M60 Patton
"May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won’t."
- – Gen. George S. Patton
The M60 was America's first Main Battle Tank (because all the tanks before it were classified as Medium, Light or Heavy). The M60 is armed with a M68 105mm main cannon and two MGs, one .50 M2 on top and a .30 cal mounted coaxially with the main gun. Uniquely, the AA .50 cal is actually mounted in a little commanders turret on top of the actual turret, rather than just being bolted to a convenient peg.
The M60 was based on the older M48, which had a more rounded hull and a 90mm main gun.
In Team Yankee
The M60 is a decent alternative for American players who don't want to spend 2/3rds of their points allotment on tanks.
The Patton is basically armed with the same weapons systems as the Abrams (sans one .30cal) and can dish out the same damage as its successor. The M68 105mm Cannon has a ROF of 2 while both moving and staying still, meaning the M60 can use its mobility while still being capable of engaging targets. The Laser Rangefinder rule allows the M60 to engage targets beyond 16 inches without adding +1 to your shooting rolls. The AT of 20 is more than enough to punch right through anything lighter than a MBT and stands a decent chance of damaging things like the T-72. With the best Soviet armor coming in at frontal 17, you may decide to compliment your tanks with a few ATGMs to reliably punch through a line of tanks.
On the defensive, however, the M60 comes up a bit short. The Patton has a front armor 15, only one more than the T55AM2 which means that Soviet Tank guns will perforate it like an oversized balloon, to say nothing of ATGMs. The side armor is a similarly lackluster 8 (which is actually one less than a T55AM2 but still 2 better than the Chieftain) and it gets worse. The M60 Lacks any kind of additional protection, not even Bazooka Skirts, so what you see is what you get on this thing.
While players may look at the paper-thin armor that the Patton boasts and run back to the Abrams, consider the point cost. Each Abrams costs double of a Patton, meaning that a platoon of Abrams could translate to two platoons of M60s. With the effective doubling in firepower, players with a preference for damage or the ability to preserve their tanks using LOS blocking will find the Patton to be far more cost-effective.
US Armies may take Patton Platoons ranging in size from 2 tanks to 4. Each tank will cost you 4 points. TL;DR: Cheaper, decent tank, but it is much more fragile and must be shielded by your Abrams tanks.
IRL
The M60 Patton is essentially a dressed-up version of the older M48 Patton, developed in response to the T-54A after the Brits got to examine one up close during the Hungarian Revolution. This led to replacing the old 90mm cannon on the M48 with a 105mm cannon to match against the Soviets' 100mm guns. Despite the fact you could literally put the same gun and systems onto the M48 but oh well we are the Army lets make a new tank that isn't new. The main reason for getting a new designation is that the M60 was supposed to be innovative, early designs planned on using composite armor and a combination gun and missile launcher (as seen on the Sheridan) mounted in a strange looking low profile turret called the Starship; ultimately pretty much all of these experimental features flopped in one way or another and so by the time the tank was fit for combat it was basically just back to where it started, an M48 with a bigger gun With the elimination of the Light, Medium, and Heavy Tank classifications, the M60 became America's first Main Battle Tank. The M60 had been used throughout most of the Cold War until the introduction of the M1 Abrams that superceded it. Even after that, the M60 stayed for a while, proving itself viable against Iraqi T-55s, Type 69s and T-72s during operations Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom. The US finally retired its last M60s in 2005, but many armies still use them. Hell upgrades come with 25mm auto cannons in place of the M2 machine gun and a 120mm cannons. Very lightly modified units are serving in the Syria conflict with better success than more advanced Leopard 2 tanks.
| US Forces in Team Yankee | |
|---|---|
| Tanks: | M1 Abrams - M60 Patton - M551 Sheridan - RDF/LT |
| Transports: | M113 Armored Personnel Carrier - UH-1 Huey - AAVP7 - Bradley Fighting Vehicle - Pickup Trucks |
| Troops: | US Mech Platoon - Marine Rifle Platoon - Huey Rifle Platoon - HMMWV Machine Gun Platoon - Light Motor Infantry Platoon - Irregular Militia Group |
| Artillery: | M106 Heavy Mortar Carrier - M109 Howitzer - LAV-M - M270 MLRS |
| Anti-Aircraft: | M163 VADS - M48 Chaparral - M247 Sergeant York - HMMWV SAM |
| Tank Hunters: | M901 ITV - HMMWV-TOW - LAV-AT |
| Recon: | M113 FIST- M113 Scout Section - HMMWV Scout Section - LAV-25 - Bradley Fighting Vehicle |
| Aircraft: | A-10 Warthog - AV-8 Harrier - AH-1 Cobra Attack Helicopter - AH-64 Apache Attack Helicopter |
| Israeli Forces in Team Yankee | |
|---|---|
| Tanks: | Merkava - M60 Patton |
| Transports: | M113 Armored Personnel Carrier |
| Troops: | IDF Infantry Platoon |
| Artillery: | M109 Howitzer -M106 Heavy Mortar Carrier -M125 Mortar Carrier |
| Anti-Aircraft: | M163 VADS - ZSU 23-4 Shilka - M48 Chaparral - Redeye SAM Platoon |
| Tank Hunters: | Pereh - M150 TOW - Jeep TOW |
| Recon: | M113 Recce - Jeep Recce |
| Aircraft: | AH-1 Cobra Attack Helicopter - A4 Skyhawk |
| 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 |