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FULDA GAP ’86: IRON BEASTS AT THE GATES WHAT: A Cold-War-Gone-Hot Campaign for Tabletop Miniatures An Escalation League and virtual campaign A home-brewed campaign designed by James Billingham and play-tested by RCDD (Rose City Dukes and Duchesses FOW Ranger Group), June 8, 2017 WHEN: June 8, 2017 to August 31, 2017 Each turn is two weeks, with multiple battles per turn Play one or more battles within that turn, no fixed time, no fixed location. WHO: Any gamer with Cold War-era tabletop miniatures WHERE: This Forum, look for threads "Fulda-Gap-86 Escalation Campaign - Turn #..." The turn thread is explained below. Blog: https://rosecitydukes.wordpress.com/team-yankee-fulda-gap-86/ The Blog is where we post files, pics, and a lot of the narrative. Play anywhere. This is a virtual campaign. Arrange to meet your opponent(s) via PM (Personal Message), forum post, or other communication (as explained below). WHY: Have fun! Compete with your opponents and the opposing team. Great modeling of miniatures: 6mm, 15mm, etc.\ HOW: Team Yankee miniatures rules from Battlefront, or Any other rules you chose to use for cold-war era table top miniatures battles. If you are not using the Team Yankee rules set, then download this file and convert the Team Yankee missions to your chosen rules set: More Missions for Team Yankee at http://www.flamesofwar.com/Portals/0/Documents/TeamYankee/Team_Yankee_Expanded_Missions.pdf When writing your battle report, use the Victory Points Table in your Team Yankee rule book or use this article to obtain that information: Envelopment Mission, scroll down to "Victory Points Table" http://www.flamesofwar.com/Default.aspx?tabid=110&art_id=254&kb_cat_id=26 Credits: Team Yankee ® is a registered trademark of Battlefront miniatures, LTD. FULDA GAP '86: IRON BEASTS AT THE GATES™ is a trademark of ‘barca’, James Billingham FULDA GAP '86: IRON BEASTS AT THE GATES(c) is a 2017 copyrighted work of ‘barca’, James Billingham QUES: How do I get involved? ANS: Follow these instructions: 1. If you do not have a user account at ordofanaticus.com, then sign up to get a free one. A paid account is not required. That forum is our primary communications channel. 2. Ensure that you read the Forum Rules at " www.ordofanaticus.com/index.php?/topic/3591-of-forums-usage-guidelines-aka-code-of-conduct/&do=findComment&comment=43467 " 3. Track the forum threads that have this in the topic line: “Fulda-Gap-86 Escalation Campaign”. The Official Thread is the basic info about the campaign. The Turn Threads are the specific information for that turn. Once a turn is completed, we start a new turn and a new forum thread for that turn. 4. We also have a blog with campaign graphics and photos: https://rosecitydukes.wordpress.com/ The Ordo Forum does not support a lot of graphics, so we post them in a blog. The blog will be listed in the Official Thread. 5. Download the files for "TACTICAL COMMANDERS" at https://rosecitydukes.wordpress.com/team-yankee-fulda-gap-86/ Read the instructions before proceeding. 6. In the current turn, check the start and end times of that turn. If you are confident that you and your opponent can complete and report on a table top miniatures battle within that time frame, then you can “claim” a battle. Post a reply to the thread. The Campaign Organizer will update the turn thread 7. Read through BATTLE ORDERS. The information in the files “Fulda-Gap86-instructions-and-Cdrs-briefing-v2-NATO.pdf” and “Fulda-Gap86-instructions-and-Cdrs-briefing-v2-WarPac.pdf” - will explain how to read a BATTLE ORDER, and what it means to you for setting up your game. You want to consider the battle orders that have the status of “Unassigned”. These are the battles that no one has claimed nor completed. 8. On that turn thread, post that you are claiming a specific battle. We refer to each battle in a turn by its BATTLE ARROW NUMBER, which is unique for that turn. Once the Campaign Organizer - barca - has read your post, he will update that BATTLE ORDER to “assigned.” 9. If you want to communicate with your general, or fellow team members, then do so by PM (Personal Message) on the forum. If you want to talk to all of the gamers in the campaign, then post in the turn thread, or start a new topic of your own. If your team wants to exchange email, that is their prerogative. As a courtesy, do not post anyone else’s e-mail address nor personal information on the forum. If you want to exchange personal contact information, do that via PM. 10. If you want to contribute some “fan fiction”, After Action Reports, or photos to the storyline of the campaign, then PM the Campaign Organizer (barca). Entertaining and informative content will be added to the RCDD blog https://rosecitydukes.wordpress.com/. 11. Play out the table top battle. Record your results in the BATTLE REPORT (“BATREP”) format. An example blank BATREP is included in the files mentioned above. 12. Post a BATREP on the turn thread on the forum. Do this within the time-frame of that turn. The schedule of turns is posted ate the end of this document. Late reports will be discarded. 13. You can follow the progress on the forum and the blog: https://rosecitydukes.wordpress.com/ 14. At the end of each turn, the GENERALS will roll up the results of all the table top (TACTICAL) battles. 15. The GENERALS will dice off the remaining battles (OPERATIONAL BATTLES) that were not fought on the tabletop. 16. Victors will advance, losers will retreat, casualties will be recorded and processed, and campaign victory points will be assigned. The results of that turn will be posted. 17. The turn cycle starts over. The GENERALS and the Campaign Organizer setup the next turn, start a new turn thread and issue new battle orders. 18. SCHEDULE: TURN 1 - JUNE 8 to June 22 TURN 2 - JUNE 22 to JULY 6 TURN 3 - JULY 6 to July 20 TURN 4 - July 20 to August 3 TURN 5 - August 3 to August 17 TURN 6 - August 17 to August 31 19. The Blog and file downloads: https://rosecitydukes.wordpress.com/team-yankee-fulda-gap-86/ 20. There are no fixed/appointed GENERALS. Anyone who shows up at Guardian Games on the Thursday that the turns start and end (6:00-9:30 PM) can be a GENERAL (limit of two) for that turn. 21. There are no fixed teams. You can be NATO in one battle, and Warsaw Pact in the next. Or you can play both factions in a solo battle, if you have the resources for two opposing Forces. 22. There are no fixed army/Force lists you have to stick to. Play British Mech Infantry in one battle and German Panzers in the next. 23. You don't have to play in each turn. Out of town? When you have time, after your hiatus, then come back in on the next turn, claim a battle, and join the fight.

FULDA GAP ’86: IRON BEASTS AT THE GATES - Author’s Forward and Introduction A home-brewed campaign designed by James Billingham and play-tested by RCDD (Rose City Dukes and Duchesses FOW Ranger Group), June 8, 2017 Author’s Forward Why play Team Yankee? If you were there, in Germany in the 1970’s or 80’s, you often wondered what might have happened. If you were in the Gulf Wars, you can see the tactics and weapons in the 80's that made the battles of the 90's so successful. If you were in neither position, it is still a fun game and chance to ponder "what if?" In 1981, I joined the Army. At the Intelligence School, we studied the Soviet Red Army and a projected future attack in Central Europe. My first unit, 1st Cavalry Division, deployed to Germany in REFORGER 83. We were part of several larger exercises with the Dutch and British armies: AUTUMN FORGE 83 and ATLANTIC LION. We trained to counterattack a major Warsaw Pact offensive in Northern Germany, close to the area of the ground battle in the Clancy novel "Red Storm Rising". In 1985, I was stationed in Germany with the V (US) Corps. The Corps had the mission of defending the Fulda Gap and securing the river crossings on the Main and Rhine Rivers in and around Frankfurt am Main. This area, and the region east and northeast of it, are the probable settings for the battles in the “Team Yankee” book. When Harold Coyle's novel “Team Yankee” first came out, I was not aware of it. But later, when I did read the book, it was Déjà vu for me. It transported me back to the time when I lived and trained in armored vehicles. It brought back memories of the "oh-dark-thirty" alerts in Germany, preparing for World War III. We expected hordes of tanks, waves of planes and raining missiles to threaten us with extinction. I am grateful that the "Red Wave" never came. But now, years later and many miles away, in the comforts of our armchairs and the relative safety of our gaming tables, we can think, talk and game “what if?” The Team Yankee rules set and models make it possible to play out the various threads of those alternate history scenarios. Team Yankee explores the possibilities of a clash between NATO and Warsaw Pact armies. Team Yankee, the book, is a novel written by Harold Coyle in 1987 about a fictitious Soviet attack into Germany from the perspective of Captain Bannon. He commands Team Yankee, an Armor-Combat Team in the US Army. It has been revised and re-released in hardcover and Kindle formats in 2016. Team Yankee, the game, with its expanding line of forces, models and handbooks, provides us with great gaming and modeling opportunities. The next adventure of our local gaming group - RCDD (short acronym for the Rose City Dukes and Duchesses FOW Ranger Group) - will be an Escalation League and Campaign in the "Team Yankee alternate 'verse": "Fulda Gap '86: Iron Beasts at the Gates". This campaign is a home-brew creation of ‘barca’ and RCDD, and is not sponsored nor endorsed by Battlefront Miniatures, LTD. ‘barca’, a.k.a. James Billingham Introduction The Rose City Dukes and Duchesses are using Battlefront’s Team Yankee Rules and models to play out the tactical games in this campaign. But you can easily adapt this campaign for any set of rules and scale of miniatures that cover post-WWII combat on the tabletop. What you should NOT do is approach this as a board wargame. It was never designed with that in mind. It might work for that, but there are probably better options out there, produced at higher levels of quality. “Fulda Gap ‘86” is a first rough cut of an experiment to develop and playtest a lightweight campaign system to give context and flavor to “Cold-War-Gone-Hot” miniatures battles. The audience for this version of the campaign is a loosely connected group of wargamers who gather in pairs and clusters across a the “Pacific Northwest” to fight out miniature battles, in the context of a larger campaign. We communicate mostly via an online forum ( www.ordofanaticus.com ) and a blog. Our previous online campaigns have engaged 7-12 people. We expect to maintain that level, maybe even expand a bit, but we could accommodate up to 24 people simultaneously. Although “Fulda Gap ‘86” has some elements in common with Battlefront’s Firestorm campaign system, this particular campaign is not exactly a “Firestorm system.” It lacks some of the order-of-battle specificity that you would normally see in the other campaigns. On the other hand, a lot of innovative ideas are added. This campaign is currently designed for an Escalation League. Our group is just starting out in the “Team Yankee universe” (or “alt-erverse”), so our commanders begin with small forces (usually tanks and infantry) and not a lot of supporting weapons. Therefore, in the spirit of an escalation league, the specification of points, army lists and “COMBAT SUPPORT UNITS” is intended to be loose and gives the “Tactical Commanders” a fair amount of discretion and interpretation in setting up and playing out their battles. To that end, we have also relaxed the Team Yankee limitations on allies so that small forces of different nationalities, but in the same faction, can combine to have a “decent sized” force on the table. My cardinal rules for designing this campaign were: 1. Stay focused on the target audience 2. Keep in mind the purpose of the campaign: To fight fun and interesting miniature battles. 3. Keep it simple. 4. Only have elements that contribute to engaging tabletop battles. 5. Provide a sense that each commander is part of a larger team (Generals and narrative). Keeping that perspective, many potential units, events and rules mechanics were left out. In some cases, the Team Yankee ruleset does not cover them, and in other cases, their effects on the tabletop battle can be abstracted without adding a lot of complexity and detail. We hope that you try it out, have fun and give us feedback. - barca and - the Rose City Dukes and Duchess FOW Ranger Group

RE: "Fulda Gap '86: Iron Beasts at the Gates" What is the Fulda Gap, and how does it tie into the "Team Yankee alt-erverse?" The Short Reads: http://www.militaryhistoryveteran.com/duty-at-the-fulda-gap/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulda_Gap http://www.historynet.com/interactive-combat-americans-vs-soviets-fulda-gap-1980.htm A longer Read: https://archive.org/details/FuldaGap