Firestorm: Stripes

The panzer division consisted of

Commanding T-72M
Kompanie of 3 T-72M
Kompanie of 3 T-72M
Kompanie of 5 T-55-AM
Medium BMP1 Mot-Schützen Kompanie
-With 9 BMP's
2 BMP1 Aufklarungs Zug

With supporting
4 Shilka's
3 2S1 Carnations Artillery
BMP1 Observer

The plan was to forgo air units in effort to focus on utilizing artillery support in massive attacks, of course knowing the gaming group I couldn't cut down on anti-air (as you can see below) so four Shilka's were brought along. This had unexpected side effect as the mission wasn't decided beforehand.

The British Mechanized Company (BMC) consisted of

HQ and two CPMG SF
-One Fv432
Two small Mechanized platoons with Milans
-With eight Fv432 in teams of four

Supporting this
Four Scorpion Recces
Four Rapiers
Four Harriers
Four TOW Lynx Helicopters

Commander Comments (CC): Holy Hell! They brought 22 points worth of air assets! Thankfully I didn't bring any Krokodiles as the four Rapiers would have made short work of those. But this infantry heavy list was going to be problem even though point wise this game was 50 vs 43.

Picking out a region where neither of us had fought before we landed on the Hof Corridor and boy were we in for a surprise. Warsaw Pack Hasty Attack at Dawn where only half of NATO forces are on the table and rest is in Deep Scattered Reserves, this was not to be an easy job for the British chaps.

The Major started putting down objectives, placing them smartly, his only being on the road so he could possibly road rush it when light breaks and reinforcements arrive. The other (my objective) right by the end of the map behind a forest, not quite what I had in mind.

Since the Major only three units to defend I put down my two objectives as far apart as possible without giving them much cover, hoping they would force him to stretch the line to a breaking point.

The British forces deployed one infantry platoon dug in around Obj.1 and another stretched out between Obj. 2 and 3, pretty much what I had hoped for.

For me it was just a question whether to attack Obj. 1 or 3 with everything I got. Since his Obj.4 was in one corner I decided to put everything there so I wouldn't need to leave units behind to defend it. Using the Aufklarungs Zug to spearhead the deployment I put the Mot-Schutz kompanie as much forward as possible, counting on night to cover them on the way to the objective. The rest was simple packing, trying to have everything covered with AA and artillery behind.

Strangely enough NATO takes the first turn and boy the British do not joke around (did they learn this from the Americans?), the first thing I get is four Harriers striking the formation! And the Shilka's are too slow to react as they can't confirm targets in the night!

Thankfully the tanks saw what was incoming and got lucky, striking down one Harrier before they could release. But that luck didn't last long as they lost two T-72's and one BMP in the issuing strike, less then expected but for some reason the Harriers didn't range in quickly enough.

Suffering minor casualties the Battalion rushed forwards! BMP's taking the front while the tanks are covered by smoke bombardment. Nothing else fires, trying to keep the cloak of night as long as possible. Undaunted the infantry lugs it to catch up.

I was expecting at least some fireworks being this close to them but being too confident in their foxholes they didn't spot us (Major rolling one, the only team able to see something was the Milan but it was within minimum range).

The platoon on Obj.1 apparently get a scrambling message from HQ requesting support against imminent attack, everyone mounting up and moving out, trying to make it in time.

Now the firework show is on! All the infantry rushed out and took up firing positions along with T-72's and BMP's and rained hell on the Brits, but apparently it was more fireworks then anything else. The British held in their foxholes without a casualty. Angered by this my infantry charged their position! but the hailstorm of counter-fire was too much and few teams were lost.

With the far platoon reinforcing the line the British return fire did not amount to much against the superior Volksarmee infantry, which stood its ground against everything they threw at it. The only casualty was a T-72M spotted by the Milan team.

As the sun starts to crawl up the horizon the firefight intensifies, the T-72 commander arriving to flak along with the scouts and the T-55/T-72's line up to concentrate fire on the objective. Hoping to push the enemy infantry off the objective everything is called in. 2S1 finally digging one team out of the foxholes and through volume of fire the reinforcing teams are picked off one by one. But the British Bastards do not give up, through all of this they are still holding in their holes like the weasels they are, grrr.

The next round was the defining point, Harriers came in for strike but Shilka's and AA fire took two more down and the last fled the scene. TOW Lynx helicopters finally in position to strike but still waiting. Milans and Gustavs striking out targets of opportunity, taking out two T-55's and two BMP's, forcing the scouts to retreat. His infantry cutting down mine that was sitting on the objective. This was not enough though.

Since I had lost the infantry on the objective I had to push forward, but I didn't want to compromise the position, I only sent out one unit to contest. This payed off as wave of luck hit and I finally broke the platoon holding the objective through combined firepower of everything I had. Just one more turn and the Objective is mine.

I must commend his effort and determination of the British, he ran with everything forward trying to take the objective back, even bringing in Scorpions from the far edge at full speed down the road towards the objective. The TOW Lynx wrecked my Shilkas from there position but it didn't matter, over-watch brought it all down around the objective, the last remaining Shilka finishing off the last unit, securing victory for the Pact.

This was a well fought battle with the British fighting despite odds stacked heavily against them.

My first victory! yay! but looking at the scenario my opponent didn't have much chance to begin with but he fought well, extraordinary well. This did last longer then expected as the dug in infantry is nigh invulnerable!

Thank you for a great battle once again Major Beaver!

Small Bonus