AWDS Hard Campaign Guide - Mission 23: Dark Ambition
Difficulty: Moderate - Hard.
Objective: Rout the enemy or capture the enemy Headquarters.
Suggested COs for Orange Star: Jess/Jake or Sasha/Colin.
Suggested COs for Blue Moon: Grit/Max.
Suggested COs for Green Earth: Kanbei/Sonja.
Suggested skills for Main COs: Icebreaker, Slam guard, Slam Shield, Sniper/Brawler.
Suggested skills for support COs: All three Tag bonuses, Icebreaker.
General Strategy
Forget what the help tells you to do. Don't capture either of the cities to stop the snowfall. All it does is double fuel consumption and you've got the Icebreaker ability giving you 120% attacking units all the time. You're deployed with plenty of Armoured Personnel Carriers so there is no need for worry and Blue Moon even has a Carrier to refuel the aerial units or store them against Olaf's Winter Fury.
The greatest danger here is the Black Bomb. You needn't worry about the pipe seams being broken by the computer. It's entirely up to you whether or not you want to take a defensive stance or an aggressive stance against the onslaught. Both work rather well if you have the correct skills (Pathfinder especially).
You should use Blue Moon as your long range attacker with the Stealth Fighter Jet to block up one of the pipe seams with an Armoured Personnel Carrier behind it. Use Green Earth as either a wall or a massive direct attacker and finally, Orange Star as a deterrent with those Missile Silos. Aim for the Megatank. The computer will instantly put it on its own Headquarters to repair the damage but see if you can hit several other integral units too.
You can try to use Sasha to delay the Tag but you should know that the income is far too low to be of much use at all. Also, I'd highly recommend you to let the enemy come to you while you make a stand as far back as possible with Green Earth and Orange Star. It is quite possible for Blue Moon to hold off the entire Northern Section by themselves thanks to the Stealth Fighter.
In-Depth Guide
It is best to keep Green Earth and Orange Star in the mid section waiting for the computer to break through the pipe seams. Initially, only the fast and weak units will come through so line the first part of your wall with large, defensive tanks. Use your Battleship to attack the largest threat within its range but try not to move any units unless it is safe to do so.
When Winter Fury hits, you should be as far away as possible with a wall of units. Remember, any unit that is not in the line will be flanked and destroyed reducing your army's efficiency.
Also note that the Battle Helicopters should best be taken out by the direct attacking units or the Anti-Aircraft units. This is not to say that the Missiles unit and the Carrier are extra luggage but rather they are there in reserve. You do not want to do extremely well only to find out the computer has destroyed all of your weapons against aerial attack.
It would also be prudent to eliminate the Md. Tanks so as to not wreak havoc amongst your indirect units or lesser direct units.
My Score: 11 days, 300 points, Jake/Jess, Max/Grit, Kanbei/Sonja.