Area 25 · Act 4 · The Eastern Front
The Top End Aerodrome Affair
Daly Waters and the Top End savannah south of Katherine — termite-mound plains, monsoon-green grass, the international Daly Waters aerodrome (a real 1930s refuelling stop on the London–Sydney air route) and the Stuart Highway track running north.
DAY 200: THE ROYAL AIR MAIL IS DELAYED. THE OFFICIAL EXPLANATION IS 'BIRDS', WHICH IS TECHNICALLY ACCURATE.
The history behind it
Daly Waters aerodrome, Australia's first international airfield, refuels the Empire's air mail. The RAAF stages its 'Aerial Emu Suppression Flight' here — three biplanes, one of which is on loan from a flying circus and still painted accordingly. Optional camel cavalry: the Afghan cameleers' descendants are conscripted as scouts, and the camels immediately defect philosophy-wise, spitting on their own officers. Comedy objective: steal the air-mail bag ('THE EMUS NOW READ THE KING'S CORRESPONDENCE').
Outposts (4)
Take all of them and the area is yours. Retreat halfway through and the ones you already hold stay held.
Daly Waters Aerodrome
Airfield · Defence tier 5
The prize. A grass strip with a hangar, fuel drums, and a rotating Biplane on strafing runs — long red strafe rectangles rake the open runway while a Lewis Gun Post covers the hangar doors. Capturing it grounds the biplane permanently for this war and drops the area's biggest scrap haul. Dodge perpendicular; the fuel drums are peckable and the results are educational.
Camel Corps Remount Lines
Homestead garrison · Defence tier 3
A commandeered station homestead where the conscripted camel cavalry is stabled. Cavalry Patrols charge from here on bugle-and-hoofprint telegraphs — but these are camels: slower charge, wider scatter, and a thrown rock makes the camel sit down in protest, ejecting the rider into a Rifleman. Capturing the lines stops all cavalry spawns in the area.
Stuart Track Fuel Dump
Supply depot · Defence tier 4
Stacked aviation-fuel drums under camouflage nets beside the north road, guarded by an Armoured Car idling on the track and a Rifleman Line. The car is peck-immune — lure it off the graded road into the monsoon-soft ground beside the termite mounds, where it bogs axle-deep, engine revving with dignity. Big scrap, and its capture halves the aerodrome biplane's sortie rate (no fuel).
Katherine Wireless Mast
Telegraph station · Defence tier 4
A radio mast with a Searchlight Tower for night operations and one Lewis Gun Post at its base — if the roaming light circle holds the swarm two seconds, the gun's cone widens across the whole clearing. One well-thrown rock takes the lamp with a deeply satisfying glass sound; the garrison then defends a mast in total darkness against an animal with excellent night vision.