M60 Patton

Yo dawg, I heard you liked turrets

"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 Medium, Light or Heavy). The M60 is armed with a M68 105mm main cannon and two MGs, one .50 M2 on top and a .30 cal mounted coaxially with the main gun. Uniquely, the AA .50 cal is actually mounted in a little commanders turret on top of the actual turret, rather than just being bolted to a convenient peg. 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.

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 not 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 grants it recognition in their article on this beast. 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.

In Team Yankee

USA

The Stat Card

...and the Marines' version!

The M60 is a decent alternative for American players who don't want to spend 2/3rds of their points allotment on tanks.

The Patton is basically armed with the same weapons systems as the Abrams (sans one .30cal) and can dish out the same damage as its successor. The M68 105mm Cannon has a ROF of 2 while both moving and staying still, meaning the M60 can use its mobility while still being capable of engaging targets. The Laser Rangefinder rule allows the M60 to engage targets beyond 16 inches without adding +1 to your shooting rolls. The AT of 20 is more than enough to punch right through anything lighter than a MBT and stands a decent chance of damaging things like the T-72. With the best Soviet armor coming in at frontal 17, you may decide to compliment your tanks with a few ATGMs to reliably punch through a line of tanks.

On the defensive, however, the M60 comes up a bit short. The Patton has a front armor 15, only one more than the T55AM2 which means that Soviet Tank guns will perforate it like an oversized balloon, to say nothing of ATGMs. The side armor is a similarly lackluster 8 (which is actually one less than a T55AM2 but still 2 better than the Chieftain) and it gets worse. The M60 Lacks any kind of additional protection, not even Bazooka Skirts, so what you see is what you get on this thing.

While players may look at the paper-thin armor that the Patton boasts and run back to the Abrams, consider the point cost. Each Abrams costs double of a Patton, meaning that a platoon of Abrams could translate to two platoons of M60s. With the effective doubling in firepower, players with a preference for damage or the ability to preserve their tanks using LOS blocking will find the Patton to be far more cost-effective.

US Armies may take Patton Platoons ranging in size from 2 tanks to 4. Each tank will cost you 4 points, exactly half the cost of a basic Abrams. 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

The Isreali designation for the M60A1 is the Magach 6 and they have fiddled with it a bit. Instead of the giant commanders cupola, its just a flat hatch with a 7.62mm machine gun. The .50 cal gets changed 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 rerolls 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.

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.

Iran

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 because of the arms embargo meant Iran needed to make their own sub-par ammunition).

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 at 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 seems to be the meta at the moment. 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 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 into 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 I wouldn't recommend it. Their weaknesses are to heavy armour and their small unit sizes meaning they can't really absorb losses like T-72 blocks, but 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, thats it. One size. An M60 company can take 2-3 groups, with 1-2 tanks in their HQ, and an optional Mechanized group. Iranians get no options in how to build their formations. Tanks cost 2 points each.

IRL

A M60 in central Germany

The M60 Patton is essentially a dressed-up version of the older M48 Patton, developed in response to the T-54A after the Brits got to examine one up close during the Hungarian Revolution. This led to replacing the old 90mm cannon on the M48 with a 105mm cannon to match against the Soviets' 100mm guns. Despite the fact you could literally put the same gun and systems onto the M48 but oh well we are the Army lets make a new tank that isn't new.

The main reason for getting a new designation is that the M60 was supposed to be innovative, early designs planned on using composite armor and a combination gun and missile launcher (as seen on the Sheridan) mounted in a strange looking low profile turret called the Starship; ultimately pretty much all of these experimental features flopped in one way or another and so by the time the tank was fit for combat it was basically just back to where it started, an M48 with a bigger gun. With the elimination of the Light, Medium, and Heavy Tank classifications, the M60 became America's first Main Battle Tank. The M60 had been used throughout most of the Cold War until the introduction of the M1 Abrams that superceded it.

Even after that, the M60 stayed for a while, proving itself viable against Iraqi T-55s, Type 69s and T-72s during operations Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom. The US finally retired its last M60s in 2005, but many armies still use them. Hell upgrades come with 25mm auto cannons in place of the M2 machine gun and a 120mm cannons. Very lightly modified units are serving in the Syria conflict with better success than more advanced Leopard 2 tanks.

Armor was around 130-200mm of RHA if memory serves, and it was PLANNED to have "Siliceous Cored Armor, but...

Israeli Forces in Team Yankee
Tanks:	Merkava - M60 Patton
Transports:	M113 Armored Personnel Carrier
Troops:	IDF Infantry Platoon
Artillery:	M109 Howitzer -M106 Heavy Mortar Carrier -M125 Mortar Carrier
Anti-Aircraft:	M163 VADS - ZSU 23-4 Shilka - M48 Chaparral - Redeye SAM Platoon
Tank Hunters:	Pereh - M150 TOW - Jeep TOW
Recon:	M113 Recce - Jeep Recce
Aircraft:	AH-1 Cobra Attack Helicopter - A4 Skyhawk

Iranian Forces in Team Yankee
Tanks:	T-55 - T-62 - M60 Patton - Chieftain
Transports:	M113 Armored Personnel Carrier - BTR-60 - BMP-1
Troops:	Iranian Mechanized Platoon - Basij Infantry Company
Artillery:	M109 Howitzer - BM-21 Hail - M125 81mm
Anti-Aircraft:	ZSU 23-4 Shilka - ZSU-57-2 - SA-8 Gecko
Tank Hunters:	Jeep TOW - Jeep 106mm Recoilless - M113 106mm Recoilless
Recon:	Scorpion
Aircraft:	AH-1 Cobra Attack Helicopter
Soviet Support:	SU-25 Frogfoot