Team Yankee - Musings

Well I've been lazy and haven't posted must this year but I've still been getting plenty gaming in.  Of recent as I mentioned in my posting on 29th September I've been sucked into playing Flames of War Team Yankee with the rest of my group.  I've been and invested in some Swedish tanks from Minifigs.  There is a real shortage of Swedish unique vehicles so I'm having to substitute a few other suitable types instead.  I've contacted Butlers Miniatures to see if he can produce any, but he seems to have a huge wish list of other vehicles to worth through at the moment.

Anyway here are a few photos from recent games since I last posted :)

French AMX tanks.

 My Swedish S Tanks on the prowl :)

My Swedish IKV-91 Tank Destroys moving at speed down the edge of the battlefield. 

Dutch Leopard IIs conduct some long range fire against an East German unit.

Swedish BpvV302 Command APC hangs out in the town whilst the HQ observe the battle from the top of the building to their right. 

Flames Of War Cold War

10mm Flames of War Cold War is being played on a regular basis at our club at the moment, even joined in a game myself recently.  Here's a few pictures from the last two games :)   (None of the vehicles or terrain belong to me)
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My general observation is that 10mm is a great scale for this set of rules.  15mm I'm afraid just looks like a tank park IMHO (apologies to those purists offended by such heretic thoughts... :) ).

Picture Of The Week - No 61 - A10 Thunderbolts In Action - Team Yankee

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Comment:  Taken on Thursday night at my club, here we have a couple of A10s making a pass over the table in a 10mm scale Flames of War 'Team Yankee' game.  I wasn't playing in it, but it looked a fun game.
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10mm M36 Jackson Tank Destroyer

Work continues to get some paint on my 10mm US army.  Here's a couple of M36 Jackson Tank Destroyer from Pendraken Miniatures that been receiving some attention.
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4000 Point Flames of War Game

Enthused with Flames of War my gaming crowd started on a FoW games two weeks back   4 players per side, I took my cleaning living god fearing Americans along with Chris and Theo, and our stiff upper lip Brit ally John against the unwashed Nazi scum in the shape of Andy, Steve, Simon and Mick.  The random scenario we rolled up was Breakthrough.  As my Yank unit always attacks, unsurprisingly  the Allies were the attacker.  Good placing by the Germans prevented an Allied breakout from the town with Brit armour and a determined Infantry assault by Theo was stopped dead by a combination of Infantry and AA guns used in the ground role.  Turn 5 saw a breakout by American & Brit armour to the north however, wiping out a small Tiger and a Panther platoon.  My two Veteran TD platoons came on as reinforcements and after seizing one of the objectives rapidly has to retreat in the face of lots of German Infantry loaded with Panzerfausts.
Here's a selection of photos taken with my Samsumg IIIS phone.
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Hetzer reinforcements on their way to hassle the US Tank Destroyers.
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My first M18 TD unit contesting the objective.  Latterly forced back, a lucky German 120mm barrage took two of them out in one hit.
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Mick's German paras, beautifully presented.
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Johns armour in the town waiting to break out.
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John's British artillery - 25pdrs, very nicely based.
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Andy Baxters Panthers waiting it out in a wooded area.  All were subsequently KO'd by a massed Sherman attack.
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Johns Armour moving again in the town.  The Fireflys both destroyed the 2 x German Tigers that were bothering us for the first half of the game.
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Theo's infantry in the wood trying unsuccessfully to take the hill.
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Brit amour out of the town starts to flank German tanks.  The German infantry behind them were unable to mass sufficiently to launch an attack, and were subsequently wiped out by Brit artillery and tanks.
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The 2nd German Panther platoon belonging to Steve keeping my M18s from getting near the objective. Worked for a while until they are overwhelmed by Shermans and my remaining TD platoon last night  Final result a victory for the Allies.

Flames Of War In 10mm - Breaking News...Victory At Last !

Further to my posting on 20th Dec I have news !!!  Key massive drum roll !!!   After 4 straight losses in a row with my M18 Tank Destroyer Company (TD) unit I had my first victory !  Playing the 'Hold The Line' Mission against my friend Chris with my unit as the attacker I took on his Russian Tank T34/85 Company.  The game was over by the end of turn 3 with 8 of his T34/85 knocked out for the loss of one M18, a truck and a few Infantry.  Chris had below average rolls I felt on a couple of critical points, but feel I'm now starting to get the feel for how to use my unit, especially in these attacking scenarios where really aggressive use of Recc and TD Security teams is required.
Here's a couple of pictures of the unit in action on the 20th Dec and also laid out for review on my computer desk.
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1500 point Task Force A unit - Turning Tide book.
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In an effort to get to grips with the rules I've started typing up all the elements in Italics into a work document. Quite a laborious undertaking, but myself I find this method as good way of remembering and understanding the rules.  I did the same with Warhammer Ancient Battles (WAB) as well. When complete I integrate all the errata and additional guidance given by Battlefront, along with any club 'house rules' we are using.

So that I'm not constrained to just using a TD unit, I've been and spent £60 with Magister Militum and purchased a 20 x M4A3 Shermans - a mixture of 75mm, 76mm and four M4A3E8 'Easy Eights' along with a couple of M10s.  Currently in the middle of painting them up them up to a base standard, acceptable for use on the tabletop.  For me this entails assembling the vehicles, cleaning the flash off, priming grey, then applying a coat of Vallejo USA Olive Drab 889.
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Over the coming weeks I'll then apply a top coat of Vallejo Brown Violet 887, dry-brushing, tracks, aerials, decals etc etc.  I'm now understanding why my friends have over the last few years been telling that 10mm is the best scale to game FoW in.  It's a satisfying blend of the visual detail that can be accommodated in 15mm (but without the 'tank park' look) with some of the game scale that 6mm provides.  Price and reduced storage are also huge advantages, on the former for instance a typically 10mm tank only costs £2.25 so a substantial unit can be collected without busting the bank.
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Flames Of War Game - Crap Dice Rolling

Having just returned from the Harrogate Wargames Club, I can share with you after playing my 4th WW2 game in 10mm scale using the Flames of War ruleset, and taking a beating for the 4th game in a row, feel I might need to take a rest from playing it for a while.  The combination of my crap dice and my opponents good savings rolls is just becoming too demoralising :(   Plus I find some of the 40k ish aspects of the rules really difficult to swallow, (deep sigh).  I'll post some photos in the next day or so.
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Flames of War Company Builder - Easy Army.com

Found another Flames of War unit creation site called Easy Army.com Link  A labour of love it has been,  putting it all together.

Flames Of War - Army List Creation Site

Whilst thinking about the type of force mix required for a 1,500 US Tank Destroyer Company in Flames Of War (FOW) I happened across this very useful little site called simply, 'FOW Lists'.  Perfect for designing the force you want in no time at all.

Flames of War In 10mm

On Thursday I joined in with a game already underway that the Harrogate Club.  Assigned a Infantry unit Stalins in army,  as a real FoW rule novice I was supporting my chum Andy B as we attempted to crush the Fascist dogs in the shape of John E and Steve R.  They were equipped with a Tiger platoon and Jagdpanzer IV platoon some infantry and an 8 vehicle Opel Mautlier rocket battery as their main units.  We had a KV85 unit (using JSII models though), an SU85 unit, a 57mm AT unit, some JSU152 'Beast Killers', plus an vehicle Katyusha rocket battery, some Sturmovicks and a shed load of Infantry.
When I joined the game the Soviets were taking a right beating and had lost all the SU85s and AT guns for no loss.  The Kraut Tigers then proceeded to knock out the KV85s for no loss again.  However, our Infantry got to grips with his on the left flank and after routing them off, managed to seize an objective just before the end of game.
Here's a few photos.
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