USMC Rifle Company vs US Army Mechanised Rifle Company in Breakthrough

Marines supported by Amtracks ready to bring the pain

Game 3 of the Kingston Gaming Nexus' 64 point Team Yankee tournament was against Jay and his American Mechanised Infantry. Again we were playing with the battle plans and the more mission pack so I elected to attack and Jay elected to manouvre but this time we rolled breakthrough.

Big Willie's USMC
OC
Full Rifle platoon with 2 x dragons, 2 x SMAWs in Amtracks
Short Rifle platoon with 2 x dragons, 2 x SMAWs in Hueys
5 x M60s
2 x TOW
2 x TOW
4 x Stingers
3 x M109s with bomblets and mines
2 x Harriers

Jay's US Army
OC
Full mech platoon with extra dragons
Full mech platoon with extra dragons
4 x IPM1s
2 x VADs
3 x M109s

Set Up

Objectives are top right by the house and far left where the road disappears off the table

USMC Rifle Company vs East German Infantry in Encounter

A TOW platoon commander covers the advance of the M60s

My second game of the Kingston Gaming Nexus' 64 point Team Yankee tournament was against Dean and his East German and Russian force. The tournament was using the battle plans and more missions  so once again I decided to go all in and attack. Dean elected to manoeuvre which meant I was attacking and we rolled Encounter.

Big Willie's USMC Rifle Company
OC
Full Rifle platoon with 2 x dragons, 2 x SMAWs in Amtracks
Short Rifle platoon with 2 x dragons, 2 x SMAWs in Heuys
2 x TOW
2 x TOW
5 x M60s
3 x M109s with bomblets and mines
4 x Stingers
2 x Harriers

Dean's East Germans
OC
Small Rifle platoon with all the crew served weapons
Small Rifle platoon with all the crew served weapons
4 x Shlikas
3 x Carnations

Allies
OC in T72
3 x T72
3 x T72

Set Up and Turn 1

East German objectives are behind the cops of trees bottom centre and top right just off camera. USMC objectives are by the stream top centre and just off camera centre left

USMC Rifle Company vs West Germans in Encounter

Leathernecks secure the LZ and an objective!

This weekend I had the chance to play in the Kingston Gaming Nexus' 64 point Team Yankee Tournament. Nexus has an fantastic set up and the tables and armies looked great. Ian organised a very well organized and run event with 10 players. The tournament used the more missions rules from Battle Front. I was paired against Ross and his West Germans, I figured that playing USMC meant I should be on the attack, so I chose to do so and he chose to manoeuvre. Which lead to us rolling Encounter as the mission.

Big Willie's Leathernecks
OC
Full Rifle platoon with 2 dragons and 2 SMAWs in Amtracks
Short Rifle platoon with 2 dragons and 2 SMAWs in Hueys
5 x M60s
2 x TOW
2 x TOW
4 x Stringers
3 x M109s with bomblets and mines
2 x Harriers

Ross' West Germans
OC in Marder
Full Marder platoon
Short Marder platoon
3 x Jugar Is
2 x Gepards
2 x Luchs
OC in Leo1
3 x Leo1s
3 x Leo1s
3 x Panzer Mosers
3 x Jugar IIs
2 x Rolands
4 x Tornadoes

Set Up

Objectives are just out of frame high right, and top left side of the board behind the hill. Objectives on the other side are in between the building and wood and top left side near the woods

USMC Tanks vs British Tanks in Encounter

The OC moves from cover to keep the street clean!

The final game of the Lords of War 80 point Team Yankee tournament was against Jay and his British tanks. We were playing Encounter and this was going to be the first time that I faced off against the Brits. I've been told that their infantry are tough and their tanks are only slightly easier. Jay's army looked awesome and I find that is what truly makes the game enjoyable, when two well painted armies clash on a good looking battlefield.

Big Willie's USMC

OC in M1

4 x M1 platoon

3 x M1 platoon

3 x M113 mortars

2 x Vads

2 x A10s

Jay's Brits

OC in Chieftain

3 x Chieftains

3 x Chieftains

3 x Swing fire platoon

Full Infantry platoon

6 x Blow pipes platoon

6 x Recce

3 x Lynks Helos

Air Assault infantry platoon

Set Up

Objectives are top of the picture by the woods on the right and farm house on the left and behind McDonalds in the field and just off frame bottom centre by the M1s

USMC Tanks vs East Germans in No Retreat

USMC Tanks light up the advancing Red Tide!

Game 2 of the 80 point Team Yankee tournament at Lords of War was against Shaun and his East Germans. This was my first time playing a No Retreat mission and with deep immediate reserves it meant that I was only going to have 4 M1s on the table to start. Hopefully they would be able to hold off the East Germans until the other tanks could arrive.

Big Willie's USMC
OC in M1
4 x M1s
3 x M1s
2 x Vads
3 x M113 Mortars
2 x A10s

Shaun's East Germans
OC in T-72
6 x T-72s
6 x T-72s
OP BMP
3 x BMP Recce
5 x BMP platoon
2 x Gopher
2 x Shilka
3 x Carnations

Set Up

Objectives are behind the gas station shallow bottom left and behind the Golden Arches middle left

USMC Tanks vs West Germans Tanks in Encounter

USMC M1 catches West Germans tanks dashing for cover!

My first game of the 80 point tournament at Lords of War was against Matt and his West Germans. The first mission was Encounter and this would be my first ever Team Yankee tournament game and my third game of Team Yankee so I was hoping that I could remember the rules. Matt had a beautifully painted army, which is always a real pleasure to play against.

Big Willie's USMC
OC in M1
4 x M1 platoon
3 x M1 platoon
2 x Vads
3 x M113 Mortars
2 x A10s

Matt's West Germans
OC in Leo 1
3 x Leo 1
3 x Marders platoon
3 x Leo 2
4 x Gepards
4 x Tornadoes
2 x Luchs

Set Up

Objectives are in the open behind the field and church on the right and in between the  house and hill and on the rail line on the left

USMC Reinforcements for Team Yankee!

Ready to take out some T72s!

Reinforcements for my Team Yankee USMC are now all decaled and varnished. I love how they turned out and the details in the custom decals that Stromtrooper Nick made are awesome. He is going to hopefully finish off his complete how to post shortly. Plus the hurlbat in flight rotors look amazing. Check them out here at hurlbat, don't forget to select the right scale and type of aircraft. The tanks will also allow me to play Fate of a Nation using them as "counts as". I will be working a tutorial on how to paint the aircraft in the coming weeks but for now enjoy the pictures.

A pair of Cobra gunships

USMC vs Iraqi Republican Guard in Dust Up

Devil Dog tanks open up BMPs like tin cans!

My second game of Team Yankee was against Storm Trooper Nick and his Russians who we are calling the Iraqi Republican Guard. This was going to be the first game that I was able to play with my now fully painted (although I haven't finished the decals) USMC with it's latest additions of both an air component and newly upgraded M1A1 tanks (although all tanks in this game are representing M1s). This was also the first chance for us to use the newest Battlefront terrain in the form of the oil tanks and the factory. We decided on 100 pts and rolled up the mission Dust Up randomly.

Big Willie's USMC
OC in M1
4 x M60s (representing M1s)
4 x M1s
Half strength infantry platoon
4 x VADs
2 x Cobras
2 x Harriers (representing A10s)

Stormtrooper Nick's Iraqi's
OC in BMP2
10 x BMP2s infantry platoon
4 x BMP1s
4 x BMP1s
10 x T72s
4 x Gophers
2 x Shelikas
6 x Carnations
4 x Hinds

Set Up

Objectives are just above the scotch glass on the left, centre left soviet marking, cross roads on the far right and behind the Mosque

How to paint Team Yankee Desert USMC tanks and AFV

USMC reinforcements!

I've discovered that if I don't make a blog post about how I painted something that when I try to paint new units I can't remember how to do it. So here is a lesson on how to paint tan USMC tanks and AFV. I used Vallejo colours for everything as I really like working with their paint bottles. Shout out to Stormtrooper Nick's mad skills with making decals, bonus points to anyone that can tell me all the tank names.

USMC Tank Combat team vs Russian BMP Battalion in Encounter

USMC holds its ground!

Nick and I finally got to play a game of Team Yankee. I really enjoyed it but have to brush up a little more on the rules and play it as a different game than Flames of War. I was running US tanks and Nick was playing a BMP Battalion. We rolled  up Encounter and got under way. If you're looking at my force and wondering what the deal is with it, I was going for a Gulf War I, Desert Storm USMC force that I could use for  both Team Yankee and Fate of a Nation. I'm really happy with the way they turned out.

Big Willie's combat team
OC and 2IC tanks
4 x M60s (representing M1s)
3 x M60s (representing M1s)
2 x TOW
2 x TOW (I should have had these, Oops)
4 x VADs
3 x Mortars
2 x Cobras
2 x A10s
Fist
Small Infantry platoon

Nick's Battalion
OC in BMP 2
10 x BMP 2
4 x BMP 1 Recce
10 x BMP 1 platoons
10 x T72s
4 x Hinds
2 x Frogfoots

Set Up

Objectives are in the field top and bottom left, on the curve in the highway top and in the mosque compound far right

Team Yankee USMC!

Hi everyone, I've been working away at updating my USMC for Moderns and the new Battlefront Team Yankee is a perfect fit! I'm trying to do a USMC from Desert Storm so close enough that it will seamlessly fit into the world of Team Yankee. The HMMVEs are M113s, the Harriers are A10s and the M60s are M1s. It is a almost seamless transfer. I will have a post on how I painted my tanks and aircraft up shortly. For now here are some pictures of the Combat team I have finished (less decals and varnish).

 Group Shot with tanks, TOW, aircraft and some infantry

How to build a 15mm scale Chinook

Chinooks for use with 15mm moderns or Stopping the Red Tide

Recently I converted a couple of roughly 1:100 scale Chinook helicopters to create an airmobile platoon for my USMC that I use for Cold War gone hot or variations of the Fate of a Nation.  I couldn't find a cheap and good looking model.  This one cost me about $20 each but only because I used the Battlefront rotors and helicopter stand.

Here are the parts your going to need:

2 x Battlefront helicopter rotors ($10)

1 x Helicopter flying stand ($10)

1 x Syma S026-01 Helicopter body ($5)
1 x Syma S026 landing gear and engines ($3)

All the bits I used

USMC vs Iraqi Republican Guard in modified Free-for-all

USMC Airmobile units deploy into the Iraqi rear supported by a Cobra gunship

Matt Varnish from the Dice Devils and I played a game of a modernized Flames of War game using the Stopping the Red Tide rule set. If you haven't checked out www.stoppingtheredtide.blogspot.ca I highly recommend it.  Both Matt and I were more interested in having a thematic game where we could get a ton of cool pictures more than anything else.  We definitely made some mistakes while playing but as you can see from this battle report it looked stunning.  The mission was a modified Free-for-all with both of us holding some units in reserve and with 3 objectives in the centre of the table.  Basically whoever held the most objectives at the end of the game would win. We used a variety of models from converted Battlefront, QRF, Peter Pig and some scratch builds.

Matt Varnishes Iraqi Republican Guard (Confident Conscripts)
OC in T80 with reactive armour, 2IC in T72
3 x T72s
3 x T72s
3 x T72s
3 x T55s
3 x T55s
Infantry platoon in APCs
2 x AA guns (SP)

Big Willie's USMC (Fearless Trained)
OC and 2IC in HMMWVs
Infantry platoon in HMMWVs
4 x M60s
Infantry platoon in Sea Knights (Chinooks)
2 x TOW HMMWVs
1 x Cobra Attack Helicopter

Set Up

The USMC spreads out along the South side of the border town of Nisab ready to capture key points and reinforce the Recce element who had been engaged earlier in the day.  Against them was some of  Saddam's favoured tank forces.  The MC would have their work cut out for them.

USMC and Iraqi Armies

The USMC ready to roll into Iraqi after freeing Kuwait

On Tuesday night Matt Varnish from the Dice Devils and I had the chance to play a game of Stopping the Red Tide.  If you guys haven't seen the rule set, it takes the Battlefront Flames of War rules and modernizes them to 1986.  You can check out his website at www.stoppingtheredtide.blogspot.ca We took it a step further and played with USMC and Iraqi National Guard Armies.  I'm working on the battle report of it now but figured that everyone would like to see just how awesome the models look.  I hope you enjoy.

The entire Iraqi tank army

Cold war!

With my basement renovations nearing completion I'm finally getting the chance to get back into doing some hobby stuff.  The guys from the Dice Devils showed me an amazing blog called Stopping the Red Tide.  It's run by Mwnciboo and he and his team have developed a rule set based on Flames of War and Tropic Lightning for the Cold War.  He has rules, and source books for US, NATO, Independents and USSR.  I'm totally digging it and have gone into my modern collection and have a functional USMC army.  I'm really looking forward to playing a game with RKelly or Matt Varnish.

With the Battlefront sale on Vietnam which is 40% off until the end of March, I've ordered 2 Huey Cobras and 6 x M60s.  I'm looking at getting some M113s, M109s and parts I need for a Chinook project that I'm planning on.  With this and soon to be purchased M1 Abrahams, I will be able to field almost every list the US has.  I can't wait to try it out both in Europe and in the Middle East (think Iraqi in the first Gulf War).

Now for something a little different

A while ago I picked up a bunch of moderns in a trade.  Its about 2 platoons with of Marines in MARPAT and it came with a bunch of HMWVs with .50 Cals, TOW and Mk 40 grenade launchers and 4 AMTRACs.  With Battlefront releasing both Tropic Lighting and Fate of a Nation I found a home for my latest project.  Here is what I'm planning on using and the models I've found as Battlefront doesn't make moderns to go with my Marines.

There is a manufacture that does called QRF and you check them out here.

M60 tank used by the Marines up until Gulf War 1

My plan for these guys is to use them as M48s for Vietnam or Magach 2 or 3 for Fate of a Nation.

M1A1 tank was the front line tank for the USMC during Gulf War 1 and some were still used in Gulf War 2

I'm planning on using these guys as Centurions or Sho't for Fate of a Nation and perhaps as the Company Commander for Vietnam.

The BlackHawk helicopter is seen in every army movie but the SeaHawk is the USMC equivalent so I'm going to model up a couple of refueling booms and I now have my Dust-off and arty observers for Vietnam.

Finally I wanted to have some gun ships and the USMC still uses Cobra gunships and Battlefront makes those models so I will be using them but painting them the Navy Grey with USMC markings (just like the SeaHawks).  I'll be positing WIP shots as I take them.  The plan is to use them against some of the other Dice Devils.