Firestorm: Stripes

This battle was only 35pts, due to time constraints; my opponent was very kind and accommodating, due to me working a later shift, and still allowing time for gaming.
The Mission was Bypass from the Quick Mission Pack for Team Yankee available here
My army list came from the Unofficial, but Battlefront Approved "British II Corps pdf", available here

The main difference between the British in Iron Maiden and the Territorial Army Troops featured here is:
[A] Less training, giving them a standard 4+ Skill rating
[B] Being less willing to stick it out in a tough situation, giving them a 5+ Morale rating

Captain Grey had been a career soldier, despite his Territorial Army posting. His men, on the other hand, were not. They were a varied assortment of teachers looking to keep fit on the weekends, office workers doing their bit for their country, and (sadly, in his opinion}, school-leavers who did not have much prospect beyond a poorly paid manual labour job, but were not passed fit for the Army itself.

"Well, let's see their mettle..." Grey pointed through the gap in the hedges beyond, where the first few glimpses of enemy tanks could be seen.

Captain Grey could feel the tension in the air; he knew his men were very 'Green' in terms of encounters with the enemy, and this would be their baptism of fire. The men had been in high spirits on the journey from Amsterdam to Hamburg, they had been reading the newspapers which claimed this would all be over by Christmas... just as every war had been declared in the past hundred years.
He didn't have much time to think on past matters though as shots rang out and whistling noises overhead turned to explosions. An audible rabble came from the troops in the train station in front of him as off to the north, a Scimitar erupted in flames from the pounding artillery, but almost immediately as he was processing this, another explosion flared up behind the hedge to the south: his Observation track now crackling with flames, as a 100mm round found its target from the almost impossible positioning.

This was going to get brutal.

The rumble of engines was getting closer, implying a larger, as yet unseen threat was coming in on the north flank. The combined efforts of the missile troops had put paid to the East German advance down the middle, but Grey knew from his briefing that those burning tanks would be less than half the number that would be stalking the field. The was soon proven to be true as a small force of BMP tracks appeared at the edge of the forest in front; their machine guns rattling off shots around the train station, the men hitting the deck, crouching behind walls, trying to keep out of sight as they were swept with bullets.

"Striker Troop; redeploy North. I'm expecting a presence very soon." Grey commanded, crawling onto the back deck of his Spartan for a view round the train station, just as an almighty shot roared past, missing his track by inches. "Bloody Christ! Almost lost my neck on that one!" He exclaimed, taking a moment to calm his nerves, before peeking round at the second Company of T-55AM2s which had made their presence known and were now harassing the support troop, who seemed to be 'left out to dry' a little.

The Striker troop rolled out again, slipping into position. Captain Grey watched on expectantly as the spotters aimed their lasers through the foliage of the hedge, sizing up their target, before the fearsome whistling sounded again. A shell completely took out the edgemost track; a small crater all that was left of the vehicle that once stood in position.

"Idiots... bloody idiots." Grey groaned as he watched the survivors get dragged into the station. The men left on the hill unmoving.

Captain Grey sighed as he saw the tanks rolling towards his position, thinking that soon they'd have to deal with them. But strangely enough, the tanks hesitated as they crested the hill; their turrets skewing round to fire off shots at unseen targets. No sound of explosion found his ears, only the jarring sound of a glancing shot on metal.

"Yes... sir."

I apologise that this report is a little less coherent than my usual ones. It's been a rather long day here, I really wanted to get this posted and out there to show that the Territorial Army pdf does have its uses, and that the lesser morale and skill ratings do not pose that much of a penalty on your force.
The Strikers constantly passing their Blitz roll was in no small part due to the HQ element hugging them constantly, and passing over their improved Skill rating. Without them, the Strikers would have been left high and dry for half the battle.

The battle really didn't go well for my opponent, largely due to the number of anti-tank assets I had at my disposal. Without the Milans, Strikers and even the infantry weapons, it would have been a different story. Trying to take on what he had with a basic Recce Squadron would have ended incredibly badly. I will, however, be changing up my list again, trying out some apparently 'impossible to win with' combinations to find out whether I am just lucky or not.

Three years too late for this to be relevant, but the song fits for the amount of ordnance that was dropped during the battle.