Firestorm: Red Thunder

Set Up:
This is a continuation of our 2 part mini-campaign with over 200 points total. Sundays/Mondays?? battle was fought and the US consolidated its positions forward of the bridge, as the Russians who were attacking did the same after suffering severe casualties. ( The American conceded the game, but not the bridge) So we rest the board so we could do a larger version of the Seize the bridge mission.

I noticed, after we reset the board, a glaring problem for the Russians-I would have to attack-both sides-down a very narrow corridor, taking away my biggest advantage-space (the space to get on the flanks of my opponents. So it was going to be a sledgehammer approach with massed artillery and air support( I still have 3 sorties left-although he does have 2 )

26 August 1985. 1030 hrs. local
Durchenko has sent 1/2 of his battalion ( 1 T-72 tank company, 1 BTR company, and a BRDM2 scout platoon several miles down river looking for another crossing-he hopes to be able to attack both sides at once and catch the allies in a pincer. By noon and with no word from his other formation, he has decided to attack ( under much protest) and trust that the other formation will find a way.

Turn 1:
Nothing shows up on the other side, His remaining T-72s from yesterday (8) move forward. The BMP-1s move to attack and KIA 1 M113, air support does arrive and KIAs 2 Leo2s.

The allies have 0 reinforcements to draw on. The US infantry fire a law and KIAs a BMP-1, the M113 with the dragon KIAs another BMP-1. The US tank ace captain fire and gets 2 hits and........nothing-not today sir!!! The German CO fires and KIAs a T-72. ITVs fire and miss, US arty hits but does no damage.

Turn 2:
Still no sign of the other force-this can get really bad quick!!! We roll a 5 so can call on yet another air strike. The T-72s move up and get 3 hits-the US captain's M1 is knocked out-he survives though. The BMP-1s fire and KIA 1 M113. The Russian Infantry moves up and assaults the last 2 US teams in the factory-In the assault the Russians lose 4 stands, but the last US team is eliminated. The Russian infantry consolidates in the factory. The 2nd air strike KIAs the last German tanks.

The Allies get a 6 and get a flight of A-10s. The lone survivor dragon team passes his morale, the M113s remount, the ITVs begin to withdraw across the bridge-to the German side. The ZSUs were too far back so the US aircraft have the chance to fire first-they do, 2 T-72s are burning-then the A-10s take shots and get knocked out. US artillery is again ineffective

Turn 3:
Still no reinforcements!!!! Where are they?!!! Durchenko moves up with his 5 T-72s The 4 BMP-1s left reform and attack the dragon team, they overrun the last US infantry (dragon) team. The RPG-7 shots from the infantry in the factory just bounce off the sides of the XOs M1. All our shots at the ITVs miss.

The allies get air support once more-their last-and another T-72 is KIA. The ITVs KIA another T-72 (3 left) The XO rolls morale...a 1-he gathers up his captain and beats feet out of there along with the single ITV platoon. The German 109s move and so will not be available for a fire mission.

Turn 4:
Finally, the Scouts and tanks begin to arrive on the other side. The last 3 T-72s on the other side close in and fire at the last ITVs they get 2 hits and ....roll 2 1s....are you freaking kidding me!!!!!

I let the 2 ITVs get away.....I had to. The Germans begin to brace for an attack from both sides-the bridge will be ours, but the German says he wont concede. He can still retake the bridge-so the game goes on.

Turn 5:
The Russians move up on both sides with the BRDMs taking the lead on the one side and 4 T-72s on the other making it over the bridge. We KIA a M113 leaving only 1 M113.

All kinds of shots miss the BRDMs and a marder takes a missile shot and knocks out a T-72 blocking the bridge, at least for now.

Turns 6 and 7

The Russians knock out a few marders and close on the German position. The German tanks attack the T-72 formation and begin to destroy them by knocking out 5 in 2 turns. The Russians get 2 hinds and the germans lose another 2 Marders-but then the hinds in turn get hit and 1 gets KIAd.

Turns 8, 9, and 10

It got ugly, The Germans would not withdraw or surrender-so a battle to the end. At the end of the 2 day battle the following was all we had left:

4 BMP-1s and 4 teams from the BMP Infantry
2 T-72 from one company
2 T-72 From another company
2 BMP scouts
2 BMP scouts
2 ZSU-23-4s
and 8 BTRs
along with the T-72 HQ. So the 3 hour game comes to a close. The Russians won 4-3 but if we had a 3rd battle we could hardly defend ourselves. Our battalion is moved to the rear for refit or reassignment.

So in the end-we started with over 200 points and end with less than 40. Tough, very tough. We are going to revisit this type of campaign after this one. But for now-we want to do a lot of smaller quick missions.