T55now Plow

## t55now Plow (T-55M/Väinämöinen)

The humble T-54/55 was once the most produced tank in history, starting way back in 1947 at the Kharkiv Morozov factory back in the old world. They saw service all across the old world, in both the armies of dictators and freedom fighters.

## T-55M 'Väinämöinen' 't55now Plow'

Väinämöinen as decorated by Heike without snow plow blade attached

## Features

### Miscellaneous Modifications

Glowstick Mortars, Speaker Mounts, Kettle, Coffee Grinder

Though not without fault, the ubiquity and relative simplicity of the vehicle saw it in service well past its obsolescence; the Finns of the legendary Kingdom of Finland wielded a great number of T-54/55s and the upgraded T-55M. Some were kept on duty until 2022 to clear paths of snow and debris, even though Finland had access to much better tanks by then.

Through some madness that can only be explained as bullish Finnish Sisu, the ancestors of Clan Suomalainen brought with them a number of old Finnish Military vehicles well past their service life and restored them to working order on Carna.

A few T-55Ms were among these, though today, only one remains in working order, the fabled ‘t55now Plow’ now in the hands of Heike Rautaneinen; working order is somewhat relative however, as a recent failure of its transmission has left the vehicle barely able to move under its own power. Officially, the tank is called ‘Vainamoinen’ amongst the Clan Suomalainen, named after the old man of Finnish mythology, but many euphemistically call its ‘t55now Plow (Snow Plow)’ when describing it to outsiders to obfuscate the fact they have a functioning tank.

Usually fitted with a retractable dozer blade, t55now Plow would be one of the vehicle’s at the front of Clan Suomalainen’s column living up to its name, plowing through the snows of north Sokolov in the Morozovian cold. The main gun of the tank always cut a fearsome sight to any would be rogues and ner-do-wells looking to attack the Clan’s forward column, even though Heike never keeps the gun loaded, or any ammunition in the vehicle for that matter (the ammo is scarce and stockpiled elsewhere in the column, used only in emergencies); the 12.7mm NSVT/DShK on the turret is kept loaded just in case and is more than enough firepower for dealing with regular assailants.

Heike keeps the tank set up as much of a motorhome as well as a functional utility vehicle. He uses most of the ammo racks to store bottles of vodka and beer, pots of coffee and the likes for example. Its cramped inside, and so he keeps deployable awnings and tents on the vehicle that can expand the usable living space around the vehicle when encamped for a length of time; the original design of the vehicle intended it to have enough storage space to for four crew’s worth of gear, so the t55now Plow is has sufficient storage space to carry most of Heike’s belongings. Some of Heike’s ‘peacetime’ modifications include rigging the smoke mortars to launch glowsticks and mounting speakers on the add-on armour brackets to blast music. He also enjoys decorating the tank, having a Moomin painted on the turret and often hanging fairy lights from the gun barrel when camped.

With Heike as the only official crew member, the vehicle cannot operate effectively in a combat situation, as it has to stop for Heike to move from the driving seat to the machine gun on the turret; this is not something especially fast to do, even given Heike’s athleticism as it is very cramped inside. Sometimes, other members of the clan might jump in to help him crew the tank.

The old tank isn’t really able to compete with most of the other armoured vehicles in use on Carna currently, as most are built with more modern armour and are packing serious firepower. What AP ammunition Vainamoinen does have available to it isn’t especially effective against modern tanks on Carna, and its armour is very much outdated against larger calibre munitions.  Some borgs alone pack enough anti-armour munitions to be a threat, nevermind other tanks; to the run-of-the-mill-bandit, solo, or criminal however, a tank is still a tank, and t55now Plow is scary enough in that regard. The NSVT and a well aimed HE round are usually enough to deal with lighter vehicles should any be brought against Clan Suomalainen.

One advantage the old T-55M has over more modern AFVs however, is that because it is such an old world piece of kit, it is largely immune to forms of electronic warfare against it that might ruin a modern Carna vehicle. This does however mean that maintenance of the tank is basically a heritage craft, one that the Clan are struggling to keep alive in its entirety.