T55AM2

She's old but has a certain beauty.

"When the T-34 first appeared, it was very intimidating, and then we realized the Soviets couldn't shoot or drive for shit."

– Anonymous Wermacht solider, Company of Heroes 2

The feared muscle behind the Warsaw Pact during the 50s and 60s, the T-55 is an aged tank in 1985. The T-55AM2 however, represents a comprehensive upgrade program to attempt to bring the chassis to the modern era or at leaast make the crew feel somewhat less like cannon fodder. The glacis plate was thickened, a distinctive "horseshoe" brow armour was added to the turret front and a smoke launcher to increase survivability. A laser rangefinder, wind sensor and a ballistic computer were added to increase gun accuracy. Finally new gunner optics were added to enable missiles to be fired from the D10T 100mm gun. The T-55AM2 upgrades were the first prong in East Germany's plan to modernize the panzer of the Volksarmee (the second being further procurement of T-72M).

T-55AM2

East German

The Stat Card

The T-55AM2 combines sturdy armour and a moderately powerful gun with bargain basement point cost. While NATO tanks and ATGMs can penetrate the T-55AM2, most other enemy assets on the battlefield cannot, this makes the T-55AM2 a priority target as they close the distance with the enemy, tying up enemy anti-tank assets that may otherwise be shooting at something else. The D10T 100mm can't frontally penetrate the NATO MBTs but can be dangerous if you can enter a melee where the gun can be brought to bear against side armour. The slow firing rule discourages firing on the move, once your T-55s have reached an advantageous position you'll want them to keep them stationary to fire. Dash mobility and Cross-Rating is sub par, however the poor cross can be mitigated using Movement Orders which synergizes with the NVA's superior skill rating over the Russians.

Two schools of thought have emerged when including T-55AM2s in a Volksarmee force. The more instinctive approach for horde force players is to take multiple large companies of tanks to push down the field in a wave. Simply providing more targets than the NATO opposition can hope to kill, until you can enter a messy melee fight or tie up objectives all game. But alternatively, due to a quirk in points costing, a minimum strength T-55AM2 Battalion of 10 tanks (1+3+3+3) can be taken for 7 points, making each tank cost less than a single point. While these small companies can be erased by NATO tanks in a single salvo, they can operate independently (rather than an unwieldy mess of a 10 tank parking lot) and, when taking multiple minimum strength T-55AM2 Battalions provide extra command tanks to issue more orders.

East German armies make take T-55AM2 Kompanies ranging in size from 3 tanks to 10 tanks, starting out at 2 points and topping out at 16. Basically every time you add a tank to the original 3, tack on an additional 2 points. And yes, this does mean that you can take 10 tanks where a US Player could only take 2 Abrams (and base Abrams at that).

Polish

Polish Stats, towarzysz!

The Polish T-55AM 'Merida' is a locally modernized T-55, bringing it up to par with the latest T-55AM2s the modern age has to offer (if you can call a T-55 variant modern...). Unlike the East German version which is affordable enough to fill the role of a spam tank even in multiple small units, the Polish version is designed to make you take large tank units: unlike the East Germans, your smallest company size begins at 5.

Unfortunately, the Polish profile favours units which can survive a beating: 3+ remount and rally help you get back in the fight after getting pinned or bailed, but the T-55 is guaranteed to explode when touched by most dedicated anti-tank weapons. ATGMs, tank cannons and even man-portable anti-tank weapons like the Carl Gustav and the RPG-7 will punch through your front 50% of the time. There is little reason to invest in the Polish T-55 unless you are a fluff player: the points you spend for stats which will never be used with the exception of mine-clearing could be better spent on additional weapon systems. You are a PACT player, and your support units are devilishly cheap for what they do.

The Poles may take 5 tanks for 6 points, up to 10 tanks for 17 points.

Czech

The T-55AM2 'Dyna' is the Czech version of the modernized T-55 platform and is arguably the best T-55AM2 variant of the PACT countries for a competitive player.

Where the Polish profile excels on the defensive, the Czechs are unmatched on the offensive where firepower decides the success or failure of your attack. For a significant discount, you can bring about 30% more units to the field. The reason that the Czechs are suited for this role is the simple fact that T-55s will never survive any fire whatsoever. Aside from autocannons, the majority of anti-armour weapons will go through your front without any issue whatsoever. The Czech 5+ remount becomes irrelevant in this case, as anything which hits you is probably going to result in a kill and not a bail. Unlike the East Germans, the Czechs favour T-55 hordes and not multiple small units. Your discount only grows the more tanks you take, and taking entire companies is essential when building a Czech T-55 spam list: your 4+ skill is far less terrifying than the sheer numbers you can bring to the field.

Keep in mind when building your list that you are still spamming T-55s: these are not units which can take objectives. 5+ courage means that minefields will stop your companies dead in their tracks, and you do not have brutal to shred through entrenched infantry. If you are lucky or play well, you might kill a couple of Leopards or Abrams but will need to rely on your infantry to close in for the objective.

The Czechs may take 5 points for 5 tanks to 13 points for 10 tanks. Interestingly, tank battalions may also bring one company of the other version (T-72M or T-55AM2) in your third company slot.

T-55

Iraqi

Place

Iranian

Holder

IRL

I am on a tank!

See the thing about the Soviet Union is that when you're large enough to reach from one hemisphere to another equipping all of those soldiers can be a pain in the ass. As such the Soviet Union tried to keep it's old equipment in service for as long as humanly possible and just passed them down to less important units as the newer better stuff arrived to replace the old gear. Russia proper got the good shit, second line units older equipment, warsaw pact nations got stuff a generation behind, and so on. This is why the East Germans in Team Yankee use the much older T55AM2 while the Soviets proper, don't. Hell the T-34 was still used by the soviets up until the 1960's. This is why when you look up soviet equipment you sometimes find lists of at least five different types of machine all doing the same thing. The T55AM2 was an attempt to get more life out of the ageing T-55, and make it more able to fight the then modern NATO tanks like the M1 Abrams and Chieftain MBT, which by that point it was something like two tank generations behind. In fact, the T55AM2 is the only Soviet Tank in Team Yankee that does not have an Autoloader, all tanks after the T-55 did (with the exception of the pretty much failed and useless T-62), which is why it has the slow firing rule. It's IRL performance would have likely been similar to it's game performance: not very well, but there would have been a lot of them!

If you play 40k and think this thing looks a bit familiar, you're not entirely wrong. The bubble top turret from the T-55 and T-62 tanks was likely an influence on the forge world "Deimos pattern Predator" tanks.

East German Forces in Team Yankee
Tanks:	T-55 - T55AM2 - T-72M - T-72B
Transports:	BTR-60 - BMP-1 - BMP-2
Troops:	Mot-Schützen Kompanie - Hind Assault Landing Company
Artillery:	2S1 Carnation - BM-21 Hail - RM-70 - 2S3 Acacia
Anti-Aircraft:	ZSU 23-4 Shilka - SA-13 Gopher - SA9 Gaskin - SA-8 Gecko
Tank Hunters:	Spandrel
Recon:	BMP-1 OP - BRDM-2
Aircraft:	MI-24 Hind - SU-22 Fitter
Soviet Support:	SU-25 Frogfoot

Polish Forces in Team Yankee
Tanks:	T-55 - T55AM2 - T-72M - T-72B
Transports:	SKOT-2A - BMP-1 - BMP-2
Troops:	Zmotory Kompania - Hind Assault Landing Company
Artillery:	Dana SpGH - BM-21 Hail
Anti-Aircraft:	ZSU 23-4 Shilka - SA-13 Gopher -SA-8 Gecko
Tank Hunters:	Spandrel
Recon:	BMP-1 OP - BRDM-2
Aircraft:	MI-24 Hind - SU-22 Fitter
Soviet Support:	SU-25 Frogfoot

Czech Forces in Team Yankee
Tanks:	T-55 - T55AM2 - T-72M - T-72B
Transports:	OT-64 - BMP-1 - BMP-2
Troops:	Motostrelci
Artillery:	2S1 Carnation - Dana SpGH - RM-70
Anti-Aircraft:	ZSU 23-4 Shilka - SA-8 Gecko - SA9 Gaskin - SA-13 Gopher - M53/59 Praga
Tank Hunters:	Spandrel
Recon:	BMP-1 OP - BRDM-2
Aircraft:	MI-24 Hind - SU-25 Frogfoot - SU-22 Fitter

Iraqi Forces in Team Yankee
Tanks:	T-55 - T-62 - T-72M
Transports:	BTR-60 - OT-64 - AMX-10P - BMP-1
Troops:	Motor Rifle Company
Artillery:	2S1 Carnation - 2S3 Acacia - AMX Auf1 - BM-21 Hail
Anti-Aircraft:	ZSU 23-4 Shilka - SA-13 Gopher - SA9 Gaskin - SA-8 Gecko - Roland AA
Tank Hunters:	Spandrel - VCR/TH
Recon:	BRDM-2 - BTR-60 OP
Aircraft:	MI-24 Hind - Gazelle HOT
US Support:	A-10 Warthog - AV-8 Harrier

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