January 17, 2019 by johnlyons
John and Gerry look at the Syrian T-54 Tank Battalion boxset for Fate Of A Nation from Battlefront Miniatures.
This box-set boasts an impressive nine T-54s and two ZSU-23-4 "Shilka" tanks.
Will you be adding this to the T-64 set?
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Another great video. 😀
I love the Syrian paint schemes in the photos. Syrian tanks were usually much more of a greenish-brown scheme for the denser vegetation of the Golan, Galilee, and approaches to Damascus – as opposed to Egyptian armor (deployed in the Sinai) which was usually khaki / sand.
I’ve said it before, I’lls ay it again, I am so happy someone at Battlefront has finally “listened” – I get very excited every time I see the “www.TeamYankee-AIW.com” address on the back of that box.
Arab Israeli Wars (at least the interesting ones) are much better fit as a Team Yankee “prequel” than a World war II / Flames of War “sequel.”
By the time you see the Shilka with Arab armies, you’re definitely into the 1973 Yom Kippur War (SPAAGs in ’67 were the ZSU-57-2). Now Gerry’s right, you can certainly use T-54s in Egyptian Army (at least in 1967, by 1973 they’d been replaced by T-55s and T-62s for some brigades), you would just paint them different than what’s on the box.
Shilka is indeed easier to remember than ZSU-23-4. Until you look at what those letters mean. ZU = antitaircraft. The S denotes self-propelled. The 23 = 23mm guns, the 4 = x4 guns. Hence the ZSU-57-2 has two 57mm AA cannon. No radar control to by knowledge.
In the text bar, T-64s are mentioned. I think this is a minor typo. T-64s were never used by the Egyptian or Syrian armies.
Shilkas are indeed awesome. Only a PT-76 light amphibious tank chassis, but holy hell, will this thing tear up some infantry or any soft targets (assuming the IAF doesn’t make an unwelcome visit, which in the 1973 war it played a VERY small role, so it depends on how historical your scenarios are). Again, you wouldn’t see these in 67 or earlier.
Actually, I would say that T-54s are a little rare. In the Iraq war you see T-55s. Then again, they’re so close, though (especially the export models) really only some differences in the turret shape and suspension (the first and second road wheels are further apart in the T-54, is how I always tell the difference).
We had a T-55 brought back from the Gulf on our base back in the day. Incredibly small on the inside. I couldn’t imagine having to go into combat with them.
What is a Middle East army without hordes of T 54’s. As per the do you group the shilka’s vs spread them out, like shakespeare, that is the question. Hard to say but i tend to group them together. it may leave parts of your army vulnerable to air attack but if you spread them out, they normally get picked off piecemeal and that does nobody in your army any good.
T54 and T62 are mediocre at best but when you have masses ( did i say hordes ), they can be quite effective as the enemy just cant kill enough of them. Remember the wars, they almost overran the Golan but they just missed it.
a great box of tanks I like the darker more standard camo patterning for the unit.
This box set could also be used for the Chinese PLA army,
Certainly close, @warhammergrimace . The Chinese Type 59 is a very close copy of the T-54A (itself a slight improvement over the T-54/55 initial run, better filters, better stabilizer, fume extractor on the muzzle of the gun, etc).
The only big difference beeween a PLA Type 59 and a Soviet-made T-54A is the lack of that stabilizer.
So if you wanted a PLA Army, I’d certainly say these models could be used, but maybe just a small tweak on the cards if you wanted that extra sliver of detail.
I’am building a PLA army for Team Yankee, we’ve decided at the club to play a campaign set in the East with the Chinese being the main protagonist. As the war develops in Europe, China seizes the chance to regain Hong Kong, Taiwan and the territory it lost at the end of WW2 to Russia.
That’s how we plan to start the campaign, and then slowly pull in North Korea attacking the South. Japan getting involved after a minor naval clash with China, and the US sending the Pacific fleet to the region.
Maybe some skirmishes along the Vietnamese – China border as well as a minor clash on the Indian border.
I’ve read that China bought some Gazelles in the 80’s, so I’ll take some of those but most armor I’ll have to tweak slightly or kit bash. I plan to start a project, which will include some of the research as well.