Team Yankee and FoW V4 - consolidated news and rumours

Hi folks - first up, the pictures used in this blog post are not mine, and I claim no ownership. They have been used purely for reference and taken from the respective owners blogs/websites. I'm happy to remove anything that causes offence or problems. I've tried to link those blogs I have used pictures from in the post.

I'd been thinking about putting together a blog post about what Battlefront seem to be planning for Team Yankee in the next year for a while, and figured I would put something together while it was in my head. I hasten to add that all I am doing with this is bringing together some of the comments made in interviews and on forums and the likes. Most of this info comes from the guys at WWPD -and their excellent interview with Peter Simunovich. During this interview Peter specifically stated that there will be 5 rounds of Team Yankee releases in 2017 - so lets start there. I've also used details from the BF 'Iron Maiden' launch videos.

2017 Team Yankee

1. East Germans (DDR) at start of year - 'Volks Armee'. Lists include:

• T72 Battalion
• T55AM2 Battalion
• BTR Motor Rifle Battalion (BTR60)
• BMP Motor Rifle Battalion

This will be a smaller book than Iron Maiden and Leopard, but with 'lots of options'. Also mentioned as part of this release (and with some models pictured elsewhere from BF's yearly convention)

• East German Infantry models
• BRDM's (3 versions)

There are already pictures on the Internet showing off some of these models - these images came from Chris Townley's blog.

Australians and Canadians 

These were mentioned as coming as separate releases during 2017.

Canadians were mentioned as possibly a August 2017 release, and apparently play testers are looking at this army now. No list types mentioned, but units mentioned included Leopard 1's, M113's, Lynx, M113 recon and a 'generic' NATO infantry range, which will be useful for multiple armies. One thing that was mentioned was that BF is looking at ways to allow allied units in Team Yankee, and for the Canadians they will have allied options built in. In the case of the Aussies, they will be able to take certain British units as allies. For the Canadians, US and German units are options.

Aussies possibly in October 2017. No specific lists were mentioned, but there was some discussion about Aussie Landrovers – A/T versions with RR, etc. The background for using the Aussies in Team Yankee is that some Australian and New Zealand units are in Europe/UK as part of large scale training exercises with the British Army. When things get hot, the British Government gets permission to deploy these units to the continent. It's a bit far fetched, but ultimately I suppose it's plausible. It's already an alternate history anyway...


Others

Also mentioned, but with no indication of dates, were two books for the original nations. For the Soviets it's 'Red Thunder', and will apparently include BTR's, T64's, BRDM, etc. There was specifically mention of the BTR's and T64's being plastic.


For the Americans it looks like a book possibly named 'Stripes' is in the work. Again, no lists were specifically mentioned. However, Marines and LVTP's did get a mention, as did Plastic M60's, Bradley's, Scouts, Stingers, Plastic HMMVs, and more AA assets. (Chaparrals and Avengers were specifically mentioned).

Future







Peter was also talking a bit about the future of Team Yankee. He mentioned that it had really taken off and been much more popular than they had expected or planned for. They are taking the view that Team Yankee is now one of their 'core' games, in the same way as GW had 40k and Fantasy.

He spoke a bit about future plans. A 'later' book will look at providing more modern units, such as M1A1's, Challengers, Warriors, Bradleys, BMP3's, Apaches, etc. French and Israelis were also mentioned as being something they would like to look at.

Asked a question about Poles, the BF team stated that Poles not currently on the Team Yankee agenda, mainly due to them having a lot of their own vehicles and not just being Soviet clones. They are something that they would like to cover in the longer term, as well as French, etc. It was mentioned that it's taken FoW years to get the range of models and nations that it has, and it will take Team Yankee a similar amount of time.

Another question related to dedicated transport helicopters and specifically Hips for the Soviets. Dedicated transport helicopters are not currently on the cards. Those transport helicopters they do have tend to be versions of armed ones they are releasing anyway. Or in the case of the Huey, important for Vietnam gaming. A Plastic Huey was mentioned, due to the revisit Vietnam will be getting (see below). 


Another question related to the provision of Team Yankee Firestorm campaigns, to which the response was that BF are happy to work with the community to develop these. Specific comments from Peters WWPD interview included 'more news to come' in next few weeks and that '2017 plan is exciting, lots still to come.'

Also talked about was the fact that Fate of Nation and Vietnam are to get own 'Team Yankee' style rulebooks – hardcover with armylists - in about a year. Team Yankee style rules, new army lists (Marines and sappers for Vietnam, '73 and Yom Kippur for FotN). A plastic Huey will be released as part of the Vietnam model range. All army lists for these periods and rules in one book, the book will also gives model codes that can be used to make up units (from the various BF model ranges).

Other ideas and theatres considered –  Bush Wars book also being considered to allow things like Angola, etc. Iraq vs Iran was mentioned as being a cool idea.

Peter revealed that all 'modern' lists they produce will be pointed to be able to play. TY 'Early' will consist of initially Vietnam and Arab Israeli. They apparently plan that armies from both these books would be competitive vs each other. Another possibility will be for them to also do 1960's or 70's Europe using many of the same units and models.

With regards to the future, new kits take preference for plastics – pointless doing plastics for kits first released and available in resin. BF are apparently slowly becoming a plastics company. It takes about a year to design and make a plastic kit for the company, and one of the designers was interviewed recently about this process. He refused to say what he was working on, other than that it was 'lots and lots' of stuff. I've heard somewhere that there are dozens (20 was mentioned by a BF staffer on the forum) of plastic kits coming to support the launch of Version 4 of Flames of War... more below. Peter confirmed that lots of plastic kits were coming for mid war (version 4 release). BF are dedication to having every model in a book released within at least 2 months of launch, and that they are trying to keep launches pretty tight in what retailers would need to stock. He gave an example of the recent Puma kit being delayed as it was rushed and has issues.





Flames of War 4th Edition

Version 4 probably due to be released around March next year...

Now there has been a lot posted about this elsewhere. My own opinion is that it's a positive thing for the game and for the community. Anything that gets more players interested and more importantly, focuses more of the gaming market back on producing 15mm WW2 kits suits me! I don't think I would get into Mid War specifically, but I can play it using the models I have.

A lot of the negative reactions seem to be around 'money grabbing'. Peter stated that the current Early and Late war books will still be relevant. Specifically that 99% of the lists in these books will still be relevant and playable. Mid War will be the area that will see the most change initially, but it hasn't been touched by BF much since more or less 2nd Edition. He also stated that BF would be giving out free rulebooks and that the rules would also be available online in a 'living rule book'. 3rd Edition is creaking under the number of special rules and warriors. The game is easy enough to pick up if your shown it, but the 300+ page rule book is daunting for new players or new groups trying to start out without any experience. It's been 6 years since the last edition. I don't mind seeing the company release a revised edition - it's needed and is probably a couple of years overdue.

Other concerns are that it will 'just be Team Yankee'. That doesn't seem to be the intent, although they are planning on using the unit card idea from Team Yankee as an optional tool for players - you can still use an army list or whatever if you want. The cards have some  benefits - like cutting down on special rules. If the unit was good and not bogging, just give it a better bogging check score on the card, rather than a generic special rule. Rules wise Team Yankee plays a lot quicker but is still Flames of War. However, Peter spoke about version 4 not just being Team Yankee. It will have aspects of the rules from Team Yankee, but was described as being a 'hybrid'. A learning of lessons over years and years of play and FAQ's, as well as including new evolutions of wargaming rules mechanics. The rulebook will be small - probably the size of the TY book, so around 80 pages. there will be a 'living online' rulebook with more details of play, examples, etc. The rulebook will therefor be one that is quite streamlined.

The plan on releasing a Berlin compilation in 2017 with the possibility of late war monsters. I've also heard rumours about other lists that might be covered in such a compilation - specifically British and Canadian stuff missed from Nachtjager. Probably coming mid next year.

Mid War will be starting with Desert – Brits and Germans, then Yanks and Italians then on to Eastern Front. It will involve a new army list/building process – possibly involving cards. But cards are not going to have to be used – a helpful optional tool. Exact dates not yet locked down, but V4 and Mid War book will be released close together. Evidence of plastic kits to support the launch include some previews from Flamescon and again found on Chris Townsley's blog and via WWPD:

These look like 3D prints of models, rather than Plastic kits - although the 88mm kit is obviously quite far along... They can hurry up with that, I want another 6 guns!

Peter mentioned in his interview having sight of plans for a plastic Italian Semiovente M14 tank, which makes me thing that BF will try to do the same as they are with Team Yankee - release the core of the army in plastic with the less common units in metal and resin. I would also be very surprised if those other plastic kits don't include plastic Africacorps and 8th Army figures - assuming a new 'open fire' box is also in the works.

So that's it folks - interesting times ahead, and while I plan to stick to the 3mm and 6mm Team Yankee stuff, I'm looking forward to seeing what Battlefront do. As for version 4, it will find a gamer here happy to try it out - especially if the book is free and it manages to stay close enough to WW2 gaming to give a decent 'feel'. Failing that, they are not taking my 3rd Ed book off me, and there is always Battlegroup!

100,000th Visitor and 300th Post Giveaway Winner!

Hi Folks,

A few weeks ago I posted about having a giveaway for my 300th blog post and 100,000th blog visitor. To enter, all followers had to do was leave a comment on that blog post.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to comment and leave me their regards. Much appreciated!

A number was picked at random by my Miniature Modelling Mayhem friend Gary (of Marksman Gaming fame). Gary didn't know what he was picking a number for, and the number he picked was 9.

The 9th comment was left by 'Lee! from the 'A figure Painting Therapy' blog.

Lee wins a £20 gift voucher for the gaming site of his choice.

S&S Models 15mm Churchill SBG conversion kit - review and step by step build!

Hi folks,

I posted a little teaser at the end of my last blog article, showing a work in progress shot of my newest acquisition. A 15mm Churchill SBG Conversion kit from S&S Models. This kit was then added to a 15mm Plastic Soldier Company Churchill kit I have had sitting around since the model was announced by Shaun on the S&S Models Facebook page over a year ago!

The perfect kit to form part of my contribution to the Miniature Modelling Mayhem groups 'Novelty November' challenge!

I thought it might be useful to go through a bit of a step by step of the process I went through up until painting.

First up, what is a Churchill SBG? Well, they look like this:

Image used without permission for reference purposes - no ownership of the image is claimed.

And a description from http://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/2011/12/uk-military-bridging-equipment-assault-bridging/

"Introduced specifically for D Day and the 79^th Armoured Division it was designed to support a Class 40 load over a 30 foot (9 meter) span, or more specifically a 12 foot high sea wall. The bridge itself consisted of 4 Small Box Girder hornbeam sections connected together to form a twin trackway bridge, connected with crossbeams." "It was carried by a standard Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers (AVRE), not a specialised bridgelayer and thus the carrying vehicle was able to be used in other engineering roles once the bridge had been detached."

A Class 40 weight would be up to and including a Churchill tank - with the Sherman coming in at class 30 (or 33 for the Firefly).  The SBG Churchill was designed by Royal Engineers Colonel (later Major-General) Millis Rowland Jefferis (KBE MC), who was the same chap who designed the PIAT and 290mm Petard Mortar in the AVsRE tanks. The bridge was designed to be deployed in as little as 30 seconds.

I love this model, and the idea of having one of these in my army just grabbed me as soon as they were announced. This, and it's sister the Fascine tank. So as soon as they were available, I grabbed one of each.

I had a couple of aims with this model - One, it should look cool! Two, that the bridge should be detachable and the tank capable of continuing to be used on it's own after the bridge had been deployed.

So, on with the detail. The kit came in a small bag, well packaged and without any damage from transit. Some clean up was required, but the flash was pretty minimal - there was a small amount of miscasting in the metal parts - but nothing serious. Mainly just 'thin' ends (as can be seen below on the rightmost central bridge connector. My main concern out the box was that the A-frame was very soft and easily bent - I think I had to bend it slightly back into shape when taking it out of the packaging. Again, to be expected on this scale of a model.

The bits!

The first step was to build the base hull. As I mentioned, I used a PSC Plastic Churchill sprue and built a Mk.IV Churchill armed with a Petard mortar. 

Once the hull was built, I set about adding the AVRE conversion bits.

This involved a small about of work on the hull side, removing some protrusions on each side so that the fittings... fitted. These were standard AVRE fittings that would allow the Churchill's to be easily converted to a number of roles.

A close up of the work done to remove the side hull details in order to allow the side fittings to be added.

I also began to attempt to build the rear winch framework. Now, at first I tried to build this separately from the tank. This didn't work, as trying to build a box made from metal parts using superglue is a bit tricky. Eventually I gave up on that and instead decided to start building the box on the hull itself. Which was the sensible thing to have done from the start.

This went a lot more smoothly and I had the frame built in no time at all.

I then built the bridge. This was a little fiddly, but mainly because I was stupidly trying to do the central sections first (the rectangular cross pieces). After applying a little brain power, I glued the end section on each side, then did the central sections once the parts were in the correct shape.

Do these bits first!

The inner frames go inside the bridge itself and attach just below the upper surface. one on each end, closest to the bar which joins the two treadways.

Here you can see the central supports are at the top of the gap between the treadways.

The A-frame then fits into the holes at one end of the bridge.

I then began work on the front of the hull. There is a element that attaches under the front hull, and another that attaches to the end of the bridge. The connection is a simple one that acts as a hinge and that allows the bridge to pivot. As I wasn't planning on gluing the bridge in place, I went with a magnetic solution.

I had purchased some 'bar' style Neodymium magnets from e-bay specifically for this build. Off the top of my head these are 1mm thick, 3mm wide and 8mm long and were very reasonably priced. I knew that they would not be strong enough to hold the bridge in place, but they should be enough to help form a hinge.

Hull connection and bridge connection, shown the correct way around!

One magnet was glued to the underside of the piece attaching to the hull of the tank, the other to the underside of the piece attacking to the bridge. Note that I did end up revisiting the hull connection and adding some small spacers - as I think one side of mine had been slightly miscast and I trimmed the longer side to match. This resulted in the bridge touching the tracks of the tank and I had to add spacers to correct this. It is possible this issue could also arise if the hull connection is too low on the Churchill's glacis plate.

Make sure the polarity of the magnets is not at odds!

Adding the magnets to these parts did involve some trimming, in order to give a smooth surface for the magnet to attach to. Not much! But each part was a I shape (in traditional iron girder fashion) and one edge of each part required shaping. this wouldn't be required if you were just gluing the bridge in place.   

This was then strong enough a magnetic connection to keep the parts together and act as a hinge, while also allowing the bridge to be disconnected. Make sure the glue on each part is dry before you check that it works! These magnets are strong!

Front hull of the tank, with front attachment. The magnet is visible under this attachment, as well as the 'spacers' onto the hull I mention later.

The underside of the bridge, closes to the tank - not the magnet under the connection point.

The next section was then to provide a method of keeping the bridge elevated when attached to the tank. For this, I used some fishing line (the same stuff as I use for my tank aerials), ran it through the hole at the top of the a-frame and made sure it was long enough to reach the winch unit at the back of the tank. I then fashioned a small hook out of a small staple, and attached this to the end of the line - I found the section of staple could be made into an S shape, and the top of the S bent down to help grip the line - along with a small knot and a dab of superglue.

One thing to look out for here is to make sure the line is long enough - you can always trim something that is too long, but make it too short and it is a wasted effort. You can get a small amount of change to the angle of the bridge by hooking onto the front, middle or rear of the winch cage. I also considered using a couple of magnets to trap the line rather than a hook. Possibly attaching the winch cage to the hull using magnets?

This is where I encountered my first major issues. The weight of the bridge meant that the tank tipped forward (as you can see by the modelling tools in the above picture keeping the rear of the tank on the deck). As I had built the tank, adding ballast was a non starter. I would have had to build one of the spare hulls I had and move the various section over. I tried:

- Cut up metal sprue sections
- Filling the hull with sand
- Lead fishing weights (several different types) where I found the weight required to balance the bridge was somewhere between 41 and 60 grams.

I realised that  trying to weight the tank down was going to been impossible. There was not enough room in the hull or under the hull for the amount of ballast I would need - so I had a think and came up with a solution involving a larger than normal base. If the tank was glued to the longer base, that should stop it tipping forward.

However, my aim was that the tank would be usable after deploying the bridge. But to put the tank on a base where it would not tip over meant using a large base that would look silly under a tank with no bridge. It just so happened a few months ago I had ordered bases to make minefields with for my Germans, so had some 2" by 8" bases lying around. By magnetising the base, and the underside of the tank, I could keep the rear of the tank on the base - and also remove the tank onto a smaller base once the bridge had deployed. This solved the issue of the tank tipping and the base size being wrong once the bridge was deployed.

The tank on the large 2" by 8" base. Magnets on the base keep the rear of the tank on the ground - rather than in the air!

The 'large Flames of War' base to be used after deployment of the bridge.

Magnets on the 2" by 8" base

Close up of the magnets - I used some smaller round magnets I use for turrets just to give a little more pulling power.

Underside of the tank hull - note the magnet on the far right, under the connection to the bridge - showing how the connection to the bridge is magnetised.

I had also been looking at pictures of the tank online and discovered that more rigging was needed on the bridge to make the tank look more accurate (aka, 'Cooler'). Most pictures showed wires leading from the far end of the bridge back to the A-frame. I spent a lot of time trying to get this to work, trying to use separate lengths of fishing line, then using thin styrene before moving back to one longer length of fishing wire.

Knots here did not work as they were too obvious. The Styrene did not work as there is a bit of play in the A-frame when attached to the tank. The single hole in the A-frame was also a tight fit for three bits of line.

In the end the solution was to drill two holes in the A-frame, to either side of the main hole. Using one long length of line, through both holes and back again, then fastened under the far end of the bridge, out of sight. This worked... for a while! See below...

Under the end of the bridge, I wrapped the ends of the line around each other and applied some super glue and then modelling putty to keep in in place. I had tried tying a knot, but the tension was uneven on each side of the bridge. You also have to be careful of any work you do here, as the metal of the A-frame is very soft and is easily bent out of shape.

The far end of the bridge, with the connection between the 'rigging' line. Twisting together and then gluing seemed an easier solution as tying left an ugly knot and getting the tension correct on both sides was difficult. I then added some putty to keep the connection out of site and give it some more security.

The three hole modification to the A-frame worked for a while, but then failed as the 3 holes merged... I corrected this by using a small bit of staple wrapped around the top of the A-Frame to make a U shape, which then hooked over/wrapped around the top of the A-frame. The two fishing line loops (from the end of the bridge rigging and from the connection to the rear of the tank) were both closed loops, so I slid the end of the loops through the hole so they emerged on either side, then put the staple between the end of each loop and the hole - stopped them from pulling through and meaning the tension of the loops held the metal in place. I don't know the technical name for this, but it works! The picture below probably explains better!

I also added a small bit of green stuff to the fishing line running from the A-frame to the rear of the hull, in order to resemble a pulley.

I also replaced the section of fishing wire back to the rear of the tank at this time as I felt the original was too short and the angle of the bridge too tight/high.

The repaired A-frame - with small metal staple wrapped around the 'catch; the various wires. Green stuff also added as a pulley, and the wires from the ends of the bridge crossed before the A-frame as it looked a little cooler!

'the Hook' - connecting the A-frame of the bridge to the rear of the tank.

As I mentioned earlier, on mine the bridge was also touching the front tracks of the tank, so I added small metal spacers made from some old metal sprue between the hull connection point and the hull of the tank. I think this may not normally be required, but that this part may have been slightly miscast with one end of the attachment being longer than the other - and I think I trimmed the longer one back.

Front of the tank fitting with 'spacers; where the fitting joins the hull.

Primed and ready for it's 'Russian Uniform' coat!

Additional stowage has been added, in my usual style.

More pics to follow once it's all painted and properly based up!

As for reviewing the kit, I'd give it a massive thumbs up - 10 out of 10. Brilliant and simple conversion (which I have made a bit more complex, but that was my choice!) that will add a huge amount to the table top and provides something not readily available elsewhere. Fingers crossed Shaun at S&S Models has some success with this, and the other 15mm conversion kits he has. I'd love to see more of them in the future - especially for British tanks!

I hope this walk through, while a bit rambling, was useful. Hopefully it will save someone making the same mistakes or hitting the same snags as I have!