T-62M

Dedushka has told me stories, such stories...

"The best tank terrain is that without anti-tank weapons."

– Anonymous

What's this? A preview for oil wars? ALL RIGHT THEN!

Like the T55AM2 the T-62M is an old tank dug up from the endless Soviet inventory of old war machines and upgraded to stand an actual chance on the modern battlefield (but not TOO deep from within the inventory, that would be T34s, which shockingly in 2018 were STILL in inventories of some countries, and even still fighting in Yemen!). With bolt on BDD armor panels on the turret and hull, new side skirts, and improved fire control systems It can still hold its own against all but the latest models of main battle tanks. Armed with a 115mm 2A20 smooth bore gun, this old girl can still dish out the damage whether it be traditional munitions or even ATGMs.

In Team Yankee

T-62M

Da Stats, Comrade!

If you somehow wanted to cram even more tanks into a Soviet armored list, buddy have I got the tank for you.

The T-62M shares the armor values of the T-55AM2, with a front armor of 14, side armor of 9 and a top armor of 2, and should be played in a similar manner. If anything serious notices you, you are most likely going to lose a tank or three. You do get the benefits of bazooka skirts, though, so light man portable anti-tank weapons will have a slightly harder time trying to kill you.

The primary difference between the T-62M and the T-55AM2 is the gun. While the T-55 struggles how to deal with modern tanks, T-62M's 115mm 2A20 gun has an AT of 21, just enough to deal with those pesky 18 front armor tanks, and will punch right through the sides. The 2+ Firepower Rating guarantees that you will be demolishing your targets with almost every penetrating hit. You also get the AT-10 Stabber missile which has an extra 16 inches of range over conventional munitions but has a Firepower Rating of 3+, alhough you do get the Guided and HEAT rules. Unlike the other Soviet guns, though, you don't get the Brutal rule, so you probably would be better off using your MGs against infantry and unarmored vehicles.

T-62M battalions start at 3 tanks for 5 points and for every tank you then add tack on another 3 points to a limit of 10 tanks which tops out at 29 points. ATGMs will cost you 2 points to equip you battalion, which means that they get proportionally less expensive the more tanks in your battalion.

T-62

The T-62 is the middle ground between the T55AM2 and NATO's offerings for the Iraqi and Iranian armies.

Iraqi

Place

Iranian

Tonk from the Middle East. Oh look, Brutal! So it can munch infantry decently, but, it loses the laser, ATGM, and one front armor point, along with bazooka skirts. This makes sense, with the Soviet models having been modernized at this point. It also loses 2 AT for the main gun in exchange. The crew is braver, with one more courage vs base, and has a counterattack of 3, another one over base.

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IRL

The Russians were still using this in 2008

If the T-55 is the GLORIOUS WORKERS TANK, the T-62 is the lesser-known nobody likes to talk about. Its record in Soviet and Russian service is rather patchy and it's notable as the last Soviet MBT design to not include an autoloader. The T-62 is really a forgotten tank, occupying an awkward middle ground between the highly-advanced T-64 and the numererous T-55. While T-62's 115mm gun was superior to the T-55's 100mm gun, the tank itself was otherwise nearly identical to its predecessor in terms of protection and mobility, which made its higher price tag and greater complexity a tougher buy. As such, every Warsaw Pact country but Bulgaria skipped it.

What's really interesting about it however, isn't what the Soviets did with it, though some of the Soviet variants are pretty crazy, ranging from firefighting vehicles to a tank destroyer model that ditched the gun for a shitload of ATGMs. Rather, it is what everyone else did with it, which amounted to a bazillion different variants with varying levels of modernization. From 1970 to 1980, this was the most advanced Soviet tank available for export; seeing as the T-72 was starting to come into service, the Soviet Union was only too happy to pawn them off to Third World countries needing to replenish their tank inventories.

The Russian firefighting variant, better known as the Impuls-2M. It's basically an MLRS that launches firefighting chemicals

The Egyptians bought it, and in the 80's took out the 115mm gun for a 105mm L7. The Israelis did similar modifications around the same time to captured T-62's and 62M's. Bulgaria also created a firefighting vehicle variant. Angola, some middle eastern nations like Syria, and some other communist nations in Asia and Africa bought them as well as Cuba. The Chinese stole tech out of the T-62 for their own Type-69 MBT, based on a captured vehicle they got during the Sino-Soviet Border Skirmishes, which has since become a better seller than the original. The Type-69 is interestingly enough a small improvement on the Type-59 which is a copy of the T-54A, but that's a long story you should look up on your own. But the really really crazy stuff comes from the North Koreans.

The North Koreans have what I can only describe as a fetish for the T-62. Such a fetish in fact, that they christened it the Chonma-ho II when they imported it. Why II? Because they already had a Chonma-ho I. The Chonma-ho I is the T-62, but with thinner armor. It's an exact copy in almost every way, except somehow worse. Just to make things more confusing, there's two different Chonma-ho II's, with the second (I'll call it the 'II 2') being an upgrade of the I, so there's that. The III is just a II 2 with a barrel heat shroud and sideskirts, so it's a T-62M but still worse. The IV, V, and VI models are basically just I's and II 2's with modernized fire control, ERA and Applique armor (IV,) a IV with a 125mm gun from the T-72 (V), and the V with rubber all over it to deal with tandem warheads somehow (VI). The North Koreans also like to put Strela-2's and Strela-3's on the turrets of these things, and even have another variant for a command tank that doesn't even have a main gun. All in all, they have something like 1,500 T-62 and T-62 derivatives, all together.

If Battlefront ever adds North Koreans, (and if the cold war ever did go hot some conflict in Asia would be expected even if the Sino-Soviet split had happened by 1985) expect a load of upgrade sprues.

Historically, Iranian T-62's were not really comparable to the Iraqi models. While the Iraqi forces were buying directly from the Soviets and more than a few were of Czech manufacture, the Iranian models were very much second hand. The few hundred T-62's the Iranians got were mostly Libyan hand me downs, and the North Korean (and inferior) T-62 copy Ch'ŏnma-ho MBT's.

The T-62 did see some success in Africa. Cuban forces operated them during their interventions in Angola and Ethiopia, with great success. They blunted the locally manufactured South African armor in Angola, and were much more successful in counter insurgency actions in and after the Ogaden War inside Ethiopia. The Cubans still possess many of them, and they are all modernized.

Speaking of which Battlefront, World War 3 in the Dark Continent when?

Iraqi Forces in Team Yankee
Tanks:	T-55 - T-62 - T-72M
Transports:	BTR-60 - OT-64 - AMX-10P - BMP-1
Troops:	Motor Rifle Company
Artillery:	2S1 Carnation - 2S3 Acacia - AMX Auf1 - BM-21 Hail
Anti-Aircraft:	ZSU 23-4 Shilka - SA-13 Gopher - SA9 Gaskin - SA-8 Gecko - Roland AA
Tank Hunters:	Spandrel - VCR/TH
Recon:	BRDM-2 - BTR-60 OP
Aircraft:	MI-24 Hind - Gazelle HOT
US Support:	A-10 Warthog - AV-8 Harrier

Iranian Forces in Team Yankee
Tanks:	T-55 - T-62 - M60 Patton - Chieftain
Transports:	M113 Armored Personnel Carrier - BTR-60 - BMP-1
Troops:	Iranian Mechanized Platoon - Basij Infantry Company
Artillery:	M109 Howitzer - BM-21 Hail - M125 81mm
Anti-Aircraft:	ZSU 23-4 Shilka - ZSU-57-2 - SA-8 Gecko
Tank Hunters:	Jeep TOW - Jeep 106mm Recoilless - M113 106mm Recoilless
Recon:	Scorpion
Aircraft:	AH-1 Cobra Attack Helicopter
Soviet Support:	SU-25 Frogfoot