Know Your Team Yankee T-55

Earlier this year Battlefront released the much-anticipated plastic T-54/T-55 tank, one of the most widely used tanks in the world. In Team Yankee you can currently field the T-55AM2 variant with your East German forces in Volksarmee, or the T-54 with your NVA (North Vietnamese Army) in ‘Nam, and very shortly the Syrians and Egyptians in Fate Of A Nation.

The T-54 and T-55 tanks were a result of the continuing development process for the T-34 (and T-44) during the closing years of World War II. 

A series of developments and improvements saw the design go into production in the late 1940’s. Over the intervening years the T-54/T-55 would be continuously updated and upgraded with improved engines, NBC (Nuclear, Biological, Chemical) protection, sights, radios and so on.

From a Team Yankee in-game perspective, the majority of these changes had very little or no impact however in the late 1970’s operators began upgrading some of their tanks to the new T-55AM version.

T-55 tank at Panzermuseum Munster

From an external perspective there are some very obvious ways to tell the two models apart. The modernised AM tanks have (in my opinion) a very interesting looking turret as the addition of BDD armour adds extra bulges around the cheeks, whilst the laser rangefinder above the gun barrel adds another very visible element.

The hull has also seen some additions which make the two versions easy to tell apart, first up the front of the hull comes out a little further due to the addition of extra armour and rubber skirts have been added to the side of the hull to provide protection from RPGs (and similar weapons) after experiences in Afghanistan.

T-55AM2 tank at Panzermuseum Munster

Below you can see the T-55 plastic sprue and I’ve highlighted the hull front or glacis plate, turret tops, skirts (for the T-55AM2) and gun barrels so you can see the differences. Highlighted in red are the T-55 components, whilst highlighted in yellow are the T-55AM2 specific pieces.

Battlefront Miniatures T-55 Plastic Sprue

So What Do These Differences Mean In Team Yankee?
For this comparison we will take a look at the North Vietnamese Army K-2 (T-54 or T-55) from ‘Nam and compare it with the Volksarmee T-55AM2. Looking at the cards (below) we that:

The front armour improves from 13 to 14, whilst the side and top armour stay the same.

The T-55AM2 has picked up Bazooka Skirts giving it side armour 10 vs HEAT weapons. This isn’t a massive improvement over the native 9 but when the American made LAW (which almost every US infantry team has) is AT 12, even 1 point makes a difference.

We also see that the AM2 variant picks up one additional AT on it’s main gun, going from 16 to 17. This is more about the difference between the two time periods rather than any upgrade to the tank itself. The ‘Nam versions are firing older generations of 100mm gun rounds (from the 60’s and 70’s), whereas the East Germans have access to more modern ammunition.

Lastly, (and sticking with the gun line on the unit card) the T-55AM2 picks up a Laser Rangefinder. This means that the modernised version doesn’t suffer a To Hit penalty for long range. This may not give much of a benefit when shooting enemy main battle tanks where AT 17 won’t do much, but it does make them a little more reliable when shooting up support vehicles as your tanks push in to close range to attack the enemy armour.

Why Use the T-55AM2?
On the surface the T-55AM2 looks like a suboptimal choice as it cannot hurt most enemy tanks in a head to head duel. When guided missile carriers like the M901 ITV, Swingfire and Jaguar have missiles quite capable of knocking out a T-55AM2, and thanks to their higher To Hit number and the likelihood of firing from cover are less likely to be hit by any return fire, especially if the T-55AM2 is moving.

Of course, one of the advantages of a wargame over reality is that no real-world battlefield commander wants to fight a battle where the odds are not in their favour, while games have a points system to balance everything out and so this is where the T-55AM2 (along with other older generation tanks like M60 and Leopard 1 tanks) can shine.

A full strength East German T-55AM2 Panzer Company comes in at only 16 points, or 1.6 points per tank. This average points value actually drops quite notably when you look at the smaller platoon sizes . I won’t dive into the pros and cons of MSU because I don’t consider myself an expert on the theory but having found myself on the receiving end a number of times it is definitely an option as it is challenging for a force composed primarily of modern tanks (Abrams, Leopard 2, or Chieftain tanks) to kill enough before the T-55AM2 tanks start making their side shots count.

MSU And You!
For some people the acronym MSU will be something very new and depending on who you ask it means; Many Small Units, Multiple Small Units, Minimum Size Units, or something along these lines. The theory (in brief) is that a large number of relatively cheap units will overwhelm a defender’s ability to kill the attackers fast enough, resulting in the swarm killing the enemy, losing more models but less overall points.

To Swarm Or Not To Swarm
This one really comes down to you. Team Yankee has a very diverse and growing range of list theming options for players making the days of one true list to rule them all less likely. However, I suspect that there will always be a place for someone that wants to put 20-30 (or more) cheap T-55 tanks backed up by some Hinds, infantry in BMPs or BTRs and a few specialist assets on the battlefield. I know I’ve already started creating a stash of models for a future project once I have finished my Canadian Leopard 1 Company and French AMX-10RC Companies!

Mid War Plastics At FlamesCon 2016

Its pretty traditional these days for Battlefront to bring a few rapid prototypes of some of the new plastics we can expect to see over the coming months. This time was no exception and we had a few of the new Mid War plastics we can expect to see on shelves in early 2017.

The models are rapid prototypes based on the CAD data that will go to the toolmakers, assembled and then given a quick coat of primer. They are used to make sure that the model will look right and go together correctly. Much easier than staring at 2D printouts of components.

There were also a few new goodies for the East Germans in Team Yankee. These are traditional metal/resin models and are looking awesome!

 

Ahh, 2017 so many projects for me to start.... will I finish any of them?

FlamesCon 2016 is coming!

FlamesCon 2016 is happening tomorrow! Whoops, where did 2016 go? I seem to have blinked and we are at the end of the year.

So... I picked up a Soviet infantry army off a couple of friends and it looks lovely. I've been wanting to paint one up for about 15 years since I first saw a massive Mid War Soviet Militia Battalion. I even thought I'd get it painted next year, but when the opportunity came to grab one that was already painted I took it. I'll put some pictures up another time but it is pretty massive! Maybe not massive compared to some Soviet armies but pretty big compared with any other FOW army I've ever painted.

Needless to say I thought I'd take it along this weekend and try it out. The list I am taking is a little static - I'm easing myself into the complexities of running a big Soviet horde by taking a small Soviet horde with plenty of guns!

With a weird number of platoons (7) and a lot of expensive toys it is probably not a traditional Soviet list but I've also wanted to try a Soviet Gun Line... I expect to come out in a body bag in most games but lets be honest as long as plenty of enemies die Stalin will be happy!

My plan is to leave each objective defended by some anti-tank guns and artillery, whilst the infantry hold the centre and one flank leaving me with some options when it comes to counter-attacking. Time will tell if it was a good plan or not!

Good luck to everyone else heading to FlamesCon and I'll no doubt have some pictures from the weekend up sooner or later!

Soviet Big Tanks and Berlin

I thought I would put up a follow up post in the same lines as my previous one entitled "See, Want, Must Have Now (SWMHN) Disorder" and this time take a look at Hero Guards Heavy Tanks and Hero Heavy SP Artillery Regiment in Berlin.

First up we have to understand what it takes to become a Hero Of The Soviet Union... you have to be:
Luckier: basically it is harder for the enemy  to kill your Company or 2iC, needing a 5+ instead of a 4+. For most nations this wouldn't be that useful but with your Guards Heavy companies when you don't have a 2iC keeping the boss in play is useful.
Smarter: pass Skill tests on a 3+, useful all the time especially if you are assaulting or firing bombardments.
Sharper: no Hen and Chicks

So you are about as close as you can come to being a Veteran team, without being one. Yep I know that there are a bunch of people that wanted true Veteran teams but then I may as well just be proxying my Soviet vehicles as Americans or Germans... with the Hero rules I have some flavour and most of the benefits with less of the negatives (a higher points cost per team).
 
So on to the Companies themselves: - they are both very similar in terms of their structure which is why I thought I'd look at them in tandem. An IS-2 in command with 3 platoons as your core. For your IS-2 company you can choose between the obr 1943 (FA 10) or obr 1944 (FA 11) versions, each packing a 122mm breakthrough gun coming in with AT 16, FP 2+. For that point of armour you are paying around 10-15 points per tank. Personally I am not convinced that I would be dropping those extra points unless I had them left over at the end and certainly in outset I would be putting on .50 cal AA MGs (+5pts), Bedspring Armour (+5pts) and Tank Riders (+10pts) first as these give you more all round bang for your buck.

 

For the ISUs you can choose between the ISU-122 and the ISU-152. Each has FA 9, nothing outstanding but you can ignore a good percentage of medium tanks out there with that, and Volley Fire making them pretty useful up close. The 122 has the same gun as the IS-2 meaning it slices through most tanks and knocks out soft targets, whilst the 152 has an AT 13, FP 1+ Bunker Buster. Don't sit in front of it as you may not like the results. Like the IS you can put the same upgrades on the ISU and the .50cal AA MG is an easy choice and the rest comes down to personal preference.

So why do I like these two sets of combat platoons? Previously I've been a fan of the IS-2 as a support tank for other lists where it could add some heavy armour, hunt down mediums and sit in front of AT guns. With the Hero list I think it expands on that role but this time on centre stage. For 1,110 points you can put 7 IS-2 obr 1943 tanks in your list fully geared up with all the add-ons. Doesn't sound all that wonderful at first glance but you still have 400-650 points to put some support troops in and 7 IS-2 obr 1943 tanks all grinding towards an objective take a lot of stopping... and when you are running them you don't stop! Trust that you need to be lucky to get any hits with your guns thanks to ROF 1 and don't worry about. 

Force you opponent to change their plans and hope for a few lucky hits on the way in, then get to the objective and ground your opponent out of there with all of those attacks in an assault. Bedspring Armour gives you a 4+ save on the defensive fire from enemy Panzerfausts and Panzerschrecks. You get a 2nd attack per tank (thanks to your tank riders), hitting on 3's, and your Turret Rear MGs help you bounce off some of the enemy attacks back.

The ISUs are a different kettle of fish and my preference run the ISU-122 and stick back a bit with them where you should get the benefit of +1 armour (from long range) and work over the enemy tanks, then close in where the Volley Fire will help to make up for the low ROF. For this to be successful you need screening troops to stop enemy tanks from getting in amongst you and then protect you once you close the gap. The ISUs are not as forgiving in my opinion but I love their look and that counts in my books.

Plus until I unlock the Object 704 in World Of Tanks this is my substute of choice.

Next time up, what would I like to run in the Divisional Support section...

One Sided Games, Fun For All?

I managed to get in a couple of games over the last week of my Christmas / New Years break and both of which felt like really one sided affairs...

Pushing up and popping my Feat

First up was a game of WarmaHordes vs Tony. Vod (as he is locally known) is a playtester for Flames Of War and an exceptionally good wargamer (better than me to be sure), known for playing hard, knowing his opponents and finding holes to exploit both in terms of the their army and the rules!

I took the opportunity to roll out eBaldur to help me prepare for Ides of March (in March...), with Megalith, Wold Guardian, Woldwatcher, Woldwyrd, Druids and Shifting Stones. Tony took eVayl, a host of heavy Warbeasts, Spawning Vessel, Martyrs and Shepherd. We were playing under some time pressure so we opted to go straight assassination rather than digging out SR2013 and picking a scenario. We both pushed up the table, Tony used his range to deal out some damage, I ran up and popped my feat hoping that he would take the bait and rush in. Tony used his speed and powerful ranged game to deal out some more damage whilst keeping his distance. By this point I controlled 3/4 of the board and realised that by not playing a scenario we had stacked the deck completely in Tony's favour (he could maneuver and trade board space for time, whilst I had to have an engagement to try to win) so I went for the hail Mary and threw my Wold Guardian and eBaldur into combat - too little and too late as even though they were able to deal out a lot of damage and kill two of the three heavies, Tony was able to finish the game next turn with his assassination.

Given the one sided nature, was the game worth playing? Absolutely! Not every game goes your way and it is important to play games where you are on the back foot because it lets you work out things with your army that you otherwise may not try. I also realised that I need to get a lot of practice games in before Ides because I have forgotten how eBaldur plays after not taking him out of the box in 18 months.

The German/Finnish first turn

On Friday Wayne and I headed round to the American Embassy (otherwise known as Steven and Andrew's place) for a doubles match up - Kiwis vs Americans and 1000 points per person.

Wayne took two heavy KV-1e companies and a Motorstrelk company, whilst I took a pair of T-34 85 companies and a small platoon of BA-64s. On the other side of the table Andrew took his new Finnish Winter troops with a pile of infantry and a captured SU-152, whilst Steve took three Jagdtigers, Wirbelwinds and 37mm AA guns. For the mission we rolled up Surrounded which resulted in our tanks stuck in the middle, Andrew and Steven opted to deploy in one corner with a forest anchoring their line and advancing out from there.

T-34s pile in to the forrest trying to score some points

Steven and Andrew moved the Jagdtigers forward to be able to shoot at both the T-34s and KVs, perfectly maneuvering them through a combination of "turning to face" when shooting, and Stormtrooper moves to not only hit their pick of targets but also keep their (relatively) soft side armour safe. Wayne pushed the KVs up as a distraction whilst I moved the T-34s around the side. I managed to get to the forest in their deployment area and knock out the defending SU-152 with only a couple of casualties. Andrew had dug his infantry in realising that as long as they did their job of stopping the T-34s from flanking the Jagdtigers the game would be theirs. I knew that I would never get to the Jagdtigers and that my only option was to try and break either Andrew or Steven'companies so where I could I picked off (or tried to pick off) the smaller platoons and eventually threw my tanks into a desperate assault trying destroy and infantry and AA platoon defending the forest - sadly 3 out of the 5 T-34s bogged and that was essentially all that she wrote. A follow up assault from the second company did a little more than kill a couple of teams and my company left the field with only the 4 BA-64s remaining.

I think we all knew how the game was going to pan out with Steven's Jagdtigers being basically unkillable given the forces we opted to take (guess Wayne or I need to paint some 152mm artillery!) so I asked myself the same question though - "was the game worth playing once we rolled up the mission?" and my thoughts were yes. Partially for the same reason as my game vs Tony that you do not always have a fair fight on your hands and the challenge makes you think outside the box, but also because of a few other reasons
1. I have only played Surrounded a handful of times so any exposure to how other players tackle the mission is good.
2. I have four Jagdtigers somewhere deep in the painting queue and it is always nice to see something you want to paint in action to help inspire you to move it up.
3. Since it was a relaxed afternoon game we were just throwing dice, talking smack and discussing rules (i.e. the game was a backdrop to a social few hours!)

With a couple of social games to start off the year hopefully this will set the tone for more to come over the next 12 months. I might even manage to win a couple.

WWPD4Vets Gaming Day (at BF HQ)

Over the weekend we rounded up a few people to spend the day playing games all in the aid of charity. It's a hard life.....! Wayne and Mike organised a large "Return to Budapest" game with 4 generals per side and 1000 points each. I thought this could be a good chance to roll out my T-34s that I had just finished painting. 

I also dug out some old LOTR Rohan figures that I picked up for a long forgotten project and turned them in to a force for Saga (I am calling them the Ro-Normans or Ro-Bretons) for an intro game with Wayne. Finally I managed to play a couple of games with Warma-Hordes verses Casey and long time Warhammer opponent Reid.

It was great to spend a day gaming, but even more importantly it was nice to help the WWPD guys raise some money for a very worthy charity.

Wayne and Mike set up for the big game

Mike's Strelkovy move up through the factory

The Sturmtigers hold the plaza

My T-34/85s support the advancing IS-2s - The T-34s would be routed from the field but no until we had a commanding lead on Victory Points

The Ro-Normans take the field (and get smashed - probably the lack of paint)

Kara's gun line vs Casey's Legion. Too much shooting for Casey to get his head around

Reid and Gordon have a game (converting them both from Warhammer)

Kara vs Reid, seconds after her Feat and a lot of shooting remove Molik Karn

T-34 Battalion

Over February much of my painting time was taken up by a project for work. I volunteered to paint up a T-34 Battalion over the course of a month - sounds easy doesn't it....

Turns out I bit off a little more than I could chew as I had a number of competing painting projects all due around the same time. Luckily for me I have a very supportive wife (I had to say that as she occasionally reads this blog) who let me duck out for a few extra painting sessions with the boys from work. 

I was actually really happy with how the army came together in the end and whilst I am definitely biased I think the new plastic accessory sprue is great. I don't think it saved me much time with assembly, however the pieces look better and the new tracks are fantastic. I'll be getting some more sprues when I start painting up some SU-100s and SU-85s for the list!

You can follow my progress on the army here:
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five

Not sure when I will get around to adding to the army, as you can tell I am a deadline painter so I will need to find a tournament that will force me to focus on one project for a few weeks and get some more support platoons painted up.

Lazy Saturday Painting?

With plenty of work and home painting projects on the go at the moment, a few of us decided to spend Saturday painting. Painting with friends is always much more fun than painting solo and if you can book out a decent stretch of time to do it you may be surprised with how much you get done!

My job for the day was to continue working on my T-34 Battalion, ideally I'll get it finished this week leaving me almost no time to paint something new for Ides of March... Sean was working on his Stormstrider, Wayne had elephants, Napoleonic French and some Flames Of War miniatures on his mind, whereas Victor was finishing his Bronzeback for Ides (and pondering how he would paint his IK RPG 'jack) and Casey was working on some Soviets for the Winter War book. Marcelle even stopped by for a visit bringing joy, sunshine... and some Miss Melicious Cupcakes (they were as nice as they look!).

So many T-34s!

Sean hard at work

Wayne removes his glasses to take on his painting persona

Either thats one big cupcake, or one small elephant!

Wayne and Victor working hard

Victor's 'jack guards his cupcake!

Casey starts the day with the airbrush

And finishes with magic wash