Gaming

By Dennis “Wachtmeister” Jensen

On Sunday, January 19th, 2020 the gaming world unexpectedly lost Walt Langhans, an industry professional, and dear friend.  Along with his wife Michele, Walt was one of the owners of and it’s lead designer.

Walt’s designs were excellent and showed what MDF terrain could aspire to.  He was one of the first people to integrate non-MDF elements in his projects, to include drinking straws, acrylic elements and PVC pipes.

Walt also took steps to minimize visible lugs in his terrain, often using other pieces of MDF to cover visible lugs and seems.  He always had excellent customer service.

I remember one time I wrote him to say that a terrain piece I had ordered didn’t come with the plastic drinking straws but I was good to go because I pulled one out from my painted pipe set.  Walt almost shipped out an extra drinking straw because of the error.  I couldn’t accept this of course, but it just goes to show how great his customer service was.

By Tom Burgess

My good friend Charles Christy and I recently played our first WW3 “Team Yankee” version 2 game.  Because the new rule book already had the new stats and points for the Challenger in it, Charles was able to sneak in three Challengers into his list.

Mission and Forces

I went with an attack stance for my Soviets and Charles chose to maneuver.  We rolled up Counterattack for the mission with him defending. The battlefield has a small urban center surrounded by some hills and woods.

I was running a typical single formation Motorized Rifle Battalion (MRB) with one BMP-1 company and one BMP-2 company. I had some decent support to include a T-72 Tank Company.

Charles had two formations, a FV432 mounted Mech Infantry company and a Recce Troop. He notable had a unit of eight VF432 Mortar Carriers and unit of eight Abbots to make the most out of the new WW3 TY2 artillery rules. And of course he had those lovely three Challenger tanks.

Deployment

Charles chose to defend with his FV432 Mech Co protecting objective in his deployment area.

He used spearhead moves to flex out to the objective in the neural quarter, but due to the new WW3 TY2 spearhead rules, he was much more limited in his ability to move as far as he would have liked.

Counterattack only gives the attacker a tiny deployment area, which can be a big problem for large Soviet formations like mine. I used my BRDM-2 scouts to push my deployment zone off to my left, effectively doubling the area I could deploy in.

Charles’ Challengers, due to their very high point cost went into his reserve pool as did an AAA unit he would not be needing.

My plan was to heavily weight my left and concentrate on the objective in the neutral quarter. My T-72s would “follow in support” and swing even wider to left rear board corner.  I knew Charles’ Challengers would come there behind my main effort. I needed to leave the T-72s hanging back to take the initial hit and tie those Challangers up. My infantry wound swing through the urban area and demonstrate against Charles’ FV432 Mech Co to keep them pinned in place.

Turn 1

Why do I always take two artillery units with my Soviets, two chances to lay down smoke? After the 2S1 Carnations failed to range in a smoke screen (with Forward Observer assistance!) my BM-21 Hail rocket launchers  put in a nice smoke screen that ties in a large building with nearby woods to mask the approach of my main effort.

I caused no damage to Charles in Turn 1. I’m not even sure I took a shot. The first turn for my Soviets is always about positioning and getting in close.

Because my main force was so well screened by smoke and terrain, Charles really did not have much to shoot at, expect for artillery on my infantry. He continued to swing his Recce Troop out to his right to get into good over-watch positions where he could hit my T-72s.

Charles also deployed his ambush (four Milan Teams) and relocated them forward into the large building where they would have a target rich environment next turn.

Turn 2

In turn two, I continue my swing to the left with my BMPs, who with support from advancing infantry with RPGs make short work of Charles’ Scorpions.

My infantry continue to push in the center and Charles suddenly realizes that his Milan teams are about to be assaults before they even fire.

Fortunately for Charles, he only lost one Milan team to the Soviet infantry assault as he broke off immediate after the initial Soviet melee.

Charles’ Challengers come in on turn, right behind my T-72s as expected. Note the Sthurms waiting off to the right in the below image, knowing that the T-72s are bait that Charles’ Challengers cannot ignore.

Charles’ Challengers knock out two T-72s and long range fires from his Swingfires kill and bail a T-72 as well.

Turn 3

In turn three, my T-72s moved to flank and destroy two Challengers.  Knowing exactly where the Challengers were going to come in at. I left the T-72s in the corner so that no matter what, the surviving T-72s would be able to maneuver for flank shots.  Really Charles’ reserves needed to wait a bit longer and let his Swingfires get a turn or two more of shooting at the T-72s.

Turn 4

My infantry pushed through the large building and took the FV432 Mortar Carriers under RPG fire while my BMP-1s moved to flank Charles’ rear “gunline.”

The BMP-2s run rampant on what is left of Charles’ Recce Troop. Note how far Charles’ forces are now away from the objective in the neutral quarter.

With just three T-72s left, then last Challenger is knocked out.

By the end of turn four, it is clear that the only way Charles can keep the game going is to assault with his Mech Infantry company against my Soviet infantry in the center urban area. With way too many BMPs, ZSU-23/4 and BRDM-2s rolling around the area, this simply is not a viable option he concedes at the bottom of turn four.

Tough game for the British.  The new Challenger is a beautiful and scary beast, but it’s not going to stand up to AT22 flank shots. It’s ROF of 1 on the move to me makes it far less intimating  than a M1IP or Leo 2.

The new artillery rules had a big impact. When Charles ranged in on my infantry, I totally cleared the impact area. In most cases I was able to rally and move forward, but when I did not rally I did not hesitate to fall back. Fortunately, I only had to do this once, and it was with my “demonstrating” infantry on my right who I could afford to have fall back.

This game was not the best test of all the new kit the British have now in WW3 TY2, but as best as I can tell, the Soviet player really does not need to change tactics to face the British under the new rules and the new list. As always, maximize smoke to screen your advance and get in close as quick as possible.

In the end of the day it was a good game and I’m sure Charles will be scheming on how to use the other new British items against me in or next game.

Our coverage of Blood & Valor isn’t done just yet! Over the last few weeks, the previews of ‘who’ will be storming the trenches and gun emplacements of Blood & Valor. This week, I’m here to look at the ‘why’ – or rather, to give you a look at the scenarios for the game. Oh, and also, some armored fighting vehicles. You can ‘tank’ me later.

Finally the day has come, something new for the British Faction in Team Yankee. I cant say the wait was worth it, mostly because i hate waiting. But the Wait is over, and now i have so much money to spend. There is a lot to be excited for in this now book. Super Heavy Tanks, light zippy recce and  FINALLY, a new AA option. Add to that MRLS and the IFV and you have a great bunch of options to bring to the table now.

by Dennis ‘Matt Varnish’ Campbell

Well, its not exactly your classic Team Yankee Match-Up:  Hungarian People’s Army vs the Texas National Guard, but here it is. Scott ‘Obsidian23’ Roach has been busy over the holidays finishing off his Hungarians (plays as Soviets in terms of list used) and since he has Hungarians for Flames of War and Bolt Action, why not for Team Yankee as well?

We decided to play 120pts, which is the new North American tournament standard, as we have a semi-local event in April, and I will be using my M1 company that I’ve been working on over the holidays ().

If you played any wargaming set of rules in 15mm on a standard 1.80 x 1.20 m tables, you’ll notice every wood becomes a parking lot. With armies like Russians or Iranians, deploying dozens of BMPs or cheap Chieftains, you end up with crowds behind buildings or floods of transports hiding under every available tree. It’s not something wrong in the rules – they work just fine – but with the scale of the troops:  15mm vehicles on a standard table seem often simply too big.

We talked a lot in our local Milan “X Legio” club, and we got an idea: change the scale. From the 15mm we moved to the 6mm, less than one third, to see if the games improved. Spoiler: they did!

Cruel Seas by Warlord games is a WWII naval skirmish game for PT boats, coastal cutters, and smaller craft. Within our gaming group, the rules have seen renewed interest so time for more battle reports and some highlights of how we keep the game fun.

We played this game at D6 games in Rochester Minnesota just before the holidays.

We used the More Missions document which is a player-created set of random missions that allows you to roll up everything from terrain to what it is your fleet is being asked to do. This can be found on the .

By Ian Birdwell

This year Battlefront found the perfect item to get my out of my finals-funk of grading and paper writing, the publication of the 21st Panzer booklet to supplement the D-Day German book. If you haven’t seen the overview Tom Burgess wrote, take a gander at it (.

This particular article is going to be more geared towards a discussion of the lists of your 21st panzer forces on the battlefield, going over the shining stars of the formations within the book, the one item to leave at home, and how to bring your V3 force up to speed with V4’s update to the 21st Panzer in Normandy. 

In terms of the lists to look at, Tom did a great examination of the benefits of the formations and the general role of the forces, this article plans ongoing slightly more in-depth regarding them. Initially, we’ll touch on the most important of the formations of the 21st Panzer, the Beute StuGs! The shining example of awesome within this formation remains the humble Beute StuG, who doesn’t love a tank destroyer with AT 12 to back up your Panzer Grenadiers?

This is where the formation shines in my eyes, being able to bring to force what amounts to the formation of Marders. Especially with the rise of heavy tanks like Churchills in gaming clubs across the globe, I suspect that this formation is going to be fairly popular- at least I know I’m in love with it.

By Tom Gall

The US Civil War (1861-1865) ushered in a new kind of naval warfare. Ships made of metal, powered by steam, ships pushed into service which were never quite made for the task. It was an amazing time and is a great period to game.

Neil Stokes of the St Paul Irregulars has authored a wonderful set of rules call Steam and Black Powder that do a great job capturing the challenges of battle in this era and make for a very fun time.

The rule book is 48 pages, with the first 14 pages comprising the rules and the rest made up of tables, ship stats and some historical actions to try out on the tabletop. It’s a fairly quick read and won’t take you much time to get up and running on the tabletop.

A turn is comprised of 5 steps with each side going at the same time, there is no activation system which 0n the one hand eliminates problems like last/firsting but also removes some amount of “drama” hoping you’ll get the drop on someone.

The game uses inches for movement and suggests 1/600 models. In my case I’m using 1/1200 since that is the hardware I have on hand. We didn’t experience any issues and I did not make any adjustments for scale. It just worked.

by Dennis ‘Matt Varnish’ Campbell

With the new version of Team Yankee now out, I can finally put some thought into Team Yankee again!    Last year I had vowed to simply stop playing V1 Team Yankee until the new rules came out, after playing my Syrians and getting confused at and 2 local events in the spring between V1 TY rules and V4 Flames rules.  My Syrians did decently despite the list being garbage and me not taking the french gear that I should (Gazelles, Milans), winning probably through weight of numbers alone and not skill or anything.

However late 2019, I acquired a US Team Yankee force in a trade and what a perfect way to get into the new army, with some new rules!   Tristan, the previous owner, had wanted a Desert Storm army, to be different than all the NATO West Germany-based MERDC forces you saw back when V1 Team Yankee first came out.    So what is more iconic than the might of America, charging across the Desert?