Batttlefield in a Box Terrain is Improving

I have been purchasing Battlefield in a Box terrain by Gale Force Nine for several years now. I have things such as rivers, streams, ponds, fences, fields, roads, bridges, and of course buildings.

Most of the items I have purchased I have been pleased with (except maybe the Petrol Station with its all grayish silver paint job).

I have seen an improvement in the buildings available from Gale Force Nine lately. The two examples I will point out are the European Farm and the Estate House. Generally the buildings I purchased have been one color on the outside walls with not much detail.

Another example of them getting better detail is this house. There are bricks on the walls and it is nicely painted.

The European House also has bricks. But what I noticed about it is that the bricks are not the same color. there are several different shades of bricks on the building. Also, some of the bricks protrude more from the wall than other bricks do. This it a great detail that is subtle unless you look very close at it.

The Steelworks Factory is another brick building. However, they are red bricks. But instead of just one color of brick they did try to have several different shades of bricks. Now, it does not have any bricks that protrude further than other bricks like the European Farm. But the different shading, instead of just one color of red bricks, is a very nice detail.

I am starting to see that Gale Force Nine is getting much better at detailing their terrain that comes in their Battlefield in a Box line. I can't wait to see what other terrain they create that will surprise me. If they continue to improve on their production the way they have so far their products will be in even more demand.

What To Do?

I really like Team Yankee and am having a good time playing it and being competitive with my Soviets.

However, that is not the only forces in the game. There are the USA, West Germans, East Germans, and British forces available.

I have about finished tweaking my Soviet list to where I do not need to purchase any new models except for a few.

Now the problem. I like the East Germans because I can use most of my present Soviet stuff and only need to purchase some new models to round out the force.

However, I have not played the East Germans so I am not sure it is a force I want to play. The advantage is that I will not have to buy many models. However, their equipment is not as good (in general) to the Soviets and I am already familiar with most of the Soviet equipment available for the game. A big problem I have is that they will seem too similar to my Soviets. So, if I play my Soviets or East Germans will they feel all that different?

I also like the British.

I originally wanted to play Soviets because I can use the Hind helicopters to transport troops around the gaming table. This has never really happened. The Hind is too valuable for destroying opponent's equipment to have them take several turns to transport the troops and not take out part of the opponent's force. I have stuck with the Soviets because right now they do have a lot of variety of equipment to choose from and it doesn't cost much points-wise. The British do offer a great way to transport troops around the gaming table. The transport helicopter they use in the game has no weapons so it will only be used for transporting troops. Much better than the Hind, I feel, for what I want to accomplish with the idea of transporting troops quickly around the gaming table.

Another problem is that the Soviets are also supposed to get a new book this year. The tentative title is Red Thunder. This has me interested. From what I gather it will have equipment that the East Germans are using but also new and better tanks than the T-72 the Soviets are presently using in the game. This has me excited to see how the Soviets will change in the Team Yankee universe.

Now, I only have so much disposable income. Do I go ahead and start the East Germans knowing that the new Soviet book will probably use the same equipment? Do I go ahead and start purchasing the British models and start to also play British? Do I wait for the Red Thunder book? Right now I am not sure which direction to go.

My Thoughts On My First Force From Iron Maiden For Team Yankee

I originally started playing Soviets in Team Yankee because I liked the idea of the Hind as a transport for my troops. Basically, place my troops anywhere on the gaming table by having them being moved to the location by them flying in the Hind.

However, it just never worked out. The Hind is a great helicopter to use as a transport in Team Yankee but it is much better suited to destroying tanks and other enemy forces than transporting troops around. Also, when  it lands, for the troops to be able to disembark, it becomes very vulnerable to enemy fire. So, I have never effectively used it as a transport.

I have looked more into the Iron Maiden book for Team Yankee.

The British in the Iron Maiden book may just have the air mobile transports I'm looking for. The force is called Lynx Airmobile Company.

This allows you to take helicopters as transports, like the Hind, but they seem more effective to me. I will go through the points of why I think this.

The helicopter the British use, called the Lynx, is harder to for the enemy to hit. However, if it is hit it does have a worse save then the Hind. That doesn't worry me too much. I don't see this helicopter hanging around the battlefield during the game. Basically, pick up the troops, or already have them loaded in the Lynx, and then land the Lynx where you want the troops to disembark.

The Lynx also has another point that makes it a better transport than the Hind; it can hold one more stand than the Hind. The Hind can transport two stands and the Lynx can transport three stands. So, the Lynx is able to get more troops where needed than the Hind. That may also mean you don't need as many transport helicopters.

Another advantage the Lynx has over the Hind for being a transport is that the Lynx has no weapons. This is the problem with the Hind; it's weapons are just so good that you want to keep it in the air and trying to use it to destroy enemy targets. With the Lynx you only use it when it is time to transport troops.

The Lynx also has a better skill rating than the Hind. The Hind has a 5+ for the Soviets and 4+ for the Afgansty force. The British Lynx's skill rating is a 3+. This will allow the Lynx to perform Movement Orders much more easily. For example, you can have the Lynx loitering off the table full of troops. Make a skill check to do the Blitz Movement Order. If successful the Lynx can then come in and land within 4" of any edge of the battlefield. The troops can then disembark that turn instead of having to wait until that player's next turn to disembark. The troops can then try to make their own Blitz check. If they succeed they can disembark and shoot at their halted rate of fire. The Lynx can then take off and leave the battlefield and loiter again. This can help save the Lynx from being destroyed, get troops quickly where needed, the troops can attack when they disembark, and can capture the objective on their next turn.

Start Edit 1-29-17
***After some research turns out the helicopter cannot come in on any table edge. Phil Yates said this "Helicopters fly, they don't teleport, so they have to move on to the table in the same manner as any other team, and from exactly the same places. If loitering, they will move on from the table edge in the deployment area, if arriving from reserve, they will move on from the marked reserves area.  Cheers" Here is the forum Phil's quote was taken from : http://www.flamesofwar.com/Default.aspx?tabid=126&aff=145&aft=576516&afv=topic ***
End Edit 1-29-17

There are other reasons I am thinking about playing this force but being an air transport is one of the main points. The support choices for Lynx Airmobile Company are great in my opinion and I cannot wait to try them out. Right now I'm looking at nine Lynxes to be used as transports (meaning no weapons) and eight lynxes being used as attack helicopters. I will have plenty of antitank equipment, antiaircraft, anti-infantry equipment and tremendous mobility. It all just seems like it would be a blast to play.

I Got A Surprise When My Volksarmee Team Yankee Book Arrived

I ordered the Volksarmee book for Team Yankee. This is the book you need if you want to play East Germans.

I was pleasantly surprised when my book came looking like this:

I didn't know it was going to come with Force and Formation cards. This was a surprise because I didn't see anywhere about it coming with these cards. There were a total of 17 cards included with the rule book.

I then wondered why they were included? No other rule book I've gotten for Team Yankee came with Force and Formation cards. Then another player said that it might be because if you buy a T-72 model from Battlefront (the makers of Team Yankee) there will be no Volksarmee card included. This made sense to me.

I opened up the book and got to the cards. They were in a ziplock baggie.

I took them out and tried to see if everything in the Voksarmee book had matching card.

Turns out there was not card for every piece of equipment in the Voksarmee book. I was confused. Then, after several minutes of going through the book and comparing the cards I found the answer. The only cards included in the Volksarmee book were those pieces of equipment that was in the Team Yankee rule book for the Soviet forces. If it wasn't in the Team Yankee rule book it did not get a card included with the Volksarmee book.

So it was a nice surprise to receive these cards for Volksarmee but a little disappointing that everything in the book did not have a card included. I guess you can't win them all and overall I was happy to receive my cards with this book. You can find the video of me opening the Volksarmee book and the cards here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsj3gDdGS04

Getting Back Into Team Yankee and the New Forces Available

Well, it's been awhile since I've wrote anything on my blog. Been busy with some other projects and now have the time to get back to writing on my blog.

I have gotten back into playing Team Yankee. I haven't played it for several months and am ready to do some more battles with my Soviets. Which brings me to the point of this blog. For the last several months there have been other nations added to the armies you can play in Team Yankee. These include the British, West Germans, and East Germans.

I like my Soviets but am interested in seeing what the other nations have to offer the game. I have the West German book called Leopard.

This force I have faced my Soviets in one game. They were tough to defeat but I did prevail. However, I don't see myself picking up and playing this force. Nothing in the forces' available choices made me go "Wow, I want to use that!" So, the West Germans are not going to be an army I see myself playing.

The British forces added to the game can be found in the book Iron Maiden.

The British tank called the Chieftain has less movement when shooting compared to the Leopard. Has about the same deadliness with their main gun range and damage. It does have a lower morale than the Leopard, but better assault and counterattack. Nothing here to make me want to play the British so far.

I do like that the British have a helicopter they can use as transports. It's called the Lynx.

That has me interested. The main reason I chose to play Soviets in Team Yankee was that the Hinds can be used as transports.

The British helicopters can hold one more stand per helicopter than my Hind. However, the Lynxes are more fragile. Their save is a 5+. One thing going for them is that the Lynxes can be used instead as attack helicopters. Similar to abilities of the USA Cobra. They only have TOW missiles, which is less armament than the Cobra, but that is ok.

One thing that I am really interested in from the British is the Harrier.

They seem like a pretty cool strike aircraft. The Frogfoot available to the Soviets is not as interesting looking as the Harrier.

So, the Harrier and the Lynx do have me interested in playing the British. There are other options for the British that seem interesting. Actually, they have a lot of options. That was one of the things that also made me decide on the Soviets was the availability of items to add to your force. I will be researching more into this book and see what my ultimate thoughts about playing this force will be.

The book for the East Germans is not out yet so I don't know anything about that force. The book is called Volks Armee.

I am curious if I could use my current Soviet models for the East Germans. That then would make it easy for me to say "I will get this book and use this force in Team Yankee games." The book is scheduled to be released very soon. I will let you know what I think of it once I look it over.

Pokemon Go

So I've been hearing about this Pokémon Go craze. I thought it was just a video game. I had no idea what it was about. I wasn't interested in Pokémon so, I just ignored it. Well, it is hard to ignore when there are so many posts on Facebook about it. Also, sitting down with your friends and they are discussing it. I eventually learned it was not a "video game" in the sense I thought it was. It is a game that you need to walk around to get it to work. As you walk around Pokémon will appear. If you have your camera active on the device running Pokémon Go it will even show the Pokémon in the location you are at by superimposing it on the view your camera is presently pointed. You then have an imaginary ball on the screen and you throw, by flicking the ball with your finger, at the Pokémon to "catch" it. If you catch it it goes into your Pokémon library called the Pokédex.

Found Pokémon

Captured Pokémon

There are other things such as upgrading your Pokémon, evolving your Pokémon, gyms to train your Pokémon, gyms to fight other people's Pokémon with your Pokémon, and even Pokéstops to get freebees (such as more Poké Balls to catch Pokémon, eggs that will hatch Pokémon, and potions). There are a lot more to the game than this but this is just the basics as I understand them.

Pokéstop

Pokémon Eggs

I needed to take a walk one evening. It was to get out and get some exercise. So, I decided to download the game since it was free. I walked around the neighborhood while waiting for alerts from my iPhone that a Pokémon was nearby. Pretty soon, I started to find Pokémon and capture them. This actually caused me to walk further and longer than I planned to do; which is actually a good thing. I caught a total of thirteen Pokémon during that walk.

Some Pokémon I found while walking.

I think it is a neat idea that people are getting out to "catch" Pokémon. That is a good point. They are actually getting out of their home, having fun, and getting some exercise. The bad point is that I hear people talk about this being a game to get out and socialize or something like that. I haven't seen it. The people I've seen playing it and seeing them on the internet all just have their head down looking at their device. They are in their own little world captivated by the screen. This is one of the problems I have with a lot of video games. People just sit at home (or walk around in this case) and play a solo game. I guess they could play MMO or something like that but they aren't really "socializing" with other people. They may talk with them over the internet but they are missing that in-person connection that can turn a fun experience into a exciting experience. It appears they are playing Pokémon solo and so am I.

Heads down looking for Pokémon.

Also, I have started to hear that people are trying to play this while driving. I don't even need to go into how crazy that is. It's just a game folks!

PPGWD - Playing Pokemon Go While Driving

Hopefully, in future updates, they will include ways to interact with other people playing the game. Maybe a notice that goes out that in a certain location, such as a park, there is a special Pokémon or equipment there. Somehow the people there have to work together to capture it or some other way for people to have to get together, actually meet each other, plan, and talk with each other to get the "prize."

Hopefully a group capture of Pokémon is in the future.

However, right now, it is a good thing to see that this is causing people leave their home and move around their neighborhood or to even visit other parts of their town/city. This includes them visiting landmarks that are in their town/city. I think this is a positive and hope other games will be more like this.

Probably wouldn't have walked here without Pokémon Go.

Pokémon Go kind of reminds me of the time I was part of a scavenger hunt that you had to go to a certain location in my city to get a clue to where the second location in the city had the next clue. You went to that second location and there was a clue to the third location you needed to go to to get a clue where the fourth location is. Finally, the last clue will tell you where the "finish line" was. Generally, that was where the party was located.

We finished the scavenger hunt.

So, overall I am having fun with this game. It is definitely different and is giving me something to do while I'm walking. I just walk and pretty soon my iPhone tells me a Pokémon is nearby and I capture it. It is then added to my Pokédex. I am not sure about selling the Pokémon to the Professor or about powering up/evolving my Pokémon. That may come later. Right now, I'm just enjoying the surprise of which Pokémon will appear and then capturing it. Gotta catch 'em all I tell you. Talk to you later because right now I'm heading out to catch more Pokémon. I wonder which ones I will find this time?