Category Archives: Team Yankee

Team Yankee: A-10s

The opportunity for a playable A-10 is possibly what pulled me into Team Yankee. I talked myself into focusing on other units first, but finally got to actually do it.

A-10
A-10

The Battlefront kit is resin, made up of two big chunks and a couple of detail bits. Several of the detail bits were warped, including one of the vertical stabilizers. I fixed them as best I could, but it’s not as good as I’d like.

A-10 group
A-10 group

The one game I’ve played with them was pretty underwhelming. I only ended up getting one round of shooting from them, between reserves and the strike aircraft roll. Still, I can’t help myself. Now that I have the unit card, I might go with some other company’s 1/144 aircraft kit if I decide to fill out the unit.

Team Yankee: M113 Mech Platoon

To round out my playable Team Yankee force I needed some infantry. Painting dudes at 15mm isn’t exactly my idea of fun, so I’m keeping it to a single platoon for now.

I waffled a great deal on what to do for basing, but ended up buying resin bases from Kerr and King. They make nice little evocative scenes, although there’s a bit more bubbles than I’d like.

Transports are non-optional in Team Yankee, so I needed a box of those, too. The box comes with resin dudes for mounting the Dragon missiles. To put off making a decision and/or maximizing flexibility, I magnetized them. It does mean the hatch is always open, but I can live with that. I also put a dude out another hatch to designate the lead track.

M113

Now I just need to put together some objectives, and maybe refurbish my first attempt at the tanks.

M113 (group shot)
M113 (group shot)

Team Yankee: M109

After battle tanks and anti-aircraft, it’s time for some long range artillery support.

M109 group
M109 group

These models are the first resin/metal that I dealt with from Battlefront. The solid blocks of resin are much heavier than the plastics. The metal is also far less flexible than most metal models I’ve worked with. I managed to snap one of the tracks in half trying to straighten it.

M109
M109

The laser-guided projectiles are really nice in game. What I didn’t realize is that you need a FIST observer to use them. Which I don’t have a model for. Without one, these guys are a little lackluster.

Team Yankee: M163 VADS

The first thing I read about Team Yankee was that without dedicated AA anything airborne would eat you alive. So getting some VADS was high on my list.

M163 VADS
M163 VADS

I considered doing the whole magnet thing to make room for the missile carriers, but ended up deciding against it.

A group of four is pretty effective, when it has range. I find myself lusting after the Soviet Gophers with their fancy 56″ range. Or more precisely, my Cobras hate them.