"Team Whiskey - Fulda Gap Batrep 8" Topic

All,

Because I love you so much, and you've been so patient, I present a battle report in its entirety, not split into two parts. But the next one will be in two parts. Probably the last one too ;)

It's 1530 on 8 August 1986, and Team Whiskey has taken the better part of the day to recover survivors from the northern bank of the Main River and get reorganized while other elements of V Corps man the ramparts against the Red horde. However, by mid-afternoon the Soviets have broken through in several places. Team Whiskey is once again called upon to stem the bleeding. The Soviets are on the south/west bank of the Main River, in the face of Frankfurt. It quickly becomes evident the Soviets do not intend on entering the city, choosing instead to conduct a double envelopment to by-pass and cut off the Frankfurt en route to the Rhine.

Team Whiskey, with much of its armor remaining (none committed to the fight at the Main River bridge), rushes a powerful force to the suburbs of Frankfurt to blunt the enemy's northern thrust, with Whiskey's commanding officer, Lt Col Lacy, in personal command of the mission, leading both mechanized infantry companies and a platoon of his tanks into the fray. Both infantry companies are understrength (only two platoons each), with a company commander, platoon commander, and one platoon coming over from the recently disbanded (due to casualties/losses) 1st Squadron, 11th ACR. Additionally, the 81mm mortar platoon is out of the fight as they attempt scrounge new mortar tubes and ammo, having fired off all their ammo, spiked their tubes, then swam the Main River to get back to friendly lines in the last fight.

Captain Bronshtein's Kilo Company (with TOW, MG, and sniper attachments) arrived first, setting up in the southern sector, while Captain Phillips' India Company, still mounted in their Bradleys, swings further north, with Lt Travers' 2nd Tank Platoon swinging north further still.

Overview of the forces, with the usual overwhelming Soviet horde on the left, and the NATO troops on the right, though I must admit Team Whiskey has more than I'm used to, so this is gonna be interesting.

The table, looking west to east from the US baseline. The tan line across the top is actually a rail line atop a raised embankment, and is key to this scenario. The embankment is impassable to vehicles EXCEPT in the northeast east (top left) corner. So the Soviets are kinda screwed in that they have a bunch of armor on hand, but it's all forced to come through a severe bottleneck. Capt Bronshtein and Kil Company are dug-in in and around the big, black-roofed building at center right, just below the treeline. Capt Phillips and India will be coming on the board in Bradleys at bottom center (they and Lt Travers' tank platoon are off table right now), and Lt Travers tank platoon will come on at bottom left.

The Soviet plan is shock and awe, to hit as hard and as fast as possible to try to get their vehicles through that damn bottleneck at to left. The Soviets are running their usual three Mech formations (7 BMPs, 1 command team, and 6 rifle teams each), and they are key to the opening phase. The infantry from two of the mech formations (2 x command team, 12 x rifle team) stand detached, visible at top right on the railroad tracks. The infantry from the third mech formation are dismounted at the bottleneck (top left), and all Soviet vehicles are stacked behind them. The plan is for all the Soviet infantry to move forward to spot and engage US infantry and anti-tank weapons, and for the armored vehicles (top left and top center) to move through the gap like they were shot out of a cannon, then spread out to provide fire support to the infantry and envelop the US positions.

US TOWs in action. To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
link

Several heroes identified in this one, I'm sure everyone but Ivan, Rod, and Kyote will like the result ;) On to fight number 9!

V/R,
Jack

Wow, what a report. Reads like on of those WWIII novels I read in the 80's.

A win for the good guys! Great AAR.

Sgt Bajers deserves the metal he earned.

What game system is being used? Why do secondary explosions factor in the game? Is it a mechanic to prevent units from creating a vehicle "parking lot"?

Thanks

Louie – FiveCore Company Commander, modified for larger battles.

Quite the turkey shoot, yikes!
Goes to show, if the only option is to hit the target head on, on a modern battlefield, you're going to be hamburger even if you do win through.

Another winning AAR. Awesome! ben

Jack amazing AAR. I love your buildings, did you make them? If so mind sharing the method so I can steal it?

That…. was epic.

Waiting on battle Nine!

Pages 22 and 15.

Mwind – Thanks man! My fights are always more 'Hollywood' then real, but that's how I like them.

Ragbones – Yes, few and far between they've been, too. Thanks man.

Louie – Regarding Sgt Bajers, absolutely! Regarding the game mechanic, 'secondary explosions' is just a bit of journalistic license on my part, it could also represent multiples of a weapon being fired. The point is that, in the rules, a weapons system fires with 'x' amount of kill dice and 'y' amount of shock dice. So if you fire a weapon, let's say a tank main gun at an enemy tank, and roll two kill dice, let's say you roll two 6s. That would be two kills. If the enemy tank is all by itself, well, one of those 6s is wasted, but if there are two enemy tanks within a certain (relatively close) distance, then both 6s count and both tanks are destroyed. It's up to you, writing the batrep, to describe it how you feel; maybe your tank was able to fire and score twice because the enemy tanks were so close together, or maybe your tank hit one, blew the turret off, and it landed on the tank next to it, putting that tank out of action too. I hope that makes sense.

Ivan – It's been rough all over, but that bottleneck was particularly unhelpful for your side ;)

Ben – Thanks man, glad you liked it!

Kyote – My brother, what the hell are you talking about? Of course the rules account for artillery, man. The US not having arty has nothing to do with the rules, it has to do with the scenarios. Please recollect that NATO has been getting its butt kicked for the past seven days, and they probably lost a whole lot of equipment during the retreat over the Main River. So, no support in this fight while they get stuff sorted out. The next fight has air support.

Michael – Thanks man. I actually didn't make the buildings, they came with some microarmor I purchased from a fellow TMPer. From what I can tell they are simply wooden blocks spray painted variously gray, black, and orange, then had windows and doors drawn on with a Sharpie. Actually, I just realized there are building in this one that I made, so maybe you're talking about those? I bought a bunch of buildings (they are copies of hotels and houses from the boardgame Monopoly) from PicoArmor. Then I spray painted them gray, spray painted the bases (I believe they're 30mm x 30mm), smacked some flock on them, then superglued the buildings to the bases.

Archer – Thanks man, and Part I of fight number 9 is almost ready to be posted.

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate the comments, helps keep morale up to keep typing these reports. More fights coming up.

V/R,
Jack