World War 3

Gentlemen, first to Moscow gets the prize

So, in a change to my scheduled game of Armada, I ended up playing the new game from Battlefront Miniatures, the creators of Flames of War, Team Yankee. This game is based on a book by Harold Coyle, which is all about, as you can guess by the post title, World War 3.

I played a game against Terry, who is the owner of all the toys on the table. I was given a quick overview of the rules, and then we threw ourselves into the game. We played a straight forward scenario, drive forward and capture an objective, before the enemy. We were both using Americans.

Winning the role off, I chose to be the attacker and advanced slowly forwards. On my left flank, one of my M1 Abrams took a pot shot at an opposing M1. My dice roll, which was not to last, was good and penetrated the tank. However, my dice rolls deserted me at this point and I was only to shake the crew from the tank.

Hello Mr M106

As this was an impromptu game, I can use this point to give my excuse for all of the bad dice rolling. I was using someone else's dice, in this case, Jim's. This failure to destroy terry's tank was a theme that would continue for the rest of the game. I still blame the dice, not my rolling technique. Anyway, back to the game.

Terry moved forwards and his Cobra attack helicopters came in on the side, near my unit of M106's,  and wiped out one of my vehicles.

Turn two arrived and with the sound of engines a pair of warthogs came swooping in, firing Gatling cannon shots left right causing serious damage on a pair of M113. I was also able to take out the M1 that I had shot in the previous turn and his mate, seeing the gaping ruin of the tank, ran for it.

It was obligatory to make engine sounds

Terry responded in time, and I soon found the M1's and my Commander, that I had been advancing through the middle of the battlefield, were caught in a rain of bullets. A storm that they didn't last very long in. On a more positive side, Terry's helicopters were unable to destroy any more vehicles at the rear of the table. However, unseen by me, one of his M1's slipped around the side and was near the objective.

Turn 3, and the Warthogs came flying back onto the table and launched a couple of missiles into Terry's mechanised platoon, causing a lot of damage, or so we thought. Terry had two anti-aircraft on the board, and we had forgotten to use them. We back-tracked, and he let rip, causing my two aircraft to rain down shrapnel, instead of firey death.

My tanks trying to make a last minute dash
for the objective. It failed.

As a condolence, my two Abram's on the left flank made a mad dash for the objective, if I could hold out for two more turns, I could snatch victory from the hands of defeat. Sadly, in Terry's turn three, my remaining units were systematically targeted and destroyed. The game was over, and Terry was the victor.

So, did I enjoy this game. Yes, yes I did. The game mechanics are nice and simple, and I enjoyed having stat cards for each of my units. I had a lot of fun playing it, but I'm not rushing out to get myself an army. At the moment, there are only two forces, US and Soviets. I believe that Brits and Germans may be added in the not so distant future.

However, for the moment, I can say no to collecting my own forces. If I were to get into some cold war wargaming, I would be looking for something in the sixties, using the 7tv rules from Crooked Dice studios, which I hope to pick up later this year. I watched the Man from U.N.C.L.E. film over Christmas and that inspired my wargaming juices more than this.

It doesn't mean I won't play it again in the future. I'll just use my own dice next time.