The Quick And Simple Counter To NATO Uber Tanks That The Soviets Never Got!

A fellow Team Yankee comrade over at Reddit has a cool KA-50 model and wants to play in in TY. Although its a late development for a standard 1985 timeline, it would fit into an expanded timeline and be a hoot for friendly house games. 

The Kamov KA-50 was designed for the Soviet army, but did not enter service until 1995, after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Based on what we now know of the helicopters development, it could have easily entered production years earlier if the need presented itself. 

Intended to fulfill the role of a pure attack helicopter without the Hinds limited transport capability, the KA-50 is often considered it vastly superior to the American Cobras and the Soviet equivalent to the Apache attack chopper. In its primary role as an anti-tank hunter killer, the KA-50 dramatically increases the capability of the Soviet (Russian) forces. The KA-50 is an excellent counter to M1, Chieftain and Leopard 2 MBTs. 

CAPABILITIES: The KA-50 is definitely a hunter killer and is known to be equipped with a full suite of enhanced thermal imaging. The chopper has armor almost equal to the MI-24, but has additional defensive systems that far exceed the Hind. It seemed reasonable to assign a save of 4+. 

WEAPONS: The are a multitude of possible weapons load-outs for the KA-50. The ATGM/rocket pod configuration is one of the most common. The Spiral-2 specifics are based on a review of published data and comparison to other in-game ATGMs. The Spiral-2 has a Thermobaric variant and a common load-out would have 2 of these resulting in Brutal special rule.

POINTS: The MI-24 has a point value of 2.5 points. After reviewing the capability of other choppers, I assigned the KA-50 a point value of 4 points. The main reason for the increase is the HUNTER KILLER ability. However, this ability is mitigated by the base hit number of 3+. Before using this unit in your game, discuss it with your opponent and get their agreement. Vary the points of this unit as you and your opponent see fit. If you cannot agree on a point value, don’t use this unit. 

This unit is intended for non-competitive house games and is home brewed by http://siberianreds.blogspot.com/ which makes no legal claims to Team Yankee and all that lawyer stuff. This is just for fun.  

      

When pigs fly: Team Yankee Alternate A-10 that plays and feels more like the real thing.

Full disclosure (for those that haven't figured it out): I play Soviets in Team Yankee. So somehow, I feel like I am helping the wrong team and ultimately cutting my own own throat, but so be it! When it comes to gaming, I am good at making bad decisions. 

Here we go.....The Team Yankee A-10 SUCKS!  

This is a plane built around a bad ass 7-barrel 30mm gun that shoots up to 4200 depleted uranium rounds per minute and sounds like gawd almighty breaking wind when it does, but in Team Yankee, it is pretty much just another 30mm gun. Yes, it has a little more ROF and penetration, but most players will decline gun-play and elect to use the far more effective (in game) Maverick. We need to up gun this pig!

The second issue of pain is the lack of armor on the TY A-10. It gets 1 (3+) better save than an SU-25. As an American taxpayer, I simply find this unacceptable! It needs some way to show its resistance to small arms yet still be vulnerable to large SAMs. 

The Third and final point of dissatisfaction is the number of A-10 on the battlefield. A flight of four A-10s on a TY sized battlefield is beyond the ridiculousness of 20 pounds of bovine feces in a 10 pound bag. Four gimped out A-10s won't unbalance the game, but a 100-150 point battlefield shouldn't be seeing 4 real A-10s. Flight size needs to be reduced and they need to operate solo or in pairs without running away.

Take a look at Siberian Reds' Alternate A-10 Warthog. 

Try it out for your friendly home games and let me know what needs tweaking. Leave your comments below.

Also, let me know what planes you would like to see in Team Yankee.