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T-80

2022-04-18T20:16:19Z

2001:8003:1D0D:301:F1BD:74D9:88E5:B074: Undo revision 821502 by 24.129.173.98 (talk) Laughs in tractor

[[File:TYBX02-03.jpg|300px|right|thumb|'Honour and Glory' - motto, 4th Guards Tank Division]]

{{topquote|The instrument of doom.|Apocalypse Tank, Red Alert 2 }}
The Soviet version of the Bradley's horrible beauracratic design process, the T-80 series was the Soviet's answer to the third generation of Western main battle tanks like the Leopard 2, Challenger and the Abrams. Building on the principle of the T-64 as the premium battle tank of the Soviet shock armies, the T-80 would become defined for its horribly inconsistent gas turbine engine and unreliability while on the move.

==In Team Yankee==

[[File:DE7DA872-887D-4557-9995-2C1EB19C5B66.jpg|thumb|left|300px]] <ref> https://www.team-yankee.com/hobby.aspx?art_id=7057</ref>

The T-80 represents the cream of the crop, the best that the USSR has to offer, and boy is it... one of the tanks ever in the game.
Battlefront chose the T-80U. This model sported the famous 'Kontakt-5' reactive armor package, and image intensification sights in addition to all the classic Russian tank features you know and love. The T-80 is a much closer match to the likes of the Abrams and Leopard, both in points and performance. It comes with some incredibly powerful hard stats: armor 20/10/2; an AT 22, brutal cannon; and a 14" tactical speed with its advanced stabilizer. Where you should be getting suspicious is the price: 7.33-8.8 points each, due to a few important weaknesses we'll discuss below.

The most outstanding feature of this tank is by far its sheer armor protection. For an 8 point tank, armor 20 is nothing to scoff at: by comparison, NATO is paying 11 points for the same levels of protection and that's on a hull that is significantly less mobile. Not only that, but its the first tank in the game with ERA, giving it effectively Chobham protection and making you a far more potent assault tank compared to your lesser Soviet peers. Before you start yelling "Russian bias" or get a raging, stalinium reinforced hard-on, there is a catch; one that Soviet players are more than aware of by now: 3+ to hit. "What does being hit matter if the capitalist swine can't even penetrate my armor?" And to that we reply "They can't penetrate your FRONT armor, tovarisch..."

The second important feature is this tanks sheer mobility. It is one of 2 tanks in the Soviet arsenal with a 14" move and absolutely outstanding dash speeds. The problem is... nothing, actually, there really isn't a catch here. You have a 2+ cross, letting you get through any terrain you need, and that's something not even your mediocre skill can mess up. This mobility will be a great tool for protecting your tanks and letting you keep your armor toward the enemy.

The last, probably least interesting stat on these tanks is the firepower. Once again, we have the classic 125mm 2A46 cannon with AT22, firepower 2+, and brutal. This is a justly feared weapon, capable of facing all but the most advanced NATO tanks pretty well. There are 2 major Achilles heels though, both of which Soviet players will be well aware of: 32" range and RoF 1. To help combat the first weakness, we have the AT-11 "Sniper" missile. This bumps your range to 48", and unlike other tanks with such missiles, it maintains AT 22 to help overcome its loss in firepower. Not only that, but its stabilized and can be fired while moving 14". What's the catch? '''It's a point per tank''' On a regular, 6x4' table, this just isn't worth it, as your mobility and armor let you get within gun range rather fine and +1 AT (only at range) rarely is a decisive difference when you're sacrificing recon, artillery, or infantry to get it. No, 32" range isn't a massive crutch, but RoF 1 is crippling, and what ultimately defines the conditions where you deploy this tank. This may seem odd, since it's fine for other Soviet tanks, but those tanks don't cost as much as an Abrams! For 8 points, you are fielding a relatively expensive tank: A NATO player spamming Leo 1s will easily have 2-3 tanks to your 1, which are harder to hit and only marginally less mobile. For the cost of 2 of these tanks (total of 2 shots), you could have 10 T-55s, which can pump out 5x the firepower.

''side note: notice that we never mentioned the Tandem Warhead feature of the missile. This is because it's that important (It can only be used against fellow PACT tanks for now and is practically useless when it just negates their 6+ save anyway.)''

All this combines to put this tank in a relatively interesting predicament: for the price, you get great protection and mobility, but firepower that is far worse than it should be, not by quality, but quantity (ironically). This has important implications for both your list and the roles the T-80 does well. We'll start with the roles.

The T-80 is probably the worst tank in the game for handling swarms of cheap tanks and IFVs, but its great armor and mobility for the price make it relatively potent for hunting more elite NATO tanks, from Chieftain up. Your armor lets you tank their AT22 shots rather well, and you cost around half the price of the most expensive of them while having similar or superior mobility, allowing you to chase them and flank them rather effectively, where you still have a severe numbers advantage. The other role the T-80 fills rather well is just...being a tank. Once again, the relatively large numbers of them you can bring with that level of armor lets them distract important enemy units and protect objectives better than many other units in your arsenal for the price.

If you really must include T-80s for whatever reason, you need to have a plan. As we discussed, the T-80 is powerful in very specific rolls, but it is absolute trash in others, and your army needs to compensate for this. The real result of this is that, on top of the regular cost of the T-80, you have a phantom cost of the support assets and capabilities required to support them. The first weakness is your firepower: you will need something that can put out a lot more dakka than your T-80s can manage, and fortunately the Red Army has a few options: T-55AMs have AT21 ATGMS and cost a measly 1.8 points a tank max, there are 3 different flavors of BMP you can choose from, which come in large numbers with bonus infantry ''and'' pack ATGMs that can handle hoards rather effectively. The second is your weak flanks. Thanks to objectives and board edges, you can only pull back so far before the hoard catches up with you, and so you need to buy yourself time. Soviet infantry can set tarpits that prevent you from being flanked by bum-rushing M60s, and you have the cheapest recon in the game with the BRDM-2 to help block enemy spearheads and give you room to maneuver. Use these to create space and prevent enemy breakthroughs, then when your flanks are secure, push forward and punish the capitalist aggressors mercilessly!

===T-80 Shock Company===

Representing the best of the best the Soviet army has to offer, the T-80 Shock company is a very different beast from any formation yet seen by Soviet players. It gives the ability to field a small, elite formation as opposed to the massed parking lots so familiar to many. The astute may notice that it is designated as a formation rather than a unit, and this is not a typo. Consisting of an HQ and 2-3 platoons of 2-3 tanks each, it is comparable in size to NATO armoured formations, with all the support options that Soviet formations bring. Available support includes a Shock Motor Rifle company, a Shock BMP 3 scout platoon, a SPAAG platoon of either Shilkas or Tunguskas, a SAM platoon of Gaskins or Gophers, and a Carnation battery. It is noteworthy that the stats discussed below belong only to the tanks, infantry, and scouts: support units have the typical Soviet stat line.

Anything with the “Shock” designation is hit on a 4+, has 3+ Skill, and one better Assault rating than is normal. Different units benefit to varying degrees from the boost to Assault and Skill, but the 4+ to hit is very solid for an army with a universal 3+. The T-80s themselves are still the same tank as the standard version, but now more difficult to hit and able to reliably shoot and scoot to avoid the worst of enemy return fire.

The Shock T-80s take all of the problems and advantages of the regular T-80 to 11. For about 10 points per tank, you get West German levels of training and morale with the same silly armor and mobility of the T-80. The problem is that now you're paying ''ten points'' for a single shot. These could be good as formation support in the same roles as the regular T-80s, but fielding the entire formation is very difficult in a 100 point game: 7 tanks (that's only 7 shots!) only gives you 32 points to field all of the necessary support elements mentioned above as well as the infantry, artillery, and recon that you'll need. Consider pairing them with BMP-1/2s to bump the level of firepower you have and bring infantry concurrently. You will be heavily outnumbered in most situations, and you'll need a solid amount of cheap AT to make up the difference against swarms, even more so than the regular T-80s. Because of the numerical disparity, you will have to play a far more subtle game than is typical for Soviets, and avoid casualties as much as possible. If NATO tactics using Russian equipment are what you’re after, then this is the formation for you! As an added bonus, it can make playing Soviets mercifully cheap in real-life currency.

==In Real Life==
[[File:1280px-4thTankBrigade - T-80U -33.jpg|300px|right|thumb|Soviet Power Supreme]]
[[File:Tank training of Ukrainian Air Assault, December 2018, 03.jpg|300px|right|thumb|Ukrainian Airborne Forces Rockin the T-80]]
Visually similar to the T-72, any Western commander who mistook it as such would be in for a shock: the T-80 was a frighteningly deadly weapon, combining the 125mm cannon with BDD armour superior to the T-64's, reactive armour blocks and the latest tank-killing shells the Soviet Union had to offer. Later versions like the T-80B would even have the ability to fire Kobra missiles, allowing it to outrange the latest Western tanks of the time. As of 1985, T-80U was arguably the best tank around: heavy ERA "Kontakt-5" made it pretty much immune to anything Westerners could reasonably throw at it, while newest munitions had a good chance of penetrating both Leopard-2 and M1A1 Abrams.

Unfortunately, gas turbine engines tend to require a lot of fuel to sustain. The US was able to sustain having those engines in their Abrams due to having ALL THE OIL, but Russia and its dead-in-the-water economy could not. Due to the increased costs of feeding and maintaining said engine, the Russians made the diesel T80UD for its armed forces but eventually decided to stick with the T-72. Eventually the T-72 would evolve into T-72BU or the T-90: a T-72 with better armor, an improved engine, the advanced fire control systems and APS found within the T-80 turret, provisions for ERA and loads of other smaller upgrades that essentially make it an entirely new tank.

Today, the T-80 remains the core of the Russian tank corps alongside heavily modernized T-72s. The T-80 might lack the reliability and fuel-economy of modern T-90 variants, but the Modern Russian Federation has the petroleum infrastructure the Union lacked to feed these gas guzzling monsters and so these tanks can keep up with all but the absolute best armour of the West… but not Javelin ATGM’s, as seen in Ukraine. Ukrainian T-80s/T-84s are taking out a lot of T-72s however.

{{Soviet Forces in Team Yankee}}

[[Category:Vehicles]]

T-72

2022-04-18T20:16:02Z

2001:8003:1D0D:301:F1BD:74D9:88E5:B074: Undo revision 821503 by 24.129.173.98 (talk) Two months into a two week invasion

[[File:T-72 Tank.jpg|300px|right|thumb|For the glory of slav-kind!]]
{{topquote|[[Looted|Have you captured a Russian tank or armored personnel carrier]] [[Administratum|and are worried about how to declare it (for tax purposes)]]? [[Imperial Guard|Keep calm and continue to defend the Motherland]]! [[Wat|There is no need to declare the captured Russian tanks and other equipment]], [[Lulz|because the cost of this ... does not exceed 100 living wages.]]|[[Commissariat|Ukraine's National Agency for the Protection against Corruption (NAPC)]].}}
The T-72 is Soviet second generation MBT employed by a variety of nations. In classic Russian fashion, it is rugged, relatively easy to produce, and simple enough that any soviet peasant can hop in and spread the revolution with utmost efficiency. The T-72 incorporates some of the latest advances in Soviet weapons technology, mouning an auto-loading 2A46 125mm main gun, which is capable of firing fin stabilized ammunition, and is protected by BDD composite armor similar to the Chobham armor used on western tanks.

Note that this article covers the actual T-72 only, the version produced and intended strictly for Soviet use. A downgraded export model, the T-72M, was produced for foreign sales and licensed for production by certain countries, like the Polish People's Republic. T-72s remain in the modern Russian Army's armored forces, but it has largely been replaced in Russian use by the improved T-72B3 and T-90, both of which are modernised overhauls of the original T-72.

==In Team Yankee==
[[File:T-72 Stat Card.jpg|300px|left|thumb|The Stat Card]]
''Updating this section for Team Yankee V2.''

The T-72A is an iconic Red Army MBT, representing the middle ground between a horde of T-55AM2s and a tiny company of T-64Bs. Being also the first tank introduced to the game alongside the M1, it has been powercreeped into obscurity. If you're still reading this, you are a true Soviet patriot.

This budget T-64 plays the role of a jack-of-all-trades tank, but compares poorly to it's earlier cousin, the T62m, due to it's points cost. Whether you need a tank for linebreaking, assault or fire support, the T-72 can do it all, just not very well.

Lets start with the boomstick. The T-72 mounts a 125mm 2A46 gun which is quite capable of punching through early model NATO Main Battle tanks and stands a decent chance of damaging later models with it's AT value of 22, and with the FP of 2+, practically anything you penetrate you are going to blow up. It's also rather good at dealing with unarmored targets like infantry and light vehicles as the ''Brutal'' rule means that they have to re-roll their successful saves. The T-72 can fire on the move with near impunity as the stabilizer negates the negative effects of moving and the laser rangefinder negates the penalties of firing on the move. The only downside is the fact that the 2A46 only has a ROF of 1, both halted and on the move, which means that you must mass tanks to mass fire, as is the case with practically all Soviet tanks. Importantly, the presence of the stabilizer means that the T-72 can really move when it needs to, and this is an aspect that many commanders forget about when calculating flank and spank distances. Although it suffers a penalty to hit, getting a flank shot when you need it means the distance between victory and defeat.

Oh, there is also a pair of machine guns; one 12.7mm AA mounted on a pintle and a 7.62mm mounted coaxially.

It's when the T-72 begins taking fire rather than dishing it out that things can get a bit dicey. The Frontal armour only has a paltry rating of 16, and the sides have a rating of 8. This value lies in the worst sweet spot for armor values, as common anti-tank weapons like the TOW, MILAN and other ATGMs will send turrets flying faster than you can say "cyka". To make things worse for our exploding hot pocket, new TOW 2 and 120mm DU rounds will simply tear through the T-72's front like it wasnt there. The T72's best defense is its mobility. Make full use of it's adequate 3+ cross to ensure you are hugging cover and make Uncle Sam work for his kills.

Things do get a little better as the T-72 is equipped with BDD armour, which bumps the side armour up to 13 against things with HEAT. Like the T64, the T-72 can assault fairly well and is suited to bullying US infantry, or other infantry when you have taken out their Carl Gustavs.

Despite these quirks, the T-72's points cost is the true deal breaker. At the onset of Team Yankee, a platoon of 3 for 12 points seemed like insane value when compared alongside the M1, but since then time has marched on and cheaper and better units, particularly the T-72's knockoff cousin, the T-72m, have all but kicked our poor stalwart to the curb like most Soviet WW2 veterans. A single tank add-on at 5pts each is simply too much to bear (ahem) for this poor workhorse. Hence, If you are somehow forced to use the T-72, fielding them in platoons of 3 in a full company of 10 is probably the best way you can flog a dead horse. There are better options out there (looking at you T62m) for fire support or for zerging. Dont say we didnt warn you!

==IRL==
[[File:T-64 IRL.jpg|300px|right|thumb|A Soviet tank defending the tree which Stalin plucked an apple from as a child.]]
Like many Soviet tanks, the T-72 is among the most massively-produced post-WWII tanks out there, seeing service in many countries outside Soviet borders. Like all things Soviet, ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRAPmAeQl0k| except their cars]), its chief features are cost-effective design and simple but efficient lethality. Even while the modern Russian Army has replaced the venerable T-72 with newer tanks (namely the T-90, which is basically just a T-72 with more current weapon systems), the T-72 is still solid enough that it has been repurposed for a wide variety of combat roles that it wasn't originally designed for, including the [[wikipedia:BMPT_Terminator|BMPT Terminator]] used for urban pacification (and simultaneously sporting one of the most menacing names for a tank ever), or the [[TOS-1 Buratino]]. If your confused by that and remember T-72's getting [[rape|Roflstomped]] during the Gulf War, the answer is that those were [[T-72M]] which are the export version of the T-72 and were not as advanced as the ones used by the Russian army and eastern bloc nations proper, along with the reported inability of Middle Eastern armies in mastering the art of Soviet Doctrine (AKA. Attack-Move). Or any doctrine, really: read some books about the Arab-Israeli wars, they are so one-sided it's not even funny. (Well, the Republican Guard of Iraq did actually have sound defensive tactics but ultimately were overwhelmed by M1 Abrams tanks rushing over their defensive positions.)

There's a bit of an old wives' tale regarding the T-72's and other Russian tank's autoloaders: namely that the autoloader would every so often accidentally eat the gunner's arm. This is a myth likely originating from Bryan Perrett's "Soviet armour since 1945" that haven't been true of the T-64's even when they were new as they simply wouldn't have been entered production otherwise. While yeah, T-64's were more complex and therefore less reliable compared to the T-72; a snapped thread, broken suspension system or failing engine is one thing. A dead or seriously injured gunner is on a complete another level, unacceptable even to the Red Army. Example: in 1941 the Red Army had a grenade named the RG-41, and it was more than a match for the more common RGD-33: weighting less while having the same amount of explosives. The only problem was its safety system: if the user fucked up the initiation sequence (and it was not as simple as "pull the pin") and it malfunctioned, that baby could blow in his hands right in the moment he was about to throw it. After less than ''a dozen'' recorded incidents (and mind it, not a word in press or anything!), Russian soldiers simply stopped using those grenades. They preferred using RGD-33's or nothing at all; which lead to the RG-41 quickly being replaced with the much safer to use RG-42. [[Chaos_Space_Marines|A tank that can bite your arm off is a very, very bad thing for morale, and no one in the right mind would sit in it, am I right?]]

Incidentally: the T-72 was not the most modern tank in the Soviet Arsenal by the time of Team Yankee 1985's start date for World War Three. That title belongs to the [[T-80]], first introduced in 1976, well in time for this 'dust up'.

The T-72B (which the incoming Warsaw Pact expansion will introduce), was just entering service in 1985. Among other upgrades it featured improved turret armor, ERA, and the ability to fire AT-11s (though that option is unlikely to be a wise use of points in the current meta). The T-72AV was also in service by 1985, and may make an appearance at some point in the future. Given that Battlefront Miniatures has already released vehicles [[Leopard 2#Leopard 2A5|that only entered service in the 1990s]], or that are entirely the product of [[M247 Sergeant York|alternate history]], it's possible other T-72 variants will appear in future expansions, if for no better reason than to part tabletop gamers from more of their hard-earned cash.

Since the end of the Cold War the number of variants has risen; as is to be expected, budgetary realities have made outright replacement with more modern AFVs impractical, so the various post-Communist and export users have continued to use their existing inventories, applying various upgrade packages as funds allow to suit their needs. Many of these vehicles have squared off against each other in the former Yugoslavia, Chechnya, Syria, Nagorno-Karabakh, Georgia, Ethiopia, and Ukraine.

The last of those has seen the appearance of nearly every variant in inventory on both sides, from the extensively upgraded (T-72AMT, T-72UA1, and more recently Czech-origin T-72M4 for the Ukrainians; T-72B2, B3, and B3M for the Russians) all the way on down to base model T-72As without any ERA, which have unsurprisingly fared poorly in the face of accurate long-range artillery, contemporary APFSDS, and top-attack ATGM spam.

Despite it's growing age and the emergence of two new generations of armor since, the T-72 is set to remain in use for decades to come; quite the achievement for a vehicle that started its development as a design only intended for emergency war-time production. Though with the Ukrainans busy demonstrating anti-tank missile spam works just as well in real life as in Team Yankee, perhaps that life span is shortening even as we speak.

{{Soviet Forces in Team Yankee}}
[[Category:Team Yankee]]
[[Category:Vehicles]]

T-62M

2022-04-18T20:15:43Z

2001:8003:1D0D:301:F1BD:74D9:88E5:B074: Undo revision 821506 by 24.129.173.98 (talk) MonkeyPutin.png

[[File:TAARBX07c.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Dedushka has told me stories, such stories...]]
{{topquote|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 smoothbore gun, this old girl can still dish out the damage whether it be traditional munitions or even ATGMs.
==In Team Yankee==
===T-62M===
[[File:TSBX19-05.jpg||300px|left|thumb|Da Stats, Comrade!]]

''Updated for Team Yankee V2.''

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 is basically a T-55 with a BFG in place of the piddly cannon and acts as the USSR's premium fire support machine.

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 (assuming you even get to flank). The 2+ Firepower Rating guarantees that you will be demolishing your targets with almost every penetrating hit, and being brutal, your gun will mulch any infantry it hits. The gun is the T62M's single defining purpose, and it's job is to rain fire down on anything unfortunate enough to stand in front of it. While it cannot deal with the new super heavies, it will at least deter lighter vehicles from engaging in a stand-up brawl, which heavily favors you. 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+, although you do get the ''Guided'' and ''HEAT'' rules. This transforms the T62M into a complete base camper, and also provides some sneaky on-demand anti helicopter firepower if needed.

Sharing the exact same mobility as the T-55, don't expect to go very far in the T-62M. While the T-55 generally makes a beeline for flanking attacks, The T-62M is a dedicated fire support vehicle and as such should be crawling at 10" towards the front line, firing as it goes. With a very disappointing 4+ cross, expect this tank to get bogged down in forests and take heavy casualties on the way in.

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. While it cannot be spammed at the same level as the T-55, the T-62M can still be fielded in enough numbers alongside your hordes of thirsty Russians to make NATO commanders reach for their nuclear codes.

==T-62==
The T-62 is the middle ground between the [[T55AM2|T-55AM2]] and NATO's offerings for the Iraqi and Iranian armies.

===Iraqi===
The Iraqi T-62 is essentially the base model and a flat downgrade from the Soviet version. Sporting the same brutal gun, inferior amunition means that it can still fight against other Oil War opponents, but scales up poorly versus modern armed forces, in addition to having the double downsides of slow firing and no laser range finding. You'll need to stay still within 16" to even consider hitting anything. Being knockoff Soviets, the thoroughly mediocre crew skills and stats also mean this tank tends to stay out of the fight once hit. It doesnt even have bazooka skirts!

On the upside, being a knockoff of a knockoff means that the Iraqi T-62 is dirt cheap and can be spammed in huge numbers, making it a daunting prospect to face against infantry or lighter vehicles. With a platoon of 5 tanks coming in at just 7 points and add-ons at 1 point each till you hit 7 tanks, the Iraqi T62 is sure to put a dent in anything it faces.

===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.

[[File:Iran_T-62_placeholder-400x225.jpg|300px|left|thumb|placeholder]]

{{Clear}}

==IRL==
[[File:T-62M main battle tank Russia Russian army defense industry military technology 640 001.jpg|300px|right|thumb|The Russians were still using this in 2008]]

If the T-55 is the GLORIOUS WORKERS TANK, the T-62 is the white-collar clerk that 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.

As of 1990, 85% of Soviet tank inventory was either T-55s or T-62s. Granted, we are mostly talking about what they called at the time "Category II," "Category III," and "Mobilization Only" units, but it is noteworthy that of a fleet of 35,000 MBTs, 30,000 were T-55s and T-62s. Yes, maintaining that kind of armored army was expensive. Turns out that maintaining a standing army of 200+ armored and mechanized divisions AND propping up pro-Soviet governments in Afghanistan, Angola, Nicaragua, and many more places, AND maintaining the world's largest nuclear arsenal, AND trying to build a blue-water navy to challenge the US at sea, was what bankrupted the USSR.

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.[[File:Impuls2m.jpg|300px|left|thumb|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.

The Russians have even shipped unmodernized tanks to the Donbas separatists, a mind boggling fact that shows how many Russian tanks aren't modernized. What is even more impressive is that the Russians can just hand them out to <s>brave rebels thugs</s> normies and not feel concern about it.

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

{{Soviet Forces in Team Yankee}}
{{Iraqi Forces in Team Yankee}}
{{Iranian Forces in Team Yankee}}
[[Category:Vehicles]]

Afghansty Air Assault Company

2022-04-18T20:15:21Z

2001:8003:1D0D:301:F1BD:74D9:88E5:B074: Undo revision 821504 by 24.129.173.98 (talk) Vatnik cope

[[File:Afghansty IRL.jpg|300px|right|thumb|Nobody, but us! [[Infantry Squad|“Where are the bloody tanks???!”]]]]
{{topquote|They wield any weapon with ease, the flag of victory is the most important of all!|Alexander Buinov, VDV (Hello From the Sky)}}

==In Team Yankee==
[[File:Afghansty card.jpg|300px|left|thumb|the Stats]]
The VDV were the Soviets' response to the question "why are your infantry so crappy?" to which they broke their vodka bottles and shived the questioning <s>wargamer</s> cyka. With your expected Soviet morale and assault, they also have a 4+ skill which is particularly unique for Soviets who typically have 5+ skill. Unit sizes are somewhere between NATO infantry and your <s>unshaved Gopnik hordes</s> unstoppable all-volunteer crusade. Their loadouts allow them to take on all but the latest NATO tanks (curse you, Chobham!). With 4+ assault, 3+ morale and decent unit sizes, they are one of the only infantry units capable of beating dug-in British infantry in assaults alongside American Airborne: they are also the only PACT infantry with assault ratings better than 5+.

Most notably, the VDV can only be bought from an Air Assault Battalion which disallows anymore than a single company of tanks. These units will form the bulk of your force, supported by Hinds.

Afgantsy formations are special because you can bring twice the normal number of Hinds to the field. When running the full 12 you often won't need many other anti-tank units. At point levels less than 100 points this is often enough to swarm and destroy enemy AA, but these lists are very vunerable to manpacked guided missiles when playing against mech companies.

If you loiter your aircraft until your infantry can clear the enemy AA, or failing that bring the hinds on table just as you are about to assault, you can really cause NATO some problems even without the aid of heavy armor.

Funnily enough, an Afghansty List could represent a Naval Air Assault Battalion due to the similar levels of training possessed by the Naval Infantry! Just throw in more BMPs and tanks in your support slots.

Now available as a black box support option, a single medium/large VDV platoon is a choice option for Soviet players looking for a brawl up close wihout hinds.

==IRL==
The Afgantsy Air Assault Battalion allows you to field elite veterans of this conflict the airborne troops of the Воздушно-десантные войска (Vozdushno-desantnye voyska, 'Air-landing Forces') or VDV for short. Basically, the Afghan war veterans of real-life history are being brought to the North German Plains by Soviet Command as an air-assault spearhead force.

Their contemporary descendants now do battle (sometimes with each-other) in Ukraine however (excepting a comparative handful of ageing Ukrainians who have returned to service) they are not Afghansty veterans.

{{Soviet Forces in Team Yankee}}

BTR-60

2022-04-18T20:15:07Z

2001:8003:1D0D:301:F1BD:74D9:88E5:B074: Under the sea, under the sea, comrade it's better, down where it's wetter, send VDV

[[File:BTR-60.jpg|300px|right|thumb|You see, comrade, armor can be on wheels too (not really, that thing can be penetrated with 0.50 cal)]]
The "'''Bronetransportyor-60''' or "'''BTR-60'''" for short is an 8-wheeled Armored Personnel Carrier used by the Soviet Union. First pressed into service on 1959, the APC piloted by two crewmen and can transport upto 12 soldiers. Additionally, despite it looking particularly bulky, it still had amphibious capabilities and was pretty fast for a transport, so it was capable of mounting a lightning water-borne assault, or run around the area doing scout runs, with ease.

As it was only designed to transport troops, it's armaments only consist of a turret-mounted 14.5mm heavy machine gun and a co-axial 7.62mm medium machine gun, with the soldiers inside providing the rest of the firepower needed to take out anything <s>with more armor than a scout car</s> KPVT loaded with armor-piercing rounds had a chance of penetrating the 30mm front aluminium armor of early M2s at the distance of 500m, one of the reasons those were upgraded to M2A2; meeting anything heavier on the battlefield face to face is a death sentence for BTR-60 (and any BTR, really) unless infantry can take it out. It's armor can also deflect small-arms, but is incapable of reliably protecting it against anything larger than a .50 caliber round from a front (9mm, but it's angled) and can be penetrated with an armor-piercing rounds from 7.62mm machine guns at close distances from the side, having only 7mm of steel between the transported soldiers and horrors of the battlefield.

Some reports from the 1990s even suggested that the then-new US M995 depleted uranium AP round in 5.56mm was quite capable of penetrating a BTR-70's or BRDM-2's armor from the sides or rear at close range. HEAT rounds from 40mm grenade launchers are also more than capable of penetrating and causing significant damage. Any kind of purpose-designed antiarmor weapon--like, say, a Panzerfaust, or a M72 LAAW, or an RPG--is pretty much guaranteed to turn it into a rolling crematorium on the first hit. Not that BMP-1s or BMDs are much better protected, mind you.

==In Team Yankee==
[[File:BTR-60 Stat Card.jpg|300px|left|thumb|Da Stats Comrade]]
Rather realistically, the BTR-60 is portrayed as a rather useless vehicle outside of its designed role. With only a single point of armour on the front and a single KPVT machine gun with AT5, it has a specific job: battle taxi-ing. While the BMP and M113 have decent stats, it detracts from the idea that the FIRST job of these vehicles it to ferry troops to the battlefield, safely. The BTR fulfils this role handsomely.

While its stats might be mediocre, the BTR comes in droves. Much like their untermensch passengers, your BTRs can comfortably outnumber the enemy 2-1 at the very least. Employed as suicide units, BTRs have a role as meatshields. Rushing forward and threatening your opponent’s vulnerable artillery pieces or support units, it forces the enemy to spend a whole turn wasting their anti-armour firepower on these things. If ignored, massed AT5 fire is capable of causing surprising damage to M109s or anything lighter. Even FV432s and M113s need to take note, as they are vulnerable to mass bails from side shots. They may have the armour of a scarf but the gun works almost like an autocannon.

Situationally, players may use the BTRs as roadblocks. After death, they provide bulletproof cover and concealment.

But cost-wise, the BTR is effectively free! BTR companies are taken for the infantry, with the APCs essentially coming free. This means that if the BTRs can actually kill units of value such as infantry, anti-air or artillery you are getting additional value on top.

As always, Soviet stat lines and unit sizes make them rather reliable troops (if incapable of understanding your orders).

Model Making Note: Unless you want to loose your mind trying to keep the turrets on your btrs, spring for the magnets (5mmx1mm circular magnets). The turrets are just to small for the peg that the kit comes with to hold them on to any reasonable standard.

==Variants==

East German, Polish and Czech infantry may bring the BTR-60 as a transport that play almost identically to the Soviet equivalent, apart from their 4+ skill.

The Iraqis use these for their motorized infantry companies and may bring BTR-60s as spotters for the artillery. The Iranians also can equip formations with the BTR-60 as a transport vehicle, as they captured some Iraqi and purchased a good deal of the vehicles during the war.

==IRL==
[[File:BTR-60PB, 14 November 1984.jpg|300px|right|thumb|It looks like little ''mysh'' no? ("uh whats a ''mysh''?" "Mouse you silly American ''Ay' Blyn"'')]]
The BTR-60 is long since retired from active service with the Russian military and almost all Soviet successors but the rugged design has kept it in service with many poorer nations around the world. It is currently used for border patrols in Russia. By the 1980s USSR forces stationed nearest to the Iron curtain were using the BTR-70 so it should actually be with East Germany while the BTR-70 units serve Russian forces as West German group got the very best toys and BTR-80 only entered production in 1986.

And while the BTR-70 and BTR-80 have some improvements in mechanical reliability, better engines and transmissions, and so on, over the BTR60, in terms of either stats or outward appearance there are only small details here and there to distinguish them from the BTR-60. The BTR-80A has the same 30mm autocannon as a
BMP-2 shoehorned into its turret to replace the 14.5mm HMG, and the BTR90 has a BMP-2's turret stuck on top, with autocannon and
laser-guided ATGM launcher, though it is not
certain whether either of these exists in
significant numbers in the present day, IRL.

Currently the Russian-Ukrainian war is showing us how APCs fare on a modern day battlefield filled with ATGMs. Unlike conflicts in the middle east where the opposition had little to no air support and only access to unguided RPGs. The conflict in Ukraine is a conflict between two nations with access to state of the art munitions, which Team Yankee simulates. In short the BTRs are frighteningly vulnerable and die very quick. More than a few Russian commanders got to discover this while themselves being turned into borscht. This questions the wisdom of using these vehicles as command and control vehicles. On the opposite side, the Ukrainians had a hilarious moment when they allegedly disabled two T-72s with a 30mm autocannon up both vehicle's asses.

Thanks to the Russians not bothering to learn from history when the Germans discovered the limitations of using wheeled vehicles through the Ukrainian countryside, the sheer number of these vehicles being abandoned due to being stuck in mud and ditches is staggering. Though this also speaks to Russian training, morale, and logistics. Even more amusing is the trolling being done by the Ukrainians themselves in [https://youtu.be/Eh-m4CeuMTY| stealing them and liberating the countryside.]

{{Soviet Forces in Team Yankee}}
{{East German Forces in Team Yankee}}
{{Iraqi Forces in Team Yankee}}

[[Category:Vehicles]]