Basij Infantry Company
The Basij were an all-volunteer paramilitary militia branch, before their merger into the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
In Team Yankee
The Basij are Team Yankee's first footsloggers that do not begin the game in transports, and also the only company-sized unit in the Iranian army list.
WIth a maximum strength of 25 AKM teams and 12 RPG-7 teams, the Basij is the Iranian equivalent of a super-sized motor-rifle company. While their armament may not be much to boast of compared to the Iranian mechanized platoon, they have a totally different role in the Iranian list: placing a massive blob in your enemy's face with spearhead deployments.
Unlike the mechanized platoon which has enough anti-armor weapons to put holes in vehicles and sideshotting tanks and 16” MG3s to fight infantry with, the Basij should be expected to fight enemy infantry under the cover of smoke and have enough bodies to beat nearly all infantry in close combat. Unfortunately, your army of fanatical monks has a 4+ Infantry Save to offset their rather excellent 3+ Morale, Courage, Rally, Assault and Counterattack.
IRL
The Basji started out as your standard paramilitary youth toughs for the new revolutionary government, but they were quickly mobilized by the Iranian government into an ad-hoc milita force shortly after the Iran-Iraq war started. The Basji's ranks were open and encouraged membership from the age of twelve to eighty, with very little training given. Similar to the Volksgrenadiers of Nazi Germany during the last days of the Third Reich and the revolutionary mobs of the first French Republic the performance of the Basji was mixed at best. At times, their fanatical nature gave them the edge in night raids into the Iraqi lines, the dark making up for a lack of armor or transport besides their own feet in closing with the enemy. At other points, Basji units were used as human mine clearers, paving the way for the better trained army units or softening up resistance with human wave attacks. The casualties they suffered during offensive operations was wildly disproportionate with that of any other unit.
Don't worry about that though, they were all given a key to heaven when they signed up.
| 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 |