“Ey cap, fair warning, I just rolled past Sharpshooter's CP and he is fuming mad. I'd steer clear if I were you.” Your gunner, Nicky, says while tossing his camouflage top into his seat. “That being said, Hans and I are going over to 2nd platoon to see if we can't trade some of this chow for coffee.” He holds up some of the MRE extras that haven't been eaten. Not like you mind too much, it's been too long since you've had a cup of coffee, good or not.

“Yeah Nicky, go for it.” Reaching for the radio handset, you clip it to your PASGT armored vest's shoulder rings before settling back into your book. You've read it a thousand times if not more it seems these past few days. Suddenly you wish you had thought to bring more to do.

“Then again, it's not like anyone ever PLANS to get overrun by the Soviets in a weekend.” You mutter under your breath, your turret being mostly vacant...and Michael, your loader, never speaks unless he needs to. Or there's a smartassed comment to make.

Mere minutes later, the handset on your shoulder sounds to life.

“Penetrator six, Penetrator six, this is Sharpshooter, how copy, over?”

“Sharpshooter, you have Penetrator six lima charlie.”

“Roger that Penetrator, Sharpshooter six requests a meeting with you and all sparkly elements in ten mikes. Over.”

“Penetrator copies. Meeting with Sharpshooter Six and sparklies. Out.”

Great, just what you needed. A meeting with your squadron's commander, who is apparently fuming mad, and your three attached German witches.

You call Nicky and Hans, your driver, back to your tank. Roughly a few microseconds later, they both seem to break the sound barrier sprinting back with an armful of goodies each. After dropping a proverbial gold mine of candy, coffee, batteries, and two country music cassette tapes into his seat, Nicky drops in and grins.

“You know what? I don't even want to know. I'm denying this. I don't know you. Get out of my tank.”
He opens his mouth to protest.

“Before you say anything Nicholas, I have to go get yelled at, probably in stereo dual language. Here's the horn,” quickly shoving the handset into his hands “be careful with it and leave me a full tank in the morning. And no country music while I'm gone. Booze Hound hates that shit.”

Before he can retort, you grab your uniform top from the back of your seat and your helmet and set off towards the squadron command post. The CP could be loosely described as a 'tent', the camouflage netting on the sides of sharpshooter's Humvee being rolled and staked down to conceal both meetings and the vehicle alike. There's just enough room to stand inside, if you're close to the vehicle.

Colonel Carpenter, a tall man with an incredibly slender, yet somehow intimidating build, sits over a map board. The look on his face could be set in stone, with how hard he concentrates on it.

“Captain, have a seat. We need to have a talk, after the sparklies get here.” A grave voice if you've ever heard the man use one, something cannot be good. Especially when he has one company commander and three witches at the same time, in the same tent, probably for the same chewing out.

[] Wait for the witches to show up
[] “What's on your mind, sir?”
[] “Oh shit, here we go.”
[] other (write in)

[x] Wait for the witches to show up

Let's play it cool

>>21614790
[x] “Oh shit, here we go.”

Let's get this started.

>>21614790
[X] Wait for the witches to show up

Asking him something just means he'll have to repeat himself once the sparkles get here. We're a tanker, we can wait, we're patient and solid, like tanks.

File: 1353113710028.png-(507 KB, 720x500, 1330676404557.png)

>>21614790
>[x] Wait for the witches to show up

>>21614790
Wait for the witches. As an aside, how come Ghost isn't running this one? :F

>>21614959
m0use is going to do tanks

>>21614959
He handed it off to m0use.

>>21614978
MOUSE IS GONE DO TONKS FOR US.

>>21614790
>[x] Wait for the witches to show up

Why exactly are we expecting to be blamed for something?

>>21615122
It's the military, the CO always blames someone other then themselves.

>>21614790
[X] “What's on your mind, sir?”

We shouldn't draw a bullseye on ourselves.

>>21614790
[x] “What's on your mind, sir?”

>>21614790
[x] Wait for the witches to show up
He probably won't want to repeat himself.

File: 1353115666229.jpg-(128 KB, 1268x1012, At least it isn't raining....jpg)

You manage to find somewhere to sit, stepping over a Ranger grave dug next to the Humvee. All of the Colonel's attention is diverted to the map board, his fingers twirling a felt tip pen. From where you're at, you can see a few hastily drawn lines in different colors and even fewer arrows pushing into the lines.

Colonel Carpenter grunts dissatisfaction. “You hear the reds invaded Alaska too, Captain? Can't even wait until we're through kicking their sorry commie asses here before they go starting some other shit they can't handle.” He didn't even look up.

“Yes sir, we've got the BBC running pretty much non stop over at B company. One of my guys thought to bring a hand-cranked radio.” You reply, edging to get a closer look at the map.

“Must be some kind of fart smucker to think to bring that. Get that man a medal.” he chuckles.

The rest of the time spent waiting for the witches is mostly in silence. Sharpshooter has never really been that talkative of a man, especially when he's got some potentially heavy shit on his mind. Soon enough, though, the three German witches show up, sans strikers and 50mm rifles.

“You wanted to see us, Colonel?” Whittmann asks. Her two comrades try to get comfortable, but that's pretty tough when your seating choices are either the ground or hunched over on a Humvee's hood.

Carpenter looks up finally and sets his pen down, careful not to smudge any of his fresh tactical doodles. “You and Captain Bishop here. I don't really know how to say this well, so I'm just going to come right out and say it. We are losing this particular fight. We will be pushed out of Poland, and we're going to be seeing some pretty heavy action sometime soon. I know all of you just got done fighting over by Warsaw, but it's going to come down the pipe hot and heavy. All that being said, I've gotta do some things I'm not really happy with, but I've got division on my ass for this.” He looks almost at you. It's 'almost', because he's not really looking at you so much as through you.

“Captain, B company made it through Warsaw without any losses. That's incredibly impressive, given that we had to hold a stretch of ground far longer than we had the forces for. Unfortunately, you don't get to bask in your success...at all. I need eight of your tanks. Division took heavy losses and the 2nd armored cav took twice as much of a beating.”

[] “you...you need what, sir?”
[] “Eight vehicles is going to be a heavy hit, sir. It'll make us combat ineffective.”
[] “YOU GOT IT, BOSS.”
[] other (write in)

[x] “Eight vehicles is going to be a heavy hit, sir. It'll make us combat ineffective.”

It wouldn't be a deal if Jake's tank had a Merlin-like witch in it making it super awesome, but it doesn't.

>>21615364
[X] “Eight vehicles is going to be a heavy hit, sir. It'll make us combat ineffective.”

Those tanks are my babies, you can"t take my babies!

On a more serious note though if we need to give up the tanks we"re going to need to fill up the hole in our forces somehow. Either with tactics or reinforcements.

>>21615364
[X] “Eight vehicles is going to be a heavy hit, sir. It'll make us combat ineffective.”

Stay calm, professional, but state the facts.

>>21615364
[x] “Eight vehicles is going to be a heavy hit, sir. It'll make us combat ineffective.”

File: 1353116123802.jpg-(29 KB, 600x385, shermangivingfreehugs.jpg)

>>21615364
>[x] “Eight vehicles is going to be a heavy hit, sir. It'll make us combat ineffective.”

Damn, this won't be fun.

[x] “Eight vehicles is going to be a heavy hit, sir. It'll make us combat ineffective.”

>>21615364
[x] “Eight vehicles is going to be a heavy hit, sir. It'll make us combat ineffective.”

Damn bean counters.

>>21615451
Tactics, reinforcements would have filled the hole we are filling.

>>21615493
i was thinking we combine another unit with ours.

>>21615364

>[x] “Eight vehicles is going to be a heavy hit, sir. It'll make us combat ineffective.”

That aside, it doesn't make sense to do something like this. You don't replace losses for one group by using it from a company. That's pretty much all the goddamn tanks that would be in one.

>>21615364
>[] “Eight vehicles is going to be a heavy hit, sir. It'll make us combat ineffective.”

>>21615516
We have, what, 12 tanks in the company plus 3 sparkles?

>>21615606
they're gonna want the sparkles too.

>>21615620
Oh hell no. They may as well just retask the company as a whole if they're going to go that far.

>>21615620
He only asked for 8 tanks, and this is "Tank witches quest '89" meaning we will be coming alone.

>>21615364
>[] “Eight vehicles is going to be a heavy hit, sir. It'll make us combat ineffective.”
Any chance we could be rotated into a hotter area? We have some ruskies that need shells.

>>21615667
>alone
Along

File: 1353117273344.png-(1.32 MB, 1200x950, At least your day isn't g(...).png)

>[]“Eight vehicles is going to be a heavy hit, sir. It'll make us combat ineffective.”

“Two platoons? I'm sure I don't need to tell you this, but that's going to take the Penetrators out of the fight almost completely. We're having a hard time getting anything done with a company.” You somehow manage to keep your demeanor. The Penetrators have been and will always be your children.

“Captain, this isn't a discussion. Bravo company's second and third platoons will be pulled back along the border and folded into the banged up companies. And that's just the first of YOUR problems.” You're sure he made extra effort to place the emphasis on 'your'.

“They want to keep the Penetrators in the fight, but even division knows that can't be done with one platoon sitting on a major river crossing. That's where Whittmann and her girls come in...plus some numbers. In light of your recent success, some desk jockey decided it'd be a good idea to attempt a joint witch/armor unit. We've talked to the Germans who are more than happy to give us those three-” he nods to the witches, who are just about as dumbfounded as you at this point “on a 'permanent loan' status. You've also got two more coming your way from the States.”

You're having a hard time processing this. You're going to lose eight guns...for five. Thirty two of your soldiers will be put under some other officer who will no doubt make every attempt to get them killed post haste. In return, you get five little girls...and their raging emotions.

“Sir, I-” you begin, only to be quickly cut off by Sharpshooter.

“Not a discussion, captain. And that's not even the worst news yet.”
Now he really looks distraught, running a hand over his hair.

[] “how is that not the worst news, sir?”
[] aw shit. Go to DEFCON 4.
[] other (write in)

[x] “how is that not the worst news, sir?”

I wonder things will result in the army getting some black eyes while the navy/airforce comes out pretty

>>21615792
Stay calm, no complaining, we can deal with this. We can even get along with the sparkles.

"What is it Colonel?"

>>21615792
>[X] “how is that not the worst news, sir?”
YOU'RE SHITTING US.

>>21615792
[X] Wait for the worst news.

I say this is a good trade. From what I understand witches are far more mobile than tanks.

>>21615792
[x] “how is that not the worst news, sir?”

>>21615792
>"Colonel?"

>>21615867
thing is he's losing officers he's come to know and what he's getting are basically superpowered teenage girls and all that come with teenage girls.

Unlike his brother Frank, Jake's not that familiarized with them.

I wonder if this reorganizing isn't some way of spiting Jake and Co.

>>21615845
Going with this. We have heard from our brother that witch are not so bad. (our character is the brother of War Hound right?)

>>21615792
"Sir, just what am I getting into here if having thirty-two of /my/ soldiers getting taken away isn't the worst news."

>>21615930
Or this. This sounds much more diplomatic.

>>21615926
Thing is the guy himself just described them as "five little girls with raging emotions" basically.

Either there's something overlooked or Mouse changed something from Ghost's version.

>>21615974
There hasn't really been much character development for Warhounds brother (What the hell is his name again?). It's been mostly small talk, bullshitting, and 'oh god why are there t-34-85s out there.'

>>21616038
What I'm saying is we're kinda playing with a black slat here, from pov.

>>21616055
>blank slate
Need to check my work more...

>>21615792
>[] aw shit. Go to DEFCON 4.

I DO NOT THINK YOU UNDERSTAND THE DEFCON SYSTEM SIR.

DEFCON 4 IS JUST TO THE RIGHT OF "White House Toilet got clogged"

File: 1353118528642.jpg-(291 KB, 478x700, 00114525.jpg)

I say Penetrator has not enough faith in his girls.
They have seen the horrors of the eighties, goddamnit.
What worse could war throw at them?

>>21616079
No that's DEFCON 3. DEFCON 4 is when the President loses his pen.

>>21615905
Jake's little sister is a witch. I'm pretty sure his mother is too. He's familiar with witches.

>>21616243
Then they must have given him hell for him to have that opinion of them.

>>21616261
Or he just had a hell of a time during middle school and high school.

File: 1353120686740.jpg-(176 KB, 800x739, Russia's face when.jpg)

>[] “how is that not the worst news, sir?”

“Sir, if the worst news isn't that I'm losing thirty two of my soldiers and four of my tanks, then I don't want to know what is.” You say. You're still wondering how you're going to break this news to your boys.
“Well son, you don't get a choice. That behemoth that you reported coming over the bridge in Warsaw? Latest blackbird flyovers are showing it in Gniezno, some fifty kilometers to the east. Now, we can't make a push towards them without getting into a huge fight, but the idea here is that when 11 ACR pulls back from here, we're going to leave a small contingent in place to put eyes on and get some capabilities reports out of it. That's you. Eggheads higher up figure this is a good trial-by-fire to see if this whole joint unit thing works.”

You're completely dumbfounded. “Sir, how are four Abrams and three witches, no offense ladies, supposed to stop THAT thing?”

He sighs, and combs his mustache down. All good cavalrymen have a mustache...except you.

“Captain, you're not supposed to stop it. You're supposed to get a good, solid look at it, and run the hell away. Disable it if you can, but nobody, by any means, expects you to kill that monster.”

You're completely dumbfounded. “Sir, how are four Abrams and three witches, no offense ladies, supposed to stop THAT thing?”

He sighs, and combs his mustache down. All good cavalrymen have a mustache...except you.

“Captain, you're not supposed to stop it. You're supposed to get a good, solid look at it, and run the hell away. Disable it if you can, but nobody, by any means, expects you to kill that monster.”

“Colonel Carpenter, if I may interject?” Whittmann speaks for the first time this whole meeting, having regained her composure after the news that she'd be attached to your unit indefinitely. Shapshooter nods in her direction.

“Wouldn't it be suicide for us to do this? What's holding the Russians back from completely encircling us and trapping us?” The look of disbelief has been replaced by one of genuine concern. Early reports of Russian treatment of POW's hasn't been shining.

Colonel Carpenter looks at her, then you incredibly sternly. “Well Lieutenant, that won't happen. Captain Bishop here will see to it. Take some damn pictures, and run the hell away. I'm not telling you to get in a close range knife fight with Russian armor and dismounted infantry in a city here. If it really comes down to it, the Navy has a full battlegroup in the Baltic, as well as any Air Force elements in place behind us already. You'll have more support than God and all his angels could give you.”

You look down at the map board, slowly coming to grips with the fact that some genius at his desk in Germany thought it'd be a good idea to leave a platoon of American armor in the middle of a Russian attack. Frankfurt, the next NATO phase line and where NATO plans to make a stand, is roughly 180 kilometers to the west.

[] “Got it, sir. We'll pull this one off, even if we have to dump all the taxpayers money in bombs on the reds.”
[] “Well sir, when it rains it pours.”
[] Fuck that noise. Try to weasel your way out of it!
[] other (write in)

>>21616626
>[] Fuck that noise. Try to weasel your way out of it!
You know, I think my good friend captain <SOMEONE WE HATE> would do a better job than me

>>21616626
[X] “Got it, sir. We'll pull this one off, even if we have to dump all the taxpayers money in bombs on the reds.”

We get the job done, no matter how much it sucks.

>>21616626
[X] “Well sir, when it rains it pours.”

We're going to blow that damned landship up and rub it in their faces.

>>21616626
[X] Fuck that noise. Try to weasel your way out of it!

[x] “Well sir, when it rains it pours.”

>Decisions made in safe germany by a pencil pusher

goddamn it.

File: 1353121061065.jpg-(Spoiler Image, 316 KB, 1600x1200)

No time to read the quest right now, sadly. I'll catch it on the archives! But. I come bearing gifts from a dear friend!

From Treia, gentlemen, with love.

>>21616626
[x] other
4 tanks and 3 witches won't be able to fight their way out of that, with or without artillery and air cover. We should just take our tank and Whittman. We should also offload most of our ammo to keep weight (and chances of detonation) down.
Worst case scenario, we minimise losses.

>>21616626
>[] “Well sir, when it rains it pours.”

>>21616654
has it right

>>21616626
>[] “Well sir, when it rains it pours.”

This sucks but we got our orders. Better get our last words to those that will be leaving in and tell those that are staying just how fucked they might be.

>>21616626
>[X] “Well sir, when it rains it pours and it's going pour taxpayer money in the form of bombs on that thing.”

Fucking pog's in their fucking desk, fucking hundreds of kilometers away.

>>21616687
That star looks a little out of place, otherwise it looks good.

>>21616654
So what do we do?
Lure it onto an IED?
Collapse a bridge under it?

>>21616626

[x] other (write in)

Are we getting any reconnaissance assets for this? It'd be suicide to go in there blind with the soviet advantage in ATGMs.

>>21616741
First we take out its feet, and then we burn them. To that end we need to lure them into a forest trap them in there and burn the forest around them.

>>21616605
>[x] “Got it, sir. We'll pull this one off, even if we have to dump all the taxpayers money in bombs on the reds.”
With hints of [] “Well sir, when it rains it pours.”

>>21616697

this is incredibly stupid.

all going alone will do is ensure our own deaths.

>>21616741
Sneak up and concentrate everything on a track section. then run like a motherfucker.

Also [X] “Well sir, when it rains it pours.”

>>21616626
[]other
Ask where we get our life insurance and will

>>21616776
How do we do that?
It will be swarmed with infantry and lesser vehicles.
I don't think they will do us the favor of just rolling close so we can get them.
And I doubt they will be so stupid to send their precious super-heavy into a forest to get ambushed.

>>21616626
>[] "Got it, sir. We'll pull this one off, even if we have to dump all the taxpayers money in bombs on the reds."

>>21616796
>>21616741

No, what we do is flank it and shoot it in the back, were the armor is weakest. It may be a brick, but it's probably also about as manuverable and fast as one.

Of course, if it has anything supporting it, we're fucked, and in that case we spot the thing for CAS / artillery and let them bomb the shit out of it while we wait at a safe distance.

>>21616822
It's common for tanks to be escorted by infantry? Either way we have the fact that it's slow on our side, and it doesn't have to be a forest. We just need to lure the tank into a place that we has a lot of things we can burn.

>>21616869

Combined arms, broski.

>>21616850
Do we have artillery with homing armor-penetrating ammo?
I doubt unguided HE shells will do much aginst such a monster.

>>21616869
Normal tanks not so much.
But normal tanks aren't one-of-a-kind and move in groups.
This thing will have mounted infantry, tanks and probably AA in tow to make it something different from a gigantic Bomb Me! sign lumbering through Poland.

File: 1353122192312.jpg-(113 KB, 527x735, 1352083381675.jpg)

>>21616869
you are asking this? seriously?

File: 1353122435132.jpg-(956 KB, 1500x1029, 1352070429175.jpg)

>>21616869

In 1945 it was Molotov Cocktails.

In '89 it was RPG-29s.

In every era, there's a man-portable weapon that will fuck a tank... if a man can get close enough TO the tank.

And that is how Audie Murphy stopped a tank column with a machine gun - he suppressed the infantry and the tanks declined to advance alone and get loved tenderly by bazookas innawoods.

>>21616984
But we have no infantry formations to pull something like that off.
Any suppressive fire would be met with heavy shelling from the super-heavy and that would be the end of it, in all probability.

>>21616925

You might be surprised.

Besides, rocket artillery had a number of neat anti-armor options also, like the BAT and the SADARM.

>>21616984
OH FUCK YOU'RE NOT DEAD
Now I'm out ten bucks. Thanks faggot.

>>21617029
We could make the tank stay in one place for a while and send the coordinates to get the area bombarded. The problem is how the hell are we going to get it to stay still.

>>21617042
We can change that.

File: 1353122882570.png-(146 KB, 500x377, 1352132561832.png)

>>21617042

HA HA TRO-

>>21617058

...

>>21616984
HOLY SHIT IT'S PLANEFAG

>>21617065
SWQ when

>>21617032
We have no idea just how hard this target is and what conventional ammo can possibly do.

>>21617055
Either we distract it and keep its attention on some buildings it can go and destroy, that could keep it in one place for a while.
Or we get it to stand on a mine and make it go boom, hoping that immobilizes the thing.

Not so tempting either way.

http://sill-www.army.mil/FAMAG/2002/NOV_DEC_2002/NOV_DEC_2002_PAGES_8_11.pdf

Relevant to the discussion.

File: 1353123028817.jpg-(13 KB, 300x450, cargo.jpg)

>>21616984
hey planefag, did anyone at all learn of the wonders of cargo shorts by the end of your quest?

>So what do we do?
I suppose we could try to destroy it's tracks. Barring magical bullshit every track has a weak link and if we shoot up one of them the sheer weight of the tank will rip it to shreds if they try to move. The tankwitches were able to blast a crater into the front armour, the tracks are nowhere near as strong.

If we can mobility kill that thing all we need to do is tell the arty where it is and watch the fireworks.

>>21617065
Good to see you live. Now we require more SWQ at approximately whenever you can give it to us. Or more A Wizard Is You. You know, a fix.

>>21617055
Have the witches shoot out a fucking section of track first.

I think you guys are getting too side tracked by the side objective as opposed to the main one: Observe it without getting blown up.

>>21617096

That's what we're being sent in to find out, numbnuts.

We'll eventually find something that will kill it.

>[] “Well sir, when it rains it pours.”

You stand up, brushing yourself off. “Well sir, the hits just keep coming. I'm gonna go break the news to my babies.”

“Alright. Captain, keep me in the loop and get back to me with your plans for this. You need to step off as soon as possible.” He extends his arm to shake hands, which you happily do. Not being chewed out for...well anything is always good.

During the short walk back to your company, you're at a loss for how to break the news to your company. For some reason, 'hey guys you've been replaced by teenage girls because division is stupid, k bye' just doesn't seem to sit well with you and you're pretty sure it'd get a few things thrown at you, captain's bars or not.

Nicky looks up at you just as you're sitting down. “Looks like something interesting went down, sir.”

“Nicky, get on the horn with everyone you can. Tell them I need to see everyone back here behind Booze Hound.”

He looks incredibly solemnly at you.

Within a few minutes, the Company is gathered around the ass end of your armor. Now you just need to figure out how the hell to tell them that you probably won't ever see 32 of them again.

[] “Gentlemen, I have had no greater pleasure than this command” speech
[] “Take the Penetrator name elsewhere, and make it twice as proud.” speech
[] No speech. Fast and dirty break, you have planning to do.
[] other (write in)

File: 1353123369038.jpg-(600 KB, 990x490, 1350340817714.jpg)

>>21614755
Oh, I see, tank witches in the future eh?

Heart status:Broken

>>21617125
So you say we'll have arty bid their time and try out what's in their bunkers till they find the right one?
Being longer than a few seconds in sight of that thing is a risk I'm not sure we can stomach with this little material.
It would probably just snuff out our poor witches.

It might even have experimental anti-witch gear or some such bullshit we'll never see coming.

>>21617150
[x] “Gentlemen, I have had no greater pleasure than this command” speech

>>21617150
[X] “Take the Penetrator name elsewhere, and make it twice as proud.” speech

Follow it up with brohugs, brofists, and a few less than good-natured curses at the idiots in command.

>>21617164
Hey, you never ran the quest

>>21617150
[X] “Take the Penetrator name elsewhere, and make it twice as proud.” speech

Maybe crack a joke about penetrating the Landship.

>>21617150
[x] “Take the Penetrator name elsewhere, and make it twice as proud.” speech

>>21617150
>[] “Gentlemen, I have had no greater pleasure than this command” speech

[X] “Take the Penetrator name elsewhere, and make it twice as proud.” speech

File: 1353123591800.jpg-(982 KB, 1400x990, russian_land_battleship_k(...).jpg)

>>21617166
It's a fucking modernized KV-IV, christ.

And besides, It's a war, people die in wars. If we don't stop this thing here, it will go on to kill someone else (if it doesn't break in half going over a ravine, pic related).

>>21617150
>[] “Take the Penetrator name elsewhere, and make it twice as proud.” speech

>>21617194
b-but MUH 10 TREADS

>>21617150
[x] "Gentlemen, Division are fuckwits" speech

>>21617150
[X] "Gentlemen, I have had no greater pleasure/honor than this command" speech
[X] "Take the Penetrator name elsewhere, and make it twice as proud" speech.
No reason we can't do both in one speech.

File: 1353123810108.jpg-(56 KB, 699x467, 1349242356347.jpg)

>>21617150
>[x] “Gentlemen, I have had no greater pleasure than this command” speech
>[x] “Take the Penetrator name elsewhere, and make it twice as proud.” speech

Paragade option.

>>21617236
well, make more threads, damn it.

File: 1353124246167.gif-(2.84 MB, 356x200, Panzer returns to tg afte(...).gif)

>>21617236
>filename

>>21617150
[] “Take the Penetrator name elsewhere, and make it twice as proud.” speech
as per >>21617183

File: 1353124600020.gif-(1.79 MB, 320x236, At least they'll remember(...).gif)

“Gentlemen, I don't have very much time, so I'm going to make this quick. Division, in it's infinite wisdom, has decided that Pants' Penetrators is far, far too effective in combat and that we break the rule of war or some stupid, pog shit like that. The Soviets started crying about how awesome we were, some senator got all fanny flustered, and they're breaking us up.” You start, being sure to at least try to make eye contact with as many of your tankers as possible.

“I'm losing second and third platoons. A and C companies got whupped up on pretty hard over at their crossings, lost a bunch of guys. Ya'll are headed over there, gonna fill some of the holes and show them how to actually fight instead of just getting shot up.

No matter what unit you end up in permanently, know this. You are, and always will be part of Pants' Penetrators. You ARE Pants' Penetrators. Where ever you go, whoever you're shooting at, you will make that name proud, because captain Pants will be watching you, one way or the other. Your. Name. Will. SHINE.

COOOOM-PNEEEEEEE
DIIIIIISMISSED.”

You cap it off with a shout.
And with that, some of the bravest, smartest, toughest soldiers in the US Army started walking back to their vehicles, the last time you'd probably ever see them.

What to do now?

[] scout for good recon areas in the city
[] talk with Whittmann and her girls.
[] other.

>>21617457
[x] scout for good recon areas in the city

>>21617457
>[] talk with Whittmann and her girls.

Let's get to know the rest of our new...what the fuck ever we're going to call it. Let's try to not be assholes even though pretty much anyone would be right now.

>>21617457
[X] talk with Whittmann and her girls.

We're going to be working with them for the foreseeable future, getting their measure is essential.

>>21617457
[X] scout for good recon areas in the city

We need to find an area where we can trap the Landship.

>>21617457
>[x] talk with Whittmann and her girls.

We're gonna need some sort of plan between them.

>>21617457
>[X]Be prepared

>>21617457
>[] talk with Whittmann and her girls.
Let us see what yall can do for me.

>>21617457
>[] talk with Whittmann and her girls.
We should probably a least meet the people we are likely to die with. Maybe get an idea of their abilities so we can plan better.

>>21617457
>recon, nigga

>>21617457
>[] scout for good recon areas in the city

>>21617457
the only chance we have of killing the thing is by ambushing it. a straight-up fight will killfuck us. The best way to ambush is to know the area better than your enemy. So,
>[x] scout for good recon areas in the city

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>>21617457

[x] recon, recon, recon

Recon wins the battle.

>>21617538
hell, why not
>[x] see if the witches want to come too

>>21617457
>[x] scout for good recon areas in the city

[x] talk with Whittmann and her girls.

Then recon.

>>21617457
[x]Talk to girls, then Recon

So what type of area would we be looking for? Where would be a good place to ambush the Landship?

>>21617683
somewhere its infantry escort cant follow or would be hindered

>>21617457
[x] Talk to the Recon, then go do girls

>>21617683
somewhere we can H/D

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>>21617705
speaking of hull down, we should totally get these

>>21617733
As cool as a Modern StUG is, how about no.

Our current Abrams are just fine. Even if they are Yank machines.

>>21617777
Oh shit, that's right. Can't go upwards past the peak, right?

>>21617815
Not in '89, no. The Leopard 2 with the 140mm gun isn't happening for years yet. A pity.

>>21617733

No, what we really need are some organic recon elements, especially if we're gonna be doing this kind of rearguard / behind enemy lines type of shit.

Comes with a shitload of TOW / I-TOW ATGMs too.

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>>21617861
forgot pic

>>21617861
Isn't that what the little girls are for?

>>21617868
eh, the M2's made for holdin' dudes. Don't see many dudes to hold, honestly

>>21617457
[x] talk with Whittmann and her girls.
Come up with a plan. Maybe go recon together.

>>21617900
Oh, I'd recon them together, if you know what I mean.

>>21617895

No, the cav scout variant of the bradley, obviously.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M3_Bradley

File: 1353127396952.jpg-(245 KB, 366x800, 1352419151217.jpg)

>[] scout for good recon areas in the city

“Nicky, leave the horn with Mega. Come with me, we have some work to do.” you say, making sure your body armor is fit snugly. Tightening up his own armor and helmet, your expert gunner tosses you your carbine before you both set off for the city proper.

“Captain, I hope you are not planning on doing some recon on this city without me?” Lieutenant Whittmann asks, approaching from behind.

“Wouldn't dream of it, LT. You and yours are going to have your work cut out for you. Hope you're planning on a hell of a ride.” You reply, forcing yourself to look her in the face. Regardless of what you may think of her as a fighting woman, you just can't help but find her attractive. It doesn't hurt she's not wearing pants.

“Go run and grab us a vehicle, Nicky. I'm not fancying walking around this city all day.” You say, brass checking your carbine. Loaded and on a hot pipe, you'll have to make sure that if you run into an MP's that you have a valid excuse.

A short time later, Nicky shows up in a Headquarters and Supply company Humvee, probably freshly “borrowed” from right under a mechanic's nose. Piling in and taking a ride around Poznan's city center, there are a few locations of note. Mostly though, it's just old, grid style blocks.

There's a hide near a bridge that would get your hull down and there's plenty of building back behind you, so your turret wouldn't be skylight. Downside is that it'd only fit your tank and the witches, leaving your other three vehicles to either fall straight back to Frankfurt or try to find their own hides. Also of note is the heavily wooded cemetery to the north, which would fit everyone and act very well as natural camouflage, but any infantry could easily punch your ticket and you're not sure how well your planned escape would work. The last feasible position is a split option, halving your forces in an L shape on a highway, and the witches in an elevated hide. You'd pretty much be locking yourself into a fight with a superior force, but you'd be directly on the highway which would expedite your escape, plus it'd almost entirely discount all but the most suicidal infantry.

[] use the bridge position. It's an easy shut down for that behemoth...thing the reds have made.
[] use the woods. Seven guns are better than four, and the witches should be able to handle any infantry.
[] The highway. Your boys can outshoot anything the reds have at range, and no infantry means a whole lot less RPG's flying over your heads.
[] other (write in)

[x] use the woods. Seven guns are better than four, and the witches should be able to handle any infantry.

A balance of things

>>21618033
>[x] use the woods. Seven guns are better than four, and the witches should be able to handle any infantry.
>[x] C4 the bridge; fuck the police.

>>21618033

[x] The highway. Your boys can outshoot anything the reds have at range, and no infantry means a whole lot less RPG's flying over your heads.

>>21618033
[X] use the bridge position. It's an easy shut down for that behemoth...thing the reds have made.
-[X] fall back to the highway once the area becomes impossible to defend.

Is there a reason we can't use multiple locations, like fallback points?

>>21618033

Tanks are made for warfare on open ground. They do poorly in forests and urban areas, especially when there are infantry about.

So mine the bridge, and set up an ambush position on the highway.

>>21618118
>Tanks are made for warfare on open ground.
Bah. The Poms proved in Korea that anywhere you can get a tank is tank country. even the top of a mountain.

>>21618062
oh yeah, and
>[x] leave a witch in a nearby building to blow the bridge when the behemoth is crossing

>>21618033
[] The highway. Your boys can outshoot anything the reds have at range, and no infantry means a whole lot less RPG's flying over your heads.
We need to keep our distance

>>21618033
[x] use the bridge position. It's an easy shut down for that behemoth...thing the reds have made.

And we should rig that bridge to blow on command.

>>21618148

A great master once said:

"The wise general is in harmony with all that surrounds him. Everyone will scurry to fulfill his wishes. The bad general is not in harmony and does not understand this. His wishes go unheeded. For the wise general understands what he can ask and what he can not; and the foolish general does not. As surely as you can not ask an elephant to crawl into tiny crack or mouse to move boulders, you can not ask tanks to fight in cramped spaces and infantry to cross wide open plains."

" Tanks are the measurement in which everything is valued. For they fear nothing at long ranges except other, bigger, tanks. To trap a tank you must take away its speed; and only then will the tiger be toothless. Missiles can blossom from treelines; infantry can swarm it at close ranges; and gunships seek out tanks. A wise tank is cautious but not scared. For the main gun means death to the unwise hunter. This is what it means to be a tank."

>>21618033
[x] use the woods. Seven guns are better than four, and the witches should be able to handle any infantry.
Hope Whittmann's fine with having to burn her uniform later. It's not gonna be green when we're done.

>>21618201
yeah, you forgot about ubertank. We don't know what the fuck that is like. I say we trap the bridge, and alpha from the forest once we get a large part of the column in our crosshairs. With any luck, the witch at the bridge will be able to blow it and get more time for the good guys to respond to it.

>>21618250
>leaving a witch at the bridge
Surely we have some remote detonators.

>>21618273
yeah, maybe. But if things go tits up, I'd rather have something that can actually take care of business. The ubertank is just too big and dangerous to not put forth our all.

And I also imagine that witches are fucking wonderful at urban warfare.

>>21618201
>For they fear nothing at long ranges except other, bigger, tanks

And our mission is to recon a super-heavy.

So yeah, fuck open ground.

[x] Highway

Also, bring ATGMs in Bradley CFVs, pound that supertank in the face with some molten copper.

>>21618023
Trap the bridge, deploy to the forest.

>>21618033
>[x] The highway. Your boys can outshoot anything the reds have at range, and no infantry means a whole lot less RPG's flying over your heads.
we are here for RECON first.

>>21618501
This is a choice to decide where to position ourselves for the fight.

So... have we just decided to say fuck the police and actually try to kill this thing? Colonel only wanted us to get a good look at the thing, not try to kill it. But whatevs, what's the worst that could happen?

>>21618642
Everyone dies the end.
He also wanted us to find out what it's capable of; best way to do that is to engage it and then run. One thing we know for sure is that it will be slow as shit, so getting away from it shouldn't be an issue.

>>21618594
No, you nonce. Our mission is to get intel on the Superheavy. We're sighting out a position to do that from.

If we get itno a proper fight with it, we've fucked up.

>>21618674
it can also murder our shit, so it might be a bit of an issue.

>>21618683
Like>>21618674 said the best way to get information on it is to first scout it out, and then shoot it in the ass to see how it reacts.

>>21618686

It's a fucking modernized KV-VI, how is it going to murder our shit?

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>[] The highway. Your boys can outshoot anything the reds have at range, and no infantry means a whole lot less RPG's flying over your heads

“Nicky, I want you to see if you can scare me up some demo. Anything you can get your hands on that could wreck up a structure, I want. I don't care if you have to beg, borrow, or steal, just get it done.” you say, walking back to Whittmann's position after returning the Humvee.

“You got it sir. I dunno if I'm even gonna ask.” He sets off towards the engineers billet. If anyone had the goodies you're after, it'd be them.

“Hey LT, you and your girls okay with hanging out a bit of a way out from the fight?” You ask, shooting her a glance.

“Of course Captain. We're just happy to be in the fight.” She replies, shooting you a smile. She's even cuter when she does that, Nicky would lose his shit.

“Alright, here's the deal” you start, having gathered the witches and your tank commanders together. “We're gonna set up here, and here, with Whittmann and her girls providing precision fire from this hilltop to the north.” Pointing to your makeshift map in the dirt, you place emphasis on where everone would be positioned. “The idea here is to bait them into a fight, get the supertank on the bridge, and det it. Hopefully we can knock it out here, but if we can't there isn't a much better way of seeing what it can do in a fight other than getting into a brawl with it. It's a win win on that front.

Now, this isn't going to be Warsaw. We don't have the numbers or firepower we did then, and headhunter isn't going to be around to get eyes on. That being said, what we DO have is the USS Nimitz and it's strike group out in the Baltic, along with Air Force assets back in Germany. Hopefully we'll have tube artillery on station too, but I wouldn't count on it. It will be just us on the ground. We're going to need to remember that if we set the tempo and keep mobile, we're going to be hard targets for them. Prioritize threats, but any AA we can knock out will definitely better our chances of survival. Less anti-air, more air strikes, better chance we all get out of here. If nothing else, we're gonna get a good look at it, take a few pictures on the scopes, and roll out as fast as possible.” Your briefing to first platoon is short, but it gets to the point. Making sure everyone knows their jobs, you head back to the Booze Hound.

You've only been sitting before the most packed-to-the-gills backpack you've ever seen is slowly lowered into Nicky's seat, right before he drops down onto the deck himself. “Got what you're after sir. Hope the engineers don't need this...ever.” He flashes a grin. “So, we get to work with the witches, eh? Might be pretty cool. They're good lookin', even if they're German. A German beer-maid witch wife. Oh man.” Nicky quickly digresses.

“Well gents, let's get to work. Not much time before we get to try to kill a supertank.” you say, ordering your platoon and the witches back into the city center.

Aaaand that's all for this week.
Thanks everyone!
Look for TW89 next week!
It'll be fun.

>>21618750
Too shooooort.

>>21618750
Same day?

>>21618774

We'll see, I may be super busy black Friday, women obligations and all. I'd say keep your eyes peeled either Thursday or Saturday.

>>21618720
Who said it was? That was just wild mass guessing when the words "Russian superheavy" were mentioned.

All we know is a) It's Russian b) it's big, and c) It survived an airstrike on the bridge it was crossing.

None of that is good news for us in a straight fight.

>>21618835
It still has an engine and ammo stores, hitting either will take it out of action (the latter in a slightly more spectacular fashion than the former).

>>21618855
Correct. However, the point of a superheavy is to carry so much gun and armour that what we can throw at it may not hurt it. Airstrikes, sure, artillery, maybe.

But one platoon of tanks plus three witches with 50mm rifles? No, in a straight fight all signs point towards us being fucked.

>>21618891
Hence we get it on the bridge and blow it up. Even if all the bits still work, it wont be going anywhere quickly.

>>21618891
In addition, it's not alone. SPAAGs, smaller tanks, anything with an ATGM that the Russians love to slap on every vehicle ever, the Russian's own Arty, plus whatever infantry they have in the engagement zone.

Oh, and that's not even counting any tankwitches the Soviets have deployed, either.

A straight fight is the absolute *last* thing we want.

>>21618917

Exactly, by being fucking sneaky.

the problem is, people seem to be going "Oh look, it's a big useless derptank! Let's try and take it in a fight, instead of, y'know, doing our job and actually getting some recon done on it."

>>21618891

It may have very good front armor, and maybe decent side armor too, but it's gonna be vulnerable in the rear and on the top and bottom. You can't make the armor on a tank the same all-around without also making it too heavy to move, generally.

>>21618941

It IS a big useless derptank. There's probably only one of it, and it's not very fast, so on its own it can be flanked (or ambushed, or bombed, or arty'd) with relative ease. Its supporting units are much more of a threat, since we'll tend to ignore them because OH GOD THERE'S A GIANT TANK AND THAT MUST MEAN IT'S THE BOSS BATTLE, RIGHT GUYS?

>>21619104
>You can't make the armor on a tank the same all-around without also making it too heavy to move, generally.

Superheavy. Sacrificing mobility for armour is sort of the point of the exercise.

Besides, this isn't 1945. Composite armour can be quite light, and engines are insanely powerful. The Abrams only goes at the speed it does because of limiters, to prevent drive-system damage.

Now, stick that engine in a tank with ten, extra tons of armour on it, or an even more powerful engine, and it's going to go just as fast as the regular tank with limiters.

We can't rely solely on prior practical data on the matter, since the last time anyone tried that was the 1950s, and technology has since advanced so damn far it's ridiculous.

>There's probably only one of it,
We have no way of knowing that.

>and it's not very fast,
We assume. Other than watching it trundle across a bridge, we have NO data on it whatsoever.

>so on its own it can be flanked
So can anything. The likelihood of it being alone is so infinitesimally small as to be a non-factor.

I'm just saying, Insane Russians or not, We cannot simply take this thing lightly. Going "Oh, this has such and such generalised weaknesses, clearly it's shit" doesn't mean anything without actual data on the thing.

Which is why we're being sent to recon the fucking thing, *not* do some glory-run mission to kill it with a single platoon.

>>21619188

While I don't disagree that the thing may be dangerous on an individual level,

>We can't rely solely on prior practical data on the matter, since the last time anyone tried that was the 1950s, and technology has since advanced so damn far it's ridiculous.

There's plenty of big heavy industrial machinery we can draw conclusions from, though, and none of it is exactly sprightly.

Further, even if engines have gotten more powerful and armor has gotten lighter, there are still practical limits to what you can do with modern materials science. I mean, where are you gonna find a transmission capable of dealing with the stresses of propelling a potentially hundred-ton tank to 60 km/h, for example?

Finally, even if you could make it that heavy and still figure out how to make it move fast, you're still limited by the realities of the battlefield. Something that heavy won't be able to cross some / many bridges, will sink in mud, and will need its own specialized recovery and bridge-laying vehicles. It'll also be a massive resource hog compared to a conventional tank.

>>21619429

For these reasons, and because we've seen it cross bridges before, I don't think it's physically possible for it to be armored really heavily all over. So, we should be able to kill it if we can get around it at all.

I just want to say:

Our division is called the Pants Penetrators.

I lol'd hard when I realized this.