"Team Yankee(-ish) with 5Core Company Command" Topic

All,

Whaddaya know, it's circa-1985 again, and this time we find ourselves in Germany with "Team Yankee" (with apologies to Mr. Harold Coyle, but his book was part of my formative experiences). I did Marines, so I figured I owed it to my Doggie brethren to throw some love their way. So, the balloon has gone up in Germany, and Team Yankee has been in heavy combat the past couple days. Here we see surviving elements of Team Yankee conducting a spoiling attack into an East German armored formation.

This was a big'un.

East Germans: two platoons of tanks (6 T-72s), two platoons of motorized infantry (6 BMPs, 6 rifle squads, each with RPGs), and 1 BTR carrying the CO and two AT5 Spandrel ATGMs.

Team Yankee: a tank platoon of three M-1 Abrams (survivors); an infantry platoon of 3 M-113s (w/.50 cals), 1 M-113 with TOW, one M-113 with 81mm mortar, three infantry squads, and one dismount TOW; a Scout platoon of four HMMWVs (one TOW, two .50 cals, 1 Mk19) and two dismount squads; and one M-113 carrying the CO.

You had to know the missiles would make another appearance ;)

A short, sharp fight that again sees the Warsaw Pact forces seen off, the report for which can be found here:
link

Been having a good time, need to get back to my dogfighting!

V/R,
Jack

Good report Jack. Nice scenario size and beautiful layout and minis.

Looks like a great table for gaming, and a nice set of minis.

I like 1/144th, since the minis are a lot bigger than microarmor, but still small enough to permit a decent amount of maneuvering on the gametable.

Thanks for sharing your report, and pics.

Nice!

DM

Thank you, gentlemen.

V/R,
Jack

Great game, but you're right. If those are just regular M-1s with the 105mm main guns then you're probably better off with 1S 1K vs. T-72s. The A1s would fit better with your 2K 1S rating.

Yeah, I didn't think about 105 vs 120 until after the game. I was going 2K 2S for the TOW, figuring 2S as the tank is likely to see the ATGM and is pretty likely to be affected, assuming it survives.

V/R,
Jack

The TOWII is a scary weapon. I've seen it eviscerate Iraqi T-72s for sure. I wonder how it would have done vs. Soviet units with 1st rate armor and reactive armor?

T-72s would be affected, that's for sure. Even if the armor held the crew would be stunned from the shock and external systems like periscopes and sights could be damaged or destroyed. It would certainly ring their bell! One solid ATGM hit and the crew would scoot for cover.

One thing of interest. We were told that we would see incoming ATGMs for a bit of time before they hit. SOP was to turn the tank into the path of the ATGM and start the "sagger dance" with is sudden and sharp turns to throw off the gunner's aim while our gunner cut loose with everything he could in the general direction of the shooter in hopes of spoofing/suppressing them. Maybe tanks after 1973 should get to toss a shock dice at a ATGM shooter in LOS to see if they can throw off the shot. A 1 or 6 has the normal effect on the target plus the ATGM shot is an auto miss.

Naturally that wouldn't work for later generations of ATGMs like the Javelin and TOW that are fire-and-forget.

"It would certainly ring their bell! One solid ATGM hit and the crew would scoot for cover"
I went 2S because of this, and I figured that even if it missed the tank would be shucking and jiving and the shock dice would give a decent effect.

I hear what you're saying about tankers' reaction to wire-guided ATGMs, and I was also racking my brain about the opposite side (you were a tanker, I was a machine gunner), where we teamed up M2s or Mk19s with the TOWs to button the tanks up while the missile was in flight, so the tankers couldn't mess with the TOW gunners. But I couldn't figure out anything except to leave it as is, figure the two cancel each other out.

V/R,
Jack

Theoretically, if one side has troops/vehicles on overwatch, while their armor advances, they'd fire on the enemy ATGM launcher sites to suppress them, and/or call in mortar fire, etc., too.

They could also have their platoon/company mates that aren't the targets assist with that too, with their main guns, or coax MGs.

Of course, the missile manufacturers came up with remote launcher controls, so even if they do that, they may not be suppressing the controller, only the site from where the launch occurred.

Nice report, and I love the terrain. I especially like the pine trees. Who makes them, and where did you get them?

Thanks, Don

Mako – I agree with what you're saying, but it's just more of the countermeasure/counter-countermeasure aspect.

Don – I don't recall exactly on the pine trees; I ordered them online from a cake decorating store here in the States about six years ago.

V/R,
Jack