More GDW Team Yankee

 Managed to squeeze a game in, and it seems we keep coming back to the old GDW Team Yankee boardgame for WW3. 

I used the stats for British forces at the back of the rulebook, plus there are more of these in the other 'First Battle' supplements.

1:200 vehicles in play today

 The turn sequence seems like nothing new, as does the combat table, but this game is so elegant. 

 Elegant systems include:

• The Turn sequence, where if you have initiative, forces you to choose between going 1st or 2nd in turn - but be careful with reaction fire.
• The CRT seems very old school, but range and cover make such a difference. The game design advice is correct; if you can fire, you 'might as well try it' unless staying hidden and closing range is worth doing. Two Chieftains got taken out in the game below, simply by virtue of the weight of Soviet numbers.
• For me, the great thing here is one set of rules suiting all levels and modern periods / scenarios.

GDW's Team Yankee - all the boxes are like this; it's part of GDW's 'patented battered box' design.

 I've managed to collect all of the 1st Battle series now, including 'Stand or Die 1941' which appears to take 2 jumps up from Team Yankee (where 'Sands of War' jumps to units being platoons, 'Stand or Die' makes them companies - but without making it obvious ;)   ).

 

 So, I'm hoping to explore the entire set using miniatures. Aims include:

• Also expanding 'Last Battle' for Man to Man on tabletop.
• Playing some of the modern battles included in 'Sands of War'.
• Using some bits for 'Hyboria Now'.
• I'm still keen to develop the 'turn clock' and 'traits' systems in conjunction with these rules. 

 

  (oooh Blogger sucks so much now with pics...Now I get it!)

Soviet armour on their left makes a dash for the town.

 

 The British Chieftains are poorly spread out.

BMPs on the left start to take MILAN hits.

T72s exploit an apparent flank opportunity on the right.

While on the right, Soviet infantry mass against the British units in cover, pinning them early.

 

 

Soviet units make it into the BUA.

The weight of Sov armour is just too much, and a couple of lucky hits put paid the British right flank.

There are unexplored nuances in these rules, and the rest of 'First Battle' just waiting to be explored.

'When I said, 'stay on my tail', this is NOT what I meant!'

Saratoga - with 'Hold the Line'

 Following on from Steve's recent drive for perfection with simple rules, and his post game protocols for analysis ...and also using the amendments for the AWI boardgame 'Hold the Line' that he kindly sent me... we returned to a favourite old battle.

The British master plan to sever the northern colonies from the rest of the Atlantic seaboard had come unhinged, leaving 'Gentleman Jonny' Burgoyne's northern army dangerously isolated. He could either retreat back to Canada, or make one last attempt to break through the American defences on Bemis Heights and open the road to the Hudson Valley. (Musket & Saber)

 Now, if I recall, I'm 2 for 3 on our versions of this one, having played it with Volley and Bayonet, and other rules - including Musket & Sabre - the boardgame variant from which we constructed the scenario. For Fitz today ...it was all to play for. (He won of course...now we're both 2 for 4...revenge!)

The boardgame map (musket & Sabre) that we used to set up.

 

American defences at the heights.

 

American units also hold the woods on the British right, facing Fraser.

British attack begins in the centre and right. Most of their additional action points focused here in the early stages.

...though that doesn't prevent a 'completely mad' flanking move, which destabilised the British assault.

British guards would be disappointing on the day.

Good cover provided for American lights, which did not fulfill their promise early on, but soon came good.

British guards repelled from 1st melee ...yes, you heard me right!

German grenadiers push back (apparently) American continentals, then walk straight into the range of the guns on Bemis Heights.

...and a little outflanking action.

Despite early success German Jagers were pushed out of the woods.

'You do realise there are bloody big cannons over there...right?'

By game end, the British main attack had faltered, with heavy losses, while the flanks had been forced to admit defeat. 

A very nice set of rules, easily played, with lots of subtlety. ...Steve's protocol below:

'I could literally sell these sheets to the Hessians and tell them it's like, trouser material or something...'

 

(hmmm ...one of these re-enactors is not like the others ...)

The 'Steve Protocol' Questions

How long did the game last?

About 2-3 hours. We got a lot of time to talk cr*p throughout.

What was the scenario? 

Our favourite epic - Saratoga, granted with some maneuver toward Bemis Heights in there.

What happened?

The British attack in the centre was foiled by an American counterattack led by Arnold. The Germans went for a flank surprise, that turned to disaster.

Extraordinary Events

British guards 'bounced' off militia in the woods with terrible rolls. German grenadiers were fought off twice, then butchered by artillery. American tactics played to the rules - the British player was far too cavalier!!!

Who Won?  Why?

The Americans. ...see above...

Did you enjoy the game?

Oh yes. This is a fascinating set of rules - simplicity with subtlety. Points values can be added to via the die roll - which adds pure drama, though again, it's what you do with that extra little bit of luck that wins or loses the game. It really seems very period-esque.

Advanced Questions

Details and chrome that's missing

We used hexes - which though making everything very easy to move, took away a little bit from the linear warfare nature of AWI. But that's minor.

Final Thoughts

A great set of pickup rules, with lots of period flavour by virtue of choosing where to put those extra points into use. We thought it would play like Maurice, though the difference being that there - you can pretty much predict what your opponent is going to do. Here, it's a lot more difficult to do so.

Twilight 2000

Now, it's been a long time since I backed a Kickstarter, though it's been even longer since I backed a Kickstarter for a Role Playing Game.

Twilight 2000 is getting a makeover, by the same people that recently did the highly praised 'Alien' RPG and something based on 'Stranger Things', amongst others. I pretty much missed these but research has reveled some spectacular responses amidst RPG fans, since I've been hiding under a rock.

My lineage with Twilight started here:

and here:

Memories of a fantastic premise (which I recall a few of us even wrote letters of support for back in 1986, when presumed 'leftie' readers (it was the 80s lol) in White Dwarf slagged its pro-WWIII allegedly 'supportive' stance).

On the downside, it had a poor system, though we ended up adapting and improvising to get all our guys onto that last train out of Poland. We didn't get as far as the states to do those last scenarios, which means we missed the Nuclear Sub / MilGov-CivGov war - but then a few of the characters were actually ex-SAS from Birmingham... which inevitably had been nuked.

We did have a lot of stuff based on James Rouch's 'Zone' series.

I still have a bunch of battered books and the original box set - which I had considered selling, but I might just keep now. I know there were other editions and parallel universe rehashes - I missed it all...but not this time...

My original battered boxed set...

Here's the new Promo - 11 days to go at time of writing:

Hyboria Now! Imagi-nations gone mad.

 This idea was discussed with Sprinks while I was looking at doing variants on his new blog for quasi-C17th battles.
It had formed in my head during the current renaissance of Tony Batch's Hyboria campaign on a few blogs (set in the world of Conan the Barbarian). This older blog was also very inspirational, as was Jack's recent work.
Now, if the great flood doesn't wipe out Conan's world 20,000 years ago, and the current land masses don't form as we know them in western Europe, then you get  an analogue for the modern day which promotes:

• The factions and politics of Conan's world ...with Tanks!
• Nations and kingdoms which try to hold themselves together on the back of alternative history, which can be made up on spec to suit the game.
• The odd 'sacred site' which could create all sorts of shenanigans for modern types, if one wanted to inject some extreme gonzo situations into the mix. Maybe the fact that people stop believing in the ancient gods of Hyboria creates ...an issue.

 

Nuts? Probably, and like I would ever have time for this, but consider:

•  The United States of Aquilonia formed from the ancient fiefs and rival kingdoms after decades of creative accounting, and taking most of Pictland to the west (which still has issues).
• The United Kingdoms of Nemedia, also incorporating much of Aesgard and Cimmeria.
• The Zamoran Pact forces to the east, formed from much of Zamora and parts of Turan.
• Shem and Stygia have been fighting each other openly for years - and are openly used, by the larger powers, to test doctrine and equipment from Aquilonia and Zamora/Turan.
• Civil wars and insurrection have been threatening to de-stabilise Iranistan
• There are rumours of some factions developing the 'ultimate' weapon...in order to ensure dominion of the continent.
• Kingdoms to the south, with warlords, civil strife, hunger and pleas to set up a United Nations style organisation in the north - which everyone wants Aquilonia to pay for. 
• I can't even to begin to imagine what Hyborian 'Media' is like... 'we bring you this report live from Cimmeria!'

Advantages? No hassle. I can mingle 80s figures and vehicles with later stuff...maybe even the odd older vehicle.
The Rules? A combination of GDW Team Yankee for tank battles and Squad Hammer or some of Rory Crabbe's stuff for the rest.

 Aquilonian SF in Iranistan.

Turanian armour moves through the Black Gate

Zamoran invasion of Argos; clearing out an old Mitran temple.

Let's see what happens, but the idea is certainly nudging at me.

This movie also helped -  very good: