Tank Of The Day

[FPilot]

That's right! I will drag a bunch of real-life vehicles kicking and screaming into CAV, just to make you run out and buy some models to fill out your forces.

 

We start off with that chariot of the desert--the Israeli Merkava.

 

MERKAVA M.B.T.

The Merkava was developed by the Israelis in response to the changing environment of desert combat, specifically the proliferation of man-portable anti-tank weapons seen in the 1973 War. In light of the terrible casualties suffered by the Tank Corps, the Merkava was built mainly for crew survivability. To that end, it gained two features unique among late-20th Century tanks.

 

The first was a forward-mounted engine, which allowed for an armored hatch to be installed on the back of the hull. This gave the crew a means to escape quickly if the Merkava took a fatal hit--and also provided space for a squad of infantry to be carried internally, for combined operations missions. The forward-set engine also added that much more armor protection for the crew.

 

The second unique feature of the Merkava, added after the Lebanon campaign of the early 1980s, is a light mortar built into the after part of the turret. This weapon can be fired while the crew is "buttoned up" as an alternative to the main gun and coaxial machine gun. It is often useful in night fights since it can fire illumination flares. (Author's Note: In this vehicle's stats, I simply took the existing Infantry Light Mortar from the JoR and added the points penalty. This is to reflect the modifications done to make the weapon vehicle-compatible.)

 

The Merkava proved its worth in the Lebanon invasion; although some tanks were wrecked in combat, no Merkava crewmen were lost or even seriously wounded.

 

4 DAMAGE TRACKS

MM: 10. POWER: 4. COST: 21

ACA: +1. COST: 1

DCA: +4. COST: 3

ARM: +3. COST: 18

PW: 13. COST: 24

TL: +4. COST: 23

ECM: +4. COST: 14

WEAPONRY:

LT. MORTAR; RNG 36; AOE 1; H/S (+0/+6); POWER: 1; COST: 24

COAX MACHINE GUN; RNG 18; H/S (+0/+4); POWER: 4; COST: 18

MAIN GUN; RNG 36; H/S (+5/+1); POWER: 4; COST: 52

TROOP CARRIER BAY (CAPACITY: 1 REGULAR INFANTRY STAND); COST: 3

BREEDER: AVDS-1790

TARGET: KNIGHT 3

ECM: AMCORAM LWS-2

TARGET TYPE: HARD

MOVE TYPE: TRACKED

ROLE: TANK

COST: 201 POINTS

[Spartan6]

+5 TL??? With a +5 vs. Hard main gun?? AND a +6 vs. Soft mortar?? Sign me up!!!

[FPilot]

Hmm...what I get for not printing out my own articles.

 

Okay. By my model the Merkava is only "entitled" to +3 or +4 TL, not +5. If +3, Cost is 18; if +4, Cost is 23. Target-Lock systems are CHEAP.

 

Lemme tweak it a little...

 

And BTW, that Mortar has a rather extreme degredation. For an intense fight it's better to close in and use the coax machine gun.

[Salamance]

Cool what model would represent these tanks

[FPilot]

 

The above is from Kaiyodo/Takara's World Tank Museum series. It's also available in the Mini Hobby Models series.

[FPilot]

Next up, a machine which (I hope) probably won't spark so much controversy...the M3/M5 Halftrack.

 

M3/M5 HALFTRACK

Readied for service just in time for America's entry into World War Two, the M3 series halftracks were developed from the four-wheel-drive Combat Car (from which the Halftrack would borrow many of its internal systems). While it was primarily designed as a troop carrier for Mechanized Infantry units, it soon found itself being modified into a number of other roles, notably as a mount for various anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons. The M3 and M5 halftracks were built in large numbers by four major contractors and a few smaller companies. Even long after the War ended, many remained in service in armies around the world.

 

2 DAMAGE TRACKS

MM: 14. POWER: 4. COST: 16

ACA: +1. COST: 1

DCA: +3. COST: 1

ARM: +1. COST: 4

PW: 9. COST: 10

TL: +1. COST: 5

ECM: +1. COST: 2

WEAPONRY:

MACHINE GUN; RNG 18; H/S (+1/+6); POWER: 1; COST: 13

TROOP CARRIER BAY (CAPACITY: 3 REGULAR INFANTRY STANDS OR 1 HEAVY INFANTRY STAND OR 1 MORTAR INFANTRY STAND); COST: 3

BREEDER: CLEVELAND 145

TARGET: I.H.A.C.

ECM: DELCO

TARGET TYPE: HARD

MOVE TYPE: TRACKED

ROLE: A.P.C./INFANTRY SUPPORT VEHICLE

COST: 55 POINTS

 

OPTIONAL VARIANTS

* COMMAND VEHICLE

(REMOVE MACHINE GUN; UPGRADE ARMOR BY +1 FOR 6 MORE COST; ADD APPROPRIATE ELECTRONICS)

 

* TANK DESTROYER

(REMOVE MACHINE GUN AND CARRIER BAY; UPGRADE ARMOR BY +1 FOR 6 MORE COST; ADD 75MM GUN)

75MM GUN: RNG 18; H/S (+3/+1); PW 4; COST 10

 

* MORTAR CARRIAGE

(REMOVE MACHINE GUN AND CARRIER BAY; INSTALL HVY MORTAR)

HVY MORTAR: RNG 40; AOE 2; H/S (+3/+6); PW 2; COST 47

 

* ANTI-AIRCRAFT CARRIAGE

(REPLACE MACHINE GUN AND CARRIER BAY WITH MAXSON QUAD)

MAXSON QUAD: RNG 18; H/S (+2/+6); PW 4; COST 23

[SaintRigger]

*clap clap clap*

 

I *heart* tanks!

[Steven Page]

I like what you are doing here, but here comes the inevitable "tread-head" debate

 

I'd lower the armor class on the half-track to "1". They weren't truly bulletproof, and were open-topped, to boot.

 

Otherwise, I think you are on a roll.

 

I've thought about trying to apply the CAV system to my WW2 and 1980's GHQ micro-armor collection. Maybe we should share some ideas here.

[FPilot]

I like what you are doing here, but here comes the inevitable "tread-head" debate

 

I'd lower the armor class on the half-track to "1". They weren't truly bulletproof, and were open-topped, to boot.

I'd thought about making the Halftrack "soft" and limiting the armor, but then I was thinking about what gamers would say if they saw a "soft" vehicle with upgraded armor. Would they call that cheating? Some halftracks did come up-armored and I wanted to reflect that, especially with the Tank Destroyer version. I gave it 2 DT because I wanted it to be easy to use those Infantry/Vehicle weapons from the JoRs in lieu of the Machine Gun on the Troop Carrier version.

 

More to come.

[SwampFox]

I'm a new member to the forum and to CAV. I've only played a few games so far. I am very interested in what you are doing because I also enjoy modern gaming! Keep the ideas coming.

 

I don't own any JoR's, but I do use CAV-RC.

[Froggy the Great]

As the project manager of CAV-RC, let me officially encourage you to own the JoRs.

 

But yeah, welcome to the game!

[Heisler]

I like what you are doing here, but here comes the inevitable "tread-head" debate

 

I'd lower the armor class on the half-track to "1". They weren't truly bulletproof, and were open-topped, to boot.

I'd thought about making the Halftrack "soft" and limiting the armor, but then I was thinking about what gamers would say if they saw a "soft" vehicle with upgraded armor. Would they call that cheating? Some halftracks did come up-armored and I wanted to reflect that, especially with the Tank Destroyer version. I gave it 2 DT because I wanted it to be easy to use those Infantry/Vehicle weapons from the JoRs in lieu of the Machine Gun on the Troop Carrier version.

 

More to come.

During the WWII era none of the M3/M5 Halftrack variants were officially upgraded with extra armor. Now what happened in the field might be a different story although I have hundreds (literally) of pictures of the M3/M5 and can't think of one that had extra armor, some had sandbag armor but that's about it. Now what happened after WWII would be something I don't know anything about.

[Steven Page]

I know the Israelis welded on some additional plates in the 70's.

[Lars Porsenna]

Definitely agree. I was searching my memory for any mention of this, and will check my references when I get home. IIRC on the initial production runs of the M3 TD it had an inferior splinter shield for the cannon (which was, IIRC, simply an old Schneider M1897 adapted for vehicle use) that left the crew more vulnerable to enemy fire, not to mention the forward windscreen that had to be folded down so the concussion from the weapon wouldn't shatter the windows.

 

There were other variants too, like the AA vehicle armed with the 37mm cannon and paired M2s, the support vehicle armed with a 75mm pack howitzer, and the 105mm SP artillery version. Not to mention the unsuccessful (but IIRC still operationally used) 40mm AA vehicle...

 

And that's not even mentioning the M2!

 

Damon.

[Steven Page]

I still recall Patton's line about the two biggest threats to US troops: the half-track and the Jeep. "The half-track because they think they are in a @#$%^ tank, and the Jeep because they are such %$^-%#[email protected] bad drivers."