T-64

As the Soviet Union invested more and more into armored technology it soon became apparent that a new platform would need to be developed to wield all of that fancy new tech. The result of that realization was the T-64, which was the first vehicle to be equipped with BDD armor, the Eastern equivalent of the famed Chobham composite armor.

In Team Yankee

The Stat Card

The T-64B is the most advanced tank available to prospective Red Army Commanders, until the release of the T-80.

First off the T-64 has the best protection of any Soviet Tank in Team Yankee. The front armor value of 17 is almost as good as state of the art NATO MBTs and the side armor of 9 ignores virtually any autocannons below 30mm. In addition, the T-64's BDD armor bumps the side armor up to 13 against HEAT warheads. What this means is that this Tank stands a decent chance of stopping 105mm shells from the front (SUCK IT YANKEES!) and light infantry anti-tank weapons, like the LAW, are simply incapable of penetrating the T-64. Though bigger weapons will still punch holes like its going out of style.

On the offensive, the T-64 wields the 125mm 2A46 gun, capable of firing Kobra ATGMs (Anti Tank Guided Missiles) in addition to conventional munitions. This boomstick has an AT value of 22 and a Fire Power Rating of 2+. Essentially, the T-64 can delete early model NATO tanks and can hammer Late model ones into submission with massed fire. Infantry also have something to fear as the Brutal rule will force them to reroll their successful saves. The downside is that it only has a ROF of 1 while moving and halted, though the Advanced Stabilizer rule does alleviate this a little by allowing you to move at full tactical speed without sacrificing accuracy.

One may wonder why you would ever use the missile, the AT-8 Songster, as the AT value is one less at 21 and the firepower drops off to 3+. The missile adds an extra foot if you are an imperialist cyka or an extra 40 centimeters if you are a good communist worker. It is also guided and mounts a HEAT warhead, essentially ignoring the penalties for firing at long range, turning the T-64 into a decent sniper. Equipping you tanks with the AT-8 will cost you an extra 2 points though. However this is just a flat rate, meaning that it will cost you the same amount if you are running a minimum squad or a full company, making it proportionally less expensive the more tanks you have.

Red Army Commanders may take T-64 Companies ranging in size from 3 tanks to 10, with an initial batch costing you a total of 13 points and every additional tank adding on 6 more, to a total of 55.

IRL

A Pair of Ukrainian T-64 Bulats

The more astute reader will probably notice that the T-64 is a lot more capable than the T-72, which was developed more recently. This is because the T-64 was designed to only be utilized by the Soviet Union while the T-72 was meant to be more of an export model. The Soviets were keenly aware of the fact that things that they sent to their allies had a nasty habit of ending up in the hands of someone who really shouldn't be getting their mitts on soviet hardware, Like the US as a completely random example. Hence the reds usually kept the best stuff to themselves. As well, the Soviet Union armed forces were big. This meant making a lot of tanks, thus the T-72 was used to equip the lessers, and it was intended to fight the older NATO tanks anyways. Similar to the later T-80, the 64 was meant to be produced in small-ish numbers and equip elite Soviet combined arms units, while the T-72 like the T-55 before it was meant to be produced in the biggest possible amount, issued to Soviet tank-only armies who would make up the bulk of any assault force, and be exported to the rest of the Eastern Bloc or any other potential allies. The idea was: T-72 attack perforates the Leopard 1s and M60s and M48s holding the line and takes less damage and casualties in return. Then the M1 and Leopard 2 came along and threw a wrench in the Kremlin's battle plans. Eventually the T-80 was brought in to bridge the gap, but numerous problems with its new gas turbine engine opened up another can of worms.

One might wonder about the conspicuous lack of Kontakt-1 ERA - Explosive Reactive Armour - that would normally be installed onto Soviet tanks of the relevant time period. The T-64 that Team Yankee uses is a T-64B, which can be converted into a T-64BV (conversions first started in 1985, meaning that it is possible for such converted tanks to show up in this setting) with the addition of ERA. Essentially how ERA works is that it’s basically an explosive charge mounted on the turret or hull which explodes with a sufficient impact force. It’s of questionable use against APFSDS (Armour Piercings Fin Stabilised Discarding Sabot) rounds which are basically dense metal (usually tungsten or depleted uranium) darts, but against HEAT munitions it kicks ass. HEAT - High Explosive Anti Tank - warheads are basically shaped charges that rely on the Munroe effect (ie. the focusing of blast energy by a hollow or void cut on a surface of an explosive.) to penetrate armour. What ERA does is that it damages and deforms the concave structure of the warhead, rendering it from a shaped charge with focused blast energy to just a conventional explosive charge. In gameplay terms, it would make the first hit from a HEAT munition do diddly squat but would not protect from a second HEAT hit on the same area. There could be a T-64BV conversion kit in the near future, but then we’d have to see how Team Yankee actually decides to implement it.

To say that the T-64 is a great tank is a bit disingenuous. It was revolutionary although when the British showed off the Chieftan with its 120mm cannon the Soviets reworked the T-64. The first 500 T-64s had a 115mm cannon was hurriedly changed to have a 125mm cannon as the T-64A. It was the first tank to feature an autoloader, and the first to use composite armor. Of course, its entire design was such a revolution that engineers responsible for it running literally spent weeks in the hangars, working without rest or holidays and sleeping nearby. Currently, the tank has several upgrades making it more capable, and it is being used in the Ukrainian civil war.