Ram Kangaroo

Unit Card:

Ram_Kangaroo_Eastern_Front_AAMeditor_120423201447.jpg

Canada, Vehicle - Tank, 1944

ATT inf 6/6/4
ATT veh 2/2/2
Cost 10 points
Def 5/4
Speed 4

Transport
This unit can carry one soldier. (A friendly soldier can board or dismount this unit instead of moving during your movement phase.)

Fighting Platform
A non-artillery Soldier carried by this unit can attack during your assault phase if this unit doesn't move during that phase. A Soldier carried by this unit can make defensive-fire attacks.

Set - Rarity - Number

Eastern Front - Rare - 1/60

Historical Background:

The RAM Kangaroo were, as the name suggest based on the excellent RAM Canadian tank design. The Canadians were interested in production of the M3 Lee. However the M3 was an interim design and lacked a turret for its main armament. In early 1941 the Canadian Interdepartmental Tank Committee adopted a compromise - to develop a superior design locally but using the M3 chassis. The RAM was basically a M3 Lee with the main armament mounted in the turret and a machine gun mounted in front of the tank. Originally equipped with a 2 pdr main gun (RAM I), it was designed to be converted with a 6pdr or a 75mm gun when they would be available. In the end, the 6 pdr was installed in the RAM II and most of the RAM I were also converted. Although the tank never saw combat as a main battle tank, the Americans were highly influenced by it when they designed the plans of the Sherman. Just before D-Day, the Canadians units received M4 Shermans, mainly for a logistic reason but also because the Sherman's 75mm cannon could fire both AT and AP shells unlike the British 6pdr.

Having a lot of now useless RAM II tanks, the Canadian Army rebuilt them as troop carriers. Other AFVs chassies had the same fate, the most known version beside the RAM being extra M7 Priest. The Kangaroos were so successful that they were soon being used by British forces as well. Their ability to manoeuvre in the field with the tanks was a major advantage over earlier designs, and led to the dedicated APC designs that were introduced by almost all armies immediately after the war.

Reviews:

mercenary_moose
Leave it to the Canadiens to rip off the turret of a Sherman and call it a troop transport. However, the mini is very, very good. For a transport, you get some phenomenal defense and good speed to boot. Unlike many of the half-tracks, you can't just jump him with Close Assault and expect an easy kill. But the best part of the Kangaroo is Fighting Platform. You can put in a bazooka, MG Team, flamethrower, whatever you want, and rush them up to 8 hexes for some close combat, or you could advance 4, fire, and run away afterward. And all this fun comes for just 10 points. Essential in any Canadian build, and in most UK squads as well.

Anonymous

It's not a Sherman, it's a RAM, which was an indigenous design based on the M3 Lee. Jus' sayin'….

Plastic Figure Notes:

EF01-RamKangaroo.jpg
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