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I picked up an American and a Soviet army for Team Yankee, enough to introduce a few friends to the game, and finally played my first game. It was a lot of fun, and a fairly close match, but there were few rules I think I got wrong that I just can't seem to find an answer to in the rulebook. Any input would be appreciated.

1. Can line of sight be blocked to and from aircraft? If a unit of AA is in a forest, more than two inches in, can they shoot at, and be shot at by aircraft? My opponent had a unit of Chapparels in a forest, more than 2" in. I know they would get concealment to and from them, but can they see aircraft (and can aircraft see them) more than 2" in the forest? Seems like it would be very easy to just sit a unit of AA missiles in a forest where no one else can touch them and they can harass aircraft the whole game.
2. Opponent had a unit of 4 VADS. Two of the models were right up against a tall building, and two models were a little further away. The two models physically up against the building didn't have line of sight to the aircraft, but I'm not sure if that matters or not for aircraft. Could they shoot?
3. I could have sworn I read somewhere that units shooting at aircraft suffer a -1 to hit them. This may be an old rule, or for another game. Aircraft just got bullied by AA in this game! Certainly we need to learn how to use aircraft better, though.
4. A little question about the Hunter-Killer rules. The book says hunter-killers get concealment from tall terrain within 4." Does that terrain have to actually obscure the hunter-killer aircraft from the shooter (ie: be between the shooter and the aircraft) or does the hunter-killer get concealment just from being within 4" of tall terrain, whether or not that terrain is inbetween the shooter or not?
5. Can more than one unit shoot AA at the same aircraft unit in an enemy turn? If my unit of Hind's are about to shoot, and they are in range of an enemy Chapparel, and an enemy VADS, can both the VADS and Chapparel shoot at the Hind before it shoots? Or can only one unit shoot AA at each enemy unit in their turn?
6. I'm a little confused about concealment and gone to ground. If an infantry team tries to dig in and fails, do they count as concealed? I know if they don't shoot they count as gone to ground, but gone to ground seems to do nothing unless the team is also concealed. If they try to dig in, fail, and shoot in the shooting step, are they still concealed?

I think that's it for now, and appreciate any help! We're going to play another game tomorrow, it's been fun!

Note that these answers are from the first edition of the rules. I don't think the second edition rules have changed all that much. But I can't be certain that's the case. I would recommend double-checking all of my answers while using my answers as a guide.

1.) Line of sight between ground units and aircraft works differently than it does between two units on the ground. If the ground unit is within 4" of "Tall Terrain" (i.e. buildings, hills, trees, etc...), then both the air and the ground unit have concealment from each other. But both units can still draw line of sight.

2.) See my first answer.

3.) Dedicated AA, Guided AA, and Aircraft weapons do not suffer any penalties when shooting at flying aircraft. All other weapons shooting at flying aircraft have RoF 1, and suffer a +1 penalty to hit if they already have RoF 1. Note that all of those AAMGs mounted on various vehicles do *not* have those traits. So while they can be used against aircraft, they're penalized. Those VADs that you mentioned, on the other hand, get their full rate of fire.

4.) The terrain must be between the Hunter-Killer and the ground unit. In first edition, this is part of a longer section that talks about how intervening terrain close to ground units will provide concealment, but intervening terrain close to air units does not. And then the rules note the exception - i.e. terrain close to air units with the Hunter-Killer trait.

5.) Yes. There is no restriction regarding how many units may fire at a single enemy unit, assuming that all other conditions are met.

6.) I'm guessing that you're specifically referencing the "Infantry counts as concealed in the open if it didn't move" rule. The Dig In rule reads "... can issue a Dig In Order instead of Moving..." Ergo, when you issue a Dig In order, the unit doesn't move. And the rule states that infantry in the open count as Concealed if they didn't move. Since issuing a Dig In order doesn't count as moving (regardless of whether your infantry succeeds or fails), the infantry unit counts as concealed even if it doesn't succeed in digging in. And the rules don't mention anything about losing their Concealed state if they fire. What this represents is the infantry taking advantage of the small dips and rises in the ground that you can't see, and that would be completely inconsequential to a vehicle attempting to find cover. A foot-deep dip in an open field won't even cover a vehicles tires or tracks. And an observer might not even notice such a small dip from a distance. But it's deep enough to hide a prone man.


The air vs anti-air meta in Team Yankee is one of those things you become aware of as you play. Dedicated anti-air units will quickly wreck enemy air units if the air units get within range. But by the same token, air units that operate in an environment without dedicated anti-air units will generally have a field day picking off the very vulnerable ground units. In real life, you probably wouldn't see that much of either on a given battlefield, aside from things like the various AAMGs and MANPADs that were part of the infantry platoon/company TOEs. The air assets were too few on number to show up on every battlefield. Meanwhile, stuff like the VADs and Gophers would probably have been further back protecting important resources like supply dumps and artillery batteries. Of course, since the artillery batteries are also on-table...

In any case, just be aware of this. You'll figure out the best approach to use for your own group. If one of the guys in your group starts getting too gung-ho with anti-air assets, it might be worthwhile to play a few games against him without aircraft in your list (don't warn him beforehand, of course!), so that he basically ends up wasting all of those anti-air points. Once he catches on, he'll cut down on the amount of points he spends on anti-air, and you can start thinking about whether it's once again worthwhile to bring your own air assets back.

A friend I play Firefight with (mantic games) Has a bunch of Team Yankee stuff. We've been considering digging it out. This looks crunchier / more complex than I expected.