West German Infantry vs East German Infantry in Hasty attack near Hildesheim

West German infantry employing superior field craft!

For my second game of the Firestorm Stripes campaign I played against Dean and his East Germans. This was the first game in the second group of games where the focus of the Soviet players was to complete the encirclement. Dean rolled to be attacking and elected to try and complete the encirclement of some NATO areas by attacking Hildesheim. I elected to try a static defence, vs a counter attack. We were once again playing 64 point armies and had the chance to play at our FLGS, Lords of War. If you are in the GTA check them out, its worth the drive!

Campaign Progress

Fighting battle 6 around Hildesheim

Big Willie's West Germans
OC in Marder
Full Marder infantry platoon
Full Marder infantry platoon
3 x M109s
2 x Luchs
OC in M113
Full M113 infantry platoon
Small M113 infantry platoon
3 x Leo1s
2 x Luchs
4 x LARs
4 x Tornadoes
1 x FIST
2 x Rolands

Dean's East Germans
OC
Infantry platoon with 2 x heavy weapons and AA attachment
Infantry platoon with 2 x heavy weapons and AA attachment
with Russian allied formation
OC in T72
3 x T72s
3 x T72s
3 x Carnations
4 x BTR60s
3 x Gophers
4 x Shilkas


Set Up

East Germans objectives are bottom centre behind the house, centre right in the woods, top right in the woods. West German objective is centre left just off frame behind the hill

East German infantry and Arty parked on the objective

Russian Tank Commanders doesn't care that the LARs have this area pre-registered

Just like the West Germans don't care near the other objective. Once Team Yankee changes the Arty rules to v4, we will care a lot more.

More dug in West Germans holding the centre of the defence

LARs and more West German Infantry hold the far right objective

Turn 1

East German Recce gets hung up in the unfamiliar woods

The infantry have no such problem and the newly arrived T72s race forward on the far left flank

The carnations waste no time and hammer the infantry knocking out a Marder

A milan opens fire from its concealed position and knocks out the BTR60

The LARs waste no time ranging in on and dropping mines on the newly arrived T72s to slow their progress

Turn 2

Newly arrived armoured anti-tank assets take up position by the T72 OC

Milan fire takes out another BTR60 while the East German infantry get into position

Marders move to try and take out some of the East German heavy weapons, they knock out one and a stand of infantry

Turn 3

West Germans have finally moved from underneath the template after losing a stand

East German anti-tank missiles knock out 3 of the 4 LARs breaking the platoon

RPG fire knocks out another Marder causing the platoon to flee

Milans open fire knocking out all 3 of the Gophers

Turn 4

With the East Germans main thrust identified the West German ambush launches to attack the enemies rear while the far right M113 platoon move to reinforce the left flank, only after they knock out the T72 OC

Shilkas and more T72s arrive from reserve and push on the left flank, the West Germans catch the East ones as they try and move to new cover and make them pay by knocking out more stands

Turn 5

The T72s break from cover only to be hit with a Milan that knocks one out 

Arty fire knocks out the OCs Marder while Luch arrive to reinforce the objective. The West German infantry platoon finally breaks where as the East German platoon with only 2 stands remain in the fight 

The M113s race behind the central objective ready to defend the weakening left flank while the other M113 platoon arrives from reserve and occupies the building near the objective 

Leo1s open fire and knock out all the Carnations

Turn 6 

Shilkas attempt to rush the objective along with infantry and the remaining T72 in the hopes of shooting all West Germans teams off the objective and capturing it in a single turn!

The West Germans stand tall and the Luchs and OC remain untouched. The return fire from the Milans knock out the T72, all the Shilkas, one of the BTR60s and lots of East German infantry.

The T72 formation broke and the East German infantry were 2 stands away from breaking but I had to go so we called the game a tie and rolled to see who won for the campaign. In a stroke of luck Dean rolled a 1 giving NATO the win and allowing the prevention of an encirclement. I'm really looking forward to when Team Yankee and Flames of War v4 are the same set of rules, the minor differences really slow down game play as players have to remember which set of rules is which.