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T-34

2022-07-25T14:41:07Z

2607:FB90:522A:4399:8CF9:DECA:D467:A4D:

{{topquote|For four years Adolf Hitler's panzers have reigned supreme over the battlefields of Europe. But in the T-34 tank, they finally meet their match.| Sean Bean, Decisive Weapons: Queen of Tanks}}
{{topquote|Quantity has a quality of its own.|Joseph Stalin}}
[[File:T-34 (Better Image).png|thumb|"We are the armored fist of the red army!"]]
A legendary [[tank]], and one of the most iconic of the Second World War. The '''T-34''' is the posterchild of the Soviet Union, the glorious tank of the proletariat, and the most versatile platform available to you as a Red Army commander. Cheap, simple, but capable, the T-34 became the most produced tank of the war at 80,000 units and was one of the only tanks to serve all the way through the war from the start of Operation Barbarossa in 1941 to the Victory parade in 1945. In 1943 after the Battle of Kursk the T-34 was up gunned with an 85mm cannon to help it deal with heavier German armor and in this guise it pushed all the way from Leningrad to Berlin.

Produced in enormous numbers and destroyed in equally-vast numbers, the T-34 is the second-most widely-produced tank of all time (second only to its successor, the T-54/T-55), and the most destroyed tank of all time, with over 40,000 T-34's lost on the Eastern Front in World War II. It should be noted that it was also seen as more disposable, and often a moderately damaged and salvagable vehicle would be written off and chopped up for spare parts. Though completely outclassed by modern armor, the T-34 remains as tough as ever and soldiers stubbornly on into the 21st century with a handful still in active service, and at least one has been seen in action in Yemen.

==Flames of War==
In game, the T-34 is a solid medium tank with a few interesting features that make it difficult to play in most situations but also help drive the price down. It is exceptionally mobile with a 2+ cross check and a 12" tactical move, but have a -1 to hit on the move. They have good armor for a medium tank, but are aggressive at best. They only have penetration 9 on the main gun, meaning they struggle against even German medium armor in late war. Fortunately, Late War players have access to the T-34/85, which pretty much resolves all these issues while keeping the strengths of the previous model. When used right, you can drown your opponents in a tide of glorious stalinium. When used clumsily, however, you'll simply waste lives and bring shame to your country.

===Mid War===
====T-34/76====

The Mid-War T-34/76 is the best tank anywhere on the Eastern Front, and arguably the best tank anywhere in the world at that time. It comes in two variants, Regular and Hero, affecting crew skill and morale. Axis players will surely enjoy seeing their PaK-36 guns get crushed under its treads after their shells bounce off, and their Panzer II's would be better off starting the game already discarded to save time. The Panzer III is able to do better, but it still fought at a disadvantage. The Soviet Union may have been losing the war by a wide margin in 1941-1942, but the Mid War T-34/76 has no equal.

===Late War===
====T-34/76====
[[File:T-34-76 Statcard.jpg|thumb|left|Da Stats]]
The T-34/76 is an interesting beast in Late War. Just like in Midwar, it comes in 2 flavors: Regular and Hero. Here the T-34 has a lot more predators, with a plethora of AT11+ guns making short work of your front armor of 6 and FA6+ tanks giving your AT9 cannon pause. This makes your tanks exceptionally cheap though at around 3 points per tank. Just make sure to bring something a little heavier to help take care of the heavier enemy tanks.

The Regular T-34s are crewed by illiterate conscripts with a 5+ skill but a last stand of 3+, but they at least have a 3+ to hit, representing lessons learned by the Red Army in the furnaces of Kursk and Stalingrad. These tanks can be taken in companies of 5 to 10; massive Napoleonic blocks of Soviet engineering that are durable for the sheer number of hulls they bring. Roll your tanks up to the enemy, park, and start blasting. Your overworked trait makes it hard to be super lethal on the move, and your low skill makes it hard to use movement orders to overcome this or protect your tanks, but your mobility helps you get into position quickly. Interestingly enough, T-34/85s can be sprinkled in among your regular T-34/76s to help mitigate this, though you'll get a bit better value out of a full T-34/85 company.

The Hero T-34s represent your hardened veterans of some of the most brutal fighting of the war. They lose the 3+ last stand, but have 4+ skill and a 3+ tactics. This, combined with the T-34s 2+ cross and mobility, means that they can better use terrain to help protect their their low numbers. They only come in units of 3 or 4, with the option to switch out up to half their tanks for T-34/85s. These formations are a lot easier to maneuver and use, being a lot more similar to traditional units in other armies.

====OT-34====
[[File:OT-34-76 Statcard.jpg|thumb|left|Da firey stats]]
A specialized variant of the T-34/76 and T-34/85, the OT-34 takes its name from ''Ognemet'', the Russian word for "Flamethrower." A cheerful wartime gift from the USSR to the Nazi invaders, the OT-34 has had its hull-mounted machine gun replaced with an ATO-41 (or later on, ATO-42) flamethrower to allow it to burn Nazis to death as well as shoot them, blow them up, and run them over. While the flamethrower's range is considerably shorter than that of any machine gun (100m or so), it is far more terrifying and extremely lethal.

OT-34 tanks were rare (a grand total of less than 1500 were made between the 76 and 85 variants), intended for specialist roles when tough opposition in hardened structures or well-defended buildings needed the cleansing power of working-class flame. Because one of its machine guns has been swapped out and not its main cannon, the OT-34's range is less than a larger, heavier flamethrower could offer, but the OT-34 is also able to fight overall just the same as any other T-34 tank. It just has the bonus ability of getting good and close to help the Fascists out with their struggle against the Russian cold.

Because only the hull-mounted machine gun is replaced, most any 15mm-scale T-34 could be designated as an OT-34 for gameplay purposes, but for complete accuracy, a different model is required, distinguished by the wider barrel of its flamethrower.

====T-34/85====
The T-34/85 is the final evolution of the T-34 tank. It mounts a powerful AT12 fp 3+ cannon in a 3 man turret that gives it the ability to deal with enemy medium tanks far more reliably as well as shoot more accurately on the move. This really unlocks the T-34s full potential as a fast, brutal knife fighting tank that excels at exploiting breakthroughs and flanking enemy positions.

The Regular T-34/85 tank company suffers from the same poor skill and survivability as its weaker T-34/76 equivalent, but maintains the same mobility and improves greatly on the firepower. The 3 man turret and improved firepower combined with that mobility give you great alpha strike potential. Help mitigate your casualties by blocking enemy line of sight with terrain, then pushing up and hitting with everything you have.

The Hero T-34/85 tank company benefits from the same exceptional tactics and improved skill as their T-34/76 cousins. Use the skill to help increase your alpha strike ability and use your smaller companies to take advantage of cover and concealment. Maneuver is key here, you need to mass your tanks against the enemy and deal as much damage as possible up front that your enemy won't have a good chance to recover his footing. This will protect your relatively small numbers of tanks from enemy fire and help your tanks hit well above their weight.

== Bolt Action ==
The T-34 appears in its 76 and 85 variants in Bolt Action, the main difference with Flames of War being that armor and infantry forces are both fielded much more at the platoon level, versus the often company-scale forces players send in with Flames of War.

==IRL==
[[File:T-34-76.png|thumb|76mm of the people's fury.]]
Evaluating the performance of the T-34 is a bit tricky compared to other WW2 tanks because the T-34 was a Russian tank and as such access to Soviet archives has been spotty at best over the years. Following the war the Germans who faced them in battle wanted jobs in NATO helping to fend off the Russian Bear so books written by them have incentives to overplay and 'enhance' the strengths of the T-34 to in part pull blame away from their own failings.

What we can say is that the T-34 was one of the most advanced tank designs in the world when it first hit the battlefield. Incorporating lessons learned from the tank battles at Lake Khasan and Khalkhin Gol, the T-34 had better armor, mobility, and firepower than many of its contemporaries, and was an ''extremely'' rude surprise for the Germans who first encountered it in Operation Barbarossa, banking on their master race technological superiority against the Russians and finding that their ''only'' real advantage against the T-34 was that poorly trained and inexperienced Russian crews of conscripts often didn't know how to take full advantage of the T-34's strengths.

Not to say the T-34 was perfect, though. Issues like poor mechanical reliability to bad steel quality, and a two-man turret, meaning the commander had to also load the gun while also leading, but as the war progressed, some of these issues were ''ironed'' out. Ultimately, the greatest enemy to itself tended to be the low-quality control the factory had due to the general order in said factory being "Build them the fuck faster". Ironically, as historians calculated, building more T-34 at the cost of lowering quality instead if building them up to proper standard actually cost soviets much more, as tanks come with a huge logistical trail and poorly made tanks consume just as much if not more fuel, lubricants and spare parts, not to mention crew you have to spend time and money to train. There were periods when quality control was so rock-bottom more then 50% of T-34 losses were from non-combat incidents, as things broke down and refused to turn on after few kilometers of moving off-road or even didn't star up right after being loaded off the train - building tanks twice as fast doesn't really pay out if only half of those tanks could reach their first battle in a working condition.

By 1943, with the introduction of heavy German Tiger and Panther tanks (the latter being made in direct response to the T-34) resulted in the outdating of the base T-34. Interestingly, Soviet mechanized infantry were oftentimes just dudes with guns that sat on the top of T-34s, which while efficient, was also an understandably costly method of troop deployment compared to trucks or Half-tracks.

After sobering up from designing the KV-2, they up-gunned the T-34s with a new turret and 85mm gun, dubbed the T-34-85. This variant was capable of penetrating the Tiger and Panther tanks at reasonable distances, and the addition of a third crew member in the turret finally allowed the commander to do his job efficiently. While still not a one-on-one match to the newer German designs, the T-34-85 was far more cost-effective, with production figures of 1200 tanks per month, compared to the total production of 6557 Panthers, and so Soviet tanks would routinely enjoy numerical superiority in battle.

After the war, T-34s were sold or given to many friendly powers around the world, from China and North Korea in the Korean War, to the MPLA during the Angolan Civil War. Virtually every Warsaw Pact member used the T-34 at first, including Poland and East Germany. Most were refurbished with new engines, tracks, and additional equipment, and some militaries like North Korea and Vietnam still have them in service.

{{Soviet Forces in Flames of War}}

T-34

2022-07-25T14:40:57Z

2607:FB90:522A:4399:8CF9:DECA:D467:A4D:

{{Russian}}
{{topquote|For four years Adolf Hitler's panzers have reigned supreme over the battlefields of Europe. But in the T-34 tank, they finally meet their match.| Sean Bean, Decisive Weapons: Queen of Tanks}}
{{topquote|Quantity has a quality of its own.|Joseph Stalin}}
[[File:T-34 (Better Image).png|thumb|"We are the armored fist of the red army!"]]
A legendary [[tank]], and one of the most iconic of the Second World War. The '''T-34''' is the posterchild of the Soviet Union, the glorious tank of the proletariat, and the most versatile platform available to you as a Red Army commander. Cheap, simple, but capable, the T-34 became the most produced tank of the war at 80,000 units and was one of the only tanks to serve all the way through the war from the start of Operation Barbarossa in 1941 to the Victory parade in 1945. In 1943 after the Battle of Kursk the T-34 was up gunned with an 85mm cannon to help it deal with heavier German armor and in this guise it pushed all the way from Leningrad to Berlin.

Produced in enormous numbers and destroyed in equally-vast numbers, the T-34 is the second-most widely-produced tank of all time (second only to its successor, the T-54/T-55), and the most destroyed tank of all time, with over 40,000 T-34's lost on the Eastern Front in World War II. It should be noted that it was also seen as more disposable, and often a moderately damaged and salvagable vehicle would be written off and chopped up for spare parts. Though completely outclassed by modern armor, the T-34 remains as tough as ever and soldiers stubbornly on into the 21st century with a handful still in active service, and at least one has been seen in action in Yemen.

==Flames of War==
In game, the T-34 is a solid medium tank with a few interesting features that make it difficult to play in most situations but also help drive the price down. It is exceptionally mobile with a 2+ cross check and a 12" tactical move, but have a -1 to hit on the move. They have good armor for a medium tank, but are aggressive at best. They only have penetration 9 on the main gun, meaning they struggle against even German medium armor in late war. Fortunately, Late War players have access to the T-34/85, which pretty much resolves all these issues while keeping the strengths of the previous model. When used right, you can drown your opponents in a tide of glorious stalinium. When used clumsily, however, you'll simply waste lives and bring shame to your country.

===Mid War===
====T-34/76====

The Mid-War T-34/76 is the best tank anywhere on the Eastern Front, and arguably the best tank anywhere in the world at that time. It comes in two variants, Regular and Hero, affecting crew skill and morale. Axis players will surely enjoy seeing their PaK-36 guns get crushed under its treads after their shells bounce off, and their Panzer II's would be better off starting the game already discarded to save time. The Panzer III is able to do better, but it still fought at a disadvantage. The Soviet Union may have been losing the war by a wide margin in 1941-1942, but the Mid War T-34/76 has no equal.

===Late War===
====T-34/76====
[[File:T-34-76 Statcard.jpg|thumb|left|Da Stats]]
The T-34/76 is an interesting beast in Late War. Just like in Midwar, it comes in 2 flavors: Regular and Hero. Here the T-34 has a lot more predators, with a plethora of AT11+ guns making short work of your front armor of 6 and FA6+ tanks giving your AT9 cannon pause. This makes your tanks exceptionally cheap though at around 3 points per tank. Just make sure to bring something a little heavier to help take care of the heavier enemy tanks.

The Regular T-34s are crewed by illiterate conscripts with a 5+ skill but a last stand of 3+, but they at least have a 3+ to hit, representing lessons learned by the Red Army in the furnaces of Kursk and Stalingrad. These tanks can be taken in companies of 5 to 10; massive Napoleonic blocks of Soviet engineering that are durable for the sheer number of hulls they bring. Roll your tanks up to the enemy, park, and start blasting. Your overworked trait makes it hard to be super lethal on the move, and your low skill makes it hard to use movement orders to overcome this or protect your tanks, but your mobility helps you get into position quickly. Interestingly enough, T-34/85s can be sprinkled in among your regular T-34/76s to help mitigate this, though you'll get a bit better value out of a full T-34/85 company.

The Hero T-34s represent your hardened veterans of some of the most brutal fighting of the war. They lose the 3+ last stand, but have 4+ skill and a 3+ tactics. This, combined with the T-34s 2+ cross and mobility, means that they can better use terrain to help protect their their low numbers. They only come in units of 3 or 4, with the option to switch out up to half their tanks for T-34/85s. These formations are a lot easier to maneuver and use, being a lot more similar to traditional units in other armies.

====OT-34====
[[File:OT-34-76 Statcard.jpg|thumb|left|Da firey stats]]
A specialized variant of the T-34/76 and T-34/85, the OT-34 takes its name from ''Ognemet'', the Russian word for "Flamethrower." A cheerful wartime gift from the USSR to the Nazi invaders, the OT-34 has had its hull-mounted machine gun replaced with an ATO-41 (or later on, ATO-42) flamethrower to allow it to burn Nazis to death as well as shoot them, blow them up, and run them over. While the flamethrower's range is considerably shorter than that of any machine gun (100m or so), it is far more terrifying and extremely lethal.

OT-34 tanks were rare (a grand total of less than 1500 were made between the 76 and 85 variants), intended for specialist roles when tough opposition in hardened structures or well-defended buildings needed the cleansing power of working-class flame. Because one of its machine guns has been swapped out and not its main cannon, the OT-34's range is less than a larger, heavier flamethrower could offer, but the OT-34 is also able to fight overall just the same as any other T-34 tank. It just has the bonus ability of getting good and close to help the Fascists out with their struggle against the Russian cold.

Because only the hull-mounted machine gun is replaced, most any 15mm-scale T-34 could be designated as an OT-34 for gameplay purposes, but for complete accuracy, a different model is required, distinguished by the wider barrel of its flamethrower.

====T-34/85====
The T-34/85 is the final evolution of the T-34 tank. It mounts a powerful AT12 fp 3+ cannon in a 3 man turret that gives it the ability to deal with enemy medium tanks far more reliably as well as shoot more accurately on the move. This really unlocks the T-34s full potential as a fast, brutal knife fighting tank that excels at exploiting breakthroughs and flanking enemy positions.

The Regular T-34/85 tank company suffers from the same poor skill and survivability as its weaker T-34/76 equivalent, but maintains the same mobility and improves greatly on the firepower. The 3 man turret and improved firepower combined with that mobility give you great alpha strike potential. Help mitigate your casualties by blocking enemy line of sight with terrain, then pushing up and hitting with everything you have.

The Hero T-34/85 tank company benefits from the same exceptional tactics and improved skill as their T-34/76 cousins. Use the skill to help increase your alpha strike ability and use your smaller companies to take advantage of cover and concealment. Maneuver is key here, you need to mass your tanks against the enemy and deal as much damage as possible up front that your enemy won't have a good chance to recover his footing. This will protect your relatively small numbers of tanks from enemy fire and help your tanks hit well above their weight.

== Bolt Action ==
The T-34 appears in its 76 and 85 variants in Bolt Action, the main difference with Flames of War being that armor and infantry forces are both fielded much more at the platoon level, versus the often company-scale forces players send in with Flames of War.

==IRL==
[[File:T-34-76.png|thumb|76mm of the people's fury.]]
Evaluating the performance of the T-34 is a bit tricky compared to other WW2 tanks because the T-34 was a Russian tank and as such access to Soviet archives has been spotty at best over the years. Following the war the Germans who faced them in battle wanted jobs in NATO helping to fend off the Russian Bear so books written by them have incentives to overplay and 'enhance' the strengths of the T-34 to in part pull blame away from their own failings.

What we can say is that the T-34 was one of the most advanced tank designs in the world when it first hit the battlefield. Incorporating lessons learned from the tank battles at Lake Khasan and Khalkhin Gol, the T-34 had better armor, mobility, and firepower than many of its contemporaries, and was an ''extremely'' rude surprise for the Germans who first encountered it in Operation Barbarossa, banking on their master race technological superiority against the Russians and finding that their ''only'' real advantage against the T-34 was that poorly trained and inexperienced Russian crews of conscripts often didn't know how to take full advantage of the T-34's strengths.

Not to say the T-34 was perfect, though. Issues like poor mechanical reliability to bad steel quality, and a two-man turret, meaning the commander had to also load the gun while also leading, but as the war progressed, some of these issues were ''ironed'' out. Ultimately, the greatest enemy to itself tended to be the low-quality control the factory had due to the general order in said factory being "Build them the fuck faster". Ironically, as historians calculated, building more T-34 at the cost of lowering quality instead if building them up to proper standard actually cost soviets much more, as tanks come with a huge logistical trail and poorly made tanks consume just as much if not more fuel, lubricants and spare parts, not to mention crew you have to spend time and money to train. There were periods when quality control was so rock-bottom more then 50% of T-34 losses were from non-combat incidents, as things broke down and refused to turn on after few kilometers of moving off-road or even didn't star up right after being loaded off the train - building tanks twice as fast doesn't really pay out if only half of those tanks could reach their first battle in a working condition.

By 1943, with the introduction of heavy German Tiger and Panther tanks (the latter being made in direct response to the T-34) resulted in the outdating of the base T-34. Interestingly, Soviet mechanized infantry were oftentimes just dudes with guns that sat on the top of T-34s, which while efficient, was also an understandably costly method of troop deployment compared to trucks or Half-tracks.

After sobering up from designing the KV-2, they up-gunned the T-34s with a new turret and 85mm gun, dubbed the T-34-85. This variant was capable of penetrating the Tiger and Panther tanks at reasonable distances, and the addition of a third crew member in the turret finally allowed the commander to do his job efficiently. While still not a one-on-one match to the newer German designs, the T-34-85 was far more cost-effective, with production figures of 1200 tanks per month, compared to the total production of 6557 Panthers, and so Soviet tanks would routinely enjoy numerical superiority in battle.

After the war, T-34s were sold or given to many friendly powers around the world, from China and North Korea in the Korean War, to the MPLA during the Angolan Civil War. Virtually every Warsaw Pact member used the T-34 at first, including Poland and East Germany. Most were refurbished with new engines, tracks, and additional equipment, and some militaries like North Korea and Vietnam still have them in service.

{{Soviet Forces in Flames of War}}

M60 Patton

2022-07-25T14:40:25Z

2607:FB90:522A:4399:8CF9:DECA:D467:A4D:

[[File:M60A1.png|300px|right|thumb|[[Meme|Yo dawg, I heard you liked turrets]] ]]
{{topquote|We want this war over with. The quickest way to get it over with is to go get the bastards who started it. The quicker they are whipped, the quicker we can go home.|General George S. Patton, Jr.}}

The M60 was America's first officially designated Main Battle Tank (because all the tanks before it were classified as Light, Medium, 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 commander's turret on top of the actual turret, rather than just being bolted to a convenient peg. Its service life with the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps spanned nearly thirty years, with the Marines turning in their last Pattons after the Gulf War of 1990-1991. There are two versions of the venerable M60 in the rules of Team Yankee, the M60A1 and the M60A3. While the ever well supplied army gets the 1978 introduced M60A3 with thermal sights and the like, the marine corps makes good use of the M60A1. That said, the Battlefront model is the M60A3.

Unlike its successor, the M1 Abrams, the M60 Patton was not an all-new tank. It was instead a much improved development of the older M48 Patton, which had a more rounded hull and a 90mm main gun. It is not technically part of the Patton series of tanks; its official name, given in 1959, is "Tank, Combat, Full Tracked: 105-mm Gun, M60." The name "M60 Patton," much like the "M4 Sherman" of World War II, has been so commonly used that even Wikipedia it recognition in its article on this beast for years. As of the setting of "Team Yankee" in August 1985, the M60 Patton has aged, but can still kick ass with the best of them - much like Patton himself, back when he did all the stuff that got a whole line of tanks named in his honor.

==In Team Yankee==
===USA===
[[File:M60A3Stats.jpg |300px|left|thumb|Valley forge, Custer's ranks, San Juan Hill and Patton's tanks, and the Army went rolling along...]]
[[File:M60a1.jpeg |300px|Right|thumb|Go ahead. Make my day.]]
First employed by American forces in the 1950s, the M60 Patton remains the mainstay of U.S. Army tankers in 1985 and is the sole main battle tank operated by the U.S. Marine Corps. Caught five years into the process of phasing its M60s out in favor of the newer and better M1 Abrams (introduced in 1980), the U.S. Army has waded into the fighting with a sizeable fleet of Pattons. The Marines, meanwhile, still having to make do with the second-hand stuff, will be enthusiastically destroying things that somebody else has to pay for, old tanks be damned. The M60 Patton may not be as good as it once was in 1985, but it's a workhorse and that's good enough.

Despite being a vastly different and considerably older design, the M60 Patton is basically armed with the same weapons systems as the [[M1 Abrams|Abrams]] (sans one .30cal) and can dish out the same damage as its successor. The M68 105mm Cannon has a ROF of 2 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 an 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 complement 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 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, including Bazooka Skirts, so what you see is what you get on this thing. And coming as it does from the 1950s, the M60 Patton has no internal armor to shield the crew from an ammunition explosion, meaning that a hit on its 105mm shell storage will send the turret flying and kill everyone inside just as a similar hit would on a Warsaw Pact tank.

While players may look at the obsolete armor that the Patton boasts- it's got the same frontal armor points as a T-72M, for Chrissakes- and run back to the Abrams, consider the point costs. Each Abrams costs ''double'' that of a Patton, i.e. 8pts compared to 4, meaning that a platoon of M1 tanks 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.

U.S. Army and U.S. Marine tank units may take Patton Platoons ranging in size from 2 to 5. There is a lot to be said for buying two M60s instead of a single Abrams, although that does mean your NATO force suddenly gets expensive, model-wise.

TL;DR: Cheaper, decent tank, but it is much more fragile and must be shielded by your Abrams tanks.

===Israel===
[[File:MAGGIE.jpg|300px|left|thumb|300px|Israel gets a Patton! Iran gets a Patton! Everybody gets a Patton!]]
The Isreali designation for the M60A1 is the Magach 6 and they have fiddled with it a bit. Instead of the giant commander's cupola, it's just a flat hatch with a 7.62mm machine gun. The .50 cal gets <s>changed</s> upgraded from a M85 to a M2 and mounted on the gun shield to be used in conjunction with the built-in coax machine gun.

It has a ''Brutal'' gun which forces re-rolls on passed infantry saves, and could fire smoke if needed. Unfortunately, it drops 1 ROF while moving on the main cannon and has the ''Accurate'' special rule: terrible for maneuver warfare, but excellent at fighting in a defensive position. The gun's penetration is identical to the Merkava, so take the Magach 6 if you want maximum firepower. The Magach costs (around) half of the Merkava 2, so the trade-off is very similar to that between the Patton and the Abrams.

If you are firing at infantry, the Magach can throw out 3-6 MG shots depending on range and whether you moved. The .50 is Anti Helo, so you can put up one shot at 5+ FP.

{{clear}}
===Iran===
[[File:M60-Main-tank-400x231.jpg|300px|left|thumb|300px|Yes, this file is shit, as soon as I get Oil Wars I will upload a better one]]

A well worn hand-me-down from the USA pre-1979 revolution, in Iranian service these tanks fall between the Chieftain and T-62 both in points and tactics-wise. These have none of the fancy trimmings that US M60s get, with no stabiliser or laser rangefinder and Anti-tank dropping to 18 (I guess the arms embargo meant Iran needed to make its own sub-par ammunition). Then again, these tanks cost a mere 2 points each, literally ''half'' of the US version, so expect to see these babies spammed to death.

FP 18 isn't going to get through any of the NATO MBTs like Abrams or Leo 2s from the front, but these guys are the cheapest MBT in the game to get ROF 2: perfect against Leo 1 spam lists. No other tank can be quite as cost-efficient as these boys when used correctly. Their armour stands a good chance of deflecting Leo AT 19 guns, while they will auto-pen a Leo 1 at any range. Ironically, as "PACT" you probably want to be defensive if you are facing large numbers of cheap(ish) NATO tanks, which used to be the meta. Halted ROF 2 and ''Accurate'' lean towards a static playstyle, so avoid moving if you can. Post them up in cover and let them get to work against light armour. Their cross value of 2+ will be your friend if you ever decide to move.

The Iranian M60 excels as a cheap long-ranged support weapon that will trade well into anything other than top tier tanks like the Leo 2, Abrams or T-64. As Iran you will struggle with these tanks anyway, so consider bringing a horde of T-62s or allied T-72s. M60s could be used in a pinch at rushing for flank shots, but this isn't recommended. They are weak against heavy armour, and suffer from their small unit size, meaning they can't really absorb losses like T-72 blocks. However, morale and remount 3+ will (hopefully) keep your formations in the fight for longer, as all of your tank crews have Allah's blessing and the key to heaven.

They can be taken as a "group" of 3. Yep, that's it. One size. An Iranian M60 company can take 2-3 groups, with 1-2 tanks in its HQ, and an optional Mechanized group. Iranians get no options in how to build their formations.

{{clear}}

==IRL==
[[File:4EC947FC-1709-415A-8A77-873F40A7D520.jpeg|300px|right|thumb|An M60 in central Germany]]
The [[wikipedia:M60 Patton|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 WWII-era 90mm cannon on the M48 with a 105mm cannon to match against the Soviets' 100mm guns. They could've just put the same cannon and updated systems on the M48, and in the 1970s did that, calling that version the M48A5, but creating a new tank that isn't really new is more the U.S. Army's thing, you see.

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 replaced it. The M60A1 which the Marine Corps used (and uses in the game) originally hit production in 1962, without a stabilized gun. In 1973 the M60A1 received an Add On Stabilizer (AOS), increasing its effectiveness, and the ancient Browning .30 caliber coaxial MG replaced with the M73 in 7.62mm NATO. This is the version of the M60 we see in Team Yankee with the US Marine Corps.

IRL a number of active-duty Army units got the semi-experimental M60A2, which only remained in service between 1975 and 1981. The M60A2, whose crews called it the "Starship" due to the, for the time, extreme complexity and sophistication of the fire-control system for a low-velocity, short-range 152mm gun/launcher, which had available for it both a conventional 152mm HEAT round and the world's first through-the-gun-tube ATGM, the Ford Aerospace MGM-152 Shillelagh, the same main armament as the M551 Sheridan light tank that was used from Vietnam until Desert Storm. 1970s bleeding-edge technology was fragile and finicky and had lots of downtime, and the through-the-gun-tube missile launcher, commonplace though they are worldwide today, was enormously audacious for the disco era and the technology of the era was just not up to the challenge of bringing the designers' dreams into the real world, in the sense that the missile system was expensive and unreliable, and due to the limitations of the guidance system could not be aimed at targets within 730m, which was held by some to be beyond the maximum effective range of the unguided HEAT rounds available for the gun, though a 1980s fire control package with laser rangefinder and ballistic computer could have addressed that shortcoming. It is ironic that in the present day it'd be cheap and trivial to give the "Starship" and the Sheridan the same thermal vision, laser rangefinder, and computerized fire control suite 21st Century MBTs get, and create for it a laser-guided or fire-and-forget 152mm through-the-gun-tube long range tandem-charge top-attack antitank missile for the M60A2 and Sheridan and it'd actually work as advertised, and the Sheridan in particular would be more viable in 2020 than it was in 1964. Be that as it may, in the late 1970s the M60A2 was widely regarded as a failed experiment. By the spring of 1981 all remaining M60A2s were converted to the M60A3 standard.

Speaking of the M60A3, it was introduced in 1978 and stayed in service in Army National Guard units until 2005. It was the good old M60A1 with the 1975 RISE enhancements, plus true passive thermal night vision sights for the commander and gunner replacing the distinctive enormous infrared spotlight bolted on top of the turret you see on M60s, M60A1s, and M48s, a laser rangefinder, and the same terrifyingly lethal and efficient computerized fire control suite as early M1 Abrams tanks.

There were plans in the 1980s for further enhancements to keep the M60 in service longer due to teething problems with the earliest M1A1 tanks with the Rheinmetall 120mm smoothbore gun. Ideas for the hypothetical M60A4 ranged from shoehorning a 120mm gun into the turret--theoretically impossible, but Thailand and Turkey now field the M60T variant cobbled together for them by Elbit in Israel--to a variant with a smoothbore 105mm gun that could use the same ammunition but get higher velocities, to a variant with explosive reactive armor tiles, which even in 2021 remains in service in Israel with reserve units, who call it the Mag'ach 7.

Even after that, the M60 stayed for a while, proving itself more than viable against Iraqi T-55s, Type 69s and T-72s during operations Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom, though that may have had more to do with crew proficiency than the vehicles themselves. The US finally retired its last M60s in 2005, and the M278 Combat Engineer Vehicle (a repurposed M60) is still soldiering on with the US Army Reserve and Army National Guard forces. Many armies still use them, namely Turkey and the Republic of China (Taiwan), along with Israel. The still-serving M60s have been modified and updated in a wide variety of ways; one version comes 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, though it should be noted that air superiority, artillery fire and near constant drone overwatch help a lot on this count.

Armor was around 130-200mm of RHA if memory serves, and it was PLANNED to have "Siliceous Cored Armor, but... Some have been fitted with explosive reactive armor tiles on the front and sides of the turret and the front of the hull, mainly in Israeli service.

The M60 would have been unquestionably the American workhorse tank if World War III had broken out in 1985. It might have been old, and based closely on the even older M48, but it was still a potent threat for the Warsaw Pact forces. The U.S. Marine Corps had not received any M1 tanks yet in 1985, and neither had the U.S. Army Reserve or the Army National Guard. The M60 would have been the one doing most of the work, even if the Abrams was newer and has gotten so much more hype in the years since.

{{US Forces in Team Yankee}}
{{Israeli Forces in Team Yankee}}
{{Iranian Forces in Team Yankee}}

[[Category:Vehicles]]

UH-1 Huey

2022-07-25T14:39:19Z

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[[File:Huey (Army).jpg|300px|right|thumb|Hey there slick.]]
[[File:Huey (marine).jpg|300px|right|thumb|OO-RAH!]]
{{topquote|Daa-da-da-da-DAA-da, da-da-da-DAA-da, da-da-da-''DAAA''-da, da-da-da-daaaaaaa!|Richard Wagner, The ride of the Valkyries}}

The UH-1 Iroquois, or as it is more commonly known, The Huey, is one of, if not the most iconic helicopter of all time. Developed by the Bell company, the Huey served as the US military's principle rotary winged airframe for close to thirty years. This remarkable aircraft has been modified for almost any role you can think of, from assault transport to flying ambulance, to gunship.

==In Team Yankee==
[[File:Huey Statcard.jpg|300px|left|thumb|Airborne Stats]]
[[File:Huey Statcard (marine).png|300px|left|thumb|Marine Stats]]
In Team Yankee, the Huey comes in two flavours, peanut butter for the US Army and crayon for the US Marines. The Army Version has a slightly higher morale (at 3+) while the Marine version can carry an extra team.

The Army version is used in the UH-1 HUEY INFANTRY COMBAT TEAM list, which is meant to represent units of the 82nd Airborne Division, All Americans (meanwhile in the real world it was the 101st Airborne Division that used helicopters while the 82nd stuck with traditional parachuting out of planes but whatever...). The iconic whirlybirds are taken as part of a Huey Rifle Platoon, which starts off with 2 Hueys, 1 M47 Dragon Team, and 5 M249 SAW/M72 Law teams for 6 points. For an additional 2 points (For a total of 8) you get an extra Huey and a pair of SAW/LAW teams. In addition to the standard unit increases, you can also add an additional M47 Dragon team for a point, and up to 2 M60 GPMG teams for a point each, and finally you can add an extra Huey (for a total of 4) absolutely free!

The Marine version is a UH-1N twin variant utilized by the Marine Rifle Platoon. Instead of riding into battle in their [[AAVP7]]s you can replace the Amtracks with up to four Hueys for no cost, sacrificing the firepower of 2 AAV7s for additional mobility and the chance to lead your targets less.

Both Versions of the Huey carry a pair of door M60s, which have the special rule ''Door Guns''. This means that they can only fire the turn the Huey has landed. This is meant to represent the door gunners providing suppressing fire as the troopers jump out. This reinforces the role of the Huey as a transport, not a gunship, don't go hunting with these things [[bullshit|(because you literally cannot unless your skids are on the ground)]].

==IRL==
[[File:Huey IRL.jpg|right|300px|thumb|...Oh I Don't Give a Damn, Next Stop is Vietnam...]]
As you could probably guess from all the references on this page, the [[wikipedia: Bell UH-1 Iroquois|Bell UH-1 Iroquois]] was ''the'' iconic vehicle of the Vietnam War. It played a vital role in transporting American troops through the thick and otherwise impassable jungles of Vietnam, showing the world what air cavalry could do for a modern army. Despite its age it is still being used by the US Marines Corps (albeit a heavily modified twin-engine variant, the [[wikipedia:Bell UH-1Y Venom|UH-1Y]]), though the army uses the more modern [[wikipedia:Sikorsky UH-60|UH-60 Blackhawk]], which like many things: was introduced in 1979 and so can appear in Team Yankee. Bell essentially never stopped making the Huey for civilian use; the latest commercial model is the Bell 412. [[Derp| A new Blackhawk also costs less than a new Huey Venom per unit. Despite being an older design than the UH-60. Because the Pentagon loves finding ways to waste taxpayer dollars.]]

{{US Forces in Team Yankee}}

[[Category:Vehicles]]

AV-8 Harrier

2022-07-25T14:38:52Z

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{{British}}
[[File:Harrier.jpg|300px|right|thumb|Such a pretty bird]]
The Harrier was the world's first successful VTOL jet to be adopted by any military. Using thrust-vectoring nozzles, the Harrier can redirect thrust downwards to take off and land on any flat surface, making it very useful for operations from aircraft carriers and other bases with limited runway space. You may remember it as the jet that Arnie flew at the end of ''True Lies''. Valued at 7 million Pepsi points.

==In Team Yankee==
Represented as a close support aircraft, the current version of the Harrier is a bomber that comes in anti-infantry and anti-armor variants depending on the nation. It boasts a 3+ chance to come in on the table, meaning that you can rely on it to come every two turns at worst or rely on it coming in twice.

Should the situation dictate it, you may have your Harriers use their nose-mounted 30mm Aden guns instead of their bombs if you need them to engage enemy helicopters or small units of unarmoured vehicles and infantry. However, do not expect them to kill very much with a mediocre 5+ FP. Forcing mass bails however... -Evil laugh-

However, their 5+ Aircraft save renders them a rather fragile unit against any anti-air. Consider using other elements of your force to suppress or destroy the enemy AA net before your harriers come in to finish the job!

==Harrier Attack Flight (USA)==
[[File:Harrier Stats.jpg|300px|left|thumb|American Stats]]
In Team Yankee, [[Blood Ravens|the Marines have nicked some British Harriers and glued on some American roundels.]]

Armed with an electrically-powered 30mm Aden 5-chamber revolver cannon and anti-armor CBU-100 cluster bombs (Rockeyes), the Harrier can deal with both air and ground targets. It has less firepower than the A-10 but can also take on Hinds or other helicopters (other pilots have made gentlemen's agreements to take turns taking the local airspace). The reason for the Rockeye, an anti-armor cluster munition(!), being a piddly 5+ FP is anyone's guess.

While DRASTICALLY cheaper than the British Harrier at 1.5 points per plane, it pays for the discount dearly. Dropping its firepower from a 3+ to a 5+ severely weakens its ability to destroy armor, merely forcing mass bails. However, this does not mean it is useless. With a 3+ call-in, it is the only anti-infantry salvo template available to the US after the Cobra's rocket pods. Furthermore, AT7 against top armor makes this a potential combo piece; bailing a mass of vehicles before you assault them with your <s>cowardly Capitalist pigdogs</s> brave American warriors, forcing autokills.

The US Harrier flights can be found in the American and Iraqi army lists, strangely enough.

Your pilots also boast a 3+ courage, which translates to the last pilot being less likely to run away.

Fun fact: The real AV-8 used by the Marines was equipped with a GAU-12 Equalizer, essentially a smaller and more manageable version to the [[A-10 Warthog|A-10's]] legendary GAU-8: Harriers with Aden guns were used primarily by dainty officers with teacups and biscuits.

==Harrier CAS Flight (British)==
[[File:British_harrier.jpeg|300px|Left|thumb|British Stats]]
Considered to be part of the 3rd Division as 'Divisional Air Support', these birds would be considered to be part of the Royal Air Force, not an integral component of the Division's organization. They would serve as attachés instead, returning from the front to well-maintained RAF bases rather than muddy foxholes.

The superior gentlemen pilots of the RAF boast a superior 3+ skill compared to <s>the dirty colonials</s> their Yankee counterparts, while the BL-755 Cluster Bomb has an AT value of 8, but pay for the increments by costing 5 and 10 points respectively, considerably more than the Marines' <s>second hand equipment</s> well maintained armaments. As suggested by their bloody huge payloads, these vehicles are meant to utterly destroy any concentration of units, especially tanks. 8AT against top armor means that tanks have a 1 in 6 chance to TRY and bail, while 3+ firepower means that 2 in 3 hits will be a kill. Lighter vehicles such as BMPs and BTRs need not bother; they simply test for Firepower as their glorious Communist steel is turned into Shashlik.

Overall, one of the best British units for raw firepower and cost-efficiency right now. Easily the best aircraft in the game thanks to its 3+ Call In and its 3+ FP AT8 Salvo, beating out literally every other aircraft in terms of efficiency (templates vs direct fire missiles), raw damage, reliability (3+ call-in) and only losing out to the Frogfoot and Warthog's armor saves. A single pass could easily cripple SEVERAL platoons against an opponent without proper spread. Even if shot down, the template is guaranteed to seriously hurt any unit and make its points back. Enemy infantry on the objective? The Harrier will pin them and possibly even kill more than a few. Enemy T-80s or M1IPs? The Harrier will kill far more than 10 points worth of vehicles.

==IRL==
[[File:Harrier IRL.jpg|300px|right|thumb|Fwoosh! Boom! BRRRTT]]
The Harrier is something unique as a VTOL aircraft designed as a ground support aircraft, rather than the typical multirole design favored at the time. While it can't break the sound barrier, this hasn't stopped it from making a long and successful air to air combat record like the Falklands War where French [[Mirage 5]]s were downed thanks to superior British piloting. In fact, its comparative lack of speed makes it an ideal platform for weapons which benefit from a longer time over target such as the Marines' GAU-12.

Most are equipped with a pair of Sidewinder missiles for such situations when the Harrier is engaged, or for targets of opportunity such as helicopters and inferior enemy attack aircraft (VERY inferior. Most planners would expect the outdated, MIG-21 to go toe-to-toe against the Harrier due to differences in armament). The versions flying in 1985 had no radar to reduce weight and so could not be expected to take on advanced fighters; although improved versions of the 90's had advanced avionics, the US version receiving the same radar as the F/A-18.

Regardless of its limitations, the design was so successful that the USSR copied as much as they humanly could from visuals and public information but ended up choosing different engine configurations for an overtly dismal performing aircraft. The Harrier has been widely exported with continued service, from Spain to Thailand.

The Harrier was supposed to be retired at least a decade ago by the F-35B. However due to right out incompetence of the DOD's current procurement practices. To repair the current fleet. The USMC has to scavenge from older planes and pieces of mothballed aircraft. So the old Harrier will be kept in service well into the 2020s and [[derp|maybe even longer]].

{{US Forces in Team Yankee}}
{{British Forces in Team Yankee}}
{{Iraqi Forces in Team Yankee}}

[[Category:Vehicles]]

M1 Abrams

2022-07-25T14:36:52Z

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{{America}}
[[File:M1 Abrams Picture.jpg|300px|right|thumb|70 Tons of Pure American FREEDOM!]]
[[File:IMP1 Abrams.png|300px|right|thumb|The IPM1 version; with Neon camo upgrades.]]
[[File:M1A1Abramsmini.jpg|300px|right|thumb|And you thought it couldn't get any better.]]
{{topquote|It is never very crowded at the front.|General Abrams}}
{{topquote|Crunchie: Term used by a Tank Crewman to describe a dismounted infantry Soldier, derived from the sound that they make when the tank rolls over them.|US Army Slang}}
The M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank is the premier armored fighting vehicle in the United States Arsenal. The first totally new tank developed by the United States after the end of the Second World War, the Abrams is a force to be reckoned with by those who wish to tear down democracy and oppress those who are weaker than they. It is armed with:
*A stabilized M68 - an American license-built version of the British L7 - 105mm rifled cannon,
*A single pintle mounted .50, aka .50 BMG or 12.7x99mm, M2 Browning heavy machine gun for the Commander,
*And a pair of M240 light machine guns chambered in 7.62x51mm NATO, one for the loader and one mounted coaxially with the main gun.

While the Abrams' primary mission is to destroy enemy armor, the protection of the crew has not been neglected in the design. The M1 Abrams is protected by Chobham Armour plating on the turret cheek, mantlet, and lower glacis, as well as the turret sides.
Chobham is said to be as difficult to penetrate as 2 meters of solid steel (against HEAT rounds at any rate), constructed of panels of high hardness ceramic, steel, and textiles such as Kevlar and Spectra, interspliced with air. The consensus is that against KE, the M1 had 400mm of protection, and 700mm of protection v. HEAT. Some areas were different, but eh.
The ready-use ammunition is mounted in the rear of the turret in a specially designed compartment. If the ammunition is hit, purpose-built blowout panels direct the explosion up and away from the crew compartment, ensuring the survival of the crew even if the ammo begins to cook off. It is worth noting that if said ammunition compartment's hydraulic blast doors are open upon detonation... Not much of a difference.

If you don't have a raging freedom boner right now, something is seriously wrong. Either that or you’re an Iraqi still living in your POS Lion of Babylon aka a worse T-72M knockoff and you still fap to a portrait of Saddam Hussein.

==In Team Yankee==
[[File:Abrams Card with IMP1 Stats.png|300px|left|thumb|The Stat Card]]
The M1 Abrams is an excellent tank in ''Team Yankee'', even if the overall real-world hype about it is somewhat exaggerated. It offers some of the best armor, firepower and mobility of any main battle tank in the game, and is the best MBT the U.S. Army of 1985 had to offer. Caught in the midst of phasing out the much older M60 Patton in favor of this all-new tank, the Army is sending all its armored forces in Europe into the fight with whatever they are currently using. The Abrams is a worthy foe for the Warsaw Pact's cheap but numerous T-series tanks and then some.

The M1's Front Armor is tied with the Leopard 2 and the Chieftain Stillbrew as the second-strongest in the game at 18, and the side armor is an impressive 8. In addition, with the release of the ''Stripes'' Book, you may now upgrade any and all of the Abrams in a platoon the IPM1 Abrams (the IP standing for "Improved Performance") for +1pt each. The IPM1 boasts an extra point of armor all around, with <s>''the'' strongest frontal armor</s> ([[Leopard 2|not any more]]) one of the strongest frontal armor values in the game at a value of 19 and a side armor of 10. The Chobham Armor package also bumps the side armor up to 16 against HEAT weapons, ie. most guided missiles and man portable Anti-Tank weapons. Have fun running over Soviets in the Assault Phase when there's practically nothing they can do to hurt you! Against 120mm shells from enemy tanks above 16", you need a 2 to test for bailing which makes it preeetty good against Ruskie tanks, never mind Leopard 1s or T-72Ms.

Take note that the additional armour will not help against top-end ATGMs from the Hind, Frogfoot or the Storm ATGM carrier. Also, for those historically-inclined gamers, take note that the Abrams was only in use with the active-duty U.S. Army in 1985; Marine, Army Reserve, and Army National Guard heavy armor units were all using the M60 Patton at the time.

Abrams enthusiasts will note that this is the 1980s Abrams, the original M1, meaning it retains the exact same 105mm M68 cannon used in the M60 Patton. The 120mm gun adopted from the Leopard 2 was not installed until the M1A1 version, only a 150 of these tanks existed in 1985. That said, that 105mm cannon is a pretty decent damage dealer, with a ROF of 2 both while halted and moving, meaning that no matter what, you will always have 2 dice to roll. The M68 is improved by an Advanced Stabilizer, so you can haul ass both toward and away from the foe at full Tactical Speed and suffer no penalties. As well as the M68, the Abrams carries a trio of machine guns; a .50-caliber M2 Browning is mounted on the roof alongside a 7.62mm-caliber M240 and can be used for AA work, while another coaxial-mounted M240 enables the Abrams to deal with infantry and lightly-armored targets without using its tank round.

You can take the Abrams in platoons of up to four tanks, with a minimum of two tanks in a platoon. Each standard Abrams costs 8 points; the IPM1 costs 9 points.

===IPM1 VS. M1===
For those who are a little in the dark on the difference between an M1 and an IPM1 Abrams, the M1 Abrams is the first model of the Abrams to see service, while the IPM1 is a slightly up-armoured version made to bridge the gap between the M1 and the M1A1 Abrams, having the armour of the latter but the Firepower of the Former. Does this mean that someday we will see a M1A1 in game with the armour of the IPM1 and the firepower of the Leopard 2? No one really knows (well, we do now), even though the model package has all the parts for an M1A1! Hell, by 1985 the US had deployed half of all M1A1s to Western Europe. In any event, the IP had a slightly longer turret from extra armor. Also, the M1A1 would probably be a very expensive tank due to the sheer power, especially in the era of Team Yankee.

Now, I bet that you are wondering why you would ever take a plain M1 now that the IPM1 is available (besides the fact that you bought them before ''Stripes'' came out and didn't know it was possible to have any other Abrams variant. <s>Screw you too Battlefront</s>). Like a lot of things in wargaming, it all comes down to numbers. If you are running a force with a lot of Abrams, the extra point per vehicle is going to add up quickly. For example, let's say you are running a maxed out Abrams Combat Team. Starting off you have 2 tanks in your command squad. Well, an extra two points aren't too bad, so let's add more. The requisite two Abrams platoons have 4 tanks each, so now we're at an additional 10 points, and the final platoon tacks on an extra 4 points, for a grand total of 14 points.

For reference, that is two whole [[US Mech Platoon|Mechanized Platoons]] that you could have taken instead. Also, since the IPM1 does not have an increase in firepower over the M1 you haven't gotten any better at dealing with the enemy, just better at tanking (heh) their fire, which isn't even that great of an issue since the M1 is already pretty fantastic at taking fire with its Front armour of 18, and if you lose a tank you have 17 more to avenge its loss.

Instead, you should take the IMP1 in lists where you are limited to small numbers of tanks like the Mechanized Team. Since you have fewer tanks, it becomes imperative that you do everything in your power to keep them in the fight for as long as possible, and the cost increase of, at max, 4 is significantly more manageable.

TL;DR:

M1 ===> Good when you have tanks to spare, or in large point cap games because edge in spamminess.

IPM1 ===> Good when you don't have numbers or smaller point cap games, and you need every tank to survive attack.

Sneak peak from previous livestream leaks in the American forces book coming out soon.
==M1A1==
[[File:M1A1Abramscard.jpg|300px|left|thumb|Ba-Bam!]]
Clocking in at a whopping 14 points per vehicle, the M1A1 is one of the most powerful tanks that can roll across your table. Its M256 120mm smoothbore cannon is capable of punching clean through the front of a [[T-64]] and out the other side with its AT of 23 only matched by the heaviest of dedicated Anti-Tank Missiles. Combined with its lovely front armor rating of 19, just like the IPM1 before it, the M1A1 can stands a decent chance of defeating most dedicated Anti-Tank munitions it will face. When the inherent awesomeness is combined with good placement and moment orders, this thing becomes an embodiment of the American will to stand against the red menace. Just make sure you don't get flanked. In truth its greatest weakness is its truly ridiculously high price. If you thought that the [[Leopard 2]] was hamstrung by its points costs, son you ain't seen nothing yet.

If for some reason you looked at the M1A1 and thought that it simply wasn't kick ass enough, or if you laugh in the face of point inefficiency the M1A1HC is what you need. It's got the same weapons and therefore the same unit crushing potential as its base model counterpart. Where it differs is that the front armor goes up to a damn near impervious 21 (<s>only matched by the ROMOR package [[Challenger 1]] at time of writing</s> Beaten by the Bundeswehr's own Leopard 2A5 at FA22 <s>fukken krauts</s>) and the side armor goes up to an impressive 11. That's right, you can flat out ignore most autocannons as they cannon penetrate you from any angle (Bad pun). The cost? 18 points per tank. A 72 fucking point 4 tank platoon ?!?! <s>Jesus Fucking Christ!!!</s> ''World's largest defense budget, baby!''

Thanks to being the most expensive tanks in the game, the chances that you will see formations of these things in games of less than 200 or so points is slim to none, but they still have a use for both the competitive player and the casual pickup gamer alike! The M1A1 comes integral to any US Mech infantry company, making it a powerful resource to support your formation, especially since US mech infantry formations tend to play defensive and thus need to figure out reserves. The Abrams fills this role nicely, having the speed and firepower to make an impact the moment it enters the board, and the points cost to take up the entirety of your reserve pool in a single unit. The synergy with infantry formations in particular is strong, since US Mech infantry can bring a shitload of ATGMs to help deal with BMP and tank swarms, as well as the general durability of infantry letting them hold the line while waiting for your tanks to arrive like the Rohirrim at Pelennor Fields or body blocking enemy tank swarms that want to flank your Abrams. If you play smart, focusing your fire on eliminating one tank company at a time and opening up the maneuver space for your tanks with smoke and your superior tactical speed, the Warsaw Pact tank swarms can be dissected in detail, all while your Abrams are perfectly safe behind their heavy armor and screening infantry, carving swathes in the Red Horde. If you play dumb, your gorgeous 72 point tank platoon is gonna go up in capitalist smoke before you can say "Damn Commie!"

{{clear}}

==IRL==
[[File:DA-ST-88-04607.jpeg|300px|right|thumb|Heard ya talkin' bout freedom!]]
In the 1960s the US Army began to search for a replacement for the [[M60 Patton]]. In this effort, they joined forces with West Germany in development of the MBT-70, an innovative design which featured the entire crew situated in the Turret and sporting a 152mm Gun/missile launcher similar to that of the [[M551 Sheridan]]. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on who you ask) the MBT-70 Program was canceled before the vehicle was ready for production due to excessive costs. It was not a total failure, however, as the West Germans took the lessons learned from the project and created the [[Leopard 2]] and the Americans took their data and created the M1 Abrams.

The M1 Abrams and its subsequent variants have been in service with the US Military for close to 40 Years. First introduced in 1980, the Abrams has gone through several updates to keep pace with the requirements of the modern battlefield. The first major update was in 1985 the M1A1 which swapped out the 105mm rifled L7 gun for a 120mm Smoothbore (which by the way is included in the Abrams kit and as of 1985 150 M1A1 tanks were in Germany waiting for the war to go hot seriously Team Yankee wikipedia doesn't get this wrong). The latest iteration is the M1A2, which has been upgraded with more advanced targeting equipment and improved defense systems from lessons learned fighting insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's also gotten better armor to stop the new shiny guns and missiles. However, please note: The original M1 Abrams had practically no armor whatsoever versing KE, as most APFSDS rounds went straight through turret, hull, mantlet, anything, below 1500 meters. This kind of makes sense because the M1 was built around the assumption that the T-72 (which the Americans were expecting the Abrams to engage with) would be equipped with the same 115mm smoothbore gun as the T-62, but it turned out that the T-72 used a much more powerful 125mm gun. The new intel about the larger and more powerful Soviet tank gun was part of the reason that the Abrams eventually received DU (Depleted Uranium) armour and a 120mm L44 cannon for the M1A1HA version onwards.

The M1A2C, renamed SEP v3 (System enhancement package) is currently in the process of deployment to US Army units in the field due to the Factory getting done ahead of schedule, containing all the wonders of modern technology including but not limited to:
* More powerful shells like the M859A3 and A4, designed to penetrate the heavy reactive armor instead of brute forcing and setting off ERA panels.
* Improved view sights that are in color, so no more B&W guesswork.
* Better computer networks, data links, improved laser range finders, danger indicators, and improved meteorological sensors. Just better electronics in general.
* A shiny new Active Protection System to stop rocket weapons.
* Earlier SEP v1 and SEP v2 upgrades also present, namely infantry-tank telephone, ERA plating, commander 50cal being remotely controlled and an optional second fifty call remotely controlled placed over the barrel.

The Abrams is a terrifyingly effective battering ram as well. Mostly due to its absurd speed and weight. And how does it achieve that speed? Why with its engine of course. Specifically its gas turbine engine. Seeing Sweden play around with turbines in the Strv-103 and hearing rumors that Russia was doing the same with the T-80, America got a little envious. The Strv-103 weighs 40 tons with a 300 HP Boeing turbine designed for drones. The M1 weighs 60 tons and has a '''1500''' HP Lyncoming (now produced by Honeywell) which was also marketed for heavy cargo helicopters. For context, this is the sort of horsepower you'd expect to see on a small freight train. The tradeoff is that its a logistics nightmare, measuring its fuel consumption in gallons per mile and can only drive about 6 hours before needing to refuel. This is mitigated somewhat by two things. First one is that the Abrams is able to use just about any type of fuel available. Jet fuel is standard issue but it can also take gasoline, diesel and marine diesel.(yes, that means fuel for sea vessels.) All very common among the military forces of NATO. The second is that the M1 Abrams is being fielded by a nation that has 753.5 '''billion''' in defense spending, if the M1 could burn Pennies for fuel it would barely make a dent in that budget.

A M1A3 variant is currently in development to design a lighter tank that may one day be more air transportable, as the M1A2's fat ass weighs in at 68 tons (the upgrade to fibre cabling alone shaved 2 tons!) meaning something like the C-5 Galaxy, one of the largest planes in the world, can only take off with two on board rather than the three that can physically fit in the cargo hold. This will be difficult as apparently politics make upgrades more affordable than new-ish tanks. Eventually, though, the mainframe of the tank will wear out and new ones will have to be manufactured. This may take some time, given that the Marines have ditched the Abrams. So all those tanks have gone to the Army,[[derp| due to the USMC brass being idiots that don't realize China has Light Tanks for island hopping. While the Army is also adopting Light Tank none of the Marine brass showing interest. ]]

The one noteworthy addition will be the long overdue Active Protection System (Trophy System), basically a system that shoots incoming projectiles like RPGs out of the air before they make contact with the tank proper. They bought the Trophy system from Israel because it's a more battle-tested system than the Quick Kill system (US development). The US's own Quick Kill system, similar to Trophy, accomplishes the same job. The US armed forces plans to use both in the latest versions of the Abrams by 2020.

The US Army plans to field the M1A1 until the 2040s and the M1A2 until the 2060s. They also want the M1A3 to be upgraded to a [[Tau|railgun]]. Which is in the realm of possibility because the Abrams is already a modular platform. A new engine may even be able to power two downsized variants of the laser weapon System installed on the USS Ponce. Obviously replacing the M240s and M2 Brownings. Therefore, many Abrams now in service or not yet acquired would eventually be turned into drones after 2050. Renamed the QM1A3, QM1A4 and so forth down the line. Said M1 Abrams drones would serve alongside a future tank. Gotta do something with that military budget larger than most countries GDPs.

{{US Forces in Team Yankee}}

[[Category:Vehicles]]

UH-1 Huey

2022-07-25T14:36:14Z

2607:FB90:522A:4399:8CF9:DECA:D467:A4D:

{{America}}
[[File:Huey (Army).jpg|300px|right|thumb|Hey there slick.]]
[[File:Huey (marine).jpg|300px|right|thumb|OO-RAH!]]
{{topquote|Daa-da-da-da-DAA-da, da-da-da-DAA-da, da-da-da-''DAAA''-da, da-da-da-daaaaaaa!|Richard Wagner, The ride of the Valkyries}}

The UH-1 Iroquois, or as it is more commonly known, The Huey, is one of, if not the most iconic helicopter of all time. Developed by the Bell company, the Huey served as the US military's principle rotary winged airframe for close to thirty years. This remarkable aircraft has been modified for almost any role you can think of, from assault transport to flying ambulance, to gunship.

==In Team Yankee==
[[File:Huey Statcard.jpg|300px|left|thumb|Airborne Stats]]
[[File:Huey Statcard (marine).png|300px|left|thumb|Marine Stats]]
In Team Yankee, the Huey comes in two flavours, peanut butter for the US Army and crayon for the US Marines. The Army Version has a slightly higher morale (at 3+) while the Marine version can carry an extra team.

The Army version is used in the UH-1 HUEY INFANTRY COMBAT TEAM list, which is meant to represent units of the 82nd Airborne Division, All Americans (meanwhile in the real world it was the 101st Airborne Division that used helicopters while the 82nd stuck with traditional parachuting out of planes but whatever...). The iconic whirlybirds are taken as part of a Huey Rifle Platoon, which starts off with 2 Hueys, 1 M47 Dragon Team, and 5 M249 SAW/M72 Law teams for 6 points. For an additional 2 points (For a total of 8) you get an extra Huey and a pair of SAW/LAW teams. In addition to the standard unit increases, you can also add an additional M47 Dragon team for a point, and up to 2 M60 GPMG teams for a point each, and finally you can add an extra Huey (for a total of 4) absolutely free!

The Marine version is a UH-1N twin variant utilized by the Marine Rifle Platoon. Instead of riding into battle in their [[AAVP7]]s you can replace the Amtracks with up to four Hueys for no cost, sacrificing the firepower of 2 AAV7s for additional mobility and the chance to lead your targets less.

Both Versions of the Huey carry a pair of door M60s, which have the special rule ''Door Guns''. This means that they can only fire the turn the Huey has landed. This is meant to represent the door gunners providing suppressing fire as the troopers jump out. This reinforces the role of the Huey as a transport, not a gunship, don't go hunting with these things [[bullshit|(because you literally cannot unless your skids are on the ground)]].

==IRL==
[[File:Huey IRL.jpg|right|300px|thumb|...Oh I Don't Give a Damn, Next Stop is Vietnam...]]
As you could probably guess from all the references on this page, the [[wikipedia: Bell UH-1 Iroquois|Bell UH-1 Iroquois]] was ''the'' iconic vehicle of the Vietnam War. It played a vital role in transporting American troops through the thick and otherwise impassable jungles of Vietnam, showing the world what air cavalry could do for a modern army. Despite its age it is still being used by the US Marines Corps (albeit a heavily modified twin-engine variant, the [[wikipedia:Bell UH-1Y Venom|UH-1Y]]), though the army uses the more modern [[wikipedia:Sikorsky UH-60|UH-60 Blackhawk]], which like many things: was introduced in 1979 and so can appear in Team Yankee. Bell essentially never stopped making the Huey for civilian use; the latest commercial model is the Bell 412. [[Derp| A new Blackhawk also costs less than a new Huey Venom per unit. Despite being an older design than the UH-60. Because the Pentagon loves finding ways to waste taxpayer dollars.]]

{{US Forces in Team Yankee}}

[[Category:Vehicles]]

M270 MLRS

2022-07-25T14:35:00Z

2607:FB90:522A:4399:8CF9:DECA:D467:A4D:

{{America}}
[[File:MLRSMODEL.jpg|300px|right|thumb|See that grid square? I don't want to. ]]

The lovechild between an American engineer and a Soviet lady named Katyusha, the M270 combines the raw firepower of a multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) with the laser guidance systems of modern artillery warheads. Despite its Yankee heritage, the M270 is used around the world by NATO countries looking for a long-ranged artillery system that can hit harder than any other weapon on the battlefield, short of dropping bombs and nukes.

A strategic weapon, these units were almost always classed at the division level thanks to the logistical strain, and the immense range one of these systems can fire up to. As with other Battlefront artillery pieces, this thing that should be sitting beyond 25km from the battlefield is here to support your forces half a mile away from the front.

==In Team Yankee==
===USA===
[[File:MLRSUSA.jpg|300px|thumb|left|See how they like freedom via steel rain.]]
Finally, the US gets a cheap anti-infantry Salvo template that doesn't come strapped to a pair of wings, either fixed or rotary.

The M270 Multiple-Launch Rocket System is a multiple rocket launcher platform able to launch 12 rockets up to 20 miles (or more, depending on the version and munitions). It utilizes a crew of three and was adopted by the U.S. Army in 1983, so the system has only been in service for two years by the time the Cold War finally goes hot in August 1985. The M270 is tracked, unlike standard wheeled platforms on the Soviet side, like the BM-21, but similar to them its armour is only meant for protection against small arms fire at best; anything much heavier and the M270, which is supposed to be literally miles to the rear of the line of battle, is in big trouble. Seriously. With 0 on the front, 0 on the side, and just 1 point of armour on top, the M270 is about as heavily armoured as a civilian's car. Protect it, or Ivan will make it disappear.

The defining feature of the M270 is that each vehicle counts as 2 guns firing, which means a platoon of 3 drops as much firepower as a unit twice its size. Enjoy your rerolls and extra minefields! While it can drop some serious firepower, the paltry FP 5+ means you'll mostly be pinning or bailing stuff until your main force hits.

Deployment of the M270 is straightforward. Keep it firing as far from the enemy as possible, and deny enemy air power and artillery any opportunity to reach it. Like its Warsaw Pact counterparts, the M270's rockets explode above the target area rather than impacting the ground to shower their enemy in shrapnel, popularly known as "steel rain" for the M270. This means that the system can do some pretty serious damage to infantry and lightly-armored targets, but heavily-armored units like the T-55 and T-72 main battle tank will be largely unaffected.
{{clear}}

===UK===
[[File:MLRSUK.jpg|300px|thumb|left|The Royal Artillery declare this an infantry-free zone in the name of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.]]
The M270 MLRS is an artillery system that uses a variety of warheads to pulverize enemy positions of all sorts. Coming in at 3 points apiece (more than the Abbot and M109), this unit is the British answer to infantry and BMP hordes when the M109 just won’t do.

When using the M270, make sure you screen it with some troops. Units like the Abbot and the M109 can fire directly if needed, but the M270 literally has no other weapons to speak of. Its designers intended for it to be miles to the rear, firing toward the battlefield from a long distance.
{{Clear}}

===Deutschland===
[[File:MARSGER.jpg|300px|left|thumb|Gotta be special with the name, eh Germany?]] The M270 Mittleres Artillerieraketensystem (MARS) is the Bundeswehr's version of the American M270 MLRS; the name MARS more or less means Main Rocket Artillery System, although "Mittlerer" literally means "Middle," as in medium or middle between a heavier and a lighter weapon. The M270 MARS is essentially identical to the original American version, depicted here in Team Yankee as being part of the artillery formations of the West German Army's 1st Panzer Division.

Apart from being 1 point more skilled than their American counterparts, the West German M270 crews are also the most determined, with a morale check of only 3 needed for them to pass. Their tracked MARS are just as helpless if attacked up close as the American and British versions, so keep these rocket-throwers well to the rear, where they can rain steel on the Reds like they were meant to do.
{{clear}}

==IRL==
[[File:MLRSIRL.jpg|300px|right|thumb|Some one is about to have a very bad day]]
[[File:Jericho_Test.gif|right|thumb]]
The M270 multiple launch rocket system is relatively new as far as Team Yankee is concerned, coming into service during 1983. It is used not only by NATO countries but Japan and Israel, the latter giving it the name "Smasher" in Hebrew.

The main loadout for the M270 is the M26 rocket, carrying between 500 and 650 submunitions depending on the size of the rocket motor. Each submunition is a multi-purpose antitank/antipersonnel/incendiary device with a cute teeny tiny little shaped charges in the bottom side that are capable of punching through 2" of rolled homogeneous armor, which is more than enough for most of the world's AFVs, even MBTs. Fully loaded with 12 rockets, an M270 can pick a square kilometer somewhere 30 to 40 kilometers away and [[awesome|make about 7,000 grenades drop out of the sky]] there.

The powers that be don't look to kindly on nonprecision area denial weaponry though, so the M270 had to reinvent itself for the post cold war era. The first development was the GPS guided MGM-140, although its size meant that one missile took the space of six rockets. Eventually the M30/31 guided rockets were developed, the M31 having a uniary warhead instead of bomblets. These fit in the same racks as the M26.

Its performance against Iraqis in 1991 and 2003 suggests that in the game it's kind of nerfed. Then again, IRL, a full battery volley of eight M270s ripple-firing twelve rockets each in a few seconds results in over sixty thousand bomblets raining down on an area a kilometer across. That is a time-on-target barrage that gives the unfortunate fellows occupying that grid square an average of one bomblet for every seventeen square meters. Reports from the battlefield suggest that this inflicts 40-50% casualties on units of AFVs in that area that aren't parked under substantial overhead cover, approaching the (estimated) effectiveness of a tactical nuclear weapon in the two kiloton range, only without the fallout--radioactive or political. In '91 MRLS fire made the recipients' shit all retarded, if not literally pushing their shit in.

Given the scale of battles and size of battlefields in Team Yankee it is probably appropriate either to deny the US player this "I Win" button entirely, by saying "yes, it EXISTS, but that's corps artillery, it's not available to your single mechanized heavy combat team in a blocking position, it's being used for other purposes/held in reserve for counterbattery fire/whatever." It'd be not much different from breaking out the nukes, or letting the American player call in B52s for ARC LIGHT strikes. In my opinion that would be more satisfying than making it available but nerfing it this badly and making it all but unrecognizable.

{{British Forces in Team Yankee}}
{{US Forces in Team Yankee}}
{{West German Forces in Team Yankee}}

[[Category:Vehicles]]

AH-64 Apache Attack Helicopter

2022-07-25T14:33:59Z

2607:FB90:522A:4399:8CF9:DECA:D467:A4D:

{{America}}
[[File:TUBX21-03.jpg|300px|right|thumb|Apache gunships in the sky, SF Rangers flying high! -Yusha Thomas]]
[[File:TUBX21-10.jpg|300px|right|thumb|Longbow]]

{{topquote|Now if there's one thing you can be sure of, it's that nothing is more powerful than a young boy's wish. Except an Apache helicopter. An Apache helicopter has a chaingun, rocket pods AND some of the most modern missiles of the time. It is an unbelievably impressive complement of weaponry, an absolute death machine.|Sir Patrick Stewart from the film Ted.}}

You know it, you love it. Whether you're a gamer, have ever seen a few modern war films, or are just a military buff, you should already know what it is. It's the fucking Apache helicopter in service of American (Boeing), British (AgustaWestland), Dutch, and Israeli armed forces - although Israel adopted them in 1990, the Dutch in 1995, and the Brits in 2004. It is currently fielded by at least seventeen nations. Obviously, no Apache for anyone except America in Team Yankee. Nor anyone else who bought them long after 1986 for that matter. Unless Battlefront Miniatures wants to go full crazy for their alternate history game or wants some extra cash.

==In Team Yankee==
[[File:TUBX21-19.jpg|300px|left|thumb|Stats]]

As helicopters go, the Apache is a frightening beast. Along with Thermal Imaging, it has a 'take-all-comers' loadout of:
* Hellfire ATGMs and their AT25 that will make short work of any tank it can get its sights on while it hovers well out of the range of AA.
* for infantry or soft vehicles (or if another helo tries to get rowdy), there's your M230 with ROF 6 AP 8 if you hover. I pity the non-armored fool that thing is pointed at...
* In case of artillery parking lot, once per game you can drop an AT4 Salvo onto their top armor of mostly zero. Not a sure kill, but it certainly will hurt a lot.

Like all NATO helos it has the Hunter Killer special rule: use terrain as concealment and unless you fire, you're concealed and only being hit on a roll of 6+.

As is mostly the case with such units, the downside is cost: two Apaches will hurt you for 12, the full platoon of four for 24. They're expensive, but just like the [[AH-1 Cobra Attack Helicopter|Cobra]], in the right conditions they'll murder the hell out of any Soviet that has the misfortune of being in front of them.

==IRL==
[[File:XTuRieTnpjFpEk9TLTDKDGdM 2IsnouZtvvRKfKL8hE.jpg|300px|right|thumb| *insert your favorite early to mid 90s metal song here*]]

The Boeing AH-64 Apache strangely enough, shares its origins with the [[A-10 Warthog]] - because USAF flyboys like to play fast and loose with the CAS mission [[derp|and believe every problem on the ground can be solved with strategic bombing.]] In the 1970s, Lockheed's compound helicopter the AH-56 Cheyenne made chair force generals shit their collective panties. The Cheyenne was to be the god of CAS incarnate, a helicopter that could push 250 mph with more weapons than the Cobra and maneuverability that would make the Red Baron sick with envy; this was a helicopter that could credibly take on conventional aircraft in low altitude air-to-air with at least a chance of coming out on top. Allowing the Army to have such a chopper would make the flyboys completely irrelevant for CAS missions, and pile on their growing track record of bad decisions (see Century Series fighters, F-111, and lack of a gun on the F-4). The Cheyenne forced Air Force brass to stop thumbing their noses at the Fighter Mafia's CAS proposal and adopt the Warthog in order to force the Army into canceling the AH-56.

In the end, the Army got what it wanted, then issued an RFP for a conventional Attack Helicopter. In 1975, Boeing's YAH-64 won the contract over Bell's YAH-63. The first combat mission was George HW Bush's illegal invasion of Panama, while the true test of the Apache's effectiveness came during the Gulf War. Out of 277, only one AH-64 was shot down during Desert Storm via close-range RPG: the only real issues the Army experienced were logistics and workload. During Operation Allied Force in 1999, other problems also cropped up, which are obviously due to the inferior tools, technology and training of the day; post-2000 variants don't have those issues. The Apache's biggest successes were during the Afghan and Iraq Wars. Many of the choppers that were shot down were eventually restored to working order.

The typical armament of the AH-64 is the M230 30mm Chaingun. A huge pain in the ass to reload. The rockets it mounts are either Hydra 70s, CRV7s or APKWS. Missile options consist of AGM-114 Hellfire, AIM-92 Stingers (the A2A version of the Stinger), Israeli Spikes, and hilariously, the AIM-9 Sidewinder (mostly for its anti-radar brother, the AGM-122 Sidearm, so it can serve as a discount low-altitude wild weasel). The AH-64D Longbow variant has 2 additional stations on the wingtips for missiles.

The most significant upgrade is the AH-64E Guardian, which allows the gunner to control RQ-7 Shadow or MQ-1C Grey Eagle drones for recon or additional firepower.

Proposed upgrades for the Apache are a laser weapon system (a likely upgrade from the M230 because again, reloading it sucks ass) and replacing the tail fan with a pusher propeller. The latter will increase its speed to 185 knots and range to 460 NMI, from 158 knots and 257 NMI, respectively. It also extends the wings, adding two hardpoints for a total number of six. Since the Cheyenne the USAF whined about was one of the earliest compound helicopters, if the AH-64E Block 2 Compound were ever to happen, it would be the ultimate irony as it would look like the Army metaphorically poking the flyboys in the eye with one hand while flipping the bird with the other.

The Apache will mostly likely serve alongside and eventually be replaced by the US Army with a derivative of the Sikorsky–Boeing SB1-Defiant in the 2030s. Another Compound Helicopter like the Cheyenne, the Defiant is the contract winner of the Future Vertical Lift program alongside the Bell V-280 Valor, a tiltrotor aircraft more advanced than the V-22 Osprey.

It is also a [[meme|gender]] for people who haven't made an original joke since 2013.

{{US Forces in Team Yankee}}

M1 Abrams

2022-07-25T14:33:01Z

2607:FB90:522A:4399:8CF9:DECA:D467:A4D:

{{American}}
[[File:M1 Abrams Picture.jpg|300px|right|thumb|70 Tons of Pure American FREEDOM!]]
[[File:IMP1 Abrams.png|300px|right|thumb|The IPM1 version; with Neon camo upgrades.]]
[[File:M1A1Abramsmini.jpg|300px|right|thumb|And you thought it couldn't get any better.]]
{{topquote|It is never very crowded at the front.|General Abrams}}
{{topquote|Crunchie: Term used by a Tank Crewman to describe a dismounted infantry Soldier, derived from the sound that they make when the tank rolls over them.|US Army Slang}}
The M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank is the premier armored fighting vehicle in the United States Arsenal. The first totally new tank developed by the United States after the end of the Second World War, the Abrams is a force to be reckoned with by those who wish to tear down democracy and oppress those who are weaker than they. It is armed with:
*A stabilized M68 - an American license-built version of the British L7 - 105mm rifled cannon,
*A single pintle mounted .50, aka .50 BMG or 12.7x99mm, M2 Browning heavy machine gun for the Commander,
*And a pair of M240 light machine guns chambered in 7.62x51mm NATO, one for the loader and one mounted coaxially with the main gun.

While the Abrams' primary mission is to destroy enemy armor, the protection of the crew has not been neglected in the design. The M1 Abrams is protected by Chobham Armour plating on the turret cheek, mantlet, and lower glacis, as well as the turret sides.
Chobham is said to be as difficult to penetrate as 2 meters of solid steel (against HEAT rounds at any rate), constructed of panels of high hardness ceramic, steel, and textiles such as Kevlar and Spectra, interspliced with air. The consensus is that against KE, the M1 had 400mm of protection, and 700mm of protection v. HEAT. Some areas were different, but eh.
The ready-use ammunition is mounted in the rear of the turret in a specially designed compartment. If the ammunition is hit, purpose-built blowout panels direct the explosion up and away from the crew compartment, ensuring the survival of the crew even if the ammo begins to cook off. It is worth noting that if said ammunition compartment's hydraulic blast doors are open upon detonation... Not much of a difference.

If you don't have a raging freedom boner right now, something is seriously wrong. Either that or you’re an Iraqi still living in your POS Lion of Babylon aka a worse T-72M knockoff and you still fap to a portrait of Saddam Hussein.

==In Team Yankee==
[[File:Abrams Card with IMP1 Stats.png|300px|left|thumb|The Stat Card]]
The M1 Abrams is an excellent tank in ''Team Yankee'', even if the overall real-world hype about it is somewhat exaggerated. It offers some of the best armor, firepower and mobility of any main battle tank in the game, and is the best MBT the U.S. Army of 1985 had to offer. Caught in the midst of phasing out the much older M60 Patton in favor of this all-new tank, the Army is sending all its armored forces in Europe into the fight with whatever they are currently using. The Abrams is a worthy foe for the Warsaw Pact's cheap but numerous T-series tanks and then some.

The M1's Front Armor is tied with the Leopard 2 and the Chieftain Stillbrew as the second-strongest in the game at 18, and the side armor is an impressive 8. In addition, with the release of the ''Stripes'' Book, you may now upgrade any and all of the Abrams in a platoon the IPM1 Abrams (the IP standing for "Improved Performance") for +1pt each. The IPM1 boasts an extra point of armor all around, with <s>''the'' strongest frontal armor</s> ([[Leopard 2|not any more]]) one of the strongest frontal armor values in the game at a value of 19 and a side armor of 10. The Chobham Armor package also bumps the side armor up to 16 against HEAT weapons, ie. most guided missiles and man portable Anti-Tank weapons. Have fun running over Soviets in the Assault Phase when there's practically nothing they can do to hurt you! Against 120mm shells from enemy tanks above 16", you need a 2 to test for bailing which makes it preeetty good against Ruskie tanks, never mind Leopard 1s or T-72Ms.

Take note that the additional armour will not help against top-end ATGMs from the Hind, Frogfoot or the Storm ATGM carrier. Also, for those historically-inclined gamers, take note that the Abrams was only in use with the active-duty U.S. Army in 1985; Marine, Army Reserve, and Army National Guard heavy armor units were all using the M60 Patton at the time.

Abrams enthusiasts will note that this is the 1980s Abrams, the original M1, meaning it retains the exact same 105mm M68 cannon used in the M60 Patton. The 120mm gun adopted from the Leopard 2 was not installed until the M1A1 version, only a 150 of these tanks existed in 1985. That said, that 105mm cannon is a pretty decent damage dealer, with a ROF of 2 both while halted and moving, meaning that no matter what, you will always have 2 dice to roll. The M68 is improved by an Advanced Stabilizer, so you can haul ass both toward and away from the foe at full Tactical Speed and suffer no penalties. As well as the M68, the Abrams carries a trio of machine guns; a .50-caliber M2 Browning is mounted on the roof alongside a 7.62mm-caliber M240 and can be used for AA work, while another coaxial-mounted M240 enables the Abrams to deal with infantry and lightly-armored targets without using its tank round.

You can take the Abrams in platoons of up to four tanks, with a minimum of two tanks in a platoon. Each standard Abrams costs 8 points; the IPM1 costs 9 points.

===IPM1 VS. M1===
For those who are a little in the dark on the difference between an M1 and an IPM1 Abrams, the M1 Abrams is the first model of the Abrams to see service, while the IPM1 is a slightly up-armoured version made to bridge the gap between the M1 and the M1A1 Abrams, having the armour of the latter but the Firepower of the Former. Does this mean that someday we will see a M1A1 in game with the armour of the IPM1 and the firepower of the Leopard 2? No one really knows (well, we do now), even though the model package has all the parts for an M1A1! Hell, by 1985 the US had deployed half of all M1A1s to Western Europe. In any event, the IP had a slightly longer turret from extra armor. Also, the M1A1 would probably be a very expensive tank due to the sheer power, especially in the era of Team Yankee.

Now, I bet that you are wondering why you would ever take a plain M1 now that the IPM1 is available (besides the fact that you bought them before ''Stripes'' came out and didn't know it was possible to have any other Abrams variant. <s>Screw you too Battlefront</s>). Like a lot of things in wargaming, it all comes down to numbers. If you are running a force with a lot of Abrams, the extra point per vehicle is going to add up quickly. For example, let's say you are running a maxed out Abrams Combat Team. Starting off you have 2 tanks in your command squad. Well, an extra two points aren't too bad, so let's add more. The requisite two Abrams platoons have 4 tanks each, so now we're at an additional 10 points, and the final platoon tacks on an extra 4 points, for a grand total of 14 points.

For reference, that is two whole [[US Mech Platoon|Mechanized Platoons]] that you could have taken instead. Also, since the IPM1 does not have an increase in firepower over the M1 you haven't gotten any better at dealing with the enemy, just better at tanking (heh) their fire, which isn't even that great of an issue since the M1 is already pretty fantastic at taking fire with its Front armour of 18, and if you lose a tank you have 17 more to avenge its loss.

Instead, you should take the IMP1 in lists where you are limited to small numbers of tanks like the Mechanized Team. Since you have fewer tanks, it becomes imperative that you do everything in your power to keep them in the fight for as long as possible, and the cost increase of, at max, 4 is significantly more manageable.

TL;DR:

M1 ===> Good when you have tanks to spare, or in large point cap games because edge in spamminess.

IPM1 ===> Good when you don't have numbers or smaller point cap games, and you need every tank to survive attack.

Sneak peak from previous livestream leaks in the American forces book coming out soon.
==M1A1==
[[File:M1A1Abramscard.jpg|300px|left|thumb|Ba-Bam!]]
Clocking in at a whopping 14 points per vehicle, the M1A1 is one of the most powerful tanks that can roll across your table. Its M256 120mm smoothbore cannon is capable of punching clean through the front of a [[T-64]] and out the other side with its AT of 23 only matched by the heaviest of dedicated Anti-Tank Missiles. Combined with its lovely front armor rating of 19, just like the IPM1 before it, the M1A1 can stands a decent chance of defeating most dedicated Anti-Tank munitions it will face. When the inherent awesomeness is combined with good placement and moment orders, this thing becomes an embodiment of the American will to stand against the red menace. Just make sure you don't get flanked. In truth its greatest weakness is its truly ridiculously high price. If you thought that the [[Leopard 2]] was hamstrung by its points costs, son you ain't seen nothing yet.

If for some reason you looked at the M1A1 and thought that it simply wasn't kick ass enough, or if you laugh in the face of point inefficiency the M1A1HC is what you need. It's got the same weapons and therefore the same unit crushing potential as its base model counterpart. Where it differs is that the front armor goes up to a damn near impervious 21 (<s>only matched by the ROMOR package [[Challenger 1]] at time of writing</s> Beaten by the Bundeswehr's own Leopard 2A5 at FA22 <s>fukken krauts</s>) and the side armor goes up to an impressive 11. That's right, you can flat out ignore most autocannons as they cannon penetrate you from any angle (Bad pun). The cost? 18 points per tank. A 72 fucking point 4 tank platoon ?!?! <s>Jesus Fucking Christ!!!</s> ''World's largest defense budget, baby!''

Thanks to being the most expensive tanks in the game, the chances that you will see formations of these things in games of less than 200 or so points is slim to none, but they still have a use for both the competitive player and the casual pickup gamer alike! The M1A1 comes integral to any US Mech infantry company, making it a powerful resource to support your formation, especially since US mech infantry formations tend to play defensive and thus need to figure out reserves. The Abrams fills this role nicely, having the speed and firepower to make an impact the moment it enters the board, and the points cost to take up the entirety of your reserve pool in a single unit. The synergy with infantry formations in particular is strong, since US Mech infantry can bring a shitload of ATGMs to help deal with BMP and tank swarms, as well as the general durability of infantry letting them hold the line while waiting for your tanks to arrive like the Rohirrim at Pelennor Fields or body blocking enemy tank swarms that want to flank your Abrams. If you play smart, focusing your fire on eliminating one tank company at a time and opening up the maneuver space for your tanks with smoke and your superior tactical speed, the Warsaw Pact tank swarms can be dissected in detail, all while your Abrams are perfectly safe behind their heavy armor and screening infantry, carving swathes in the Red Horde. If you play dumb, your gorgeous 72 point tank platoon is gonna go up in capitalist smoke before you can say "Damn Commie!"

{{clear}}

==IRL==
[[File:DA-ST-88-04607.jpeg|300px|right|thumb|Heard ya talkin' bout freedom!]]
In the 1960s the US Army began to search for a replacement for the [[M60 Patton]]. In this effort, they joined forces with West Germany in development of the MBT-70, an innovative design which featured the entire crew situated in the Turret and sporting a 152mm Gun/missile launcher similar to that of the [[M551 Sheridan]]. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on who you ask) the MBT-70 Program was canceled before the vehicle was ready for production due to excessive costs. It was not a total failure, however, as the West Germans took the lessons learned from the project and created the [[Leopard 2]] and the Americans took their data and created the M1 Abrams.

The M1 Abrams and its subsequent variants have been in service with the US Military for close to 40 Years. First introduced in 1980, the Abrams has gone through several updates to keep pace with the requirements of the modern battlefield. The first major update was in 1985 the M1A1 which swapped out the 105mm rifled L7 gun for a 120mm Smoothbore (which by the way is included in the Abrams kit and as of 1985 150 M1A1 tanks were in Germany waiting for the war to go hot seriously Team Yankee wikipedia doesn't get this wrong). The latest iteration is the M1A2, which has been upgraded with more advanced targeting equipment and improved defense systems from lessons learned fighting insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's also gotten better armor to stop the new shiny guns and missiles. However, please note: The original M1 Abrams had practically no armor whatsoever versing KE, as most APFSDS rounds went straight through turret, hull, mantlet, anything, below 1500 meters. This kind of makes sense because the M1 was built around the assumption that the T-72 (which the Americans were expecting the Abrams to engage with) would be equipped with the same 115mm smoothbore gun as the T-62, but it turned out that the T-72 used a much more powerful 125mm gun. The new intel about the larger and more powerful Soviet tank gun was part of the reason that the Abrams eventually received DU (Depleted Uranium) armour and a 120mm L44 cannon for the M1A1HA version onwards.

The M1A2C, renamed SEP v3 (System enhancement package) is currently in the process of deployment to US Army units in the field due to the Factory getting done ahead of schedule, containing all the wonders of modern technology including but not limited to:
* More powerful shells like the M859A3 and A4, designed to penetrate the heavy reactive armor instead of brute forcing and setting off ERA panels.
* Improved view sights that are in color, so no more B&W guesswork.
* Better computer networks, data links, improved laser range finders, danger indicators, and improved meteorological sensors. Just better electronics in general.
* A shiny new Active Protection System to stop rocket weapons.
* Earlier SEP v1 and SEP v2 upgrades also present, namely infantry-tank telephone, ERA plating, commander 50cal being remotely controlled and an optional second fifty call remotely controlled placed over the barrel.

The Abrams is a terrifyingly effective battering ram as well. Mostly due to its absurd speed and weight. And how does it achieve that speed? Why with its engine of course. Specifically its gas turbine engine. Seeing Sweden play around with turbines in the Strv-103 and hearing rumors that Russia was doing the same with the T-80, America got a little envious. The Strv-103 weighs 40 tons with a 300 HP Boeing turbine designed for drones. The M1 weighs 60 tons and has a '''1500''' HP Lyncoming (now produced by Honeywell) which was also marketed for heavy cargo helicopters. For context, this is the sort of horsepower you'd expect to see on a small freight train. The tradeoff is that its a logistics nightmare, measuring its fuel consumption in gallons per mile and can only drive about 6 hours before needing to refuel. This is mitigated somewhat by two things. First one is that the Abrams is able to use just about any type of fuel available. Jet fuel is standard issue but it can also take gasoline, diesel and marine diesel.(yes, that means fuel for sea vessels.) All very common among the military forces of NATO. The second is that the M1 Abrams is being fielded by a nation that has 753.5 '''billion''' in defense spending, if the M1 could burn Pennies for fuel it would barely make a dent in that budget.

A M1A3 variant is currently in development to design a lighter tank that may one day be more air transportable, as the M1A2's fat ass weighs in at 68 tons (the upgrade to fibre cabling alone shaved 2 tons!) meaning something like the C-5 Galaxy, one of the largest planes in the world, can only take off with two on board rather than the three that can physically fit in the cargo hold. This will be difficult as apparently politics make upgrades more affordable than new-ish tanks. Eventually, though, the mainframe of the tank will wear out and new ones will have to be manufactured. This may take some time, given that the Marines have ditched the Abrams. So all those tanks have gone to the Army,[[derp| due to the USMC brass being idiots that don't realize China has Light Tanks for island hopping. While the Army is also adopting Light Tank none of the Marine brass showing interest. ]]

The one noteworthy addition will be the long overdue Active Protection System (Trophy System), basically a system that shoots incoming projectiles like RPGs out of the air before they make contact with the tank proper. They bought the Trophy system from Israel because it's a more battle-tested system than the Quick Kill system (US development). The US's own Quick Kill system, similar to Trophy, accomplishes the same job. The US armed forces plans to use both in the latest versions of the Abrams by 2020.

The US Army plans to field the M1A1 until the 2040s and the M1A2 until the 2060s. They also want the M1A3 to be upgraded to a [[Tau|railgun]]. Which is in the realm of possibility because the Abrams is already a modular platform. A new engine may even be able to power two downsized variants of the laser weapon System installed on the USS Ponce. Obviously replacing the M240s and M2 Brownings. Therefore, many Abrams now in service or not yet acquired would eventually be turned into drones after 2050. Renamed the QM1A3, QM1A4 and so forth down the line. Said M1 Abrams drones would serve alongside a future tank. Gotta do something with that military budget larger than most countries GDPs.

{{US Forces in Team Yankee}}

[[Category:Vehicles]]

M60 Patton

2022-07-25T14:32:34Z

2607:FB90:522A:4399:8CF9:DECA:D467:A4D:

{{America}}
[[File:M60A1.png|300px|right|thumb|[[Meme|Yo dawg, I heard you liked turrets]] ]]
{{topquote|We want this war over with. The quickest way to get it over with is to go get the bastards who started it. The quicker they are whipped, the quicker we can go home.|General George S. Patton, Jr.}}

The M60 was America's first officially designated Main Battle Tank (because all the tanks before it were classified as Light, Medium, 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 commander's turret on top of the actual turret, rather than just being bolted to a convenient peg. Its service life with the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps spanned nearly thirty years, with the Marines turning in their last Pattons after the Gulf War of 1990-1991. There are two versions of the venerable M60 in the rules of Team Yankee, the M60A1 and the M60A3. While the ever well supplied army gets the 1978 introduced M60A3 with thermal sights and the like, the marine corps makes good use of the M60A1. That said, the Battlefront model is the M60A3.

Unlike its successor, the M1 Abrams, the M60 Patton was not an all-new tank. It was instead a much improved development of the older M48 Patton, which had a more rounded hull and a 90mm main gun. It is not technically part of the Patton series of tanks; its official name, given in 1959, is "Tank, Combat, Full Tracked: 105-mm Gun, M60." The name "M60 Patton," much like the "M4 Sherman" of World War II, has been so commonly used that even Wikipedia it recognition in its article on this beast for years. As of the setting of "Team Yankee" in August 1985, the M60 Patton has aged, but can still kick ass with the best of them - much like Patton himself, back when he did all the stuff that got a whole line of tanks named in his honor.

==In Team Yankee==
===USA===
[[File:M60A3Stats.jpg |300px|left|thumb|Valley forge, Custer's ranks, San Juan Hill and Patton's tanks, and the Army went rolling along...]]
[[File:M60a1.jpeg |300px|Right|thumb|Go ahead. Make my day.]]
First employed by American forces in the 1950s, the M60 Patton remains the mainstay of U.S. Army tankers in 1985 and is the sole main battle tank operated by the U.S. Marine Corps. Caught five years into the process of phasing its M60s out in favor of the newer and better M1 Abrams (introduced in 1980), the U.S. Army has waded into the fighting with a sizeable fleet of Pattons. The Marines, meanwhile, still having to make do with the second-hand stuff, will be enthusiastically destroying things that somebody else has to pay for, old tanks be damned. The M60 Patton may not be as good as it once was in 1985, but it's a workhorse and that's good enough.

Despite being a vastly different and considerably older design, the M60 Patton is basically armed with the same weapons systems as the [[M1 Abrams|Abrams]] (sans one .30cal) and can dish out the same damage as its successor. The M68 105mm Cannon has a ROF of 2 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 an 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 complement 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 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, including Bazooka Skirts, so what you see is what you get on this thing. And coming as it does from the 1950s, the M60 Patton has no internal armor to shield the crew from an ammunition explosion, meaning that a hit on its 105mm shell storage will send the turret flying and kill everyone inside just as a similar hit would on a Warsaw Pact tank.

While players may look at the obsolete armor that the Patton boasts- it's got the same frontal armor points as a T-72M, for Chrissakes- and run back to the Abrams, consider the point costs. Each Abrams costs ''double'' that of a Patton, i.e. 8pts compared to 4, meaning that a platoon of M1 tanks 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.

U.S. Army and U.S. Marine tank units may take Patton Platoons ranging in size from 2 to 5. There is a lot to be said for buying two M60s instead of a single Abrams, although that does mean your NATO force suddenly gets expensive, model-wise.

TL;DR: Cheaper, decent tank, but it is much more fragile and must be shielded by your Abrams tanks.

===Israel===
[[File:MAGGIE.jpg|300px|left|thumb|300px|Israel gets a Patton! Iran gets a Patton! Everybody gets a Patton!]]
The Isreali designation for the M60A1 is the Magach 6 and they have fiddled with it a bit. Instead of the giant commander's cupola, it's just a flat hatch with a 7.62mm machine gun. The .50 cal gets <s>changed</s> upgraded from a M85 to a M2 and mounted on the gun shield to be used in conjunction with the built-in coax machine gun.

It has a ''Brutal'' gun which forces re-rolls on passed infantry saves, and could fire smoke if needed. Unfortunately, it drops 1 ROF while moving on the main cannon and has the ''Accurate'' special rule: terrible for maneuver warfare, but excellent at fighting in a defensive position. The gun's penetration is identical to the Merkava, so take the Magach 6 if you want maximum firepower. The Magach costs (around) half of the Merkava 2, so the trade-off is very similar to that between the Patton and the Abrams.

If you are firing at infantry, the Magach can throw out 3-6 MG shots depending on range and whether you moved. The .50 is Anti Helo, so you can put up one shot at 5+ FP.

{{clear}}
===Iran===
[[File:M60-Main-tank-400x231.jpg|300px|left|thumb|300px|Yes, this file is shit, as soon as I get Oil Wars I will upload a better one]]

A well worn hand-me-down from the USA pre-1979 revolution, in Iranian service these tanks fall between the Chieftain and T-62 both in points and tactics-wise. These have none of the fancy trimmings that US M60s get, with no stabiliser or laser rangefinder and Anti-tank dropping to 18 (I guess the arms embargo meant Iran needed to make its own sub-par ammunition). Then again, these tanks cost a mere 2 points each, literally ''half'' of the US version, so expect to see these babies spammed to death.

FP 18 isn't going to get through any of the NATO MBTs like Abrams or Leo 2s from the front, but these guys are the cheapest MBT in the game to get ROF 2: perfect against Leo 1 spam lists. No other tank can be quite as cost-efficient as these boys when used correctly. Their armour stands a good chance of deflecting Leo AT 19 guns, while they will auto-pen a Leo 1 at any range. Ironically, as "PACT" you probably want to be defensive if you are facing large numbers of cheap(ish) NATO tanks, which used to be the meta. Halted ROF 2 and ''Accurate'' lean towards a static playstyle, so avoid moving if you can. Post them up in cover and let them get to work against light armour. Their cross value of 2+ will be your friend if you ever decide to move.

The Iranian M60 excels as a cheap long-ranged support weapon that will trade well into anything other than top tier tanks like the Leo 2, Abrams or T-64. As Iran you will struggle with these tanks anyway, so consider bringing a horde of T-62s or allied T-72s. M60s could be used in a pinch at rushing for flank shots, but this isn't recommended. They are weak against heavy armour, and suffer from their small unit size, meaning they can't really absorb losses like T-72 blocks. However, morale and remount 3+ will (hopefully) keep your formations in the fight for longer, as all of your tank crews have Allah's blessing and the key to heaven.

They can be taken as a "group" of 3. Yep, that's it. One size. An Iranian M60 company can take 2-3 groups, with 1-2 tanks in its HQ, and an optional Mechanized group. Iranians get no options in how to build their formations.

{{clear}}

==IRL==
[[File:4EC947FC-1709-415A-8A77-873F40A7D520.jpeg|300px|right|thumb|An M60 in central Germany]]
The [[wikipedia:M60 Patton|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 WWII-era 90mm cannon on the M48 with a 105mm cannon to match against the Soviets' 100mm guns. They could've just put the same cannon and updated systems on the M48, and in the 1970s did that, calling that version the M48A5, but creating a new tank that isn't really new is more the U.S. Army's thing, you see.

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 replaced it. The M60A1 which the Marine Corps used (and uses in the game) originally hit production in 1962, without a stabilized gun. In 1973 the M60A1 received an Add On Stabilizer (AOS), increasing its effectiveness, and the ancient Browning .30 caliber coaxial MG replaced with the M73 in 7.62mm NATO. This is the version of the M60 we see in Team Yankee with the US Marine Corps.

IRL a number of active-duty Army units got the semi-experimental M60A2, which only remained in service between 1975 and 1981. The M60A2, whose crews called it the "Starship" due to the, for the time, extreme complexity and sophistication of the fire-control system for a low-velocity, short-range 152mm gun/launcher, which had available for it both a conventional 152mm HEAT round and the world's first through-the-gun-tube ATGM, the Ford Aerospace MGM-152 Shillelagh, the same main armament as the M551 Sheridan light tank that was used from Vietnam until Desert Storm. 1970s bleeding-edge technology was fragile and finicky and had lots of downtime, and the through-the-gun-tube missile launcher, commonplace though they are worldwide today, was enormously audacious for the disco era and the technology of the era was just not up to the challenge of bringing the designers' dreams into the real world, in the sense that the missile system was expensive and unreliable, and due to the limitations of the guidance system could not be aimed at targets within 730m, which was held by some to be beyond the maximum effective range of the unguided HEAT rounds available for the gun, though a 1980s fire control package with laser rangefinder and ballistic computer could have addressed that shortcoming. It is ironic that in the present day it'd be cheap and trivial to give the "Starship" and the Sheridan the same thermal vision, laser rangefinder, and computerized fire control suite 21st Century MBTs get, and create for it a laser-guided or fire-and-forget 152mm through-the-gun-tube long range tandem-charge top-attack antitank missile for the M60A2 and Sheridan and it'd actually work as advertised, and the Sheridan in particular would be more viable in 2020 than it was in 1964. Be that as it may, in the late 1970s the M60A2 was widely regarded as a failed experiment. By the spring of 1981 all remaining M60A2s were converted to the M60A3 standard.

Speaking of the M60A3, it was introduced in 1978 and stayed in service in Army National Guard units until 2005. It was the good old M60A1 with the 1975 RISE enhancements, plus true passive thermal night vision sights for the commander and gunner replacing the distinctive enormous infrared spotlight bolted on top of the turret you see on M60s, M60A1s, and M48s, a laser rangefinder, and the same terrifyingly lethal and efficient computerized fire control suite as early M1 Abrams tanks.

There were plans in the 1980s for further enhancements to keep the M60 in service longer due to teething problems with the earliest M1A1 tanks with the Rheinmetall 120mm smoothbore gun. Ideas for the hypothetical M60A4 ranged from shoehorning a 120mm gun into the turret--theoretically impossible, but Thailand and Turkey now field the M60T variant cobbled together for them by Elbit in Israel--to a variant with a smoothbore 105mm gun that could use the same ammunition but get higher velocities, to a variant with explosive reactive armor tiles, which even in 2021 remains in service in Israel with reserve units, who call it the Mag'ach 7.

Even after that, the M60 stayed for a while, proving itself more than viable against Iraqi T-55s, Type 69s and T-72s during operations Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom, though that may have had more to do with crew proficiency than the vehicles themselves. The US finally retired its last M60s in 2005, and the M278 Combat Engineer Vehicle (a repurposed M60) is still soldiering on with the US Army Reserve and Army National Guard forces. Many armies still use them, namely Turkey and the Republic of China (Taiwan), along with Israel. The still-serving M60s have been modified and updated in a wide variety of ways; one version comes 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, though it should be noted that air superiority, artillery fire and near constant drone overwatch help a lot on this count.

Armor was around 130-200mm of RHA if memory serves, and it was PLANNED to have "Siliceous Cored Armor, but... Some have been fitted with explosive reactive armor tiles on the front and sides of the turret and the front of the hull, mainly in Israeli service.

The M60 would have been unquestionably the American workhorse tank if World War III had broken out in 1985. It might have been old, and based closely on the even older M48, but it was still a potent threat for the Warsaw Pact forces. The U.S. Marine Corps had not received any M1 tanks yet in 1985, and neither had the U.S. Army Reserve or the Army National Guard. The M60 would have been the one doing most of the work, even if the Abrams was newer and has gotten so much more hype in the years since.

{{US Forces in Team Yankee}}
{{Israeli Forces in Team Yankee}}
{{Iranian Forces in Team Yankee}}

[[Category:Vehicles]]

M60 Patton

2022-07-25T14:31:59Z

2607:FB90:522A:4399:8CF9:DECA:D467:A4D:

{{American}}
[[File:M60A1.png|300px|right|thumb|[[Meme|Yo dawg, I heard you liked turrets]] ]]
{{topquote|We want this war over with. The quickest way to get it over with is to go get the bastards who started it. The quicker they are whipped, the quicker we can go home.|General George S. Patton, Jr.}}

The M60 was America's first officially designated Main Battle Tank (because all the tanks before it were classified as Light, Medium, 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 commander's turret on top of the actual turret, rather than just being bolted to a convenient peg. Its service life with the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps spanned nearly thirty years, with the Marines turning in their last Pattons after the Gulf War of 1990-1991. There are two versions of the venerable M60 in the rules of Team Yankee, the M60A1 and the M60A3. While the ever well supplied army gets the 1978 introduced M60A3 with thermal sights and the like, the marine corps makes good use of the M60A1. That said, the Battlefront model is the M60A3.

Unlike its successor, the M1 Abrams, the M60 Patton was not an all-new tank. It was instead a much improved development of the older M48 Patton, which had a more rounded hull and a 90mm main gun. It is not technically part of the Patton series of tanks; its official name, given in 1959, is "Tank, Combat, Full Tracked: 105-mm Gun, M60." The name "M60 Patton," much like the "M4 Sherman" of World War II, has been so commonly used that even Wikipedia it recognition in its article on this beast for years. As of the setting of "Team Yankee" in August 1985, the M60 Patton has aged, but can still kick ass with the best of them - much like Patton himself, back when he did all the stuff that got a whole line of tanks named in his honor.

==In Team Yankee==
===USA===
[[File:M60A3Stats.jpg |300px|left|thumb|Valley forge, Custer's ranks, San Juan Hill and Patton's tanks, and the Army went rolling along...]]
[[File:M60a1.jpeg |300px|Right|thumb|Go ahead. Make my day.]]
First employed by American forces in the 1950s, the M60 Patton remains the mainstay of U.S. Army tankers in 1985 and is the sole main battle tank operated by the U.S. Marine Corps. Caught five years into the process of phasing its M60s out in favor of the newer and better M1 Abrams (introduced in 1980), the U.S. Army has waded into the fighting with a sizeable fleet of Pattons. The Marines, meanwhile, still having to make do with the second-hand stuff, will be enthusiastically destroying things that somebody else has to pay for, old tanks be damned. The M60 Patton may not be as good as it once was in 1985, but it's a workhorse and that's good enough.

Despite being a vastly different and considerably older design, the M60 Patton is basically armed with the same weapons systems as the [[M1 Abrams|Abrams]] (sans one .30cal) and can dish out the same damage as its successor. The M68 105mm Cannon has a ROF of 2 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 an 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 complement 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 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, including Bazooka Skirts, so what you see is what you get on this thing. And coming as it does from the 1950s, the M60 Patton has no internal armor to shield the crew from an ammunition explosion, meaning that a hit on its 105mm shell storage will send the turret flying and kill everyone inside just as a similar hit would on a Warsaw Pact tank.

While players may look at the obsolete armor that the Patton boasts- it's got the same frontal armor points as a T-72M, for Chrissakes- and run back to the Abrams, consider the point costs. Each Abrams costs ''double'' that of a Patton, i.e. 8pts compared to 4, meaning that a platoon of M1 tanks 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.

U.S. Army and U.S. Marine tank units may take Patton Platoons ranging in size from 2 to 5. There is a lot to be said for buying two M60s instead of a single Abrams, although that does mean your NATO force suddenly gets expensive, model-wise.

TL;DR: Cheaper, decent tank, but it is much more fragile and must be shielded by your Abrams tanks.

===Israel===
[[File:MAGGIE.jpg|300px|left|thumb|300px|Israel gets a Patton! Iran gets a Patton! Everybody gets a Patton!]]
The Isreali designation for the M60A1 is the Magach 6 and they have fiddled with it a bit. Instead of the giant commander's cupola, it's just a flat hatch with a 7.62mm machine gun. The .50 cal gets <s>changed</s> upgraded from a M85 to a M2 and mounted on the gun shield to be used in conjunction with the built-in coax machine gun.

It has a ''Brutal'' gun which forces re-rolls on passed infantry saves, and could fire smoke if needed. Unfortunately, it drops 1 ROF while moving on the main cannon and has the ''Accurate'' special rule: terrible for maneuver warfare, but excellent at fighting in a defensive position. The gun's penetration is identical to the Merkava, so take the Magach 6 if you want maximum firepower. The Magach costs (around) half of the Merkava 2, so the trade-off is very similar to that between the Patton and the Abrams.

If you are firing at infantry, the Magach can throw out 3-6 MG shots depending on range and whether you moved. The .50 is Anti Helo, so you can put up one shot at 5+ FP.

{{clear}}
===Iran===
[[File:M60-Main-tank-400x231.jpg|300px|left|thumb|300px|Yes, this file is shit, as soon as I get Oil Wars I will upload a better one]]

A well worn hand-me-down from the USA pre-1979 revolution, in Iranian service these tanks fall between the Chieftain and T-62 both in points and tactics-wise. These have none of the fancy trimmings that US M60s get, with no stabiliser or laser rangefinder and Anti-tank dropping to 18 (I guess the arms embargo meant Iran needed to make its own sub-par ammunition). Then again, these tanks cost a mere 2 points each, literally ''half'' of the US version, so expect to see these babies spammed to death.

FP 18 isn't going to get through any of the NATO MBTs like Abrams or Leo 2s from the front, but these guys are the cheapest MBT in the game to get ROF 2: perfect against Leo 1 spam lists. No other tank can be quite as cost-efficient as these boys when used correctly. Their armour stands a good chance of deflecting Leo AT 19 guns, while they will auto-pen a Leo 1 at any range. Ironically, as "PACT" you probably want to be defensive if you are facing large numbers of cheap(ish) NATO tanks, which used to be the meta. Halted ROF 2 and ''Accurate'' lean towards a static playstyle, so avoid moving if you can. Post them up in cover and let them get to work against light armour. Their cross value of 2+ will be your friend if you ever decide to move.

The Iranian M60 excels as a cheap long-ranged support weapon that will trade well into anything other than top tier tanks like the Leo 2, Abrams or T-64. As Iran you will struggle with these tanks anyway, so consider bringing a horde of T-62s or allied T-72s. M60s could be used in a pinch at rushing for flank shots, but this isn't recommended. They are weak against heavy armour, and suffer from their small unit size, meaning they can't really absorb losses like T-72 blocks. However, morale and remount 3+ will (hopefully) keep your formations in the fight for longer, as all of your tank crews have Allah's blessing and the key to heaven.

They can be taken as a "group" of 3. Yep, that's it. One size. An Iranian M60 company can take 2-3 groups, with 1-2 tanks in its HQ, and an optional Mechanized group. Iranians get no options in how to build their formations.

{{clear}}

==IRL==
[[File:4EC947FC-1709-415A-8A77-873F40A7D520.jpeg|300px|right|thumb|An M60 in central Germany]]
The [[wikipedia:M60 Patton|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 WWII-era 90mm cannon on the M48 with a 105mm cannon to match against the Soviets' 100mm guns. They could've just put the same cannon and updated systems on the M48, and in the 1970s did that, calling that version the M48A5, but creating a new tank that isn't really new is more the U.S. Army's thing, you see.

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 replaced it. The M60A1 which the Marine Corps used (and uses in the game) originally hit production in 1962, without a stabilized gun. In 1973 the M60A1 received an Add On Stabilizer (AOS), increasing its effectiveness, and the ancient Browning .30 caliber coaxial MG replaced with the M73 in 7.62mm NATO. This is the version of the M60 we see in Team Yankee with the US Marine Corps.

IRL a number of active-duty Army units got the semi-experimental M60A2, which only remained in service between 1975 and 1981. The M60A2, whose crews called it the "Starship" due to the, for the time, extreme complexity and sophistication of the fire-control system for a low-velocity, short-range 152mm gun/launcher, which had available for it both a conventional 152mm HEAT round and the world's first through-the-gun-tube ATGM, the Ford Aerospace MGM-152 Shillelagh, the same main armament as the M551 Sheridan light tank that was used from Vietnam until Desert Storm. 1970s bleeding-edge technology was fragile and finicky and had lots of downtime, and the through-the-gun-tube missile launcher, commonplace though they are worldwide today, was enormously audacious for the disco era and the technology of the era was just not up to the challenge of bringing the designers' dreams into the real world, in the sense that the missile system was expensive and unreliable, and due to the limitations of the guidance system could not be aimed at targets within 730m, which was held by some to be beyond the maximum effective range of the unguided HEAT rounds available for the gun, though a 1980s fire control package with laser rangefinder and ballistic computer could have addressed that shortcoming. It is ironic that in the present day it'd be cheap and trivial to give the "Starship" and the Sheridan the same thermal vision, laser rangefinder, and computerized fire control suite 21st Century MBTs get, and create for it a laser-guided or fire-and-forget 152mm through-the-gun-tube long range tandem-charge top-attack antitank missile for the M60A2 and Sheridan and it'd actually work as advertised, and the Sheridan in particular would be more viable in 2020 than it was in 1964. Be that as it may, in the late 1970s the M60A2 was widely regarded as a failed experiment. By the spring of 1981 all remaining M60A2s were converted to the M60A3 standard.

Speaking of the M60A3, it was introduced in 1978 and stayed in service in Army National Guard units until 2005. It was the good old M60A1 with the 1975 RISE enhancements, plus true passive thermal night vision sights for the commander and gunner replacing the distinctive enormous infrared spotlight bolted on top of the turret you see on M60s, M60A1s, and M48s, a laser rangefinder, and the same terrifyingly lethal and efficient computerized fire control suite as early M1 Abrams tanks.

There were plans in the 1980s for further enhancements to keep the M60 in service longer due to teething problems with the earliest M1A1 tanks with the Rheinmetall 120mm smoothbore gun. Ideas for the hypothetical M60A4 ranged from shoehorning a 120mm gun into the turret--theoretically impossible, but Thailand and Turkey now field the M60T variant cobbled together for them by Elbit in Israel--to a variant with a smoothbore 105mm gun that could use the same ammunition but get higher velocities, to a variant with explosive reactive armor tiles, which even in 2021 remains in service in Israel with reserve units, who call it the Mag'ach 7.

Even after that, the M60 stayed for a while, proving itself more than viable against Iraqi T-55s, Type 69s and T-72s during operations Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom, though that may have had more to do with crew proficiency than the vehicles themselves. The US finally retired its last M60s in 2005, and the M278 Combat Engineer Vehicle (a repurposed M60) is still soldiering on with the US Army Reserve and Army National Guard forces. Many armies still use them, namely Turkey and the Republic of China (Taiwan), along with Israel. The still-serving M60s have been modified and updated in a wide variety of ways; one version comes 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, though it should be noted that air superiority, artillery fire and near constant drone overwatch help a lot on this count.

Armor was around 130-200mm of RHA if memory serves, and it was PLANNED to have "Siliceous Cored Armor, but... Some have been fitted with explosive reactive armor tiles on the front and sides of the turret and the front of the hull, mainly in Israeli service.

The M60 would have been unquestionably the American workhorse tank if World War III had broken out in 1985. It might have been old, and based closely on the even older M48, but it was still a potent threat for the Warsaw Pact forces. The U.S. Marine Corps had not received any M1 tanks yet in 1985, and neither had the U.S. Army Reserve or the Army National Guard. The M60 would have been the one doing most of the work, even if the Abrams was newer and has gotten so much more hype in the years since.

{{US Forces in Team Yankee}}
{{Israeli Forces in Team Yankee}}
{{Iranian Forces in Team Yankee}}

[[Category:Vehicles]]

Cromwell Recce

2022-07-25T14:30:04Z

2607:FB90:522A:4399:8CF9:DECA:D467:A4D:

{{British}}
{{Topquote|Neccessity hath no law.|Oliver Cromwell, the twat.}}
[[File:Cromwell Tank.jpg|thumb|Ol' Flatface]]
The '''Cromwell Tank''' also known as the '''A27M''' was a cruiser tank of the British forces during World War 2, and of course appears here as a unit for British forces in [[Flames of War]]. It was one of their highest performing homegrown armored vehicles during the war, with good armor, and a 75mm gun. The Cromwell was a solid base that led to the development of numerous variants throughout the war. It was the fastest British tank of the war, able to hit 40MPH (64km/h), though some tanks were powered down due to stresses on the drive.

==Late War==
[[File:Cromwell Statcard.webp|thumb|left|These are the stats lad.]]
==IRL==
[[File:The British Army in North-west Europe 1944-45 B14938.jpg|thumb|Crusin' down the street...]]
The Cromwell was designed from the ground up to be a replacement for the increasingly obsolete [[Crusader (Tank)|Crusader]]. Designed to carry both a modern 75mm high-velocity gun and possess better defenses against similar weapons. Bridging the gap between the heavy and ponderous [[Churchill]] and the fast yet weak Crusader. The Cromwell was to be initially fitted with the weak [[wikipedia:Liberty Engine#Tank| Liberty Engine]], but the [[Enginseer|wizards]] at Rolls-Royce designed the [[wikipedia:Rolls-Royce Meteor|Meteor Engine]], basically creating a land version of the Rolls-Royce Merlin.

This engine was used in the A27M, known as the Cromwell III, (not to be confused with the later [[Administratum|Cromwell III variant]].) This tank would have been fitted with a high-velocity dual-purpose 75mm cannon, capable of taking on German armor at the time. However, [[Fail|the high-velocity version of the gun couldn't fit within the turret, so a lower velocity 57mm dual-purpose gun was used instead until the turret could be redesigned.]] This took so long, that by the time they were able to redesign the Cromwell to accomodate a 17-pdr (the Comet), the war in Europe was already in its final stages.

Funnily enough, the engineers at Vickers noticed that the American 75mm shell used with the Early Shermans could fit within the existing 6-pdr (57mm), so long as they modified the breach and bore out the gun. While this modification lasted for the rest of the war (only one division ever got the Comet, and 17-pdrs/70somethings were instead mounted on dedicated tank destroyers; one of which, the Challenger, was an experimental design based on the Cromwell, with an even worse turret), the 75 ROQF was still more of a "generalist" gun that had "okay" HE performance and an AP shell that could only penetrate German heavies up close, and even then only on the flanks.

In 1944, the Cromwell fought alongside its counterpart the [[M4 Sherman|Sherman]] in the D-day invasion, where a total of 7 Tiger tanks were confirmed destroyed in the race inland. The Cromwell was [[Speed Freek|Fast]] with a capital "F", capable of reaching 40 mph (61 Kilometers per hour), with one report of a group of 3 Cromwells getting surprised and [[Awesome|leaping a 20ft canal in order to gain a better position.]]
{{Template:British Forces in Flames of War}}

Crusader (Tank)

2022-07-25T14:29:04Z

2607:FB90:522A:4399:8CF9:DECA:D467:A4D:

{{British}}
[[File:Crusader Tank.png|thumb|"Welcome gentlemen, to the 11th Crusade!"]]
The Tank, Cruiser, MKVI aka the A15 Crusader was an early war tank in service with the royal army. It saw several variants and was one of several deciding factors in the Africa campaign. It was popular among British Tank crews for it's mobility and later armament that was more than match for most German tanks of that period.
==Mid War==
[[File:Crusader Statcard.jpg|thumb|left|These are the stats lad.]]

==IRL==
The Crusader was first ordered as a lighter tank that would be given to the tank regiments of the Royal Army. The Crusader was developed in parallel to the Coventer, a tank of similar appearance to the Crusader. The Crusader was so rushed through development that the vehicle had no prototypes built before production: they were rushed into service right off the Assembly line.

The Crusader was sent to Africa to supplement outdated tanks and limited numbers of Matilda "light" tanks. During Operation Crusader, the QF 2 pounder cannon was effective against the German Panzer IIIs, but was outgunned by the Panzer IVs with their 75mm cannons.

The Crusader also suffered from several major shortcomings, namely it's light armor, lack of high explosive shells, and design flaws that both caused the vehicle to catch fire when hit or its many mechanical problems due to poor preparation for the desert campaign. The fact that northern Africa also possessed little in terms of logistical capacity in order to transport tanks to depots where they could then drive to the front complicated matters, with some vehicles breaking down far from any tank transporters or tank recovery vehicles and being abandoned where they broke down, with those that didn't break down suffering severe wear and tear en route to their intended targets.

The Crusader was improved by the development of dedicated Engineering teams and improved logistics, and soon the MK III Crusader was available with the QF 6 pounder gun. With the inclusion of the M3 Grant and M4 Sherman tanks, the Crusader was pushed from frontline service and into service with light tank regiments, where they would serve as a flanking force in support of heavier tank forces with Valentine tanks for the remainder of the war.

There were several notable minor variants of the Crusader, the most interesting being the Crusader AA MKII, which was a crusader with two 20mm Autocannons strapped to it, and the MKIII AA, which strapped a Bofors 40mm cannon into a square shaped turret on top of the vehicle. Neither of these saw much service due to the allied Air Superiority during the latter part of the war.
{{British Forces in Flames of War}}

Churchill

2022-07-25T14:28:41Z

2607:FB90:522A:4399:8CF9:DECA:D467:A4D:

{{British}}
{{Topquote|Success consists of going from failure to failure, without loss of enthusiasim.|Winston Churchill}}
[[File:Churchill Tank.jpg|thumb|Still not as fat as the man it was named after.]]
The Churchill Tank (not to be confused with the Leader of Britain) was one of the heaviest tanks fielded by the British Army during World War II. It is notorious for having an incredibly flawed development cycle and for it's distinctive design.

==In Real Life==
The Churchill Tank's name is debated. Some say it was named in honor of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, but others argue they are referring to his relative, who was in the House of Lords in the late 1800s.

The Churchill was first ordered under the premise that World War II would be the same as World War I: static battlefields with lots of difficult terrain and anti-tank guns. Thusly, the tank had to be able to resist fire from German AT guns, provide support for Infantry and be able to cross trenches (hence the length). This resulted in it being a complete fatass (like Winston Churchill) compared to most other allied tanks, though the Churchill was still [[Meme|water weight]] compared to the Tiger.

After the fall of France, the design was revised to better support infantry Formations, as British doctrine of the time dictated that fat heavy tanks act as mobile gun emplacements for infantry. Most of the early versions (MKI-VI) were shit: [[fail|the Mark 1, for example, had exposed tracks, very wide and flat armor that was only thick at the front, an inferior 2pdr/40mm gun on the turret, and a hull-mounted 3-inch/76mm howitzer that was more meant to throw smoke than HE; all in all, the tank was absolute shit, couldn't fight other tanks even if it tried, and had to undergo immediate redesigning]].

That being said, [[Leman Russ (tank)|if this sounds familiar to you, that's because it's a Russ with shittier guns]]. Seriously, because the Churchill took a lot of concepts from the MK1 trench tanks that the Leman Russ was modeled after, they even considered Sponsons in the original design, which they eventually decided to leave out, but they left side hatches anyway for quick bailouts, giving the crew a self-defense option when attacked by infantry on the sides, or for loading the giant mortar on the AVRE.

[[T14 Heavy Tank|The tank was close to being removed from service after the British lost a ton of IIs and IIIs in Dieppe, and they were even working with the Americans to find a replacement]]. However, some (probably Australian) madlads in North Africa got the idea to strap a 75mm AT gun into the turret to replace the 57mm cannon found on the more common Mark III. When the War Office saw how effective these [[Orks|jury-rigged Churchills]] were, they were immediately standardized as the Mark VII and had 1600 of the things produced.

The Churchill saw reliable service across the world, though primarily in Europe it gained a reputation for being tough as nails. The massive design also meant that the Brits could modify the chassis to do pretty much anything, from Engineer support vehicles to tow tanks to bridge layers to minesweepers, there was a variant of the Churchill for just about everything; the two most successful of these variants was the [[Hellhound|Crocodile]], which replaced the hull machinegun with a fucking flamethrower (there was originally a howitzer in there; they not only had enough space for a flamethrower in the hull, but could also keep the turret's AT gun, which was the normal trade-off for the more inferior, less METAL BAWKSy tanks), and the [[Demolisher Cannon|Churchill AVRE]], which carried a 290mm Mortar Round that was so big, it had to be loaded from outside the tank.

Interestingly, the Churchill was also judged to be a superior Jungle Fighting vehicle, because of its good off-road capabilities and the fact only the big Japanese naval guns could really scratch it. In Soviet service, they were soon replaced by more efficient [[IS-2]]'s, but the Reds liked them enough that they were present at the Battle of Kursk.

The German analysis of the tank after the Dieppe landings indicated that the armor was at least equal to the armor of the Tiger, but as the armor was largely square shaped it had inferior protective qualities compared to the Tiger. Both tanks were also notoriously underpowered and unreliable in the field due to their weight. The Churchill was also slow as molasses (an inheritance from its Infantry Tank design), maxing out at around 10 mph. It did have the advantage of having '''a lot''' of torque due to its engine setup which was effectively a 12 cylinder inline, meaning it could reach those 10 mph on a level asphalt road or straight up on a muddy 30-degree incline full of vegetation in the jungle. By comparison, the Tiger could reach an acceptable top speed of 40kph with its Maybach 'V12' and keep up with the lighter Panzers, but off-road performance was notoriously worse than on-road.
{{British Forces in Flames of War}}