Draco - Task Force Bravo

So, it was finally time for my first full game of Team Yankee.

Now, I must note that I haven’t played a Flames of War-style game since…2008(?) and second edition. I kinda lost track of things during third ed when everything started to get its own special rules, which is a feature that I personally dislike in wargaming. I agree that it gives each of the units its own flavor, but remembering which unit has which rule, and how they interact with other rules – it gets a bit confusing after a while, and can lead to disagreements which ruins the fun of the game. That’s one of the reasons I was appreciative of Team Yankee, as it listed most of its special rules in the main rule book, and most of the others are just variations on this core set.

But I digress…

My first game was versus Gav, who was running a Motor Rifle Battalion – 2 short MR companies with BMP-2s, 3 x T-80s, 4 x Shilkas, and 2 x BRDMs. We both chose Maneuver as our setup, and rolled Free For All, which was good for me as it was a straight forward scenario.

The first turn saw some long-range shooting, with me trading a Chieftain for a BRDM, with the other scout eventually quitting the field. However, I did come to be cautious of the T-80s, which I realised I had to flank to even try to kill. Plus the BMP missiles were certainly a threat, when they hit.

Whilst one of my Chieftain platoons tried to handle the T-80s (preview – it didn’t go well), the other platoon pushed up the centre, although they lost one of their number to an infantry assault. Additionally, the Shilkas decided to mess around with my infantry, but, over three turns of a, indecisive firefight, I managed to kill one and bail two in return for two infantry stands. The Shilkas, despite being autocannons, only managed 15 hits over three turns.

On my third turn, the last two Chieftains made a dash for the objective, but they were then taken out by the same infantry that had killed their squadmate. And that was my last attempt at victory, since the T-80s were sitting on their objective, having only lost one of their number overall.

A total victory to Gav.

Not that it mattered too much – I’ve kinda resigned myself to losing every game in this league, given how new to things I am, but it is nice to be painting and playing with things after a year of lockdowns and home stay.

So, what did I learn from this game? Well, apart of re-learning the basic mechanics of it, the main thing I learned was “The Dance” – the maneuvering that tanks do in Team Yankee to get flank shots on each other. Short of completely avoiding the T-80s, there wasn’t much room for me to do that on the table, but I now understand that using shoot and scoot and the like is one way of keeping up the Brit’s rate of fire.

I also learned not to worry so much about my units getting hit. Even though Gav was throwing more shots than I was, I think I had a higher hit % than he did – the difference between the NATO and Pact base to hit values is a big thing. Plus infantry in foxholes is almost invulnerable, unless they get hit with high explosives – hitting them with autocannons certainly doesn’t do much.

Still, the game got me thinking about my list overall. I’ve been playing around with things a bit, and Ive come to realise I can run this at 50pts:

British – 49/50 pts

FV432 Mech Company – 37 pts

Company HQ – 2 x GPMG 3 pts

FV432 Mechanised Platoon – 2 x Milan 7 pts
FV432 Mechanised Platoon – 2 x Milan 7 pts
4 x FV432 Mortar 2 pts
3 x Chieftain 18 pts

Brigade Support – 12 pts

4 x Lynx HELARM 12 pts

Having the helicopters in there will certainly add to my flanking fire – especially with the Hunter-Killer rule – and having two platoons should make my defenses that much better. I still don’t have any Stillbrew on my tanks, but, truth be told, I’m not sure if its worth it. It reduces their cross value in return for 1pt more front armour. And even without Stillbrew, I was reliably pinging RPGs. I don’t think that the additional armour will do much vs Pact tanks, and BMP-2 missiles are nasty regardless. Still, getting for the tanks in this list will only mean I have to give up my GPMGs, so, could be worth the cost.

Well, two weeks until the next one. And at least my order finally came in, so more painting to do!

(Seriously, designed in NZ, manufatured in Malaysia, and distributed from England? Logistics chains make no g*****n sense…)