US 9th Infantry Division (Motorized) Battlegroup

So today's the first time a new Army List has been added to my "Totally Unofficial" Battlegroup Cold War variant of PSC's Battlegroup since about 2018.  I've been thinking about this list for years - as a devotee of the original Twilight:2000 RPG certain vehicles just had to be added to any fictional Third World War setting to make it just that much more fun and interesting.... but only if you want to!

I've strived to make this 9th Infantry Division (Motorized) (9ID(M)) list as real as it could be - whilst also making it as unreal as you the player might want it to be.  While we know the US Army was not enamoured with the whole FAV concept and got rid of them fairly quickly - there was a period of time when the FAV was a much loved 9ID(M) asset.  Just imagine have 87 of them roaming madly through the battlespace!

The HMMWV Ground Launched Hellfire-Light was tested under full exercise conditions and performed well - striking tank sized targets almost 8km away.  But it never saw service.

9ID(M) never actually got one of it's most vital weapons platforms - the Assault Gun System.  Instead for a while it used the M901 ITV as a surrogate system, then replaced them with M996 HMMWV's with the TOW II ATGM.  Imagine if circumstances were different, the Cold War wasn't drawing to a close. Congress loosened the purse strings and some of the more unconventional thinkers in the US Army had been able to push through some of these ideas.

You can use this Army List to create a realistic 9ID(M) Battlegroup reflecting actual equipment usage from about 1983 to 1989 or so.  Or you can use the List to create the 9ID(M) of your imagination - still sort of tethered to reality.  Apart from one HMMWV variant in the list, all of the rest of the speculative equipment was actually produced - some even saw service eventually in the US Army.  One of the Light Tanks saw service in the Thai Army!  Some like the XM8 Buford pictured above, won their specification contests, were approved for production, but never quite got there.  What if they had?

The good news is none of the vehicles or units in this List are Uber-Tanks.  Potentially you'll have a lot of Glass Cannons on your tabletop.  Bare in mind that 9ID(M) actually did very well on exercise, even under the testing constraints of the NTC.

So this really is the ultimate "What If" List.  I hope you enjoy it as a fair amount of effort and research has gone into it - although it has not yet been tested in any way.  As always I'm really keen for any feedback - negative or positive - but anything constructive will be welcome.

Here is the list:

9th Infantry Division (Motorized) Battlegroup

It can also be found under the NATO Army Lists Tab above.

Data Cards for all the vehicles in the List will be posted next.

Thanks

Richard