Editing T-72 (section)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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