Shifting out of Neutral Part 1: I’m not into Neutrality, I’m into Survival

By Ian Birdwell

Team Yankee has told the story of two powerful sides arrayed against one another, on the one side US-aligned forces and on the other USSR-aligned forces.

Yet, between those two powers blocs are a host of neutral states attempting to navigate the whims of the two superpowers, one of my personal favorites being Austria who is in the current Team Yankee timeline and is already dealing with some problems.

If you look at the bottom right corner of the Firestorm: Stripes map, there are two little red territories including Salzburg on the Southeastern corner of the map.

However, the Austrian Army (Bundesheer) is one of the forces another being the Danish military, that has yet to be released and that we have expressly been shown has been invaded.

I’m sure many enterprising readers have already deduced where this is headed, and if you guessed its to a land where Schwarzenegger impressions will abound I’ve got something to say about that. You’re completely right. 

Shifting out of Neutral will cover the building of my latest project, a representation of what the Austrian Army may look like in the current timeline of Team Yankee.

This will be a project run in to different parts both here at NDNG and on the website utilizing the existing range of Battlefront Miniatures covering the Cold War period, a splash of miniatures from other companies, a dash of 3D printing, and a little bit of creative liberty (already abounding throughout Team Yankee given the presence of Sgt. Yorks, Canadian ADATS a few years ahead of schedule, and the East German camouflage schemes).

The Battlefront side of this project log will focus much more on getting the miniatures produced by Battlefront ready to represent Austrians while Shifting out of Neutral will instead by more geared towards the non-BF portions of the project. With that said, the first stop on this train should be to look at what the Bundesheer looked like in 1985, progress to what existing faction would best represent the Bundesheer on the tabletop, and end with what the list we’re shooting for will look like. 

 

 

Austria in Team Yankee

The invasion of Europe carried out by the Soviet Union in Team Yankee is not the first invasion suffered by Austria at the hands of the Red Army, but it is certainly the first conflict of the 20th century Austria faced where it was not a part of a major global contender.

This isn’t to say that Austria was not on strategically important ground at the crossroads of Europe. Rather, that its military was not well equipped with advanced weaponry largely due to Article 13 of the Austrian State Treaty. The biggest provisions were regarding the equipment of the Austrian armed forces, which expressly forbade new missile technologies from being purchased by Austria.

Therefore the Bundesheer of 1985 had no missiles of any kind and instead relied on unguided rockets, recoilless weapons, and anti-tank guns to knock out enemy tanks and anti-aircraft cannons for aircraft. Thus, though the Bundesheer adopted one of the first bullpup rifles, possessed 2nd generation-level MBTs, and made use of IFVs in the form of Saurer/Steyr vehicles it still faced a host of challenges in dealing with more modernized Warsaw Pact forces. 

With all of this information, there are only a handful of mentions of the Bundesheer and the Third World War in Austria in the existing literature of Team Yankee, most of them fairly grim with notations of the Bundesheer getting completely overrun in just a day or two……but there is some hope even in the case of a surprise attack from the East. 

The first glimmers of hope lie in that Leopard directly mentions remaining Austrian forces linking up with West Germans defending Bavaria and that it appears a good chunk of Carinthia, Tirol, Vorarlberg, Salzberg, Styria, and surprisingly Burgenland remain unoccupied.

Unless it was called up to defend Upper Austria and readily mobilized, this all means Austria’s 2nd Army should still mostly be around alongside and the Panzergrenadier Divisions stationed in Burgenland and Styria are still actively resisting as well. Thus, it’s very likely Austria, though reeling from the invasion, is still fighting to free herself, resisting Warsaw Pact forces, and making several new friends who love four letter acronyms.

The second lies in the flexibility of the game itself, there are plenty of pieces of equipment which were hurriedly purchased or equipped by major players in the game as I mentioned before, so it is justified to include equipment purchased following Austria’s amendment of the Austrian State Treaty with the justification being the rise of a hardliner instead of Gorbachev. Now Austria’s M60s, SK 105s, M109s, and Steyr APC/IFVs are supplemented with a selection of ATGWs and other modern munitions though in significantly reduced numbers (As a note, I’d think in this specific case Austria would have bought a variety of munitions from the Netherlands, West Germany, and once the war got started the United States including Jaguar 1s, Improved TOWs, Dragon ATGWs, Redeye Missiles, and potentially accelerated other purchases or projects the Bundesheer would eventually pursue after the Cold War).

Now have an Austria which has a more modernized military, mountains to strike back from, several new NATO friends with a common enemy, and a whole mess of motivated military personnel itching to retake their homes. She’s lost the first round but it’s not over yet, and who doesn’t like an underdog? 

Where does the Bundesheer fit?

With all of this information which existing force would make the most sense to use for the Bundesheer for Team Yankee? Remember the goal is a force that can be used in the most games as possible so rather than writing a new Army list entirely (though this may happen eventually) I’d much rather go with existing forces. Given the equipment, the Austrians used, as of right now the two closest forces to being Austrians are Israelis and Americans.

The problem of selecting Americans would be that while the USMC Rifle, Tank, and LAV companies are great analogs for ground-pounding infantry, M60A1s, and Saurer 4k 4FA IFVs they’re not quite perfect.

The infantry would have to be in helicopters instead of in Saurer APCs or IFVs and the M60 doesn’t have the proper export ammunition. So while running Austrians as Americans would fit fairly well, it may just be a better idea to go in a different direction.

The Israelis check off nearly all of the boxes needed with minimal ATGWs, mostly being TOWs mounted on mobile vehicles instead of hauled around by infantry and infantry which would work well enough for Austrians in APCs.

There are three major hiccups though related to translating the Bundesheer to the Israeli force selector from Oil War. The first is the Jaguar 1 as the only real analog is the Pereh which isn’t exactly congruent but should work in this particular pinch especially if you’re clear with your opponent and always ensure you’re able to see what they’re shooting.

The next would be the lack of a light vehicle with a big gun to reflect the SK 105 Jagdpanzer Kürassier, but thankfully the Leopard 1 can be easily taken as an Allied NATO formation to fill out that slot when desired. The added benefit of using the West German Leopard 1 formation is the additional inclusion of the Jaguar 2 in the formation which in part eliminates the need to take the Pereh as a Jaguar 1 stand-in. Though the Jaguar II was purchased by the Bundesheer alongside the Jaguar I, they were converted into command vehicles.

The third is that there are pieces of equipment which have no direct analog within Austria’s military of 1985 or since, namely the Chaparral and the Viper Helicopter. These two items can be resolved by simply using models from my American Team Yankee Army in their stead, as I’d imagine the US would like to ensure critical passes through the Alps are held and offer some support to the Bundesheer.

Acknowledging those shortcomings makes for a fairly easy translation of the Israeli list into the Bundesheer of Team Yankee. Now that we’re armed with a force to select from we can get down to the nitty-gritty of developing a Force to select from we can now put together a list.

To show off some of the awesome Austrian miniatures available for 3D printing, we’ll be going for two formations using allied West German Leopard 1s to represent an SK 105 Jagdpanzer Kürassier company. So a 115 point list would like the list below:

M113 Mech Infantry Company

1 M113 Infantry HQ

2 Full M113 Infantry Platoons

1 Platoon of 3 Magach 6 Tanks

1 Platoon of 3 M125 (81mm)

1 Platoon of 2 M150(TOW)

Leopard 1 Panzer Kompanie

1 Leopard 1 HQ

3 Platoons of 4 Leopard 1s

1 Platoon of 3 Jaguar 2

2 Platoons of 2 Luchs

Support

1 Platoon of 3 M109 (155mm)

1 Platoon of 4 TOW Jeeps

1 Platoon of 4 Redeye Teams

1 Platoon of 4 M163 VADS

1 Flight of 4 Skyhawks (without napalm)

It’s a relatively solid list with a strong core of infantry and tanks with enough high AT backup to challenge the tougher nuts of heavier MBTs. So its a good starting point for a new force, with plenty of flavorful fixings to showcase some of the real-life faults of the Austrian military of the 1980s. So, with a force selected, an army list in hand, and a plan to go shopping it’s possible to start the push to retake Austria! Tune in for Part 2 for a game plan of how I’m going to convert and build an Austrian Force for Team Yankee using 3D prints and my bitz box.