40 bugs vs. tanks! - giving up on extremely tough mantis variant boss

Dear Readers,

Now for CO-OP mission 1-5, involving the praying mantis this time!

Lieutenant Kremmel said this practice mission was interrupted by a praying mantis and told us to fight it anyway as this mission.

We didn't change from the speedy chassis and got decimated within ten seconds! Then we changed to the chassis with the highest defence and got destroyed within slightly longer than 10 seconds. We made several attempts but to no avail. This one may very well be impossible without other players.

If I could beat this mantis I'd be able to identify it as a new bug since it's a different colour. It's extremely aggressive.

It's tiresome to load the mission again after a game over because of all the menus you have to go through. Fortunately, there's another mission unlocked after this so I'll leave this one for now.

Also I had a look at the paints and they're cool! Do they have any function? If so I'd take every little help possible in my situation.

39 bugs vs. tanks! - chased by grey ant and queens!

Dear Readers,

Now for the 4th CO-OP mission, 1-4. This time there was an abandoned tank to find as well.

Lieutenant Kremmel was now scoring us on how many flag combos we could get by passing it to other tanks without getting hit. Again, can't really do that when playing solo.

When the mission started we were immediately pummelled with ant attacks! There were other queens around too! We got many very quick failures, which made jumping back into the level kind of cumbersome with all the menus you have to go through. We switched the chassis to the Cromwell just to get some speed going. It didn't work before but this time it did! We had to change our strategy to being chased all over the arena by the grey ant and all the queens. We continued to fail but it was just a matter of practice and outrunning the creatures with the turret pointed backwards. We finally did it with a cheer! We earned 369 points and a C rank. We obtained the abandoned tank on completion! Turns out we didn't have to scout for it!

New tank:

British Churchill A22 - Lots of armour on this tank, the most I've seen so far on the British ones, giving it a decent amount of defence.

38 bugs vs. tanks! - flag holding challenge

Dear Readers,

Now to move on to CO-OP mission 1-3 to see how far I can get on my own.

Lieutenant Kremmel said he was judging our performance based on how long we held onto a flag, no problem there since it's solo, and how much damage we do to the target. Plenty of insults from him as well.

This was more or less the same as the second mission so we carried out the same strategy by circling around the cigarette and turning the turret whenever the grey ant got near. Took out the minion ants as well. We earned 378 points and a C rank.

37 bugs vs. tanks! - the terrible grey ant of the co-op missions

Dear Readers,

I'll try and go as far as I can with the CO-OP missions solo. Now for mission 1-2, CO-OP Practice 2.

Lieutenant Kremmel said the bug was even stronger this time and it was all about passing flags like a hot potato to survive.

Content-wise, it was the same as the last mission, but there were minion ants as well as the boss ant. There was also a countdown timer. I was trying to suss whether it was better to just survive the 10 minutes or to defeat everything.

I picked off the minion ants and wrestled with the boss ant by going in circles around the giant cigarette and shooting at it any chance I could. I defeated it on my second attempt, earning 418 points and a B rank.

New bug:

Grey Ant - This was the extremely difficult boss ant from these two CO-OP missions so far. It's faster, more aggressive, takes longer to defeat and it's got gross wings as well. The thing is, you don't think it's that bad at first because you've fought so many other ones in the main missions that are so much bigger but aren't as strong as this. Hellish creature.

36 bugs vs. tanks! - trying out the co-op mode solo and it's extremely difficult!

Dear Readers,

Now to try out the co-op missions, now that I had finished all the main ones. The first one was 1-1, CO-OP Practice 1.

Lieutenant Kremmel was giving the orders once more. It felt like starting the game over again with him there being his bossy jerk self. He gave a tutorial on how flag passing works and how the bearer of the flag was the leader.

Wow okay... this mode was definitely meant for more than one person to play. The ant looks like many others in the game but is extremely strong and can defeat you in no time at all. It has a life bar you have to whittle down if you want to defeat it and it takes a while, like it's some kind of boss. The level itself is a circular arena shape in the woods biome. The passing of the flag only works if you have other players to pass the flag onto and the ant focuses on the one with the flag. On top of that, no SOS attack!

I tried it with max defence and max speed but still failed. I tried a few more times and tried other tactics like using rocks for cover. Still failed. We then tried using the cigarette for cover and fared much better, though it was still really hard. We actually beat the thing! Woo! We earned 428 points and a B rank.

Another CO-OP mission was unlocked but I don't know how much farther I can get with this huge difficulty by playing solo...

35 bugs vs. tanks! - the last main mission

Dear Readers,

Next up was the last main mission, 7-9, not titled with an "Operation", instead being titled "The Grand Bug Alliance".

Colonel Diekmann got reports from a surviving unit that was defeated in the sand region that several huge bugs were there. He didn't say what was there, but I could see that there was a spider and a queen hornet at least. Queen ant too, possibly more than one kind.

When we got there, Ernst observed more than one spider as well! Yikes! Joachim said there were seven targets in total. We had to find the abandoned tank as well.

Wow this one was close. There was just one spider boss here after all but it was the poisonous one and it was relentless in attacking us. We had to use the SOS attack on it which defeated it. Apart from that it was just the queen versions of the other bugs, the ants and bee not so bad, the hornet taking a bit of time alright though. When we defeated all the bugs we had just had a tiny sliver of health remaining. Whew! We got 377 points and a B rank.

The tank we used had a lot of trouble getting out of the antlion traps. Thankfully there weren't any antlions. It took a while to manoeuvre out of them.

New Tank:

French FT-17 - a really old and small tank that was said to be the ancestor of many tanks.

New Medal:

Bug Exterminator - for clearing all the missions!

The strange thing is, there was no ending after this or credit roll, just Ernst saying this last mission was worth telling others about.

So, what to do now? Well there are the CO-OP missions, which can be played alone. There are still tanks to collect, a few more bug species to identify and other medals to earn. The medal awards have stated goals like defeating so many bugs and bug bosses, StreetPass stuff which probably won't happen, achieving A and S ranks in missions, whatever flag combos are... so it sounds like achievement stuff and 100% kinda stuff.

Might as well try out the CO-OP missions and see what they're like at least.

34 bugs vs. tanks! - two spider bosses at once

Dear Readers,

Mission 7-8 was Operation: Spider Bros.

Colonel Diekmann lost contact with the Allies and the search party that went out to find them. He was now sending us to the spider web without any knowledge as to what was lurking there. He told us to prepare for the worst.

Two spider bosses at once were waiting for us when we got there. Ernst expressed his horror and Joachim advised me to fight them one at a time.

I thought this was going to be absolutely brutal, but it wasn't too bad! The spiders even seemed to stall now and again. We took advantage and fired on them as much as we could. It was both kinds of spiders that we came across in the game. We didn't move around all that much and kept an eye on the way the dots moved on the radar. We let out two big cheers after defeating each one! We got 410 points and an A rank.

33 bugs vs. tanks! - queen hornet and bee invasion

Dear Readers,

Mission 7-7 was Operation: Atrocious Queen. Colonel Diekmann warned us about the huge winged bugs heading our way. A lot of emphasis was placed on how big they were!

The crawly ones weren't too bad but there was a really bad hornet queen that made us fail. We were so distracted with trying to beat it that the smaller bugs destroyed the base and we failed. On the second attempt we fared much better, staying on top of the smaller bugs while getting rocked around by the queen hornet. It's an especially bad enemy because we always cheer whenever we defeat one! We succeeded on the second try, earning 509 points and an S rank, even though the base got some damage.

New bug:

Queen Bee - the first appearance of this one! Takes a while to defeat, but not nearly as troublesome as the queen hornet. Also, we don't cheer when we defeat one of these.

32 bugs vs. tanks! - beating the bullying hornets in the branches

Dear Readers,

Mission 7-6 was Operation: Heaven's Needle.

Colonel Diekmann got word that a hornet's nest had been constructed in the trees above our heads, so he wanted us to exterminate it. Joachim confirmed there were two we had to take of and Ernst advised to be extra careful on the thin branches.

We failed the first attempt due to the queen teaming up with the minion hornets to knock us off the branches with ease. On the second attempt, we went a lot more slowly. We even found the second nest before the abandoned tank, but it was close by. We hung around on that leaf and let the queen approach us. We defeated it with a loud cheer before going on to destroy the second nest. We got 482 points and an A rank.

New tank:

French R35 - another tiny French tank. It's a pity they were so underpowered against what they faced in battle.

31 bugs vs. tanks! - praying mantis boss in the marsh

Dear Readers,

Mission 7-5 was titled Operation: Water Scythe. It involved marsh exploration and another confrontation with a praying mantis along with other bugs! I changed the chassis to the DD Sherman before starting.

Colonel Diekmann ordered us to defeat the praying mantis because it was a huge disadvantage to have it in the area. Ernst and Joachim told me to be careful because the mantis picked a horrible spot for a battle.

Indeed it was. I was not happy about finding the mantis long before the abandoned tank. It took an extra 5 minutes to find the tank, only for us to lose to the mantis not long after. We lost on the second attempt too but sussed out where the abandoned tank was without having to sail all over the place for it. I then decided to ditch the flotation altogether and just equip max power and max defence with the Tiger II chassis and turret. We did it that time! We did an approach and run tactic by going back and forth in a repetitive way and made the mantis get stuck behind a hollow log. It took a few minutes! We got hit a fair few times but we managed to shoot it a lot more. We let out a cheer and went back to base for repairs, earning 408 points and an A rank.

New tank:

American M3 Stuart - a light tank known for its mobility and it was named "Stuart" by the British. Not sure why though.

30 bugs vs. tanks! - discovering the german tiger ii

Dear Readers,

Mission 7-4 next, titled Operation: Festival Queen. Colonel Diekmann got reports that the ants were forming an interspecies alliance! He ordered us to defeat the four different queens. Ernst was excited to carry out ant regicide.

It was a short enough mission. The four gross queens were easy enough to deal with thanks to the new equipment we'd been finding. We got 495 points and an A rank.

New tank:

German Tiger II - a huge and very impressive looking tank with its power and defence stats maxed out! It says here that it was the most powerful tank produced in the war! It'll definitely come in handy at some stage!

29 bugs vs. tanks! - destroying 3 new hornet nests

Dear Readers,

Mission 7-3 involved wasps! Yikes! This was Operation: Lurking Poison.

I changed the chassis back to the Cromwell for the speed boost.

Colonel Diekmann didn't mention wasps, but he did mention hornets. He wanted us to help the Allies defeat the hornets and destroy their nest. Joachim found that there were three nests we had to take care of one by one. Bleh.

It's great to have the extra firepower we equipped for the spider boss. Hornets didn't take forever, but the queen still took such a long time that we cheered audibly when we defeated her. We continued and blew up the three nests. We got 546 points and an S rank.

New Tank:

British Valentine - a tank named after its supposed commission date on February 14th. This tank has an extra noticeable manned gun on top. Seems it was made for the harsh winters of Russia and the desert heat of North Africa.

28 bugs vs. tanks! - poisonous steppe spider boss

Dear Readers,

Another spider mission! Mission 7-2 was Operation: Black Menace.

Colonel Diekmann got a distress signal from the Allies, saying that another spider took up residence where we defeated the old one. He wanted to win over their trust so he was keen for us to defeat it.

Ernst noticed this was a different kind of spider, a poisonous one! Joachim suggested prioritising evasion while attacking!

The spider was a horrifying red and black colour and there were tons of other bugs around too. We failed the first attempt so we equipped the JS-2 chassis for defence and its turret for the extra power as well. We got on much better and didn't need to use the SOS power either! It hit us a lot more this time but our HP only went below half. Defeating the moths in one shot felt pretty good too! We got 422 points and an A rank.

New bug:

Steppe Spider - the horrifying red and black poisonous boss we had to deal with just now. Even more powerful than the last spider.

27 bugs vs. tanks! - destroying 4 termite nests

Dear Readers,

Now for the new level 7 missions, starting with 7-1, Operation: House Tent.

Colonel Diekmann gave us an assignment to take out termite nests that were spawning more and more new termites all over the place. Joachim said there were four nests we had to take out.

The nests were kinda weird. They were big logs that carried an explosion when we struck them, but they only made a hole and termites kept coming out of them after we made said explosion. We carried on finding other such logs and had to face big disgusting winged bug queens along the way as well. We got 455 points and rank A. Joachim's "Terminate the termites" quip was pretty good.

New tank:

Soviet JS-2 - the most powerful Soviet tank with very high fire power and defence. The grey cross painted on top is kinda nice.

No involvement with the Allies this time.

26 bugs vs. tanks! - giant praying mantis boss!

Dear Readers,

Now it was tanks vs. tanks! Mission 6-7 didn't have the "operation" format but instead was titled "The Battle of Mantidae".

Colonel Diekmann gathered us and told us the Allies were demanding surrender and were ignoring any attempts we were making to contact them. Scouts reported they were spotted in the woods. He said he had no intention of going down without a fight so this was all-out war.

We all got into formation. Ernst was excited at the prospect of fighting another army again.

Aslanov contacted Diekmann and demanded an explanation. He said we had no intention of surrendering. Aslanov called us foolish and blamed us for shrinking them! Diekmann tried to respond but he was already gone.

It was all about to kick off when a giant preying mantis appeared and crushed the Soviet tanks! Aslanov demanded to know if this was our doing. The mantis then crushed Kremmel's tank! Diekmann tried to reason with Aslanov and suggest a temporary truce to deal with the mantis!

Diekmann asked me for help to buy time for our forces to escape by fighting the mantis. We stayed behind while the others retreated. Joachim felt the gravity of the situation but Ernst was pretty excited and wanted to have the big mantis all to ourselves!

We failed the first attempt, even with an SOS attack, so we tried again. We tried to get a pattern going but it wasn't easy, even with a tank of our speed. We didn't really suss out a pattern but we generally tried to go around and turn the turret to shoot as much as we could. We put in an SOS attack and a few more hits until the mantis boss was defeated! It was pretty fast and powerful with a long reach, so it made for a fearsome opponent! We got 510 points and an S rank.

What followed was voiced dialogue and a scene where the groups from the two armies formed an alliance to deal with their situation of survival against the bugs.

After that, there was a scene where our tank went up against a huge stag beetle. The voice then said the alliance would break when normalcy returned.

What followed next, puzzlingly, were the end credits! The names scrolled past, I could see that Natsume actually developed this and... that was that!

Afterwards the level 7 missions unlocked but they were called "Ex missions".

New medal:

Keeper of the Truce - for clearing all the level 6 missions

New bug:

Praying Mantis - the huge boss we had to fight. The info here says they're not the religious type!

I checked out one of the "ex" missions so far. It didn't seem like post-endgame, but Joachim talked about terminating some termites, which has that humorous tone of a post-endgame.

I also noticed that you can play the co-op missions alone, so I'll try them at some point. In any case, it's not the end yet, missions wise. Story wise, I don't think so. Why did they roll credits? It's throwing me off!

25 bugs vs. tanks! - rescuing kremmel a third time

Dear Readers,

Mission 6-6 was Operation: Jerk Rescue III and involved the Allies. I switched the chassis back to the Cromwell.

Colonel Diekmann wanted us to give Lieutenant Kremmel some backup in his mission when he was interrupted by a distress signal coming from Kremmel himself! He was fighting with Allied forces and was now in trouble! Diekmann sent us out on the double.

We found Kremmel's three tanks and they were all destroyed. No damaged Allied tanks so it seemed one-sided. There wasn't any sign of the crew though and Ernst wondered if they fled on foot.

Joachim got intel that four men were unaccounted for and hoped we could find them without running into the Allies. We rescued them all handily, running into only bugs. Kremmel was giving out about not being rescued any earlier. Of course we had to be all thankful he was still alive. We got 491 points and an A rank.

Diekmann asked Kremmel for a report. He boasted about fighting the bugs off when they were all attacked by a T-34. This meant the Allies knew we were here. Ernst suggested fighting them head on but Diekmann refused, saying it would be disastrous.

Just then, the radioman came along and said the Allies were contacting us and wanted to speak to the Colonel! Major General Aslanov of the Soviet army introduced himself and told us to disarm and surrender without conditions or negotiations. Yikes!

I missed out on finding the abandoned tank, so I replayed the mission. The tank I eventually found but it was camouflaged really well! I finished the mission again too of course. Didn't meet any Allies.

New tank:

American M5A1 Stuart VI - a tank that was fitted with shears to cut through hedges. I wonder if we can use this to get through plant obstacles?

24 bugs vs. tanks! - rescuing scouts on lily pads

Dear Readers,

Another marsh mission! I decided to equip the new amphibious chassis we found, the DD Sherman. This mission was 6-5, Operation: Hot Water. 

Colonel Diekmann promised us the day of moving in on the Allies was coming, but first we had to rescue a group of scouts in the marsh area. Some were stranded beyond deep water too.

We arrived in the thick of battle! We had to rescue the tanks before time ran out. We could hear the scouts, who weren't in tanks, wail out for help constantly. There were loads of bugs to shoot and kill this time. We had to boat out to lily pads to rescue men and get the abandoned tank too, so it was a good thing we switched to the new chassis! We eventually got as many men as we could fit, earning 502 points and an S rank.

New tank:

German Tiger I SdKfz - the most powerful one we found yet! It had a big reputation as well for taking out many Allied tanks.

23 bugs vs. tanks! - defending the base against hornets and bees

Dear Readers,

Mission 6-4, Operation: Raging Needle was next. Colonel Diekmann said the sky was black with raging hornets! Presumably they were angry that we killed their queen and they were coming for the base! I decided to chance doing this without changing equipment.

It was strange but it wasn't that hard at all. There weren't even that many hornets attacking and they were mostly bees. We finished the mission with 561 points and an S rank. We even got a safety bonus.

22 bugs vs. tanks! - rescuing kremmel the jerk again

Dear Readers,

Now for mission 6-3, Operation: Jerk Rescue II.

Lieutenant Kremmel was in trouble again! Colonel Diekmann sent him to secure a route via the trees but his group got attacked and separated. We now had to go to the treetops on another rescue mission, while avoiding getting into trouble ourselves.

Joachim reckoned Kremmel was hiding somewhere and suggested looking for the leaf with the most secure footing.

We came across many bugs almost straight away. We blasted away until we found a tank on a leaf. It wasn't an abandoned one, it was one from Kremmel's group! We had to find two more of these as well as the abandoned one under the time limit! yeesh!

The next one we found was Kremmel's tank but he didn't have anything to say yet.

Then we came across a group of bugs including a hornet that almost knocked us off, but we got past them. We found another tank but we had to find the abandoned one first, so we skipped. Luckily, the abandoned tank was close by so we got to the abandoned one first, then to the remaining tank from Kremmel's group.

It was at this point he started speaking, haughtily giving out about having to wait so long. We expressed gratitude that he made it in good spirits - you know, just to feign manners! We got 402 points and an A rank.

New tank:

French S35 - another lightish tank that was said to be great for its time, standing up to other tanks well at the time.

21 bugs vs. tanks! - destroy seven antlions

Dear Readers,

Now for mission 6-2, Operation: Desert Sweep.

Colonel Diekmann stated our objective was to infiltrate the Allied Base, but we had to clear out a path in the sand region for our forces. He wanted us to get rid of the antlion larvae and secure the path so no antlions could trip us up.

Joachim said there were seven larvae that had to be exterminated. It was troublesome moving on the sand, even for this fast tank. Lots of other bugs to deal with as well as the antlions. We got completely surrounded at one point so we used the SOS. The rest was manageable enough. We got 456 points and an A rank.

New Tank:

M18 Hellcat - a speedy tank with very light armour. The brown part holding the gun makes it stand out from the green of the rest of it.

20 bugs vs. tanks! - first go with the amphibious tank!

Dear Readers,

Now to begin the level 6 missions! The first is 6-1, Operation: Shadow Play.

Joachim and Ernst talked about how this place got cleaned out of its supplies, supposedly by the ones who injured the queen hornet from the last mission. We decided to look for them, be they friend or foe.

We left the base and up ahead we spotted a tank on the move! It was a Soviet T-34. We kept following it into the marshland, where it disappeared. Its tracks led into the deep water though. Time ran out on us! I didn't know it was that kind of a mission.

We tried again at a more swift pace. We eventually came across a base full of tanks and soldiers from the Allied forces! Also, they were shrunk, just like we were! Ernst questioned our original hypothesis on whether they were the ones who shrunk us. Joachim said we couldn't rule it out but we had to report back immediately. We got an A rank with 472 points.

Colonel Diekmann congratulated us on securing our old base and wanted to consider the Allies carefully, so he told us to get some rest for the next few missions.

We didn't find the abandoned tank, so I decided to redo the stage and equip the Type 2 Ka-Mi chassis to maybe be able to explore the deeper water. It worked a treat! It was a much slower tank fitting of course, but we were able to go on the water and explore to find the tank, and sail for a shorter route to the Allied base!

New Tank:

British DD Sherman - The amphibious British tank! It had like a big flotation thing around it and propellers to make it move in the water. Seems like better equipment to use in the water for later. In the meantime, I switched back to the fast Cromwell chassis once this mission was over.

19 bugs vs. tanks! - queen hornet boss

Dear Readers,

Now for mission 5-8, Operation: Base Beeline.

New area! In this mission we had to trailblaze a way to the base. It was a winding green path to a stony concrete area. We found a tank when we got to the concrete. The music was an atmospheric marching beat. 

After some time we came across a huge queen hornet that had been freshly killed, or so we thought. When we got close it started stirring and zipping all over the place! Ernst said he hadn't seen something go that crazy since he broke up with his last girlfriend! We had no choice but to fight it. It was fast alright but we were able to keep track of the dot on the radar. We just had to hang in there and eventually we defeated it, shooting it to pieces. We had a quarter of HP left too. We got 462 points and an A rank.

New tank: 

American M26 - Looks like just what we think of when we think of tanks and it was made to compete with the German's Tiger ones.

New bugs:

Queen Hornet - as if the plain hornets weren't bad enough. Bigger and just as fast as the regular hornets. I'm glad we don't have them.

New medal:

Lived to Tell the Tale - for clearing all level 5 missions. On to level 6 missions now!

18 bugs vs. tanks! - defeating the six moths

Dear Readers,

Now for mission 5-7, Operation Whirl Wing. Colonel Diekmann got reports that moths have been attacking our troops so we had to go seek them out and destroy them. Joachim said there were six in total.

Again in the tree branches, we had to tread carefully. I don't know if it's Ernst or Joachim who whimpers "We're surrounded!" but it happened a lot due to so many dots appearing on the radar at once and it happened quite often! Had to take it slow and steady to find the moths among the crowds of bees and ants. When we found the tank here, it was on a leaf and the surrounding paths were full of enemies. Luckily only some were winged and we picked them off handily. We finished with a score of 370 and a B rank.

New tank: German Tiger I Ausf. E - Really big and bulky looking tank and from the stats it seems really strong and powerful.

17 bugs vs. tanks! - the disgusting king and queen of termites

Dear Readers,

The next mission was 5-6, Operation: White Wave. Colonel Diekmann received reports that a swarm of termites were heading for the base, presumably going for the timber we were gathering for fortifications.

They came in waves and it was handy having the fast tank parts to keep all points of the base covered. The small ones took one shot, the slightly bigger ones took two shots... then there were the horrible giant winged ones that took a few shots each. We took them all out though. Got 510 points and an S rank.

We got the Bug Hero medal for exterminating 500 bugs.

New bugs:

King Termite - One of the big disgusting ones with wings. Took a few hits but we got him.

Queen Termite - Even bigger and more disgusting than the king one with a long wiggly white lower abdomen. Sickening but took about as long as the king did to defeat.

Just one mission for today. That was gross.

16 bugs vs. tanks! - acting fast in emergency fuel situations

Dear Readers,

Now for an emergency mission, 5-4: Operation Tank Wound. We were up in the trees again gathering intel when a bee punctured our fuel tank! Joachim said our fuel was going faster than a free drink!

We had to rush but we rushed too much and ended up getting knocked off by a crowd and failed the mission! This happened several times. We also failed because we took too long to finish, which also happened several times. I also learned that found tanks don't save when you fail the mission. I had to make a change somewhere.

I decided to change the chassis from the KV-2 to the Cromwell. Lower defence but more speed and terrain run.

WOW the difference in speed! The stat is maxed out with this one and our tank was zooming along the treacherous twigs of the tree really quickly. We decided to ignore everything that wasn't a bee or beehive, collected the abandoned tank and went straight for the end of the level with 3 seconds to spare. We made it! Strange thing was, we didn't come across any ants this time. We saw plenty of snails though. We got an A rank with 431 points.

New tank:

Soviet KV-1 - said to be the most powerful tank at the onset of the war. Doesn't have the big turret of the KV-2.

Mission 5-5, Operation: Silent Turret. Ernst was shooting away happily, looking to top his record when he noticed we were all out of ammo! He didn't reload earlier. Joachim told him to get his act together but also said the supply squad was at the end of the desert, so we weren't totally out of luck.

This was stressful enough and we had to use an SOS at one point. I thought maybe we could pit the antlions and ants against each other but I didn't see any of them being eaten. We zoomed around as fast as we could while also looking for the abandoned tank. Once we found it, we made a beeline straight for the end of the level, army ants nibbling at our tail and we barely made it. We got 433 points and rank A with a pacifist bonus.

New tank:

French H35 - A smaller looking tank and its gun is smaller looking than the other ones we've found so far. It's said here that it had mobility issues but was flawless otherwise and the Germans seized many of them.

New bug:

Queen Army Ant - Bigger version of the army ant and just about as scary.

15 bugs vs. tanks! - scouting through the desert and marsh

Dear Readers,

Missions 5-2, 5-4, and 5-6 unlocked after finishing the last one, but none of the ones in between. Not sure why that is. Mission 5-2 was Operation: Hell Sand.

Colonel Diekmann got more intel back from scouts, who had spotted the old base before we all got shrunk. He wanted us to join them and secure the path there, which had sand-based terrain.

This place was treacherous with big antlion pits. They attacked us as well as the ants. They were reachable to shoot at at least. It was a bit of a trudge getting through parts of this sandy area and it looked much deader than the forest area. There were huge bees as well that tried to knock us around at greater risk of falling into the antlion pits. I finished the mission with 366 points and a B rank. The music was a decent desert ambient clang like beat as well.

New tank:

British Cromwell - A tank with top speed! Its tolerance for rugged terrain was really high too.

New bug:
Hornet - This was the huge bee-like thing that knocked us around. Described as "SO SCARY!" because it can keep stinging many times, I'm inclined to believe it! Yikes!

Mission 5-3 was Operation: Sink Tank.

Still away from base after the last mission, we were now in a wet, marshy area that had big patches of water and lots of mosquitoes. Not much land to navigate around them. When I found the tank, it seemed like there was an army ant waiting to ambush us! There were lots of bees and hives to deal with as well. The water was okay to go through, but we couldn't go through the darker parts. We made it though. Some nice ambient beat music here as well. In general the music in this game is largely functional, but effective!

Ernst complained about being covered in mud and he and Joachim wished we were using an amphibious tank. Maybe I'll change if the need calls for it. I got 349 points and a B rank.

New tank:

Soviet T-34/85 - An improved version of the T-34 with more firepower. 

14 - bugs vs. tanks! - shooting caterpillars on treacherous branches

Dear Readers,

Now to begin the missions in level 5, starting with 5-1, Operation: Branch Advance.

Colonel Diekmann thanked us for defeating the spider and had sent scouts out already. They found that caterpillars had taken up residence and he wanted us to destroy them before they became winged weapons so we could secure our path.

This new maze took place up in the branches of a tree! There was some cool pulsing echo-y music for this area too. The caterpillars were on the leaves and there were some ants crawling around on the branches, as if they were guards or something.

This maze was narrow and treacherous! The bugs really tried to gang up and knock us off as well! At times we were sticking to the side of the branch and just about managed to hang on. There were ants, termites, bees and moths! It felt really good to take out the ants with one shot! Upgrading was a great idea! The caterpillars were hard to reach because they were on the leaves and we had to drive on to them sometimes. There were beehives as well, but thankfully they were only occasional spawners.

This area had such treacherous terrain we went super slowly across the branches. We took out enough caterpillars to earn a C rank with 237 points. I really wanted to take my time here so I got no score for that!

New tank:

Soviet T-34/76 - looks like an ordinary tank but seemed to be highly regarded. It was made in large numbers so it was probably the mainstay.

New bugs:

Caterpillar - All green and wiggly and almost completely harmless. Hard to get to on their leaves but worth destroying before they become monstrous moths. It mentions blankets as well so I'm wondering what a giant cocoon blanket would be like!

Snail - Where did we come across this? I don't remember encountering it in the rainy missions so far, but we might see it yet. Slower than caterpillars even, but I'm not sure if they're any harm or not. It says they're a viable source of food? Yeesh...

13 bugs vs. tanks! - defeating the giant spider boss!

Dear Readers,

After getting crushed by the spider and Colonol Diekmann talking to us about upgrading, I decided to upgrade the tank.

I decided to equip the KV-2 chassis and the Panther Ausf. G turret after looking at their higher stats.

We dived into the mission. We moved slower but we were hardier. We still got a fair few whacks from the spider, but we were able to keep shooting and only lost less than half of our HP! It also didn't corner us and instead started scuttling all over the place. We kept moving as well, trying to keep track of it on the lower screen radar map thingy. We also had to avoid its gross fangs and web shooting backside. During engagement, we turned the turret around to keep firing and had to take out some bees as well. Why were they on the spider's side? Haha. We kept firing until we defeated the spider! Woo! I got 496 points and an A rank.

Colonel Diekmann praised our work and Lieutenant Kremmel got haughty, saying he could've done the same with the upgrades. Diekmann set him straight and said equipment meant nothing if it wasn't in capable hands. Ernst was still full of thrills, saying "Any time, any bug!" which made Joachim uneasy. The Colonel told us to get some rest for the new challenges this opened up.

That was all the missions in level 4 finished! I got a medal for clearing them, called "One With the Woods".

12 bugs vs. tanks! - destroyed by the spider

Dear Readers,

Now to continue with level 4 missions to 4-5, Operation: Kremmel SOS.

Lieutenant Kremmel was in danger again! We were out destroying bugs when we got his distress signal. He said the base was under attack by a huge ant. They were trying to fight it off but weren't able to hold it off much longer. He was just about to insult us when he got cut off. Ernst said with Kremmel at the guns, they wouldn't be able to last more than two minutes! Joachim said all would be lost if the ants took the base, so we had to go rescue them.

We had to navigate the maze pretty quickly, finding the abandoned tank pretty quickly, which was a relief, and detouring around blocked passages. Not too many bugs on the journey, mostly bees we had to take out. We found Kremmel's tank backed into a corner by a regular sized ant and saved him in the nick of time. (not really sure why the game says "knick") Ernst didn't keep his mouth shut and Kremmel got insulted, saying he would get a medal for bravery and Ernst would be court-martialled. Yeesh. I got a rank of A and 475 points.

New tank:

German Panther Ausf. G - A very big and powerful tank made to compete with the Soviets.

Now for the key mission: 4-6, Operation: Spider Web

Colonel Diekmann praised us on our work for finding resources, but wanted to keep exploring as we wouldn't be able to outlast the daily wear and tear of our tanks. He wanted to make contact with more possible comrades. The only way to do this was to take on the spider we met earlier so that we could explore further. Kremmel was relieved he wasn't chosen because our tank was chosen instead! Diekmann said he could rely on us and mentioned the new parts we had been collecting. Uh oh... he also said they'd be praying for us.

Ernst was all fired up and vowed to make the spider regret setting its eight legs on top of our base. Joachim said it didn't matter how tough our new equipment was, we still had to play it smart. Good, because I didn't upgrade yet!

The spider attacked hard and quickly. We tried rotating the turret and rolling away but it was just far too big and fast and got us into a corner before obliterating us.

11 bugs vs. tanks! - shooting gigantic moths attracted by the campfire

Dear Readers,

We continued with more level 4 missions.

Mission 4-3, Operation: Killer Rain

Colonel Diekmann praised us for our work on the last mission and told us he sent scouts to set up a staging post at our last camp, but they've gone missing now. He asked us to try and find them as quickly as possible, showing concern for the weather.

Ernst said it looked like it was going to rain cats and dogs in three minutes. Joachim said the five scouts we were looking for were probably hiding to avoid the rain. We had to find them quickly and deal with the bugs too. I failed the first attempt so I hurried and beat it on the second, earning an S rank with 509 points. The scouts were just soldiers hiding under leaves and bottles. Not that easy to spot!

New tank:

British Crusader - A very easy tank to find! It was near the start and the colour stood out a lot. It was used in North Africa.

Mission 4-4 - Operation Fire Light

We were invaded during the night! We rushed to our tanks. Lieutenant Kremmel was sleeping and Colonel Diekmann told us a swarm of moths were attracted by our fire light. We had to keep them from coming to the base and watch out for the poisonous scales they dropped when they flitted their wings.

Not only moths, but mosquitoes! A few small ants too. We had to rush around and shoot them all. The moths themselves were enormous and looked fluffy and cute but they were deadly. The poison stuff they dropped was pretty icky. This defence mission I beat without having to do the SOS thing and I got an S rank with 501 points! Woo!

New bug:

Moth - Humongous and very pretty and fluffy but icky and very annoying because they're attracted to the camp fires!

10 bugs vs. tanks! - rescuing tanks rolled up by dung beetles

Dear Readers,

Now it was time to start the Level 4 missions. In 4-1, Operation: AntBlitz, Colonel Diekmann told us we got an SOS signal from three tanks who were captured by ants and we had to save them.

This time we had a time limit! Joachim said we had to find which ants had the three tanks before time ran out. There was a big gross winged ant as well as the big termites. We failed on our first attempt, only finding two tanks before time ran out. The second time we failed again when we tried to go faster when we tried to skip some enemies, but got piled on and destroyed. On our third attempt we got on much better! We even found an abandoned tank. Some ants we had to chase to get them to drop the tanks. I got a rank A with a score of 457.

New tanks:

British Firefly - It was made to compete with German tanks and had an interesting bit of painted camouflage to make the barrel appear shorter.

Mission 4-2 - Operation: Tank Roller.

Colonel Diekmann told us to answer 4 more distress signals that were getting weak. It seemed to be routine, but it looked like there was a new type of bug to deal with this time. Time limit applied here too.

The first tank we found inside a dung beetle's roll! They were all found inside dung beetle rolls and we recovered them all. We also offered to wash their tanks. I got a rank A with a score of 478.

New bug:

Dung beetle - it was very easy to deal with. We only had to find them.

I took on the mission again to find the abandoned tank and got a better score of 481 with the A rank.

New tank:

American M4A3 Sherman - Lots of nice stars on it. It says this was the preeminent Allied tank since so many were produced.