Team Yankee West Germans Spoiled

By Howard West

The next new army book for has made it to our bunker in West Virginia and it is called WWIII West Germans, which will upgrade your FRG force to the same V2 standard we saw for the US, USSR, and the British. WWIII West Germans provides you with a single sourcebook for all of the West German forces in Team Yankee, this combines the inaugural book Leopard and Panzertruppen booklet with six new exciting formations. The book also provides some tweaks to the majority of the legacy formations and their respective units in them. If you have been waiting for the next Generation of Leopard-2 tanks and Marder Infantry Fighting Vehicles you will not be disappointed.

If you have been playing West Germans already or have been waiting to get them you now have a lot more options in how to build your force. A critique of the West German’s has been the very small infantry units, now you have two new Infantry formations with larger infantry units. If you wanted more flexibility in Support units, you gain that partially with the Black Box feature and the new additions in support units.

After reading thru the sample book several times and looking at what I already have in West Germans, after I pickup a few of the new  West German units, I will probably shelve my East German/Soviet Confederation army for sometime. This overview will provide a high level review of the new WWIII West German book, others following me will provide a much greater detailed review of specific formations.

Old Formations New Toys

In the new West German book you have the choice between two Leopard 2 formations. The new tank formation features the mighty Leopard 2A5 and the original Leopard 2 formation from the original book . The HQ formation now holds two Leopard 2A5 Tanks, this is one of the small tweaks that you will find in this formation and several others throughout the book. 

LEO-2 and LEO-1 Formations.

The legacy Leopard-2 and the Leopard-1 formations are both in the new West German book, The Lepoard-2 formation has been brought up to the same standards as the new Leopard-2A5 formation. The Leopard-1 formation is basically the same formation as it was in the previous books.

The West German BMP Equalizer

The new British and American books have the Warrior and Bradley’s, now have the West Germans have their new IFV the MARDER 2. This MARDER 2 can really put some real pain onto the BMP’s and also give the Warriors and Bradley’s and run for their money in Blue on Blue games. The MARDER 2’s is clearly superior to the Warsaw Pact BMP family and is more advanced than their NATO counterparts.  Like the Warrior they do lack a permanent ATGM. I think within a few months of release of WWIII West Germans, you will start seeing quite a few MARDER 2 formations in Team Yankee players armies.

Old Reliable Formations

Marder 1 & M-113 formations are also in the new West German book and still allow for the creation of competitive lists. The Marder-1 formations has received some small tweaks, but the M-113 formation did not receive any new love from the authors of the new WWIII WEST GERMAN book.

The I want to be like Mike Formation

In the many of the Team Yankee Tournaments that I have played in or pickup games with friends, the American Armored Cavalry Troop is one of the more common formations that I have run across. The LEO-2 version of this can be built with either the original LEO-2 or the new LEO-2A5 or a combo of both. Add in the Marder-2 SPAH TRUPP and GEPARDS and you are ready with a pretty deadly force. Once this list is out and in use, I can hear the debates at tournaments of which is better the American American Armored Cavalry Troop or the LEO-2 PANZERAUFHLARUNGS KOMPANIE.

 

FALLSCHIRMJAGER

For the Flames of War players who played Fallschirmjagers and said when Team Yankee gets Fallschirmjagers, I will play West Germans or the other NATO players that state hey why do the Americans get a Airborne formation, now you have a formation for you. Plus you can get Wiesel’s. I think the Fallschirmjagers can provide a low cost 2nd formation for any NATO army.

The Big Infantry Formations

For those players who wanted larger infantry units for the West Germans here are the following two options: a GEBIRGSJAGER or a JAGER KOMPANIE. Both of these infantry formations have infantry ZUGs that are 40 to 50% larger then the exiting Marder or M-113 infantry ZUGS. Plus you can add in 120mm mortars and LEO-1 platoons. The GEBIRGSJAGER is probably the better of the two, but passing on a JAGDPANZER ZUG is hard to do. The JAGER KOMPANIE can add M-113 transports to their infantry ZUGS, the GEBIRSJAGERs are true foot soldiers.

 

 

New Support Options

The new West German books adds support options that are some of the Cold War classic weapons systems.  I plan on adding the JAGPANZER KANONEN to my Pre-Order purchase.

 

Below are my newly painted M-109s and MLRS that I did for my Team Yankee Americans, and since they are painted in NATO 3 Color they are dual use capable as West Germans in conjunction with the new WWIII WEST GERMAN book. Battlefront makes this very easy since they supply the unit cards for both the US and West Germans in the product boxes for each of these.

 

Scenarios

The new West German book comes with three new Scenarios and also provides the rules for a mini campaign.

Overall Impressions

The new WWIII WEST GERMAN book is extremely well done and does not eliminate any of the legacy formations from the previous West German books. I think the authors have preserved the uniqueness of the West German army that they established in the their two previous books. If you have been waiting for vehicle upgrades for the Leopard-2 and Marder, now you have them. If you want larger infantry units for your West Germans, now you have them.

I believe once the new products that are outlined in this book are available, you will start seeing the West Germans being played more often in pickup games and in tournament play. Some of the new formations especially the LEO-2 PANZERAUFHLARUNGS KOMPANIE and the GEBIRSJAGERs KOMPANIE are really interesting and I will be testing them in friendly local pickup games and then onto future competitive tournament’s with them. Before I can take my West German Army to a tournament I need to complete some of the models that I currently have and I have started painting the units below. Stay tuned over the next several weeks as more articles come out on the new WWIII West German book.