Firestorm: Stripes

Location: hamlet of Endbach, SW of Marburg-an-der-Lahn, north Germany
Mission: Annihilation (Meeting Engagement)
Points: 21 points

West German Forces: 2 Zugs, each of 3 Leopard 1; Leopard 1 Company HQ
Polish Forces: 2 platoons of 5 T-55s, 1 platoon of 3 T-72M, 2 Spandrel AT; T-55 Battalion HQ

Major Anders glanced at the map again. His battalion had been mauled in the last two days of fighting around Marburg, but he had two platoons of five T55s left, plus a trio of T72s commandeered at a repair station. The supporting infantry was a couple of klicks behind, though he had ordered their AT section to join him.

Endbach. A handful of houses and a church clustered around the road junction. But even if the street was barely worth the name, the Wessies were going to fight for it. Anders grimaced at the silhouette of the Leopard 1. Probably the same formation that had ambushed them twice already. Eight tanks destroyed, and half as many disabled. Too many letters to write home.

Endbach was nothing but an inconvenience. But the Germans… they were a target.

“Do we wait for the infantry?” asked Lech, his gunner.

Anders reached for the command radio. “Our German friends have decided to fight. They are in our way. They owe us. Remember our comrades as we attack. Straight into them. No mercy.”

The hatch clanged shut as Anders dropped back into his seat. Lighting another cigarette, he ordered the driver onwards.

**************************

The Leopard 1 company began the engagement by rolling up through Endbach’s streets, finding cover among the houses; the second Zug moved into hull down positions behind the cemetery wall. Firing at extreme range, the Zug in the village destroyed one T-55 and bailed another. The Zug by the cemetery had better luck, penetrating the armour of two of the T-72s; the survivor failed his morale check and abandoned his tank. With the ambush sprung, the Poles advanced across the ploughed fields, making good use of Blitz moves to get into range. Despite a high volume of fire, their Slow Firing guns only scored two hits, leaving a Leopard bailed and another burning.

During turn 2, the West Germans remained in their firing positions, destroying two more T55s and bailing two more. The Poles consolidated their positions, tanks only moving when necessary to get a clear line of sight. With longer to load, their gunners destroyed two more Leopards in the village, including the formation commander. The leutnant of the Zug in the village, with his comrades out of action and worried about his dwindling ammunition, reversed out of the fight in haste.

With much of the enemy force hidden from view by Endbach, the gunners of the remaining Leopard Zug kept a steady fire on the T55s in front of them, managing to bail two and blow up a third, hoping to break the platoon. However, the Poles’ nerve held, and their patience was rewarded when a Leopard was hit and set alight. In what was to be the last act of the short engagement, the Spandrel platoon launched two Konkurs missiles from extreme range. A few seconds later, twin fireballs erupted, signalling the end of the Bundeswehr’s counter- attack.

Result: solid Polish victory, 1 platoon lost.
Victory points: Polish 5 VPs, West Germans 2 VPs.

Notes

As you’ll see from the army list, this was only a 21 point game, using the quick missions on a 3’x4’ table. This was only my second game of Team Yankee and my experience with Flames of War has mostly been in urban infantry engagements. Firestorm Stripes has persuaded me to try tabletop wargaming as a father-son bonding exercise; while I’m not going to give away any freebies, I’ve been generous with advice. I thought it had gone wrong when I destroyed Matthew’s best tanks on turn 1, but he learned very quickly, realising the importance of cover and concentrating fire. “Glee” is the only way I can describe his expression when his shooting started to have an effect! We’re planning a bigger engagement for our next game, and Matthew has spent a bit of his playtime painting T-55s so he has more tanks! That’s the real win!

This turned into a typical rush against a gun line. The West Germans’ decision to fight from the street of the hamlet gave them good cover, but limited their fields of fire – though each tank could usually see at least two enemies. The open fields slowed the Poles somewhat (Terrain rather than Cross Country Dash) and the accumulating wrecks proved a nuisance. The Germans had clearly chosen the terrain for their counterattack well.

The Polish battalion worked more or less as intended. The early demise of the T-72Ms was unfortunate, but the larger T-55AM platoons were able to soak up casualties. The T55s performed better than I had expected. Their front armour of 14 made them quite survivable at range (glancing on a 4, brewing on a 5+). The Slow Firing gun wasn’t great, but proved perfectly adequate for killing Leopards. I wasn’t impressed by the T72s – two brewed up in the first exchange of fire, and the survivor fled. It’s the peril of a small platoon. I confess I fielded the Spandrel platoon as an afterthought, but the one-point gamble paid off courtesy of two HEAT hits.

Even against older Soviet tanks, the Leopard 1 was outnumbered two to one. Thanks to indifferent gunnery (hitting on half of their shots, rather than two thirds) and respectable enemy armour, they gunnery failed to score as many kills as they needed. In view of the number of Soviet targets, I clearly need to look for ways to increase my anti-tank fire – Milan teams and Gepards beckon.

The game was a close-run thing; if either of the mauled T55 platoons had broken in turn 2 or turn 3, the Wessies might well have held out and turned the tide.

Even with a small points value and the quick mission rules, the 3’x4’ kitchen table wasn’t big enough. Playing diagonally worked okay, but there wasn’t much scope for manoeuvre, particularly for my West Germans – there just wasn’t anywhere to reposition to. I have a plan to make a couple of hardboard extensions that can sit over the table, giving a 5’x4’ (or even 6’x4’) space, but in a way that doesn’t permanently take over the kitchen and incur the wrath of the Commander-in-Chief.