Challenging – WW3:British (Mk.2) Review
So, I wasn’t expecting to review a 2nd “WW3:British” book (and third TY British book in general) but here we are. Pete’s Christmas reveal of British hard plastic infantry with L85’s and a render of a Challenger 2 certainly caught my attention but the real surprises were yet to come…
Since reviewing it, I tend to split the book’s new contents into two parts:
Part one is the new shiny late 90’s/early-mid 2000’s kit. The Challenger, WAH-64, and transports with WRAP armour. As ‘barn baron’ Mike Everest called it, the “sci-fi shit” (he’s a man of simple tastes. 5.56mm is only acceptable from a FAMAS).
Part two is the stuff still broadly in-line with the original mission statement of “It’s 1985 and the cold war has gone hot…”. Towed guns and Rapier missiles, Commandos and Paras, LAW80 at a pinch (1987 initial acceptance).
(Starstreak is kinda weird. It’s older than you think… but falls between the gap of the two periods).
Let’s look at the former category first.
Brit-Pop
If the Chieftain is the Beatles and the Chally 1 is the Clash (particularly “Rock the Kasbah” given the Shir Iran 2 roots of the tank) then Challenger 2 is very much Blur or Oasis. Building on (and wholly reusing in some places) the earlier acts to define their own age. It joins the Leclerc in being a mid 90’s tank in a mid 80’s game and, much like its French equivalent, it has the stats, and points cost, to show for it.
The Challenger 2 has all the mod-cons for a 3rd-4th gen tank; “Advanced Stabilisers” linked to “Thermal Imaging” and “Laser Rangefinder” optics pair with a long barreled 120mm firing AT25 DU fin rounds out 48” (120cm) . The Brit’s stuck with a rifled gun, mainly to save buying new ammo and propellant charges so old favorites like HESH (“Brutal”) and Willy Pete (“Smoke” rounds make for a gun that is not only devastating but versatile, killing dug in infantry as well as T-80U.
Defensively, it’s on par with an up-armoured Challenger 1 as a baseline with FA22 and SA10, but then also has the boon of “Dorchester Armour” an update of Cobham that boosts HEAT protection to 18, brushing off RPG-7VR and even giving it a chance vs an AT21 APILAS. Like the Challenger 1, the British also developed armour packages to further boost protection if the front warranted it. Combat Armour Modules (CAM) add slabs of armour and ERA blocks to boost FA to 23 and SA to 12. The Challenger 2’s protection does come at a cost. Whilst the 1500hp Diesel and modern hydrostatic suspension ensures that it moves as quickly as the earlier Challenger, its terrain crossing capability has dropped to a cross 4+, up-armoured or not. It’s a big beast!
Formation wise, the HQ and one troop need to be mounted in Challenger 2, but the second mandatory troop can be Challenger 1s in place of 2’s. The fourth optional Troop also has a choice. This does help somewhat with the points burden. I suspect even with Dynamic points, a troop of three Challenger 2 will be close, but likely higher, than the 34pts for three Leclercs.
The formation is rounded out by an Anti-Tank Troop with Swingfires or Milan-equipped Warriors (including with WRAP armour), a mechanized infantry troop in Warriors or FV432, a Scimitar Recce troop (the Scorpion having been retired by the time the Chally 2 entered full service on account of poisoning its crews…) and an artillery battery with either Abbots or, a new option, M109!
The Challenger 1 Squadron has been updated to reflect many of the formation changes introduced in the Challenger 2 formation. It keeps the recce Scorpions of old but gains the M109 option for the artillery and also can its second mandatory and fourth optional Troop for Chally 2, making it easier to fit the new stablemate in a game by having a cheaper HQ troop in the Challenger 1.
The Warrior Mechanized Company also gets a revamp to make it closer to the real-world late 90’s/2000s equivalent. It gains M109 as an option in the artillery box, WRAP armoured Anti-Tank Warriors on the Anti-Tank box and also Challenger 2 as an option in the Armour box.
I’ve mentioned WRAP twice now. WarrioR Armour Package (WRAP) was a 2000’s era armour package that built on the Gulf War applique armour package with a modular system that built on modules of Explosive Reactive Armour (ERA), Cobham and Dorchester blocks and good-old bar armour. There is a WRAP2 Anti-Tank Warrior option and the Warrior Infantry platoons can also upgrade their Warriors for about twice the cost of normal Applique upgrades but gain FA7, SA5 and “Dorchester’s” SA18 protection vs HEAT! Quite useful in a world full of AT21 Spandrels and Bastion missiles.
The infantry themselves have also had an upgrade. Model wise, the new plastics have the much-maligned bull-pup SA-80 family, displacing the SLR armed metals ( though they don’t disappear…). This doesn’t change the platoon’s stats by default though; the game still assumes each of the three quads in a platoon has one RoF3/2 GPMG team (assuming the LSW’s shortcomings see the GPMG quickly reintroduced in WW3!) and one RoF1/1 Carl Gustav team (which did co-exist with the SA-80 family for a few years). But the GPMG team now has the LAW80 in place of the M72 “Sixty-Six” LAW.
The LAW80, entering service in the late 80s, upped the calibre to 94mm and added a five shot ranging rifle to ensure a hit. So fitted it could penetrate 600mm Rolled-Homogenous Armour (RHA). This all grants it range 16” and AT21 FP4+, similar to the French APILAS (though the larger warhead diameter of the French system gives it FP3+). Units can then choose to downgrade back to M72 (handy if your group prefers to keep things 1985 as my games with Mike tend to be) or go full in on the 1990s flavour by upgrading the Carl Gustav teams to also be GPMG/LAW80 teams. The platoon can also still add Milan 1 or 2 teams, still (the latter now being properly incorporated into the book with “Thermal Imaging”). All considered, British Warrior mounted Infantry are a pretty scary proposition, though the points disappear quickly!
Thatcher’s Children
The Chieftain Squadron sees only one change; it can take M109 in formation as an option. It’s other boxes are unchanged from the first (second?) WW3: British. It seems a little harsh that it can’t have Challengers in its optional troop boxes given the two did co-exist in-service much how the two Challengers do with each other.
The FV432 Mechanised Company does receive some glow-ups.
Looking at the formation, not only do we gain M109 in the artillery box, but the Armour box gains the Challenger 2 along with the two existing MBT. Not a bad way to squeeze a Troop of Chally 2 in!
The HQ, Infantry and MILAN platoons also gain access to the FV432 Bulldog.
This was a “War on Terror” upgrade to the ageing APC, giving it a new Diesel engine, brakes and a modular armour system similar to the WRAP2. For a relatively small flat fee per platoon (and a smaller one for the HQ), the FV432 gains FA7, SA5, putting it on-par with the Warrior WRAP2, Thermal Imaging and “Dorchester Armour”! That’s quite a step up from being an armour 1 box! It should also be noted that the FV432 Mortars do not get an up-armoured option! I guess they should be far enough from the front to not need it, though Warsaw Pact air support may disagree…
The Infantry platoons themselves receive many of the same kit upgrades as the Warrior based one. LAW80 is now standard for the “GPMG” team but with an option to downgrade to a more typical 1985 load of M72s. Similarly, you can go the other way and upgrade the “Carl Gustav” teams to “GPMG/LAW-80”. Milan and Milan 2 can also be added to the platoon and the Milan AT Platoon and Spartan Milan-Compact Turret (MCT) Platoon, unsurprisingly, can also sport the newer version (though the MCT does not get Thermal – presumably the turret was too-compact?).
Talking of Milans, The Lynx Airmobile Company is back and packing not only options to have enough Milan 2 to make Euromissile’s christmas bonus especially good, but also now has LAW80 for its GPMG teams which means you can’t just run them down with MBT like I used to do every time Simon tried using them back in the Iron Maiden days. That said, I still think the Highlanders are likely doomed to obsolescence because something is coming that does their job better…
The CVR(T) and (W) Recce squadron’s only change is to the Spartan Support Platoon, which gains the LAW-80 upgrade (and 66 downgrade option), making them slightly more useful than they used to be. Sadly no option to have LAW-80 on the Scimitars (as often seen in the ‘91 Gulf War), nor to mix the two CVR(T) types in one troop as was common.
Finally, we get to the last two new formations. The Royal Marines Commando Company and Parachute Regiment’s Parachute Company! That’s right, we finally get elite NATO light infantry!
Plus Paras!
(Okay, a little unfair to the Canadian and US Airborne but the soft stats of the British units are properly elite…)
The Commando Company leads us off. Unlike the WW2 ones, this one actually has some depth to its formation!
Not only do we get two-three Commando Troops, but we also get a bunch of support assets; MG, Milans and Mortars, plus brigade support in the form of towed 105mm artillery, manpacked Blowpipes and a Recce Troop with CVR(T). It’s all very Falklands inspired.
The Commando Troop is, frankly, horrifying.
Let’s start with soft stats. All three’s, save the Assault, which is 2+! Now let’s combine that with the composition; Four GPMG teams and a 2” mortar (pretty typical) but then three Bren MG/Carl Gustav Teams! That’s right, the RM bought more MG with them!
The Bren MG/Carl Gustrav can either fire as a Carl Gustav or use it’s re-chambered, straight-magazine Brens to get RoF3/2 MG! The platoon can put out a weight of MG fire but still deal with bunkers and light/medium armour with a FP3+ shell! The GPMG teams come with “sixty sixes” as default, reinforcing that Spring of ‘82 feel, but can upgrade the GPMG teams (not the Bren) to have LAW80. They can also add Milan teams and Lynx helicopters (no “Junglies” Sea King Commandos, sadly).
If you need to hold ground, then the Commandos can do that. If you need to take ground, then they can do that too! Need to climb a mountain? Well, they all have Mountaineer too, should that come up. All this for much the same points as a FV432 Mech Platoon!
The support weapon teams such as the GPMG (which, like the mechanised company’s version, can barrage), Mortar and Milan sections all have the same soft stats, albeit Assault 3. Any soviet infantry team trying to clear out a Missile position is going to have to hope its first swing does the job, otherwise they are getting a Milan Post to the face!
The towed 105mm Light Gun is interesting. Again, soft stats are all 3’s but so is the save. I honestly expected a 4+ gun save like most ww2 equivalent guns. The 3+ counter attack is pretty useful as Tactical 2” means they can’t afford to lose an assault! Stat wise, the direct fire is much like an Abbot but, despite firing the same rounds, its indirect is different; AT3, FP3+ rather than all fours like an Abbot.
The Paratroop Company has a lot of similarities in composition; the only real formation difference is that its Field Battery is a regular Royal Artillery one rather than a Commando one (so cheaper but only confident. Still assault 3+ though!). One thing to note is that a Para Mortar Battery only has a two tube option. Additionally all the support assets only have Assault 4+!
Looking at the Paratroop Platoon and its soft stats are identical to the Commandos and they also copy the trick of giving the Carl Gustav a MG, albeit a GPMG rather than a Bren (no start differences, which probably flatters the 30 round mag Bren…), and can upgrade the GPMG/66 teams to GPMG/LAW80.
However… Remember earlier when I hinted that the Highlanders were about to be rendered obsolete? Well, that’s because Battlefront have taken a page out of history. After the Highlanders demonstrated the idea of an ATGW blocking force was viable in exercises, the British Army gave the reserve Para battalions of the TA the job. To reflect this a Para Platoon can swap all its GPMG/Carl Gustav teams for Milans for no cost (or Milan 2 for a small cost). This gives each platoon the same number of Milan and non-Milan firepower as a Highlander platoon, but with much better soft stats and in a much more versatile formation and for only a point more per platoon, if we upgrade to LAW80 and add the Lynx!
In Support
Firstly, support wise, the force diagram has grown somewhat. Whereas there was an Artillery box for the M109 only and a second box for the MLRS only, the M109 is now joined by the towed 105 already mentioned and the FH70 towed 155mm (which does have a 4+ save and gun stats much like the M109, albeit a bit longer legged). This box is also duplicated into a third artillery box and the MLRS is joined by the three tube artillery too. Finally the Brits get the artillery strength they feel like they should have had from the start!
Elsewhere, the helicopter box sees the Lynx HELARM (itself getting a welcome TOW2 option) joined by two new options:
- In a 1980’s throwback we get a GPMG and SNEB rocket armed Gazelle AH.1 flight. The GPMG, optimistically, has Anti-Helicopter but does have a 16” range. The SNEB has decent legs for a rocket attack at 20” and AT3, FP4+ will do a decent number versus dug in troops and light armour and may even bail some MBT! Additionally it combines Hunter Killer with Scout helicopter, which removes “gone to ground” within 4” of the Scout and prevents ambushes within 8” (if concealed. 16” if not).
- Going the other way, the mid-2000’s adoption of the Westland license build of the Apache Longbow see’s the Apache AH-1 introduced to the game.
The Longbow radar is basically a “scout” helicopter that has been juiced up. It prevents ambushes within 16” (concealed or not), removes gone-to-ground from teams in the same bubble and also enables the helicopter to stay gone to ground, even when firing, reflecting that only the radar is above the tree-line. Sadly, downloading all the target data from the radar and spanking out all eight MMW Hellfires (stat-wise similar to the laser guided ones already in game) Macross style on one salvo is not on the cards.
Also, the AH1 Apache gets the CRV7 but stat wise this is the same as the Hydra 70mm on the US one, despite it being vastly superior in performance IRL and already being in the game on the Kiwi’s A-4’s with a stat line closer to the Gazelle’s SNEB!
I think the Apache is very pricey in points. You can get a flight of four Gazelles and a flight of four Lynx HELARM with TOW2 for more-or-less the same points! They do much the same job between the two platforms. The Apache is vastly more survivable (“don’t be hit” then “don’t be penetrated”) but the consecutive miracles of an Igla taking down an Apache do happen (ask Mike).
The anti-air boxes also get some love. The Marksman (ugh…) box remains unchanged, but both the Blowpipe and Tracked Rapier get some friends. Spartan Blowpipe is joined by Spartan Starstreak. The High Velocity Missile is a laser beam rider that launches three tungsten darts with a small explosive payload (though I’m not sure that should make it count as “HEAT”) and absolutely shreds helicopters and other aircraft. In-game it benefits from a great range and higher rate of fire (which could reflect HVM’s vastly shorter engagement cycle compared to Blowpipe but also makes me wonder if the original intent was to do the Stormer HVM which had a turreted system with more ready rounds).
In keeping with the Falklands theme, Tracked Rapier is joined by towed Rapier. The basic missile range and firepower remain the same, but RoF drops to 2 and the system lacks a night-fight capability and obviously isn’t armoured. It is cheaper and can hit in an assault though…
The final support to note is a new box on the diagram, an anti-tank box! This box provides either a FV432 Swingfire ATGW Troop or the more nimble CVR(T) equivalent, the Striker. Quite handy for bolstering the already impressive ATGW output of a British infantry force!
Between the pages
Presentation wise we get a new cover putting the Challenger 2, SA80 equipped infantry and, given the other two are blazing away, a Chinook that is likely about to consider its life choices…
Oh, a Chinook? Why’s that in? I already said everything with helicopters is carried by a Lynx, right?
Well, the Air Assault rules and Air Assault mission from Red Dawn are back! We don’t get a full repeat of the other nations’s rules, but we do get clarification that the Lynx Air Mobile, Commandos and Paratroop company (though only the latter actually has the “Airborne” keyword which feels like an oversight…) can launch Air Assaults, plus which units can do it. Also, we can replace the Lynx we have purchased to carry said units with a single Chinook (for each platoon, not for whole force Bravo November style) and can also add a Chinook a gun to the towed 105mm batteries, for a small cost. Oddly the CVR(T) can neither be air-dropped or underslung, despite being very much capable of both!
Elsewhere, the double spread covering Operation Granby is joined by one covering Operation Corporate, the recapturing of the Falklands. This section, written by Breakthrough Assault’s own Mark Goddard, also has a link to the Argentine forces! More on those in the future but the catalog section does list (though not show in photos other than the rifle platoon) the upcoming release for our South American friends.
Despite all the kit appearing in the book, neither Herrick or Telic get a spread or even a mention. “Too soon”, I suspect (or, cynically, we only cover the successful campaigns…)
The scenarios from the last edition of the book are also retained. One day I may even play them…
Conclusions
So, how do we feel about this book? I’m generally positive about it.
Obviously timeline creep is something I have stated an opinion on in the past but, ultimately, I have decided to make peace with it and keep the barn games in period whilst embracing it for tournament play. We are all adults and can choose our fun accordingly. The points cost of stuff like Challenger 2 and Apache will likely prevent them overpowering the game, though not many nations can really address the Challenger 2 from the front and even close assault with RPG-7VR is no longer a real solution.
I do like the additions for the Falklands era kit, even if the Paras and Marines feel a little cheap for how good they are. Gazelle and towed guns/missiles are all neat additions that really fit the 1980’s game and, I feel, just about justify the rebuy (plus the access to the Forces entries!). I’d say minor criticisms here is the lack of a Berlin Brigade list (Trucked infantry, FV432 with Fox turrets and Wombats!) and the lack of an ability to take FV432 out of the “mech” platoons to suit the other forces in the Falklands like the Guards. Gurkhas feel like they should use the para stats (hit on 2+ with a knife!)
Whilst I’m sure we will see a steady move to more late 90’s/2000s kit (Apache Longbow for the US and, let’s face it, the Leopard 2A5 ships with a long barrel 120mm for a reason…) I do feel that stuff like “Scout Helicopter” and more towed guns (the dismounted 81mm, 105mm L118 and FH70 all enjoy a lot of export success) can fit a lot of 1980’s units (Kiowas!).
I certainly would prefer to see more nations added to 1985 than the current core revisited for 1999. We have a whole southern front to open up, plus other continents to look at and expand (The America’s now have a second non-NATO nation after all…). But, if that is the direction, then the Warsaw Pact needs some love to keep up. RPG-29 (scored a penetrating hit, though not disabling, hit on a Challenger 2, after all), KA-50, T-90 (T-90M may be a stretch but…) BTR-80. There’s lots of stuff that fits the early 90s before we even get to the late 90s!
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