So Goldie and I journeyed out to the Hutt Club here in Wellington for another Saturday game of Team Yankee. We had increased our Forces to 100 points which seems a more balanced game total.

So once more my mighty West German Bundeswehr faced those evil Russians of Goldie!

Scenario required each player to keep minimum 40% of points off table at the start of the game. Each turn on a 5+ one team could enter on your baseline. If they failed to arrive, the dice was added to next turn etc.

This time Goldie and the Russians got first move. We each placed 2 markers close to opponents table edge as objectives. Below you can see one in bottom left, the Hinds are positioning to take out my Roland’s / M109s with tanks sweeping towards the objective. The builings beside the Rolands also have Redeye teams in them! In buildings to the right are my PanzerGrenadiers with Marder’s and Luch’s in support. Out of sight in a wood on the left are my Jaguars, the Leopard 2 commander and the Observer M113 for the M109’s. My 2 teams of Leopard 2s and the Pah choppers were off table. Goldie has 2 teams of tanks off table.

Oh dear….. one Hind got shot down and the other failed to hit anything. The Russian guns dropped smoke in front of the Jaguars in the wood and nothing else happened. In my turn…woohoo….command tank blown away… 3 more tanks destroyed and last one has bailed out. Firepower from the Jaguars, even through the smoke got hits in….the command Leopard joined in as did the Milan’s from the PzGrs and the M109’s dropped a barrage on top of them as well! The Shilka’s, BMPs and scout cars are in support.

Goldie charged his infantry at my PzGrs in the houses. Tsch tsch…it did not go well for them. He just missed pinning my troops…but a miss is.. a disaster. I held the charge and then in my turn, destroyed the 1 remaining base. Meanwhile the Milan’s were picking off targets in the centre.

Unlike Goldie, I managed to get a reserve on and bought on my choppers. Useless things missed. However, a Milan took out the Observers for the mobile guns. I must talk to Goldie about leaving stuff on the table!! On the left you can see result of another barrage…I LOVE the M109s!

So here we have the centre…all the tanks now destroyed, 3 of the 4 Shilka’s and BMP’s in trouble.

A bit further along in the game and 3 Leopard 2’s from reserve have arrived. The Jaguars have advanced from the village, the BMP’s are all destroyed as are the Shilka’s with 2 of the 3 mobile guns now also destroyed(they switched table sides. I moved my Luch’s/Marder’s forward to shoot up the Shilka’s and mobile guns.

Paul eventually got his reserves on and 10 more tanks raced on. I met them with a barrage of shots from my Leopards and Jaguars. Rob who lives close to game venue popped in so I got him rolling dice and moving units for my side. So Rob rolled 12 dice needing 3’s to hit the Russian tanks. He hit with 4…. Goldie insisted I take a photo of it.

The first of the Russian tank reserves can be seen in the distance, the other group arrived beside the wood on the left.

And a warm welcome to the reinforcements! There are 3 left! Hiding behind the destroyed BMP’s!! The 3rd mobile gun and 1 scout is also destroyed. On the right the Marder’s and Luch’s have advanced up and shot up the last mobile gun and the scout cars.

And…end game…..the brave Russians charged forward……silly idea. Blown up.

And the last scout is destroyed and that is also the last Russian units destroyed.

West German’s win.

Now I feel for Goldie, I was able to destroy his initial set up force before any reserves arrived. Conversely, my arriving reserves allowed me to pick off his commands so when his reinforcements arrived, they had no supports and that…was that.

Fun game, I enjoyed the expanded points figure and now will rip into painting the units rather than assembling and undercoating.

Now it was mentioned to me at the club today how they enjoyed my Whisky of the week…so by request……

Now about 9 years a go when my wife died, my friend Rachel introduced me to ‘Edradour in the cask’ a luscious wee drink that packs a punch. I even brought PaulW a bottle for his 50th birthday last year!

So I decided to try the Edradour Caledonia to see how it compared. Now the colour of the bottle below does not do it justice, it is a deep dark rich colour!

Tasting notes are:

Nose: Sweet, creamy and honeyed, with notes of Manuka honey, hints of dried fig and date, soft sherry and a hint of oak.

Palate: Full and rich with notes of berry fruits, and honey and butter on granary toast. More sherry, caramel and toasted almond.

Finish: Spicy, dry and sprinkled with a dusting of cocoa.

I can confirm the sherry, caramel and then spicy finish…yum yum!

Now the ‘Edradour in a cask’ is 57.9% while the Caledonia is a mere 46% and I must admit I am enjoying the lower alcohol content and am going to have to get a another bottle so I don’t run out!!

So after a very successful days gaming, and a pleasant evening listening to music while writing blog posts and drinking whiskey this is Terry signing off!

So the first game in a new period for me.

Team Yankee!

For the non enlightened this is combat in 1985, NATO v Soviet Pact using 15mm models/figures by Battlefront. I had decided to collect West Germans and Goldie went with Soviets. So we had been assembling and painting models, adding some scenery and were ready to go.

Now I had no idea what I was doing…what the models were or could do and had not read the rules(who needs to for first game!) so expectations…well shall we say were not high! Goldie had played 1 game v Russ so was battle hardened and well read on the equipment(I feel that was a bit over the top personally).

So picture below is the initial set up…we rolled dice and I had to set up first…then have first move. Which worked out quite well actually. Goldie is in his beach shirt…trying to pysch me out.

So my army had in it a units of 5 Leopard 2s, 3 Marder 2s, Panzergrenadiers, Jaguar 1s, M109Gs, Rolands and some red eye teams. Goldie had 3 units T64s, infantry, Hinds, Shilka’s and some trucks with rocket launchers.

So turn 1….I had 5 Leopard 2 tanks….Goldie had 13 T64’s! First shots I took out 2 T64’s.

Then the long range SPGs let rip…woohoo!! 2 tanks destroyed and 2 bailed out. Love these guys!! Bonus infantry got pinned as well…AWESOME.

Goldie send the Hinds over to obliterate the M109s and Jaguars. They are LARGE and look darn impressive.

But he fired his tanks first and 2 Leopards bailed out(you test morale next turn to see if they remount…1 did)

Then the Hinds let rip…blew up 1 M109G… and one bailed out(it remounted next turn)

My turn…..sent my PzGrs into 3 buildings…moved the Marders up in support……..and my tanks took out 4 T64’s!! 4 more can be seen in southern wood…and command tank is ordering a Big Breakfast from Macca’s!

Have removed roofs so can see the PzGrs in buildings. The left team have a Carl Gustav and the other have Milans…plus MG teams. 2 Shilkas are using the blown T64’s as cover while the Russian infantry are right are no longer pinned.

Hinds have moved across to get at my Leopards. The Rolands and Red eyes let rip..

And 1 Hind is more! One of the bailed out Leopards had been destroyed.

The Shilkas have advanced and taken out the front squad. The Russian infantry have made cover of wall.

Goldie positioning some grunts in a building.

Heh heh….have taken out the command tank and Shilkas.

and the 2nd Hind bites the deck.

So the end game and Goldie has the infantry in centre remaining…

Bigs thanks to Goldie for the game and helping me out with rules and suggestions through the game. The dice gods did favour me……so we will give it a go again in 2 weeks…..with some changes to each side as Goldie still waiting for his BMPs to arrive….and I will be adding some scout vehicles….more PzGr’s…more Leopard 2’s and reworking the Marder 2s I expect.

So fun game…liked the rules…..expect will be some discussions on what constitutes a BROKEN army that will not be allowed to be fielded! In meantime….I need to finish the painting, decaling and basing of the force then add some more units.

Til next time…Terry out.