Friday 25 August 2023

Team Yankee: Guards Colonel Strangelove?

"Comrade Tankers of the 181st Guards Independent Tank Regiment!

You may be wondering why you have been forward deployed without formal orders? 

Well comrades these are dangerous times - our Soviet motherland is in chaos, as our beloved Chairman Gorbachev is surrounded by wreckers and defeatists who drip capitalistic nonsense into his ears! 

It is time for the tankers of the 3rd Shock Army to show the world the Soviet Union is still a force to be reckoned with! You are going to strike the first blow for the working classes of the world!

Given the political climate - our motor rifle and other support troops are not as reliable as Guards tankisti - you may not receive all the support you have trained with. But equally the colonialist running dogs of the English army opposite you will be caught unawares - you need only expect to face a few 'duty' platoons. 

Once your mighty T-80 tanks appear on the West German autobahns the degenerate Western media will go into a frenzy! The Politburo will have no choice but to back our advance to the hilt! Therefore it is imperative you strike hard and fast! Under cover of the laughable 'glasnost' our faithful comrades of the Democratic Germany Border Guards are already 'dismantling' the anti fascist barrier so you will have no obstructions to cross..."


Bailey and Daniel decided to deploy their Challenger Squadron HQ and solitary 'duty' Troop well forward, with a Warrior MILAN detachment left in reserve. Together with a US Apache flight on table, and the possibility of a single A-10 mission, that was all they had!


For the Soviets, Declan decided to split the T-80s along both flanks... 


and have the small platoon of Motor Rifles, and the Scout BMP-3s, advance up the middle to clear the woods of any MILAN ATGW teams...


The initial HIND attack proved a bit of a washout, with both ATGW missing side shots on the Challengers...


The same with the solitary FROGFOOT SU-25 mission!


Both sets of tanks jockeyed to line up side armour shots...



But both sides were too canny for many side shot opportunities!


The Motor Rifles debussed to clear the woods, ever tightening the ambush deployment envelope for the British MILAN teams... 


However it was a successful A-10 WARTHOG strike that really opened the game up...


Taking out 2 x T-80s with rear armour shots from their MAVERICK ATGW!


Finally the MILAN teams found somewhere in cover to deploy and gain side armour shots on the dreaded T-80!


To good effect - the Soviet team lost a little of their confidence...


They pressed on more carefully now, making full use of the infantry RPGs and SNAPPER ATGW on the BMPs...


However, dispersed out of command range, several T-80s, unsure of the political soundness of this adventure, took the opportunity to RTB!


When the attack was reduced to one 'loyal' T-80, it was game over. Guards Colonel Zinoviev pre-empted a visit from the KGB by taking a short trip into the woods with his Makarov 9mm...

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