Let’s try the horde! Team Yankee Padova’s tournament report
By Paolo Paglianti
The last Team Yankee tournament we had in Italy was more than two years ago, so I was super happy that Livio Tonazzo, one of the best FOW – TY players in Italy, created the event we had last weekend, March 12th. While we normally play Team Tankee at 75 or 85 points, this time we decided “to go big” and have 105 points lists, with a massive amount of tanks, vehicles, and infantry bases.
The idea was to allow the deployment of the “new” super tanks, like the Challenger or the M1A1HC Abrams: these tanks cost up to 54 points for a platoon of three, so it’s mathematically impossible to field them under 75 points. However, we knew 105 points can also mean lots of spam of light vehicles and transports, but with a missile AT 19 or 21 on top of them – an entirely new meaning for the “spam” of scouts we see in FOW, as in Team Yankee they are both numerous and lethal.
The tournament players – meeting all of them after two years of the pandemic was the second-best reason to come to the Tournament. The first one was the Lasagna cooked by Livio’s-soon-to-be-wife, which was simply fantastic.
My list.
I wish I could say it’s all me, but the idea came from this article from our friend John Meier. I considered copying his list and playing IDF + a US light company ally, but I didn’t have enough IDF infantry. Instead, I morphed the list into a similar British infantry + US light company.
The British infantry is equally good, especially in hand-to-hand assaults. The Harrier can deliver a massive amount of damage in a single good shot. I lost the unrivaled Pereh platoon with a mass of scouts and a double Formation list, so it’s a fair exchange. Below is my list – no heavy Tanks, but lots of high AT vehicles and Milan.
This is my list. There are many like it, but this one is mine. I need to master it and learn how to deploy 73 vehicles on a table where I normally field 12 of them.
This is what a British/US 105 Team Yankee army looks like: tons of vehicles, infantries, AAs, and artillery. It can theoretically shoot 24 hits AT 19+ each turn, considering cannons, TOW-2, and Milans (to say nothing of the 4 Harriers).
First Game – Antonio Soncini’s British.
We arrived at the location and we immediately played the first game. However, we were advised the game would last only two hours since we had the scheduled lunch. I met Antonio, who was playing a pure British list with three Challengers and three Chieftains. I attacked and he defended, so we diced out for Dogfight. This was his list.
The first game table. An urban confrontation with lots of houses. Antonio deployed on the right and I was on the left, attacking recklessly: this happens when the Crown asks you to capture those objectives in under two hours.
We tried to deploy faster we can, but we spent anyway nearly half an hour. When we started the game, I noticed that was almost impossible to win against a seasoned and veteran opponent like Antonio in under 1,5 hours. The best result was to score 3 points, even losing the entire army, so I basically charged point-blank. Antonio, even with 40% of units off the table as reserves (he kept out the Challengers and a few other small units), basically covered his short table edge with a double line of infantry and vehicles, with a total of 8 infantry Milan teams.
I tried to use the wrecked buildings you see in the photos to get closer and charge his line. I sacrificed the US vehicles to attract fire, and keep my two British infantry in good shape, each one headed on a different objective. The objective on the lower side was heavily defended – with one of Antonio’s infantry platoons, the Chieftains, and the minefields.
The other one in the upper corner was somewhat more approachable, so I throw there all my eggs: the HQ to boost the morale, the RDF/LT US tanks, the Chieftain Marksman, However, without “preparing” the assault as I would have done with a full three hours game, Antonio managed to cut to pieces my troops, and I also failed the objective to score 3 points. In the end, we closed the game at turn 5, with no winner and a mere 2-3 score.
Second Game – Flaviano Maggioni’s Czechoslovak
Flaviano is a great friend and always a pleasure to play with him. However, when I saw his list, I had a moment of dismay. He had 64 infantry bases – normally, you need three Western armies to have so many bases! This was his list.
And this is the desertic table. Flaviano is on the top, while I attacked from the base. He had so many vehicles he had to ask friends to help carry some of them, including me. I should have told him I would return them after the game!
In addition, a thong of vehicles including 30+ BMPs. He defended and I attacked, so we ended up with Bridgehead. The table had a central small desert town, but was scarce of elements on the sides: I had so many vehicles it was impossible to hide them behind cover, and I had to deploy more than half army in the open.
Flaviano deployed 60% of his army, and – boy! – it was enough for two full games. He had basically three lines of troops from one side to the other. Again, there was little hope to dislodge such an impressive line. I decided – again – to play the game for fun and to score the maximum score of three points. I force a strong assault on the right and left, using the light vehicles to shoot everything I could. I had fewer guns, but my vehicles shoot better. The idea was to target the BMP1s and the Shilka, to thin out Flaviano’s line of vehicles with AT and AA missiles, and try to give a chance to my Harrier flight.
Despite I killed some Shilkas, the Harriers were destroyed – Flaviano had four dedicated AA units! The shooting phase was good, but not enough: Flaviano’s turn was a horrific display of brute force, resulting in almost half of my vehicle platoons and troops being destroyed and wrecked. I used again the infantry to close near the objectives, and I also assaulted one of them with the protection of smoke barrage, but the amount of infantry was enough to hit me more than 5 times and repel the assault. At the same time, we didn’t reach turn 5, so it was again a losing draw of 3-3.
Third Game – Jacopo Perini’s US army
If you ask me what is better in wargame and tournaments, I’d answer “meet people like you”. I met Jacopo only a couple of weeks ago when he came to my Milan FOW Tournament, but we chatted a lot over Skype and Whatsapp about modeling, painting, and list building I think we know now each other as two long term friends. We met at the last game of the tournament, and this time we both attacked. Here is Jacopo’s list, I think it’s really interesting, and may “copy” it for my full US army.
And this was the table:
We ended up with Counter Attack mission, where Jacopo was the true attacker. Actually, deploying only 60% of my army, and keeping the RDF/LT tanks in ambush was much better, as all my troops this time were in cover. Jacopo attacked the objective on the right with his HMMWVs and LAVs, while keeping me at distance with his RDF/LT units. He was close to winning the game, but my second infantry came up from reserve and managed to secure the right objective. Once in a building near that objective, Jacopo was locked in a duel of shooting, and I had enough time to wait for the cavalry to come and destroy his troops.
On the left, the battle was even bloodier. He assaulted valiantly with his infantry platoons, killing my RDF/LT platoon I used as cover for my own infantry defending the objective – I can understand my US troops would not fight 100% against their comrades, but in this game, they utterly failed!
However, my British infantry proved once more true champions of the battlefield. With the cover of the Abbots (yes, they covered my infantry with their machine guns!) assaulted the US marines and drove them away from the objective. We played very fast, so we managed to finish the game, 6-3 to me with very good luck with the infantry.
The results.
I finished fourth – close to the podium but no prize. However, I won the “best painted” – not with my British army, but with the Iraqui one played (I reported about it here) by my friend Gianluca Moroni. The infantry bases created with my 3D printer conquered that prize!
Being fourth out of 14 players, with two draws and a 6-3 win is something unusual. Actually, lots of games ended up in draws, and the winner – another fellow British Player Tiberio Vinante – won with a full win (8-1) and two draws.
Tiberio Vinante with Livio Tonazzo, the tournament organizer. You can guess who played and won and who organized from the Tiger-sized smile on the face.
Could be a Matrioska (Russian nesting dolls) set of Team Yankee players, but instead, it’s Gianluca Moroni winning the “best-painted army” using the Iraqui army I painted for him.
Tommaso Perini with his “Best player” prize – he received the most votes as the more “gentlemanly” player. This is a great idea for a prize.
Another great idea from Livio: the award for the best table. He asked his friends to bring terrain elements to have seven gorgeous tables. The players voted the best one. Flaviano Maggioni, my second game opponent, won for one of his tables.
I think 105 point armies for Team Yankee are simply too much. You can deploy the super tanks, but many players will use those points to rely on a massive list of dozens of vehicles. With lists like Flaviano’s with 60+ vehicles and 60+ infantries, you can’t maneuver or find a soft spot in the enemy’s line; you can’t go on the flank, and every army has everything – infantry, light vehicles, planes, AAs, artillery, tanks.
Also, even with pretty good tables with lots of elements, you can’t cover everything, so the game normally ends up in a shooting duel at distance. If you attack, it’s really difficult to break into the dense enemy line; if you defend, it’s almost impossible to win as you won’t’ get in 3 hours to the sixth turns, and More Missions scenarios normally assign the victory to the defendant after the 6th turn.
Actually, I think I made a mistake in both my first two games, choosing to attack. Attacking works in FOW or with Team Yankee’s smaller forces, where I can concentrate all my army on a single objective while the opponent needs to defend it with half of the 60% of his army. Dangerous, but it often works. In those games this was an error. The best tactic with such gigantic armies should have been to defend. If I defended with Antonio and Flaviano, we would have had a scenario where both armies had to defend an objective and attack the other, so we could have played a more mobile game.
I personally vastly prefer 75 points – we can’t play with super tanks, but the lists are more balanced and the games are more tactical and fun. However, even with massed battles, I really enjoyed the tournament, and can’t wait to play more Team Yankee in the next future.
Some photos of the tournament.
