Israeli Armour & Air Support Hits Battlefront’s Team Yankee
April 19, 2019 by brennon
Battlefront Miniatures has been showing off some new Team Yankee releases for the end of April. The Israelis are getting themselves some new armour and air support starting off with the Magach 6 Tank Platoon.
The first of the sets contains five new plastic tanks, ready to act as the frontline against the enemy. These big, tough tanks came over from America and became a staple part of the Israeli army over the period covered in Team Yankee.
Anti-Tank Options
Next up we're looking towards the ways you can defend against tanks too. The Pereh Anti-tank Platoon is again based on a lot of US technology that got sent over to the Middle-East.
Designed to look like a traditional tank it would then pop up the missile system on the back of the tank, ready to unleash a salvo of explosives into whatever stood in their way. That gun-tube on the front was a fake and not used at all making it a surprising foe for the enemy to come up against.
Anti-Air & Long Range Rockets
As well as the anti-tank options we also have something to help keep enemies at bay in the air. This is the ZSU-23-4 Shilka AA Platoon.
Proven by the Soviets and Russians this was a shoo-in for the Israeli army, giving them great access to tried and tested anti-air defences. It had a decent range and was speedy too, able to zip from one place to another when its aid was needed.
We also have the M48 Chaparral SAM Platoon which will gives you another option for taking down aircraft and the like.
These were manually aimed by the operators before the rockets then locked onto the hot exhausts of aircraft. Then, they would be launched and homed in on their target, hopefully blowing them out of the air.
Skyhawk Support
Finally for the Israelis this week we have the introduction of the Skyhawk Fighter Flight.
Armed for ground assault these fighters would drop cluster bombs and napalm onto the enemy. The Israeli version of this fighter also saw changes where the American cannon was replaced by a French one upgrading it from 20mm to 30mm.
So, if you're collecting the Israeli force in Team Yankee right now you have lots of cool new options!
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"...if you're collecting the Israeli force in Team Yankee right now you have lots of cool new options!"
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The Skyhawk is a very pretty aircraft. The more I see of Team Yankee, the more I want to start an army…
My biggest question is, BF keep talking about how there work is limited by how many product codes they can support. However, particularly with TY, you see the same sprues sold in 3-4 different boxes because different nations use them. This is the second or third boxed set for the shilkas and m60s.
I think half the problem is that these boxes contain unit data cards, so Team Yankee gets a box of M60s, Fate of Nations gets a box of M60s, Vietnam gets another.
It’s a double edged sword, by including the data cards with the models you stop players going to other vendors (like PSC for example) because the player needs those cards. However by doing so, you end up with multiple boxes containing the same models, but the data cards are changed.
I think the unit cards are also sold in packs … or at least they do sell them for Flames of War in limited quantities.
Although one has to wonder how much more cost effective this could be if they added all of the relevant unit cards to the box.
You do not need the data cards to play the game, all the information is in the books. So you can use other companies models without problems if you wish.
In the BF spotlights / articles, the front of the cards (with all the important stats) are displayed as jpg/gif images. I just download and save the images for the units that I want.
Very nice.
Again a great addition to ty
Pereh ATM is certainly a novel bit of kit, an anti-tank missile carrier “disguised” as a tank (the barrel is a fake). The idea here is that in modern warfare the ATM systems are the target priority, as they form a bit of a glass cannon weapons system. The Pereh (and it’s “pop up” launcher) looks like a tank in an attempt to fool the enemy into not prioritising it as a target until it’s too late. Fine use of an old M48 Walker Bulldog hull, would have been nice to see them both modelled with the launcher both raised… Read more »
I love the whole TY range but the game looks like a drag, to be perfectly frank. Every time I peek in on a game, tanks are parked bumper to bumper and it just destroys any sense of immersion.
Depends how players build their armies, to me at least half your army points should be spend on infantry and their AFVs. But alas many players just ignore the infantry and go with 100% tanks, it gives a quick (although one dimensional) game.
At then end of the day TY (just like WW2) is based around combined arms, so you should have a heathly mix of infantry, tanks, artillery/mortars, etc. It’s just that many some don’t like fielding infantry (they find them “boring”) and instead enjoy playing with just tanks against each other.
I have to say the Pereh looks like something I would love to have in a Battletech game…That would be an interesting game if you have Mechs in scale of those tanks.
Hold on, @spacewolflord – 1:100 mechs? BattleTech style ‘mechs on a Team Yankee table? That sounds kinds crazy. Oh, wait … 😀 😀 😀 Not any “real” mech from BattleTech, scratch-built for fun. Honestly I’ve never used it in a wargame and have no idea what its stats would be. But yes, using BattleTech measurements and actually building one to scale to 15mm Team Yankee … if nothing else, it showed me just how freakin’ huge these mechs were supposed to be. @mercurylamp – I hear what you’re saying about the tank parking lots. A lot of that isn’t the… Read more »
The Pereh does not need LOS to shot a target!!
You can place a unit of Perehs behind cover, in your back lines, out of line of sight from the enemy and then snipe enemy targets in complete safety. This is going to be a big surprise for a lot of players the first time they run into a unit of them.