Tom's Road to Team Yankee Nationals 2017 - Part 2 of 3

Part 2 of Tom's Road to Team Yankee Nationals 2017 at Historicon in Virginia

In Part 1 (insert link here please) I showed my army list, and some of the reasons behind what I put into the list.

I had a chance to play a few games with Alex Perry up at Kirwan's Game Store. We ran a full Soviet MBT list against my Leo 1 horde.  But we also tried out one of the scenarios in the Leopard Book.  It was a riveting game that would come down to the wire.

We had the terrain to set it up pretty perfectly to the picture they provided.

The Lists - I held the Leo2s in ambush, and Alex needed to borrow some of my surplus infantry and hulls to proxy for all the BMP2s he needed.  We had all painted models on the table, but some were my West Germans turning traitor.  If the propaganda in the new Red Storm book is to be believed, this all makes sense anyhow.

 On my left flank, I deployed the PAH flight, Gepards, a Platoon of Grenadiers, and the CO. I left space right in the middle for some Ambushing Leo2s, my marders stayed back, worried about BMP missiles and AT 10 guns (which are nasty)

 Facing off against them were the huge Motor Company and the BMP2 scouts, all infantry started dismounted, which is probably for the best, since they can move pretty quick on their own.

 On the Right Flank, I placed a Grenadier Platoon and the 3 Jaguar 2s (I have the Jag 1 models, so We just agreed they were the Jag 2s.

  Roughly in the middle of the table, coming down the road, were all of the T72s in their glory, and the Hinds, which would stay out of range of the gepards for 2 turns, before finding themselves in their sites.

  In the first turn, Alex moved all his troops up, took a few ineffective pot shots, and braced for the inevitable deluge of fire from the West German Army.

And it would prove devastating.

Nearly an entire T72 Company vanished.  leaving 1 tank, who would proceed to pass 7 last stand checks.  His devotion to the Motherland would warrant a medal by the end of the game.

On the left flank, my fire was far less effective.  Pulling into position, the BMPs suffer many bails but few kills at the hands of panzerfausts and Milans.

The Hinds get chased near the town by marders, and the Gepards which pass their cross checks to come out of the woods into range.  But it isn't enough to bring them down this turn, as Alex proves a master of 4+ Helicopter saves.

The Leo 2s shoot and scoot after their ambush, but don't get far enough back to avoid all the incoming fire.  in the following turn, they would fail their blitz move and wind up exposed with more limited firepower to throw at the oncoming horde. An assault by the Company of Soviets is repelled with losses.

Too many soviet shots doom the Leo 2s to a quick end. I probably should have saved them for later on. Still I had taken a toll on the MBTs closing in on the objectives, and delayed Alex long enough for the initial timed objectives in the middle of the table to be pulled.  Now, with 5 turns remaining until the end, I needed to stage a fighting withdrawl, and hold the rear two objectives.  With plenty of equipment left it looked possible.

 The Hinds pop a PAH Helicopter, and his friend will leave the field after a failed last stand check.

 But the Leos are gone, and so are the Jaguar 2s. My MBT killing assets have disappeared.  and like that, the tide has turned.

May day! May day!

The Hinds are shot down by a combination of fire from the Marders and the Gepards.  The Hind crashlands on one of the main objectives, so we just subbed it out and had the Hind be a rescue mission.  It seemed to thematically fit.

 The Situation by around turn 5.  My troops fall back into their transports and hightail it to the other side of town, intending to dig into the buildings and hold the crossroads. On the left, infantry flee through the woods with Gepards leading the way.  The CO, still alive makes it to the woods and the relative safety of the trees.

 Lets wait till this is over folks...wait. the tanks are gone? we're all that's left? we just need to hang on for 3 turns.

Not running fast enough across the field, the infantry try to dig in. and FAIL! so they go to ground and avoid shooting, hoping it can save their lives before they fight the motor company hand to hand.

The Lead tank, the Hero of the Soviet Union, passes his 5th last stand check, and saunters into town.  My Milans fail their Blitz move and are left looking longingly out the window as the tank passes inside their minimum range.

 Their transports get into the fight, moving into position to take the fight to the Soviets should the infantry fail to hold them off.

Soviet Armor pours through the Gap and down the road, can the Germans hang on?

 In a bloody assault, the West Germans force the assaulting Soviets to fall back, but they are down to their last stand.  and flee the following turn.  There is now nothing between them and the objective save a lone Command team and some marders.

In town, the Milans take out several BMPS but its not enough, and the tanks surround their hideout.

The Soviets unpin, and charge into the woods, it is the bottom of turn 7.

 The Marders charge out, and try to savage the infantry with MGs, but to no avail, Alex passes his saves. and BMPS and T72s make short work of them.

 The tanks rev their engines, and

 Charge the House!

 Killing two of the 5 teams, they are forced to fall back, failing 4 cross checks in the process.  one retreats.  While they get their bearings, a lone BMP 2 prevents them from annihilation by being within 4"

On the eighth and final turn, the T72s have been pushed back...... but on the right, the remaining 5 Soviet teams of an original 12 charge through the woods at the lone Command team.....

3 shots ring out...

and he is no more.

Massacred to nearly the last man, the West German holding action has failed, and the soviets are victorious.  On the last die roll....of the last turn.  Alex Perry pulls it out.

The game was exciting from start to finish, and we had a ton of fun.  Coming up next,  My Practice game with my West German List against Alex's Soviet Horde of T72s

Tom Mullane (Captainecho on the forums) is a Social Studies teacher in Brewster NY, who lives in Danbury CT.  He plays with the Ordo-Ineptus Gaming Club based at Hobbytown USA in New Milford CT.  Come by and get a game sometime!

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Behind Enemy Lines Episode 38

Download the episode here

So, we're back! Full steam ahead on the 40k hype-train as we bring you all the news and views that we can find from around the gaming world. We'll take you on a journey through the games that have happened and the games that are coming....

Want to join the conversation? Please sound off in the comments below, or let us know on our forum!

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The Ghost Army Podcast Episode 26

The Ghost Army Podcast Episode 26

Welcome to The Ghost Army Podcast! Episode 26 is bursting with freedom as Brad travels to the US and records the cast with an all American cast! Casey, Seamus and Texas's finest, Tyler join the old man as they discuss some pretty exciting rumours about the future of the game that we love so much.

The guys then talk about listing around, terrain from and the history of the North African theatre. They also discuss Italians in the desert, having fun and staying focussed on the important things in life, having fun!

Tune in for the ride!

You can find this fine episode on iTunes or you can download it directly HERE.

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Tom's Road to Team Yankee Nationals 2017 - Part 1 of 3

My Journey down the rabbit hole of team yankee can be blamed on one man.  Mitch Reed.  He knows what he did.  All the articles, battle reports, and excitement, coupled with talking to vets I know that served during the period in question had me interested enough to start exploring a period I wouldn't normally be interested in.

First I had to pick an army.  While I don't consider myself a power gamer, I do like to play competitively, and an army that doesn't seem to have a chance is not in the cards for me.  When I started considering an army, I had 4 choices: Americans, Brits, Soviets, West Germans.  East Germans hadn't come out yet, and I was interested in jumping in right away.

Americans - seemed balanced but under powered, and in demo games, their AA assets seemed to be pretty limited and lame.  I didn't like the camo schemes provided, and while I knew I could make my own, this didn't seem the way to go for me.

Brits - I've played Brits....in WW2.  I have 6 Full companies of them painted up, which means I wasn't sure I wanted to go this route.  and while I liked the idea of an infantry heavy force, I am more of a finesse kind of player, I want some glass cannons to do some damage with, or small elite platoons to paint up. I did win a whole Charlie's Cheiftan's box set as part of the WWPD raffle back at Fallin last year...which was a nice turn of luck since I had to pay a locksmith 90 dollars to get my keys out of my car.  Were the gaming gods telling me to play Brits? If I were to do it, I would want to paint the Berlin Brigade colors....and I knew it was one of those projects I would never get to, and always regret.  So I gave the box to a friend as a present and moved on.

Soviets - Few people at our club who picked up Team Yankee took Soviets, and of those that did, one moved pretty far away for work, one has a good amount of models, but doesn't get out to the club often and the last guy has a whole bunch of armies, amassing a bit of everything, but he needs to buckle down and do some painting :) - (I'll let my club mates figure out who they are in this trio of examples.) I have no experience with a swarm, and the painting of it, even with spray would drive me insane.  so...

That leaves West Germans.....
Cool Camo Scheme? Check
Do I like the models? Check
Can I play a small elite force and not have to paint too much? Check.
Looks like we have a winner.

But as you can see from the above picture, "mistakes were made" as my wife would say, and 5 boxes of Leo 1's later, here we are.  All I have left to do it make my display board (which I love doing) and make some objectives (I had planned on having Vladmir Putin riding a bear. And I'm making one for Mitch as well.  I'm hoping I can finish it up before Historicon)

On to the list I plan to Bring to Historicon's Nationals:

I ordered Panzertruppen, the supplement that allows you to field a full company of Leo 1's....back in April....along with some magnets....and I'm still waiting.  So I borrowed a copy from a friend and used that to get the list made.  (Thanks Kevin)

Formation #1 -

Marder Commander -  1pt

1. Full Panzergrenadier Zug - 7pts
2. Full Panzergrenadier Zug - 7pts
3. Full Panzergrenadier Zug - 7pts
4. Luchs x2 - 1pt
5. Gepards X4 w/Fliegerfaust Gruppen Attached - 14pts.

The 3 Panzer Grenadier Platoons

I love the Milan missiles, the Anti-Helicopter and Anti-softskinned vehicle power the Marders give me.  I considered taking the M113s since they can grab an extra milan, but I already had the marders painted and magnetized, so there we are. additionally, I learned to my horror, that with a min range of 8", the milans can't fire in defensive fire.  And they can't use their AT rating in an assault, not only hitting on a 5 as a small team, but being generally garbage at anything outside of sniping vehicles at range.  So having one more isn't a huge deal for me.

I also decided to paint these Flecktarn Camo (again, Mitch made me do this.) I took his advice, and avoided a wash, since it would darken them.  I used the NATO colors, and the camo guide for SS from the colors of war book, but I lightened everything, and replaced the final colors with the burnt orange and a whitened light green from the German color box.  I like how they turned out.  I then added summer foliage and grasses. The flowers are from a model railroad kit.  14 dollars for like 40 of them. The whole process took about 2 weeks.  since I kept doing it in stages in front of the TV.

The Gepards - The bane of every soviet helicopter.  Their 40 inch range, and 4+ firepower make them a monster.  I considered Rolands, but these have more flexibility in killing BMPs if needed. I took the Fliegerfaust Gruppen as insurance.  and according to artillery rules, they can act as a spotter if needed and not otherwise useful.

The Luchs - at 1 pt for 2, its a nice little bargain.  it brings my platoon count up, helps to speed along an army that needs to be moving and attacking.  and is otherwise the size and shape of a Ford Focus wagon with a gun on it.  Sold.

  Formation #2 -

Leo 1 HQ - 3pts

1. Leo 1 X 3 - 9pts
2. Leo 1 X 3 - 9pts
3. Leo 1 X 3 - 9pts
4. Leo 1 X 3 - 9pts
5. Luchs - 1 pts

Fast, and deadly to BMPs and everything except a Main Battle Tank MBT.  These things will hopefully swarm over my opponents, or create a giant charred pile of vehicles before they're all dead. with 13 Tanks, its a beast.  I'm curious to see how it plays.

Support Options (not part of a Formation)

1. LARS w minelets X4 - 8pts
2. PAH Helicopterflight X 4 - 16pts

I wanted artillery. and the ability to restrict my opponents deployment a bit.  The Salvo and cheap cost makes these little rocket launchers too fun to pass up.  I would have taken the Tornados for the same cost, since their bombardment can rock some tanks, but I didn't have the models needed in time.  LARS you'll have to do.

Finally the Helicopters. With Hunter Killer, they can sit behind some woods, and do horrible things to MBTs.  If my Leos can take out any AA, they can have a field day.  AT23 with a 48" range is no joke.  and since you can't hide from aircraft really, they will find you, and haunt your dreams.  I used gloss on the windows and gave it some color variation, not BF spec, but I'm happy with how they turned out.

On to some test games, and trying to better learn the rules and mechanics before I get myself some games down in Virginia!

I've been following the Team Yankee Facebook page, and I have to say, other people's work has been inspiring.  I hope to see some of your armies facing off against my West Germans at Historicon!

Tom Mullane - (Captainecho on the forums) is a social studies teacher in Brewster NY.  He lives in Danbury CT and has been playing FOW and other wargames since 2011 with the Ordo-Ineptus club in New Milford CT at Hobbytown USA. Come by and get a game!

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AAR - V4 Kampfgruppe Piper vs. 51st highlanders from Overlord

My friend Karl and I haven't had a chance to play a lot of Version 4 games yet.  We are both working on our 8th armies and DAK for Mid War, but neither are finished, so we made do with testing out some old standbys.  I brought the 51st Highland Division's reluctant Vets, and he brought KGPieper.  With 3 KTs.....so we would see how terrible the big cats were.

His list

I tried to print out my list, but failed, due to a printer connection being severed by this dog.

We rolled breakthrough, and I put my 3 infantry platoons in a flank attack.  I had mortars, 6 pdrs, and a platoon of Universal carriers deployed.  I also kept my priority hurricanes on, I figured they could deal with some of his Panzer IVs.  Due to the restricted nature of the recon rules, I couldn't make a spearhead deployment, 

My list all on the table before deployment.

Both Objectives were close to the middle of the table.  This one at the center of town, and another off to the upper right of the picture below, was in the woods, within striking distance of my infantry who would come on from reserve.

He zipped up and dropped his infantry into the houses, forming a solid defense around the objective.  These houses are all Sarissa Precision, which were a lot of fun to paint.

In the first turn, the 6pdrs blitzed up and made short work of the Ostwinds at range.  wiping the platoon.

The UCs tried to do an end run, and bet on the Panzer IVS not coming in on the first turn

It proved to be a poor choice.

On my left flank, the Crocs advanced and made short work of the mortars platoon and infantry hiding in the woods near the dead Ostwinds.

But as you can see, the KTs arrived and made short work of the Crocs.

I began moving the 6 pdrs over to the fight, and probably should have just had them come in from reserves with the infantry, it would have saved me an awful lot of trouble.

Despite repeated bombardments by the mortars, the infantry in those houses in the center of the board proved tough to kill.  A definite improvement from what these light mortars were in V3, but no substitute for some 25pdrs.

The Plane was worse than useless. With rockets nerfed to AT 3, it rarely made sense to use them, despite it being a bombardment template.  they don't seem to dig out infantry or kill tanks.  Their cannons, at AT 8, can't touch a Tiger or a KT, and frankly won't do much good against a panther as well.  and with a 5+ firepower, they failed to kill much of anything they scored hits on.  Despite Karl's terrible dice, I only managed to bail them 5 times, and kill 1.  Not nothing, but not what I need for 220 points.  I'll just take more AT guns.

The infantry came on and we learned a lot about assault rules.  My platoons were savaged.  And since the attacker assigns the hits, my piats took the brunt of it, always dying first.  since they aren't like panzerfausts which travel with the commander, and there is only one in a platoon, this is a big problem for the brits.  

It took 3 platoons 5 assaults to shift off a platoon of tanks, and some halftracks from a rogue platoon nearby.  Its hard to know if that's typical or just my terrible luck.

We called the game when it became clear Karl wouldn't be able to get his tanks in to contest.  Somehow, he lost a tiger to 6 pdrs shooting him in the side when he failed a shoot and scoot move.  His bad dice betrayed him much more than any strategy.  He rolled more 1s than I've seen in quite a while.

Lessons from the game. (for me anyway)

1. Crocs are great, and even more worth the points.

2. Mortars are better, but cant be relied upon to dig out infantry alone

3. Big Cats are invincible as long as they are positioned carefully and supported by infantry

4. Planes are garbage.

5. The new movement orders and infantry speeding up make the game much more quick and fun

Thanks to Karl for coming over, and I hope you enjoyed the report!

Captainecho, (Tom Mullane) is a teacher in Brewster NY and lives in Danbury CT.  he plays at Hobbytown USA in New Milford CT.  Check out our facebook page, and come get a game this summer!

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FOW V4 Afrika Korps Command Cards

The long-awaited command cards for Version 4's Mid-War desert armies have finally arrived. Below is a recap of the command cards for the German Afrika Korps force.

If you'd like to see the full rules for using the cards, there is two-page pdf available here. This piece will discuss the appropriate rules for each type of card in the appropriate section.

Basic rules for using the command cards include two methods of deciding how to use the cards in your forces. Both depend on agreement between players. Chose either free use of the cards when building the force (up to the points for each force), subject to the limits for each type of card. Or, agree on a certain point value total that each player may add to their force.

Cards may be used multiple times in a single force, except for Warrior cards, and any cards with the Limited designation. Those may only be used once per force. A force may also include only one warrior card. Cards are also restricted by nationality of the force (German cards only apply to German forces and units) and by unit type.

Warriors
Many players on the forum have pointed out that the two books (so far) for force building in the V4 Mid-War period were rather thin, and didn't include many options players were accustomed to, such as Warriors. This set of cards provides two warriors for players to chose from: Rommel and Rettemeier.

Rommel's old abilities of Fingertip Feeling and Rommel at Point are gone. Instead, the new card, at 6 points, grants an additional two inches of command leadership distance to unit leaders. Rommel adds a victory point to your opponent's totals if you lose the game. If you win the game, you gain an additional victory point by fielding Rommel.

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