Bradleys Hold The Line?

With Nick Azzaro (and Brandon and Lonnie)

The stage was set for a confrontation outside a small town. The US forces had occupied the town prior and were dead set on defending it from the Soviet interlopers. The buildings would provide cover for the Americans as the hills and valleys outside the town would help mask the Soviet advance. As the sun rose over the small town, shots rang out.

Brandon’s American list hinged on the new Bradley. The appeal is that for a relatively low points cost, he can bring to bear a large amount of firepower in the form of their TOW-2 missiles. Even in this smaller 50 points game, Brandon was able to bring eleven M2 Bradleys, across three platoons in addition to his Combat Team HQ, using the M2 Bradley Mech Combat Team formation. He fleshed out the rest of his list with three MLRS Rocket Launcher Batteries and four HMMWVs with Stinger AA missiles.

Lonnie brought the Red Thunder with a Soviet list utilizing the T-72 Tank Battalion. As such, he had his Battalion HQ T-72 accompanied by two additional companies of four T-72s each. He rounded out his forces with a small BMP-1 Motor Rifle Company and two MI-24 Hinds.

The scenario would see Brandon defending the small town from Lonnie’s Soviets in a scenario of their own devising. (With a late game surprise element.) Brandon deployed his Bradleys in a defensive perimeter around the edge of the town protecting his more vulnerable HMMWVs and Rocket Batteries in the interior, along with his HQ Bradley. Lonnie’s deployment was mostly along the long board edge opposite from Brandon’s perimeter as his plan was to overwhelm Brandon’s deadly yet somewhat softer Bradleys with the firepower from his T-72s. His Hinds would start off the board and his BMPs, filled with eager Soviets, would begin further back in his line. However, with Brandon winning first turn, this plan was not to be.

Brandon kicked the game off with a bang. Having sufficient fields of fire, he would strike first and hope to cripple any counter attack before it could form. All his Bradleys opened fire with their TOW-2 missiles to great effect. His Bradleys closest to the T-72s blasted three of the Soviet tanks off the table with the last remaining fleeing instead of facing another barrage. Brandon’s middle platoon of Bradleys only had line of sight on the T-72 command tank and made short work of it as well. The last platoon of Bradleys had the least amount of luck only being able to destroy a single T-72 leaving three of his comrades in the hunt. The American luck would continue to fizzle out as the MLRS batteries were unable to range in on the distant BMPs. However, it was a bloody and eventful turn seeing the Americans gain a strong early advantage that the Soviets would have to work to surmount the rest of the game.

Having taken a browbeating in the American turn, the Soviets were looking to get some modicum of revenge. But first they had to shore up their defenses. Lonnie disembarked his infantry from his BMPs into the cover of a shallow ravine and then shuffled the BMPs out of sight for their own protection. The remaining three T-72s would then advance with the cover of some escarpments on their right. Finally, the Reds would hope to change their fortunes with the arrival of the Hinds. The Hinds went straight to their 57mm UB-32 rocket launchers and looked to drop a salvo on a large portion of Brandon’s Bradleys. The Bradleys would fire their Bushmaster guns in vain prior to the barrage. However, it wouldn’t matter in the end as the Soviets failed their firepower rolls and left the Bradleys unharmed. The T-72s would have slightly more luck firing downrange at the central Bradleys and destroying one. But this was not the counter punch the Soviets had hoped for. They would now need to survive another turn of American shooting.

The American turn began with the HQ tank moving into firing range of the Hinds and the HMMWVs trying to get a better angle on them as well. Both the HQ tanks and the HMMWVs fired at the Hinds to no effect. The Bradley platoon nearest to the Hinds unleashed their Bushmaster guns at full tilt and managed to down one of the menacing flying tanks, however. The Bradleys on the far edge continued their punishing barrage on the T-72s. But due to some unfortunate dice, only one T-72 bailed out and the remaining two were unscathed. The rocket batteries tried to finish off the T-72s but failed in this task. The Soviets were down but they were not out and it was again their turn.

The crew of the T-72 remounted and the company advanced. The infantry and now-empty BMPs also closed the distance. The single remaining Hind moved right into the thick of the American defense in hope of punishing some of the softer interior targets. Its plan was thwarted however; as it was about to fire, the unit of Bradleys that had fired out of turn before turned their sights on it. It was blown out of the sky before it had a chance to make a difference. The T-72s, in a desperate bid for revenge, fire on the Bradleys on the far end and manage to destroy one, thus securing a small victory in an otherwise troubled advance. But it was about to get more troubling for the Reds.

The third turn began with the combined fire from two of the Bradley platoons finishing off the remaining T-72s while the third platoon moved onto the offensive. The MLRS rocket batteries fired on the infantry but they proved to be too dug in to be removed easily. So the turn moved to the Soviets who had their small BMP motor rifle company facing down a nearly unscathed American force.

Lonnie began his turn by advancing his Soviet infantry taking advantage of the cover afforded to him by his own destroyed tanks. The BMPs unleashed their Sagger missiles on the center group of Bradleys and managed to secure another kill. The Soviets were on the ropes, but they intended to bleed the Americans if they could. However, numbers were against them and it seemed that the days may be numbered for these comrades.

The fourth American turn would prove less bloody purely because there were hardly any targets left to destroy. The Bradleys that had dealt with the Hinds moved out of sight beyond the escarpments and the others on the far side destroyed one of the remaining rogue BMPs. The MLRS fired on the BMPs as well but only managed to spook them. The turn shifted to the Soviets, though the writing was on the wall.

In a last defiant effort, the infantry fired off their RPGs over the escarpment at the cost of a single Bradley and the BMPs tried and failed to destroy another. This ended up being the last turn as Lonnie conceded a gentlemen’s victory to Brandon instead of facing down a hail of TOW-2 missiles.

In the end, the Bradleys proficiency for destruction in the first turn left Lonnie’s Soviets an insurmountable climb. The constant pressure the Bradleys provided just wouldn’t let the Soviet advance get enough steam to crack the perimeter. Truly, the Bradley has demonstrated its efficiency and may be a contender for most aggravating transport to face, up there with the BMP. It was most definitely on the Bradley’s back that Brandon’s American victory was earned.

Happy 4th of July.

~Nick

Historically Plausible…

with Victor Pesch

WWIII: American has been on my desk for a while, and I’d seen the awesome new Bradley sprue around the office, but with plenty of other projects to work on, I didn’t think I’d be starting another army.

Then Tuesday rolled around, Chris reminded me the launch was this weekend, and I found myself flipping through the book and hunting for sprues!

I decided on an M3 Bradley Armored Cavalry Troop.

My first hobby step as always is to hunt through google and books for reference images, and maybe something interesting I can do. I’m doing Gulf War British, so I was pretty set on doing something green.

Scale modellers are also good inspiration. The below examples are M1A2’s, but they capture the look I want.

What stood out to me was desert yellow vehicles with forest green replacement parts.

So I’ve decided to apply the same logic to forces fighting in Europe. It’s 1991, the first Gulf War has just ended, but the Soviets are still causing problems along Iron Curtain. Equipment and replacement parts that were destined for the desert are now being shipped hastily to a more lush climate. There are some picture of this, but it’s usually on later M1A2 tanks.

Being a Cavalry force, I took some liberties and added MG shields usually found on Vietnam ACAV M113’s. I have a few spare from building VADs.

Combat Identification Panels (CIP) were developed after the Gulf War, so again I’m using a bit of “what-if” logic and assuming they got these ready for the theoretical fighting in Europe.

To make these, I used some plasticard sheets (1mm spaced Clapboard, and 0.5 thick plain). The cutting was fiddly, but with a sharp knife and plastic glue it was surprisingly quick and easy.

The painting was pretty straight forward, as I’m aiming to get the army done daily quick.

Here’s the main colours:

FOREST GREEN
– Tamiya Field Grey (Airbrush)
– Army Painter Army Green dry brush
– Citadel Biel Tan Green shade
– Citadel Nuln Oil recess shade
– Army Painter Army Green dry brush

DESERT YELLOW
– Vallejo Green Ochre
– Vallejo Buff dry brush
– Vallejo Pale sand dry brush

To continue the cavalry theme, I used some decals from the Vietnam M113 kit, and also added some matching penants on the aerials, made with folded paper, PVA glue, and paint.

Overall it’s a pretty quick and rough paint job, but with hopefully some interesting elements to make the army stand out. Now I’m looking forward to seeing this scheme on Bradleys, Humvees, and the rest of the support vehicles. I’ll look into adding stowage at a later date to the whole force.

Not everyone will love this paint job, but I think one of the great things about WWIII: Team Yankee is the “what-if” nature of it. It allows for some cool modelling opportunities.

It may not be historically accurate, but lets call it “historically plausible”.

– Victor

Big Games For Big Gamers

with Chris Townley

A year ago, the Big Four (of Late War) were driving back from Panzerschreck 2019, where we had spent the weekend playing 150 point doubles games of Team Yankee. Like any post event road trip, we found ourselves talking about two things:

  1. The event – what were the games like, did you see that army, did you play well, and so on, and,
  2. What are we painting next…

We found ourselves discussing the future (now the present) of World War III: Team Yankee and the effect that T-80, M1A1HC, Leopard 2A5 and Challenger tanks were going to have on army building. Suddenly you can roll out tanks costing as much as 18 points each that are essentially an army in their own right once you put a full-strength platoon on the table.

This led us to the next logical point in the discussion, we wanted to play with a company of tanks and supporting equipment, not a platoon. For Flames Of War players it is one of the things that the three periods (Early, Mid and Late) solve. In Mid War a Panther tank is the king of the battlefield, but I can realistically only fit a few in the average force, but roll over to Late War and there are much nastier cats, so I can field an (understrength) company in 100 points.

Returning back to World War III: Team Yankee and there is no way to sandwich 8-10 Abrams, a platoon of infantry in Bradleys, some artillery and Apaches in 100 points without making some serious compromises and at the end of the day we wanted to play with the models we wanted to play with.

This was when we started discussing Big Games For Big Gamers – the idea of going up to 150-200 points but with a little peer based pressure on what was a “Big Games” army. Now you have to remember that I had just finished a weekend of pushing round 35 points of Czechoslovakians that still had 48 models and I wanted something a little faster to game with. With this in mind we agreed to keep our Black Platoon selections “points heavy” – so no army building with Czechoslovakian T-55 Tank Battalions (31 tanks for 40 points) but instead focusing on T-64s and T-80s, M1A1s, Leopard 2s, Merkavas and Challengers. Our support units could be whatever we wanted, but once again this was a chance to play with full strength batteries of M109s, adding in minelet and bomblet, rather than focusing on maximising the value of every last point.

I am the last person to tell you that building a horde of anything in World War III: Team Yankee is wrong. I still have a fantasy to build an Iranian force with a pile of infantry, Chieftains and M60s, and my Czechoslovakians still have another 20-30 T-55s and T-72s to paint, not to mention the extra supporting units like RM-70s and Hinds. Instead it was about creating an environment where we could play games that we thought would be fun, not too asymmetric (6 tanks vs 60), and let us put all of our cool toys on the table.

The focus of this is having fun, so I’d encourage you to talk to your gaming group about trying something similar. You don’t need a hard and fast set of dos and don’ts, just do what feels right and start off with a company of whatever tank you have been wanting to field, but couldn’t do in a 100 points, and then add in the other stuff to make it an interesting force.

You can find a link to my “Big Games For Big Gamers” Eagle Troop Force here…

As you can see it is not exactly loaded with options, but other than some Chaparral SAM Launchers, I have everything that I want, and once I get this pile painted I can start substituting out some of the M3 Bradley Scout Sections for a few more support units like Chaparrals, Humvees, VADS or infantry.

~Chris

WWIII: American Starter Force and Where To Next!

With John Lee

With the launch of the WW3 American, I thought I would take a look at how could a new player or someone on a budget, get a force on the table that would be competitive or at least hold its own with such iconic equipment as the Abrams, Bradley and Apache helicopter.  For the new player, it opens the door to playing WW3 without needing to buy, assemble or paint too much and get into playing the game quicker.

So, if we look at what we get in the excellent value starter set, that might help decide what formation to run.  The starter set contains the following:

  • Complete A5 Rulebook
  • American “Start Here” booklet
  • 5 x Abrams Tanks
  • 4 x Bradley IFVs
  • 3 x M109 155mm Self Propelled Guns
  • 4 x HMMWV
  • 2 x AH-64 Apache Helicopters with rare earth magnets and flight stands
  • 4 x Decal Sheets
  • 14 x Unit Cards

The bonus here is that the rulebook is included in the box – so the new player makes a saving right away.  Now if we look at what formations are in the WW3: American book, we can see what we can maximize from what we get in the starter box.  The best formation to maximize this is the M3 Bradley Armored Cavalry Troop.  Let us look at what units comprise this formation:

  • 1 HQ (Either M3 Bradley, M1 Abrams, M1A1 Abrams)
  • 2-6 M3 Bradley Scout Section
  • 1-3 Tank Platoon (M1 Abrams or M1A1 Abrams)
  • 0-1 M106 Cavalry Mortar Platoon
  • 0-1 M109 Field Artillery Battery
  • 0-1 Attack Helicopter Platoon (AH-64 Apache or AH-1 Cobra)
  • 0-1 UH-1 Huey Rifle Platoon

I like this formation a lot – combined arms – even includes helicopters!  Looking at the formation and what we get in the starter box, we can use everything for the formation except for the Humvees.  That is an amazing start.  I do have a plan for the Humvees though as we explore later in the support part of building two lists – one at the standard 100pts and one at the 2020 US 120pts (exactly the same list but using our smarts to change out the type of Abrams between the two).

OK – lets build a rounded out 120pt list to start with.

The UH-1 Huey’s are optional as you will only really use them if you plan to transport the infantry across from one side of the board to the other – so is a consideration for not purchasing right away.

Adding in the AA options in the support section you now have used the Humvees from the starter box.  To run the list at 100pts just run the M1A1 Abrams as IPM1 Abrams.  5pts less each and with four in the formation equals 20pts.  Done.  You can use the M1A1s to represent IPM1s and just let your opponent know – should not be a problem.

Looking at the composition of the force we have several units that are multi or dual role.  M3 Bradley’s can take out helicopters, light vehicles, infantry with its Bushmaster 25mm AT8, and tanks with its AT23 missile and can spearhead and has scout!  M247 Sergeant York can take on aircraft and light vehicles, infantry with its ROF5/4 AT7 40mm gun.  The apache is a beast with its AT25 hellfire missiles, ROF 6/3 AT8 30mm chain gun and is hard to shoot down.  Two artillery options to dig out infantry.  M1A1 or IPM1 Abrams to duke it out with other tanks and/or assaults.

With reserves at 48pts for 120pt army you would put the M1A1 Abrams platoon and either the M109 Artillery Battery, UH-1 Huey Rifle Platoon or M247 Sergeant York AA Platoon depending on the mission. For the 100pt army probably the IPM1 Abrams and AH-64 Apaches.

To buy this army you need to only purchase the following for under $300:

1 x TUSAB04 Starter Box 100
1 x TUBX03 M113 Platoon 36
1 x TUBX10 M247 Sergeant York AA Platoon 54
1 x TUBX13 Rifle Platoon 30
1 x TUBX21 AH-64 Apache Helicopter 35
1 x WW3-03 World War III: American Book 20
Total 275

An easy option and versatile option to get into WW3 that is great on the budget and gives you the most bang for your buck starting a new force.  Its also easy from here to expand on what you have already to play other formations.  Enjoy!

~John

Eagle Troop Rides Again

With Chris Townley

Like many gamers I found the Battle of 73 Easting to be a very interesting, if rather one-sided affair, almost an analogy for the entire Desert Storm operation. It reiterated the concept of violence of action and the unrestricted use of speed, strength, surprise, and aggression to achieve total dominance against your enemy.

The battle itself has been covered in a variety of places, but for an interesting read about not just the day in question, but also the men involved I can recommend The Fires of Babylon: Eagle Troop and the Battle of 73 Easting.

The release of WWIII: American finally gives me the chance to take Captain McMaster and Eagle Troop, and put it on the tabletop. Plus, it gives me a great reason to build and paint some Bradleys!

The Army List:

Click on the image for a bigger version

As you can see, I have managed to cram in an entire Armoured Cavalry Troop, with some supporting elements in to only 200 points…

Next step is the building and painting. If you keep an eye on the Big Four Of Late War Instagram account  you may have seen Victor and I starting to build our armies, as well as working on some test models to figure out how we are going to paint them.

I’ve decided to copy Evan’s method, which you may have seen in our Facebook Groups, which involves airbrushing the model Buff, then some panel fading with a Buff/White mix (in my test model this has not really shown up well so may need some work), then apply a filter over the whole model, pin wash, and finally give the model an overall drybrush with Iraqi Sand (and/or Pale Sand… to be confirmed after more testing). Finally, I’ll add some stowage and decals to give the model a slightly less “one colour” look.

As you can see from the real world photo below, and my initial test model the sand colour is fairly pale, but once I add some stowage items painted in Woodland, it should perk up the model. Unfortunately (for me) the troopers of Eagle Troop disposed of their European green camo nets as soon as they could so you won’t be seeing any of those on my models. Likewise, their vehicles were freshly painted not long after their arrival in Saudi Arabia so no funky looking green bits where panels or trackguards have been replaced.

We’ve already started discussing the next event on the New Zealand gaming calendar (FlamesCon) in October and it is very tempting to knuckle down and get enough of the army completed so I can take it along. Lets see how that works out….

~Chris

Chocolate Chip US Infantry

With Evan Allen

With the timeline for World War III: Team Yankee expanding out somewhat I decided to paint my US forces in a Desert Storm type paint scheme instead of adding to my existing Euro force.  After some research that meant the infantry would have to be in Desert “Chocolate Chip” uniforms but with Woodland pattern body armour. All the paint I used is from the Vallejo model colours range.

European Uniforms
I’d already painted two platoons of US infantry in Woodland pattern for my Euro US force so I just copied that again for their body armour jackets. I also copied the same colours for all the web gear and weapons, Russian Uniform (924) on the web gear and pouches, black for the M16s and Olive Drab (887) for the LAWs etc.

The base colour I used was a quite bright USA Uniform (922), the effect darkens up when the rest of the camouflage scheme is done so the extra brightness to start off with works well here I think. Next I added large blotches of Beige Brown (875). Finally, I painted thin strips of Black and Dark Sand (847), I try to do these in “Y” or “V” type shapes. One thing I also do is think about where the clothing seams are and stop blotches of the brown at those lines. Also resist the temptation to add too much at the beginning, less is definitely more here!

Chocolate Chip
After a black undercoat I start off with base colours for the uniform (Dark Sand 847), body armour (USA Uniform 922) and the webbing and pouches (Russian Uniform 924). I block paint in the three colours leaving thin black lines around the clothing and equipment, sometimes I rush this and have to go back later and re-do some of the black lining if I’ve covered too much or want to tidy up. I also use the Russian Uniform on the hands to represent the gloves commonly worn as well.

The next step is to add cloud like blotches of Beige Brown (875) on both the uniform and the body armour. Don’t go too far, try and leave plenty of the original colours and remember those seams and joints.

Now we get down to the trickiest part, the dots and stripes! Using a #00 sized brush I add dots to the uniform equally on the sand and brown portions, again don’t add too many as it’s all too easy to fill up the space and loose the overall effect – plus it takes longer the more dots you do!

Once you’re happy with the dots add the stripes on the body armour portion of the figure. I try and use “Y” or “V” shaped strips running on the edge of the brown to green edges. This can also be a good time to do any edge or joint tidying up with the black paint out and a fine brush in hand.

Continuing with the dot theme I go to the white dots next. They show up best against the beige brown blotches but I still put a few on the sand areas as well. I try to sometimes superimpose the white against some of the black dots for some extra colour pop.

Finally, for the body armour I go back to the Dark Sand colour and add the same type of stripes I did previously with the black. This time I try and cross over the black stripes where possible to get more of a colour pop again.

Once I’m happy with that I finish off by adding the face flesh colour, paint any equipment like LAW or Dragons etc in Olive Drab (887) with some fine yellow lines added for the instructions text and finish off by adding a dry brush over just the weapons, gloves and web gear/pouches with Deck Tan (986) to bring out the detail again separate from the uniform and body armour.

Then before they’re game ready with the desert basing of your choice. I use Acrylic house paint test pot brown mixed with Vallejo pumice gel followed by highlight drybrush with Vallejo Dark Sand.

Black Hawk Down – A Rescue Mission

The story of “Black Hawk Down” has become ingrained in popular culture thanks in part to the book by Mark Bowden, and certainly thanks to the movie by Ridley Scott. If you haven’t heard the story you can get the short version on Wikipedia. The turning point is when one of the supporting helicopters is shot down and suddenly the US forces loose the initiative and the ability to pick their fights. Chris Allen has taken the situation and turned it in to a mission that you can try out at home.

Click here to download the Black Hawk Down- Rescue Mission PDF here (Right Click, Save As)