Gazelle Helicopter
Gazelle 20mm Patrol
When people talk about the French as the 'alpha strike faction', this is what they are talking about. The Gazelle 20mm patrol totes the gunslinger rule which allows them to fire first before being hit by defensive fire from ground units. This makes them a VERY respectable suicide unit that trades with high-value targets like artillery and air defence, or artillery observers and unit leaders in situational cases. Capable of nailing side armour without a problem, expect them to die unless attacking an area outside your enemy's air defence zone: they may be fragile but can cripple your enemy's list if unanswered.
Air assault lists generally focus on neutralizing anti-air units before moving on to the rest of the army, and the Gazelle 20mm does this better than any other unit so far. Casualties are inevitable, but losing 4 points of helicopters is absolutely preferable to a 4 or 6 point helicopter. AT6 autocannons with 5+ FP may suffer against armoured units like the [1], but trade very favourably against expensive air defence without armour like the [2]. When combined with 2 full patrols of Gazelle HOTs and a Mirage patrol, you can field a very deadly air-assault list: comparable to the Soviets and the Americans.
As expected, these units have less armour than a naked Frenchman in an art film. Machine guns can and will kill them with enough shots and dedicated anti-air will splash these birds without a sweat.
Note that French Aircraft have 4+ morale instead of the usual 5+ from French Army units. Expect them to stay in the fight after sustaining casualties, but don't count on it.
You can buy a patrol of 2 or 4 helicopters for 1 point per helicopter, but may only take one patrol per French Army list.
Gazelle HOT Patrol
A far less exciting unit, the Gazelle HOT is a specialized anti-tank chopper whose cost is too expensive to waste on transports. You pay a premium for superior armaments and mobility compared to Milan sections. Use this unit to destroy anti-air cannons from outside their AA range: with 48 inches as your maximum range, this is a challenging but possible task.
As with other ATGM helicopters, it is not a recommended unit as their intended target (tanks) are not common in the current meta. However, air-spam lists can use the Gazelle HOT in combination with your Muslim comrades Gazelle 20mms to neutralize enemy air defence in a single turn.
At 4 points per chopper, it can be taken in patrols of 2 or 4 helicopters.
IRL
The Gazelle was originally developed for Observational duties in the 1960s, which it excelled at by breaking multiple world speed records at the time. The armed variants came later, with the HOT version being the more common one, but eventually the Eurocopter Tiger took over the role of France's main Attack Helicopter, with its remaining Gazelles used in support. In combat, the Gazelles were deployed in waves against enemy tanks and fortifications in high-speed strafing runs. Oddly enough the Brits used a large number of Gazelles as well, especially during the Falklands War, but are not represented in Team Yankee.
| French Forces in Team Yankee | |
|---|---|
| Tanks: | AMX-30 |
| Transports: | AMX-10P- VAB |
| Troops: | Section d'infanterie/Chasseurs - Milan Section Antichar |
| Artillery: | AMX Auf1 |
| Anti-Aircraft: | AMX-13 DCA - AMX Roland |
| Tank Hunters: | VAB Mephisto |
| Recon: | AMX-10 RC - AMX-10P VOA |
| Aircraft: | Gazelle HOT - Gazelle 20mm - Mirage 5 |