Firestorm: Red Thunder

Situation: Our offensive in this sector has stalled. Enemy forces have not only been able to establish a solid defensive line, but in some areas launched limited counterattacks that have been quite successful. US forces are being reinforced ( we have identified armored cav elements of the US 3rd Infantry division-3rd of the 66th) from forces stationed at Aschaffenberg. We have tried to bypass the Sendelbach area only to find resistance even tougher. We must break through these defenses!!!

Mission: The mission of the 9th tank battalion, 3rd combined Tank Regiment is to attack the German line near Sendelbach and seize the alternate main bridge over the Main river.

Set-up
The Germans deployed an undersized infantry accompany in the small town square by the petrol stationed along with the 2 Leo 2 tank platoon. The rest was either in the town itself or in the crop field. The Russians started at the other end near the outlying farm areas.

Col Durchenko drinks his morning Yoohoo-a gift from the Political officer-as he looks at his wildly outdated map of the area. His plan is to seize the town square and turn the flank of the Germans and at the same time keep pressure on the German Center. The high fructose corn syrup does its thing and the Colonel gives the orders to start the show.

Turn 1

The arty does what it always does-lots of kaboom and we burn down the petrol station this time, we are saving the McPizza King for later-the tanks and BMP-!s move up

The Germans manage to knock out a 3 T-55Ms (a very bad start for us and some great rolling by the German) and a T-72 is knocked out by the Jag 1 platoon.

Turn 2:
The T-55Ms kill a marder-its infantry teams survive- and one of our arty regiments drop smoke, off target but well enough that it does it's job.

The Germans move up-I keep forgetting they can move 10 inches-so are able to engage my T-55Ms knocking out the last of them-oh my now that flank is in deep doo-doo. The German CO's tank knocks out a T-72

Turn 3:
Durchenko has to move to his left to cover that flank. His T-72s move and take out 2 Leo2s and another smoke mission from my other arty regiment keeps the Jag 1 crews blind. Suddenly things are looking up.

The Germans move the remaining marders in he town square to a position where they can haul back to the town if needed. The infantry in the square prep for a fight.

Turn 4:

The tanks kill a marder-a BMP company moves in to the square. Durchenko keeps his T-72 company moving forward toward the crop field with infantry in BMP-1s right behind. Arty is called in but in not effective.

The German commander counter attacks with his tanks knocking out 1 T-72, in the town square a Milan team KIAs a BMP-1 and an RPG team is killed.

Turn 5:
The T-72's take out a single Leo 2 in some of the worst shooting I have ever seen. At least in town the Russian infantry and BMP-1s take out the last marders. So 2 Marder platoons are KIA.

We lose 4 T-72s to some great shooting. We also lose 2 more BMPs to infantry teams in the factory and garage area and that damned McPizza King!!!

Turn 6:

The 4 remaining T-72s fire at the 2 remaining Leo2s and........nothing. Why dice gods!!!! why have you abandoned me now!!! In the town square the infantry teams knock out the infantry in the garages and the burned petrol station. Now there are only 3 enemy infantry teams left-1 at McPizza King and 2 in the factory.

The German Milan team in the factory knock out the last BMP-1 from the first company and the German tanks knock out 2 more T-72s-leaving only 2 tanks left.

With all the burning tanks and APCs....sooo much burning.....The T-72s move into the town square in an attempt to bypass the German tanks. Our infantry takes the last building in the square. THE MCPIZZA KING IS OURS!!!!!!!!! and the 2nd infantry company dismounts and prepares to take the factory.

The factory teams kill the 3 remaining teams from the 1st company. The German tanks move to engage the T-72s but cant get a clean shot over all the burning wreckage.

Turn 8:
Why wont someone give up? Our infantry takes losses, but in hand to hand combat we have taken the factory!!! urrahhh!!! our BMP-1s move up to support the infantry.

And 2 BMP-1s are KIA as 2 Leo2s get a clear shot. But now the Germans have no infantry.

Turn 9:
Endless burning. The Russian units consolidate 3 infantry teams, 2 T-72s and 2 BMP-1s as well as a command T-72 are all that remain.

The Germans do the same with 2 Leo2s (1 is the HQ) 1 Marder and 3 Jag1s he will not attack either. So the game ends and the German still has possession of the objective so he wins.

Although we set the points at 125, we both wanted a smaller game and settled at 90/91 points-it was a well played game by Josh and he really hit my left flank hard-so I had to adjust my plan and got bogged down it the town square. I will make one more attempt to break through here but failing that, we will continue to search for that weak spot