World War III: Team Yankee Red Dawn - What is a "Wolverine"?

• Geplaatst op 8 November 2022
• Door Simon Thurtle
• Geplaatst in 15mm, Battlefront, Preview, Review, Soviet, Team Yankee, USA, World war III: Team Yankee
• 2

We all knew it was coming, and now it’s just around the corner! Red Dawn is the latest expansion from Battlefront for their World war III: Team Yankee, 15mm game.

Team Yankee Red Dawn - What is a "Wolverine"?

We all knew it was coming, and now it’s just around the corner! Red Dawn is the latest expansion from Battlefront for their World war III: Team Yankee, 15mm game.

Thanks to the team at Battlefront for dropping us over an early copy of the new book so we could give you this preview before it even hits the shelf!

Now, let’s get one thing out of the way, if you’re expecting a big US update, you’re not remembering the 1984 movie that this book is inspired by very well. Because, although this book does include a small set of US militia units, this is unmistakeably a Soviet book.

What’s in the book…

Four Soviet formations plus support, four Cuban formations plus support and a single American formation. In addition, there’s rules for airborne reserves and parachute deployment… including vehicles.

There’s also a wealth of new toys, including something which Soviet players have rarely seen before… hit on 4+!

…and, as you’d expect, a new starter force, in the form of the BMD Air Assault Battalion, but more on that in a minute:

The new ground toys

Let’s start by looking at our pick of the new ground units in the book, after all, we all love new toys, don’t we?

Air Assault Platoon

There are two formations based around Air Assault Platoons, each with some great flavour. The first is the BMD Air Assault Battalion. As the name implies, this formation is based around an paratroopers backed up by Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFVs).

The Infantry comes armed with AK-74s and an RPG-18, then the option to add in RPG-7’s (which can be upgraded to RPG-7VR for an extra punch), a PKM LMG with a BTR-D and/ or a AGS-17 grenade launcher team with another BTR-D… there’s a lot of options with these guys!

In this formation, the infantry is hit on 3+, have 3+ courage, morale, rally and counterattack with a 4+ skill and assault.

These guys also show up in the Afgantsy BMD Air Assault Company formation as well, loadout options remain the same, but the unit size has dropped to a maximum of 3 teams per platoon for more points than for 4 teams in the previous formation.

And why, we hear you ask?

Well, that much desired 4+ to hit and 3+ on all other stats. These guys are tougher and more reliable than their cheaper counter parts.

BMD-1 or BMD-2 Company
So, what do your new infantry ride around in? The BMD-1 or 2. These IFVs come with front armour 2, 1 on the side and back. They’re pretty fast with 10” tactical move up to 36” on road dash, with a 4+ cross check. Both have IR, amphibious, and the parachute skill (more on that in a minute). The hit-on value of these units matches the formation, so you can get some hit on 4+ IFVs for the Soviets!

But it’s in the weaponry that they vary.

The BMD-1 is suited for lighter armoured ground targets with a 73mm gun with AT 12 and ROF 1, an AT-3 Sagger missile which has AT 19 and a 3 shot 7.62mm machine gun for close range defence.

But comparison, the BMD-2 is a little nastier, packing a 30mm gun with AT 10 but which has ROF 3 when halted and can engage helicopters. It also brings a short-ranged AT-5 Spandrel missile with AT 21 which can put a dent in a lot of different things! Finally, it has the same 7.62mm MG if anything light gets too close.

BM-37 Mortar Platoon

Both infantry formations can add in mortar platoons to give some close support, including smoke. Their 56” range does mean that they can get on the table and spend the game popping out headaches without repositioning too much, which is nice.

Plus, they come with BTR-D IFVs included in their points…

BTR-xD family

The standard BTR-D guy is the same as the other BTRs in stats and setup, but again the weapons differ. This time, you get a AGS017 grenade MG to rain down AT6 mischief to anyone silly enough to get close.

You’ll also find the BTR-RD anti-tank system, with an AT 21 missile.

…and the BTR-ZD 23mm AA platoon which loses all its armour but gains a halted ROF 5 AT6 dedicated AA gun.

ASU-85 Assault Gun Company

If you want to add some ranged punch to your airborne adventures, then the ASU-85 is worth a look. With front armour of 5, it’s not the toughest, and speed matching the BTR is fine. The 85mm main gun offers AT 14, 32” range and 2 shots halted. But, as with the BTR, these can be parachuted in to where they are most inconvenient.

2S9 Nona-S SP Mortar Battery

Essentially, the Nona-S is a BMD with an 120mm gun-mortar on top. Simple as that. With a 64” artillery bombardment with AT 4 and smoke bombardment, these guys are a great support unit.

T-64BV Tank Company

Although not a new unit, these guys have been buffed up with the addition of ERA armour. This gives them effective side armour 16 against HEAT weapons, which is worthy addition!

Militia Group (US)

Available as formation support, the militia group features the resistance skill which means that you don’t deploy them at the start of the game BUT they’re not held in or counted towards reserves. Instead, in the starting step, you roll for each militia group and on a 5+ deploy them either in no-mans land or the enemy’s deployment zone. They can’t, however, be deployed within 8” of an objective or move on the turn in which they arrive.

Militia are fairly unskilled, as shown by their stats, have a mix of light weapons, plus RPGs and the option to take mortars and pickup trucks.

The trucks also have the option to have one upgraded with a 7.62mm machine gun.

Ride of the Valkyries time?

But it’s not just on the ground that things have changed, one of the biggest changes comes in the airborne rules and units.

These rules are used during Air Assault missions, the details of which are in the book. However, these are the key bits of information you need on this new way to play.

First, a note on the rules. We’ll split these into two, parachuting options and ‘choppers.

For paratroopers and their gear, you will deploy by rolling for the table quarter your troops will arrive in (picking if you roll a 5 or 6), you’ll then place a marker to show where they should land before rolling for drift direction and distance. This distance is going to be between 4”and 12” depending on how much the dice dislike you.

If your units end up in Difficult terrain you can lose troops as they come down, if you land in impassable or close to enemies, your troops will be destroyed outright!

And if you land off the table? Your troops go into reserve.

For helicopters, you may upgrade certain units’ older choppers to a newer, shinier model as follows:

US Army - UH-1 Huey becomes CH-47 Chinook

US Marine Corps - UH-1 Huey becomes CH-46 Sea Knight or CH-53 Sea Stallion
British Army - Lynx helicopters becomes CH-47 Chinook

West German - UH-1 Huey becomes CH-53 Sea Stallion

For the Soviet forces, it’s a little more detailed. The main formations in this book may add in the MI-8 Hip for +1 point per helicopter for units including:

BMD-1 or BMD-2 Air Assault Company,

BM-37 82mm Mortar Platoon,

VDV Afgantsy BMD Air Assault Platoon,

VDV Afgantsy BM-37 82mm Mortar Platoon, or

Afgantsy Air Assault Company

There are also options for Warsaw PACT and the Cuban forces as well.

And how can you use these sparkly new rules? Well, with some exciting new helicopters, of course!

CH-46 Sea Knight

CH-53 Sea Stallion

CH-47 Chinook

MI-8 Hip

Each of these will be available as a miniature or you can pick up the Airborne Assault Mission Pack which contains the rules, stats and carboard markers to represent each of the helicopters, here

Which units and vehicles can be airborne deployed by faction. With the Soviets, we’ve covered many of them here, but with other factions our favourites include the US Army having the option to drop in M551 Sheridan Tank Platoons and the West Germans being able to put Wiesels in the Sea Stallion!

And what new book would be complete without a new army box? For Red Dawn we get the BMD Air Assault Battalion Starter Force which includes:

9x BMD-1 or BMD-2 Transports

9x Assault rifle teams

6x RPG-7 anti-tank team

3x T-64BV Tanks

3x BTR-ZD 23mm AA Vehicles

2x Mi-24 Hind Assault Helicopter Company

1x Red Dawn BMD Objective

1x Exclusive Alternate Command Team

2x Flight Stands

1x Complete A5 Rulebook

1x “Start Here” Booklet

16x Unit Cards

More than enough to give even the most gung-ho Americans a rough time!

So, that’s our preview of the new Team Yankee Red Dawn book and some of the goodness within. Fear note, there’s lots more in the book than this, so head over and pre-order you copy from our store today