Editing M1 Abrams (section)

==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 (it is).

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.