Firestorm: Red Thunder

August 1985 near Ritter Reiter, West Germany.

US HQ inside Colonel David Hasselhoff’s tent
“Congratulations on your promotion Lieutenant Tran.” “Thank you sir,” Tran replied. “Eastman is taking over Charlie Company. As you know we are shorthanded in experienced commanders and I am sure you will do well. I have all the confidence in you. Now on to the mission.” He held a dramatic pause for a moment. “We are attacking in the Leipzig sector. You did well in defending Frankfurt, but now we need to punch through Ivan’s lines so not only we take Leipzig, but on to Berlin as well.” He paused to give Tran a chance to let this sink in. He continued, “Your orders are simple: Any enemy you find, you kill it.” Colonel Hasselhoff saluted the new lieutenant dismissing him and went back to examining the maps.

USSR HQ
Mission: Annihilation
OOB:
US M1 Abrams Tank Company
HQ 1 M1 8 pts
Platoon 2 X M1 16 pts
Platoon 2 X M1 16 pts
Cobra platoon AH-1 X 2 7 pts

Total: 47 points

USSR T-72 Tank Batalon
HQ T-72 Tank 5 pts
Platoon 4 X T-72 17 pts
Platoon 4 X T-72 17 pts
Platoon 2X Hinds 5 pts
Total: 44 pts

US Turn 1
Cobras fired TOWs at the Hinds hitting them but failing to do any serious damage.
The lone platoon of M1 tanks fired at the green T-72 company hitting one tank, but did not penetrate.
The M1 tank platoon next to Lt. Tran fired on the grey T-72 platoon managing three hits, but one T-72 was destroyed.

USSR Turn 1
Hinds moved behind the Cobras to engage with their gatling guns hitting both Cobras, but no extensive damage to either helicopter. The duel is on!
The green T-72 company fired on the lone platoon of M1 tanks bailing one tank. The other M1 failed their morale roll and left the field despite the protestations of Lt. Tran. Tran did not expect to lose this platoon so quickly.
The grey T-72 company fired on the M1 tank platoon next to Lt. Tran merely scratching off the newly painted turret.

US Turn 2
Cobras turned around and fired their Vulcans on the Hinds. Three hits and one failed save later, the Hinds are still standing.
The remaining m1 platoon blitz moved and then did a tactical move in an attempt to get closer to the Hinds to engage with the .50 caliber the following turn. This took them away from the line of sight of the grey T-72 and green T-72 tank companies.
Lt Tran pulled back into the woods so that no T-72 had a line of sight to his tank.

USSR Turn 2
The grey T-72 company moved up as did the green T-72 company using Blitz and tactical moves to close in on the remaining American tanks. The big scene involved the Hinds firing their Gatling guns on the Cobra helicopters succeeding in bringing one down with a resounding crash. The other Cobra immediately fled back to base to “refuel & rearm”. At this point, Lt Tran has one platoon of M1 tanks left in his force and things were not looking good.

US Turn 3
The M1 platoon pulled back to the road to face the grey T-72 company in the hopes that maybe it could go away. Unfortunately, the grey T-72 company did not agree to participate in this outlandish capitalist fantasy.
Lt. Tran moved up to the treeline to engage the grey T-72 company in the hopes that maybe damage could be inflicted. Alas, it was not meant to be.

USSR Turn 3
The Hinds swing around to support the grey T-72 company facing the M1 platoon. This time the Spiral missiles flew hitting one M1 sending it to the scrapyard.
The green T-72 company fired on the remaining M1 tank in the platoon giving it a Warsaw Pact sendoff it so richly deserves. POBEDA!!!

The grey T-72 company fires on Lt. Tran causing him to bail out.
Somehow, Lt. Tran succeeded in remounting and then he remembered a line from an old Clint Eastwood movie, The Outlaw Josey Wales.” It was Clint saying, “Dying ain’t much of a living, boy.”

He reluctantly gave the order to retreat as fast as possible giving the field to the Russians.
6-1 Russian victory