Firestorm: Stripes

This early morning engagement on Bundeswehr positions began with their initial digging in on the battlefield, panzergrenadiers setting up a fighting position with Gepard back-up to cover a rally point. Unfortunately, their accompanying Marders hung up on terrain that looked good through thermal imaging, but was a bit too rough for the actual drive.

In response, WARPACT forces advanced at a measured pace, keeping their gunships out of sight while the T-72's advanced on another objective with their AAA embedded.

Morning had not yet arrived, but the Luftwaffe did. An airstrike destroyed one T-72, bailed 3 others, and left the crew of one ZSU-23-4 shaken. However, the remainder of the West German team stayed close to the ground, bracing for the incoming swarm of tanks.

The WARPACT tanks quickly remounted 2 of the 3 bailed vehicles, leaving one tank and the ZSU behind as the company advanced on the Gepards and their attached fliegerfaust teams. They fired as they advanced, but the entrenchments served the SAM teams well, protecting them from the main gun rounds.

With morning creeping around the corner, the Luftwaffe returned to fire on the flight of Hinds, downing one. Darkness kept the Tornados safe from the ZSU's, but it failed to protect the WARPACT T-72's from the company commander's Leopard 2. He killed one tank and bailed another, just as dawn broke, bringing the PAH section into the fray.

The T-72's continue their advance on the objective, killing the Gepard, sending the other running for home, and crushing the fliegerfaust teams beneath their treads. The ZSU's, no longer limited by their mediocre optics, reorganized to provide a modicum of cover for the T-72 company.

The delayed fast recon element supporting the West German panzers arrives to move on an objective. With the T-72's grinding on the other side of the battlefield, a quick strike by these armored vehicles might snag the objective. In response to the T-72's taking that side of the field, the West German company commander leads off by destroying the T-72 battalion commander's tank, forcing him away from his subordinates.

The Hinds re-deploy and break the recon vehicles, sending them away as quickly as they arrived, while another T-72 company deploys to cover that access of advance.

Long-awaited reinforcements in the form of a fresh Leopard 2 platoon arrive, and with the help of the PAH detachment, kill one and bail two T-72's. The company commander, not to be out-done, kills a ZSU.

In response, the T-72's fail to cause any damage to the newly arrived Leopard 2's. Nor does the other T-72 company or the Hinds do any damage to the dug-in panzergrenadiers and their Marder transports.

The return of the Luftwaffe sees two of their vaunted fighter-bombers shot down by WARPACT ZSU's, but they still manage to kill three T-72's, with the Leopard 2 platoon and the PAH detachment seeing the rest of the T-72 company off. The company commander, bereft of targets at this point, kills a ZSU, leaving only one behind.

The WARPACT forces, bringing in their final reserves, a T-55 company and a recon unit, is starting to see the writing on the wall. The new reserves dash towards the objective that saw so many T-72's destroyed. The Hinds move to cover that advance, killing two of the Leopard 2's, though their remaining comrade stays to fight. The other T-72 company continues its advance on the panzergrenadiers, firing but hitting nothing.

The final moments of the battle see the Bundeswehr come back, and despite losing the second Leopard 2 platoon, they shatter the remaining WARPACT forces, destroying the T-72's and T-55's that remain, and breaking the advancing recon BMP's. The Hinds, unable to take ground on their own, withdraw with the Spandrel Panzerjagers.