Game 15 - Team Yankee, 'First Blood'

As mentioned previously, we used the Team Yankee board game rules as the basis for  a WWIII battle, with one model = one vehicle and a scale where 1 hex on the board = 2" on the table (the scale that Steve used).

This scale worked well and didn't seem too jarring, despite being larger than some of the scales that I'd used in other rules in the 80s. The Heroics and Ros vehicles had all been previously based for Modern Spearhead and despite initial concerns, the basing actually promoted better comprehension of arc of fire and flanks than would normally be permitted with other basing regimes.

(Another interesting point to note is that if we had done a battle of this size with Spearhead scales, there would have been 4-5 bases per side, which brings both the nature of the battlefield here, and in larger Spearhead games, into sharp focus.)

All in all, using the Combat Results Table from TY, together with an approximation of ranges and capabilities worked well and gave a quick game, full of twists and turns.

TY's 'First Fire, Move/React, Second Fire' system allows real tactics to thrive, especially so with missile vehicles like ITVs and even BMPs, which took a real toll in the scenario, simply by virtue of selecting spotted targets at the right time and not moving. Having said that their poor armour makes them a sitting duck at decent ranges. The nature of the rules therefore forces the US player to think with US doctrine, and the Soviet player is forced to adopt Soviet doctrine. Nice system and nees more exploration.

The game was based on the 'First Blood' scenario in the rules - in turn based on the first contact in the book.

 Soviet armour drives hard up the grey felt autobahn.

 

M1s and M2s lurk in the farm and village, acquiring targets...

 Long range firing from the US left flank also starts to take a heavy toll on the BMPs, which have not been adequately screened with the Russian armour's attempt to use the road.

Of course, going isn't easy for the Russian armour either.

 Smoking wrecks begin to gather...

Long range firing from the ridgeline takes a terrible toll...

 ...as do the US units in the village.

 

Russian units get a bloody nose.

US armour however, is not immune to Soviet ATGWs, which take a terrible toll.

 US armour moves off the crest line to engage advancing Soviet units in the flank. This helps blunt the advance entirely.

 

 

"No targets left to acquire sir..."


The Soviet advance was quickly blunted, though not without some cost. A nice set of quickfire rules that can be adapted right across the cold war and WWII even. I guess this was what GDW were good at, though I hadn't realised how easily the system could be adapted (thanks again Steve).

The rules do recommend that a reinforced Soviet battalion would give the US tanks a little more to think about in this scenario as a variant. Hmm, perhaps next week.