Beginner Lists with the BMP Motor Rifle Battalion Starter Force

Beginner Lists with the BMP Motor Rifle Battalion Starter Force By John Lee With the launch of the new plastic infantry for WWIII Team Yankee, I thought I would look at how a new player, or someone on a budget, could get a force on the table that would be competitive, or at least hold its own with the new army deals available. For the new player, it opens the door to playing WWIII Team Yankee without needing to buy, assemble or paint too much and get into playing the game quicker.

Check out the BMP Motor Rifle Battalion: Starter Force in the online store...

So, if we look at what we get in the excellent value army deal (Soviet BMP Motor Rifle Battalion), that will help decide what Formations to run. The army deal contains the following: 1 x Complete A5 Rulebook 1 x “Start Here” booklet 3 x T-80 Tanks 9 x BMP-1 or BMP-2 Armoured Fighting Vehicles 2 x BRDM-2 or SA-9 Gaskin or Spandrel 1 x Formation Command AK-74 Assault Rifle Team 8 x AK-74 Assault Rifle Teams 6 x RPG-7 Anti-tank Team 2 x SU-25 Frogfoot with flight stands 1 x Bonus Heavy Weapons sprue 5 x Decal Sheets 12 x Unit Cards

The bonus here is that the rulebook is included in the box – so the new player makes a saving right away. Now if we look at what Formations are in the WW3 Soviet book, we can see what we can maximise from what we get in the army deal. There are a few Formations we can build to maximise what we get in the box. The two Formations we will look at are the BMP Motor Rifle Battalion, and the T-80 Shock Company. This army deal can be used with a Warsaw Pact Army as well, so we finish this article off looking at options on how to do that. We will look at 100pts using Book Points – not Dynamic.

BMP Motor Rifle Battalion 1 Starting with the Soviet BMP Motor Rifle Battalion Formation now, let us look at what units comprise this Formation: 1 BMP Motor Rifle Battalion HQ 2-3 BMP-3 Motor Rifle Company or BMP-2 Motor Rifle Company or BMP-1 Motor Rifle Company 0-1 T-80 Tank Company or T-64 Tank Company or T-72 Tank Company or T-62M Tank Company or T-72B Tank Company or T-64BV Tank Company 0-1 BMP-3 Recon Platoon or BMP-2 Recon Platoon or BMP-1 Recon Platoon or BRDM-2 Recon Platoon 0-1 ZSU-23-4 Shilka AA Platoon or 2S6 Tunguska AA Platoon 0-1 SA-9 Gaskin SAM Platoon or SA-13 Gopher SAM Platoon 0-1 Spandrel Anti-tank Platoon 0-1 2S1 Carnation SP Howitzer Battery Based on the Formation and what we get in the army deal, we will be able to use everything in the deal and grab a few other boxes to complete it:

Seven units for the Formation break. The two platoons are versatile and can defend with their RPG-7VRs to hold off enemy assault tanks and supported by the BMP-2s can use their missiles to take on everything except Tier 1 tanks and their auto cannons can shred light and medium vehicles and infantry. The seven T-80s are your mobile reserve unit as well as your assault unit and are relatively impervious to most infantry AT in assaults. Their FA20 with ERA is useful to shrug off most AT and missiles but need to be protected by the AA umbrella of Shilkas and Gaskins. The Shilkas are also useful to take on enemy infantry and light vehicles. The Frogfoots can use their AT-27 to take on all Tier 1 tanks from the front.

To buy this army you need only to purchase the following for $292: 1 x TSUAB06 Soviet Starter Force: BMP Rifle Battalion  110 2 x TSBX05 ZSU-23-4 Shilka AA Platoon   60 1 x TSBX20 SU-25 Frogfoot Aviation Company   32 1 x TSBX21 T-80 Tank Company   50 1 x TSBX24 BRDM Platoon    40 TOTAL $292

BMP Motor Rifle Battalion 2 We can look at a variation of the BMP Motor Rifle Battalion next where we can maximise taking one of the bigger BMP companies and take advantage of grabbing TWO of the new army deals:

Again, seven units for the Formation break and looks like our first list except that we now have a medium sized company of BMP-2 infantry and downgraded the small company to BMP-1s. We still have five T-80s for assault and our reserve mobile unit. We introduce the 2S9 NONAs as our artillery unit capable of direct fire AT20 out to 20” as well as a useful AT4 template out to 64” and the unit is better skilled than the rest of the Soviet artillery so its easier to range in. The PKM stands are on large bases, so we need to add those, but the actual teams are on the sprue in the box. With the bonus weapons sprue in the box, we can change up the BMP Motor Rifle Companies by adding AGS-17 and SA-14 teams which are also on large bases.

To buy this army you need only to purchase the following for $335: 2 x TSUAB06 Soviet Starter Force: BMP Rifle Battalion  220 2 x TSBX05 ZSU-23-4 Shilka AA Platoon  60 1 x TSBX33 2S9 Nona-S SP Mortar Battery  41 1 x XX109 Large Bases - 6 holes (x14 Bases)  14 TOTAL $335

T-80 Shock Tank Company Next is the T-80 Shock Tank Company Formation and is comprised of the following units: 1 T-80 Shock Tank Company HQ 2-3 T-80 Shock Tank Platoon 0-1 BMP Shock Motor Rifle Company 0-1 Shock BMP-3 Recon Platoon 0-1 ZSU-23-4 Shilka AA Platoon or 2S6 Tunguska AA Platoon 0-1 SA-9 Gaskin SAM Platoon or SA-13 Gopher SAM Platoon 0-1 2S1 Carnation SP Howitzer Battery Based on the Formation and what we get in the army deal, we will be able to use everything in the deal and grab a few other boxes to complete it:

Five units for the Formation break, but four of those units are Careful hit on 4+ instead of the standard 3+. This is the first Formation for the Soviets that are like Nato to be hit. The Shock T-80s are beasts at assaulting, have advanced stabilisers, so can move 14” and fire their gun or missile on the move adding 14” to the range! The BMP Shock Motor Rifle Company is the anchor to the Formation – they can withstand assaults by tanks with their RPG-7VRs and harder to root out by being hit on 4+. Supported by 2S9 NONAs for the artillery template we need. Shilkas to provide the AA umbrella and a regular BMP-1 Motor Rifle Company to defend the other objective or defend whilst the Shock unit’s attack.

To buy this army you need only to purchase the following for $261: 1 x TSUAB06 Soviet Starter Force: BMP Rifle Battalion  110 2 x TSBX05 ZSU-23-4 Shilka AA Platoon  60 1 x TSBX21 T-80 Tank Company  50 1 x TSBX33 2S9 Nona-S SP Mortar Battery  41 TOTAL $261

Warsaw Pact BMP Motor Rifle Battalion Looking at the Warsaw Pact now, they have a similar BMP Motor Rifle Battalion Formation with the main differences being that only one company can be in BMP-2s whilst the HQ and remaining companies are BMP-1. Tank options are restricted to T-72Ms, T-55AM2s or T-55s and recon options are either BMP-1s or BRDM-2s only. Based on this, we can still use the army deals as the infantry sprues can be used out of the box as well and only the T-80s are Soviet only, but we can work around that by adding an allied Soviet T-80 Formation to our list as an option. The best way to leverage the army deal is to – wait for it – purchase three boxes! That’s right – THREE. Why? It will be the cheapest option to get into a BMP Motor Rifle Battalion to get all the BMPs. This is what it looks like for a Polish option:

As you can see, it’s like the Soviet lists. T-72Bs sub in for the T-80s. 2S1 Carnations are the preferred artillery option here and being Warsaw Pact, have better skill to range in. To buy this army you need only to purchase the following for $500: 3 x TSUAB06 Soviet Starter Force: BMP Rifle Battalion  330 2 x TSBX05 ZSU-23-4 Shilka AA Platoon  60 1 x TSBX07 2S1 Carnation Battery  46 1 x TSBX29 T-72B Tank Company  50 1 x XX109 Large Bases - 6 holes (x14 Bases)  14 TOTAL $500

We utilise the three boxes well except for the nine T-80s. To accommodate this, we can remove the T-72B Tank Company, SU-25 Frogfoots and take a smaller BMP-1 Motor Rifle Company and some more small tweaks to get a small, allied T-80 Formation in there with seven T-80s and move one of the AA assets in there to strengthen it. One more option for Warsaw Pact is to pair this army deal with the Warsaw Pact T-72 Tank Battalion where you can field a T-72B Formation with seven T-72Bs, five supporting T-55AM2s, SA-9 Gaskins and a medium BMP-2 Motor Rifle Company. Add some trusty Shilkas and you will have two each of Mi-24 Hinds, Su-25 Frogfoot, and SU-22 Fitters that you can expand upon for air support. Choose the artillery you want to go with it depending on the nation you choose (I play Czechs – love the DANAs and RM-70s!) There you have it – some options to ponder for getting started with different Formations with the new army deal. Enjoy!

~ John Lee