Tachankas

[spielmeister]

Hi everyone,

I'm slowly preparing for a FTF Twilight 2000 game I hope to run soon.

I recall a thread on these forums talking about horse cavalry in Twilight 2000. An offshoot of the thread were references to Tachankas to beef up the firepower of the cavalry detachment.

My question is, what would be the heaviest weapon one can fire from a Tachanka (whether the Tachanka is standing still or moving slowly) without compromising the safety of the vehicle, crew and horses?

I have zero real world experience in crew-served weapons so I would not know for instance what the real world effects are on a Tachanka if say, a 23mm 'sergei' autocannon were somehow mounted on the bed of a large wagon and fired. In fact, I'm not even sure if this is at all possible?

Is it safe to assume that the heaviest crew served weapon one can safely mount on a tachanka (and fire) would be an M2 50 cal? What about a Mark 19 or AGS-17 Plamya? From historical pictures I've seen on the net, most Tachankas mount machine guns like maxims or the vickers.

What about ATGMs and/or recoilless rifles? Won't this just spook the horses as well?

Would anyone care to share some observations or comments?

Many thanks and a good day to you all. :-)