Firestorm: Red Thunder

Opening positions: The company of Leopard 2's surrendered the village to the battalion of T-72's. The canny commander of the Leopards, noting his company being outnumbered at nearly four to one thought that the confining spaces between buildings would be far more damaging to the enemy's leading companies than to his two-tank platoons.

As it was, he was correct, although the leading BMP-1 scouts were able to assist one T-72 company in making quick movement to clear the better part of the town. The other company was snaking its way through the town, trying to stay in a cohesive formation while minimizing its visibility to the woods outside.

Turn 1 - Leopard Company

Opening fire from the concealed Leopards was of mixed success. On the left, the lead Leopard platoon fired on the BMP-1 scouts, who were making their way towards their objective, destroying 1, but bailing the others. At the center of the board, the other Leopard platoon were similarly effective, destroying one T-72 and bailing another.

A cluster of ambushing Jaguar 1 tank hunters took up position to cover the left-hand T-72's and their scouts as well, adding their HOT missiles to the fray. Their position would serve to assist in breaking that company as the battle dragged on.

Turn 1 - T-72M Battalion

The left hand T-72's advanced aggressively towards the objective on the left, leading with remounted BMP-1's. The company had few shots, as they cleared the edges of the town, scoring few hits against the concealed Leopards. The other company slowly worked through the town, having just as few shots on the Leopards in the center of the board.

However, the small flight of Mi-24's came clattering too close to the enemy tanks, with the oft-discussed golden BB's bringing both down before they got a shot off. Their burning wreckage served to restrict the enthusiasm of the remainder of the battalion.

The Leopard 2 platoon, flush with their success in shooting down the feared Mil-24's, were sadly a bit delayed by rough terrain. After that, they and their brother platoon, manage to crush out 6 T-72's, and bail 1.

The shaken T-72 companies, gamely returned fire, blasting one of the Leopard 2's to the scrap yard.

Seeing subtle movement in the terrain, the Leopards use their excellent optics and send a message to the BMP scout platoon. Namely, "stay back," by catching two of them unaware. The Leopard platoon continues their suppression of a T-72 company, send three more tanks to the scrapyard.

The scouts continue their advance, keeping cover to avoid the Leopard 2's heavy guns. The T-72's open fire, but miss, likely due to misaligned sights from their hasty movement on the field.

Both Leopard platoons reorganize to cover the scouts and the T-72's. One platoon finishes off the scouts, the other finds and ideal line to cover the remaining T-72's.

The East German support elements, namely the Carnations and Gecko's make it to the battlefield. Unfortunately, the battalions combat elements fail to make any successful contact.

And with a final volley, the Leopard 2's shatter the ZSU platoon, sending the battalion into retreat.