By Ed Sales

Hello there! Today we are going to take a look at what Stripes brings to the Tournament Scene. (Spoiler Alert: It’s a game changer.)

There has been a ton of intrigue about what Stripes would bring to the table after Red Thunder came out. If you play Americans, this book helps immensely when you deal with the Red Scourge in competitive play. If you play a USSR or East Germans, be warned, the lists in this book will give you headaches, but you can learn a lot when you see what your opponent might bring to the table.

Stripes brings a new set of tools for the Americans and NATO Allies to wield, in a way that can be used the same way East Germans wield T55s. The M60, at four points a tank, is not as cheap as the T55, but I’d take those over the T55s. More shots and being hit on fours is a good break away from the Abrams which comes in at twice that amount, though the Abrams has a lot more survivability.

By Troy A. Hill
Photos by the Author

This is the first of a series looking at the Battlegroup wargaming rules. This piece originally appeared on WWPD.net and is being reprinted here as part of an ongoing look at the Battlegroup game system.

Battlegroup is The Plastic Soldier Company’s entry into the WWII gaming system. Written by Warwick Kinrade, the rules system is a tight, fairly historical approach to gaming at a variety of force sizes, in either 15mm or 20mm scales.

They have published a core rulebook, and a variety of Theatre of Operations books, including (as of now): Kursk, Barbarosa, Blitzkrieg, Tobruk, Overlord, Bulge (Wacht Am Rhein), Market Garden, and Fall of the Reich.

I’ve had a chance to read the rules and begin some skirmish games at our local gaming club. The rules are different, much different than what I’m used to with other systems. But, they’re not complicated. The biggest challenge I’ve faced has been trying to think inside of the Battlegroup rules, and not applying rules from another game set.

This article will look at the Battlegroup main rulebook, its layout, and how it presents the core of the Battlegroup system. The rules themselves will be covered in later write-ups.

The Rule Book

Battlegroup is published by  and is distributed by Plastic Soldier Company (PSC).  The rules were written by Warwick Kinrade, with assistance from Piers Brand. The rulebook was originally published as a small paperback book distributed with the Battlegroup Kursk theatre book. It now exists as a hardcover, stand-alone product.

By: Benny Christiansen

The typical Dane. Happy-go-lucky with a positive look upon almost everything. Giving you a glimpse of the way the Danes do it.

In these two articles I would like to present the Fog Of War cards used at the event and also, by going through the last game in detail, I try to give you examples of how we play with the V4 rules. 

In Denmark we have a concept called “Hygge.” Try to look it up, as the closest translation is probably “Cosy”, but that does not fully cover the meaning.

We try to keep the gaming community active by hosting one-day events, where the main focus is on meeting each other and playing. For this event, the guys in Aarhus (Denmark) had arranged one of those one-day events. The games were two vs two, with 1000 pts lists for each participant. Each game would be determined by Battle Plan Cards and then a dice to see which of the missions in the Battle Plan we would play.

Originally, I was paired with my friend Stephan. We agreed that we would field some fun lists. However, due to last-minute sign-ups,  I played as a solo-player with two lists of 1000 points alone. This way we had an equal number of teams on Axis and Allied side.

By No-dice-Dane

In November, WWPD published an excellent article by Tom Burgess on “Fight Outnumbered and Win – The U.S. Army in Team Yankee’s Stripes,” which can

Building on that foundation, I would like to start highlighting each element of the Air – Land – Battle, Combined Arms Team. Let’s start by taking a look at the Air Defense umbrella, doctrinally known as Short Range Air Defense (SHORAD).

Avenues of Approach

If the enemy has air superiority, the avenue should provide concealment from the air. Air avenues for attack helicopters airmobile forces and close air support have different characteristics.
Analyzing avenues of approach is as important to the defender as to the attacker. The defender must accurately determine the main approaches to his sector and identify the internal avenues which will permit him to maneuver against the attacker.

 

A lot of people were excited when Stripes came out and finally allowed a NATO ally to fight alongside the U.S. force.  BF quickly came out with modifications to all the force diagrams so everyone could have an Allied Formation even on the Soviet side.

I saw quite a few people on the BF forum misinterpret this change.  Many people harkened back to FoW v3 which allowed you to take a Churchill Flamethrower Platoon as part of a U.S. Infantry Company, for example.  That is not what this new change allows.  If you want another country to fight alongside you, you need to take an entire formation.  So, no you can’t simply add a platoon of rock-hard Leo2’s to beef up your force.  You would have to take a minimum sized company of five Leo2’s coming out to a whopping 55 points.

By Alex H.

Photos by the author

Plastic Soldier Company (PSC) recently released their much-anticipated . If you follow their , you may have been aware that the initial run of kits was missing the driver’s hatch, but PSC quickly retooled the sprue, and to my understanding has replaced any boxes that were missing this piece. I received my box from PSC over the holidays and I am very pleased with the kit.

The box includes five models, which can be built as the German A1/A3 or Canadian C1 variants. As new Team Yankee player who has picked up the West Germans, PSC’s timing is great. Battlefront has announced a plastic Leopard 1 kit to support the release of the Dutch, Canadians, and Australians later in 2018. I suspect, however, we might not see BF’s plastic Leopard 1 until much later this year. If you cannot wait, PSC’s kit is definitely worth your money.

By Dennis Campbell AKA Matt Varnish

Photos by the Author

Here we have the 2nd game using the Italians out of AVANTI, this time versus the British ‘Desert Rats,’ Encounter, 71 points. Nothing like playing Desert armies when it is -40 something degrees outside! Chris Caron once again obliged me in being my opponent and hosting, this time playing the British, and he opted for a Combined Arms approach, as he usually does, with an Infantry formation, an Armoured formation, and some Artillery support.

Brit 25 pdrs, 2 on the hill, 2 off for maximum visibility, he had no OP

By Tom Burgess

This article, about the US Army in Stripes, is a follow up to one  I wrote for WWPD.net in late 2017. Though I am much less of an expert on the United States Marine Corps in the mid-1980’s than the US Army, my brother, Brian, and several of my friends served in the USMC during that period. I am grateful for their assistance in writing this article.

First, just let me say that I was both very surprised but extremely pleased that Battlefront added the USMC to Stripes.  For almost a decade, Flames of War gamers had to wait on the Marines being available for WW2 games. It is great to see Battlefront add force options from the 2^nd Marine Division on the front end for Team Yankee.

In this episode, Mitch and Sean speak with Jon Russel who is the US events coordinator for Warlord Games. We talk about what is in store for us for Bolt Action, Black Power, Konflikt ’47, Gates of Antares, Blood Red Skies Pike and Shotte, and Doctor Who. Jon spoils a new WWII game they are working on and talks with the guys about all things Warlord.

Great spoilers like Bolt Action for Korea and the Great War,  and a new game that covers WWII naval action in the Solomon Islands.

 

By Troy A. Hill

Piers (left) and Warwick (right) performing historical research for a period other than WWII.

With Warwick Kinrade. All photos courtesy of Ironfist Publishing.

This piece originally appeared on WWPD.net and is being reprinted here as part of an ongoing look at the Battlegroup game system.

I recently had a chance to correspond with Warwick Kinrade, primary author of the , published by  and The .

He’s had help along the way from Piers Brand, the other half of the Ironfist Publishing force. In what I’ve learned is true “Piers Fashion” he deferred all of my questions about the game design of Battlegroup to Warwick.