The Lucky T-80 - A Legiocon Battle Honour

T-80U tank no. 342 in action at Legiocon. It would significantly outlast its warranty...

Dallas posted a report of our roadshow game at Legiocon in Winnipeg last weekend.  Convention-goers Ray and John joined the game to play along.  They were great guys and I think they really got into the game.

My portion of the Warpac contingent included a platoon of T-80U tanks, and these squared off against Dallas' and John's Leopard 2A6s and MILAN teams.  Many of the Soviet tanks were on fire after a couple of turns, but one particular vehicle - T-80U no. 342 - survived hit after hit after hit after hit.  John finally remarked that the tank should be named "Felix the cat".

Legiocon gamer John helped me with the translation of "cat"

After John made that remark, the T-80U in question survived another hit from a Leopard and yet another couple of MILANs.  The tank would eventually be knocked out of action, but only after tying up a lot of NATO attention and giving the Chemical Commies a chance to get the job done.

I promised John I would paint the battle honour in question on to the vehicle. Here are the photos for proof!

Low-key pseudo bourgeois personalization of the People's Property - tolerated under combat duress only...

John used his tablet to look up the Russian translation of "cat", and I figured this would be the right nickname.

Dallas and I tried to figure out how long we have had these Kitech models in action - I think it has been since 2006, so over six years! Tank no. 342 has repeatedly seen action in West Germany (all for perfectly legitimate, legal responses to unprovoked NATO aggression of course) and after this death-defying performance I figured it was time that at least one of these commie battle wagons earned an action honour.

That weird face is supposed to be "Felix the Cat". So nobody is going to give me any commission work for cat cartoons...

So "Kowka" went on to the tank. I also painted a (very, very) rough approximation of "Felix the Cat" beside the moniker on the stowage & bits along the side rear of the turret.

We will beat their swords into ploughshares...after we beat them up...

Would a T-80U actually survive long enough against NATO's tanks, missiles and air force to accumulate any kind of meaningful battle honour?  Well, I'm glad we never had to find out for real.  But toy-soldier T-80U no. 342 has earned it - the next time it rolls into liberate the proletariat of Helmuth Kohl's corrupt bourgeois regime, it will do so as "The Cat".