Total War! Team Yankee Megagame, Battle Report

I’ve been planning a big game ever since the Total War rules came out, but Team Yankee has suffered a little locally since 40k 8th and Legion launched.  Recently though we had some new blood turn up at the local FLGS thanks to a bit of online networking, so it was finally time to dust off the WW3 models.

Forces

We pulled together 5 players and set up a 12ft x 6ft table for a 225pt battle.

The forces were as follows:

NATO

James – Brits – Mech Formation with heavy Artillery support – 75pts

Paul – Brits – Mech and Chieftain formations – 75pts

Reece – West Germans – Mech formation – 75pts

WARSAW PACT

Lee – East Germans – BTR60 Infantry & T55 formations – 100pts

Dale – Soviets – Infantry and T72 formations – 125pts

Due to the scale of the battle, detailing of the formations has been skipped.

The Mission and Table Setup

We played the Total Victory scenario from the Total War downloadable ruleset from Battlefront, which gives a set of rules for fighting larger battles.  Due to the document being a little older than the latest More Missions, we made a couple of amendments / clarifications which I would recommend to anyone trying the same:

• Reinforcements are not specific as to type, so we went with immediate for both sides.
• For scoring it says you score every turn.  We clarified this with the new More Missions type for objective grabbing, where an objective was scored at the start of your turn if uncontested or at the end of your turn if uncontested at that point and contested at the start of the turn.  Furthermore transports could not contest / hold objectives.
• Although the rules mentioned a time limit, we decided on a 6 turn limit.

Warsaw won the roll-off for attacker so we picked the table edge and then got the objectives down.

We began our strategy discussions.  I, as the East German forces, would occupy and hold objectives 1 and 2 with most of my forces, whilst lending some support to Dale via some T55s and my Air support (6 x Frogfoots).  Dale would take Objective 3 and push for 4 and 6.  We would leave 5 well alone, as it was deep in the NATO table half and centre table so could be reinforced by all three NATO players easily.

Forces Setup

The Warsaw Pact deployed as discussed above.

 

 

 

NATO placed down rather unexpectedly.  Reece and Paul set up mostly on their left / our right to push on Objective 1 and secure Objective 5.  James was left alone to hold Objective 6 and push for Objective 4.

 

Turn 1 – Warsaw Pact

As planned, the East Germans pushed into the village on the left and secured Objective 1, setting up defensively to avoid line of sight with NATO units where possible.  The Spandrels went for some cheeky shots and succeeded in destroying a single Brit Mech transport.

On the centre and right, the Soviets began their big push.  T72s laid down fire on the limited NATO units holding Objective 5 and scored two kills; not enough to rout the unit.

 

Turn 1 – NATO

On the left, James’ Brits pushed hard for Objective 4 and begin punishing the approaching T72s and BMPs.

On the centre and right, the Brits and West Germans advanced more cautiously.  The EG Spandrels were all but eradicated by Chieftain and Milan fire, and the troops occupying Objective 1 were pinned, albeit unharmed, by massed 20cm fire from the Luch and Marder.  Reece did, however, drop a double minefield on a large cluster of my vehicles.

 

Turn 1 – Scores

Warsaw Pact – 2 (Objectives 2 & 3)

NATO – 2 (objectives 5 & 6)

 

Turn 2 – Warsaw Pact

With 3 objectives now occupied, and NATO not yet holding a 3rd, we were likely going to start nudging ahead on points.  On the left it was heads down time, whilst on the right Dale pushed further towards Objectives 4 & 6.

The T55s were able to destroy a single Marder and bail a Luch on the left, while remaining in a strong position to hold.

On the right, East German Frogfoots screamed towards James’ vulnerable Mech Platoon with the plan for Dale to remove some of the Rapiers.  As it was, the Rapiers were unharmed and the Frogfoots were waved off.

Due to canny positioning by James, and the lie of the land, Dale was unable to put much damage on the Brits on our right, and we had contested no new objectives.

Turn 2 – NATO

James was able to procure some reserves, and in a bold move brought his Artillery on and went straight for direct fire on the BMP company.  His infantry pushed up onto Objective 4 whilst the rest of his forces brought ruin on the Soviet forces.

In the centre, Pauls’  Chieftains and infantry began to push down the centre of the board and lay fire onto Objective 2.

On the right, Reece advanced cautiously and inflicted minor damage.

Turn 2 – Scores

Warsaw Pact – 5 (Objectives 1, 2 & 3 held)

NATO – 4 (objectives 5 & 6 held)

Turn 3 – Warsaw Pact

On the left I was able to unpin my Infantry.  T55s moved up to firing positions, losing 2twoteams to mines.  My spigots went to work on the enemy Marders.

In the centre we worked to contest Objective 4 and deny James the point.  I took the risk with the Frogfoots and braved AA fire, whilst T55s and Dale’s infantry laid into them also.  A number of the Platoon were killed, but at high cost to my Air support.

Dale slammed everything into destroying the Mortar platoon on Objective 6 but the dice weren’t in our favour and the Platoon held on.

Turn 3 – NATO

On the right, Reece began to push his infantry across the town towards Objective 1, and killed a single T55.  In the centre, the Cheiftain formation continued to push forward and laid fire onto my infantry, backed up by artillery fire that finally began to inflict casualties.  On the left, James solidified his hold on Objective 6 and pushed more infantry towards 4.

Turn 3 – Scores

Warsaw Pact – 8 (Objectives 1, 2 & 3 held)

NATO – 6 (objectives 5 & 6 held)

Turn 4 – Warsaw Pact

On the left my Infantry still wouldn’t unpin, which proved incredibly annoying as I would have had 6 Spigot shots onto Chieftain side armour!  That said, my T55s and RPGs were able to put paid to more Marders.

In the centre I pushed my BTRs closer to Objective 4 while continuing to lay fire into the troops there.  When that failed, Dale tried to assault the Infantry with his T72s and BMPs.  Amazingly none bogged, but the Brits destroyed the T72s on counter attack and the BMPs on approach and thus we were unable to contest it.

On the right we were also unable to push NATO off the objective; the Brits had mashed up and weren’t budging for anyone or anything!

Turn 4 – NATO

On the left, James’ Brits put paid to almost everything the Soviets had thrown at Objective 6 and locked it down hard, whilst also working on Objective 4.

In the centre, Paul’s Chieftains moved forward to capitalize on the EG Infantry that he had weakened with sustained artillery fire.

On the right, Reece’s infantry finally began to move forward, as he realised that mass firepower alone was not going to dig the Infantry company out of the building.

Turn 4 – Scores

Warsaw Pact – 11 (Objectives 1, 2 & 3 held)

NATO – 9 (objectives 4, 5 & 6 held)

Turn 5 – Warsaw Pact

The East German Armour on the left put more hurt on the Marders that were desperately shelling the EG infantry.

In the centre, a large push by T55s and BTRs dislodged James’ platoon from Objective 4, with the last infantry teams running.  This meant the objective would be unclaimed this turn, as the backup platoon that arrived in Turn 4 were still on board their transports.

On the right, Dale’s armour was virtually non-existent now, and between him and my BDRMs we popped a couple more mortar units but were unable to make any impact.

Turn 5 – NATO

Smoke was dropped to protect the Chieftains from flank firing Spigots as they charged for Objective 2.

James re-secured Objective 4 and cleared the BDRMs from Objective 6.

In the village, Reece’s Infantry prepared for a Turn 6 assault on Objective 1.

Turn 5 – Scores

Warsaw Pact – 14 (Objectives 1, 2 & 3 held)

NATO – 12 (objectives 4, 5 & 6 held)

Turn 6 – Warsaw Pact

With objective 1 under serious threat now, I moved my T55s into a blocking manoeuvre.

In the middle, I placed BTRs to contest Objective 4.  All we had to do now was hold out.

Turn 6 – NATO

Reece made his push for Objective 1, but whilst he was able to destroy the T55s in front of the objective, this prevented him from pushing any further.  The objective was held firm by the East Germans.

In the centre, Paul made a desperate push with his chieftains to clear the objective.  However, 2 were destroyed on the approach and Objective 2 was also held.

James made light work of my BTRs contesting Objective 4, resecuring it for NATO.

The Objective 6 cleanup crew made the rounds, cleaning away any vestiges of fight left in the Russian armour.  But at this point, any small NATO victories were only conciliatory.

Turn 6 – Scores

Warsaw Pact – 16 (Objectives 1, 2 & 3 held)

NATO – 15 (objectives 4, 5 & 6 held)

Summary

The Warsaw strategy seemed to pay off, although if there had been 1 more turn we are quite sure that NATO would have either pulled a draw or a win as the Soviet forces were all but shattered.

Overall it was a great game.  The method of scoring VPs every turn meant that every Objective had to be protected and helped to lessen ‘tank park’ occurrences.  The table size was about perfect for the points and players.

We will definitely be running this again, and I think all participants walked away with strategies in their heads to try next time!