Firestorm: Stripes

4th Aufklarung Battalion was maintaining contact with the UK 2nd Division, fast withdrawing toward Hannover. No more Chieftains had been detected; the main threat from that sector appeared to be British light armor and the 4th's three T72s and numerous BMP-1 should be adequate to discourage interference.

Oberst Niemand had managed to refuel the Verloren Haufe and pursue the defeated West Germans only to find a new threat massing - a prewar company of Leopard Is, or possibly a damaged battalion. Niemand ordered the Verloren Haufe to immediately attack.

In our store campaign it was my turn to attack Dave's West Germans. We're also fighting there on the edge of Frankfurt but the store campaign is going east-west in that area, not south-north, as I explained last week

So Dave had a choice between DEFEND and MANEUVER as battle plans, and my choices were ATTACK or MANEUVER. A quick look at Dave's list told me that it would be a disaster for him to defend with DEEP RESERVES, and I explained that to him. So I took ATTACK, he chose MANEUVER and we ended up with HASTY ATTACK

There were only a couple of distinctive things about the setup. The shadow of a spearhead unit allowed one infantry company to get well forward on the west end of the map, so when I picked up the objective, it was on the east end. I nonetheless attacked the east end in order to prevent his ambush from being conveniently placed. The 2nd T55 Battalion with all its tanks was at center court. Missiles from BMPs crisscrossed the battlefield.

It's difficult to describe what came next. Most of Dave's vehicles were targeted from somewhere on the battlefield, and because I had occupied the hills with missile-firing vehicles they were not gone to ground or in cover. 6 T55s, 3 T72s, 10 BMPs threw missiles at the Jaguars and 7 Leo Is, exterminating them, save one Leo I that failed morale after being bailed. (left picture). I was able to get long range MG shots on his LARS from four T55s and close range from two BRDMs for 14 dice and hit them a mere 4 times, but Dave couldn't roll saves so three disappeared. BMPs and the other two BRDMs chewed up the Luchs, who were finished off by my infantry assault.

Brutal doesn't begin to cover it

The infantry you see in the image advanced to assault distance and the BMPs on the wooded hill had dealt with the Leopards backing up the Fliegerfaust. The assault rubbed out the Fliegerfaust (4 dice hitting 5's and 3 dice hitting 6's. I consolidated onto the objective.

Dave was now essentially dead. The only way he had to counter this move was to place his ambush in the woods on top of the hill and drive down, or fire MGs from the ambush and hope I failed every save. 9 MGs = 6 expected hits = 2 expected kills = unlikely. He wasn't going to survive the return fire, which would come from no less than 3 T72s and 10 BMP-1s plus 2 Hinds in any case. So Dave resigned. 6-1 victory.

Hot wash - Dave is still tinkering with lists, and the big issue was the real danger of getting shot to bits on the first turn. So I went over the defects in his initial deployment with him - when using glass cannons, you have to keep them as well hidden as you can, and so his force had to be in the woods or better, behind the woods, and staying in the middle, should be tucked up against buildings so there were minimal sight lines, not hanging out in the vineyards where stuff on hills could reach them. Also talked about the need for infantry teams with Milans in defensive scenarios.

And since the actual shooting had taken 20 minutes, I offered to play him again, double or nothing, making minimal adjustment to my setup, as response to his spearheads