Alpha Base (level)

Alpha Base is the first level of the real-time strategy game, Halo Wars. During the mission, UNSC forces are on Harvest, being regrouped by Sergeant Forge on a Gauss Warthog, attempting to recapture the Marine Base.

First Cutscene

 * Captain Cutter: "Captain's report February 4th, 2531. Five years, five long years. That's how long it took us to get Harvest back..."

''Several marines race through a battlefield within the remains of a destroyed UNSC city. A Marine gets killed when a nearby wall explodes from a passing banshee's ordinance, and debris and plasma engulf him. The surviving Marines recover quickly and start to move forward.''


 * Marine: "Go, go go!"

''They confront a Lance of Elites whom are separated by a wall of debris, a few of the marines yell out as they arrive. A Marine quickly joins in and starts to fire upon the Elites, only to be shot by a plasma bolt to the chest. The rest, despite being outnumbered manage to gun down several of the Elites, as another marine gets pierced in the shoulder with a needler round. Then a Warthog runs the Elites over. The camera then cuts to the rear of the Warthog driving through a battlefield with the gunner firing the turret.''


 * Marine: "Keep firing!"

''Three marines fire their weapons, the last one firing a shotgun from the hip. The camera then cuts to a shot of several Pelican dropships arriving with several Warthogs racing through the drop zone. Marines then pile out of one of the landed Pelicans. The camera then shifts to a Marine stabbing an Elite from behind. The Elite falls down and is shot dead by another marine. Then, it shifts to a panorama, showing nine Marines cheering and a Warthog overlooking the battlefield; a destroyed city with a burning Covenant Destroyer in the distant sky, presumably shot down by UNSC forces.''


 * Captain Cutter: "At first it was going well..."


 * Captain Cutter: "Then setback after setback..."

''An Elite impales a Marine with its Energy Sword. UNSC troops are overwhelmed by plasma fired by Elites and Banshees. The camera then shifts to a scene where three Elites jump over a crumbled wall, igniting their energy swords. Nearby lies a dead Marine.


 * Captain Cutter: "Loss after loss..."

''Two Covenant Destroyers begin to glass Harvest. Damage from orbital bombardment is visible, represented by several rings of burnt land.''


 * Captain Cutter: "Made what was going to be a quick and decisive win..."

''A severely wounded, although still surviving marine crawls in a shattered wasteland of dark clouds and debris. The Marine attempts to crawl to a rifle lying on it's side, when a sword-wielding elite approaches and stabs through his enemy.''


 * Captain Cutter: "Into five years of Hell..."

Directly overhead, a Covenant Ship charges up it's energy projector, and unleashes it's deadly beam.
 * Captain Cutter: "Of course, that's all Harvest really is today..."

Fades to the Halo Wars Logo then fades to black.
 * Captain Cutter: "It's Hell down there, but now it's ours again."

Second Cutscene
''Pelicans are dispatched from the UNSC Spirit of Fire and they head to the surface of Harvest. UNSC Pods soon follow. The UNSC fleet is approaching a large field of shattered debris in orbit, presumably from wrecked UNSC vessels from previous space battles. The surface of the shattered planet, Harvest is then revealed. Damage from orbital bombardment is seen quite clearly, in the form of massive rings of scorched earth on the surface. The view is soon headed into the bridge of the Spirit of Fire.''


 * Captain Cutter: "Serina, status?"


 * Serina: "Standard Orbit achieved. All systems normal."


 * Captain Cutter: "Prep for pod launches, bring weapon systems online."


 * Serina: "Expecting trouble Captain?"


 * Captain Cutter: "Harvest may be ours again, but I don't think the Covenant appreciate that yet."

''Professor Ellen Anders enters the bridge. Sergeant John Forge radios in.''


 * Captain Cutter: "Sergeant Forge, report."


 * Sergeant Forge: "Definitely plenty of bad guys down here Captain, they have found something in the ice."


 * Captain Cutter: "Damn it, that complicates our mission. Anders, what have you got?"


 * Prof. Anders: "Captain, scans on the Northern Polar region shows some interesting Covenant activity on the surface. There's some kind of structure down there."

Anders activates a map of the Northern Polar region.


 * Serina: "What do you think they are looking for?"


 * Captain Cutter: "That's what we are here to find out. We are to bring Alpha Base up to operational status and take control of that site."


 * Prof. Anders: "I'll get my equipment ready Captain."


 * Sergeant Forge: "Lady, there's no way you are coming down here on the first bird."

Anders ignores the Sergeant and leaves the bridge.


 * Captain Cutter: "Sergeant Forge, pull back to Alpha Base, I am sending you some backup."


 * Sergeant Forge: "Roger that, Forge out."

The Captain deactivates the map, returns into observing Harvest from orbit.


 * Serina: "So, nothing too difficult then?"


 * Captain Cutter: "It may be the key to this whole war Serina, it's worth the risk."

Gameplay

 * Sergeant Forge: "Captain, Alpha is toast, nothing for me to pull back to. Suggest you hold that backup for a while."

''A Marine fires from a tower that is being overrun. Several plasma bolts hit under where the Marine is shooting from impact, followed by an explosion behind him, killing him.''


 * Captain Cutter: "We need to turn that around Sergeant, Serina, what's our status?"

Multiple units of Marines flee from Alpha Base under heavy fire from Covenant armor and infantry.


 * Serina: "Sir, we've got a lot of troops retreating from Alpha Base. If Sergeant Forge can regroup them our numbers may be sufficient to retake the base."


 * Sergeant Forge: "Roger that, we will round up any and all survivors and get Alpha back."

{Gameplay}

''Sergeant Forge and his Gauss Warthog crewmen head along the snowy road where they encounter a small group of Marines alongside their Warthog fighting a group of Needler wielding Elites. The Sergeant assists.''


 * Sergeant Forge: "You boys from Alpha?"


 * Marine: "We were the first out sir."


 * Sergeant Forge: "Fall in behind me, we are taking Alpha back!"

''The surviving Marines mount on their Warthog and follow the Sergeant. After traveling across a broken bridge, they encounter more Marines.''


 * Marine: "Tango-one-four, you need to get us out of here!"

''The Sergeant and his allies assist the group of Marines, and once clear the other group of Marines follow the Sarge onwards. Once again, another batch of Marine units is located ahead.''


 * Marine: "This is Tango-three-three we are under heavy fire, that turret is chewing us up."

The Sergeant arrives and takes out the turrets for the other groups of Marines.


 * Sergeant Forge: "Don't worry, Cavalry is here. Form up and follow me!"


 * Marine: "Ewwww.....we got Grunts up for grill."

''As Sergeant Forge and the groups of Marines head closer to Alpha Base, more Marine allies await ahead under fire from more Covenant units. In the background, Covenant infantry erect an anti-vehicle barrier.''


 * Serina: "Well would you look at that, They're trying to keep us out of our own base."

After Forge regroups the other units, they regroup near the entrance.


 * Sergeant Forge: "Vehicles can't get through this thing but foot soldiers can."

''Marines enter pass the shield door while the Warthogs await outside. Upon quickly routing the Jackal infantry defending the power source. They open fire on the anti-vehicle barrier's power source..''


 * Marine: "That thing's too strong, use grenades!"

Marines throw Fragmentation Grenades at the reactor, destroying it.


 * Sergeant Forge: "Barrier's down. Let's do this gentlemen. Open fire!"

The barrier's generator is destroyed.


 * Sergeant Forge: "All right, let's head in and clear the base of hostiles."

The Sergeant and his allies encounters infantry units, Ghosts and Wraiths in the base, defending it from being recaptured.


 * Captain Cutter: "Air support en-route Sergeant. They will take out the armor, the rest is yours."

''Shortswords drop bombs onto the base, destroying all the Wraiths and any Covenant units nearby them. Sergeant Forge and his allies finish off the remaining Covenant.''


 * Sergeant Forge: "Well that was the most fun I had all week."

{Gameplay ends}


 * Sergeant Forge: "Spirit of Fire, this is Forge. Area Clear, situation normal. Orders?

''Multiple Shortswords fly overhead.


 * Captain Cutter: "Alpha Base is ours again. Sergeant Forge, you may want to scout the area."

Skull: Look Daddy!
To obtain the skull, you must kill the 100 Grunts. The whole map consists of a little more than 100 Grunts, so when you kill the last enemy, the mission is over. In order to get the skull, you must have one group of marines stay back in the area where you found the last squadron of Marines. Have them stand on the far wall opposite the Alpha Base entrance, and have your other men kill the last Grunt. If, however, you manage to leave at least one Grunt alive, it obviously makes the task of getting the skull a whole lot easier. But remember that you have to kill the Grunts. When the Marines you are trying to save kill a Grunt, it doesn't count for the total. Sometimes there's actually less than 100 Grunts.

NOTE: There is a glitch that sometimes, when the player has killed 50-60 grunts, all of a sudden everything you have gets destroyed.

Black Box #1
This black box is arguably one of the easiest to get in the whole game. It appears near the end of the level beside the last bridge, which is where the Anti-Vehicle Barrier is located.

Beside the bridge, there should be a ramp made of fallen debris. To make it easier to spot the ramp, turn the direction of your view until you are facing south. Just have a unit go down the ramp. It should be just below the bridge, next to a small pile of debris.

Trivia

 * Alpha Base was the first of two levels featured in the Halo Wars Demo.
 * This is the first level in Halo Wars to feature Warthogs, Gauss Warthogs, Marines and the heal and repair ability.
 * In the intro cinematic, a marine can be heard screaming the Wilhelm Scream when getting hit by a plasma blast.