Needles, needles, and more needles - that's how I like it…

(6:55) Level 2 ('Halo') on Heroic. Apparently I can't get enough rockslide megabattle action lately. After the AR fun of BCM197 I got into some heavy-duty needling using the same save featuring 11 Marines and 33 covies. So, settle back for more far area defence - a triple play this time. I've done two triple plays with the needler before - see BCM150 and BCM168 - but perhaps this is the best? Watch out for a nice hop-over move on a red Elite in the final play.

Released October 2nd 2016, gameplay recorded October 1st 2016.

00:02 (Play 1) Unusually for this sort of driving route, there's no splattering on my way to the defence location. So, that leaves me the full 33 covies to slay on foot, yay!

00:26 Things get off to a fairly quick start with the fragging of two Jackals up the hill, but by the time the blast goes off I'm already looking towards a blue Elite running in from the right. Unfortunately he moves across my field of view so it's not surprising that my needles mostly miss; but then I hurt him with a frag. Seeing that he's in a bad way, I fire only a few needles to potentially finish him off, but actually Marine fire does the job. The rest of my clip goes on a blue further back, explosively killing him. When I see him about to die, I'm expecting the Jackal to flee, and sure enough he does, at which point I needle him in the back. The subsequent bang also hurts an arriving Elite, judging from his groan.

00:46 Starting to move across to the right, I needle an Elite just in front of the rocky semicircle, killing him. After I skirt around a reeling Marine, an aggressive Grunt advancing past the hog is my next target, but he's killed by Marine fire before my needles arrive. I switch focus to a red Elite running out. He dives clear of a plasma grenade but gets hurt by a frag, and then my needles finish him. The bang also hurts an arriving blue, who's then killed by Marine fire, making my needles redundant. Five Elites down.

01:03 There's a red arriving on the left now. My frag makes him dive and I follow with a load of needles, but he mostly escapes them. Instead I go for a blue who's come to the fore. He fails to notice my plasma grenade and I realize he's about to killed by the blast, so I switch my needling to the red, finally killing him; a few Grunts too. All seven Elites are now dead.

01:17 My work on the horde of Grunts and Jackals goes pretty nicely for the next fifty seconds or so, during which I get fresh needles from a couple of dropped weapons.

02:08 Just after I run dry, I start to look for another needler but then I hear Johnson yell "Who wants a piece o' me?", and I decide to accompany him on his rampage. He can potentially serve as a distraction, but also I might be able to keep him alive. He guns down a fleeing Jackal but then a Grunt sends a few needles his way. I try to intercept them with my body but I can't get in front soon enough, and Johnson falls. He leaves me a frag to pick up though, and I use it on the final Jackal after blasting the offending Grunt with a plasma.

02:27 (Play 2) For brevity my drive isn't shown, but just so you know, I took a short route and a Jackal got splattered. After disembarking I open up with needles on a blue Elite approaching from the right, and score my first kill. Another blue reaches the hog but gets taken out by a plasma grenade (just before the needle bang). A red Elite starts to advance but then dives clear of the rolling hog and backs off. My needles find him though. Just before the bang, I blast two Jackals with a plasma.

02:51 Moving across to the right, I top up with ammo from my spare needler, and target a series of three Grunts, killing at least one. Just as that's happening though, the Marines have a major mishap with their frags, probably due to plasma fire from the arriving blue. I'm not sure how many die, but it doesn't sound good. I needle the attacker dead, and meanwhile another blue has been killed further back. If you check the footage, you can see that he got shaken up by a Marine frag, then killed by another as he advanced.

03:05 There's a red on the far left attacking a Marine, and I head across, firing a vicious stream of needles. I'm too late to save the Marine but the needles do their job. I spot another red and he gets similar treatment. I add a frag too and it blasts a Jackal, whose plasma ball I dodge.

03:17 Only Grunts and Jackals left now, and as I start to work on them with a few frags, Stacker helps out with one of his own. I get some needle kills, and at around 3:37 I get fresh needles from a Grunt attacking the Marines when I charge him from the side.

04:05 After needling a yellow-shielded Jackal, I'm low on needles. But the bang panics a Grunt and I see him running towards a blue-shielded Jackal, giving me an opportunity for a double kill. I fire all my needles at the Grunt, and the bang takes out both critters as desired.

04:16 (Play 3) Again I took a short route and my drive isn't shown, but this time no covies got splattered, so I've got the full 33 to deal with. After fragging two Jackals, I throw a frag ahead of a blue Elite approaching the hog. The hog gets blasted and passes over the blue as he dives. But although he freakishly escapes getting splattered, he doesn't escape my close-range needles! One Elite down.

04:26 I target the next blue with a few grenades but he stays back from them, so I switch to needles and they do the job. A third blue gets the needle treatment too.

04:41 A red Elite further back evades my grenades but I eventually get him with a long stream of needles. A nearby Jackal turns to flee as expected, and I needle him in the back. By the time of the bang though, I've already turned towards the centre and I see two Elites charging the Marines. Reloading my needler just in time, I fire a short stream at the red as I approach, and hop over. He swipes and misses, and is killed by the bang. This wasn't the first time I've done that needling hop-over move, but I think it's the first time I've had it in a movie. Meanwhile the blue Elite has fired a nasty stream of needles which kills Johnson. I quickly attack with the rest of my clip, but he kills one other Marine before going out with a bang himself. One Elite left.

05:09 Things are pretty hectic for quite a while as I work on the Grunts and Jackals, and then the final Elite, who goes out with a bang around 5:38. By that time my shield is bleeping and I've lost two health bars.

05:48 Over on the right, I start to recharge as I pick up fresh needles and kill a Grunt. I pick up a plasma too, and quickly throw it into the semicircle to try and intercept a Jackal who just went behind a rock. But he didn't continue in as far as I'd hoped, and I hear him diving clear to the right. As my work continues with a few Grunts being killed, he becomes one of four yellow-shielded Jackals who put up a very nasty wall of fire. After trying to get at them with needles, particularly the one furthest up the hill, I realize I need to back off. Not a moment too soon either! Things get a bit worrisome with two Grunts joining in as well, but I fire two streams of needles as I retreat, killing both. By that time I'm down to four health bars though.

06:19 The rightmost of the fearsome foursome is now targeting Marines, so I decide to attack, despite not having recharged. I eventually get him, but not before losing another health bar. I then circle right, trying to evade most of the enemy fire while also targeting the blue-shielded guy on the right. It's a close thing but I manage to kill him and retain two health bars.

06:37 One of the remaining three Jackals is focused on the Marines and I enjoy sending in a stream of needles from the side as I recharge. The next guy spots me but obliging rolls at just the right time for needles to pile in. The final guy is a pushover; I just needle him while circling left.

Closing remarks Ok, hope you enjoyed the carnage! Really I should've been working on another topic, but this rockslide megabattling is addictive stuff and I couldn't resist doing some more of it - and making a movie from it despite already having done two similar movies before. What can I say - I like needling!

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