Team Yankee

FREEDOM BITCHES!!!

"Sunday, August 4, 1985 the Warsaw Pact thundered across the Iron Curtain. 6 Soviet Armies, backed up by the forces of Poland, Czechoslovakia, and East Germany, hammered into the NATO forces guarding the border. The Americans, supported by the armies of West Germany, Britain, and France, are strained to the breaking point at the Soviet Advance. It is 1985, and the Cold War had just gone hot."

Welcome soldier to Team Yankee, Battlefront Miniatures alternate history game where World War 3 breaks out on the fields of central Germany. Maybe you're here for the cool tanks, maybe you're here to fight to spread your preferred form of economic system, or maybe you're here to titillate your Acronym fetish. Team Yankee is Based on the book of the same name Harold Coyle, the story of Team Yankee follows a unit of the US Army named Team Yankee (of course) as they struggle to hold off those damn commies, with viewpoints from the other armies added in their respective Army rule book.

The Game

Team Yankee is a 15mm (about 1:100 scale) Table Top Wargame, usually played on a standard 6x4 game table. To play Team Yankee, you will need a tape measure (both Inches and Centimeters work), a whole bunch of D6 dice, an army of models, and some friends to play with.

Playing the game

Building Your Army

So, you want to build an army for Team Yankee? You will first need an formation to follow, as the forces in Team Yankee are a little more regimented than in other games. For example while Warhammer 40k army requirements say that you must have a certain number of units in a specific slot, Team Yankee lists require that you have a number of Specific units in a slot ("you must take four troop units" vs "You must take 2 Mechanized Infantry Platoons") while also limiting what support can be considered part of your core formation.

Example Turn

What Follows is a basic layout of a standard turn

1. Starting Step
This is where most of the administrative stuff happens. Check the Morale of your formations and units, roll for reserves, rally pinned units, free bogged down tanks, remount bailed out tanks, remove smoke from the previous turn, etc. etc. etc.

2. Movement Step
Move your units (duh). The amount a unit can move is dictated by the terrain they have to deal with. The majority of orders are given in this phase as well.

3. Shooting Step
No problem cannot be solved through the application of superior fire power. Team Yankee uses abstraction rather than true line of sight, meaning that tanks clearly visible behind slopes may not actually be seen due to terrain height rulings. All shooting and artillery occurs in this phase, with smoke being fired before any other shooting.

4. Assault Step
Time to get up close and personal. Units charge into close quarters to beat the enemy to death with their rifle butts or crush them underneath their treads. Infantry teams don’t get saves in close combat so be wary.

The Forces of WW3

With the new Ally rules, take the following with a pinch of salt. Using the combat units of an ally faction as the bulk of your force while keeping your 'actual' faction for its support choices is a totally legal (if cheesy) option. The scores are strictly in relation to one another; and does not account for terrain, list building and other stuff.

The Breakdown Scores:
5: Auto-include for competitive lists!
4: Good for the purpose, if overshadowed by other factions.
3: Not terrible, but needs a good reason to be included.
2: Not recommended due to inefficiency.
1: Overshadowed by other options in the same book. (None...so far)

NATO

United States of America

"Time to free the shit out of some Commies!"

The United States Army is one of the most technologically advanced forces on the Battlefield. An all-volunteer force, the average US Soldier is backed up by some of the finest equipment ever to rumble into war (including the first ever METUL BOX). Particularly the principle tank of the US forces in Europe is the M1 Abrams is arguably the best main battle tank in existence.

Post Stripes: the new options have added a HUGE range of options, able to represent almost all frontline combat units in the US Armed Forces, from an Amphibious Assault Unit to an Airborne Infantry Company. New additions like the Chaparrel, Marines and M1IP Abrams put the US in direct competition with the Soviets for the best faction, by virtue of flexibility. For players concerned with historical accuracy, remember to toss out the Yorks and the Hueys (Except for Marine Airborne)!

Defining Units: M1 Abrams, M163 VADS

Strengths

• Most versatile book in the game, with options to fill almost all roles.
• Ideal for Armored and combined arms playstyles, with the flexibility to attack or defend.

Weaknesses

• Second most expensive faction in-game. Poor cost efficiency compared to other NATO equivalents. Capitalism.

The Breakdown:
Infantry: Solid and cost-efficient. 4/5
Tanks: Good against PACT, poor against NATO. 4/5
Anti-Tank: Cost-efficient, but small units. 2/5
Recon: Decent Army options, Good Marine options. 3/5
Artillery: Decent, if expensive mortars. 3/5
Aircraft: Best helicopters, mediocre aircraft. 4/5
Anti-Air: Expensive but competitive. 3/5

Great Britain

"For Queen and Country!"

The British Army of the Rhine has carefully guarded the border between the East and West for 40 years. When war came to Europe for the third time in a century, the British stubbornly held their ground as the Soviet Hoards swept over the continent, forcing the commies to bypass them. The rules for these tea-chugging bastards are found in “Iron Maiden”.

The Brits lack the advanced technology of the other NATO forces (Advanced Stabilisers, Thermal Imaging, Artillery-Minelets) but compensate by through sheer firepower. Thanks to their Assault 3+ Infantry and abundance of units which benefit from staying still and taking potshots like the Chieftain and Milan, the British excel on the defense; sipping tea and destroying anything which strolls into their fields of fire.

Defining Units: Chieftain, Milan Section

Strengths

• Cheapest units in NATO. Best infantry in the game with plentiful ATGMs on armored and human platforms.
• Ideal for infantry or defensive players.

Weaknesses

• Least effective offensive force in the game. Units rarely effective when smoked or on the move. Wankers.

The Breakdown: 
Infantry: Meta-defining but contested. 4/5
Tanks: Incapable of maneuver warfare. 3/5
Anti-Tank: Meta still defined by Milan spam. 5/5
Recon: Dangerous but squishy. 3/5
Artillery: Good mid-low caliber pieces. 4/5
Aircraft: Good bomber, overcosted helicopters. 3/5
Anit-Air: Cost-ineffective or specialized. 3/5

West Germany

"We’re the Good Guys for once!"

The Heer of the Federal Republic of Germany were the first expansion for Team Yankee. Once again fighting the Russians Dogs, the army of West Germany is a powerhouse indeed. The Rules for the West Germans can be found in “Leopard” and the subsequent expansion “Panzertruppen”.

The West Germans have the most costly units in the game (11 points per Leopard 2, compared with the 4 points per T-72), making their units superior to most other NATO counterparts, but paying far more points to compensate. One exception is the Leopard 1; the cheapest NATO tank in the game at 3 points. In addition to Thermal Imaging, they field devastating units like the Gepard Flakpanzer and Tornado Bombers. A well-balanced army capable of different playstyles, but ultimately held back by its inability to sustain losses. Expect to be outnumbered at least 2-1, or 3-1 against PACT forces.

Defining Units: Leopard 2, Leopard 1

Strengths

• Strongest armored units in the game, compared to other factions' equivalents. Soviet-equivalent morale.
• Ideal for aggressive or challenge-seeking players.

Weaknesses

• Units are almost always more expensive and smaller than others. Poorly suited to attrition tactics. Ex-Nazis.

The Breakdown:
Infantry: Effective, but few and expensive. 2/5
Tanks: Overcosted Leopard 2s, decent Leopard 1s. 2/5
Anti-Tank: Good vehicle ATGMs. 4/5
Recon: Cheap and dangerous. 3/5
Artillery: Solid NATO artillery. 4/5
Aircraft: Good bomber, overcosted helicopters. 3/5
Anit-Air: Versatile, competitive options. 4/5

France

"Sacre bleu, ivan arrivent!"

Widely considered a meme in the 21st Century, the French Army was nevertheless a very respectable force by the 1980s. It is one of the only NATO nations with genuine combat experience after World War 2, alongside the United States and it has the third largest number of atomic weapons in the world, a distant third mind you behind USA and the USSR but third largest none the less. With the majority of their battles being asymmetric against local guerillas as they tried to hold there empire together, the French ORBAT is unlike any of the major military powers.

With their post-colonial military history, the French excel at maneuver warfare with lightly armored units. Lacking a tank capable of trading blows with any modern platform and near universal 5+ morale, a French Commander must rely on maneuver and their terrifying abundance of gun platforms with brutal to cripple an enemy's force before they take significant damage. In fact among the NATO nations the french were the only ones to adopt Autoloaders for there main battle tanks, but they also tend to come from the 'speed is armor' school of tank design, which made them in and out of game, a bit glassy. While similar to the Canadians in their lists naturally countering BMP and infantry spam, they lack the moosemens' balls and require a different playstyle to excel.

Defining Units: AMX-10 RC, Gazelle 20mm

Strengths

• Strong firepower on even the lightest units
• Ideal for aggressive or experienced players.

Weaknesses

• Tissue-thin armor made from stale baguettes.
• Cowards (seriously. Do not expect 5+ morale to hold their ground)

The Breakdown:
Infantry: Good firepower but unreliable morale. 3/5
Tanks: Incapable of tanking damage for the army. 3/5
Anti-Tank: Good, but inferior to Brit Milan spam. 4/5
Recon: Deadliest 'recon' units in the game. 5/5
Artillery: Lacking in utility arty. 2/5
Aircraft: Fragile and deadly. 4/5
Anti-Air: Respectable, but expensive. 3/5

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

Canada

"I know a lot of you are going through separation anxiety... but there's nothing I can do about getting a Tim Hortons in Kabul."

– Col. Al Howard

Cadians! Wait. Not quite. Though, they do have an amazing, cost-effective and plentiful tank option as well.

As for their place in the game, the Canadians took one look at the current spam meta, and they decided that they hated it. Where the US brought their meanest guns and the West Germans brought their biggest machines, the Canadians appear to have brought the devices specifically for turning BMPs and their contents into communist confetti.

While you're fairly limited in what you can take, the options Canada does have can be both versatile and extraordinary. Between a nearly-universal +3 skill roll and an abundance of options for laying down smoke, you can acquire the firing positions you require while denying the enemy any of their own. In essence, the Canadians seem at their best in vehicles and on the move, hugging the enemy line but never closing in on it. The integrated US and West German formations are nothing to scoff at either, considering that they make up for several of the Canadian blind spots.

Defining Units: Leopard C1, ADATS

Strengths

• Units tend to be agile, multi-purpose and hard-hitting. Weak support and air options covered by ability to take select US or West German platoons in addition to regular allied formations.
• Ideal for offensive and maneuver-minded players.

Weaknesses

• Limited options for unit variety, especially for organic support and air elements. Apologizes every time they shoot.

The Breakdown:
Infantry: Not good, not bad. 3/5
Tanks: Best tanks in their tier, and you can take a LOT of them. 5/5
Anti-Tank: Enough TOW platforms to do damage, plus the spillover from AA. 3/5
Recon: There's a better option than East Germany, at least. 2/5
Artillery: Some mortars, some howitzers. Nothing special. 3/5
Aircraft: What aircraft/5
Anti-Air: Your primary AA platform also cracks open heavy tanks. Magical. 4/5

Canadian Forces in Team Yankee
Tanks:	Leopard C1
Transports:	M113 APC
Infantry:	Canadian Mechanized Platoon
Artillery:	M109 Field Battery - M125 81mm
Anti-Aircraft:	ADATS - M113 Blowpipe
Tank Hunters:	M150 TOW
Recon:	Lynx RECCE Patrol - M113 OP
US Support:	M1 Abrams - M60 Patton - US Mech Platoon - A-10 Warthog
WG Support:	Leopard 2 - Marder Panzergrenadiers - BO-105P - Tornado

ANZAC

"Oi! Mate! Get off the fekkin' gun and stab the bloody cunt!"

Where Canada runs in circles around the enemy, the Aussies and Kiwis run at the enemy. Even though by all accounts they really shouldn't be present, here they are in 1980's Germany. Down-under magic? Down-under magic.

Your PACT players are going to be asking themselves "Wait, aren't we supposed to be ones who're invading?". This will occur just as several packs of foul-mouthed Aussies come blitzing around the corner, firing on the move and charging into melee. Keep in mind, this is during an era where by all accounts that shit should not fly. But looking at their stats, that's specifically what they're here to do. Skilled, courageous, all while packing lots of tools designed for staring the dirty communist in the eyes as you kill him. Your Leopards have Assault 3+, for fucks sake. Though your units are relatively few, they're very good at what they do and what they do is kill.

Defining Units: M113 MRV, Land Rover

Strengths

• Individual models are nearly unmatched in close quarters, and set to win damn near every melee they enter.
• Ideal for you melee junkies out there.

Weaknesses

• Suffers from yet another serious lack of organic support. Units are few as is, but a lack of variety can seriously limit flexibility. Can't handle cold.

The Breakdown:
Infantry: Costly, but very good at what they do. 4/5
Tanks: Exceptional models, but not very plentiful. 3/5
Anti-Tank: speedy on wheels, good range on foot. 4/5
Recon: Kiwis go hard. 5/5
Artillery: Below average. 2/5
Aircraft: They haven't discovered aviation yet/5
Anti-Air: It's bad. It's REALLY bad. 1/5

ANZAC Forces in Team Yankee
Tanks:	Leopard AS1
Transports:	M113 (T50)
Infantry:	ANZAC Mechanized Platoon - Milan AT Section
Artillery:	M125 Mortar Platoon
Anti-Aircraft:	M113 Redeye SAM section
Tank Hunters:	AT Land Rover
Recon:	Scorpion - M113 MRV - M113 LRV
British Support:	Abbot Field Battery - M109 Field Battery - FV432 FOO - Harrier Jump Jet - Lynx HELARM

Warsaw Pact

"The Cold War isn't thawing; it is burning with a deadly heat. Communism isn't sleeping; it is, as always, plotting, scheming, working, fighting."

– Richard M. Nixon

Soviet Union

"Die capitalist pigs!"

The Armies of the Soviet Union were some of the most feared in the west. The thought of thousands of soviet tanks storming the border backed up by thousands of APCs carrying hundreds of thousands of the noble sons of the motherland was almost enough to make any NATO strategic thinker quake in his books. Rules for the Soviet Hordes can be found in the Team Yankee Rulebook and “Red Thunder”.

As a Soviet player, you are the proud owner of the most powerful army in the game. Point for point, no other army can match yours in terms of raw value. Near universal 3+ Remount and Morale ensures that your glorious Communists will (probably) never falter against the Capitalist pigs. While their 3+ to hit ensures that they suffer losses at a far greater rate, their abundance of Artillery units in the form of the Akatsiya, the Gvozdika and the Grad (a fireproofed truck with 40 rockets tied to its back), infantry hordes and Hind spam, the USSR has viable units in almost every archetype. An ideal army for the experienced or the powergamer.

Defining Units: Motor Rifle Company, 2S1 Gvozdika

Strengths

• Cheap, cost-effective units for all roles but tanks. Excellent morale.
• Ideal for veterans to Flames Of War and Artillery players.

Weaknesses

• Reliant on effective combined arms tactics. Units will lose 1-on-1 confrontations against most NATO counterparts. Communism.

The Breakdown:
Infantry: Cheap and insanely cost-efficient. 5/5
Tanks: Cheap but mediocre. 3/5
Anti-Tank: Cheapest vehicle ATGMs. 4/5
Recon: Acceptable, but not amazing. 3/5
Artillery: Unreliable, but cheap. 3/5
Aircraft: Good; only competitor to the US. 4/5
Anit-Air: Cheap but deadly. 5/5

East Germany

"We’re here to help the Soviet Cause! please don't kill us"

The East Germans are almost as well equipped as the Soviets. Even though they must make do with Soviet Export equipment, they fight with a tenacity that rivals that of their forefathers. Rules for the East Germans are found in “Volksarmee.”

As the Volksarmee you stare enviously at USSR-Sempai and employ 30-year-old tanks with such reckless ambition that an Imperial Guardsmen would question your value for human life. Your soldiers are as zealous as your Soviet counterparts and have more skill than the illiterate peasants in the Red Army your honored Soviet allies. The downside you might ask? You are using whatever even the Soviet Union thinks is too unsafe for their soldiers, using all the hand me downs with gusto. You may be bringing tanks from the mid-50s, but you can bring 30 of them for a little less than the cost of 2 West German tanks. Hell, even if you fight against the Soviets, you will outnumber them more than 2 to 1 (Even both of you bringing T-72s). If you want to bring a full division strength force at 100 points, then this is the army for you.

Defining Units: Motorschützen, T55AM2

Strengths

• Cheapest units in the game, guaranteed to outnumber most forces at least 3 to 1.
• Ideal for horde players with too much money, or tactical geniuses.

Weaknesses

• Toughest army to learn. Players must rely on superior planning due to the VAST technological gap. Also Ex-Nazis, only Communist.

The Breakdown
Infantry: Cheap, but requires support. 4/5
Tanks: Useless in head-on engagements, good as flanking units. 3/5
Anti-Tank: Poor. 1/5
Recon: On par with Soviet Recce (AKA pretty bad). 3/5
Artillery: Best PACT artillery. 4/5
Aircraft: Decent air force. 3/5
Anti-Air: Good, but somewhat expensive. 3/5

East German Forces in Team Yankee
Tanks:	T-55 - T55AM2 - T-72M - T-72B
Transports:	BTR-60 - BMP-1 - BMP-2
Troops:	Mot-Schützen Kompanie - Hind Assault Landing Company
Artillery:	2S1 Carnation - BM-21 Hail - RM-70 - 2S3 Acacia
Anti-Aircraft:	ZSU 23-4 Shilka - SA-13 Gopher - SA9 Gaskin - SA-8 Gecko
Tank Hunters:	Spandrel
Recon:	BMP-1 OP - BRDM-2
Aircraft:	MI-24 Hind - SU-22 Fitter
Soviet Support:	SU-25 Frogfoot

Books

• 
  Da Big Rulebook
• 
  Iron Maiden
• 
  Leopard
• 
  Panzertruppen: sort of an addendum to Leopard
• 
  Volksarmee
• 
  Red Thunder
• 
  Stripes
• 
  Free Nations

Gallery

• 
  Ramirez! Defend the Burgertown McPizza King!
• 
  Gott im Himmel there's hundreds of them!
• 
  ONE TWO THREE FOUR, I LOVE THE MARINE CORPS!
• 
  Take that you dastardly Russians!
• 
  Like a swarm of angry hornets.
• 
  Yes, the might of Great Britain has arrived.

External Links

Official Team Yankee website