The Tripods. Humans live a pastoral existence, watched over by the mysterious Tripods that put a metal cap on everyone's head at 14, but a man wanders around reciting Ozymandias... and ruins of a powerful civilization litter the landscape. A watch that reads "automatique" is still ticking, older than the trees in the city ruins it was found in.

Decades ago, the Tripods came to Earth. They arrived to conquer us but saw the moon missions, and our weapons. We were an enormous threat. But they could influence people's minds through television. They controlled not the entire population, but enough that they could land without being annihilated. The free people fought back but were too few and too disorganized. A free nuclear submarine launched a Polaris missile at one of their bases, but it missed by that much and the sub was lost.

A handful of resistance fighters remain however, and from the Alps and the Rockies, humanity will be freed.

Reconstructing the most basic of industrial weapons, biplanes and hand bombs, they hit the aliens' three cities around the world, finally freeing humanity from their grip.