We Have Moved

Hello All

We are very please to announce that we have a new website. Please check it out here http://www.breakthroughassault.co.uk/

We hope you like the new site and continue to follow the website. We have a few plans to make accessing the site better, but none of this would have been possible without the support of Battlefield Hobbies. A big thank you to Nobby, Nich, Hammy and everyone else involved with the new site and Battlefield Hobbies.

Please check out the new site and let us know what you think.

Ben

Team Yankee - 2S1 Gvozdika Review

Hello All

Battlefront very kindly sent us some Team Yankee samples to review, which also seemed a good point to start my Tale of Four Gamers Soviet Army.

I choose the 2S1 Gvozdika as it seemed a good unit to practice my colour scheme on and I really wanted to try out the new artillery rules for Team Yankee. Now in my rush I forgot to take any photos of the construction phase (bad Ben!), but I don't think that will affect the review too much.

Beyond The Foxholes Episode 44

Hello All

Welcome to Beyond The Foxholes Episode 44, we join Ben and Fez as they chat about all things FOW.

In today's episode we are joined by Keith from Armies Army as he chats about getting into model makings, he new Cold War range and his planned kick starter campaign.

Beyond The Foxholes: Ear and Eyes - Night Attacking German Armour

Hello All

Welcome to Beyond the Foxholes: Eyes & Ears Episode 10, our premium content podcast available on Libsyn.

In this episode we join Ben and Adam as they chat about using the Night Attacking German Armour in Late War, we have tips on how to make your lists, how to get the most out of the special rules and

Week Off

Hi Guys

It's been a busy few weeks for us at Breakthrough Assault with house moves, new jobs and new additions to the family, So we are taking a little break. We should be back with articles for you all to enjoy on the 2nd December.

Thanks Ben

Team Yankee - M1 Abrams Kit Preview

Hello

It feels like Team Yankee is almost upon us, stores are taking pre-orders and some have copies of the rule-book out on display.  We've now know what the box sets will contain and how much they'll be selling at.  Here we have another sneak peek of a plastic kit, this time for the iconic M1 Abrams.

AIW AAR - Israeli Infantry Company vs UAR Tank - Hold The Line

Hello All and welcome to our first AIW AAR. A picture from the first game. As you know we have been collecting armies for a tale of four gamers challenge after which we wanted to do three AARs with the armies. This is the first game and sees my Israelis vs Adam's UAR, well not quite. We did start a first game which was fighting withdrawal but Adam's plane killed both of my Sho'ts in two turns and my Jeeps got MG'd shortly afterwards. So we rolled for another mission and got Hold The Line. I decided against trying to Night Attack and tried to defend the village.

Israeli Infantry Company HQ Full Infantry (without transports) + Blindside Full Infantry (without transports) + Blindside Recce Jeeps 4 AT Jeeps 2 Sho'ts 4 Heavy Mortars

UAR Tank Battalion HQ T-55 7 T-55 + Stabilzers 7 T-55 + Stabilzers 6 PT-76 + 4 BTR-50PK 2 ZSU-57-2

Changing Lists in the Digital Age

So this post has been inspired by a little thing I noticed when I was online the other day. If you go back to my list review of Berlin (digital) you'll get this about Munchberg

'We get two lists here, the first is a CV panzer list - with IR equipment! So we have all those nachtjager nightlight rules! And thrown into that is a far better list IMHO! Your core platoons are panthers or tigers - though the tigers have no skills and no IR. the other option in a combat platoon is 4 StuG late - with one upgradable to a hetzer, and another to a 4/70.'

Well I went to fiddle with this list the other day, and it had changed! you could now take StuH42's and also Panzer 4/70's in this slot. So following that I went to the forums, and there was loads of chatter about other options which could/should be in some of these lists (look at this thread for further reading)

Team Yankee - Shilka review

So here's the first platoon which I've done for my Soviet force. I chose to do the Shilka first as it was the most tank like of what I had, as such I could have a real play with the scheme I wanted to go across my whole army

A List For Reading Warefare

Hello everyone!

I'm writing this from hospital on my phone after a minor procedure so sorry if any auto correct mistakes slip through. No cause for concern though, if I have my way I'll be up at Reading as planned in a few days!

A year ago, at the Warfare event I got my first look at the Early War Book, Barbarossa. I'd been playing at events all that year (2014) with big Italian infantry lists and wanted something new, exciting and better for my back! Getting those stands in and out of cases under the tables all year occasionally made me wish I had a force which would fit in one, small box.

It definitely fits in a large shoebox!

Army Collecting

Hey all

Coxer back with some more musings on wargaming. This time it's about collecting your army.

Over the last month I've painted up 

Scout platoon for my UAR 

T26's for my Finnish

Kleinpanzers, kv1's Flammpanzer for my Germans.

And to me these three all show the different ways in which you can collect an army.

That specific list. This is how I would imagine most people start 

an army - and it's how I started my Germans/French/UAR - you come up with a list, bye the list and well - that's it! It's about working it out before you bye, whether by rule of cool or a tournament researched list - you buy what you need and leave it at that - quick efficient simple. The problem I always get with this approach is that every time I do this it ends up getting changed with play testing, but if you want to copy a net list then this really works for you. 

Team Yankee - Tale of Four Gamers

Hello All

With the new Team Yankee rule set coming out we decided to have a painting challenge to get us to paint up our armies as fast as possible, But this challenge won't be as ridged as previous challenges.

There won't be a "paint X points or X number of units in a month", as this is a new game and we don't want to worry about release dates we are going to paint up the units at our own pace but with the goal of having a 100pts army painted in three months (around the end of January). So expect regular updates over the next few weeks and months. So lets see what everyone is planning.

AAR 3RTR vs FJ - No Retreat - Firestorm in the City

Myself and Winner got together for some FoW for Cameron's Firestorm Caen Campaign. We agreed that we wanted something a little more interesting than British Para's vs FJ's, so I bust out the 3RTR from overlord.

We each put together a 1500 point list and rolled to see which Beach I'd be hitting - we got Gold beach - I opted for the actual firestorm troops, where as Winner opted for the extra Points.

After Action Review - One Day Late War Tournament at IBuyWargaming

On Saturday 31 October I braved the suburban wilderness of Woking to take part in a one day Late War tournament at their local gaming store, IBuyWargames

The tournament was organised by our very own Fez and was a 1675pts open affair with no restrictions.

The venue was very nice and very welcoming and the action took place in the store itself, with a couple of games taking place upstairs in their dedicated gaming area.  This had the advantage of putting the action on display for all the customers on the day to see and ask questions about, something which I am always in favour of.

Beyond The Foxholes: Eyes and Ears Episode 9

Hello All

Welcome to Beyond the Foxholes: Eyes & Ears Episode 9, our premium content podcast available on Libsyn.

In this episode we join Ben and Steve Charlton as they chat about using the LRDG in Early War, we have tips on how to make your lists, how to get the most out of the special rules and

Team Yankee - Rulebook Preview

Hello All

Last Friday we got a big package from Battlefront, within that package was a copy of the new Team Yankee rulebook.

We thought it would be a good idea to preview the book and WinnerDave took the opportunity to record our first video (this has been a long term plan finally coming to fruition). It did take WinnerDave a few takes but the end results are worth it.

Team Yankee - Hind Kit Preview

Hello All

After a small break last week we are back with another Team Yankee Monday post. Today we are going to take a very quick look at the new Hind plastic kit.

Battlefront very kindly sent over a picture of the sprue so lets have a look at it.

Team Yankee - Army Deals

Hello All

We have a special Sunday Team Yankee post for you today. Early this week the army deals got posted up on the Team Yankee Facebook page.

We thought we'd have a quick look at the box sets on here.

AIW Painting Challenge Month Three - Ben's Israeli's

Hello All

Welcome to the last part of the AIW painting challenge, you have already seen Winner's and Adam's month three of the painting challenge this week and now it's my turn. This month I didn't have much left to paint, just four Anti-Tank Jeeps and a Heavy Mortar platoon.

I was looking forward to painting the Jeeps as they were part of the reason I wanted to collect the army, they just look cool. I'm thinking about a Jeep army if we revisit AIW just to get more of them!

AIW Painting Challenge Month Three - Adam's UAR

Hello All

So the colossal task is over! I had been dreading this month as it was not only the 13 vehicle hulls but air and infantry.

I started with the infantry platoon - as with the vehicles I've done all the models as opposed to only those I need as it requires little more models. The infantry were painted off the bases, with a grey undercoat, I then used zenithal spraying with desert tan and sand to highlight them. After this I picked out the faces and hands using US drab then a little flesh to highlight. The guns are neutral grey/light sea grey with flat earth for the wooden parts. I then varnished before applying a thinned down Vallejo umber wash over the whole model to add definition. I've left the bases sandy with minimal drybrushing - as I've not found any tufts I think suit it.

Beyond The Foxholes - Episode 43

Hello All

Welcome to Beyond The Foxholes Episode 43, we join Ben, Winner Dave and Adam as they chat about all things FOW.

In Act one we cover what we have been up too, Essen News and the Mid War redo coming soon to Forces of War.

In Act two the guys dive into Winner Dave's mail bags before taking a nice long look at the Team Yankee rules. 

AIW Painting Challenge Month Three - WinnerDave's Jordanians

Hey all,

What a great feeling to get this painting challenge done.  There's been times it has felt like a challenge and I've been painting when I didn't really feel like it or I've been painting somethign when I'd prefer to be painting something else...

This month's challenge was to get my remain units done, 4 rocket jeeps and 2 AA spgs.  The jeeps were really fun to paint.

Team Yankee - Background Fiction

So with the release of Team Yankee being imminent I thought it would be good fun to let you know what fictional source material there is to read out there to get you all in the mood for fighting Soviet hordes in the Fulda Gap.

Team Yankee by Harold Coyle

I am not going to talk much about this novel as you’ll most likely will have read it already.  Also the main rulebook references a lot of the book so you’ll get a good flavour for it.

In short it follows the story of a US Armoured Company commander in the opening stages of the Third World War.  Captain Bannon commands a tank heavy company in a Mechanised Infantry battalion.

It is clear from that start that Coyle knows his stuff and being an ex-tanker you certainly would expect him to.  Rumour has it that he wrote most of the novel whilst on exercise himself in the Fulda Gap area.  For a work of fiction this has a real authenticity about it.

Painting To Tabletop Standard

One of the strange things I realised on reflection is that I always consider myself an average painter. The issue is that I have been an average painter for the last ten years - but if you look at my original blood bowl teams to my latest T-55's there is a definite improvement.

So I'm back with one of my rambling pieces, and it's about something which has been circulating in my head for some time. The idea about being 'average'. Now I've chosen to focus on painting, but it applies in so many other areas too gaming, list building etc.

Beyond The Foxholes: Eyes and Ears Episode 8 - British Airbourne

Hello All

Welcome to Beyond the Foxholes: Eyes & Ears episode 8, our premium content podcast available on Libsyn.

In this episode we join Ben and Adam as they talk about Late War British Airbourne. The guys look at all the special rules, tactics and all the different list builds coming Overlord, Market Garden and the new Nachtjager Digital lists.

Great War US Brett's Brawlers (GUSAB01) Spotlight

Hello All

A few days ago we looked at the French Clavery's Chargers army deal, today we are going to look at the U.S. Brett's Brawlers (GUSAB01) box set.

The box set comes with 6 platoons with includes a HQ with 2x 37mm mle 1916 guns, French Flame-thrower Section with 3x Flame-throwers, 2x Rifle Platoons, Machine-gun Platoon with 4x Hotchkiss mle 1914 HMG teams, Light Tank Platoon with 2x Renault FT-17 (37mm) and 2x Renault FT-17 (MG) tanks, and a French Char d’Assault Platoon with 1x Schneider CA. Tank.

Team Yankee - Rules Preview

Hello fellow wargamers,

We are very pleased to bring you a preview of the Team Yankee ruleset.  There's a lot of ground to cover here and we're not intending to go into tonnes of detail about the rules, rather an overview of some of the things that stood out to us.

However, please bear in mind that we have not played a game of Team Yankee yet, which means there's plenty we'll miss and nuances we'll overlook...for now I leave you with Marc to look at some of the main points about command and movement.  I'll catch up with you in the assault section

WinnerDave

Great War Stosskompanie - List Discussion

Hello all

So when I first got the new Great War book I as happy to see that the original two nations had been bulked out to four with the French and the U.S. and while I wanted to collect a Entente army there was one list that stole my attention, The Stoss Company.

Why a Stoss Company? Simple really, how doesn't like elite troops? Add the imagery of these elite troops using ,at the time, revolutionary tactics to raid and take enemy trenches and break the deadlock of the Western Front.

Berlin Digital - German List Review

Hi all coxer here, I thought having done my in depth review of the Volksgrenadier lists from Berlin digital I would take a glance over the other German lists to help those of you who want something extra for your games.

502 and 503 SS Schwere panzerkompanie

So these two lists have one thing in common - the need to spend close to 1200 points on your minimum compulsory purchases. Now that does not leave you with much for anything else - but there is something completely overpowers by the idea of FV king tigers (unless there is a pesky AoP around).

The problem will be making a list which can attack infantry - you'll need to recon and AA cover, and both lists have these (with 502 having the puma pak40!) but there is not enough left in a typical pointed game to get the things you need to dig out hoards of infantry (or even just some vets)

Great War French Clavery's Chargers (GFRAB01) Spotlight

Hello All

Today we are going to have a look at the new French Clavery's Chargers (GFRAB01) set for Great War. One of our local gamers Robin Spence painted these for us and so I will hand it over to him to explain the rest.

First off the list, you get the options of either Reluctant Veterans or Fearless Veterans, the points jump a lot between the two and this box set can be anything from around 1600pts for RV and a whooping 2200pts for FV.

Beyond The Foxholes Episode 42 - Interview with Phil - Team Yankee Special - Part Two

Hello All

Welcome to Beyond The Foxholes Episode 42, we join Ben as he asks listener questions to Phil about Team Yankee.

We cover everything from scale, to the stream lined rules, new artillery and plane rules and finally a little sneak peak to what is coming next for Team Yankee

Team Yankee - Airpower Stat Cards

Hello All

After a little break for Great War and a couple of podcast with Phil Yates about Team Yankee we have another stat card post and it's one that will be popular, Air Power!

Now we only have two of the four options (the A-10 and Hind) but these should give you a good idea of what the Cobra and Frogfoot will look like.

Early War AAR - French Escadron de reconnaissance vs Hungarian KÖNNYÜHARCKOCSIZÓ SZÁZAD - Cauldron

Hi all another ahistorical AAR this time it's EW and my French have some Hungarians to deal with!
Dave P was bringing his Hungarian tanks to the table for the second time, he rolled up cauldron.

Dice of War - Dice Review

Hello all

We recently got sent these great dice by Adam over at Dice of War. They are a great set of designs which cover a wide variety of designs, we had a selection including 6th Gerbisjager, Panzer Lehr, New Zealand, Black Bull - for a full listing and also his next wave of dice go check his Facebook page.

The dice themselves seem slightly larger than the Dice you got in the FoW tins, as they didn't quite fit in but only just - you can still have them loose in a tin and close the lid easily.

Beyond The Foxholes: Eyes and Ears Episode 7 - Late War German Auto Defend Armies

Hello All

Welcome to the 7th episode of Beyond the Foxholes: Eyes & Ears, our premium content podcast available on Libsyn.

In this episode we join Adam and Roger as they talk about Late War Auto Defend German Armies. The guys look at all the special rules, tactics and all the different list builds.

Beyond The Foxholes Episode 41 - Interview with Phil - Team Yankee Special

Hello All

Welcome to Beyond The Foxholes Episode 41, we join Ben and Adam as they interview Phil about the new Team Yankee release.

The guys chat about Phil's background in wargaming and how he came to work for Battlefront, how Battlefront came to working on Team Yankee, how Team Yankee plays and the differences between FoW V3 and Team Yankee.

Beyond The Foxholes Episode 40 - Wayne and James Brown Interview Special

Hello All

Welcome to Beyond The Foxholes Episode 40, we join Ben and Winner Dave as they chat all things FOW

In act one Ben chats with Wayne about the new Great War briefing book. He cover all the lists, some of the oddities of the period and the worlds first transport tank that made all the infantry sick!

In act two Winner Dave chats to James Brown about the new Colours of War book before asking some general painting questions.

Great War Book Review

Hello All

In the tradition of Vietnam and The Six Days War, Great War is graduating from a Wargames Illustrated booklet to a full briefing book. Coming in at 74 pages and including two new armies, three new army lists, new missions and French Saint-Chamond tank (I love this tank!), Great War is now a full period with far more options. Battlefront kindle sent us a preview copy to read and it seemed a little rude not to review it and give you all a few spoilers!

First Impressions

The book looks great, what else do you expect from a Battlefront briefing book? Coming in at 76 pages the history sections in particular stands out and as normal do a good job of giving you an overview of the battles you will be fighting. There is quite a bit of reuse of the old Wargames Illustrated booklet for the German and British sections but if it ain't broke don't fix it.

Late War AAR - SAS Squadrons vs Panzer Grenadier Kompanie (25. Division) - Hasty Attack

Having just completed my SAS list I was itching to try it out.  So I got in touch with one of my regular sparring partners Dave M and set up a game.

We both agreed that this would be a fun, friendly game rather than a tournament practice game so we bought bought lists we’d like to try out that we never normally get the chance to play.  I turned up with my SAS Squadron, all fast moving recce jeeps and Comets, and Dave took a Panzer Grenadier company from the Nuts book.

This was shaping up to be a good historically themed bash.  The desperate Germans holding off the ever more confident Allies in the final push into the German heartland.  Unfortunately Dave didn't have a Jdgtiger to hand so the trusty old King Tiger had to stand if for him.

Who Dares Wins - The SAS in Flames of War

Earlier on this year when the SAS Squadron from the Nachtjaeger digital lists was published on Forces of War I knew I just had to have a go at building such a list.  I mean who doesn’t like the thought of a load of tooled up hooligans racing around the ulu brassing up the Jerries!

One of the first models I ever built was the Italeri 1/35 Commando Car, basically a SAS Jeep as seen in Northwest Europe in 1944-45.  Given the fond memories I had I was sold straightaway.

Beyond The Foxholes Episode 39 - On The Road to Art of War Too

Hi all

Welcome to Beyond the Foxholes Episode 39, on todays episode we join Ben, Adam and Fez over the Art of War Weekend.

In Act one the guys talk about their armies and expectations for the weekend.

In Act two we have an interview with Dave the owner of Skytrex, Tim and Steve who run Art of War and Finally Nobby who runs the excellent Conflict, Corrivalry and Adolf Don't Surf tournaments.

In Act three the guys round out the show with a full AAR of the event. 

Team Yankee - Unit Cards Infantry

Hello fellow gamers, today it's my great pleasure to bring you the preview of the infantry unit cards for use with Team Yankee.

All infantry in TY is mechanised...digging in is for wimps...manoeuvrability is where it's at.

The Soviets get two options the BMP-1 or the BMP-2.

As we've already seen there's lots of AA options at this level.

Team Yankee - Formation Cards

Hello all and welcome to another Team Yankee Monday update.

Today we are going to look at the Formation Cards for Team Yankee.  These are the equivalent of the briefing books for the WW2 version of FOW.

Anyone who has played Flames of War will see that these are very similar to the current ones, but there are some small differences.

The Road to Art of War Too - 3RTR - Part Three

Hello All

As this goes out to you it's three days until Art of War Too and the good news is I have finished the army! It took a bit of an effort mainly as I have also been painting up my Israelis, Cromwells and some Great War stuff you will see soon. I have also played quite a few games which I will detail here.

The last time I spoke to you I had to finish off the Shermans and I had all bit finished the breaching group, they are done and here they are.

AIW Painting Challenge Month Two - Adam's UAR

So I wrote this and it seems to have vanished into the ether hmm...

Anyway, this month I had the relatively small task of only 8 T55's this was due to me being on holiday so needed to be small - though having a large chunk this month moving house may be a challenge too...

Beyond The Foxholes: Eyes and Ear Episode 6 - Late War British Armour

Hello All

Welcome to the 6th episode of Beyond the Foxholes: Eyes & Ears, our premium content podcast available on Libsyn.

In this episode we join Ben and Freddie, the French Team Captain for the ETC as they talk about Late War British Tank Armies. The guys look at all the special rules, tactics and all the different list builds.

Freddie thinks British armour is the best list in the game bar none, he also has the record with the army to back it up! So come and hear the how and the why!

Team Yankee - Unit Cards - Extra

Hello All

On Monday we show cased the new Team Yankee unit cards, this post caused a bit of a stir as it featured the T-72 and Abrams. Without all the information people started to try and put two and two together and a debate started about how "balanced" the tanks would be fighting each other.

Well we only gave you half the story as each card has a back to them with the special rules and the points costs, so today we are going to show you the full cards with all the details so you can see why the T-72 vs the Abrams looks like quite an even fight!

Beyond The Foxholes Episode 38

Hi all

Welcome to Beyond The Foxholes Episode 38, we join Ben, Adam and Winner Dave as they chat all things FOW

In act one the guys talk some news for the blog and UK tournament scene. Then their normal AAR, before a little Team Yankee chatter (the important stuff like if they should paint them in winter camo or not!).

In act two the guys go over a recent Mid War tournament.

In act three we close the episode by looking at the new Soviet PDF giving more tanks Bed Spring Armour and it's effect on the "meta", the Berlin digital lists and the up coming Art of War Too Late War tournament.

Team Yankee - Unit Cards

Hello All and welcome to this Mondays Team Yankee update.

Last week we had an overview of the new Team Yankee rulebook and I mentioned the stat cards. Today we are going to have a look at them.

In an effort to stop the need to have to check the rulebook for every special rule, Team Yankee will have unit and formation (more on those next week) cards. These will have the stats, Courage and Skill rolls and Is Hit On values.