Join the Battlefront team as we launch Bagration: Soviet
Chris has already told us how much he likes the Czechoslovakian OT-64, if you want something similar but a heck of a lot lighter, in plastic, and cheaper for your wallet then the BTR-60 is exactly what you need.
Check out another video from our archive and find out what a dream this model is to assemble!
Until the release of the T-80 the T-64 was the baddest boy on the block for the Soviets, but whilst the T-80 is newer, that doesn’t necessarily mean it is better, at least that is what the team at the Kharkiv transport machine-building factory No. 75 would have said when they were developing it!
Join Chris as he shows how easy the T-64 is to build.
The new releases for the Soviets in World War III: Team Yankee offer so many cool new options. When the new kits like the T-80, BMP-3, TOS-1, and Tunguska started appearing in the studio, I started noodling lists to try and include all of them.
Soviet armies get stereotyped as large hordes of questionable quality units, relying on sheer numbers to overwhelm the enemy. This is often true, but with modern equipment, and the new T-80 Shock Tank Company, I saw an opportunity here to find a middle ground between quantity and quality.
Here is the first list a came up with:
This is the type of list I normally gravitate to; max out on expensive tanks, and fill the rest with something cool. Unfortunately on the table it doesn’t have a combined arms approach and is easily countered, so I evolved it to this:
Now here I feel like I’ve got a little bit of everything, and most of it is in formation. I dropped a T-80 company which made room for Carnations and an OP, Gaskins, more recon, and some missiles. The two platoons of BMP-3’s are maybe a little redundant, but the end goal is to have 8 painted so I can run 3 as recon, and 5 to carry infantry as you’ll see below…
A few of us in the studio have been talking about playing some larger 150 point games, focusing on more modern equipment, so I wanted to see if I could easily make the army work at both 100 and 150 points with minimal extra painting. Here is how the above list grows:
I put the third company of T-80’s back in, and upgraded the formation to the Shock Company. The biggest addition is the Motor Rifle Company, but I think these improve the list greatly, and will be a fun painting project later down the line.
I’m excited to have two lists to throw down whether it’s at a 100 point tournament, or a friendly game with one of the Big Four at 150 points, without a huge change in model count. It’s mostly thanks to the new Shock Tank Company offering the option to have Soviets hit on 4+ for a bit more points, and I’m eager to try out both.
– Victor
With Joe Saunders
On the World War III: Team Yankee battlefield the undisputed top predator is the M1 Abrams and its variants. With a front armour value of 18 ranging to 21 and a main gun AT rating of 20 for the 105mm, or 23 for the 120mm, the Abrams hits hard and can soak up massive amounts of punishment. This is made even better by a Hit On rating of 4+ and an amazing remount of 2+. But this battlefield titan is not unstoppable.
The main tactic for Warsaw Pact and Soviet players to take these machines down was always to go with quality over quantity. An M1A1HC for instance costs 18 points compared to a T-64 which costs 4.3 points. This means that the Warsaw Pact can put at least 4 T-64s on the table to every one M1A1HC. This solution however is imperfect for World War III players. Sometimes you want to play a small elite force, or the wallet just won’t let you buy the 20 T-55AMs (and the paint) you would need to begin to equal the points your opponent would spend on 4 M1 Abrams (the basic model). This has traditionally left the gamers who want to play forces of the more communist variety at a loss…until now. With the new core set and the World War III: Soviet book you can get your hands on the T-80. This marvelous tank, while remaining most definitely Soviet in design and application, has what it takes to go toe to toe with the M1 Abrams. Let’s take a closer look.
The Warsaw Pact forces of the 70s and 80s were set on a very specific type of battlefield doctrine that caused the form of their tanks to follow the function of their strategy. This resulted in lighter, smaller, though heavily armed main battle tanks that did not match the size of western behemoths like the M1 or Leopard 2. Part of this was the recognition that the communist forces would maintain the edge in terms of numbers through vast armies of conscript troops. This necessitated simple designs that were faster and cheaper to make and more easily crewed by troops with less training. Moreover, these tanks such as the T-72, were intended for widescale export so they skimped on technology in favour of ease of maintenance as they could be put in service in remote locations ranging from the desert to the artic, far from technical support. The T-80 however was a partial divergence from this trend. Initially, not intended for export, the T-80 was loaded with the current innovations in armoured warfare, while still staying true to the Soviet strategy of having smaller more numerous tanks. The T-80, though it looks superficially like other Soviet tanks of the time, has better armour (supplemented be Explosive Reactive Armour- ERA) and a gas turbine engine that gave it outstanding speed. For armament it had the same autoloaded 125mm gun of its less technical T-64 and T-72 brothers, but it had the option for using the latest generation of gun barrel launched anti-tank missiles.
The T-80 has the stats to contend with the other NATO tanks. The front armour of 20 outclasses all iterations of the M1 except the M1A1HC which only edges it out by 1 point. Because of this, it can definitely take a punch! (The Abrams, only has one point better in side armour too.) The T-80’s side armour has ERA making it side armour 16 against HEAT weapons. This puts it neck in neck with the M1’s Chobham armour which also has a side armour rating of 16 against HEAT weapons (Though passengers can’t ride on tanks with ERA, because they would be blown up when the ERA goes off!)
In terms of mobility both tanks are the same in all respects and both sport advanced stabilizers for 14-inch tactical moves and have a cross of 2+. I imagine that this similarity is due to the fact that both have gas turbine engines and represent the pinnacle of tank automotives for both major super powers in the mid 80s.
This brings us to firepower, which is where these tanks diverge. The M1’s main gun can be a 105mm or 120mm canon depending on the variant and both are very good guns. They have 2 dice of shooting whether they are stationary or not, have a high AT, a range of 40 inches, and 2+ firepower. The 120mm in particular has a whopping AT of 23 due to it having cutting edge, fin stabilized depleted uranium long rod penetrator rounds! But this canon is very much maximized for anti-tank work. On the anti-troop side, the M1 comes in a little light at 5 dice of machine guns. The T-80 is different in the weapons department with a much more diverse armament. The 125mm Soviet gun has a range of 32”, rate of fire of one (whether moving or not) the brutal rating, and is AT 22 and a firepower of 2+. This makes it equally deadly against both infantry and armoured vehicles. The lower rate of fire makes the T-80 maybe slightly less competent in destroying armour… but wait, there is also the barrel launched Sniper missile! This AT 22, fire power 3+, Guided, HEAT weapon can reach out to 48 inches (with a minimum range of 16 inches) actually giving the T-80 a longer reach than the Abrams. Being the pinnacle of anti-tank weapons for the Soviets, this missile has the Tandem Warhead rule. This means that thought the Sniper Missile is a HEAT weapon, armours such as Chobham, Bazooka skirts etc. do not cause a boost in side armour ratings. So, go ahead and shoot an M1A1HC or Leopard 2 in the side armour with this missile and you can have that satisfaction of going straight to the firepower test!
So far, we have seen that the technical details make the T-80 pretty close to the other NATO MBTS but there is a difference and that boils down to training. As we discussed earlier in the article, the Warsaw Pact doctrine in the 80s was to rely on large numbers of conscript troops and use numbers to overwhelm their adversaries. The values on the T-80’s unit card represent this. The Hit on Number is 3+, Skill is 5+. These numbers are not so favourable compared to the typical NATO ratings. The American tanks for instance are hit on a 4+ and have a skill of 4+. The difference is represented in the points values with the T-80 running at about 7.3 points each where the comparable NATO tanks cost more. Because of this the Warsaw Pact forces will always have a slight edge in numbers because of the decrease in training. The lower Hit On value may also not be such a serious issue. With the armour ratings on the T-80 being up there with the NATO MBTS, you can compensate for the lower hit on number by keeping your opponents to the front and relying on the tank’s considerable manoeuvrability.
There is also another option to adjust for the T-80’s decreased stats… you can go elite. The T-80 Shock Company in the new Team Yankee: Soviet book represents the best Soviet Tankers of the time and this brings both the statistics and points costs into line with most NATO armies. The Hit On number goes to a respectable 4+ and the skill goes to an excellent 3+. (This opens up a lot of new options, but since the T-80 Shock Company is fairly different from other Soviet Formations and will be covered in a separate article.)
So far, we have looked at the statistics, but there is another, real world, consideration with the T-80. By Soviet standards it is worth a lot of points! This means that for a World War III Team Yankee player that is either new to the hobby or who is on a budget, they can get to the 100-point limit fairly quickly by purchasing or painting fewer tanks. 10 T-80s is 79 points. (89 points if you give them missile upgrades.) That is just 2 boxes of models. Previously Soviet players would have to have relied on T-64s which would require at least another whole box with maxed out upgrades to get into the same ballpark points wise. So, if you are new to the game or just getting up to speed with a Soviet force, T-80s are your first choice to get not only modern options to take on NATO players, but also to get a bunch of points on the table with fewer (but seriously cool looking) models.
In this brief tour of the T-80 and how it stacks up to the M1 Abrams we have touched on the similarities and differences between these mighty machines. Now you should have a clear picture of just what the T-80, as a new battlefield predator, can offer the Soviet player in Team Yankee. All that remains is to get your Warsaw Pact Forces together and go forth to destroy the decadent and corrupt capitalists!
With this force I toiled for a while about whether or not to do camouflage or plain green. There are some really cool camo schemes out there for Soviet tanks, and it was very tempting. However when my army lists started to contain more and more vehicles (tune in for Victors WWIII Soviet list at 3pm) , I settled on plain green to ensure I’d get them all finished in the time frame. But what shade of green?
As you will have seen in Chris and Evan’s article (What is soviet green?) there no one green to rule them all. I’ve painted plenty of drab olive greens before, so I aimed for something more vibrant.
I started by airbrushing a dark green, and then panel fading with a pale green, intentionally going quite light. Next was a dry-brush and a wash to tone it all down, followed by a second dry-brush to bring back the edges. This is a really quick way to get a lot of tonal depth on your tanks quickly.
The result is quite an intense green, more towards blue than yellow. It won’t be for everyone tastes, but I’m quite happy with it and it pops on the table.
I chose to paint the rubber parts to add another colour to break up the green. In reality they would likely be painted the same time as the tank, but there are examples with bare rubber. Same goes for the wooden un-ditching logs, tools, and exhausts where paint might have come off and rusted over time.
Another additional colour I used was an olive drab, which I used for anything consumable (MG ammo tins, fuel drums, missile canisters, etc).
So even with a “green horde” I’ve managed to get some other colours in there which hopefully add some visual interest without looking too patch work.
That’s 34 vehicles completed in 18 evenings, the largest army I’ve ever painted, and the fastest. Time for a break before I work on the infantry to ride in the BMP-3’s. I’m looking forward to using these all in a game soon!
– Victor
With Joe Saunders
I grew up in the 80s. When we played outside we were always pretending to be the Canadian military battling the hordes of Soviet Russia invading from the north. This meant that nameless and faceless Soviet Infantry were always the enemy. Then I was introduced to the movie Red Dawn (I choose to ignore the remake). In this Patrick Swayze movie I got a better look at the infantry of the Soviets (or what they were thought to be like). Now in my mid 40s I find myself reminiscing on that movie and wishing I could take control of those forces. I would like to try my hand against the superior military skills of Charlie Sheen’s ragtag assortment of high school students and the armies of the corrupt American capitalists…. Now, thanks to the new WWIII: Team Yankee book World War III: Soviet I can stop reminiscing, the time has finally come to dive in and take command of the legions of the red banner.
In this article I will take you on a guided tour of the infantry of the Soviet Union (in distinctly game terms) so we can investigate the nuances and capabilities of these cold war bad guys in WWIII: Team Yankee.
The Soviet doctrine for fighting World War III always relied on the idea that numbers would be on their side. The Warsaw Pact was mostly composed of conscript soldiers, equipped with simple yet effective equipment that could operate in rugged conditions. although their strategy also called for aggression. Fast moving penetration into the heart of NATO forces was perceived as the best option to take on the less numerous but better trained foes. This required a large amount of mobility and the Soviets were the first to take the concept of the infantry transport and blur it with armed vehicles to provide them with integrated heavy weapons support. On the ground this took the form of the various BMP Infantry Fighting vehicles (IFVs) and in the air the Hind Gunship (which if you grew up in the 80s… and excuse the Dirty Dancing/Red Dawn comment, will know definitely put Baby in a corner). Because of this, looking at the Soviet infantry of the era will also require a close look at their transportation.
This is the basic building block of the Soviet Infantry. If your army is composed of tank formations you will usually find that a company of BMP Infantry can be added on as part of the formation. This is handy as infantry is a good option for guarding objectives or fighting where terrain is dense.
The choices for the BMP Company come in 3 varieties, varying by the type of BMP taken. Otherwise the infantry themselves have the same stats and weapon options. Here we see the effect of the conscript army approach to warfare. Courage is 4+ (with 3+ Morale and Rally) and Skill is 5+ (Counterattack 3+) and their Hit On value is 3+. These stats are decidedly lack lustre. They could be worse, but definitely are not top tier. But this brings us to points cost…They are cheap and come in large numbers. 5 stands of troops in 3 Bradley IFVs cost American players 10 points, but 7 Stands of Soviets and 4 BMP- 2s cost the Soviets 8 points. With these troops you can keep numbers on your side.
Weapon options are very flexible with the ability to arm grenade launchers, AA missiles and improved RPGs for unit level upgrades. This allow you to tweak your squads for their purpose in your force. If you want to sit back and guard objectives take a Gremlin AA missile to ward off airstrikes. If you are attacking then go with an AGS-17 grenade launcher, or mix both for flexibility. This brings us to the BMPs themselves. Here you can also choose the vehicle for the task. If you want to keep the cost down, but still have some decent weapon options, the BMP-1 is a good choice. The BMP-2 splits the difference and gives you pretty good options for taking on NATO MBTs, while the BMP-3 gives you weapons that rival some Tanks (thanks to the Sniper missile). Which you choose will depend on the roles you want your infantry to fill, with the BMP-2 probably being the choice of a player looking for a general composition.
If being economical with your points is your objective, the BTR-60 Motor Rifle Company is for you! Let’s face it, sometimes you want to go with the big guns and max your army composition out with tanks (especially the awesome T-80). However, infantry is almost always a necessity for guarding objectives or going where armour can’t. The BTR-60 Motor Rifle Company will not break the bank for points while still fitting the bill.
The stats and weapon options for this unit are the same for BMP mounted troops, but the BTR-60 is armed only with machineguns and very light armour which brings the expense down. Because of this, you can get 7 stands of infantry and 4 BTR-60s for only 5 points. Though the BTR-60 is not likely to go toe to toe with anything other than opposing Infantry, it is a good way to leave room for other unit choices.
Rather than use the value of the BTR-60 Company to slide a few infantry stands into our army, you could go in the other direction and maximize your infantry. 23 points gets you a maxed-out squad complete with all of the heavy weapon options. That’s 25 stands and 16 BTRs per unit! Go ahead and use the BTR-60 Motor Rifle formation and fill up the infantry slots! You can have 76 infantry stands and 49 transport vehicles for 70 points! This would certainly be interesting to play and you would definitely outnumber your opponent, though you may not have enough paint….
Afgantsy Air Assault CompanyThese veterans of the war in Afghanistan have statistics that reflect their hard-earned experience. Though they have the same weapon options and unit sizes as the other Soviet units, they have a Courage of 3+ and a Skill of 4+. Though these stats are not outstanding, they are an improvement over the regular Soviet infantry stats and are still quite reasonable in terms of points. 7 stands will run 4 points. The main difference however is the Afgantsy don’t have transports as a basic option. Instead they are transported by Hind MI-24 Helicopters that are also a black box choice in the formation.
Obviously having helicopter gunships as their transport gives the Afgantsy Air Assault Company a massive boost in firepower. Spiral missiles provide AT ratings of up to 24, and they also bring Gatling guns and a one-shot salvo template weapon to the fight too! This makes this unit about a flexible as you can get for fighting all types of opponents.
In terms of tactics the Afgantsy Air Assault Company adds extreme maneuverability to the Soviet player’s list of options. Because the Hinds can both transport troops and provide devastating firepower, they can deliver the Afganstsy infantry to almost any point on the battlefield (game table) then either fly off on other missions, or stay near their infantry and defend them from armour and other serious threats.
The final infantry option in WWIII: Soviet is a bit different from the others. Where all of the other Infantry options can come with a full formation dedicated to them, the BMP Shock Recon Platoon does not. Instead this unit is a single choice in the T-80 BMP Shock Tank Company, which is the pinnacle of elite troops in the book. For this reason, this platoon has great stats, with a Skill of 3+ and a Hit on number of 4+. As far as Soviet Infantry goes, these guys are the best quality and also very expensive. The same 7 stands and 4 IFVS you would pay 8 points for in regular BMP units costs a lot more. You pay a whopping 15 points with the BMP Shock Recon Platoon!
In terms of firepower the BMP Shock Rifle Platoon is the same as the regular BMP motor rifle troops. This still means they have a ton of options for weapons, suitable for many different battlefield roles. On top of this they can have the BMP-3 or BMP-2s for transport and fire support. This unit can have a lot of firepower in a small package, that fights more like a NATO infantry squad!
In terms of tactics the BMP Shock Platoon is pretty limited because it is not a black box choice, so it will only ever be deployed in support of the Shock Tank Company’s equally elite tanks. This means their role will likely be guarding objectives or attacking in dense or urban terrain. In distinctly real-world terms, the high points cost allows for a low model count. Since the rest of the T-80 Shock Rifle Company is similar, with very expensive elite tank units (in the black box choices) this formation and its accompanying infantry is a good option for new players who have not painted a lot of models or who don’t want to break the bank on model kits.
As we have seen the Soviet infantry options in World War III Team Yankee are fairly varied yet highly adaptable with upgrades and transport options to strike hard and tackle different missions. We have also explored the interesting way in which the lower quality, yet more numerous unit sizes embody the unique aspect of how the Soviets planned to fight should the Cold War escalate to World War III. With this new-found knowledge now is the time to gather your forces under the red banner and conquer the corrupt capitalists. Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen and those pesky high school students won’t stand a chance against the might of Soviets this time!
One more from the archives, this time Wayne (who has since built many many BMP’s) takes a crack at building one on camera. Join him as he shows off the two versions of this iconic infantry fighting vehicle found on this great little sprue.
With John Lee
With all the new cool stuff coming out for this release, I thought it would be a good opportunity to also review the existing Main Battle Tanks. When Team Yankee was first launched there was only the T-72 that Soviet players could take. With the release of Red Thunder, the T-64 was introduced. Oil Wars brought us the T-62M. This release brings all these tanks together in one book alongside the new T-80 and T-55AM.
So many choices now for the Soviet player and with V2 of the rules, allows to take Black Box units as Formation Support giving us more options to field combinations of tanks depending on your play style. In this article, we look at the existing tanks (T-64, T-72, T-62M), their stats, cost and comparisons.
The T-64:
Starting off with the T-64, prior to this release was the premier go to Tank for the Soviet player. It has FA17 SA9 TA2, BDD armour (side 13 against HEAT), tactical 14” move, 32” range AT22 gun with advanced stabiliser, optional AT21 missile with range out to 48” that can be fired on the move!
The gun – AT22 with advanced stabiliser means moving up to 14” and able to fire its main gun on the move with no penalty. So effectively its range is up to 46” if you move and fire. Brutal – hit dug in infantry with it and that infantry team is re-rolling its saves! Laser rangefinder – No +1 to hit targets over 16”.
The missile – AT21 that can be fired on the move with 16” – 48” range increases with tactical move of 14” to 62” range! Guided – no +1 to hit over 16”. HEAT – no +1 to armour save for over 16” range. For those missions where you have scattered reserves and they turn up at the other end of the table – no problem anymore with coming on at tactical and firing your missile giving you 62” range.
The armour – FA17 SA9 TA2. SA9 with BDD (effective against some of the infantry HEAT weapons by increasing to SA13) – a better chance for assaulting.
The speed – 14” tactical speed means you will keep moving suffering no penalties for moving and firing. 3+ cross check which means you will pass them 67% of the time. 16” terrain dash and 24” cross country dash if you need it.
The stats – Skill 5+ so you will not be doing much blitzing or shooting and scooting. Remount is 3+ so easier to get back in. Morale 3+ to stay in the battle. Assaults are 5+ but counterattack on 4+ – so get those assaults in and look to force your opponent off the objective! HQ has better stats of course, so you want the HQ close by for the assaults.
The battalion HQ comprises one tank for 6pts and can add an optional missile for +1pt.
Tank Company has a minimum of three tanks for 13pts and a maximum of ten tanks for 55pts. Each tank beyond the minimum is an additional 6pts. If you want the optional missile its +2pts for the whole company – a bargain when running a medium to large company of them. Fit up to three tanks with a Mine Clearing Device for 1pt for the company. If you run the minimum sized company of three tanks you get a massive discount. You could run a battalion of HQ plus three companies of three for 45pts leaving plenty of options to support them including taking a company of either Shock T-80s or a large company of T-62Ms or T-55AMs. In the past I tend to run a battalion of HQ plus two companies of five tanks (I find the companies of the right size for survivability). One of those companies I arm with missiles. Then I support them with BTR infantry plus the usual support options of AA, recon, artillery (and helicopters if points allow).
The T-72:
Next up is the T-72 tank. This iconic tank whilst replaced with the T-64 (and now T-80) is still a useful tank (especially as a Warsaw pact player). It still has a place in the soviet arsenal too. It has FA16 SA8 TA2, BDD armour (side 13 against HEAT), tactical 10” move, 32” range AT22 gun with stabiliser.
The gun – AT22 with stabiliser means moving up to 10” and able to fire its main gun on the move with no penalty. You can move up to 14” with a +1 penalty over 10”. So effectively its range is up to 46” if you move and fire. Brutal – hit dug in infantry with it and that infantry team is re-rolling its saves! Laser rangefinder – No +1 to hit targets over 16”.
The armour – FA16 SA8 TA2. SA8 with BDD (effective against some of the infantry HEAT weapons by increasing to SA13) – a better chance for assaulting.
The speed – 10” tactical speed means you will keep on the move, suffering no penalties for moving and firing. With stabiliser this means you can increase your tactical speed to 14” with a +1 to hit over 10”. 3+ cross check which means you will pass them 67% of the time. 16” terrain dash and 24” cross country dash if you need it.
The stats – Skill 5+ so you will not be doing much blitzing or shooting and scooting. Remount is 3+ so easier to get back in. Morale 3+ to stay in the battle. Assaults are 5+ but counterattack on 4+ – so get those assaults in and look to force your opponent off the objective! HQ has better stats of course, so you want the HQ close by for the assaults.
The battalion HQ comprises one tank for 5pts. Tank Company has a minimum of three tanks for 12pts and a maximum of ten tanks for 47pts. Each tank beyond the minimum is an additional 5pts. Fit up to three tanks with a Mine Clearing Device for 1pt for the company. If you run the minimum sized company of three tanks you get a massive discount. I tend to take T-72s as a support option for my BMP-2 Motor Rifle Battalion or Air Afgansty formation when I want more quality tanks but need to shave points where I cannot quite fit the number of T-64s in that I want.
The T-62M:
Finally, the T-62M tank – released when Oil Wars came out gave the Soviet player their first cheap spam list tank, with a missile! It has FA14 SA9 TA2 with Bazooka Skirts, tactical 10” move, 32” range AT21 gun, optional AT21 missile with range out to 48”.
The gun – AT21 with NO slow firing rule means moving up to 10” and able to fire its main gun on the move with no penalty. So effectively its range is up to 42” if you move and fire. Brutal – hit dug in infantry with it and that infantry team is re-rolling its saves! Laser rangefinder – No +1 to hit targets over 16”.
The armour – FA14 SA9 TA2. Most modern tank guns and missiles will go right through the frontal armour but has enough to stave off attacks from other weapons. Side armour is relatively decent and has Bazooka Skirts which means it goes to 10 vs HEAT weapons. Against more modern infantry anti-tank armed units, it is still not going to stop it but against older weapons you have a chance.
The speed – 10” tactical speed means you will keep on the move, suffering no penalties for moving and firing. 4+ cross check which means you will pass them 50% of the time. 14” terrain dash and 20” cross country dash if you need it.
The stats – Skill 5+ so you will not be doing much blitzing or shooting and scooting. Remount is 3+ so easier to get back in. Morale 3+ to stay in the battle. Assaults are 5+ but counterattack on 4+ – so get those assaults in and look to force your opponent off the objective! HQ has better stats of course, so you want the HQ close by for the assaults.
The battalion HQ comprises one tank for 4pts and can add an optional missile for +1pt.
Tank Company has a minimum of three tanks for 5pts and a maximum of ten tanks for 29pts. Beyond the minimum three tanks it is an additional 2pts for the 4th tank, 3pts for the 5th and 6th tanks each, then an additional 4pts per tank thereafter. A massive discount if you are running three or four tank companies. You could easily run a dual formation of HQ plus three companies of four tanks for 32pts a formation and running two of them costs 64pts. That is 26 tanks running amuck with lots of points for support. I would run a single formation of HQ plus three companies of seven with one company armed with the AT-10 stabber missile for 60pts leaving me options to take an BTR infantry formation as well plus artillery, recon, and helicopters. Seven to eight tanks are large enough to have a chance of surviving and not as inflexible as trying to manoeuvre nine or ten.
Looking to compare the Tanks now directly, we can compare armour, weapons, and movement.
Armour stats:
| Tank | Front | Side | Top | Notes |
| T-64 | 17 | 9 | 2 | BDD |
| T-72 | 16 | 8 | 2 | BDD |
| T-62M | 14 | 9 | 2 | Bazooka Skirts |
Weapon stats:
| Tank Weapon | Range | ROF
Halted |
ROF
Moving |
Anti-Tank | Fire
Power |
Notes |
| T-64 125mm 2A46 gun | 32”/80cm | 1 | 1 | 22 | 2+ | Advanced Stabiliser, Brutal, Laser Rangefinder |
| T-72 125mm 2A46 gun | 32”/80cm | 1 | 1 | 22 | 2+ | Stabiliser, Brutal, Laser Rangefinder |
| T-62M 115mm 2A20 gun | 32”/80cm | 1 | 1 | 21 | 2+ | Brutal, Laser Rangefinder |
Missile stats:
| Missle | Range | ROF
Halted |
ROF
Moving |
Anti-Tank | Fire
Power |
Notes |
| AT-8 Songster (T-64) | 16”/40cm – 48”/120cm | 1 | 1 | 21 | 3+ | Guided, HEAT |
| AT-10 Stabber (T-62M) | 16”/40cm – 48”/120cm | 1 | – | 21 | 3+ | Guided, HEAT |
Movement Stats:
| Tank | Tactical | Terrain Dash | Cross Country Dash | Road Dash | Cross |
| T-64 | 14”/35cm | 16”/40cm | 24”/60cm | 28”/70cm | 3+ |
| T-72 | 10”/25cm | 16”/40cm | 24”/60cm | 28”/70cm | 3+ |
| T-62M | 10”/25cm | 14”/35cm | 20”/50cm | 24”/60cm | 4+ |
The T-64 has the best overall stats in terms of protection, gun, missile able to fire on the move and the fastest tank, especially at tactical (where it counts the most). From a cost perspective, the T-62M is probably the best overall. Its gun is quite good with AT21 and an optional missile means you have options with your force build giving you flexibility to run a decent armed tank in either spam mode or paired with an infantry formation, giving more a balanced approached but lots of firepower. The downside is that it has a worse cross check. The T-72 is the poor man’s T-64 really. It is used where missiles on the tank are not required for your playstyle and for me its best used a formation support option for an infantry formation where you need a good tank but not quite enough points for T-64s or T-80s. The best use for T-72s is in the Warsaw pact formations. I run a Czech T-72M formation and it works well.
There you have it, there is still a place for the existing tanks in your arsenal, even with the new T-80 and T-55AM out. Happy list building!
With Chris Townley
As you may, or may not know, I have built quite a large WWIII Czechoslovakian army dominated with T-55’s, T-72’s and infantry (in OT-64s). It is a heck of a lot of fun to play but, if I am being blunt, has a literal table full of models which can make for some hard work on the gaming front. You can find some pictures from the previous Panzerschreck and ValleyCon where I took this army along for a weekend of gaming over on the Big Four Of Late War site here…
With the release of the WWIII: Soviet book I thought it might be interesting to take (some) of the models that I have and put together a couple of lists that I can use when I am wanting a faster game. Clearly these are some more motivated, better trained, and in some cases better equipped Czechoslovakian forces – perhaps a demonstration battalion or Presidential Guard…
First up is my T-55 Battalion. This lets me keep running the horde of tanks (and with some slight upgrades from the T-55AM2 going to the T-55AM (check out John’s article about this great tank here… )
I am not sure that running this force will save me ‘much’ time when playing games but at least I can be less worried about taking those Morale and Rally checks when I come under fire. I wanted to play around with the idea of adding missiles to my T-55AM’s but I couldn’t bring myself to remove any of the units to find the points!
My second option is really just a variant on the theme with the T-72’s taking the lead. I’m not convinced that platoons of three is a good idea but right now I only have 10 painted and whilst I intend on adding another six (to increase the platoons up to five each) I am stuck with what I have. Additionally, I run in to the same issue with the T-55AM’s that I would need to find those points. First World problems eh….
Looking at the force though I have managed to pack in all my (okay, almost all of my) favourite toys with the Hinds and SU-25’s in there for some serious heavy lifting whilst the infantry (upgraded with next-gen RPGs) should be a headache for someone.
Both lists look a lot of fun to run and whilst I don’t have the new shiny T-80 or BMP-3 I still have a well-rounded force. This also gives me an excuse to build a specific ‘ultra-modern’ Soviet T-80 army at a later date that can be used to help stiffen up their Czechoslovakian allies!
~Chris
Every year members of the New Zealand Studio travel down to sunny(ish) Palmerston North for the worlds longest running Flames Of War / WWIII: Team Yankee tournament. Last year it was a 140 point doubles tournament for WWIII: Team Yankee.
At that point I had been slack and had never painted a WWIII army for myself, so I had to rush to paint one. I only just realised that I haven’t actually taken any decent photos for the army yet, so this live launch seemed like a good opportunity to show it off.
For the tournament I teamed up with Chris who was taking Czechoslovakians. Chris’ boys were so cheap that I ended up taking 105 of the available 140 points. Despite this, Chris still had more painting to do than me.
The core of my list was 15 T-64s with two companies of seven T-64s (one was given missiles) and a Battalion HQ tank. Supporting this were some BRDM-2’s for Spearhead, some Gophers for AA, Storms for some cheap Anti-tank, and Mi-24 Hind helicopters because they look cool.
– Casey