Hi all, its Neil here and welcome back to my WW3 Team Yankee series. Today I thought I'd give my view on the British in the game from their book. I'm starting with the British as they're the force I've chosen for Team Yankee. The British have just got an updated book for v2 which added new equipment like the Challenger 1 and Warrior.
This isn't going to be a super detailed look at building competitive lists rather I'm going to share my thoughts as a newer player on the book. I will come back for another look once I've gotten experience playing the game to see how my view changes. If you are unfamiliar with the game I'd suggest reading my introduction post first (don't worry I'll wait 😉 ). This will be the first post of two, looking at the formations first then at the support choices in the second part.
On the whole the British units are well trained with a good skill value and have average courage allowing them to stick around for a bit under fire. They are all also hit on a 4+ which will help them survive on the battlefield when fired at. Generally British units want to stand still as they have lots of missiles and guns that drop their RoF when moving. Combined with the high armour on their tanks makes them good for defending (as historically they expected to do).
First up will be the formations, the British get access to 7 different formations, 2 tank, 3 infantry, 2 reconnaissance to use as the core of a British army list.
First up I'm going to look at the two tank formations the British have. They both have a similar set up with a hq of 1-2 tanks and 2-4 units of 2-3 Chieftain or Challenger tanks with options for an infantry unit mounted in either FV432 APCs or Warrior IFVs, an Abbot artillery unit, a Scorpion recce unit and a unit of Swingfire missile tank destroyers with the challenger formation able to take a unit of Warrior IFVs with Milan missiles instead trading some of the Swingfire's penetration power for a secondary weapon and slightly more armour. The formation can be fairly self contained combined arms force and make for a resilient core for a list with lots of units to keep it in the fight.
The British Chieftain and the Challenger I are similar in game sharing the same gun and movement values with the difference coming from the armour values.
- The gun they share is a great weapon able to deal with any tank in the game from the front except for the latest (and most expensive) tanks with its anti-tank value of 22.
- Movement wise they're both pretty average for movement speed but the main gun of the tank does drop its RoF when moving.
- Armour is the big difference between the Chieftain and Challenger tanks with Chieftain has a good armour value of 17 while the Challenger comes in with a great armour value of 20. Both have the option to up their armour by one as well by reducing how well they traverse difficult terrain. This high armour allows them to take more incoming fire, with the upgraded Challenger being mostly immune to fire from the front.
Both tanks look like good choices though when it comes to points the Challenger is very pricey, you can put nearly 2 Chieftains on the table for each Challenger. To me it looks like the Chieftain is better for a formation while the Challenger should be used as a support unit in the normal 100ish point games.
Next up in the formations are the three infantry formations, these are an APC mounted formation, an IFV mounted formation and an airmobile formation. The APC and IFV formations are almost identical with the differences being the transports used and one option in the support choices for an anti tank section.
The APC and IFV formations are made up of a HQ of a single infantry team with a single transport plus the option to add two MG teams to attach out to the platoons, then the core is 2-3 infantry platoons then options for a FV432 mortar unit, a Scimitar recce unit, an Abbot artillery unit, a Spartan MCT milan unit, a Milan infantry unit (or a warrior milan unit for the IFV formation) and a single unit of tanks either Chieftains or Challengers. Like the tank formations they contain all the options for a full combined arms force in the single formation, and even has two different artillery options (which will get looked at more in part 2). The main strength of these infantry formations comes from its large number of anti tank missiles available in the formation on hard to shift infantry (a single full strength infantry platoon can bring 5 good anti tank missiles for a less than a single Challenger when mounted in APCs).
With the actual infantry in the two formations are the same, we should take a look at the two different rides they can be given, the FV432 APC and the Warrior IFV. The FV432 comes with armour 1 all round for some resistance against small arms and a machine gun to be able to defend itself against infantry but it is only really useful for transporting the infantry to where they want to be then making themselves scare really. The upside to them is that they are cheap, allowing you to bring more units to the table. The Warrior IFV is a definite upgrade to the FV432 with front armour 3 on the front and a decent autocannon with anti-tank of 10 as its main armament allowing it to deal with other light vehicles while supporting its infantry. It can also take an upgrade which boosts its front armour to 5 and gives it applique armour further boosting its armour to 13 against HEAT weapons like RPGs. This uparmoured version also allows passengers with Milan missiles to fire them without dismounting. The Warrior is more formidable than the FV432 but it comes as a cost as you can get two infantry units in FV432s for the same size in Warriors. The FV432 is better on the defensive while the Warrior will be more useful when attacking as it has weapons worth firing while moving up to help deal with enemy light vehicles such as AA and artillery.
The airmobile infantry formation is a small formation only able to take the HQ of 1 infantry team with a Lynx transport helicopter with options for 2 machine gun teams like the other two formations. The units it can take are 2 compulsory airmobile infantry units with the option for a single airmobile milan infantry unit. Compared to the infantry in ground vehicles they come with slightly more firepower as standard but lack the option to take even more missiles. Comparing the transports, the Lynx has great ability to get the infantry where they need to go but are vulnerable when landing to drop troops off and bring no weapons to the battlefield which means that it is best to drop into a safe area and the infantry move up to where they need to be.
For the infantry formations, their anti-tank missiles are their main strength but to fire these requires staying still so they're much more suited to playing defensively and letting their enemy come to them. If you do want to attack with your infantry, you can either mount them in Warriors to give them good firepower while getting into position though you will have less infantry when you get their due to the cost or going airmobile to exploit gaps left by your enemy.
The last formations to look at are the two recon formations. The first is the medium recce squadron which brings the Scorpions and/or Scimitars as the core. The formations has a HQ of 2 Spartans, which are very lightly armoured scouts with a machine gun (best for hiding at the back to help keep the formation in good spirits) and then 2-3 units of 2 or 4 of either Scorpions or Scimitars (you can mix and match units in the formation if you want) and then options for a Striker guided weapons unit and a Spartan support troop. The Striker brings some anti-tank missiles into the formation and the Spartan Support Troop is a small unit of light infantry in Spartans. The Scorpions and Scimitars are similar both having armour 2 on the front and the scout and spearhead rules to allow them to push forward early in the game.
The difference between the two is the gun that they mount in their turret. The Scorpion's gun has an anti-tank value of 14 with RoF 2 when stationary and 1 when moving, while the Scimitar mounts the same gun as the Warrior with 3 shots (or 2 when moving) at anti-tank 10. Both of these weapons are good at taking out light vehicles such as enemy scouts and IFVs as well as being able to threaten the flanks of heavier vehicles. Though the Scimitar is actually better for this due to rule interactions between the Scorpion's gun which uses HEAT rounds and things like Bazooka skirts or Chobam armour which most of the MBTs mount to defend against HEAT weapons.
This formation can be a good cheap way to add some extra fire power to your list as well as being able to push up the field early using the Spearhead special rule that the Scorpion and Scimitar both have. The Spearhead rule allows the unit to make a move once deployed and create an extra area for deployment, which you can use to push your offensive elements further up the board before turn 1. For the cost of a single Chieftain, you can bring a minimal formation with good firepower for its points though on fragile platforms.
The last formation the British can use is the wheeled recee squadron which is based around the Fox armoured car used by the Territorial Army rather than the regulars. The Fox packs the same gun as the scimitar with similar armour. The Fox comes in units of 4 which cost the same as 3 Scimitars. This low cost does come with a downside, as these are manned by the territorials meaning reduced skill and courage values. This means that they aren't going to be doing as reliable as their regular equivalents. The Fox does also come with the same Spearhead rules as the Scorpion/Scimitar. The formation itself has a HQ with the same 2 Spartans as the other recee formation then 2-5 Fox Recce Units and a optional Spartan Support Unit again the same as the recce formation. The formation is less flexible but is a cheap way of bringing a formation of spearheading units and an interesting choice but I feel that the Scorpions and Scimitars formation is more useful as they have the better skill and courage.
My opinions on the formations are that the Chieftain and FV432 infantry formations will likely form the backbone of any force I build with the Challenger and Warrior unit being taken as in support options in 100 point games. The recce formations are both good secondary picks to help with pushing on objectives with to me the Scorpion and Scimitar being the better pick over the Fox. Additionally the medium recce formation would also be good for replacing Chieftains alongside your infantry in smaller games if you're tight on points. The Warrior mounted infantry are interesting if you wanted to run a more offensive smaller infantry formation as the Warriors give you some decent firepower still while on the move plus the infantry to back them up when its time to grab objectives.
I hope this was helpful for those who are currently looking at Team Yankee. I know that I'm looking at it through a new player's eyes but hopefully it still gives somewhere to start looking if you're also starting a British force (or gathering some intel for the Russians). Look out for Part 2 coming in a couple of weeks where I'll take a look through the supporting options you can take to back up whatever formations you choose to run in a list.
See you around for more Team Yankee content and if you want to check out what I’m painting head over to Instagram.
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