"Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred."

The Charge of the Light Brigade.


"Move forward and engage the enemy, over", said Sebastien through the commlink of his command tank. The holographic displays showed several mechs standing in the open plains, and the tank's scanners also detected the presence of gunships hovering up above. A formidable force they were facing, but the tank squadron continued on its course, never slowing as their thrusters pushed them forward, the steady hum of the grav plates filling the combat compartment. On the tanks battlefield display, Sebastien saw the flanks spread out to try and go round the mechs. His tank, though, was in the centre.

The worst place to be.

Suddenly, the tank shook and the scanners went wild, indicating that ordnance had exploded nearby. More explosions came and shook the tank's vangelium frame as the ground erupted. On his battlefield display, Sebastien saw two tanks from his squadron suddenly veer off to the side. 

"Thrusters hit! We can't control the tank any more!" came the cry through the commlink. Sebastien cursed and activated the tank's turret periscope. As soon as the camera activated, his eyes were assailed by a vision of utter hell. Explosions were ripping up the ground and sending grav tanks skittering off to the sides with ridiculous ease. A T-180 was hit on the turret by a pulsar ray, causing it explode and grind into the earth. Hundreds of tanks already lay in flames upon the battlefield, the burning remains of their crews still stuck in the cupolas they'd attempted to escape through.

"We need to find cover immediately!", shouted Sebastien as yet another shell screamed over their tank. Through his periscope he spotted a small hilloch that was high enough to conceal their tank behind. He gave the order to move to the hillock and take cover behind it, and the T-180 quickly veered off in the hill's direction, followed by several other squadron tanks that had survived the initial onslaught. Why the Federal commanders had ordered a frontal attack evaded Sebastien, for the manoeuvre was suicidal in the face of Aresian firepower. Once behind the hillock, Sebastien gave the order to fire several mole missiles at the front mechs, aiming for the legs. The tank's underbelly coil cannon fired two mole missiles into the earth. The other tank crews did the same, and as the projectiles dug their way through the earth, all the men could do was hold on to their seats and hope the Aresians wouldn't rip through their meagre cover too easily. Shells and pulsar fire were already pelting the hillock with terrifying force.

Finally, the moles exploded from the earth within the Aresian shield, flew up into the air and whacked into underbellies or legs. Several mechs collapsed, their leg joints destroyed, while a few others exploded into flames. This did little to slow the barrage of fire, though, and soon the surviving tanks found themselves under attack from gunships. Sebastien's tank released several of it's AA missiles, knocking one gunship out of the air, but others simply kept on coming and raining pulsar fire down on them. One by one the surviving tanks exploded, their crews vainly trying to save themselves. Eventually, Sebastien gave up fighting. If they retreated, the mechs would pick them off and they stayed the gunships would get them. Either way there was no escape.

"Comrades, it was an honour fighting by your side", he declared before a volley of anti-tank missiles flew out and hit his T-180, engulfing it in flames.


The battle for the plains only lasted five hours and saw the annihilation of five waves of Federal tanks. By the end of the battle, the plains were littered with burning T-180 wrecks and corpses. The operation was a complete fiasco, even though some tanks had managed to outflank the Aresians. Air support was completely unavailable for the whole battle, due to the simple fact that the Federal air force was swamped by the fighting. Artillery was also unable to deploy due to Aresian bombing runs threatening the beachhead.