Background
Our normal Friday FOW gaming group decided to put aside our normal historical FOW scenario playing for one day and give Team Yankee a test drive. We had been talking about it for quite some time (we all have rather large Micro Armor collections from days gone by). We also had been hearing the rumors that version 4 of FOW would be adopting many of the rules found in Team Yankee, so our curiosity was fully peaked. As luck would have it, my buddy Mitch (of WWPD fame) was off work and volunteered to bring all his stuff and run a couple of games for us. With the stars aligning, we all met up at our FLGS Huzzah Hobbies and took Team Yankee out for a spin!
We set up a table using the store’s terrain and Mitch set up forces. The Soviet side had a bit over 100 points. The allies had similar pionts and were primarily Bundeswehr with supporting British. Mitch had just gone on a rampage and painted all his new Brit vehicles. This would their first test drive! With that, we jumped into the game.
Observations
Mitch went through most of the rules with us, explaining how things worked. We also went through the new unit cars that provide the capabilities of each of our units/pieces. As usual for Battlefront, the quality of these cards is just fantastic. The unit cards were a little scary at first glance, but once you see that all the numbers just tie into rules that FOW has, its quite straight forward. In actuality, it’s better, as the rating replace whole rules in FOW quite efficiently.
I do have a few quibble about the ratings of some of the vehicles. Mostly that the T-72 is too well protected (I do not know what they are going to do when they have to represent the later models or the T-64 and T-80!) and the Leo II/M-1 is not (particularly against HEAT). This will make it difficult when earlier tanks are added (M-60, AMX-30, T-55). While the allied tanks are superior in the game, it’s more because of their other rules. With that said, the game is balanced for fun (who wants to face almost impervious tanks that can drive all over the battlefield at full speed and kill you without an ability to respond).
We played the first game with pretty much just tanks and ATGWs. This was just to get the knack of how things worked. The game ended with the Soviets taking a bit of a pounding (that is what they get for driving all over well laid out flowerbeds in the German countryside). From that game, it was clear that this was our try and true FOW at heart. There are a number of subtle, but important changes. The most obvious was that the attacker allocates hits, but the defender can try to switch them with a die roll (kind of like an inverse Gun Tank rule). Bogging and platoon morale are also quite different. It is actually easier to bog, but you free yourself automatically (conscripts rejoice). You do not roll morale checks until you are down to your last tank. This makes small platoon quite vulnerable (the Leo IIs were in platoons of two!) and really gives you a sense of being smothered by the Soviets (units of 10).
We then set up a second game using the same terrain. This time we incorporated infantry, recon, AA and helicopters. The game went kind of the same, but adding the extra arms definitely made decision making more of a challenge. The helicopters kind of work like tanks, so not too much of a learning curve there. The can be engaged by AA before they fire (much like FOW airplanes). Here you use the stats on the weapon cards, which allows more flavor than the skill/firepower method in FOW. The recon rules are really quite neat. Basically, as you move them forward, they extend your battlefield deployment zone. This makes for a very interesting portion of the game, as you have to think about your positions and where you do not want your opponents to be! The infantry was pretty much like FOW, just with better transportation! Once again, the unit cards allow what would be special rules to just be incorporated into a rating. This really makes it simpler for both players. It also gives more ability to have differences between units, without having to read a page of rules.
We did not get a chance to try artillery. However, we went through the rules. They basically flip the skill and to hit rolls around, so ranging in is more about your ability, while actually hitting units is about theirs. They also allow you to target any point on the battlefield (no longer stuck trying to find something you can see). This really will help with softening up obvious hard positions. Hiding deep inside the woods or town is no longer the a strategy (suppressive fire anyone?). Units that are in the template, but not spotted, are harder to hit to compensate. They also limit the number of smoke bombardments you can have with a battery. Finally, they have two template sizes (6″ and 10″ square). What size you use is dependent on why types of artillery you are using (No pizza box sized templates covering your army).
Verdict
With two games under our belt we felt we had a good feel for the game. While the combat engine is definitely FOW, it does play a little differently. Part of that is the fact that modern combat as Battlefront sees it is much more deadly. However, the main reason is how the rules work. While I have some quibbles with a few of the unit ratings, the mechanics are sound. Everything has its place and this is just a fun game. If this is what version 4 of FOW has in store, I cannot wait for March to arrive!
– Manteuffel