Team Yankee – Plugging the Gaps: IDF reservists are here!

By Phil Gurtler

The new Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) book is here, and as someone who started playing Team Yankee as the Israelis, I am extremely excited to see how this new book will change how I play my “boys in blue!”

 

Having played the IDF at all levels of gameplay, from fun narrative events to accidentally placing second at the US Masters’ tournament with them a few years ago, I have always really enjoyed the flexibility and tenacity of the IDF.

Being such a small nation, the IDF is unable to create large, specialist, vehicles (with one, uniquely middle-eastern exception) and instead must focus on units that can defeat any type of enemy they are likely to encounter. Furthermore, because Israeli is a nation only nine miles wide at its narrowest point, the IDF is unable to trade land for time as a single major defeat could split the nation in two.

Unable to rely on tactics such as scorched earth, the IDF must always take the fight to the enemy and cannot afford to retreat. They will fight the enemy on his land to protect their own.

In my experience, the original Oil Wars IDF was very capable against infantry and low-tier armor, but struggled against Generation 3 main battle tanks (MBT). Breaking the new book content into three sections, you have: new tanks, new infantry, and new support options. So let’s look at how these new options help address the IDF’s deficiencies as an army in Team Yankee!

Tanks:

The Merkava I/II were great tanks at the time of release. They combined substantial armor with a Rate of Fire (RoF) 2/2, brutal, main gun. This made the Israelis a strong option against Milan missile spam, the dominant meta of the time. Armies like the British and French could bring a truly astonishing level of cheap and durable infantry missiles with 36in of range and an Anti-tank (AT) rating of 21.

This was enough to comfortably threaten even the big American and German tanks at a fraction of the cost. On top of that, infantry are some of the most durable units in the game when dug-in or in a building. The Merkava had the front armor and the brutal main gun to allow them to trade shots with them reasonably well, while the rest of the army moved freely. This emphasis on countering man portable anti-tank weapons mirrors the real-life threat assessments of what Israeli tankers would face in future conflicts and were very important to the design process of the Merkava (stay tuned for part two of this article, Why the Merkava?).

The other tank in the base book was the Magach 6, an Israeli modification of the American M60 tank without the “tumor turret” for the commander and a change from a hydraulic turret traverse to an electric system less likely to catch fire. In game, the Magach is a more expensive but worse M60, being RoF 2/1 and lacking a laser range finder.

It is the budget version of the Merkava, being just over half the points of the Merkava 2 but retaining the same brutal cannon. Additionally, a PDF document added the Centurion, or Sho’t, tank. Being roughly the same in points cost and capabilities as the Magach, but looking much cooler and having ERA blocks to allow it to better assault infantry.

These tanks were equipped well enough to handle the tanks in the initial release of Team Yankee and for most of version 1. Their 105mm cannons were limited to only AT19 but it was enough to threaten enemy T55/62/72s, Leopard 1s, and M60s. However, AT19 was practically useless against Abrams, T64s or Leopard 2s. Luckily, those units were often too expensive to see regular play and a well built army should have enough TOW missiles be able to handle the occasional tank with FA18+.

But as the game grew and more powerful units were added to the game, they became less effective against other tanks and more vulnerable to bigger missiles such as TOW-2 and Milan-2.

That all changes with the Merkava 3! The Merkava 3 is a generation 3+ MBT with all the capabilities you would expect while having THE highest front armor in the game currently at FA23. You are virtually immune to every weapon in the game barring the heavy aircraft mounted missiles and finally have a main gun capable of slugging it out with early generation 3 tanks.

The Merkava 3 is also a distinctly Israeli take on the formula. It has a 14 inch tactical move but is still the slowest of the Gen 3 tanks for dashing due to its helical spring suspension versus the typical torsion bar suspension found in other modern tanks. It also retains the multitude of machine guns one can expect from an Israeli vehicle and a remount of 2+ given the Merkava’s emphasis on crew survivability.

This power does come at a cost however, costing as many points as a Leclerc did pre-dynamic points. I BELIEVE that the points listed in the book are meant to be used only against other books and the Merkava 3 will immediately be modified for dynamic points.

The other “new” tank added, is the Magach 6 with Blazer ERA attached, giving them an additional 1 to front armour and the ERA rule. Additionally, each Magach platoon in a company can individually decide to be either all Blazer or all basic. It is an interesting choice, but I personally like the Sho’ts much more than the Magachs. (Did not stop me from kit bashing an entire formation of ERA equipped Magachs three years ago by using the Kontact-1 sprue from the T72b).

The other major tank changes were to the Merkava formations. You can now take a Merkava formation that consists of a command unit of Merkava 1, 2, or 3, a single Merkava unit that matches your command unit, and a second Merkava unit of your choice. The Sho’t and Magach formations remain unchanged.

Infantry:

Your infantry options were originally limited to a single type of mechanized infantry in M113s. The M113 is a capable transport with decent armor, the usual .50cal, and the standard Israeli trait of having extra machine guns.  These platoons are large for NATO armies, with either 9 or 12 teams in total. The large unit size ensures enough firepower to hold their own against enemy assaults and enough teams to weather casualties on the attack.

The high skill of your troops meant that they were able to dig in when they needed to, assault when the time was right, and morale 3+ ensured that your troops were always willing to try again if pinned. The real strength of the Israeli infantry, however, was in their tenacity. A unit either dug-in or in a building is going to stay there until the end of the game.

Unfortunately, they lack a lot of capability because of their weapon selection and jack-of-all-trades nature. Each platoon has 3 distinct aspects, a maneuver section with 3-4 Galil assault rifle teams, an anti-tank section with 2-3 short range RPG-7s, and a support section with 2-3 FN MAG teams, a longer-range Dragon team and a 52mm mortar who exists solely to be the first casualty.

This sounds like a lot of firepower, but it is limited in a lot of ways. The Galil lacks range and is only RoF 1 when pinned, the MAG teams have longer range but can’t assault, the RPG7’s are only AT17 so any unit with ERA or Chobham armour will ignore them, and the Dragon team is only AT18 (though the PDF update does let them become AT21 for an extra point). It is a unit that can do everything… just not anything very well.

This basic infantry unit does have a new transport and a new upgrade to their M113s. The upgrade to the M113 is a single point per unit and gives all the M113s applique armor and an armor value of 13 against heat weapons. This upgrade is situational at best because of the limited benefit you get from having a slightly more resilient M113.

I would just bring a mortar unit for 2 points instead. The other, much more interesting, option is the Nagmasho’t; for 1 point a team, you can upgrade your M113s to FA13(!), give them ERA and an automatic grenade launcher. This makes them an awkward unit with questionable utility.

Functionally, they are the worst of both worlds, a Marder 2 without the devastating cannon and a poor bulldozer because of their assault 5+/counterattack 4+. I will build a formation of them, but I do not expect them to see much play as Israel has much better options for 3-4 points and FA13 means they will always be impacted by deep reserves without really protecting them from serious anti-tank weapons.

The other new upgrade option is the B-300 at 1 point for the unit. When the teasers were shown and I saw a new anti-tank option for the infantry, I was ecstatic! Finally, something to stop tanks with ERA and Chobham when they assault! I will never again have a single Marder 2 recon unit moving half of my infantry company off the objective like what happened at the Masters’ tournament! Unfortunately, it is only an upgrade to your RPG-7s to give them four more inches of range and Firepower 3+ instead of 4+… a worthless upgrade and a waste of points.

The new IDF book does give us two new options and unfortunately, they are also very uninspired.

The reservist mechanized platoon is the same composition as the basic rifle platoon but does not come with transports at a base level. The only upgrade options are adding M113s and the Dragon 2 upgrade. With the added M113’s, you are saving 1 point to go from Courage, Morale, Rally, Skill, and Counterattack 3+ to 4+. The reserve formation gives you access to reserve 81mm mortar and reserve TOW M113s/jeeps with a similar downgrade in soft stats for a discount of 1 point for the unit.

I will admit to being an IDF fanboy, so I was desperately hoping for more, unique, options. I wanted Tiran 5/6s (captured T55/62s with 105mm guns), halftracks or even the BTR152 Battlefront rereleased with Late war Leviathans. Make them Hit on 3+ and really cheap! These options would not have drastically changed the game, but I would maybe run the reservist company if it let me do anything interesting. As it stands, I may do a reserve infantry unit as a support if I desperately need to save a point, but it’s not a strong option.

The other option is the Paratroopers, a formation I have been wanting for years! My favorite tactic is to drop a company of paras on an object and see where it goes from there. In Fate of a Nation, the paras were an absolute powerhouse of an assault unit with morale and counterattack 2+. Now, we get the same basic rifle platoon but for two more points, have assault 3+ and no transports. The M113s are 1 point for the platoon with Hueys being a free upgrade from the M113. They do have the upgrade option for both the Dragon 2 and B-300.

The Para Formation is also uninspired. It is the exact same formation as mechanized rifle and the reserve rifle companies but with the option of taking TOW jeeps or Rabbi instead of the TOW M113. The Rabbi is a copy of the jeep but with all around armor 1 and four machine guns for the same cost as a jeep. There is no reason to ever take the jeep.

I will probably run the para formation or at least a unit of paras regularly, but more so because I love the gameplay of paras and not because the unit interests me in any way.

Support:

Finally, the last section, support options! This section contains the most “new” units and the only unit that really surprised me. New options include the Rabbi TOW as an alternative to the TOW jeep, the option to take an Apaches in lieu of Vipers, adding a recce jeep/Rabbi unit outside of the tank formations, and an option of either a M270 MLRS or a captured Syrian BM-21 Hail.

Additionally, the new IDF book allows us to upgrade any TOW to a MAPATS, a slightly longer-range missile with AT23 but requires all missiles in the force to be upgraded if chosen. The Pereh also has an upgraded missile option at 1 point per vehicle. This upgrade goes from AT21 to 23, gives it tandem warhead to ignore ERA, and extends the range from all of one table to the table next to you.

These new options vary from desperately needed, like having a recce unit without needing to take an entire tank company, to redundant like the Pereh upgrade and the Apache. Having the MLRS option is nice, and the inclusion of the Hail was a pleasant surprise, but it really highlights what could have been with other captured equipment that the Israeli’s did use.

The Apache is a cool option but is much too expensive now that the vipers can go up to AT23. You will likely only take it if you really like the Apache. I think the Pereh upgrade is a trap. A Pereh should not be shooting at tanks but instead be shooting at critical support units like anti-air or artillery units, and AT21 is enough for that. Finally, the M270 MLRS is too expensive. I would recommend the Hail paired with a mortar instead for the same points.

Conclusion:

As previously stated, I am a huge IDF fan. I have been waiting years for this rule book and have been using kit-bashed Merkava 3s, Blazer Magachs, and applique M113s as unit/formation leaders and to differentiate between units for years.

I have an entire Tiran 5 Formation I made with T55 and M60 kits.  And at the end of the day, the new IDF book solves three of the four major deficiencies of the original book: needing anti-tank higher than AT21, needing a FA20+ tank with a 120mm cannon, and giving us a recce option without needing to take a tank formation. The only thing missing is the lack of a handheld anti-tank weapon for Chobham/ERA vehicles, but most of NATO and WARPACT do not have those either.

I just really wanted more from this book, I would have been happy if this was a PDF released a long time ago, giving us better missiles and paras as an upgrade to the basic rifle unit. It lacks anything truly new and interesting. The only new model is the Rabbi. The other new units are a Turret sprue for the Merkava, a resin turret for the Magach, a resin add-on for the M113, and a resin top piece to the Centurion for the Nagmasho’t.

My final verdict is this:

The new book efficiently solves the competitive deficiencies of the Oil War IDF, but for an IDF fan like me, it’s very disappointing. They had a chance to make a truly unique force but decided to play it very safe with a minor update that makes no major changes to the meta or their production line. I will likely only be buying a single box of the Merkava 3s for the turret sprues and sell the rest.