The huge invasion armada fills the horizon. Sleek
battleships steam forward, their great guns firing a series of ranging shots at
the distant port defences. Nimble
Blazing Sun corvettes advance on one flank, screening small landing barges crammed
full of Ke-Ho small tanks.
On the other flank the large Covenant of Antarctica barges, which
hold the mighty Archimedes
Heavy Walkers, linger near the pulsating energy of a Cllaimarchus time
orb. In the openind stages of the
invasion, the orbs energies are focussed on a landing platform of Socrates
bombards, and these are teleported to the coast, in order to bombard both the
city and American warships which linger near the breakwater.
Seemingly undaunted by the raw display of power the bunker
which guards the port sends a salvo arcing into the cluster of small Covenant
landing barges, sinking several and sending their cargo of Xenephon Walkers
into the deep.
To the East of the city the ominous shape of a huge Gewitterwolke Airship appears over
the hill, and moments later the gigantic shape of a Seydlitz Mobile Airfield
accompanied by two Metzger robots becomes visible, the heavy iron treads of the
huge robots causing the very earth to shake.
Above the Prussian force dozens of Prussian aircraft fill the sky, buzzing
like flies around a herd of huge iron animals.
The order to
fire is given and the British bunker complex sends a salvo into the Prussian
airship causing significant damage.
Moments later, a squadron of Merlin interceptors streak overhead, their
tracers lighting the sky and ripping into the huge balloon causing further
catastrophic damage. In response the
distant tesla coils on the mobile airfield and Metzger robots light up, and a
burst of electricity tear through the tightly clustered small terrier tanks,
but much of the Prussian fire is dissipated by the protective field of the
guardian generator in the Sovereign Land Ship.
Meanwhile,
in the harbour, the British destroyers steam forward to meet the invasion force
head on, hopeful that their torpedoes might buy the city precious moments for
overland reinforcements to arrive.
Diving from the sky Blazing Sun torpedo bombers strike without warning,
sinking one of the ships. Another is
destroyed as a barrage of rockets from the Tenkei Sky Fortress fill their air
with flaming death.
Blazing Sun
frigates at the vanguard of the invasion fleet, exchange fire with a squadron
of American frigates, before a series of salvos from the American battleship tear
one of their number apart. The Princeton
Gunships, anchored next to the battleship, direct their fire into the Blazing
Sun corvettes, claiming two of their number.
On
the eastern flank, the Merlin Interceptors weave a deadly patter around the Gewitterwolke
Airship, machine guns blazing, until the mighty airship is burning from a dozen
places, and finally collapses in flaming ruin to the hill below. Their victory is short lived, however, as
Prussian fighters tear forward to avenge their airship. The dogfight is fierce, and planes on both
sides are sent plummeting to the earth.
British
tanks on the outskirts of the city concentrate their fire on the lead Metzger
robot, until the final shells from the mighty sovereign airship sent the giant
robot to its knees, then with a deafening series of explosions, destroying the
huge Prussian robot. So focussed on
their fire were they, the crew of the Sovereign land ship did not notice at
first notice the telltale glow of temporal energy immediately before them. Only when the Archimedes Heavy Walker emerges,
teleported from a distant landing barge, its claw guns ripping through armour
of the mighty tank, did they realise the extent of their peril.
As the
titanic battle between the land ships unfolds the Archimedes realises its
vulnerability amidst the British forces and scuttles backward, its guns leaving
the once-mighty Sovereign a smoking ruin.
The Mark II tanks acted swiftly, sending their marines to board the
mighty Antarctic war machine, slaying its defenders to ensure that it could
cause no further harm behind the British lines while accurate fire from their
guns caused serious damage aboard the Seydlitz Mobile Airfield.
Meanwhile
the British gunners in the Bunker Complex fired shot after shot into the
remaining Metzger root, until it lurches away drunkenly, belching smoke, and
collapses. A squadron of Prussian Dive Bombers avenge this latest indignity by
swooping on the British tanks, blowing one into smithereens.
In the
harbour the large FSA Valley Airship has been striking at the Covenant landing
barges, and now, as it lumber near a squadron of Plato cruisers, the American
marines descend en-mass to take the vessel.
However they are unprepared for the withering ack-ack fire from the
Antarctic cruisers which kills them to a man.
Emboldened by their success the Antarctic troops board the airship, and
seize control of it.
The Vanguard
submarines, which have approached the invasion fleet stealthily, now fire up
their mighty chainsaw blades and ram the landing craft. However, they experience little success and
one is sunk almost immediately by vigilant Covenant drone dive bombers.
Now one of the
sleek Covenant battleships rises from beneath the waves, and unleashes a
ferocious barrage at the Savannah Sky Fortress which is moving to intercept the
Blazing Sun War Gyro. The devastating
fire causes a series of fires to erupt aboard the sky fortress killing many
crew. A second series of shots from the
Covenant battleship strikes a nearby Lee scoutship, and causes the balloon to
erupt in a single massive explosion. The
shockwave causes significant damage to a second Lee scoutship, and this causes
a Sturginium flare which instantaneously transports the Lee a short distance
away, causing the remaining squadron to lose communications for a time.
Meanwhile
the Callimarchus Time Orb activates once more, and this time a landing barge of
Atticus walkers arrive instantaneously on the shoreline and advance toward the
beleaguered bunker complex, firing steadily.
As the
battle rages outside the city a squadron of Walze small tanks which had been
using the mobile airfield to shield their advance, speed forward and destroy or
board the remaining Mark II tanks, meanwhile the British terrier tanks continue
to inflict significant damage on the lumbering mobile airfield, although
without the protection of the guardian generator more and more small tanks are
destroyed by the return fire.
In the
harbour Covenant battleships on either flank inflict further casualties on the
Americans, one claiming a Lee scoutship while the other sinks a Princeton
gunship and badly damages the second.
The Savannah
sky fortress and Tsukuyomi War Gyro continue to exchange heavy fire at the
entrance to the breakwater, which leaves both vessels ablaze. The bulk Blazing Sun landing craft have now almost made landfall...
Authors Note: At the end of day one
all the objectives remained in the hands of the defending forces, but most of
the garrison tanks and the FSA rapid response force had been destroyed. Almost all the Bunkers had taken damage, with
the Bunker Complex having suffered a large number of hull points. Several of the Blazing Sun tanks were ashore
with the bulk due to arrive the following turn.
The Antarctica forces were slightly further away, but several of their
forces had been teleported ashore already. With the arrival of the
reinforcements for both sides imminent, the game seemed to be evenly poised.
