Team Yankee COLD WAR Warriors Revisited Part 2 the T-62, T-62M and the T-72M

By Howard West

Background

My previous article Team Yankee COLD WAR Warrior Revisited the T-55 Tank focused on a Team Yankee player adding a 24-27 point 2nd or allied T-55 tank formation to an existing army list. With the “official” Team Yankee points reduced for this year’s US National events and with the changing META caused by the new NATO books as described in Tom Gall’s recent No Dice No Glory article on chasing the Team Yankee Meta. 

Also, several of our upcoming local Team Yankee tournaments that I will be playing in have the following point levels: 110, 94, and 70. I thought this provided a good basis for a series of list-building discussions for Team Yankee on No Dice No Glory.

First I would like to thank everyone who commented on my previous article on No Dice No Glory and the various Team Yankee Facebook groups. Your comments have helped make this article a better-finished product.

For this article, I want to start by looking at the T-62 and T-62M tanks and see if I could build formations with the same 24-27 points as I did with the T-55 formations from the previous article

Syrian or Iraqi T-62 List.

Strengths

• The list is 26 points and is 1 point under budget for the 94 point list.
• I could also use the painted models for Fate of the Nation.
• This formation is slightly better than the T-55 formation from my previous article.

Weakness

• No Laser Range Finder, Slow Firing, and No Bazooka Skirts.
• Cannot add a Scout Unit, AA Units, or artillery Units to the formation.
• Limited formation expansion capability, other than adding a 3rd T-62 unit or growing the size of the BMP infantry company.

Rankings: The above 3 reasons make this a weak list.

Iranian T-62 List.

Note: I did not create an Iranian T-62 list, since you could only purchase tank groups in blocks of 3 tanks. The Tank Units do have better stats than the Syrians or Iraqis, but I could not get past the 3 tank limit for tank units.

Soviet T-62M List.

Strengths

• The formation is on budget.
• The Soviet T-62Ms are not slow firing.
• The formation is extremely upgradeable with additional points.
• The models are already painted.

Weakness

• At 27 points the number of units in the formation may cause problems.

Ranking: The Soviet formation is probably the best of the 24-27 point formations.

Background for rest of this article

I wanted to see what a 2nd Warsaw Pact formation or an allied formation might look like, based on the T-72M or T-62M tanks using between 40 & 43 points. I again wanted to use my existing 67-70 point core formation and scale it up to 110 points this time. Team Yankee represents the T-72M tank in 5 different books from the Soviets, East Germans, Czechs, Poles, Oil Wars(Iranians, Syrians, and Iraqis).

For simplifying, the list comparisons, all of the lists are closely organized in the same manner as I did for my previous article. Also, I realize that my example lists may not be the best-optimized list, but are a consistent set of lists to make the comparison between the lists easier.

Soviet T-72 List

I did not build a Soviet T-72 formation, I just could not get it to work with the points that I have chosen to use for the other formations. I could not get past the idea of only having 3 Tanks in a Tank Company.

Syrian or Iraqi T-72M List.

Strengths

• The list is 39 points and is 4 points under budget for the 110 point list.
• Some of the Unit Stats are better than the Czech T-72 List.
• If you want to have a Warsaw Pact Army with Nato cool stuff in support then either of these armies might work for you.

Weakness

• Cannot add a Scout Unit, AA Units, or artillery Units to the formation.
• Limited formation expansion capability, other than adding a 3rd T-72 company or expanding the size of the BMP infantry or T-72 Tank company.
• In the BMP Company, the assault rifle teams do not come with any light anti-tank weapons.

Rankings: The above 3 reasons make this the weakest of the T-72M lists.

East German T-72M List.

Strengths

• Some of the Unit Stats are better than the Czech’s, Syrians, and Iraqis.
• I have the models painted already.
• Formation is expandable with more points.
• Very Cool Camo pattern.

Weakness

• Cannot field a BMP-2 Motor Rifle Company with this formation.
• Cost of the T-72 Tank Company vs the Czech, Syrians, or Iraqi Companies or a Soviet T-62M Company.
• Over Budget, I will need to make a small tweak to get it to 43 points.

Rankings: I could not decide between this formation and the Polish T-72 Formation. The East German list was better than the Syrian and Iraqi list but you cannot purchase a BMP-2 Company. That was the deciding factor vs the Polish T-72 List for 3rd place.

Polish T-72M List.

Strengths

• They come with the best set of unit stats in the Warsaw Pact.
• I have the models painted already, that could be used as Poles.
• Formation is expandable with more points.

Weakness

• Cannot field a BMP-2 Motor Rifle Company, when using 40-43 points for a formation.
• Cost of the T-72 Tank Company vs the Czech, Syrians, or Iraqi Companies or a Soviet T-62M Company.
• In the BMP Company, the assault rifle teams do not come with any light anti-tank weapons.
• Over Budget, I will need to make a small tweak to get it to 43 points.
• I will need to paint the Polish Infantry unit, I have the figures just have not pulled the trigger on painting them.

Rankings: This is the 3rd best formation. I keep looking at Poles, but I cannot get past the premium you pay. Depending on what is in the core formation, you are looking for the BMP infantry to hold an objective. You probably should then go with the East Germans vs the Poles, since the assault rifle teams do not come with any light anti-tank weapons.

 

Soviet T-62M List #2.

 

Strengths

• The list is 41 points and is 2 points under budget for the 110 point list. With 2 points, you could make several changes that would improve this formation such as adding a BRDM Scout Unit or a Gaskin AA Unit.
• BMP-2 based Motor Rifle Company will get you 6 additional AT-21 shots.
• The Motor Rifle Company comes with upgraded RPGs.
• I have the models painted already.

Weakness

• +4 cross, FA=14, no stabilizer vs the T-72 Tank Companies.

Rankings: Overall I think this is the 2nd best list.

Authors Note:

I have used formations similar to the above with my Soviet BMP formation and as an allied formation for my East Germans BMP formation.  Both worked well.

Czech List

Strengths

• The list is 40 points and is 3 points under budget for the 110 point list. With 3 points remaining, you could make several changes that would improve this formation, such as adding a BMP-1 Scout, a Gopher AA unit, or one additional T-72 tank to one of the Tank Companies.
• The formation comes with a BMP-2 Motorized Rifle Company adding 6 additional At-21 shots for the formation.
• The +1 Additional FA, +1 Cross test, 14″ move with a stabilizer makes them better than Soviet T-62M’s
• Very Cool Camo pattern.
• I have the models painted already.

Weakness

• The formation will struggle with remounts and counterattacks.

Rankings: The above 4 reasons make this the strongest of the formations.

Authors Note:

I have used Czech T-72 Allied formations with my Soviet BMP Core Formation in 2021 and will continue using them this year. Since last Fall I have completed a Czech RM-70 Rocket Launcher Battery and now play the army with a Czech Core and a Soviet BMP Allied formation. I have been pretty happy with the results that I have obtained in 4 tournaments with either of these combos.

Conclusion

The T-62/T-62M and T-72M Families of tanks were produced during the cold war and are still in use today in multiple countries. In August 2021, I published an article on NO Dice NO Glory titled Team Yankee Analytics V2, in that article, I discussed who, what, where and when I fought against in 84 Team Yankee tournament games.

In those 84 games, I played against 18 armies that had T-62/T-62M and T-72/T-72M in them in some form. Maybe I will see more players having them after the new Warpc Books comes out this year for Team Yankee. I think for 110 or 94 point tournaments you can put together a very capable 2nd formation or an allied formation to support your core formation as a Warsaw Pact Player. This might help Warsaw Pact players change the meta vs some of the new NATO units? In 2021 and this year I will continue using my Czech T-72M and Soviet T-62M formations in my various Warsaw Pact Team Yankee armies.

Thanks for reading this article and let’s get those T-62’s and T-72s dusted off and onto the table.

Please leave comments below, I normally respond to them in a few days and try to incorporate your suggestions or ideas into future articles.

More Information on the T-62, T-62M, and T-72M Tanks

Just a point of reference on all of the books below. I was able to purchase all of them as used books at various dealers from across the country, which has greatly reduced my cost to acquire them. I found the TRADOC Bulletins or Armour Magazine Articles via web searches.

TRADOC BULLETIN 10

Interesting US Army training guide on the Soviet T-62 Tank also has a small amount of information on the T-72 Tank. The training guide was published in 1979 and was based on information that was obtained from recent Middle East Wars. Here’s a link to find the training guide https://djvu.online/file/F0BkdyAs1Xfxm

M60 VS T-62 Cold War Combatants 1956-92

From Osprey Publishing, the book is an after-action report on the M60 vs the T-62 in the Yom Kippur War and Desert Storm. It also takes you thru the development and upgrades of both vehicles.

T-62/T-62M Tank

The books below are very good overviews and histories of the T-62/T-62M tanks and they also come with nice color plates for painting and modeling ideas. The last two books take you thru the Design, Build, and Sustainment of the T-62 Tank.

The May/June 2002 Issue of Armor Magazine has a nice article on Brow or BDD armor upgrade for the T-62M Tanks. Here’s a link to find the article May/June Issue of Armor Magazine

 

The next book should have been in my previous article. The book covers the Tank forces of NATO and the Warsaw Pact. it also has nice color plates to help with painting your models.

Interesting assessment by the CIA of the Soviet T-72, the assessment was published in 1982.

Osprey Publishing book on the T-72 Main Battle Tank. The book below is a very good overview and history of the T-72 tank and it has nice color plates for painting and modeling ideas.

From Osprey Publishing, the book is an after-action report on the M1 ABRAMS vs the T-72 URAL in Operation Desert Storm 1991. It also takes you thru the vehicle specifications, crew training, design and development, and upgrades of both vehicles.