Act 2 Mission 2 (Breakthrough Operation) seems impossible..

[Rmarsden]

Thanks for that!

I love the wide selection of units. However, in missions like Act 2 Mission 2, the time-limit is so tight that I find you need the most efficient units possible or it's a real challenge.

That said, I like to experiment with the other tank varieties and assault bikes and so forth, but when the clock is tight, a so-so tank gets you into trouble!

[Kultimo]

The way to do it on Very Hard:

Set-up (Right Flank):
3x Deathstrike - soften vehicles, do not waste shots on entrenched infantry, constantly move north along the right side of the map.
1x Shadowsword - move together with deathstrikes from turn 1 along right side of the map
1x Macharius Vulcan - move together with deathstrikes from turn 1 along right side of the map
1x Banesword - move together with deathstrikes from turn 1 along right side of the map
1x Ratling Snipers - scout and soften from max range

Set-up (Middle):

/Front Liners
1x Steel Legion Mortar Support - effective vs entrenched infantry, but be sure to position such that LOS 100% blocks enemy sight and no retaliation is possible, or position out of range. If not possible, better do not attack at all, unless finishing off a unit and will not be taking damage in return.
1x Land Raider Helios - good at softening entrenched infantry and not taking damage back (same role to Macharius Vulcan or Furioso Dreadnoughts)
2x Furioso Dreadnoughts - main initiator on entrenched infantry
1x Hellhound - also strong vs entrenched infantry, can hit 2 hexes forward, combos well when first hex is taken by Dreadnought/assault infantry
1x Terminator Assault Squad - [did not get to use them at all actually, as the units above did all the job, but is one of the best assault infantry options]

/Second waive
2x Ogryn Squad - exceptionally cost efficient assault unit
1x Ogryn Squad Veterans - higher damage and mobility that is useful often
3x Imperial Space Marines - the most cost efficient assault unit in blood angels roster, less efficient than ogryn squad per $, but its damage output is higher, which is quite important in this mission
1x Captain Tycho - keeping moral up is quite important for sustaining damage

Strategy:

The aim is to have tanks move to the top of the map non-stop, as they will otherwise be slowed down and wont make it in time to assist at the last 4 victory hexes. Also, artillery has a lot of mech targets in the middle that it can shoot while waiting for the infantry to catch up after infantry captures first two hexes.

Tanks can engage entrenched infantry at hex 3 as initiator - high defense will mean no/limited retaliation damage. But only have them shoot infantry from victory hex 3-4, ignore first town with the first 2 victory hexes.

Make sure you understand how agro works - if you stay outside of vision (most often 1-2 hexes), you can shoot/snipe unit without triggering nearby agro. Think of artillery not triggering agro. But you need to master the same with your lower range and melee units as well. This is very important in this mission as you want to fight only the enemies that are blocking the way and not any reinforcements. Specifically, you should skip the large group of tanks and infantry in the middle / middle-left part of the map, along the road. When capturing 3rd victory hex (middle right, aim to be done by turn 11, with your artillery starting to soften up middle from turn 7), you will need to be careful not to trigger agro and have orks from the neighbourhood join in. Artillery should only clear cannons and tanks around hex 3, you will need to position your front-line units such that they can all assault in one turn and kill targets without having any of your units remain in the enemy viewing zone at the end of the turn. This is probably the most tricky part of the whole map.
There is a group of 3 units, you can enter the view/agro zone and as long as you kill all units in whose view range you are, the agro wont go off at the turn end. Most often, when there is a group of 3 units, you wont have enough firepower to wipe them all in one turn, so will have to do it in two turns. On turn one try to kill closest unit first, and use line of sight block to remain unseen by the remaining two units. Then, on the second turn you can easily wipe out two remaining units with full surround by assault infantry.

At around turn 11 you should have captured 3rd hex and cleared the way towards the 4th. Split your force again now - have roughly 1/3rd to start moving through the right bridge and pre-positioning for final push. The rest 2/3 of units move towards 4th hex. Have artillery work on the mechs across the bridge, 1-2 tanks (Land Raider Helios + Macharius Vulcan) can soften infantry from outside of agro range while you are positioning assault units to nuke the targets and capture 4th hex without triggering agro. Again, you will likely need two turns to get it done. At around turn 16 you should have captured hex 4, had artillery soften/destroyed a few mechs across the river and also positioned 1/3 of your force on the other side (on the right), with the remaining 2/3 of forces crossing.

You will be moving across all three bridges (so have split in two the force that captured hex 4 and have them move through middle and left bridges). You can forget about agro there and just focus on killing targets on the victory hexes and some cannons near the victory hexes that are blocking the way. You do not need to kill everything - you will not have neither the time nor resources, so make sure you create breaches and have your infantry sprint through it. Your artillery can clear out the furthest hexes, while your other untis are working on the closest ones. Infantry can then spring through the breaches and capture those last hexes.

Remember to keep pushing and keep your units busy at all times. This map is not about minimizing damage taken, unfortunately. I got away with 1 unit killed (avoidable) and had another damaged, with some wear and tear on a few others. Surely, different compositions could work too. Feel free to experiment.

[nexusno2000]

Holy necro...