Team Yankee: Contemplation and Collecting; the Soviets

Back in December 2015 I covered the Team Yankee demo put on by the guys from Battlefront.  While I liked the game I did state that the period wasn’t my thing and I would pass on fielding an army.  While I read the book Team Yankee and was a fan of the game, I just did not want to collect either army - I never play Americans, and while I have painted a ton of WWII Soviets for friends, I do not have a Soviet army in my collection.  What changed?  Well a few things actually changed my mind which should not surprise anyone.

My first worry stemmed from my work on the Great War line. Ehile I love the period and the game, few folks I know have built a Great War army, and I found it tough, even in the player rich I-95 corridor, to find a lot of folks playing the game. I did worry that Team Yankee would not gain the popularity it deserved. However after a few months, I have seen the popularity of the game grow and a bunch of folks I know play the game.

The Army on parade, oops no Hinds..

The second issue I had was that neither of the two initial armies did much for me.  I cannot explain why this was, but after reviewing Leopard, I got excited about the game and it caused me to look into collecting a Team Yankee army.

The last two issues are the same we call have: time and cost.   I stopped serious painting well over a year ago, the last army I collected was my Napoleonic Brits, which I sent to Ceylon for painting.  When I clean my storage room, and moved my painting area to my part time man cave, I had tons of unpainted men and vehicles.  While I love the Great War stuff, I have a full French and American army in boxes and blisters.  I have 5 each of Plastic Soldier Company and Battlefront Panthers which I won at tournaments still clinging to their sprues.  I just lost the desire to paint.  The other is cost, since starting a new army can cost anywhere from $250-$500.  While I am not cheap, I just wondered if starting a new game after I made a huge investment in Malifaux was worthwhile.  This changed when I realized I had some credit coming from my Great War work with Battlefront, and July being my birthday. I decided to treat myself to a few boxes of Team Yankee.

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Firestorm Bastogne - A WWPD Online Flames of War Campaign

Starting this month, WWPD will run a "Firestorm Bastogne" Campaign as a global Flames of War campaign. This campaign will run for about six weeks and will give players a chance to fight out the engagements that revolved around the encirclement of Bastogne from 16 to 21 December, 1944. If you are not familiar with Firestorm campaigns, no problem! Basically the campaign map and movement of units on that map will be used to generate battles that players, from around the world, can fight out and report their results from to determine the campaign flow and eventual winning side.




2nd Panzer moves in on CCR/9th Armored Division at Longvilly



A battle at Longvilly plays out on the table top

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Iron Maiden the Last Wave and a Freebie!

In this article - the last of three that are focused on the new releases coming out for Iron Maiden - we have a bit of surprise for you.  The folks at Battlefront are releasing a new mini version of the Team Yankee rules in the new Charlie’s Chieftain boxset deal.   The mini rules are 90 pages and cover everything except the data on the forces of the game.  I like this move since you will get the info on the forces either from the books or the cards when you buy the models.   I am guessing here, but Battlefront sent me a picture of the sticker that announces that a particular box has the mini rules, so maybe we will see the mini book in other releases and maybe re-releases of the three previous box sets.  I have some snaps of the new mini rules at the end of this article.

I also said in my second article of this series that I will provide you pictures of the sprues for some of the plastic models.  I finally got my hands on the Scorpion/Scimitar and Spartan/Striker. It looks like unless you find a smart way to make it work with magic or magnets, you will not be able to do swap outs between the two different versions for either model.  Maybe the gun on Scorpion/Scimitar can be magnetized, however the Spartan/Striker looks like it will take more creativity since the rear of the model is so different.  I will be doing the unboxing articles in the future and I will see what can be done to give you some flexibility.

Scorpion-Scimitar-sprue

Spartan-Striker-sprue

On to the new stuff.   This article will detail the resin and metal releases that are coming out with Iron Maiden. Much like the metal and resin of Leopard, we are looking at infantry and support vehicles.

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First Playthrough of Mansions of Madness

Steven, Lydia, and Eric Riha play through Mansions of Madness on Twitch! The team of investigators is barely holding it together by the end- and Lydia is barely keeping her eyes open... but take a look at how this fantastic game from Fantasy Flight Games works!

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Armada Ship Analysis: The Nebulon B

Good morning Admirals. Apologies for being sometime between updates! I will attempt to get all of the ships currently released before the pending release of Wave V- hold me to it!

On the docket for today: The Nebulon B as of Wave IV. The Nebulon B comes in two distinct flavors: The Escort Frigate, and the Support Refit. As you can see from their cards below, the Escort Frigate is a fighter-command centric version while the Support Refit is a stripped down jouster. The difference between the two is that, for 6 points, the Escort Frigate gains a second blue Anti-Squadron die and 1 extra squadron command. The roles thus become quite evident: The Escort Frigate is all about commanding (well... Yavaris anyway...) and defending against squadrons while the Support Refit is far more of a jouster.

Both Nebulon Bs offer the same three upgrade slots: an officer, a support team, and a turbo laser. So, let’s dive in on these ships in the new Wave 3/4 world!

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Bolt Action - German 'Aufklärungs' army project (Part 1)

This is the start of a my latest army project for Bolt Action, 'late war' Germans. After doing many of the more obscure armies of the Second World War (Free French, Hungarians and Australians) I have finally decided to do a German army for the ETO. Being a fan of scouting forces I have decided on making mine an Aufklärungsabteilung. For those who don't speak German, that basically means a recon detachment. Let's take a look at the lovely miniatures from Warlord Games that I have started the project with; some Kradschützen and a Schwimmwagen.

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Preview: The Forces of Iron Maiden: Tommy’s Not Tanks

Now that you have seen the spoiler and the cards for Iron Maiden, the next step is to give you an idea of the formations the book offers you. Let me go back to my first impression of Iron Maiden: “Wow”. Yes, the book shocked me. I saw right away how different the British would be as compared to the other three nationalities in the game. I got the advanced copy of the book before Throck, and I left for the Guns of August Tournament in Williamsburg VA. I told him I saw the book and he asked for my thoughts. I can recall saying “it’s different” and “if you like infantry, this book is for you”. I loved the fact the first lists - and especially Leopard  -featured the tank as the main weapon. Who doesn’t like tank fights? However, with the release of IM, I see how the developers expanded the scope of the game and put a tool in the game's tool box that you will love to play or hate to play against.

On to the Book
While Leopard had 3 formations to choose from, Iron Maiden has 4 types of formations: Tank, Mechanized Infantry, Air Mobile, and Recce. After reading the book a few times, I would say it would be hard to argue against the fact that the strength of the British in Team Yankee is their infantry.  This article will detail the infantry-based lists from Iron Maiden.

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The LRDG II Podcast: Episode 9 - "Talking To Alessio About BA Second Edition"

The LRDG II: Episode 9

In this action packed, full length episode, the LRDG II is back with a two shot of Bolt Action goodness!

In part one, Brad is joined by BA superstars Brian Ward, from the Northern Front Podcast, and Luke Emerton, of the Australian Bolt Action scene. The guys talk Stalingrad. From a historical and from a gaming standpoint. Now, Stalingrad, in and of itself, is a HUGE topic so we, at the LRDG, invite you to listen to the cast and send us suggestions for follow up conversation.

In part two, we welcome the father of Bolt Action back to the show. The one and only, Alessio Cavatore, returns to talk us through the best and most the most controversial parts of Bolt Action Second Edition.

Thank you for tuning in. For more information and to contact us, please look for The LRDG Podcast on Facebook.



As always you can find this episode in the iTunes store or you can download directly HERE.

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Bolt Action - Review: Warlord Games' Ersatz Panther

During a secret German offensive through the Ardennes towards the end of WW2 (The Battle of the Bulge), Otto Skorzeny daringly dressed his infiltrating German soldiers as Allied troops, with varying degrees of success. His plan was called Operation Greif, or “Griffin,” and the rumours of its existence caused widespread paranoia in Allied troops across the region. In part one of this series, I discussed how I was converting and reequipping US infantry models to turn my existing greatcoat American army into a German infiltration force. As a lover of big tanks, I will be looking at one of the most unlikely infiltration vehicles of all time, Warlord Games’ Ersatz Panther.

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A Tale of Two Tournaments (Part 2)

And we're back for day 2 of my 2 day Flames of War binge.  My first tournament (Battle Report can be found here) ended in a 4th place finish after 3 fun but bloody games with armored lists in Manchester CT.

My second tournament, Sunday August 21st, would take me south to Cedar Grove NJ and the Time Warp Comics Store

The store was a crazy mix of stock.  Every game system was represented, and in the back were tables enough for 6 to 8 games simultaneously.  Much was taken up by comics or people's armies and terrain, but it was the kind of store you could get lost in while finding all sorts of crazy stuff.

There would be prizes for Best allied player, best axis player, and best painted. we had 6 players come in, but a wide variety of lists participate.

Game 1 - 51st Highland Division vs. Veteran Japanese infantry in fighting withdrawal

After 2 days, 6 games and a whirlwind of travel, I confess I forgot the name of my first opponent, should he read about himself here, I apologize! I think it was Dave.

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