HMMWV Scout Section
The High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (or more commonly, the "Humvee") is an all-terrain American light truck used by both militaries and civilians for all variety of off-roading needs. Much like the venerable Jeep that it replaced, the Humvee is famed for being able to traverse any environment with relative ease. While an excellent vehicle for scouting and rear line transportation, it is ill-suited for direct combat, possessing little in the way of armor. Being a frequent target of ambush attacks in Iraq, these trucks have been increasingly armored at the expense of mobility, though with little improvement to survivability against IEDs.
In Team Yankee
Worse in almost all regards compared to the M113 except for a superior off-road speed,(just like real life Hummvees) the HMMWV scout section has a very specific role: cheap recon. Virtually useless against all units but the most isolated artillery and AA missile carriers, the range of the TOW is negated by the fact that you should be deploying these at the front due to its scout and spearhead special rules.
The HMMWV Scout Section should not be expected to survive past the first round. Purchasing this unit may give you the recon you need, but keep in mind that this unit is essentially a free kill-point for your opponent in most cases.
HMMWV Machine-Gun Platoon
Apparently representing a heavy weapons platoon from the weapons company, you get 3 Humvees for 2 points or 6 for 4 points.
All your humvees may take either a Mk-19 or a 50.cal AA MG, identical to the Army variant. However, these guys have no night vision whatsoever, not even infrared. This is a confused unit: the marine riflemen are already among the best troops at anti-infantry firefights and have little need for more machine guns. Unlike the army Humvees, you don't even have Scout or Spearhead. As any player with a parking lot of M113s will tell you, machine guns aren't necessary: you will probably have more than enough at any given time if you ever need it (you won't, by the way).
Compared with its counterparts, the FV-432 and the BTR-60 provide a similar role of dirt-cheap anti-infantry fire. However these units do so FOR FREE, while you pay for the privilege of having some rednecks riding into battle on machine gun cars in a war against the latest Soviet tech: this means tanks, RPGs and BMPs, for the slower devil dogs out there.
If you do insist on bringing these units, consider giving them all Mk-19s. They may not be 'strong' in the conventional sense, but might fufil your need for a mobile anti-infantry unit. With a 24" threat bubble, a unit of these will cripple infantry in the open (much like APC machine guns, Cobra rockets, artillery...)
A player may take one platoon in a 2nd Marine Division Rifle Company list. It may not be useful in the slightest, but it's still a very fluffy unit if role-playing the Invasion of Iraq.
IRL
What the Jeep was to the first 30 years of the Post WW2 American military, the HMMWV served the same role in the late 20th and Early 21st century. It is no longer in production for the US Military, but upgrades and modifications are expected to keep it in operation till the 2030s. In 2019 the US Army selected the Oshkosh JLTV light truck to replace it, but procurement is moving slowly. In fact, many HMMWVs are older than their grunt drivers and occupants. The vehicle comes in many flavors from simple utility vehicles to fully protected light vehicles. Two major flaws of the HMMWV are its unusually wide profile, an attempt to address the Jeep and MUTT's rollover issues, (A more serious issue than you'd think. At one point it was so bad the military lost an average of two men per week in peacetime to such accidents; but the problem just came back when HMMWVs started getting uparmored) that deny it use of narrow roads designed for normal cars, and a major weakness to IED attacks. Though, to be fair, it's an unarmored vehicle, just the kind of vehicle insurgents regard as the optimum target for a roadside bomb, and if you bolt enough armor onto it to protect the crew and passengers, it's not very mobile any more and has a tendency to tip over. Armies since WWII have had more trucks on the road moving supplies and material than armored vehicles, and they've always been vulnerable--and it's hardly practical to move every shipment of food and medicine inside an M1A2 tank.
The US military will eventually replace it with the JTLV. The vehicle will have the M230 for taking on Cold War APCs, pre composite armor tanks, and enemies behind cover. The first step to replace the HMMWV is to push it out of its role of patrolling urban environments by MRAP vehicles that are purpose-built for surviving direct attack and IEDs. The HMMWV weakness to IEDs is currently covered by putting an MRAP ahead of it in formation to absorb the force of IEDs while the use of jammers prevents non-tripwire/pressure plate detonations.
Armor is... There? It'll stop small arms reliably, but nothing better. Fragmentation and shrapnel too, but... Serious firepower will crumple it. This vehicle is not meant to go toe to toe with tanks.
US Forces in Team Yankee | |
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Tanks: | M1 Abrams - M60 Patton - M551 Sheridan - RDF/LT |
Transports: | M113 Armored Personnel Carrier - UH-1 Huey - AAVP7 - Bradley Fighting Vehicle - Pickup Trucks |
Troops: | US Mech Platoon - Marine Rifle Platoon - Huey Rifle Platoon - HMMWV Machine Gun Platoon - Light Motor Infantry Platoon - Irregular Militia Group |
Artillery: | M106 Heavy Mortar Carrier - M109 Howitzer - LAV-M - M270 MLRS |
Anti-Aircraft: | M163 VADS - M48 Chaparral - M247 Sergeant York - HMMWV SAM |
Tank Hunters: | M901 ITV - HMMWV-TOW - LAV-AT |
Recon: | M113 FIST- M113 Scout Section - HMMWV Scout Section - LAV-25 - Bradley Fighting Vehicle |
Aircraft: | A-10 Warthog - AV-8 Harrier - AH-1 Cobra Attack Helicopter - AH-64 Apache Attack Helicopter |