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Grit (Japanese: ビリー, Billy) is a Blue Moon CO. He appears in the first three Advance Wars games and is an Indirect attack specialist. Although he generally displays a laid back personality and is quite lazy — often leaving him at odds with his more serious-minded superior Olaf — he is rather intelligent, working on occasion with Sonja behind the scene. He also went to the same school as Nell and Max.

Originally he was an Orange Star CO, he changed to Blue Moon shortly before the start of the first game, due to Orange Star's attempted invasion of his hometown. Later on, Olaf attacked his hometown as well. Grit held him off, with a few indirect combat units and a Recon. Olaf was so impressed, he made Grit a Blue Moon CO.

Personality[]

Grit is shown to be extremely calm, always slacking off and napping in the middle of work. However, unlike most other COs believe, Grit is much smarter than he looks. He, alongside Sonja, is one of the first to be skeptical of the situation in Advance Wars. In Advance Wars 2, when talking to Colin, he explains that being relaxed and careless aren't the same thing, as being too anxious can result in making a mistake, which is probably why he always sports a calm attitude. Although he is a CO, Grit is shown to not really care about territories or wars, and is indifferent to what country he serves. However, when talking to Adder in Advance Wars 2, he states that Adder is his number 1 enemy because of the way he treats the people, showing he cares more for the common man than he does anything else.

Advance Wars[]

Grit appears as the second Blue Moon CO fought by Orange Star, he is ordered to halt Orange Star's forces from advancing further into Blue Moon territory. He criticizes Olaf and the war, stating that much of the Blue Moon territory he is defending had been seized from Orange Star to begin with. He fights Andy twice and is revealed by Nell to have formerly been from Orange Star. Later on, he is angrily confronted by Max for his betrayal and was beaten. Nell assumes Grit left Orange Star after realizing that Max had feelings for her and wished not to get in the way. He says it was not his real reason but assures her his true reasons are good.

He is later revealed to be working alongside Sonja of Yellow Comet to find the mastermind of the conflicts that have engulfed Wars World. He joined Blue Moon to discover who had been manipulating Olaf. With the defeat of Sturm and the conflict ending, Grit no longer has a reason to stay in Blue Moon. Despite this, he decides to stay and help Olaf rebuild.

Unlocking[]

To unlock Grit, you must have him in the Final Battle. He will take command of Blue Moon if you selected Max in "Max Strikes!". You can then buy him from Hachi for 50 coins.

Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising[]

In mission 10, "Tanks!!!", Adder proposes an offer to Grit to join the Black Hole Army, reasoning his stay at Blue Moon is a waste of his abilities. Grit, disgusted by Adder and Black Hole's ways of treating people, ignored the offer and defeated Adder. Grit also declares him to be his number-one enemy. He is also playable in "Nature Walk".

Unlocking[]

To unlock Grit, you must liberate Blue Moon by completing the mission Factory Blues. You can then buy him from Hachi for 600 points.

Advance Wars: Dual Strike[]

Grit is one of the four reinforcements who arrive to help the Allied Nations in defending against Black Hole, first appearing in Dark Ambition.

He is now available from the start, as opposed to being unlockable in the previous two games.

CO abilities[]

In the original Advance Wars, the range of his Indirect Combat units is increased by 1 and his Infantry, Mechs, and Direct Combat units have 80% firepower. In Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising and Advance Wars: Dual Strike, the range of his Indirect Combat units is increased by 1 and they have 120% firepower, and his Infantry units no longer have reduced firepower.

Changes between games[]

Advance Wars 2

  • Buff Day-to-day Infantry ATK 80% -> 100%
  • Buff Day-to-day Indirect ATK 100% -> 120%; increase does not apply to CO Powers
  • Buff Introduction of Super CO Power "Super Snipe"
  • Buff CO Power "Snipe Attack" Base Cost 30000G Defensive -> 3 Stars (27000G Defensive)
    • Also buffs Offensive Charging Base Requirement 120000G -> 54000G
  • Nerf CO Power "Snipe Attack" Indirect Range Boost +3 -> +2
  • Nerf Overall: +3 Range benefit Base Cost 30000G Defensive -> 6 Stars (54000G Defensive)
    • Buff Offensive Charging Base Requirement 120000G -> 108000G
  • Nerf CO Power global ATK boost removed

Advance Wars Dual Strike

  • Buff CO Powers have global +10% ATK boost again
  • Nerf Global: Black Bomb existence
  • Nerf Global: Stealth existence
  • Nerf Global: Faster CO Power Charging for opponents
  • Nerf Global: Tag Breaks existence
  • Nerf Global: More CO Power and Super CO Power non-battle damage existence

CO power[]

Snipe Attack - Increases the range of all of Grit's Indirect Combat units by 1, as well as increasing their firepower to 150% (160% in Dual Strike) and defence of all units to 110%.

Super CO power[]

Super Snipe - Increases the range of all of Grit's Indirect Combat units by 2, as well as increasing their firepower to 150% (160% in Dual Strike) and defence of all units to 110%.

Tag Breaks[]

Grit has Tag Breaks with the following COs:

Tactics[]

In Campaign Mode, He excels in certain campaign missions with lots of pre-deployed indirects such as Ring of Fire and Verdant Hills (Hard Campaign). Additionally, some maps may even call for him as the AI have a hard time distinguishing ranged attackers and will retreat.

For Advance Wars 1, Grit's bread and butter is often build smaller units as fodder and build indirects en masse. With Grit, your best bet is to focus on deploying indirect units and infantry. Due to his increased range, his Artilleries are very threatening because they are almost as strong as regular Rocket Launchers but for less than half of the price. His Rockets essentially become land Battleships. Grit is best used defensively in maps with chokepoints (narrow areas).

Please keep in mind that Grit requires a lot of time to setup his Indirect units because they cannot move and attack during the same turn. Be warned that large groups of Infantry (which are often spammed due to their abnormally high charge rate) can overwhelm his Indirect units. Grit also needs to be wary of B-Copters as well, since B-Copters can disrupt Grit.

Advance Wars 2 introduces Missile Silos, making Grit less useful. Additionally, they introduced even more COs that can do non-battle damage such as Hawke, making indirects do lesser damage. However, Grit received powerful day-to-day improvements, such as having 120 Attack on indirects and infantry having normal damage, making him more effective in this game than previous.

Advance Wars Dual Strike remains almost the same for Grit. Many thought that he is a very powerful CO as previous. However, that is not the case as the game's mechanics really hurt Grit:

  • The introduction of Black Bombs ensure that Grit's indirects won't be able to do proper damage, forcing him to spread his indirects widely or face severe value punishment. What makes Grit so powerful was the ability to bunch up indirects together for coverage, but black bombs ruin that strategy. Made even worse when facing against Colin, Hachi, or Sasha.
  • The new addition of Tag Breaks mean that people can rely on the 2nd turn to destroy Grit's indirects. Grit cannot secure shooting spots. Grit benefits the least on Tag Breaks as going 2nd and shooting indirect units from a factory or seaport is not recommended.
  • The introduction of Javier also ensures that Grit's indirects won't do much damage. This is made even worse with the CO Power or Super CO Power where Grit's indirects can't do damage.
  • Even more COs that have non-battle damage CO Powers can really hurt Grit's indirect strategies. Kindle's first CO Power greatly limits Grit for not placing indirects in cities. Rachel's Super CO Power act like Black Bombs.
  • Eagle's first CO Power can now move twice. Even with reduced power, indirects cannot counter-attack.

Quotes[]

Advance Wars[]

Campaign

"Easy there! I heard you the first time, O Bearded One." First lines in Campaign

"Sorry 'bout this. But, you've left me no choice." Activating his CO Power for the first time in "Gunfighter!"

"Hey there, Junior!" Being defeated in "Gunfighter!"

Victory

"I suspected as much."

Black Hole Rising[]

Power

"Reckon it's time to take you down!"

"No need for all the fuss. You just calm yourself down!"

"Don't get me all riled up! I wanna take things nice and slow."

"Once you're in my sights, there's no gettin' away!"

"You can run, but you can't hide!"

"Where's the fool who wants to help me with target practice?"

Victory

"Not bad, y'all! Don't be a sore loser!"

Dual Strike[]

Change

"...Hm? Oh sorry, I spaced out there."

"Keep yer distance, or y'all might get hurt!"

Power

"Aw, shucks. I was hopin' it wouldn't come to this..."

"Let's do us some target practice!"

"Well shuck my corn! Yer history!"

"I ain't gonna take your guff!"

"Y'all can run, but you can't hide!"

"Y'all leave me no choice. Time to bring out the big guns!"

Campaign, Pre-Battle

Final Battle

"Well, shoot! This'll be one heck of a story for old man Olaf."

(with Max)

Grit: "Evenin' Max. You know, we go back a dog's year... and we ain't gonna end it in a place like this! Don't you be doing anything crazy now, you hear?! Aw, shucks... I'm wastin' my breath."

Max: "Ha ha! You know me too well, my man! Listen, Grit. Stopping and thinking just isn't in my nature. I only push ahead! I'll trust you to watch my back!"

Victory

"I wait like a snake in the grass... then I strike!"

"Ayup. That's just about what I figured."

"I hope this gets easier. That was harder'n college!"

(With Olaf)

Grit: "Hey, if you want to fight the next one, I'll just nap..."
Olaf: "Grit, you little..!"

Olaf: "Oh, Blue Moon! My home and native land!"
Grit: "...Does he always have to sing every time we win?"

Trivia[]

  • Grit carries a Colt SAA as his sidearm in the first two games; he is one of the few characters of the series to carry a real-life firearm.
  • Nell's original belief that Grit left Orange Star after finding that Max had feelings for her and didn't want to get in the way suggests Grit also had feelings for her.
  • Grit's hat varies on the version. In the US version, he wears a Russian military cap while in the Japanese version, it has a large brim, depicting it to be a cowboy hat.
    • This was likely done to avoid similarities to Daisuke Jigen from the anime and manga Lupin the Third. In Advance Wars 1+2 ReBoot Camp, the hat is restored to its original design with the similarities to Jigen heightened, by way of Grit having a piece of straw in lieu of Jigen's cigarette.
  • Fittingly enough his name comes from the military mnemonic G.R.I.T. used to remember fire control orders, the proper way to order soldiers how and when to fire on an enemy. G for group (as in who will fire), R for range (as in distance to target), I for indication (as in how the target will be identified to the group), and T for type (as in what kind of fire, such as deliberate, rapid, bursts, etc).

Gallery[]

Advance Wars[]

Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising[]

Videos[]

References[]

COs of Wars World
Orange Star: AndyMaxSamiNellHachiJakeRachel
Blue Moon: OlafGritColinSasha
Green Earth: EagleDrakeJessJavier
Yellow Comet: KanbeiSonjaSenseiGrimm
Black Hole: Clone AndyFlakLashAdderHawkeSturm
JuggerKoalKindleVon Bolt
Orange Star
COs: Andy | Hachi | Jake | Max | Nell | Rachel | Sami
Former COs: Grit | Olaf
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