Welcome back to Seconds Steps, this time we are looking at the newest starter army for Team Yankee. As a Soviet/Warsaw Pact player I am very excited to dive in with the upcoming Red Dawn book and look at Battlefront’s take on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, now as a fan of the Josh Peck masterpiece I….
I’m sorry one moment I’m getting a call from Lee…
Ok so it turns out there are TWO Red Dawn movies and this book has nothing to do with the DPRK, instead giving us Cubans and the VDV. Maybe one day I’ll get my Team Yankee Korean peninsula book.
How can Patrick Swayze even compare?
So moving along to the contents of the box we get:
- Nine BMD-1 or BMD-2 Transports
- Nine Assault Rifle Teams
- Six RPG-7 Teams
- Three T-64BV Tanks
- Three BTR-ZD 23mm AA Vehicles
- Two MI-24 Hind Helicopters
- The Wonald’s Objective previously only available as a tournament prize
- One Exclusive Alternate command team
So on the surface this is daily comparable to the BMP Battalion box Battlefront put out with the Warsaw Pact book earlier this year but the magic is in the soft stats. The VDV finally gives us Afghansty that has proper transports, support weapons, and a formation chart that isn’t terrible. All while looking great in their snazzy blue berets.
The BMDs are armed just like BMP 1s and 2s the only real difference is that the BMDs only have a side armor of 1 instead of the BMPs 2, add in the ability to airdrop them in certain missions and they’ll fill the same role.
Now the T-64BV is the final nail in the coffin for the Soviet T-72B for a flat 3 point on any size T-64 company you upgrade to FA 18 and SA 10, not to mention the great looking ERA blocks upping the cool factor. This puts the T-64BV at only a single point more than an equal number of T-72Bs taking the extra 4” of tactical movement; this is the best point you can spend in all of Team Yankee.
The BTR-ZD is our cheap in formation AA, with similar stats to a Shilka although with less armor, they give us good anti helicopter fire and plenty of shots to make enemy infantry think twice about moving in the open or dismounting their transports.
The Hinds round out the box, being an old dog to any Soviet/Pact player at this point, but still gives up our high end AT with its AT6/AT9 missiles. So let’s see how the box looks.
| BMD-2 HQ | 2 |
| BMD-2 Small Platoon RPG-7VR upgrade | 10 |
| BMD-2 Small Platoon RPG-7VR upgrade | 10 |
| BTR-ZD x3 | 3 |
| T64BV x3 | 16 |
| Hind x2 (AT9) | 6 |
| Total | 47 |
So even spending the extra points for the RPG-7VR upgrades we don’t even make 50 points. Welcome to being a Soviet player. It does however put us in an interesting position. The infantry and the BMDs can be combined to make a medium sized company; the lack of mandatory PKM machine guns in the company organisation makes this possible. So I’m actually going to say to really beef up this formation we’re going to buy a second army box. I know this is a first for the series and will cost us more than usual. This time we’ll be building to 100 points to keep in line with the Team Yankee World Series.
So after picking up a second army box and upgrading the small companies to medium and stacking up the tanks and helicopters we’re left with three extra BMDs and two extra AK stands. We can’t run more than three BTR-ZDs but luckily the kit also allows us to build the BTR-RD Anti tank platoon. They’re better Spandrels with a BMD’s armor and a machine gun so it can protect itself from infantry.
| BMD-2 HQ | 2 |
| BMD-2 Med Company RPG-7VR Upgrade | 18 |
| BMD-2 Med Company RPG-7VR Upgrade | 18 |
| BTR-ZD x3 | 3 |
| BTR-RD x3 | 3 |
| T64BV x7 | 34 |
| Hind x4 (AT9) | 12 |
| Total | 90 |
So after using two boxes we’re up to 90 points, so let’s dig into the other information support options. We’re lacking smoke and indirect fire so let’s add some Nona SPGs. These fill the Carnation role in a BMP Battalion.
We can also add in the BM-37 man packed mortars so we need a weapon’s platoon blister and a BTR-D kit to give them transports. The mortars have the Mortar Group special rule so each stand counts as two making this unit easier to hide while not having to reroll our hit rolls. This puts us at 98 points so well spend the last two on Songster missiles for the T-64BVs taking us to an easy 100.
| BMD-2 HQ | 2 |
| BMD-2 Med Company RPG-7VR Upgrade | 18 |
| BMD-2 Med Company RPG-7VR Upgrade | 18 |
| BTR-ZD x3 | 3 |
| BTR-RD x3 | 3 |
| Nona x3 | 6 |
| BM-37 mortars x2 | 2 |
| T64BV x6 Songster Missiles | 36 |
| Hind x4 (AT9) | 12 |
| Total | 100 |
So with our list finished let’s take a look at the monetary costs. These are the Battlefront pre-order prices so remember to check your friendly local game store for deals or if you’re in the UK Breakthrough Assaults lovely sponsor, Battlefield Hobbies.
- BMD Air Assault Battalion $130
- BMD Air Assault Battalion $130
- 2S9 Nona-S Mortar Battery $37
- Air Assault Weapons Platoon $24
- BTR-D Transports $37
- Total $358
So we’ve spent more than usual but we used a good amount of the stuff inside the box. Now if you’d excuse me Lee demands I go watch some crappy 80’s movie.
#notmywolverines
Want to see the contents for yourself? Lee recorded an unboxing video!