Firestorm: Stripes

NATO forces have crossed the Elbe near Meissen!!!! Headquarters is in the middle of a relocation, so there will be no orders from them!!! Regimental HQ thinks that they have crossed with the intention of securing Radebeul and use it as a jumping off point for future operations. A friendly tank battalion is located in Moritzburg and is moving to Weinbohla in an attempt to halt this attack.

The Mission for 3rd Tank Battalion is to move from Coswig and attack enemy elements near Brockwitz in order to assist our northern tank battalions attack near Weinbohla. You are to move NLT 1315hrs local 29AUG85

After a morning of unsuccessfully hunting turkey, why not play a game? right? My hunting buddy Alex saw the table upstairs was asking questions-so we played a scenario or 2 from the Team Yankee rulebook. Alex only had about another 90 minutes before he had to leave so we decided to go with a 65 point annihilation battle (Alex wanted to take the training wheels off-his words) So here is the breakdown:
65/68 Point Annihilation
Russian is the attacker
daylight
US gets the first move
Alex picked an odd list-but for now we went with it. He can work on force composition later.

US Turn:
His M60 platoon ( 3 tanks) and their command team (2 M60s) road dash over the bridge. The M1 platoon fires long range at a T-72 company bailing 1

Soviet Turn:
The T-72 does not remount. A T-72 company also fires long range-30 inches- at the M1 platoon, some lucky dice rolls on my part get me 1 kill and 1 bailed tank. The Storms failed their blitz move-even with Durchenko there so they attempt to move back. Durchenko fires and KIAS the lead M60.

US Turn:
The M1 platoon rolls a 1 and fails morale. The command team (2 M1s) move to cover that area. The M60s clear the bridge and have 2 shots at Durchenkos T-72 and 6 at the Storms. The storms are wiped out in a hail of fire and Durchenkos tank armor saves 1 shot, but he gets bailed from the other.

Soviet Turn:
Durchenko does not remount. A T-72 company (6 tanks, but 1 is bailed) moves to fire at the M60s. The other T-72 company (6 tanks) crosses the ford and has 2 shots at the XOs M1-2 misses. The M60s only have 1 tank as a viable target-it is hit 3 times-2 bails, but it fails the remount-so it is abandoned by its crew.

US Turn:
The lone M60 passes morale-it joins the US M60 command team. The 3 tanks fire at the T-72 company and KIA 2 T-72s. The XO in the M1 KIAs 1 T-72.

Soviet turn:
The T-72 final remounts. Durchenko remounts but wont move. The T-72 company (4 tanks) fires at the M60s-another good round of rolling gets me 3 hits-he rolls poorly this time and it results in 3 M60s burning. The other T-72 company KIAs the XOs M1-the unfortunate XO is killed. The US player-Alex has had enough-his CO hauls his tank back to HQ.

Alex went over his actions-he decided in the next fight, his command team would stay closer to one of his teams to help it's staying power. He also decided that the M60s need better cover and the gun on both the M1 and the M60 needs to pack a stronger punch. At least he is hooked and if there is another campaign, he wants to join it.