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Originally Posted by Raellus
I was thumbing through the v.1 vehicle guide and I have a little suggestion for you. The T-90 envisioned by GDW in the mid eighties seems to have appeared in some guise IRL as the T-95, a turretless MBT with a massive 152mm main gun (or a 135mm gun- reports differ).
By the time West Germany makes its move, the Soviets could have a regiment or two (or brigade) of these monsters stationed in E. Germany. I doubt they would send them to China when their T-80s and T-64s could handle any tanks the Chinese would be able to throw at them at that point.
GDW also imagined the T-86, an upgrade of the T-72 with an up-armored, slightly more angular turret. This both looks and sounds like the T-90 of our timeline.
Anyway, it's not a major issue or anything but I like to try to slip the newer tech into the v1.0 timeline, where plausible.
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I'm not getting too specific on how RL models of tanks translate over. The modeling system we're using (Third World War) basically (very broadly) rates tanks by gun caliber and armor. T-55, T-62, M-48, M-60 & Leo-1 all rate the same, as do T-64/72/80 and Chieftain. M1 and Challenger rate a little higher on defense due to their heavy armor (and in the case of M-1) mobility.
On the orbats, I'm trying to use the v1 tank progression. I'm using GDW's T-74 designation for RL T-72B and later models, T-86 for RL T-80U and BV variants, T-90 for RL T-95 & the enigmatic Black Eagle. As far as the modelling goes, the T-64/72/72/80/86 all come out the same, and the T-90 is equal to the M1A1. I took the RL 1990 tank assignments for Soviet forces and generally upgraded them one generation, as follows:
RL T-80 -> T-90
RL T-64 -> T-86
RL T-72 -> T-74
RL T-62 -> T-64
RL T-55 -> T-72
RL T-54 -> T-62
T-90 ends up mostly in Soviet forces in Germany and Poland. (Historically Soviet forces in Czechoslovakia had T-72 series, those in Hungary used T-64s until the late 80s, when they started getting early-model T-80s).
I prefer to leave it up to the GM as to what the exact RL (or fantasy!) vehicle a T-90 (and on the NATO side, the LAV-75/XM-8/AGS) is, since there are a few options. But I agree, there are some advanced Soviet monster tanks out there that throw NATO for a loop!