official, the Legionnaire commander in the white cape with robotic legs, asks, "Premier, when will my forces be called on to fight?"
"Ah, some eagerness at last out of you...You will fight last of all."
2249 stands as a battle group of his its robots heads for Brickingrad and Fort Ridgeway.
A command model of the hover tanks takes the lead.
Meanwhile on the other side of the BNP battle line, the Generalissimo leads his swarm of New Men militia into battle.
"Onwards, comrades!" he screams. "Today we will prove forever our superiority over the natural-bred vermin that oppose us!"
Another blurry Overwatch shot, this one showing the BNP reinforcements that have just arrived.
The third BNP turn is about to kick off with another attack by the same bomber that menaced Fort Ridgeway on turn 1.
It's spent Turn 2 reloading and it's aiming to blow away the second set of defenders on the wall.
Before the bomber can reach its target, though, it's intercepted by the Pursuit Cruiser.
The bomber's defense turret turns to engage the fighter, and fires first because it has the range advantage.
It deals no damage, however, and the fighter fails to the damage the left wing it fired at either.
2249's air superiority fighter swoops in on the Pursuit Cruiser as it overshoots the bomber. It makes a shot at the Federalist pilot but misses with all four lasers.
Still, though, Federalist pilots will have to watch out with this new threat in the skies.
The bomber continues on with its attack run.
The first bombs goes wide and misses the wall entirely. It lands outside the wall and kills a few comboints.
The second bomb hits in the kitchen area. Only a few manage to bail out in time.
Luckily, though, after this both of the remaining bombs jam and fail to drop.
Quick Overwatch shot of the fort.
The first comboints into the fort rush Mannerheim, who blocked the entrance with his body after his heroic feat failed on Turn 2.
He puts up a hard fight but the comboints pin and murder him regardless.
With the obstacle of Mannerheim out of the way more comboints rush into the fort.
(Ugh, this is another blurry one that slipped by me, sorry.)
One of the last buccaneers gets to shore and tosses some dynamite at a ranger.
The dynamite sends the ranger flying but alive.
Sensing that his time is now or never, one of the younger buccaneers lines up a hail-marry shot with his flintlock.
The hit is good!
With four of them surviving the buccaneers keep pushing the beach.
Returning to the fight outside the fort, a comboint moves up and blasts the Anti-Tank rifleman.
More comboints pile in and set upon some militia riflemen.
Game over, man!
As the New Men advance, the warleader that led the attack on Septic Springs attempts a heroic feat to try and impale multiple Federalists.
He rolls a black die against a white one to determine his success...
Uh oh...
His steed bucks him and tosses him forward...
...and he lands right in front of one of the enemy squads.
They open up on him with reaction fire but his heavy armor saves him.
In yet another blurry and rushed shot, the first hover tank aims at the militia on the south side of the fort.
The shot hits the wall and with an 8" blast radius it kills a few each of comboints and militia.
The command tank advances now, and aims at the Federalist vehicles and Berismirov troops from earlier. They're bunched tight and one good hit could be devastating...
Before the tank shot can impact, though, Colonel Yagarin leaps into action. He blocks the shot with his energy shield and it absorbs the whole blast!
The robot army as a whole advances...
...as does the force of New Men.
Hopes of victory grow faint for the Federalists now that so many more enemy troops have arrived.
As the Federalists' turn begins, though, more help arrives!
This time from above; mercenary paratroopers from the the Azure Skies company drop in a squad of seven into the northeast corner of Brickingrad.
Their squad leader is the first one to get up after landing. He quickly orders everyone up and into defensive positions.
In a heartbeat the paratroopers are up and moving forward to setup defensive positions on the edge of the city.
This is the turn of the mercs, it seems, for the Federalists as the famed Blue and Green brothers jump into Fort Ridgeway to offer assistance.
With them the brothers have brought a combat team of elite Fallschirmjagers.
Fallschirmjagers are elite Tlaxclas Jetterheads who've left service in their state militia and formed a band of top-notch guns for hire. For special missions the FSU sometimes hires them.
Last to fall out of the sky is big mercenary mech unit. The duo of pilot and dual-wielding repair girl land and head for Ridgeway behind the F.U.K.-U Marines.
The last group of mercenaries to arrive walk in on the edge of the map.
Carrying rocket launchers and melee weapons, these mercs look like rough types...
Luckily for them they happened to walk onto the battlefield right next to one of the robot tanks.
The merc leader can be saying, "Beep boop, son," to himself as he points the rocket down and blows himself forward at the tank turret.
As the squad leader lands atop the turret he begins to pry it open.
As he exposes the tank gunner and points his ray gun at its head, he can be heard saying,
"Beep..."
"...boop."
Two more mercs tear open the driver hatch and start bashing its occupant with shovels but fail to pulverize it.
The three remaining rocket mercs line up behind the tank and fire at the rest of the robot army, but three "1's" on their shot rolls mean all three jam!
As the Federalist militia patrol retreat from the oncoming swarm of New Men they all take shots at the warleader on the ground.
His armor lets him absorb a load of firepower but eventually they blow his head off.
The ranger that was thrown by the dynamite gets back up and aims his grenade launcher at the remaining partisan technical.
The shots blow up the driver's cab with the driver and knock the main gun off.
The paramilitary cops move up and engage the last pirates.
As do the Arid Rangers.
They shoot and they shoot until just this last buccaneer remains. He falls back in a hail of gunfire.
Over on the battlements the defenders continue to shoot down at the comboints.
The tank destroyer rolls off of the robot commando it had been sitting on.
It aims its twin-barrelled Size 5 gun at the command tank and the gunner makes his 1D8 to-hit roll...
Drat!
As the situation in Fort Ridgeway deteriorates, the Proselyte's bodyguards decide to evacuate her. One grabs her and begins carrying her out the front gate while the other watches his back with a tommy gun.
One of the Berismirov militiamen mans the cannon on the southwest corner of the fort. He sets up for reaction fire later.
The Durdedotte Militia go into retreat from the dual pressure of the comboints and robot tanks.
As the Durdedotte troops fall back they clear the line of fire for the rocket launcher platform.
The explosion kills virtually all of the remaining comboints on this area of the battle.
Guri Yagarin moves up and plans for a heroic feat on the command tank.
He rolls a red die while a black one tries to stop him..
Oh wow. Well this calls for something special...
Yagarin rushes up onto the turret and tears into the gunner with his his rifle's chainsaw. Blood spurts out of the robot anyways due to the concentration of ossum.
Meanwhile it's a brawl for survival in the fort.
Two Jetterheads on the battlements keep chugging as they blast down into the melee below.
A destroyed comboint offers strong evidence that Tlaxclas troops can indeed fight while hammered.
North of the fort, the Pantarox and Leo Prime militias go into retreat to link up with other troops as the New Men bear down on them.
The Blue brother heads towards the chaos to see what he can do. Meanwhile the Green brother provides over watch with a sniper rifle.
The Battlecruiser leaves Brickingrad and starts heading for the north side of the fort.
Meanwhile the other half of the police head away from the secured beach and toward Fort Ridgeway.
Most of the workers hop onto the trailer of this truck, seeking escape.
Indeed, all of the civilians now try to escape the city.
Atop one of the houses in Brickingrad, one of the townspeople is determined to make a stand.
The battle has gone on long enough now that all the civilians there were indoors come pouring out now, private arms in hand. They're determined to fight their way to safety if need be.
Turn 3 Overwatch. Over a hundred BNP reinforcements turned up while only a few arrived for the FSU.
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