The Red Army in Autumn

Coming up in October this year there is a wargaming tournament down in Lake Geneva - Autumn Wars. On the Saturday they are running a Team Yankee event, Tankers Delight. This has provided the incentive to pull out an army I have been slowly working away on for some time - a Soviet T-72 battalion. 

Unfortunately the tournament army requirements aren't to my preference; lists are 120 points, of which at least 90 points must be tanks with front armor 9 or above. The organizers are clearly MBT fans, and want to see big formations of these running around. But I'm keen enough to play a TY event that I'll forbear. 

Sitting down to organize a force that meets these requirements, here in where I'm at right now; 

To meet the minimum MBT requirement I'll either have to buy more T-72s, or add a formation of T-64s or T-80s. At the moment I'm thinking a list something like this;

T-72 Battalion

• T-72 HQ (5 pts)
• T-72 Company of 8 (37 pts)
• T-72 Company of 8 (37 pts)
• T-72 Company of 6 (27 pts)
• Motor Rifle Company in BTR-60s (medium, 10 pts)
• ZSU-23 Platoon of 4 (4 pts)
• 2S1 Carnation Battery of 3 (5 pts)

This comes to 120 exactly, and also puts me comfortably above the minimum MBT requirement. 

In terms of what models have will have to acquire and finish painting, I'll need 13 more T-72s. Of the models I have now, the artillery are finished, and all the vehicles are basecoated. The infantry are assembled and primed, but that's it. 

So a decent amount of work to do. That's OK, I've got a couple of weeks to get everything finished. 

Team Yankee: Operation Tunguska

I'm a big fan of Google Earth. It's a brilliant tool, which I use both professionally and for my own things like planning out vacations (marking hotels, airports, sights to see, and so on). And it can also be very good for making maps for fiction. As an example, here's a scenario I've had fun thinking out - Team Yankee: Operation Tunguska.

To be upfront at the start, this is not a remotely realistic scenario, and isn't intended to be. It's just a whimsical excuse to play Team Yankee battles in the US mid-west, around cities and locations that I know.

So with that admission made, here is the scenario...

Operation Tunguska

In July of 1985 the Soviet Union launched Operation Tunguska, the largest military action since the Second World War. Massed waves of air attacks sunk the USS Abraham Lincoln, USS Enterprise, USS Long Beach and many other American ships. Soviet submarines took station off the coast of Oregon and throughout the northern Pacific, lurking ready to threaten any US naval response. At the same time an amphibious task-force launched an invasion on a scale comparable to D-Day, with four major landings cutting off and capturing Seattle and Vancouver.

With a beachhead established, the Soviet force began an advance east, roughly following the route of the I-90 and I-94 interstate highways. Their first objective was to seize the US nuclear silos in Montana and North Dakota. While the US would still have air and submarine launched nukes, Soviet planners assumed that the loss of a large portion of their land-based weapons would create a large enough missile gap that the US would not dare initiate a nuclear war.

With the advantage of surprise and the low population of the north-western states, the Soviets advanced swiftly. National Guard units, local law enforcement, and private citizens put up brave stands, but they were hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned. By early August the Soviets had reached Minneapolis. Within days they had the city surrounded, and were at the Wisconsin border. The Premier and Central Committee began toasting to their great victory.

But their celebrations were premature. By this point the US military had begun to respond in numbers. Soviet planning had assumed the nuclear advantage would lead to a US surrender. This did not happen. Instead President Reagan declared a line in the sand - the Illinois Nuclear Ultimatum;

"If any Soviet or Soviet-allied force crosses into Illinois, then the United States would consider that the final straw. We would have no choice but to respond. With the full force and might of our entire strategic arsenal."
 - Ronald Reagan, August 15, 1985

While the US had been caught off-guard, by mid-August they were mobilizing and getting ready to begin going on the offensive. The Wisconsin National Guard had set up initial defense lines along the Mississippi and Wisconsin rivers. These were rapidly being reinforced by regular army units, primarily from III Corps. The 82nd Airborne was deployed to Milwaukee, ready for whatever plan was ordered. The Soviet leadership either believed Reagan was bluffing or were willing to accept a nuclear confrontation; their forces kept pushing east.

They did not go unchallenged. While Soviet forces crossed the Mississippi and won the Battle of the Dells, they took heavy loses in doing so. As of September 1985 the front runs through central Wisconsin. US forces are massing north of Chicago, while the Soviets are assembling south of the Twin Cities. 

Multiple Projects on the Go

Progress on Sixmillopolis has slowed lately. I could use the excuse that some additional 6mm buildings I ordered haven't arrived. Which would be true, but there are still plenty of details I could have been finishing off. Really I just felt like a change of pace. So I've pulled out a bunch of old armies and models, and started jumping between them. I'll do a bit of painting on one force, get bored and move to the next. Admittedly not a great way to get any one army finished, but it means steady progress is being made on many.

On my painting table right now there are roughly five projects being chipped away at.

First, Sixmillopolis. As enthusiasm hits I am still doing detailing work on things like windows and storefronts. And once the new buildings do arrive that will probably kick off another wave of progress.

Second project is the Robotech: Tactics armies that will be fighting over Sixmillopolis. Right now the focus is on the UEDF. The conventional vehicles and Tomahawk destroids are done. Still to finish are the two VF-1 veritech fighters, and a company's worth of infantry stands that will disembark from the APCs.

Third project is a complete change of gear - a Soviet force for Team Yankee. While the ANZACs are the army I'd prefer to use, they are a bit of a niche list. For many themed games/events it can be hard to explain why they would be involved, plus without heavy tanks/artillery it's difficult to bring them up to 100 points. So, the Soviets will be my force that can easily slot-in to "standard" TY games and events, with the ANZACs set aside for friendly games or scenarios where they fit in.

Fourth project is another change-up - Star Wars: Legion. The Imperials are on the painting table right now, with my force at the moment being Vader + 2 squads that came with the core box, plus an Occupier tank.

(As an aside, the film crew for Rogue One made the Occupier by modifying an Alvis Stormer armoured vehicle. So if somebody could find 28mm models of any Stormer or CVR(T) variant, it would probably be pretty easy to fit the parts to the Occupier model and make a new Imperial tank design. Just saying.)

Last project is a one-off mini-army - a Kaiju to attack Sixmillopolis. The model is a Tyranid Hierophant bio-titan from an early edition of Epic. Already painted, but damaged in transit and needs some fix up work.

Fire for Effect!

One unfortunate omission from Team Yankee is the lack of towed artillery. Despite the existence of mechanised artillery, towed guns remain an important element of armies worldwide. But for whatever reason Battlefront has stubbornly refused to include them. Which was particularly annoying for me, since the only artillery available to a purely NZ force would be the L118 Light Gun (same applies to Australia as well I believe).

Now yes, I could take allied formations and include British or American self-propelled guns. But I don't want to do that. I want to use New Zealands own forces - specifically, a battery from 16 Field Artillery.

Fine. Battlefront aren't the only miniature company in the world. After a bit of googling I found that Old Glory Miniatures does a 15mm scale L118 Light Gun. They come in packs of three guns, so I ordered two in order to have enough for a four gun battery. I will definitely recommend these. The gun and crew are metal, high quality with good attention to detail. There was a little bit of flash needed to be removed, but not much.

Scale wise the gun crew match quite well with BF infantry, with no noticeable difference in size. Once painted up and based they fit in perfectly with the official Team Yankee models.

Next step is to come up with some (unofficial of course) stats and rules. But this shouldn't be too hard - I figure on using the Abbot as a starting point for the weapon, and FoW already has rules for towed guns.

Kia Kaha! - Anzacs for Team Yankee

My latest project is a bit of a change from previous... an Anzac force for Team Yankee.

Team Yankee is modern (OK, 1980's - that's "modern" for me because I'm old enough to have been alive then) wargaming using a version of the Flames of War rules. A few months ago BF released the Free Nations army book, covering the French, Dutch, Canadians, and Anzacs. Now oddly enough I actually purchased the models for this army well before the official rules/figures were available. The idea of an NZ force appealed to me (specifically, I wanted to do a company from QAMR), and I wasn't worried that there wasn't an official list available at the time. The FoW: Vietnam range included Anzac infantry, so a mix of these an some TY British vehicles gave me the models I needed.

Currently the force consists of;

1 HQ team in M577
2 x Mechanised Infantry Troops in M113s with T50 turret
2 x Scorpion recce tank Troops
2 x Leopard 1 MBT Troops
M125 Mortar Troop
Air Support from 2 A4K Skyhawks

This comes to about 50 points, and at the moment is organised as a single company with support options. My expansion plan would involve buying a few more Leopard 1s and splitting the force into two companies - a New Zealand mechanised infantry company of Queen Alexandra's Mounted Rifles, and an Australian armoured company from 1st Armoured Division.

The other expansion planned is the addition of a 4 gun battery of L118 light guns from New Zealand 16 Field Artillery. Now unfortunately BF has been stubbornly refusing to include towed artillery in Team Yankee. Well whatever, if they don't want my money somebody else can get it. In this case that would be Old Glory Miniatures. Models have been ordered, and hopefully once painted up and mounted on some BF large bases they should fit in nicely.