Iron Nest Mission 14 Guide: Final Harvest
Iron Nest Mission 14 Final Harvest guide: pause the counter-battery timer via FDCs, intercept the troop train, and clear two armored targets with AP.
Iron Nest Mission 14 Final Harvest is the campaign’s drive on Barcelona: the last organized anti-monarchist resistance holds the city’s outskirts, and High Command has ordered it destroyed in detail. The mission’s own record sets the loop — fire freely for mass casualties, expect counter-battery after your first shell lands, and account for a reinforcement train inbound by rail. Its two armored targets mean armor-piercing is not optional, and its three enemy Fire Direction Centers are the mission’s real lever: each one you kill pauses the Counter Battery Timer entirely.
Quick Answer: Mission 14 Final Harvest
- Verified on build/version: Source-checked 2026-10-31 against the Iron Nest DB mission record. The cited record does not publish a game build number, so no version is claimed here.
- Fixed rules (mission record): 18 entities, 2 armored targets; 250 requisition and 10 powder charges at start; counter-battery fire begins once your first shell lands; destroying an enemy Fire Direction Center (FDC) pauses the Counter Battery Timer entirely; reinforcements arrive by rail on a published schedule.
- Random or run-specific data: All grids, bearings, distances, sector letters, the turret placement, and the train’s crossing times come from the current operation. Do not copy coordinates or timestamps from any guide, including this one.
- Recommended shells: AP for the two armored targets, HE for soft infantry and train cars, HCHE where the roster lists it in the recommended loadout. The mission record’s recommended loadout is AP Shell, HCHE Shell, and HE Shell.
- Commendations (mission record, build unverified): Measured Fire Star (gold: ally kills ≤ 0), Unaided Fire Distinction (gold: aerial recon used ≤ 0 and kills > 18), No Quarter Cross (gold: enemy kills ≥ 30), Rapid Engagement Medal (gold: first shot time ≤ 90s and kills > 10).
1. The FDC Is the Timer, Not the Enemy
The briefing is explicit that counter-battery fire will commence once your first shell lands, and that enemy Fire Direction Centers are present. The rule that matters most: destroying an FDC pauses the Counter Battery Timer entirely. There are three FDCs in the roster (3 armored stars each), and each kill buys you breathing room to solve the rest of the map.
The priority that follows from this is not “kill the biggest target first” but “keep the timer stopped while you do the killing.” A run that burns its early seconds on soft infantry while the timer runs is a run that gets shelled off its position. Solve the FDCs, then work the armored targets, then mop up.
2. The Train: Intercept It, or Account for It
The briefing warns that enemy reinforcements are inbound by rail and that you can either intercept them in transit or account for them on arrival. The mission record publishes a train schedule with a fixed format but run-specific times:
- Arrival station: a named point (Platja de Castelldefels in the cited record) with a run-specific grid.
- Track alignment: the rail line runs straight, with a bearing given from the station.
- Approach waypoints: the record lists a sequence of waypoints (WPA through WPD) each with a distance from the station and an arrival time; in the cited record the locomotive crosses WPA at T=10:06:50, WPB at 10:13:30, WPC at 10:20:10, WPD at 10:26:50, and arrives at the station at 10:33:30.
Hitting the tracks derails the train: the record’s own comm feed says “Tracks hit. Train has derailed,” and then orders you to destroy all remaining train cars and the surviving reinforcements. A direct hit can finish it outright (“DIRECT HIT ON TRAIN! TRAIN COMPLETELY DESTROYED!”). If you miss the window, the train arrives and disembarks, and the enemy line receives additional reinforcements. You can still clear them — the mission stays completable — but the intercept is the cheaper path.
3. Two Armored Targets Means AP Is Non-Negotiable
The roster lists 2 armored targets (the three FDCs are themselves armored, plus the Supply Bunkers), and the recommended loadout opens with AP alongside HCHE and HE. Treat AP as your anti-armor budget: spend it on FDCs and bunkers, not on the 23 enemy infantry or the train cars. Soft targets die to HE, and spending an AP round on a Troop Car is a requisition mistake you will feel later.
The mission record lists these enemy entities: three Enemy Fire Direction Centers (armored, 3 stars), two Enemy Supply Bunkers (armored, 3 stars), one Anti Aircraft Battery (2 stars), a Main Station, a Locomotive, a Platform Car, two Troop Cars, a Caboose, 23 infantry, 7 artillery, 7 tanks, 2 additional armor, and an Alpha reference point. Friendly assets include 8 infantry, 3 spotters, 3 tanks, and 2 hospitals — friendly fire against any of them blocks the Measured Fire Star.
4. The Alpha Reference and Spotter Network
The initial field intelligence gives you a reference point Alpha with a bearing and distance from two of the three ally spotters, then gives each enemy FDC as a bearing (or bearing-and-distance) from Alpha or the spotters. This is the same two-spotter triangulation discipline as earlier missions: build each position from intersecting reports rather than trusting a single bearing.
Do not skip the third spotter. The record lists three ally spotters, and the FDC fixes are distributed across them. A solution that leaves one spotter unused is usually a solution that has to guess one of the armored targets.
5. Commendation Targets (Labeled, Build Unverified)
The medal thresholds below are mission-record values. The cited record does not verify them against a named game build, so treat them as the numbers to aim for, not a promise of the exact cutoff.
| Commendation | Gold condition |
|---|---|
| Measured Fire Star | ally kills ≤ 0 |
| Unaided Fire Distinction | aerial recon used ≤ 0 and kills > 18 |
| No Quarter Cross | enemy kills ≥ 30 |
| Rapid Engagement Medal | first shot time ≤ 90s and kills > 10 |
The Measured Fire Star and Rapid Engagement Medal pull in opposite directions — one rewards restraint around friendlies, the other rewards firing within 90 seconds — so a single run rarely chases all four. Pick the ones your run is already shaped for.
6. Punchcards: ATMC and CYAN
Final Harvest unlocks two punchcards, ATMC Shell and CYAN Shell. The mission record lists no shell grants and no punchcard grants on completion; these are unlocks carried into later operations, not rewards handed out at the end of the mission.
Common Failures
- Letting the Counter Battery Timer run while fighting soft targets. Kill an FDC first; it is the only thing that stops the timer.
- Spending AP on infantry or train cars. AP is for the armored targets and FDCs; HE clears the soft roster.
- Ignoring the train until it arrives. Disembarked reinforcements make the back half of the mission much longer.
- Firing before solving the FDC fixes. Your first shell starts the counter-battery clock; have the FDC bearings worked out before you announce yourself.
- Treating friendly units as free. The Measured Fire Star dies at a single ally kill.
Sources / References
- Iron Nest DB — Final Harvest mission record — Operation 14 briefing and comm transcript, roster, starting resources, the FDC-pauses-timer rule, the train schedule, punchcards, and the four commendation thresholds.
- Iron Nest DB — Missions index — cross-checked the mission 14/15 entries and the campaign route order.
Update Log
- 2026-10-31: Published the source-checked Mission 14 walkthrough from the Iron Nest DB mission record. Medal thresholds are mission-record values with build unverified; the train schedule and all coordinates are run-specific.
Next: Mission 15 — White shells, the campaign’s finale.