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Firestorm: Red Thunder

The Team Yankee Global Campaign

Combat at Kreuzburg

100 POINTS
Warsaw Pact
bayankhan
VS British
BH

Checking out BAOR

5th Guards Tank on the March - reminding the reader this is a TY game played using ancient technology

Wargaming is sometimes an addiction, and giving BH an outlet had the expected consequences. We kept this game limited, because BH still has to acquire the list books (I UPS'd him an extra rule book).

Of course, in the effort to build a 'perfect' combined arms force for tournament play, it's possible to forget that most of the fighting would be tanks and scout vehicles on one side and the same or a nearly pure infantry force on the other. It's refreshing to play something else.

Kreuzburg map, looking along Ruhr river trace. Stehlen is in upper left corner. Assault Map 'E'

Where the game took place on my end. Assault series included 8 maps, two of which have river traces in addition to streams. The river is unfordable. I considered 'cheating' by using my BRDM unit to ford the river and race to Stehlen, but decided against it as cheesy against a novice in TY. The dark lines on the map along river hexes mark banks that are not crossable without engineering work in the old game, so we treated them as impassable hexsides

SETUP for Kreuzburg, looking from east to west along trace of Ruhr. Cluster of lighter olive counters in center is town of Kreuzburg, aka the Junkyard

Set-up
We used Assault Map E, which has a river (the Assault series included rules for Engineering, including mines and bridges). We rolled scenario on the old scenario list, coming up with ENCOUNTER, a good fit for the strategic situation. We had rerolled after the first scenario attempt – naturally we had come up with NO RETREAT and I pointed out it was game over as the defender would end up trying to hold three bridges with three weak units and four minefields against potentially 20 tanks, and the game would be about the attacker trying to run tanks through a minefield after blasting apart the over-watching defenders. And thus largely be decided by the opening die roll.
BH rolled high after a couple ties, and picked the side of the map where the river was closest as ‘south’ and his deployment area. The town of Strehlen was on his western side, and I ended up putting an objective in it, while a hill mass on the east dominated the third of the three bridges, and became the other objectives. He put his objectives on the reverse slope of the large central hill mass.
BH’s single company list had no serious issues with reserves. The only tough call for BH was using the Swingfires or the Scorpions. We were using recon units for the first time, and I explained ‘Spearhead’ versus the Swingfire wonder powers, and Sneak and Peak was probably the tie-breaker. As it turned out, that didn’t matter much. BH tabled 2 Chieftain platoons and the Scorpions. I put down the 1st Battalion and the BRDMs from my support force.
BH used it to cross the river and seize Kreuzburg. I countered on the east end of the map with my BMPs. He put a Chieftain Platoon on that end of the map, and I put the BRDMs opposite the Scorpions. BH temporized by putting his command Chieftain in Kreuzberg. I put my battalion commander down on the hill above Kreuzburg, and BH took a bit more time to put out his last Chieftain platoon, as he realized now the full implications of unit-by-unit deployment followed by a die roll for moving first – I was going to deploy three units after seeing his entire setup. He finally followed through on his original plan and put the last Chieftains into Kreuzberg.
I deployed two ‘companies’ of T64 above Kreuzberg and No.3 to the east, relying on long range fire or maneuver to get them into the fight in the center if BH came out to play.

Junkyard opens for business. Flanking fire from Soviet No.3 company off picture edge to bottom (east) was a surprise for BH

We tossed the dice and BH won the toss. It wasn’t much of a win, and after some thought, BH came out of Kreuzburg to attack the hill. Two Chieftains rolled out of the town, including his company commander, as did the Scorpions. He moved the Scorpions up onto the high ground, and engaged my BRDMs. Leaving lanes for the Chieftains resulted in the Scorpions concentrating on my BRDMs, and he managed one kill and one bailed BRDM. He knocked out one of my T64s – a weak performance with four dice.
I couldn’t pass up the flanks of the two exposed Chieftains, and thus my No. 3 Company rolled from behind the hills to the east toward center table, using their 14” (7 hex) maneuver capability to put two flank shots into the flank of the exposed Chieftains. No.2 Company and the battalion commander rolled out from behind the woods, tungsten flew.
The bailed BRDM had remounted, and they hammered the Scorpions for two bails. 9 dice against two exposed targets…sneak and peak/scout only matters if the target is concealed, and the crossfire took care of that. Two of my T64s had no good targets and they managed to put one shot into a Scorpion for a fireball.
BH’s company commander and the other exposed tank both were destroyed, although I incredibly hit my single flank shot and then rolled a ‘1’ for firepower, the other T64s managed to finish it off. Also bailed another Chieftain from Troop A, which passed morale, and later remounted (the Assault counters are conveniently backprinted with an arrow marker, and we used that to mark bailed/bogged tanks. The commander failed to change tanks, and the Scorpions, bereft of leadership, abandoned the field, leaving two more burning vehicles in what would become the north Kreuzburg Scrapyard.

The Junkyard grows...and grows

Turn 2
BH was now in trouble and we both knew it. It was a long drive under flanking fire for the Chieftains on the east end of the battlefield to the other objective, and while a single Chieftain could reasonably contest the other objective against the BMP-1s, all I would have to do was reverse No.1 Company’s direction and he would have to come straight back. So he split his ticket, sending Troop B’s platoon leader and one tank on a blitz move to clear the single wood hex that was blocking his fire against my No.3 Company, putting under fire across the swamp (low terrain). Failed blitz; +1 to required hit number, but still one hit. Dead T64.
At Kreuzburg itself it was turning into a knifefight. There was no place to hide within a tactical move or terrain dash from Kreuzburg, so he literally had no choice about retreating, and thus chose to die with his boots on 4 shots, 3 hits, one dead T64, one bailed in No.1 Company (I rolled a 5 on the tank with only one hit). Didn’t matter, failed morale. Scratch No.1 company.
I drove into Kreuzburg from the east with No.3 Company (now 2 tanks) and the 1st Battalion Commandant while slicing around Kreuzburg to the west with No.2 Company, putting it in the open but screened from British Troop B. Storm of fire in Kreuzburg finished off one tank from Troop A. One long range shot at Troop B was to no effect. Troop A passes morale...again.
I had hesitated to move the BMP-1s to firing positions because of potential bog checks and so they remained hidden on their eastern hill. I had no such qualms about the BRDMs. The only prey remaining they could affect were the Swingfires, so they had swung around the junkyard to reach the main highway bridge using a follow me order for two extra hexes. One of them got on the bridge.

End of Turn 3. The junkyard keeps growing. Convenient for support echelon that polices the battlefield

BH had mixed luck so far, bouncing shots occasionally, killing almost as many tanks as I did. Only truly bad luck had been the Scorpion unit running, and it had been countered by my loss of No.1 Company. Decent luck continued, but it was just a tease - oops, his reinforcements appeared on the east end of the table. BH did what he could, successfully blitzing the reinforcements – Troop C- and then moving at tactical speed. This forced him to choose between moving part of Troop B further west, risking a morale check if even one tank bailed, or long range fire. BH gambled on moving his survivor from Troop A to contest Stehlen after he saw where his reinforcements ended up. He elected long range fire, frying the BRDM on the bridge with a hail of shots from Troop C, and nicking one of No. 2 Company’s tanks with a shot from Troop B. It burned.

Most importantly, the wrecked BRDM prevented the surviving BRDMs from dashing to the objective in my turn. I kept them on my side of the river, expecting more reinforcements on Turn 4.

Fortunately for BH, I got reinforcements but in the wrong place, too, bringing the Battalion Commandant and No.1 Company of 2nd Battalion onto the table, and then using their road dash speed to bring them forward to right behind my BMP-1s on the eastern flank, planning to contest the other object, in case his next reinforcement – guaranteed now – contested Stehlen. I pushed No.2 Company toward Strehlen, leaving No. 3 Company and the BC in Kreuzburg. Also pushed the surviving BRDMs. The blocked bridge prevented the BRDMs from reaching Stehlen this turn. I nerved myself into pushing the BMP-1s through the woods after failing to blitz them a second time. 6 shots from No.2, No. 3 company and the BC together nicked only one Chieftain from Troop B, two other hits bouncing from a combination of range and Stillbrew. With only one unit remaining and only two tanks in it, BH needed reinforcements badly.

Soviet troops occupy Stehlen - the game hangs in the balance

Turn 4
Now when he needed just an average roll for reserves, he didn’t get it. No help. Two long range shots against Kreuzberg and my NO.3 Company missed and two long range shots against No.2 Company killed one tank and bailed another. They passed morale.
I got no reinforcements either. The BRDMs and two survivors from No.2 Company, First Battalion, continued on into Stehlen. No.3 Company continued firing from Kreuzberg. My BMPs had two shots through the swamp (low cover) into Chieftain flanks but the +1 for concealment proved too much for them. No hits. However, my tanks did better. No. 3 Company killed one tank in Troop B and No.2 Company killed one tank in Troop C. Troop B passed morale, but the loss of the PL cost the remaining tank its mobility.

Soviets cross the Ruhr on the third bridge only to be surprised by Troop D

Turn 5
BH got his required reinforcements and again rolled a ‘6’ for where, effectively ending the game. He was now playing for points, and sent Troop D against the leading elements of 2nd Battalion. Meanwhile he pushed Troop C’s survivors into close range of eastern Stehlen. His shooting was perfect despite the failed blitz for Troop D, causing three close range hits on 2nd Battalion’s No. 1 Company, and destroying all three tanks. Troop C hit No. 2 company once, and killed a tank, causing a morale failure.
My post script, mostly for the purpose of showing BH something he might have overlooked, was blitzing (successfully) with my next reinforcement, No.3 Company of 2nd Battalion. It was able to reach a firing position with two tanks, and successfully clipped one Troop D’s tanks, killing it. Troop C took fire from the 3 BMPs, finally having a clear line of sight, and one hit flank and penetrated, killing a tank; the battalion commander killed the other. The Battalion commander of 2nd Battalion slipped over the hill near the eastern objective and blasted the last Chieftain of Troop B from the rear, hitting and killing the tank.

Junkyard at end of game

Game over, 4-3 PACT
HOT WASH
Reserves always create problems for NATO, and it’s exacerbated when the PACT player uses multiple small units (MSU). (Ignored, of course, is that NATO units are all MSU; it’s like the pundits are appalled that PACT players get this ‘benefit’ when, in fact, what’s happening from the PACT point of view is that we are paying a premium to get an unwieldy unit with tough morale).
BH gambled by being aggressive, and one more hit on a T64 and a BRDM in his first turn could have turned the game. When that broke against him, BH made the best of it. I made a couple of mistakes, one was after brilliantly using ‘Follow Me’ to get the most out of my BRDM movement my second turn, I stupidly put one of them on the bridge thus turning the bridge from ‘open/road’ to ‘terrain.’ The BRDMs could have begun Turn 4 in Stehlen for game over. I also was too cautious with the BMPs; they could have stopped Troop C earlier, saving me some dead tanks.
A costly victory; 8 T64 knocked out for 11 Chieftains. Two other T64 scurried away, and their commanders are being counselled severely with hoses by their mess mates.

Stock photo - Polkovnik Bayan salutes his victorious units. This was a TY game played with counters - no models were injured making this battle possible

AFTERMATH
Bayan surveyed the battlefield. He had the critical bridges, and behind him the 5th Guards was pouring across them. The brief engagement had cost him eight tanks; preliminary survey said only three could be made operational. The British 120mm were bruisers, and apparently the HESH rounds they preferred for sitting engagements were really bad. Good news was that the British had lost 11, and thanks to his Engineers none of them would be operational again, short of a factory. Five minutes, mud, some A4, and viola, the breech and barrel were wrecked, and if the tank still had battery power, its shells could contribute to the holocaust.
NATO was stepping all over his frequencies, but he had hit a HIP from the 34th returning to airfields in Bremen, and they had relayed the news – the bridges at Kreuzburg were open, whatever was going on in Dortmund.
There was no response from Front, so his orders were unchanged. Bayan’s ride would continue.
His Operations officer interrupted his survey of terrain to the south. “The Forward Detachment reports NATO tanks closing in from the southwest, sir. Dozens of them.”
Perfect. Now I don’t have to pick a direction. “Order the 3rd Battalion to reinforce the Forward detachment. 1st and 2nd Battalions will wheel on the 3rd and flank the Ferenghi devils from the south. Motor Rifles will link to the river.

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Warsaw Pact
bayankhan
Wins

6 Comments

  • Nabeshin says:

    Clever use of tokens to get a game in, good job making it work, even if it doesn’t capture nuances that TY has, such as terrain and flanking.

  • davehodo says:

    Congrats on the win comrade. Loved that game.

  • Nikolai Zhukuv says:

    Very good idea! Where did you get the counters? Is it from the Fulda gap game?

  • Hawk02 says:

    Hello,
    the idea with the card and the tactical symbols is good.
    I like that.
    Thanks for posting the battle and grats for winning.
    Commendation is given, rating also.
    Regards Frank.

  • Storm Caller says:

    Nice! I like the smoke on the counter.

    When you upload the photos do you have the ability to turn them before you up load here?

    My friend found his copy of central front! New ideas for the campaign

    Cheers

    Storm

  • fingolfen says:

    Such a clever way to get in some games! Thanks for getting this one posted!