Welcome back to "Breaking the Iron Curtain" - a beginners perspective series for World War III "Team Yankee" by Battlefront Games
So far as part of this series I've put together a small force for the United States of America, building and painting the old US starter sets "Bannon's Boys" and "Ryan's Leathernecks", and taking my first steps into learning the rules.
It's been a great month to be a budding US player with so many amazing new and updated plastic kits launched, a new Starter Set and a new faction book packed with exciting rules!
Try as I might, I couldn't resist the pull of the new Starter Box; there's so much value in that box and the models really complement what I already had. I also needed to pick up the newest book as I've got my first game coming soon, and wanted to make sure I could actually run the right formations!
For this months update I thought I'd do an unboxing post for the new US starter, talk through the decisions I made when building up the models, and then mention some of the cool new additions in the 2nd Edition US Faction Book.
Let's get into it!
Unboxing World War III Team Yankee American Starter Force
Sat with box in hand, I was full of excitement! The box itself was surprisingly light, courtesy of all the kits being full plastic
Popping open the side you can see just how packed the box is!
All the sprue's were conveniently bunched together by unit type, and held snugly with bubble-wrap to stop them rattling around.
You can find full sprue details in the Battlefront box focus here, but below I've included a few shots of the sprues as they've come out of the box. The only important thing to note is that every spure arrived undamaged; everything was exactly where it should be!
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| The all new Bradley sprue |
The HMMWV sprue
The all new Apache sprue
The M109 Sprue
The M1-Abrams sprue
In addition to the sprue the box also included transfers, and the resin components for Command Upgrades for the M1- and Bradley- variants, the HMMWV gunners, the new resin APU component to make the M1A1HC Abrams variant, flight stands for the Apaches, a miniaturised 2nd Edition rule book and the unit cards.
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| Mini rule book |
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| Transfers were packed in with the unit cards. I was surprised to find a Minefield token in this bag too! |
The last component, and the piece I was most impressed by, was the new Start Here build guide
This double sided, fold out sheet of paper is probably the most impressive piece in the box. Complete with blurbs about each model in the box, build instructions, a "Start Here" sample army built from the box content, and recommendations for "what next" this small sheet of paper is the perfect piece for new players.
What I particularly like about it is the differentiation between the M1 and M1A1 build instructions; as a new player the M1 is a pretty complex kit (building 4 different tank variants) and so some clear instructions on how to build the different pieces was much appreciated!
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| Start Here Side 1: Build instructions, unit cards and details about your new kits |
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| Start Here Side 2: A 104 point starter army built from whats in the box, and a "what's next" section recommending some next steps and upgrades to the force |
Assembling the box
Having unboxed all the components I set to work building the models up. I decided not to follow the Starter Army they recommended, opting instead to build things up augment my existing force.
What to do with the Abrams?
The US Starter set comes with five M1 Abrams. Given that I already had three Abrams I decided I'd split this kit into two build route - I'd use two of the Abrams to bulk my existing models up to the min-strength formation (1HQ and 2x2 tank teams), and use the other three to start a new Formation.
In a previous post I've claimed my existing M1's were the M1A1 variant, but after consulting the new America Book I've realised that was a mistake; they're actually IPM1's.
After building two IPM1s to complete my IPM1 Formation I was left with the option of three M1's, 3M1A1's or 3 M1A1HCs.
The general consensus on the Facebook forums (where I loiter and try to absorb all your wisdoms) is that the M1A1HC is a little too points-heavy to see play, and I wan't sure about M1A1's for the same reason.
In the end I opted to build the remaining three tanks as the standard M1's, reasoning they'd provide the same firepower as my M60's with a more improved staying power.
For anyone questioning the logic of building M1's when I already had the IPM1s, I'd like to point out that I built the M1's when I still thought the IPM1s were M1A1's! I'm still new to this and finding all the variants a tad confusing!
Fortunately the new America book has helped a lot with this, but more on that later!
What to do with the HMMWVs?
As with the Abrams, the four HMMWVs in the box required me to make some build decisions too.
Fortunately these were a little easier!
I was already well underway building the HMMWV Cavalry Troop formation, with two min strength HMMWV Scout Sections complete
All I was missing was Cavalry Troop HW (2x HMMWV-M2's), which were the first things I built.
The two remaining HMMWVs presented more of a dilemma for what to build; I could opt for two HMMWV Stingers for the SAM Platoon, or two more TOW/TOW-2 variants to add to either my Cavalry Formation or their own separate HMMWV-TOW Anti-tank squad.
In the end I opted for the TWO, reasoning they're more likely to see play as I learn and have a little more flexibility
What to do with the Bradleys?
The M2- and M3- Bradley seems to be one of the more anticipated tanks to come with the box, although as a beginner the reasons are beyond me!
Nevertheless, I was left in a bit of a conundrum with what to do with my Bradley's.
Once thing I'm always trying to consider are the "what next" side of collecting; if I build a unit as "X" will I need to rebuy a whole new box to build it as "Y" later.
The Bradley comes as two "functional" variants; the M2 Infantry Fighting Vehicle and the M3 Cavalry Fighting Vehicle. The M2 and M3 variants can also be upgraded to the M2A2 and M3A2, respectively, providing additional armour plating.
Whilst there are differences between the normal and A2 variants there are no visual difference between the M2 and M3 (nor M2A2 and M3A2), meaning that I only had to decided between the normal and up-armoured variants.
Without knowing much about the rules I opted to go for the default M2/M3 build; something which I'm sure I'll regret in time!
What to do with the rest?
The final two pieces in the set, the M109 Field Artillery and the AH-64 Apache Attack Helicopter were a little easier to approach as kits; unlike the Bradley, Abrams and HMMWV's there were no build options I needed consider... or so I thought!
The AH-64 Apache was a beast of a kit, easily coming in at 3x the size of the AH-1 Cobra. It was super easy to put together, and I was particularly impressed with the rotor blades, which connect via a simple guide pin (no more magnets required!)
The build instructions for this kit was pretty clear... except for the sensor pods. The kit can be built as either the standard AH-64 Apache, or the longbow variant; the major difference being the sensor pods, which are bigger and bulkier on the Longbow.
Once minor criticism I have of the build instructions is that they don't explicitly call out which parts are which. Now this is a only a minor grievance, and is resolved in the more detailed online build instructions, but for a beginner it's a little difficult to follow.
I ran into a similar issue with the M109. The kit itself is relatively straight forward to build with only one optional variant; short or long barreled howitzer cannon.
As a newbie to military hardware I naively thought the shorter barrel was to represent a "firing pose"... something I have since been corrected on. Nevertheless I've ended up building my three M109's with variable barrel lengths, which is kind of irritating... chalk this one up to naivety!
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| Perhaps the little cannon can be my unit leader?! |
Final Thoughts on the Box
Overall I was pretty happy with the box and how it all came together. The kits were, for the most part, pretty simple and easy to put together. Something I'm beginning to realise is that a little prior knowledge of the Vehicles the kits are designed after before you properly sit down to build them.
The kits contain a lot of options, but the build instructions provided with the kit's don't always call out all the pieces - particularly for the non-standard variants. That being said, I've been browsing the online resources more whilst writing this article and can see they are a lot more details than the printed ones provides!
I applaud Battlefront for these great resources, and can only recommend other beginners follow my advice;
Go online before you build!!
WWIII Team Yankee America; The new book!
This article is starting to get pretty long, so I won't go into too much detail about the new book. My co-blogger Neil is doing a few posts on all the army books so I'll leave him to do the heavy lifting. (Neil's look at Formations, Neil's look at support units - coming soon)
I did, however, want to call out some of the new bits and updates I've found super helpful as a beginner, along with some of the new Formations that look real fun (regardless of how competitive they are!)
Extended Narrative!
If you're buying in to Team Yankee for the alternative history then good news! There's some expanded lore for you! The original "Stripes" book contained some narrative around the 7th Corps and the battle of Lutzen. "America" expands on that by adding in the exploits of the 5th Corps, and includes some descriptions concerning US troops in the Gulf War in this alternate past.
If you're buying in to Team Yankee for the alternative history then good news! There's some expanded lore for you! The original "Stripes" book contained some narrative around the 7th Corps and the battle of Lutzen. "America" expands on that by adding in the exploits of the 5th Corps, and includes some descriptions concerning US troops in the Gulf War in this alternate past.
Helpful photos!
To my mind the most USEFUL element of the new book - some of the unit definitions with pictures!
Titled "Know you <tank name>", these little graphics highlight the major differences (visual cue's and equipment) for the major variants you'll find in the book (Abrams, Bradley's and HMMWVs) and have really helped me get to grips with what's what!
New Formations
There are a whole lot of new formations in the book, which a more experienced player undoubtedly get's more excitement from than I!
From a "rule of cool" perspective I'm really looking forward to running some of the new combined arms formations; particularly the Combined Arms (Light) Company and the M3 Bradley Armoured Cavalry Troop.
The Combined Arms (Light) Company will let me run an Infantry Platoon fully mounted in HMMWVs, which just sounds awesome!
Clocking in at 17 points for the HQ (1xM16 Rifle Team in HMMWV) and two Light Motor Infantry Platoons (each containing 6x M249 Saw teams with M72 LAW, 2xM47 Dragons Missile teams and 8 HMMWVs) the whole thing just screams awesome (even if it'll get shot to pieces!)
The M3 Bradley Armoured Cavalry Troop looks a lot more reliable as a proper gaming formation. Allowing me to take a mixture of M1-variants and alongside a core of M3-Bradleys, this versatile formation looks to be a nice way to add in some of the more expensive M1 Variants without paying the full cost for five (as you would from the M1/ M1A1 Armoured Combat Team). It also get access to some pretty useful non-core options, including the Huey Rifle Team, the AH-64 Apache and the M109 Field Artillery (some could argue is the formation the starter is designed for!)
Signing off
With all that said and done I'll bring this article to a close. Now I'm armed with a sizable force I plan of buddying up with Neil for some games and starting to put this plastic to use.
Very exciting!!
Until next time - stay safe and happy hobby!
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