Firestorm: Red Thunder

Captain Bezarin had hoped for some well deserved rest following the breakthrough in the Ruhr, but apparently the Americans had other ideas. The damned Yankees had launched a bold offensive towards Leipzig, and high command had ordered all available forces to the region to blunt this move. As a result and due to his latest promotion, Bezarin was given command of a detachment from the 10th Guards composed of repaired T-64s and rear echelon air defense units. His mission was to perform a reconnaissance in force towards a local farm and ascertain American intentions.

NON-NARRATIVE Note: Since we were playing a 'smaller' point game, the road on the side of the table represented the tables 'hard-deck' for this game. My friend and I figured it would make sense in context and made for an obvious board edge.

NON-NARRATIVE Note #2: For this game, since all my T-64s would be on the table at the game start and only 1 platoon had ATGMs, I used the T-64BVs to indicate the ones with missiles and the normal T-64Bs as ones without. Except for the commander, cause Bezarin get's whatever tank he wants! RHIP.

With the initiative in his favor for once, Bezarin wastes no time in ordering his entire force forward. With a bold strike, his Hinds land close to the American line, hoping to delay the American push to one of the objectives. Meanwhile, the rest of the Soviet force begins to spread out to cover the area, with tanks pushing each flank and the Motor Rifle troops advancing towards the farmstead. Only the new tanks with the AT-8s reamained behind with Bezarin to cover the advance.

With the Soviets deploying all across the line, the American commander is forced to react quickly. Deploying his units, he sends a mech platoon to deal with the Soviet Hinds and another up the center to counter the Soviet motor rifles, while he sends his tanks towards the fields of the farms to start firing on the Soviet tanks so his ITVs can deploy. Despite relatively clear fields of fire, the American tankers are unable to score a hit. The same cannot be said for the Yankee artillery and helicopters, whose fire on the Motor Rifle troops is accurate and deadly. But retribution is swift, as despite being rear echelon units, the SAMs score some kills.

With first blood having gone to the Americans, the Soviets move to counter their moves. With the assault troops deployed on the hill, the Hinds move to engage their American counterparts in an aerial duel. As this happens, Bezarin's tanks move forward to press the advantage of missed American fire, killing a couple of American tanks. Meanwhile, his surviving Motor Rifle troops move to occupy the farmstead.

With his tanks staying resolute, the American commander deploys his escorting infantry for an assault to take the hill from the Soviets and orders his other infantry forward to seize the farmstead. His M1s have some luck, but not a lot of it, killing a single Soviet tank. The same bad luck strikes the American attack helicopters, with their shots failing to deter or damage the Soviet Hinds. But despite these strokes of bad luck, the American artillery and infantry platoons start inflicting casualties of the Soviet infantry units. With bold charge, the American commander gains control of the hilltop from the Soviets. All is not lost yet!

The American's have fully committed now, and the action is joined across the line. A unit of T-64s moves toward Hill 117 to reclaim it, while the rest of Bezarin's tanks continue to duel with their American counterparts. With a flurry of cannon fire, the Hinds down a Cobra and force the other to withdraw, clearing the skies. But the Motor Rifle troops remained pinned in the farm, with too much artillery and MG fire preventing them from safely breaking cover.

With the odds shifting, the American commander opts for a bold gambit. Following a suppressing artillery bombardment and with a hurrah and blurry of weapons fire, the American infantry move into the farmstead. The last M1 attempts to use the buildings as cover while trying to hide from Bezarin's fire. At the farmstead, the Americans charge in. In a back and forth close quaters combat that neither side backs down from, the two units nearly mutually wipe each other out. Finally, the Americans 'win' the combat, and despite the casualties, both the surviving units remain, starring across the farmstead daring the other to make a move...though to be honest, both sides survivors are pretty sure they'd be fine just sitting in their respective buildings until the battle ended.

With the action at the farm dying down, Bezarin orders his tanks foward for an all out effort. With MG fire, his tanks clear Hill 117 of most of the Americans, save the commander. The last American tank is finally hunted down and destroyed. And to ensure to the American infantry stay put, Bezarin orders his ZSUs to the farm. With his artillery being pummeled by the Hinds and most of his combat units gone or about to be, the American commander is forced to surrender. Bezarin smiles as one of his company commanders confusedly reports that some Americans have just surrendered to his tanks and he wants to know what he should do. Bezarin could not help but chuckle a little.

NON-NARRATIVE Note #3: My friend wanted to play on a table with less buildings, so we turned to the yellow (cough), I mean green fields of eastern Germany for this one. With this likely being my last game of the campaign due a move, my friend wanted a repeat of the Recon in Force game at higher points and I accepted since the last one was a bloody blast, literally. This was another great game, with the best part being the assault that no one wanted to give up on. Neither one of us failed a motivation check for something like 2-3 rounds of combat, until I finally broke when we were both down to a single stand. The visual of our single stand units just starring across the farm was priceless.