IRON NEST Iron Road Walkthrough: Train Timing and AP
Facts reviewed August 24, 2026 · Game-build data extracted August 17, 2026 (build 24750322) · Example values are per-run and marked as examples
IRON NEST Mission 5, Iron Road, is a three-phase interception.
Quick Answer
IRON NEST Mission 5, Iron Road, is a three-phase interception. Mark the train's 6 km, 4 km and 2 km waypoints from Main Station, fire so the shell and the train arrive at the same point at the same time, then destroy two armored emplacements with AP, and sound the War Horn only after both are confirmed destroyed.
Mark the train's 6 km, 4 km and 2 km waypoints from Main Station.
Destroy both armored emplacements with AP once the train falls.
Sound the War Horn only after both emplacements are confirmed destroyed.
Evidence: IN-GAME TEXT mechanics · REPORTED guide steps and observations
IRON NEST Mission 5 (Iron Road) in-game screenshot captured by the site owner on August 24, 2026.
Mission facts card
Mission facts card
Field
Value
Mission name
Iron Road (Campaign mission 5)
Primary objective
Intercept the troop train before Main Station
Required targets
The train, then two armored emplacements
Ammunition
AP required for the armored emplacements
Medal
Four commendations on offer; conditions on the medals page
Evidence: IN-GAME TEXT build extraction · OFFICIAL patch record · REPORTED third-party transcriptions.
Valle de Mula sits astride the supply corridor High Command intends to sever ahead of the coming advance. The garrison there is expecting reinforcements by rail.
Iron Road walkthrough, step by step
The mission runs in three phases: stop the train, clear the armored emplacements, and sound the War Horn only when the route is safe. The schedule below comes from the mission briefing text in build 24750322, so the times are stable facts; the bearings, ranges, charges and elevations of any single run are not.
Phase 1 — Intercept the train before Main Station
Read both orders. The main order gives Iron Nest, Main Station, the expected arrival time, and the intercept instruction. The secondary order gives the railway bearing, the waypoint distances and the train's movement schedule.
Mark Iron Nest and Main Station. The rest of the plan is built from those two points.
Draw the railway from Main Station at 90°. The train approaches the station along this line.
Mark the 6 km, 4 km and 2 km waypoints, and write each scheduled arrival beside its marker: 10:06:50, 10:10:10 and 10:13:30.
Choose a waypoint that still leaves preparation time — measuring, loading, rotating and accounting for shell flight. The 2 km marker is the last planned interception point before the station.
Measure the firing solution from Iron Nest to the chosen waypoint. The waypoint distance is measured from Main Station and is not the artillery range.
Set the launch time: waypoint arrival time − shell flight time. The waypoint time tells you when the train will be there, not when to fire.
Fire when the clock reaches the launch time, then wait for the hit confirmation.
If the launch time passes, move to the next waypoint and recalculate every value; do not keep adjusting one marker.
After a hit, the mission continues: a direct hit calls for destroying remaining cars and disembarked reinforcements, and a derail does the same. If the train reaches the station instead, the priority becomes clearing the station area.
Phase 2 — Destroy the two armored emplacements
Read the post-train order. Two armored emplacements block the allied assault route, and allied infantry cannot advance until both are destroyed.
Plot both emplacements from the spotter reports, keeping the blue allied route clear of any firing line.
Load AP. The order states explicitly that the armored emplacements require armor-piercing shells.
Fire one emplacement at a time and wait for each destruction confirmation before finalizing the next marker.
Do not treat two explosions or two spent AP shells as confirmation that both required positions are gone. The teleprinter or reconnaissance report is the signal.
Phase 3 — Sound the War Horn and complete the mission
Confirm before the horn: the train is destroyed, Emplacement 1 is destroyed, Emplacement 2 is destroyed, and both AP reports have arrived.
Sound the War Horn — it hangs to the left of the trigger console or at the back right of the map table.
Wait for the completion report: the approach is clear, allied infantry advance, the primary objective is complete, and Iron Nest may stand down.
Treat remaining town targets as optional after the horn. Continued fire support is authorized at your discretion, but allied infantry are already moving through the area.
The War Horn is the commitment that the route is safe. Sounding it early causes mass casualties, and ordering assaults without confirmations fails the mission outright.
Targets and ammunition
Targets and ammunition
Target
Type
Notes
Train (locomotive + 4 cars)
Moving target
Five cars, locomotive leads, troop carriers to the rear; schedule-driven timing
Armored emplacements ×2
Armored pillbox
Required targets; AP required
Disembarked reinforcements
Infantry and armor
Appear after the train is hit or derailed
Train station
Fortification
Priority objective if the train arrives; a high-value optional target otherwise
Town targets after the horn
Enemy
Optional; no longer required after the primary objective
The build's mission entity table lists 21 rows across 18 types, with hostile spawns totaling 19 across the train and ground units. In build 25182032 (Patch #7, September 12, 2026) the same count is 27: since Patch #6 the mission starts with six more enemy infantry and two more enemy mechanized units, while the five train cars are unchanged. Both are structural counts read from the game files, not a promise about which kills count toward a medal.
The ammunition rule is one-way: the emplacements demand AP, and the briefing states no shell requirement for the train. Observed release-era runs used HE and HCHE against the train successfully, and build 24750322 contains the HCHE shell definition; the per-mission unlock condition for HCHE has not been decoded, so treat its availability here as observed rather than rule-like. For the full shell reference, see all shell types; for punchcards and requisition budgets, see the requisition reference.
Medal conditions at a glance
Iron Road offers four commendations, and the medals page owns the full thresholds:
Measured Fire Star — keep allied casualties at or below the tier threshold.
Unrelenting Volley Medal — sustain consecutive kills across successive fire missions.
Ordnance Efficiency Cross — achieve a high kills-per-shot ratio over enough kills.
Unaided Fire Distinction — destroy a significant number of targets without requisitioning aerial reconnaissance.
The hardest medal on this page is the Unrelenting Volley gold tier. Community reports dated up to Patch #4 say the mission fields at most 19 hostile targets while a 20-streak variant of the medal needs 20 consecutive kills; the official Patch #6 notes (Version 1.0 (1663), August 22, 2026) list a fix for the impossible consecutive-kills medal on Iron Road, and in build 25182032 (Patch #7) the mission spawns 27 hostile entities by the same structural count, up from 19. That total includes fixed targets such as the station, so it is not a count of kills you can chain. The game files do say which version of the medal this mission uses: the 20-streak one, with bronze at 5, silver at 10 and gold at 20 consecutive kills (build 24750322; unchanged in build 25182032). Community players report that the streak counts shots that each kill at least one target, so one shot with several kills adds only one. See the medals page by-mission section for the full table and any later findings.
Stuck points and troubleshooting
I missed the launch window and the train got past me
Move to the next waypoint and recalculate instead of chasing the train's live position. If the train reaches Main Station, the mission changes: surviving reinforcements disembark, and the priority becomes destroying enemy presence around the station.
I keep missing the moving train
The waypoint distance is not the firing range. Measure from Main Station to place the waypoints, then measure the shot from Iron Nest to the chosen waypoint, and subtract shell flight time from the train's arrival time. Aiming at the train's current position ignores both the schedule and the shell's travel time.
The emplacements will not die
They are armored and require AP. HE, HCHE and other shell types will not do the job here; the order states the requirement explicitly.
I sounded the horn early, or the assault failed
The horn must come after both destruction confirmations. Ordering assaults without confirmations produces a mission-failed report and heavy allied losses. Two explosions alone are not proof.
The mission soft-locked, or a medal or achievement did not unlock
Both were fixed in Patch #6 — see the version notes below. If you are still on an older build or an old save, update the game and retry. A test-branch report that the mission could not be ended by going to sleep after a save and reload matches a Patch #7 fix (Version 1.0 (1683), September 12, 2026) for loading from a save preventing the player from going to sleep.
If you are stuck on another mission instead, the missions hub covers the full mission list and general help.
Version notes and limits
Patch #6 (Version 1.0 (1663), August 22, 2026) fixed two Iron Road problems per the official patch notes: a softlock when the train was hit by two shells at once, and the impossible consecutive-kills medal. The same patch fixed Steam gold medal achievements not unlocking and added saving on mission exit with continue-from-save, both game-wide. The build data on this page comes from build 24750322 (Patch #5), which predates these fixes. Older community threads about 19 versus 20 targets and the kill-streak medal describe the state before the fix.
The Discord archive this page draws on is an initial export and not complete; a later archive pass may adjust the community notes above. If you are looking for the game's update plan instead, see the roadmap.
FAQ
When should I fire at the train?
Choose one of the three scheduled waypoints and fire so the shell arrives when the train does: launch time = waypoint arrival time − shell flight time. The waypoint times 10:06:50, 10:10:10 and 10:13:30 come from the mission briefing in build 24750322; the station arrival time 10:16:50 is the deadline, not the firing time.
Why did my shot miss the train?
Most misses come from one of three mistakes: measuring the waypoint from the wrong point, forgetting shell flight time, or firing after the launch window passed. Measure waypoints from Main Station, subtract flight time, and move to the next waypoint when the current window closes.
What ammunition do the armored emplacements need?
Armor-piercing. The order states it explicitly, and the two emplacements are the mission's only armored targets. HE and HCHE are useful against the train and soft targets but will not destroy the emplacements.
When should I sound the War Horn?
Only after both emplacement destruction confirmations arrive. The horn hangs to the left of the trigger console or at the back right of the map table; sounding it early causes mass casualties, and assaulting without confirmations fails the mission.
Is HCHE available in Iron Road?
Two release-era playthroughs used HCHE successfully in this mission, and build 24750322 contains the HCHE shell definition. The per-mission unlock condition has not been decoded from the build data, so this page reports availability as observed rather than as a guaranteed rule.
Why can't I get the Unrelenting Volley gold medal?
The mission uses the 20-streak version of the medal, read from the game files: bronze at 5, silver at 10 and gold at 20 consecutive kills (build 24750322; unchanged in build 25182032). Community reports dated up to Patch #4 describe a mission that fields at most 19 hostile targets, which made gold impossible; the official Patch #6 notes (Version 1.0 (1663), August 22, 2026) list a fix, and build 25182032 (Patch #7) spawns 27 hostile entities by the same structural count, though that total includes fixed targets and is not a count of kills you can chain. Community players report that each shot in the streak must kill at least one target and that several kills from one shot count once, so plan one killing shot per target.
What medals does Iron Road offer?
Four commendations: Measured Fire Star, Unrelenting Volley Medal, Ordnance Efficiency Cross, and Unaided Fire Distinction. Full thresholds and variants live on the medals page.
Which patch fixed the Iron Road softlock?
Patch #6 (Version 1.0 (1663), August 22, 2026). Its official notes list the fix for the softlock when two shells hit the train at once and for the impossible consecutive-kills medal on Iron Road; the same patch fixed Steam gold medal achievements not unlocking and added saving on mission exit. Patch #5 (Version 1.0 (1622), August 15, 2026) listed none of these fixes.
