Games by BattleFront
By Jim Naughton
Introduction
A frequently asked question on Team Yankee (TY) forums is what ADA systems are best. This article tries to answer that question for the Warsaw Pact.
The release of World War III: Warsaw PACT https://www.flamesofwar.com/hobby.aspx?art_id=7455 added the M53/59 Praga anti-aircraft vehicle to the Czech army and corrected the omission of SA-8 Gecko from Volksarmee.
By Richard Steer
Bulge: British is the final book covering Late-War British forces for Flames of War 4th Edition. Combined with D-Day: British, these books are Flames of War’s representation of the British, Canadian, and Polish forces in Northwest Europe from D-Day through until VE Day.
Supporting each book is a deck of Command Cards. These cards add additional formations, units, and upgraded weapons, that are not included in the core books. Amongst the cards for the British books there are a number of options for different reconnaissance units. This article looks at the historical units, and how they have been represented in the lists.
By Jim Naughton
The newest Soviet Ally to join the Team Yankee tabletop is the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias (FAR); or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba.
The troops represented in Red Dawn belong solely to the Tropas Terrestes with the exception of the MI-24 Hind, the other services are not represented. Which is a shame because the Cubans had their own parachute battalions, marines, and special operations forces, as well as a variety of aircraft. Cuba didn’t use SU-17/22/25 so in the game, they must rely on Soviet aircraft.
By Mike Rafferty
An 80s classic, Red Dawn provides a crazy scenario where the US is invaded by Soviet forces along with their Latin American allies. The same situation doesn’t work in the Team Yankee universe, but Battlefront created a vaguely plausible scenario so I can live out my resistance fighter fantasies.
If you’ve been following the background material in the Team Yankee books, NATO has started a counterattack in Germany that is pushing the Soviets back. NATO and Iraq have stabilized the Iranian front while the Israelis push the Syrians back.
Overall, things are not looking optimistic for the Soviets. What do the Soviets do? Sue for peace? Nuke everyone? Tease us about opening a front in Asia and bringing in Chinese and Japanese forces (I wish)? Nope, the Cubans arrive with a plan to invade the US.
By Richard Steer
Bulge: British is the latest release for the Late-War era of Flames of War. This book covers the British, Canadian, and Polish forces in Western Europe from August 1944 through to the end of the war in Europe.
It’s a book that many of us have been looking forward to for a long time. The arrival of the Comet is a large part of that anticipation, but there are several infantry formations in the book that also deserve a close look.
Kangaroo Rifle Company
Bulge: British takes the standard Rifle Company from the previous books and upgrades it. The overall structure of the formation is identical to those earlier iterations, but the Company HQ and Rifle Platoons now have the option of including Ram Kangaroo transports.
By Mitch Reed
My first Flames of War army, which I swore would only be the only one I would ever use, was my late war British (painted as Canadians). While I did collect other nations, I always built and created British or Commonwealth lists as my collection grew. As the game went into V4, I had a lot of later war kit that did not have a new list, now with the British Bulge book, I can now get my Challengers and Comets back on the table.
By Tom Gall
This past Labor Day afforded the opportunity for a number of us Flames of War players to get together at D6 Games in Rochester Mn for a casual day of gaming. As sometimes happens when you have a group gather the desire strikes to do something larger with Flames of War. Our hearty band decided to set up three 4’x6′ tables together to make an extra large Flames of War game.
By Jim Naughton
PART III – (part 2 here) Now we’ll take a look at the complications – the effect of shifting targets, larger batteries, and Krasnopol. Refer to Battlefront’s source books World War III Soviet https://www.flamesofwar.com/hobby.aspx?art_id=7154 and World War III Warsaw Pact https://www.flamesofwar.com/hobby.aspx?art_id=7455 for details.
RANGING IN
The big weakness of artillery comes when your forces close in for the kill. ‘DANGER CLOSE’ makes you move the template, stop shooting or switch to smoke. PACT artillery suffers less than that of the Soviets. In fact, with an observer, it’s more likely to range in on the first attempt than the other two attempts combined.
By Jim Naughton
PART I gave an introduction to the subject and cataloged the seven weapon systems available to Soviet/PACT Team Yankee players. Today we’ll take a close look at the math that allows comparing weapons. Battlefront’s source books World War III Team Yankee Soviet and World War III Team Yankee Warsaw Pact are invaluable references.
Always remember, a Scientific Wild Ass Guess (SWAG) is a Wild Ass Guess (WAG) done with slide rules, calculators, and spreadsheets. Now for our SWAG:
Team Yankee uses D6 for combat resolution. In an artillery bombardment, you roll to range-in up to three times, and the number of range-in attempts adjusts the to-hit number for stands under the template. Then comes a save for each stand hit, and finally the artillery rolls a firepower test (if required) to kill the target. That’s a lot of die rolls, each with six possible outcomes. Up to three range-in attempts, then up to four more for each team under the template (to-hit, save, reroll save if brutal, firepower). 216 possible outcomes for the range-in procedure and 1,296 possible outcomes for each team.
By Paolo Paglianti
ETC is probably the biggest and most important Flames of War tournament in the World – I already reported about it here. It was an amazing experience, and I hope to come back in following years. After the above article about the tournament, time to talk about my games with a full report of my six battles with the Iceland Team.
Playing ETC is deeply different than playing a normal, single-player FOW tournament. You are part of a team of six players, and the Captains of the two opposing teams try to find the best pairing for their players. For example, if the opposing team has a US Tank destroyer army, the opposing Captain will try to counter it with Recce Company full of nimble scouts relying on being hidden and to hit the weak side armor of the M10s. The Captains also need to choose which of their players will attack, maneuver, and defend, as they have two “cards” for each stance – ie, you can’t attack with all six players. A lot of strategy even before the game starts!
