M106 Heavy Mortar Carrier

Droppin' bombs man!

"Hang ... FIRE!"

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Yet another variation on the venerable M113, the M106 Heavy Mortar Carrier was designed to provide fire support to mechanized infantry while keeping up with the rest of the formation. The M106 carries the M168 107mm Mortar which is capable of dropping rounds on target at ranges in excess of 5000m away. In addition, it also is equipped with a close defense .50cal machine gun.

In Team Yankee

The Stat Card

This is a nice little SPG. The M30 mortar can reach out and touch enemy infantry up to 4 feet away, and it stands a fair chance of killing it even if in cover with its decent 4+ Firepower rating. The AT value is only 2 though, so you are not going to be knocking out tanks with this thing unless it is open topped and your opponent rolls really poorly. They also have the ability to do a smoke bombardment, which combined with excellent allied optics, can give your forces a big advantage. Use smoke to force the Soviet Tanks to engage on your terms, not theirs.

The M106 has the same front and side armor as every other M113 based vehicle, but it has a top armor of 0 because of the massive hole cut in the top for the M30 Mortar to fire out of.

A section of 3 will cost you 3 points, and 6 for 6.

An excellent utility (smoke and pinning) artillery. Consider the M109 for killing artillery instead.

IRL

The M106 was first fielded by the US Army in Vietnam, where it supported US efforts to dislodge the VC and ARV forces. In US Service it has since been supplanted by the M1064A3 which is almost identical to the M106 except it mounts a 120mm Mortar instead of the 107mm.

The purpose of the mortar is to provide fire support at the smallest tactical level possible, which in most cases was the company (coincidentally the level that Team Yankee operates at for NATO forces), to minimize the amount of time between the call for fire and shells on the way. This rapid reaction capability gives company commanders the ability to suppress enemy forces with highly accurate indirect fire, both of the high explosive and smoke shell variety as quickly as possible, as when Ivan comes thundering towards you, you definitely don't want your desperate call for indirect support to end up stuck in a information log jam.

A Battalion was often equipped with single mortar platoon. This mortar platoon was often broken down into its component sections (roughly a squad of mortars) to then be distributed equally to the companies of the battalion (but not in a communist way). Since mechanized units were going to be expected to deal with the brunt of the PACT offensive, they were issued the largest mortars in the inventory (or more accurately they already had the logistical support and vehicles to haul such unwieldy weapons around) while the light rifle battalions and special units like the airborne were issued the more man portable 60mmm mortars.

ANZAC Forces in Team Yankee
Tanks:	Leopard AS1
Transports:	M113 (T50)
Infantry:	ANZAC Mechanized Platoon - Milan AT Section
Artillery:	M125 Mortar Platoon
Anti-Aircraft:	M113 Redeye SAM section
Tank Hunters:	AT Land Rover
Recon:	Scorpion - M113 MRV - M113 LRV
British Support:	Abbot Field Battery - M109 Field Battery - FV432 FOO - Harrier Jump Jet - Lynx HELARM