Stripes

[phyfor88]

The new Team Yankee US forces stripes book. As a US player I have waited more then a year ( 24 months)for a book. I must say I am disappointed. The US has been by far the least playable forces. Units are overpriced and options non existent. Stripes at least adds Recon for US forces something every other army had from day one. It does add some additional AA options. Otherwise it adds much second line equipment with no way to integrate most into current forces. I am very disappointed and I was not expecting much. The Abrams tanks remains severely overpriced as does the A10 warthog. The Armor and Mechanized forces remain dead last in performance and very high in points. Stripes offers some start from scratch options that look decent, if I am willing to spend $400 or more. I will not choose to add to my US forces. I have every current US option up until stripes in multiple options. I will not be making the mistake that governments make, throw money at it to fix it. I enjoy Team Yankee and will continue to play. However, if I want more models I will go with another force probably soviets.

[fingolfen]

Given that there were no points cost changes from the original Team Yankee book to Red Thunder, I'm not sure why you thought there would be points changes for anything in Stripes.  I understand that the first line main battle tanks are fairly expensive, and they remain so.  Germans and British have the same problem, and honestly the T-72 and the T-64 aren't really cheap either, but you do get a lot with Stripes.:

 

1. The M60.  Don't dismiss it as "2nd line equipment" - at 4 points a pop with the same gun as the Abrams you have a lot of good AT going downfield... and you can get units of FIVE if you go Marines.  You've got a built-in cure for East German T-55 and T-72 SPAM.
2. The Scouts.  The Firestorm Red Thunder campaign revealed this as a fatal weakness of U.S. forces - closing it fixes a multitude of sins!
3. Huey Infantry Combat teams - Use these like the Soviets use Afghansty - you can blitz them onto the table and secure objectives
4. Sergeant York - VERY useful against BMP spam
5. The HMMWV Tow teams can also be very useful as they remain Gone to Ground while moving.
6. Sheridan - AT 21 or AT 22 for only 8 points for a unit of 4... sign me UP
7. Credible infantry formations (Marines)

 

So honestly I think this certainly brings the US in line with other forces at this point.  Battlefront has indicated that things like the M1A1, the Bradley (though honestly it should be there now), the T-80, Challenger, reactive armor, etc. won't come until there is a "Late War" version of Team Yankee.  With Vietnam and Fate of a Nation coming out next year, I figure we'll start getting our "Early War" version of Team Yankee covering the 1960's and early 1970's.  The current version, "Mid War" for the sake of argument, is late 70's through about 1985...  

 

From where I sit, Stripes makes the U.S. worth fielding... and I'll be putting together a fun list or two for my son...  

[phyfor88]

British and Germany main battle have guns that pretty much auto kill soviets. The US 105mm gun has at best 50% chance. Yet the Abrams cost 8 points each, where the Brit has a far superior gun and costs 6 points. 8 points for an Abrams is too much. I guess it was foolish of me to consider them changing it, I know know they never will. The US will stay as last and continue to fall behind as each new group is added. No reason to add any models to a list that Battlefront will ever fix. Stripes is a weak band aid on a pulsing wound. No help offered none coming. If you want to spend money battlefront will take it but do not expect a fair game from the US forces in team Yankee. 

[fingolfen]

But the M60 has the same gun as the M1... and you get twice as many of them...  Run a couple of units of 5 marine M60's with some decent support and you'll be in good shape...

[fingolfen]

Looking back through, the LAV formations are also going to very useful...  The LAV-AT in a unit of four all with Hammerhead are going to be a tough nut to crack unless you want to throw a LOT of dice at it.  The other LAV formations are going to be useful to counteract BMP Spam as well...

[ZEKE]

And all I've been trying to remember is .... When did the 1/17 cav troop (82nd airborne) get to play with their LAVs? Before or after desert storm. 

[barca]

14 hours ago, ZEKE said:

When did the 1/17 cav troop (82nd airborne) get to play with their LAVs? Before or after desert storm. 

Don't know about 1/17 Cav, but 73 Cav got LAVs DURING the "First" Gulf War*.

"The U.S. Army did, however, borrow at least a dozen LAV-25s for use in the 82nd Airborne's, 73rd Cavalry Regiment for a Scout Platoon during the Gulf War (2 August 1990 – 28 February 1991). These LAV-25s were later returned to the Marine Corps after the Gulf War."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LAV-25

 

*The (first) Gulf War was code-named Operation Desert Shield during the build-up phase (2 August 1990 – 17 January 1991), and Operation Desert Storm (17 January 1991 – 28 February 1991) in its combat phase

[ZEKE]

hmmm,  since i remember seeing them parked across the street in front of the operations buildings for 1/17th cav I thought they were the ones using them.  But, I guess it really was 3/73 armor since for years/decades they had been trying to find replacements for their m551 sheridans.  I just don't recall the 3/73 having recon elements. Don't get me started on the classification of the sheridan as an armored recon vehicle cause we (the 82nd airborne) treated and used them like tanks.