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This topic contains 484 replies, has 35 voices, and was last updated by madman1960 5 years, 9 months ago.
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February 28, 2019 at 2:07 am #1355021
Wow, @davebpg . That’s awesome! So US wins out over UK? Interesting “updated” take on Saratoga. I mean Cowpens. I mean Yorktown … 😀 😀 😀
But seriously …
February 28, 2019 at 9:44 am #1355099Lol thanks Jim @oriskany.
This particular game of Team Tankee was a real eye opener for me, for once the expensive but technologically advanced Abrams came into their own. Because we were playing with the night fighting rules, it gave the US’s thermal imaging equipment a considerable edge of the British infa-red which quite frankly, didn’t get the job done.
Most other games of TY iv’e played, the US has always been a bit of a let down. Fairly high cost limits the numbers, and the vehicle stats aren’t as good as say Leopard 2. But mix in some scenario rules and they really come into their own! (that a few lucky dice rolls didn’t hurt either!).
February 28, 2019 at 1:39 pm #1355207Good afternoon ~ Expanding on the idea idea of pushing Barry Doyle’s Valor & Victory system further into 1982 Lebanon, I’ve put the first swing into the opposition, namely the PLO / ALA for a “modern war” asymmetric dynamic.
A few more leaders,maybe another couple support weapons and game function counters (casualties, civilians, POWs, etc), and then we should be on to a couple of gameplay maps!
February 28, 2019 at 5:53 pm #1355302@davebpg Very early on, we found that most modern games where you introduce thermal imagining it ends up as a foregone conclusion (the technology is just overwhelming). We even saw American force players drop smoke on top of their own tanks, not to cover a redeployment but to deny the enemy a shot while the thermal imaging allowed them to see through the smoke.
I think it’s probably why Battlefront chose to set Team Yankee in the year they did, because modern games set in Europe with 1st line equipment basically “broke” until the Soviets got “something equivalent (and to be frank they never did, as you can see here http://defensepoliticsasia.com/progress-in-russian-thermal-imaging/ ).
So instead you’ve got to find a way to field M1s without the thermal imaging for a “good game” (even if it’s not terribly realistic).
February 28, 2019 at 6:31 pm #1355315Well modern gaming is in the mainstream media but not in a good way
and given the way the Mail works they’ll be looking around for more to be ‘outraged’ about in similar fashion
February 28, 2019 at 6:37 pm #1355317Is there no anti-thermal tech ?
Or smoke that can stop reduce the effectiveness of that tech ?
I suppose a good ol’ forest fire or a burning oil field will have an effect.Using smoke as portable cover was one of the things that makes sense, although such things are probably more effective in games compared to real life.
February 28, 2019 at 7:53 pm #1355318@davebpg – I think I would agree with what you’re saying. Playing against the Americans in the Team Yankee Boot Camp, it seemed like the Abrams wasn’t quite as powerful as it should be. THAT SAID, we were all playing with M1 (L7 105mm) if I recall, not the M1A1 or A2 variants (Rh-120 120mm smoothbore, enhanced electronics) that would come out VERY soon afterward.
Conversely, the T-72 seemed to be a little OP in that game sometimes. It felt like a little “Kentucky Windage” for the sake of game balance.
THAT SAID … and IN DEFENSE OF TEAM YANKEE:
Again, we were playing with M1, not M1A1.
The Red Thunder release for Team Yankee really helps out with the introduction the T-64 and making the T-64 actually objectively BETTER than the T-72 if I remember the cards right.
I feel the T-72 should actually be a little worse, and definitely CHEAPER in points. I remember at that boot camp some people wringing their hands wondering if our x10 T-72s could take on players’ x5 M1s. In fact that curve really should be a lot steeper. Never mind the 2:1 ratio, it should be 3:1 or even higher, with the points matching accordingly.
Again, that makes for a tough sell in the practical wargaming world. Even if the POINTS are balanced, Soviet players get hammered by having to buy x3 or x5 many tanks as American or British or German players, with x3 to x5 as much money, work on the hobby front, or storage issues.
ALSO, we tend to fall into the idea of tanks vs. tanks. Tactical combat never really works that way. Tanks are just 5% of a system which is fighting another system. Again, sometimes this is tough to do because we can’t all play on 20-foot tables with 300 minis on the field (sadly). 🙂
For the Abrams, I feel there are two things to bear in mind.
On the one hand …
THE ABRAMS REALLY IS AS GOOD, or BETTER than … everyone says it is.
Look, I’m just going to say it, the M1A2 Abrams is objectively the best tank in the world in most applicable situations. This is not a case of “‘Mericuh iz da best,” the case I make is that the Abrams is the best tank ONLY because it takes British armor, a German gun, and is crammed with Pacific Rim electronics. On its own, the Abrams illustrates the American ability to do one thing unquestionably better than anyone else, spend money. Dollar for dollar, the Abrams probably loses the title very quickly.
On the other hand …
THE ABRAMS IS NOT AS GOOD AS EVERYONE SAYS IT IS … or at least as good as performance in Gulf 1991 or Iraq 2003 would indicate. The main opponents there were either Iraqi T-55s (I mean, come on) or T-72s (third rate rank, crewed by a third-rate army, after having been bombed for six weeks by one the most intense aerial campaigns in history, and while the T-72s had no SABOT-type ammunition.
Every tank in the world is designed around the strengths and weaknesses of the army in which it’s meant to serve. The American Army can spend money, and is fantastically supported by a very deep (and very costly) support and maintenance and logistical infrastructure. The Abrams is a “high maintenance drama queen” – a date that looks stunning in her super-sexy dress and will make you the most envied guy at the party … but if you don’t really take care of her (and I mean dutifully wait on her hand and foot all night long) she will dump you in a hot minute.
This is why I’m really interested to see how the Abrams does in the service of OTHER COUNTRIES, especially Egypt. How will Abrams-equipped brigades and divisions do in real combat in an army that isn’t so fabulously and richly-supported?
What I really hope NEVER happens outside of a computer, but would be interesting the think about in a strictly ACADEMIC sense, is if (God forbid) Egypt and Israeli really go to the mat again. 🙁 🙁 🙁 Non-“prom queen supported” Abrams up against Merkava IVs in big numbers.
February 28, 2019 at 7:58 pm #1355319Thermal imaging is pretty easily defeated, at least temporarily, by a lot of armies. Those “smoke launchers” we see on the left and right face of most tanks … that’s not just smoke, it’s usually some form of white phosphorus. This burns as 2300F, called “hot smoke,” and yes … is opaque to thermal imaging.
Of course, it doesn’t last, the tanks have only so much of it, it is a huge hazard to any nearby friendly infantry, and has a very good chance of lighting the surrounding terrain on fire. This is a bad thing if you’re trying to defend set positions (but then again, WHY are tanks trying to do THAT in the first place)?
So not an ideal solution … But it is out there and is in widespread use.
There are no “silver bullets” in warfare.
February 28, 2019 at 8:40 pm #1355324“high maintenance drama queen” … isn’t that true of a lot of western/american hardware ?
There appears to be a reliance on skilled engineers to keep the gear up and running in addition to the crew itself.
It makes me wonder how this would affect the army once logistics get problematic (like in a twilight 2k type of setting).The Soviets otoh appear to have gear that can be maintained by the average farmer (and equally low requirements for crews).
Maybe not as effective on their own, but (theoretically) not such a drain on precious resources like skilled engineers.February 28, 2019 at 8:51 pm #1355325Anybody else desperate for some multipart plastic moderns in 28mm?
With the current similarity of military equipment on all sides in mind a kind of generic set of operators would be like a dream come true to me. The only attempt so far are the slightly outdated Wargames Factory/ Warlord Games Spec Ops for Project Z. Not too bad but surely one could do better these days..
February 28, 2019 at 9:34 pm #1355337I’ve got some of these, they’re nice but I do agree. Anvil Miniatures do a nice PMC range, you can mix and match the parts.
February 28, 2019 at 10:50 pm #1355338Anvil Miniatures PMCs are cool if you want to create some division agents as well
March 1, 2019 at 12:03 am #1355339Hmm..Anvil is a wee bit too ‘heroic’ for
my liking tbh.
But I’ve given them a chance and ordered a small PMC team ??
March 1, 2019 at 12:20 am #1355340@oriskany I’m going back to the era of wargaming when Team Yankee was set for my recollections (Challenger 2000 et al). It was common practice for NATO “wargaming commanders” to drop Artillery Smoke rounds (things like 155mm Smoke Rounds used for screening were usually chemical based rather than WP) on top of your own units.
Thus your tanks were obscured from spotting, getting shot at (even airstrikes) and could still acquire targets out through the smoke due to the thermal imaging (but that may have been wargamers just “trying it on”).
Your point on Soviet players is true, I had a couple of Divisions of E Germans (T-55, a few T-72, BTR 60s etc), and I had to collect and paint about 5 times the amount of models compared to the NATO commanders. I had HUNDREDS of the things, but I was a minority within the Soviet players (as most bought 1st line Soviet Guard stuff with T-80s, BMP2s etc). Even my A/T Helo’s were HIPs. As I used to tell my opponents, I got 5 times the number of tanks than you (even though mine are rubbish), but the Pact Forces would only have attacked with at least a 3X force multiplier (so that’s something like 15 T-55 tanks vs 1 Nato M1A1). Now think of the player who’s got to paint that lot up 😀
When thermal imagining came into widespread use, the era of moderns in wargaming seemed to just drop off from the scene. Most players with Warsaw Pact/Soviet armies either just gave up, or couldn’t invest even more money into their armies to keep pace (a bit like what happened to these militaries in RL I suppose 😀 ). Gaming was no fun when the enemy units were just so strong there was very little you could do against them.
But for players in this day and age, I’d say stick to fielding M1s (and not M1A1/A2s), as you may soon find there’s no Soviet players around and you’ll be stuck fighting other NATO armies (I actually posted about this in the thread about players with “elite armies” having problems finding opponents). It’s not entirely realistic, but it gives a better game, and keeps the points differential between the tanks a lot closer.
My first thought for a US team Yankee army would actually be the REFORGER units (a lot of which still had the M60s in storage) in the mid 80s. Why? Because of the rule of cool (M60s look a lot better than M1s 😀 ). You don’t HAVE to automatically buy the elite units, you can buy the second line stuff and have better (more symmetric) games. I’m pretty certain this was why Battlefront decided to do Team Yankee instead of just “moderns”. It’s because it’s set in the era just before the wargaming aspect went “wrong” and disappeared from it’s previous heyday (and popularity). I think anyone who used to play moderns back in the 80s and saw this happen realised this when we saw the first teasers for the game (and got all excited again 😀 )
March 2, 2019 at 11:18 am #1355922Hi, folks as part of the sitrep team I would like to call out and say thanks to the community for embracing what we do. If you think of a topic or something you would like us to cover, please drop your idea in this forum.
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