Team Yankee - random missions

This week at the uni, continuing along our Team Yankee learning curve, we started to work our way through the random mission table, and hoped to get some infantry action in...

We nominated forces to be around the 50 point mark, to ensure we got the game finished in an evening...

Of course we had forgotten about the shocking lethality and destruction of modern warfare, and the speed with which the Team Yankee rules presides over this armageddon, so we were able to comfortably fit 2 scenarios in...

Predictably I suppose, my Soviet Tank Battalion was armour heavy - 2 platoons of 5 T-72's, accompanied by a small Motor Rifle company of 4 BMP2s and dismounts.

As in Australia the second wave of releases have been a long time coming, the US Force was pretty limited in scope - 2 platoons of 2 x M1, a battery of 3 x M109, and a Mech Inf platoon. At 50 points there doesn't seem to be too much scope for aircraft, either Fast Air or Rotary aviation. In fact this Aussie Kiowa was just Bryan demonstrating how much good Perspex rotor discs can look:

I just threw down any old terrain - a stretch of autobahn across rolling wooded terrain - given the lethality of modern weapons, you can't have too much open space:

Our first scenario was 'Dust Up', a meeting engagement whereby the starting player's first shooting phase is treated by his having moved - not much of a handicap for M1s nor T-72s!

Naturally I placed my objective as close as possible and on the quickest accessible route, despite the fact that John P had astutely placed his pre-game ranged in marker there...

And covered the objective with a beefed up M1 platoon...

We barrelled on through regardless with our single on-table platoon, using the stabiliser rule to extend the T-72's tactical movement to 14 inches - Its not like we were going to hit anything first move out anyway, right?



Da! Da! Baby! - Brewski 1x M1!
The other tank failed the platoon morale test and pulled out...



I caught a reproachful look from my Tank Company commander - have more faith Comrade Commander!

John, with only his M1 Company commander and a battery of M109s on table, resorted to laying a smoke screen over the objective, and the vengeful M1 Company Commander avenged his lost platoon by picking off  a T-72...

But he in turn was brewed and with the objective in Soviet hands it was game over, in about turn 4 with no reinforcements having come onto the table yet!

We then diced for the next mission, which was 'Hasty Attack', and John volunteered to stick with the US force but to take on the attacking role, since as yet we had not seen a US attack. Defending with 'scattered delayed reserves', my first move was to dig in a motor rifle platoon around the US objective placed in my deployment zone. I then placed their BMP2s across in behind the crest of the ridge to provide some long range ATGW cover with their Spandrels, as shown in the opening photo above.

However John P could see what I was up to, and declined to oblige. He placed his on-table M1 platoon in cover over on the opposite flank to my BMP2s, and when his second platoon appeared on the autobahn, they contented themselves with some long range stand off gunnery, picking off one of my BMPs who had been left on the ridge as overwatch...Rats!

Rivet counters will know that these Skytrex models are actually BRMs rather than BMP2s...

OK - so plan B was to lead off with my BMP2s, to see if it was worth attacking M113's with them...However again John failed to work with my plan and dismounted his infantry and promptly assaulted my BMPs from the cover of the wood...

Whilst the assault was eventually beaten off, but not without effectively leaving the BMP platoon out of the game...

Which John won by working his way through my now exposed flank to the objective. A interesting couple of games, from which we learnt a lot, and which improved my confidence in Team Yankee rules as a very playable set of rules which gives a satisfactory feel for modern armoured warfare.