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Team Yankee, a Frank Chadwick game. I picked this title up very inexpensively on eBay recently. Its only partially punched.

I am interested in exploring a little of this game to see how it compares to the more recent releases of World at War and Lock n Loads Platoon and Squad based games.  It will make a nice addition to the WWIII “what if” collection.

The counter set is simple.

The maps are simple but functional.  Not a lot of variety. Richness of detail was not a graphical hallmark in the ’80s when this was published.

The rules seem straight forward enough. Which is a Chadwick hallmark I think.

The opportunity to assess how modern technology would come to bear post Korean War and the maturing doctrines of both sides is one that has not held much interest for players and history lovers in the 90’s and early 2000’s. That is changing.

Historians and military analysts look at the Mid to Late 80’s as a time of flux, change and technological advancement.  Not just for the USA but many of the worlds armed forces. All of which strived to be more deadly from a distance in a “limited” arms battle.  The spectre of Chemical warfare and Tactical Nukes was always a driving consideration for force composition and development.

The early mid 80’s saw the advent of the M1 tank. King of the Battle Field. The development of tank killer technology, Sagger missiles, Target On a Wire or TOW missiles, and better and more effective weapons for the infantry.  Whilst the Russians hurried to release the T80 or Black Eagle.  The US took thermal imaging and night vision to new heights.  This coupled with the deeper integration of wings of the armed forces I believe helped shape tactical doctrine.  Whilst soviets held control higher up the command chain, ‘better commanders’ would strive to do the ‘right’ thing. All the while fighting the Political Officer looking over their shoulder.  Or so we are lead to believe.

This all plays out in a simulation like this in flexibility. As a Soviet player (especially solo) I am going to run doctrinally. But if in a 1v1 situation, I am of course going to adopt ‘best practices’. So do we get the flavor then?  I’m not sure.

Whilst we have seen the impact of Lock n’Loads World at War series at the Platoon/Company level, and even greater detail in their 2011 hit LNL Heroes of the Gap, Team Yankee harkens back to a simpler time for rules development from Frank Chadwick.

I had thought the combat effectiveness of vehicles and missile systems to be TOO deadly in LNL for WWIII scenarios……Wow. Chadwick pulls no punches here.  Whilst the game is based upon a Book called Team Yankee, the writer and Chadwick rely on hard data to demonstrate effectiveness.

In the game the Tank and TOW based weapons rule. Open ground is to be avoided.

We will look at a full scenario play thru in a post soon.