West German Infantry vs Russian Afghansty in No Retreat near Essen and the Ruhr

Tornadoes darken the sky over Russian troops as West Germany moves to free Essen and the Ruhr

My third game of the Firestorm: Stripes campaign was against Shawn and his 64 point Russian Afghansty. This time the NATO players are on the offensive and I won the roll and became the attacker. I decided to attack from Munster into the WARSAW held area of Essen with the intention of knocking  5VP away from the WARSAW. Shawn opted to have a static defence and we rolled No Retreat.

What the campaign map looks like so far

Big Willie's West Germans

OC in Marder

Full infantry platoon in Marders

Full infantry platoon in Marders

2 x Luchs

3 x M109

OC in M113

Full infantry platoon in M113s

Short infantry platoon in M113s

3 x Leo1s

2 x Luchs

2 x Rolands

FIST

4 x LARs

4 x Tornadoes

Shawns Afghansty

OC

Full Afghansty infantry platoon with 2 Hinds

Full Afghansty infantry platoon with 2 HInds

3 x T64s

3 x BM21s

4 x Shilkas

Given that the mission has Deep Reserve and that Afghansty say the helicopters have to be on the table we agreed to have both platoons on the table but loitering while Shawn held an infantry platoon in ambush

Set Up

Objectives are in the central wood and top right at the bend in the road as it goes out of frame

Masses of Afghan veteran Russian infantry hold the objective

Arrayed against them is the West Germans, who are now fighting to retake lost German soil. The M113 force would have the job of fixing the enemy while the Combat Team of Leo1s and Marder destroy them

Mechanised infantry with their intimate support tanks about to cross the line of departure in an almost text book fashion

The combat team commanders view at H-hour

To understand what happens next this video provides context of precision German engineering

Turn 1

The entire combat team surges forward almost to the central objective

The rapid advance of the NATO forces causes the Russians to reveal their ambush

Timed perfectly with 4 hinds dropping from the skies to engage the Rolands

The Rolands fail to harm the Hinds but the .50 Cals and 7.62 MGs knock out a helo before a LARs is destroyed

The Rolands are bailed out for their troubles but stick around

RPGs open fire knocking out a Leo1 and bailing another and a Marder

Turn 2

The Leo1 remounts and moves off to allow the infantry to assault. After a tremendous amount of fire only 3 stands of Russian infantry are knocked out. The Germans assault only to lose 3 stands in defensive fire prompting the OC to adjust his plans

The Hinds split up and attempt to take out the German rear echelons

.50 Cals knock down another Hind in front of the FIST, The FIST is continuing to be successful ranging in both the M109s and in a subsequent attempt the LARs

The Rolands hit multiple times but are unable to down a single bird. The .50 Cals and 7.62 MGs manage to take out the pair


This next video shows exactly what the Luftwwaffe the brought to the fight to help take out the Russian hordes

Turn 3

With a roar overhead the Tornadoes begin dropping their munitions

Bomblets begin exploding around the objective and the beleaguered defenders


As the aircraft pulled back into the great blue sky the heavens opened up with fire and brimstone as this video demonstrates

The devastation is immense and brings the Russians to their knees breaking the Army

With the Russian defensive fire being so strong the turn I assault it almost cost me that platoon, so I pulled back and oriented the Milans to cover the back side of the table while hammering the dug in Infantry with M109s, LARs and Fast Air. The result was a Shawn losing about 4-5 stands a bombardment so we called the game 6-1 for the West Germans.

The West German counter attack had been so fierce that it had continued through Essen and into the Ruhr taking 10 VPs in total away from the WARSAW pack! Thanks again to Beast of War for putting enabling our games to have a larger meaning and thanks to Lords of War out FLGS who picked up a copy for us to play.