Nikolai Badanov

For the Loyalist helicopter pilot in the Modern Warfare Series, see Nikolai.

"I live for the day when we grind Berlin beneath our tracks!"

- Nikolai Badanov

'''Lt./Maj. Nikolai Badanov '''is a playable character in Finest Hour. Since he is a Major, he is the highest ranking playable character in the entire series along with Major Thomas and is followed by Captain MacTavish, Captain Price and Lt. Walker.

Biography
Badanov was an engineer who left his wife and infant son in the care of his parents in Leningrad to join the Red Army. He was assigned to a tank crew (consisting of him, Sgt. Dimitry Petrov, and Sgt. Fyodor Belinki) because of his aggressiveness and skill with machinery.

Soon after the defense of the factory, which harbors a lone T-34 tank, led by sniper Tanya Pavelonva. Nikolai's tank crew comes to retrieve it. Tanya and her spotter Aleksandr Sokolov escape with Nikolai, while the tank destroys a German Panzer along the way. However, the tank was experiencing some engine trouble, so Badanov, Petrov, Tanya, Sokolov, as well as a few others had to protect Fyodor as he was fixing the tank. Tanya's position was hit by tank fire some time later, making the tank crew think she and her spotter were dead. The tank was fixed shortly after, and it proceeds to headquarters.

Nikolai stops at the headquarters and gets orders to deliver a radio to a some spotters. The spotters radio had broken down and the General wasn't receiving co-ordinates of German tanks to destroy with Katushya rockets. Tanya gets carried in shortly after, wounded, but still alive.Soon after, they drive through the ruins of Red Square, Nikolai drives the tank to the train station where the spotters are. While his crew stays behind, Badanov and two other soldiers fight through the station and deliver the radio to the spotters.

Soon Nikolai and his crew are involved in the Russian assault on a German airfield which was codenamed Operation Little Saturn. After fighting through the heavily defended area, Nikolai and other T-34s proceed to the German airstrip to destroy the remaining German planes and bombers. After destroying the airfield they meet up with more Russian soldiers to assault the command center. After breaking in Nikolai and his men find German documents and proceeds to deliver them to their superiors.

Personality and Appearance
Badanov was aggressive in combat, and he was a good leader to his tank crew. He was almost completely bald, though he is never seen wearing any headgear in game.

Trivia

 * Badanov has the highest number of levels out of all the main Soviet protagonists in the game.
 * He is likely a reference to Boris Badanov, a fictional soviet spy from the 60's cartoon series "Rocky and Bullwinkle"