Firestorm: Stripes

Pulkovnik Bayan Khan had not been surprised at the orders. Operation Seyber-Succop was stalling because they were at the tip of an unstable logistics trail and resources were being diverted to keep the line open. You could not run a successful operation on windfalls like his seizure of the Dutch supply dump; the fascisti had learned that to their sorrow not far from here as the crow flies.

The Dutch petrol had been fortunate in its own way; every vehicle in the brigade had begun the trip with extra fuel drums tied to the vehicles. The overcast skies had been perfect as well, limiting visibility of NATO aircraft. It was a pilot's keen eye that would have caught the 5th's movement but the low ceiling meant NATO's birdmen had to be under the layer for initial visual target acquisition, and that made them vulnerable to SA7 gunners riding alertly in the column. They had dropped a questing Alphajet just after the stop to switch out fuel barrels.

Now the movement was ending and the contact beginning. 5th Guards had returned to its old hunting grounds where they had shredded NATO armor like so much paper. The upper Ruhr lay behind them, ahead fresh enemies - US forces.

"Good to have you back, Khan, offered the Deputy Commander of 3rd Shock Army. "We need your force to push the Amis back west. They have those damnable 8" guns within reach of our new supply line and that has to change."

We played Ruhr Last Hurrah, as it seemed appropriate. I was attacker, BH deployed first after seeing my reserves. I took the BMP recon unit, a unit of 5 and a unit of 6 T55s, the BC, and the infantry company.

Hot wash. Like BH said, he tried to win instead of not lose. Unfortunately his tempo was off by one turn. If he commits the ambush to the northwestern flank, he can counterattack in his turn 1, instead of waiting to turn 2. But he still has BMPs to deal with and that would have diluted his firepower, leaving him with 6 dice from the infantry and possibly 6 dice from the command group. Fair odds, but not decisive, and even pinned the infantry develop 7 dice at 5+ and 3 at 6+ and 3 dice for each surviving BMP. A two-stand attack cuts the BMPs out of defensive fire, but I've seen two stand attacks fail to 4 hits when the saves don't come in.

So where was the error? In this case I see two things. The first was keeping an ambush. Having the unit off the table is awesome defensively. But having two units in the spearhead meant a Game Turn 1 attack that kills a T55, and then 6 surviving T55s and 4 BMPs dealing with 8 M60s in a close range duel. I don't like those odds. He probably would have won on turn 2 when no reinforcements showed up.

The other was using the M113s like an independent unit. A lot of people do that. But unless you keep them close, the American infantry platoon's potentially weak fire power (if pinned and spread out) will hurt you. I would have had to wreck the M113s before any assault was possible, and that buys tempo

Aftermath Pulkovnik Khan surveyed the site of the fight. Two T55s lost for 9 M60s. The new 4th Battalion, formed from conscripts and reservists to replace tanks lost last campaign, had proved its worth. But the infantry had won the battle. His old veterans had been overconfident, and only the abrupt retreat of 5 M60s at speed under a smoke barrage had prevented him from losing critical T64s. He would have to have a talk with the 1st Battalion commander. Even M60s could be lethal to T64Bs. Meanwhile 2nd Battalion had caught another enemy heavy company team on the march and smashed it, and the enemy brigade was withdrawing. He needed to hustle them back another 10 kilometers and get into their artillery area to protect the new supply line.