Firestorm: Stripes

Rather than post a narrative description of the battle for this report I will post more of a critique of my own actions. Why? Well, to be honest this has to be my worst performance in any TY game I have played since release. Read on Comrade and be equally entertained and horrified at what happened at Niederbayern.

This game was 75 points. I'm still getting used to this point value and I find it makes for some interesting and hard choices. For this game I went with a T-64 Battalion consisting of CO, 2 x Companies of 5 x T-64, Recce troop of 3 x BMP-2, Motor Rifle Platoon x 4 BMP-2, SA-13 x 2, ZSU-23-4 x 2.

Bruce brought a Panzeraufklarungs Company with Gepards & LARS in support.

This is the first time I have faced a W German force that hasn't consisted of Leo 2's.

The scenario was the bridgehead with two objectives being placed on my side of the table. I had to have half of my force in reserve so went with both T-64 Companies on the the table from the start. Bit of a cagey deployment and with NATO having the first turn I wanted to hang back to limit their opportunities to get engagements in.
So, first Company deploys behind a woodline with the CO to cover 1 objective and the second Company deploys off the second objective with the plan to roll forward in my movement phase. My recce BMP-2s spearhead forward. To be honest I've not really utilised recce elements in many games so these were not well used. Their positioning had no impact on the W German deployment nor any advantage to my own.

Remember I said earlier that this was the first W German force I've faced that wasn't a Leo 2 gun line? Well, that meant that I wasn't overly familiar with what the Panzeraufklarungs (and yes, having typed that once I'm just going to cut n paste it from now on) Company can do. Bruce spearheaded on each flank with his Luchs and used this to move up his Leo 1 platoons to get some first turn shots into my T-64s. To make it even better these were flank shots.

On my right, the Leo 1s have the same deal but only manage to kill 1 T-64.

Before we move on let's talk about dice rolls. From now on, dear reader, you can assume that any roll I make is a 1. Firepower checks, to hit rolls or armour saves everything seemed to be a 1. At the end of the first turn I had seven 1's rolled. SEVEN. If it's not your night then it's not your night.

I decide that these light German troops will be no match for my superior Soviet tank engineering and so move up to ensure I can see them should I roll poorly for the night distance. Can you guess the result of the To Hit rolls? The lack of burning and screaming from the Luchs should explain it. This was even the case with the Recce BMP-2s, they were brassed up by the Luchs in return and lost 2 vehicles.

Now, Dear Reader, we get to the moment when future historians will review this engagement and decide they have no idea just what the actual ^%£" the Soviet commander was thinking.
Surprisingly I managed to remount those bailed out T-64s from earlier.

Now, all I've got to do is kill of the remaining Leo 1's. At this point I forget two things:
1. The Leo 1 has the front armour of a paper bag and I'm packing 125mm guns.
2. This T-64 Company is covering an objective.

For some reason that I have yet to fathom I move to a rear shooting position for the Leo 1s. Maybe I'm just so used to facing Leo 2's that it's an automatic reaction to flank. Maybe I'd had a long day at work and was wasn't thinking straight. Maybe my blood sugar level was low. Maybe I was just pulling a Homer moment (That's Homer Simpson, not Homer the ancient Greek poet).

I feel you, Dear Reader, can work out for yourself the shooting results given my previous form in this game. Do you remember those Luchs from earlier? In the W German movement phase they calmly drive forward and park up on the objective. At this point I have nothing contesting because the T-64s are miles away feeling smug about flanking the Leo 1s.

Game, set & match to the W Germans in 3 turns.

Firstly, this takes nothing away from Bruce who played his W German Panzeraufklarungs troops well.
If anything I'm embarrassed that I didn't give him more of a challenge in that game. My dice rolling was atrocious. I know EVERYONE says that but seriously, I have never seen so many 1's being rolled.
I lost the game by just plain forgetting about that objective. Looking back I have no idea why I moved off the objective to engage the Leo 1s from the rear.

But, Dear Reader, such is the life of a wargamer I suppose. One thing is for certain though. For the next game I am taking different dice.

Thanks for reading!