Firestorm: Stripes

Mission: Hanover Contact
Points: 65

After taking savage losses in his first battle of the war, the Polish Tank Battalion Commander was glad to have been able to rest and refit for a few days before being thrown back into the fiery cauldron of battle. His gutted battalion had been resupplied with a few additional T-55's, bringing it's strength up to two 7 tank companies, and was reinforced with a mid strength T-72 company. According to his regiment leader, this was plenty to conduct offensive operations again.
And so, it was time for the 2nd battalion, 35th Tank Regiment, 15th Peoples Guard Mechanized Infantry Division, to go back to war.

The British

Quick note, my brother wanted to play British for this game but he doesn't have a TY army, so proxied FoW Germans for his force.

HQ Chieftan
3 x Chieftans
3 x Chieftans
FV432 Platoon w/Milan teams
4 x Abbots
2 x Rapiers
2 x Harriers

The Polish commander could see a British infantry platoon occupying a small town across the river, but couldn't see any of the Chieftans the scouting report had told him were in the area. He checked his watch, and at zero hour he gave the order to advance. The artillery fired their pre-arranged barrage at the occupied village, but to little effect. Seeing a line of trees ahead, he suspected that would be where the enemy tanks might ambush from, so ordered the T-55's to advance cautiously, staying behind a hill and out of sight. The T-72's on the left flank were a little over eager, and rushed into a gap in the forest trying to ford the river before the British could react. They soon paid the price for their eagerness as a troop of Chieftans ambushed from the treeline across the river, smashing three and bailing another. As suspected their were more Chieftans in the treeline across from the T-55's on the right flank, but the caution shown by the Battalion commander paid off, and no fire was taken.

The crew of the bailed T-72 continued to hide in the woods, so the surviving two tanks pulled back and out of sight of the menacing Chieftains. Seeing the town was guarded by a another troop of Chieftains and infantry packing plenty of ATGMs the battalion commander decided to wait for his reinforcements to arrive before pushing into the village, so waitied behind the hill with the other T-55's. The artillery battery hit the town again, killing the British mortar team.
Having killed half of the T-72 company, the Chieftains deciding to hunt down the survivors and left the cover of the treeline, driving up to the river ford. The FV432's drove to the positions vacated by the tanks, keeping a watchful eye over the objective in their area.
The Polish left flank was now seriously weakened, with a combat ineffective T-72 platoon the only thing stopping the British tanks rolling onto one of their objectives. Luckily 2 Hinds flew in low and fast, quickly spotting the Chieftains now in the open, but their missiles only succeeded in bailing one out..
The British tanks pressed home their attack on the gutted T-72 Company, destroying the bailed out vehicle, plus another leaving only the company commander left.

More reserves arrived for the Poles, with the much needed second T-55 company, the Battalion commander could now push his attack into the town. A Mech Infantry platoon also arrived, coming in behind the smashed up T-72's to bolster the Polish left flank.
The T-55's behind the hill ambled up to the crest, while the second company moved up to river and prepared to fire on the towns defenders.
Both companies of T-55's fired upon the British infantry, but were unable to cause much in the way of damage. The Hinds continued to hound the Chieftains in the open, and were able to kill one with a missile into its flank.
The Chieftains continued to push forward, driving past the surviving T-72. Due to the many burning wrecks only one could get a shot at the Polish tank but he missed. The chieftains on the other flank, now facing two T-55 companies, finally got their sights on a target and opened fire, but only managed to hit and kill one enemy tank! The Milan teams were able to hit and kill another.
The surviving T-72 made the inaccurate Chieftain pay, and smashed a 125mm round into its flank, brewing it immediately. The Hinds found their mark too, hitting both remaining British tanks (the troop leader and squadron leader) lighting them up as well. Just like that the Polish left flank went from perilous to safe with a few well placed shots. Both T-55 companies continued their advance, peppering the British infantry with HE fire, killing a Milan team.
The Chieftains facing the T-55's finally found their mark, and killed 5 in one volley. The 1st T-55 company was no more.

The lone T-72, now free of the Chieftain menace, headed for the objective on their flank, now guarded by the FV432 platoon. The Hinds, seeing a juicy target, flew in their direct too. The second T-55 company, now joined by the battalion commander (the sole survivor from that devastating Chieftain volley), continued to close on the small village. The T-72 fired on the FV432's and took one out, while the Hinds fired their guns at them and killed another two, bailing the other two. It was too much for the FV432 crews to take, and they fled the field. The T-55's fired on the infantry in the village, combined with fire from a platoon of Shilkas that had moved up from reserve, pinned them, but the foxholes saved them from any damage.
Their was nothing on the British right flank stopping the plucky T-72 from getting to its objective, so the Chieftains road dashed towards it, leaving the defense of the village in the hands of the hard as nails Infantry platoon. Some British reserves finally arrived in the form of an Abbot battery, but they arrived on the wrong flank, coming on behind the village instead of the right flank where they were needed.
The T-72 drove towards the un-guarded objective, while the Hinds now flew off after the Chieftains dashing up the road. The T-55's prepared to assault the pinned down infantry in the village.
The Chieftains speeding along the road were easy targets for the menacing Hinds, who dispatched two of the three tanks with another volley of missile fire. The remaining Chieftain crew decided discretion was the better part of valor and retired from the battle. The T-55's assaulted the British infantry but lost two tanks to defensive ATGM's and withdrew to a safe distance.
The British Harriers finally showed up and bombed the T-72 and advancing BMPs in a hope to save the un-guarded objective. Two BMP's were left burning but the T-72 survived the blasts, ending any hope of the British pulling off a victory. With the next turn, the T-72 stood atop the objective hill, gaining victory for the Polish.

So a hard fought 5-2 victory to the Polish in the end. It looked grim after the first few turns when the T-72 company was smashed and it looked like the menacing Chieftains would waltz unopposed towards their objective. The Hinds were the standout performer in this game, killing 5 out of 7 Chieftains and shredding the FV432 platoon. The Brits had Rapiers in their list, but never showed up from reserves. (seriously, my brothers rolls for reserves were shockingly poor).

And so my plucky Polish Tank Battalion Commander lives to fight another day. His tank battalion took quite a few losses again, but I'm sure high command will replenish his units and send him into the meat grinder once again. I really should give this guy a name ;)