Mission guide

Counter-Battery mission walkthrough

Operation 4, “Artillery & Counter-Battery”, is the mission players get stuck on most. It isn't luck — it's a two-phase fight with rules the briefing only half-explains. Here's exactly how it works and how to clear it with the medal.

The short version

Phase 1: you are handed intel on three artillery batteries — triangulate each and destroy them.
The counter-battery timer starts the moment your first shell lands — not when you fire, when it impacts.
Phase 2: more batteries open up, but their positions are unknown. Use the Scout Plane and star shells to find them.
Every battery you destroy extends the timer. Keep killing and you keep surviving.

What the mission actually is

Enemy forces have deployed artillery across the river and you, the Iron Nest, are ordered to destroy every artillery asset before they range in on you. The catch is in the briefing’s last line: “Counter-battery timer will commence once your first shell lands.” From that moment you are on a clock, and the enemy is shooting back. Mishandle the timing and you’ll be bracketed before you’ve found half the guns — which is why the mission has a reputation as a coin-flip. It isn’t. Every part of it is solvable.

Phase 1 — the batteries you’re given

Before anything starts you receive an Initial Field Intelligence report. It does not hand you grid coordinates — it gives you the raw observations from your three forward observers, and expects you to do the plotting. There are three identified batteries and each is described a different way:

Battery 1 — a bearing from Spotter 1 and a bearing from Spotter 2. Two lines; the battery sits where they cross.
Battery 2 — a bearing from Spotter 1 and a bearing from Spotter 3. Same idea, different observers.
Battery 3 — a distance from Spotter 3 and a distance from Spotter 1. Two range rings; the battery is where they intersect on the far bank.

This is precisely the geometry the firing solution planner is built for. Drop your two observers on the map, enter each bearing or distance, and read the battery’s position straight off — then read your own bearing and powder charge to put a shell on it. Do all three before you pull the trigger.

Plot first, fire second

The single most important habit: work out the firing solution for all three known batteries before your first round lands. Because the counter-battery clock only starts on that first impact, every solution you’ve pre-computed is time you’re not losing under fire. Walk the gun from one solution to the next and put rounds down back-to-back.

The counter-battery timer

Once your first shell lands, High Command flips to a red “COUNTER-BATTERY” alert: “Iron Nest is being ranged.” A timer is now counting down to the moment the enemy brackets your position. Two things keep you alive:

Speed — the faster you put rounds on the identified batteries, the more timer you have left for the hard part.
Kills extend the clock. Each destroyed battery prints “destroyed. CBT extended.” — so every gun you knock out buys you more time to find the next one. Momentum is the whole game.

Phase 2 — the hidden batteries

After the first wave, fresh artillery commences ranging — and this time your observers can’t help. The briefing is explicit:

“Forward observers report no actionable fix on hostile battery positions. Assets deployed recently, prior reconnaissance is not reliable. Recon plane requisition card remains active. Star shell ordnance is authorised.”

That last sentence is the answer to “where are they?” You are meant to find them yourself, with two tools the game hands you for exactly this:

The Scout Plane requisition card — call a flyover of a location to reveal what’s there. Use it over the far bank where the new fire is coming from.
Star shells — illumination rounds with no damage. Walk one across the suspect area to light up the guns so you can range them. (See the loadout picker for when to load illumination versus high-explosive.)

Players who call this mission “pure luck” are almost always skipping this step — trying to guess where the hidden guns are instead of spending a requisition card to see them. Light the area, confirm the position, then kill it. Repeat until the sector is clear.

Step-by-step

Restore the Master Power Switch to ON before proceeding — the mission won’t progress otherwise.
Read the Initial Field Intelligence and note the intel for all three batteries (two bearings, two bearings, two distances).
Plot each battery in the planner and write down the bearing + powder charge for each.
Fire on all three identified batteries in quick succession. The timer starts on the first impact — so have every solution ready.
When the counter-battery alarm sounds, requisition the Scout Plane over the new fire’s origin and load star shells to illuminate.
Destroy each revealed battery as fast as you can — remember every kill extends the timer.
Mop up the remaining hostile units across the river to close the mission.

Earning the medal — Counter-Battery Commendation

The mission’s signature medal is the Counter-Battery Commendation, awarded for having “eliminated all enemy counter-batterys with time to spare.” In other words: don’t just survive the timer — finish with a comfortable margin left on it. Everything above feeds into that one goal:

Pre-compute all Phase 1 solutions so the timer barely moves before the first three guns are gone.
Get the Scout Plane up the instant Phase 2 starts — searching blind is what burns the clock.
Don’t waste rounds; each battery extends the timer, so trade shots for kills, not for guesses.

If you’d rather go for the Unaided Fire Distinction (no aerial reconnaissance) instead, you’ll have to find the hidden batteries on star shells alone — much harder, and not recommended on your first clear.