Firestorm: Red Thunder

(Pre game) cobras and hinds were not finished in time and nothing's painted. But I wanted to stomp some commies teeth in so here we are. 9 T-72's and 5 Abrams will fight today.

Pre mission briefing: after the surprise attack by the Soviets the war is now on. Bad weather has grounded all air assets and the Russians are on the horizon advancing with thunder and fury.

Artillery was unleashed a few minutes prior to the start of the fight with minimal effect.

Game went for 5 turns. 2 Abrams were left after the Soviets routed again (4 left for them) things learned. Do not show your sides or ass to the tanks. Bad things happen when that happens

Bad weather having grounded the air assets and delays on infantry and light armored units meant that the assault on Fulda Gap would truly begin 12 minutes after the infantry were hit by the Soviet scouts.

USSR turn 1: deploying on the western side of the map. The Soviets rushed as fast as possible, attempting to gain as much ground as possible. Todd's tanks utilized cover as much as they could, attempting to close in ASAP. No shooting was required as the American tanks were not in the area where they should have been.

US turn 1: The abrams had to hold the field as a command track was having mechanical issues which forced them to remain parked behind a Hotdognalds fast food place in order to affect repairs, a single dragon team was on guard within the tank and provided covering fire for the down 113, once the Russian tanks hit the freeway speed left them halfway to the middle of the map and the us forces advanced towards the middle of the town enough to use their superior range on the T-72's. 3 shots and one damaged tank later the battle was on.

USSR turn 2: The US tanks got lucky but the return fire was successful at forcing a tank to bail out. Maneuvering to surround the town Todd's armor managed to do an effective job at surrounding the US. A tank got caught up in some difficult terrain and was left behind by the Soviets push down the road.

US turn 2: with one tank bailed out the commander decided that to take cover behind a factory with the remaining forces with the hope the bailed out tank was salvageable. However a bright flash confirmed the tank was lost. The counter fire brought the commander within knife fighting distance and another Soviet tank was knocked out. However the rest of the US tanks were reporting a computer error and had to be reset.

USSR turn 3: Todds advance was fast, however his tank crews were struggling with difficult terrain as they hit heavily woods and bogging down at the worst times possible. Moving his tanks up for a full broadside left two more Abrams burning. However the damnable Americans refused to budge and carried on with two remaining tanks.

US turn 3: burning wreckage littered the battlefield yet again as more 72's were cored out by the accurate return fire. When the smoke cleared the remaining Soviets had lost another 2 tanks with one bailed out. However the crew managed to repair the issue and were back in the fight before long.

Ussr turn 4: the Americans remaining tanks could not be killed. Five tanks hit one target yet when the smoke cleared the armored machines were still engaged. Two 72's rushed within Los of the command track and attempted to destroy it. However the buildings between them gave enough cover that it was not hit and the crew of the dragoon began to prep their rocket. Most of the bogged down tanks managed to get unstuck and join the battle.

US turn 4: the us tanks began shooting after pulling back into cover, the dragon was loaded and brought to bear on a t'72 in the crossroads of the town while the commander missed his two shots on another 72. With a triumphant whoop the rocket struck home and outright destroyed the Soviet tank. The last Abrams zeroed in on the command tank of the Soviets and opened up.

Last turn. The Soviet tank was burning and the new acting officer, surveying the town decided that enough death had happened, began screaming for all his remaining comrades to retreat. By the time they were back on the other side of the curtain only 4 tanks would be returning to the home zone. As they sped back for resupply and reinforcements another armored division could be seen approaching with BMPs and infantry. No air support yet however.

AAR. Man that was fast and brutal. Once we got the flow of the game down it began to pick up more and more. After the fight we swapped sides and the second game was finished in three turns that took about 30 minutes. Loads of fun and comments on the terrain and minis were mostly positive and we had a crowd watching us casually. So my helis are still not done so next Sunday if the parts have not arrived I will continue with the bad weather narrative. I noticed that 5 Abrams are worth less than 9 T-72's so I opted to field a static dragon missile team to off set that. However it was the secondary objective for the Russians and it was fun watching it save the day.

We both learned that side and butt shots are the devil and had to insure that they rarely happened after a devastating two turns where I lost nearly all my forces and only by the grace of Mattis did I roll that 6 when I did for their morale check. However the Soviets dice roll was a 1 and it just fit that the commander really held them together so his burning tank was all that was needed for them to break.

Side note, the mini rule books are poorly set up as we couldn't find clear descriptions on some rules. We did figure them out but that should be looked into