Firestorm: Red Thunder

My friend Nate and myself wanted to jump right into Leipzig so we started with two small scrims and with a cool little back story spin. He then wanted to play a real battle with massive formations, and this is where we landed. I informed him that I was going to lead the 4th Pomorska Mechanized Infantry Division and the 5th Saska Armored Division in this battle. Since he and I are unfamiliar with the NATO forces being thrown into the fray we decided to go with a combined arms, tanks, AA, infantry and artillery.

I hope everyone enjoys the show regardless of the outcome. Let's begin.

The squeals of tank treads and the roar of engine could be heard in the distance. Colonel Vladimir Orlovsky had been specifically called in to oversee the Polish forces offensive in the Leipzig area after proving outstanding results on the Northern Front. Our good friend Sokobowski and his men had paid their dues and we headed to the back of line to get some much needed R&R.

Vladimir figured that the Americans would use their armored formations to punch a hole through their lines, the 23rd Tank Regiment was called to the front with support from a Company of SKOT-1 APC. Zvezda and his squadron were standing on call from ground forces, ready to pounce on any target.

"Today, comrades we fight to defend our homes. We fight to keep our families safe! These NATO dogs do not know the glory of socialism, or experienced our struggles. But today we shall show them our courage and our might. They shall tremble before us! Grab your weapons men, we go to war!" Orlovsky shouted before being drowned out by the cheers of soldiers gathered.

No Reinforcements have caught up with the forward spearhead.

The Abrams HQ joins one of the Armored Companies and all of the Abrams move up the flank towards the Polish reinforcement area.

Two mechanized Companies move to the center CH-53 Super Stallion. The HQ unit deploys and defends the southern objective alone and the third mechanized Company deploys its infantry and they move to engage the Polish infantry at the forest line. Taking up positions the Americans kill a rifle squad and the Polish are pinned.

Orlovsky calls in the SU-25s to strike the Abrams formation, four Kh-25s break off from the wings of the SU-25s and head to the ground in search of a target. Three find their marks and knock out three Abrams.

The Polish Piechota Zmech rally from the NATO fire and sneak around the NATO infantry with a blitz move, and the PKM adjusts to get into a better position. Popping out from the surrounding trees, Piechota Zmech unload their AKs into the American infantry mowing them down from the back. The AGS-17 and PKMS fire they bursts and finish off the remaining infantry, leaving the area littered with bodies.

The SKOT-1s move in to take out the M113s escorting the infantry, destroying two and bailing out another.

In the distance the the thunderous sound of rockets can heard with plumes rising from behind a forest.

The T-72Ms Jaguars move forward in their respective directions with one group moving behind the smoke bombardment and the other closing the distance to the M47 Dragon teams.

No sight of American reinforcements.

The Abrams push past the smoke and link up to support the infantry in the forest. Opening fire with everything they have, the Americans seem to have poor aiming. A shot ricochets across the hull of one of the T-72s and another causes a T-72 to panic and bail.

The Dragons have similiar luck like the Abrams and manage to bail a tank.

The remaining M113s pull back to the rear CH-53 and attempt to hold it.

The SU-25s come back for another pass, this time lining up shots on rear-ends of the M113s. The SU-25s open up with a roar from their 30mm GSh-2-30. The ground erupts with explosions and four M113s are left burning.

The SKOT-1 APCs are barreling down towards the M113s, while the Piechota Zmech take up positions on the outskirts of the forested area.

The T-72M Jaguars of both tank companies close in on the Abrams with some having the space to flank over a hill behind the Abrams and push in close so the M47 Dragons can't fire. The combined might of the T-72s knocks out three Abrams and leaves two more bailed out.

The NATO reinforcements seemed to be held up by other Polish forces because there is no sight of them.

One Abrams gathers up the courage to hop back into their tank and follows the other one to get the hell out of dodge and set up shots behind a couple of T-72s. A shot lands an unlucky T-72 crew to an early grave.

The Dragons are still just outside of minimum range of the T-72s towards the flanks of the burning Abrams so they give them a nice heaping of HEAT. Two brew up in a fire ball, and another T-72 decides they'd rather be someplace else.

The Polish are battle ready and the T-55s start to roll in. The SU-25s are called on a fire mission on a different battlefield.

The T-72Ms bypass the infantry hiding in the woods and head around some hills to wipe out the remaining Abrams, however rolling over so many hills and firing on the move only result in the Abrams crew finding the lowest point in their tanks to seek shelter.

The SKOTs flank around the sides of the M113s clinging on to dear life of the objective. Such a barrage of bullets makes mince meat of the HQ squad as they disappear in a red mist. The M113s suffer a similar fate with the closest M113 exploding but allows for the other two M113s to become bailed as it acts like a metal barrage from the bullet-storm.

Reloaded and ready to string the trap, the BM-21 Grads unleash an overwhelming amount of firepower towards the NATO infantry in the forest. Much of the infantry in the area are killed instantly as either a rocket hit them directly or the concussion liquefied their organs.

Having broken through the surrounding Polish forces, a company of Abrams answers the call.

Having lost the HQ, the Command M113 flees.

Only the command Abrams gets back into their tank and falls back toward the objective firing frantically destroying one more T-72M. The Infantry in the woods remain where they are, with their faces kissing the dirt.

With a double boxcars (and not wanting to deploy 16 T-55s) the two commanders arrive on the field a T-55 and a T-72M.

The Polish infantry make their blitz move towards the NATO forces in the forest and at a marching pace run in guns blazing killing a majority of the defenders. The NATO infantry stood no chance, and are mopped up in a quick hand to hand death match.

The SKOTs press the attack on the M113s who don't even bother turning around (as my opponent loses hope) slaughtering all but one M113.

The Scout cars remain behind the forest.

Both Abrams are in the command squad are wiped out.

A group of M109s push the exploit the Abrams have gained and come in from reserves.

The M113s flee the field of battle without a commander to raise their spirits.

The newly arrived Abrams company dashes as fast as they can towards the objective to stall a Polish victory.

The M109s have no targets.

More reinforcements arrive (however it was the end phase and I didn't feel like putting those 16 T-55s on the table just to clean up 20 mins later without them being used.)

The Su-25s come back in and sight the M109s as a nice juicy target. Opening up with the main gun again, three 109s brew up and the other three are bailed.

The Abrams, in their haste did not see the AT-4 Spigot squads which were now on their flanks. Six missiles let loose, four hit the target but only two Abrams are knocked out.

The T-72Ms unleash everything but only manage the kill one more Abrams.

Forgetting that I would win if I was in control of at least one objective the round ended on the end of my turn instead of the beginning. Also my friend just had no luck with reinforcement rolls, I mean they were abysmal. Also never playing infantry before he didn't remember that the dragon has a minimum range, however most of the time he had shots with them as I couldn't close in with my rear units. I feel if he brought in the VADS first which I though he did, it would have made things a little bit more difficult for me. Having artillery last I see his point, I would have just done what I did anyways denying him access to barrages...actually I did it to myself in a few rounds actually.

It was just the bad luck rolls on his part and I was making crazy saves with my T-72s. Another loss for NATO (yay Warsaw) however it could just have easily been me with a crushing defeat because my strategy that battle was horrible as I didn't take into account the reinforcement rules.

Colonel Orlovsky was impressed with the fighting capabilities of the Polish, they tore through the American lines with speed and efficiency. These men fought hard today, and the Americans put up a good fight, if not for the surrounding Polish forces separating the American spearhead, this battle may have taken a different turn. For now it was time to count ammo, vehicles and men; this was just one battle in a war