French Light Tank Grind: AMX Autoloaders

AMX 13 75 and 13 90

By:

IrmaBecx

So I decided I was finally going to get that BatChat 25t I’ve been wanting after I get done with the Vickers grind, and I started a little early on the tier VII.

I’ve been throwing leftover free XP at the grind for quite a while, and the AMX 13 75 is the first one that I was really interested in actually driving.

So here I am, running around in my 95% crew autoloader Light tank, and in many ways it’s exactly what I imagined.

The autoloader is really the main reason I’ve been putting off this grind for so long; that and the fact the BatChats used to be horrendously expensive to run.

Also, 75 mm isn’t fantastic for an autoloader vehicle coming up against hordes of IS spam. I mean, it’s no AMX 50 B, that’s for sure.

But it can be really effective. You miss a shot, and you have two more lined up. You catch someone on a reload, and you can pump out a quick 4-500 damage. They think they’re going to take a 160 hit, and get taxed for over 300. The AMX has low penetration for a tier VII vehicle, but it also has excellent dispersion, quick aimtime, a two second interclip reload, and it’s fairly stable on the move.

What it doesn’t have is gun elevation. I can deal fine with six degrees of gun depression, but six degrees of gun elevation often catches me off guard. Oh, and it has virtually no armour, of course. The turret front and upper plate are both 40 mm, that’s enough to autobounce anything below 121 mm, meaning you can bounce a US 120 mm but not a Russian or Chinese 122 mm. Just don’t count on it.

Speed and specific power are both excellent. The traverse numbers are fine, although some other Light and Mediums will turn faster. The AMX does feel a little awkward with the rear mounted turret, but I think it’s mostly a question of getting used to the way it moves.

It takes me 28 games to get the crew to 100% with purple boosters.

I mean, it’s a fun tank.

It’s basically just an autoloader on tracks; a real “all or nothing” vehicle. You get too greedy or poke the wrong spot, and you’ll take a massive hit and be out of commission. Or you’ll use the mobility to pop up in unexpected places all through the game and rack up the damage.

So yeah, the AMX 13 75 is not a baby 50 B, but it is a baby BatChat. The playstyle is very similar, and I’m expecting that to be true all the way up to the actual BatChat at tier X.

And even though I think 75 mm is a little small for an autoloader to come into its own, I have to say it’s been more fun than I expected.

It’s a difficult playstyle, and although nine seconds is a short clip reload, it does get you caught out. But difficult also means it’s more rewarding when you get it right.

Driving a few dozen games in the 13 75 really just feels like dipping my toes in; I’m not going to say I’ve fully wrapped my head around the playstyle. But I will say I feel I made the right decision starting up the BatChat line, because it’s such exciting gameplay.

With all the birthday stuff going on, I fairly quickly found myself the owner of the AMX 13 90 also, which is basically the exact same tank a tier higher with a slightly larger caliber gun.

There are a few tradeoffs involved. Most notably the more powerful gun takes much longer to reload, and the interclip is also half a second longer. Penetration values are low for a tier VIII vehicle, but as you’re not really fighting enemies frontally if you can help it, it’s not that noticeable.

Dispersion is worse, as is the DPM, but you now get some actual gun elevation; more than twice as much. Engine power is higher meaning better specific power, and the 13 90 has a few more hitpoints, but all in all it’s still much the same tank.

The longer reload accentuates the “run and gun” playstyle of the vehicle; you can’t just sit there and wait for the shells to reload, you need to run away or get into cover. You dump the clip, then you break off and just go someplace else; this is why these tanks can be hard to play against when driven well. Their playstyle is inherently unpredictable.

What gets me taken out early the most is running off on my own and landing myself in more trouble than I can handle right away.

Don’t do that.

You want to get some initial spots, sure; but then you will want to try to play around the rest of your team; support them in what they are doing, and use your burst damage potential to take out low health opponents or put out supporting fire.

Remember people will go out of their way to get shots at a weakly armoured target like the AMX; you can use their greed against them and get them turned around or draw them out in front of the guns of your allies.

Driving an autoloader Light tank is just about mobility and firepower; there’s no armour to speak of anyway. You either hide or you run away. It’s as easy, and as complicated as that. Easy, because it’s not at all hard to figure out how to play, but hard because actually making it work in game is challenging.

That is the charm of these tanks. They make you think about what you are doing, make decisions on the fly, and show you the game from a different perspective. They are a bit awkward to drive, and you can’t be too aggressive with them, but they can also be very effective in the right situation.

All you have to do is find those situations and put yourself in them.

I actually manage an early Ace before my 13 90 crew is fully trained; there’s still 5% to go. Driving an autoloader Light tanks isn’t all that complicated, I don’t know what I was worried about.

But it does take some doing, and I wasn’t quite prepared for the grind being so, well, taxing I guess. I’m playing shorter sessions in these tanks. Another few games and my 13 90 is fully upgraded, so I guess this is where the fun starts?

No. It’s been fun all along.

Once you’ve kind of accepted the fact you are running around in a warp speed tin can with only that autoloader to defend yourself with, and that it’s not going to be easy, you can start to relax, enjoy the ride, and try to learn a few things.

Other than the standard Light tank tactics of resetting camo, running away from bad engagements, and trading distance for damage, there are a few things to keep in mind. First of all, you really don’t want to be shooting at the front of anyone who has the least bit of armour. Ideally, all the shots you take should be at the sides and rear.

The alpha on your APCR is 190. That means somewhere between ten and fourteen shots to take down a tier VIII or IX Heavy tank frontally, compared to eight to eleven with your standard AP. That’s between three and five full clips. Firing on the reload, that’s still going to take you one or two minutes; the best thing to do is to help your teammates get shots at them by spotting and harassing, so you don’t have to do all the heavy lifting yourself.

Just like a flimsy Tank Destroyer with a long reload, a flimsy Light tank with an autoloader is team dependent to a certain degree. It’s easy to lose track of what’s going on around you, but constantly relocating will give you time to get an overview of the situation. And you need time. You can put out a short burst of damage, but ideally you will want to do that more than once, and so you have to plan ahead a little.

Where will you go when the clip needs reloading?

That’s about as far as I’ve gotten with the AMX:s. I have the tier VIII fully upgraded, and now there is something like 300.000 XP left until I get the tier X BatChat.

It’s going to be great. I’ve been waiting so long.

French Light tanks have a playstyle all their own, and I think you have to make a decision about whether or not they really are what you want. Once you have, you basically start practicing at tier VI, and by the time you reach tier X you should have a pretty good idea about how to drive them.

I enjoy a coherent tech tree line. I also enjoy Light tanks, and I enjoy something a little different. So far the BatChat line has delivered on all counts.

It can be a struggle sometimes, sure. That’s reasonable; driving Light tanks is supposed be the most difficult job in the game, and an autoloader will add another layer of difficulty. But it also adds potential, and that’s what’s exciting about them.

Stay safe out there.

Happy Birthday, Blitz!

Birthday Celebration

By:

IrmaBecx

So I don’t think you’ll have missed the fact Blitz turns six years old today, what with all the bonus loot, premium tanks, and other free stuff flying around.

Happy Birthday, Blitz!

And in many ways I really feel like the game is the best it’s ever been right now. I’ve said that before, and it continues to be true. The game is still evolving, not always necessarily for the better, but the very fact it is in a state of constant change I think is positive.

In a month or so, I will have been a Community Contributor for four years, and a poet-warrior-in-the-classic-sense tank philosopher for longer than that.

I can’t tell you how proud I am.

Proud of my accomplishments, proud of the communities we all build together, proud of working with Wargaming and my colleagues to spread information and improve both the game itself and the experience of playing it, for ourselves and for others.

I’d like to direct a very special thank you to all the people involved with the EU community team, past and present.

Also thank you everyone else for being a part of the Blitz experience, because it’s so much more than just playing the game, getting new tanks, chasing stats, and laying waste to enemies; I’m sure that personally I spend way more time talking about the game, thinking about it, and writing about it than I do actually driving tanks.

Thank you all for helping make Blitz the best game I’ve ever played.

/IrmaBecx

Don’t forget to check out the official Blitz birthday stream!

E75 TS and AMX M4 49 Bundle

Löwe Alternatives?

By:

IrmaBecx

So again there are a couple of tanks available that I have a good relationship to, and so I’ll offer a few thoughts on them.

We are in a fairly small but also important segment here; namely non-IS spam 105 mm premium Heavy tanks, and if you think that sounds like a Löwe, then you’re right on the money.

The Löwe is the king of these tanks; it’s the oldest, the most readily available, and it has the highest credit coefficient.

But the Baby E75 and the French Tiger II will both give the Löwe a run for its money.

Let’s start with the French offering, which as I said is basically a King Tiger made in France. It’s the cheaper option with a 7500 gold plain-jane bundle, and it’s been in the game quite a while but you don’t see it that often out there.

In Löwe terms, the 100 mm SA47 is similar to the famous Kw.K. L/70. It reloads a tiny bit faster, but it doesn’t aim as quickly, it’s not as accurate, and not as stable on the move. You also get 10 degrees gun depression where the Löwe has 8 degrees.

The M4 49 is a little faster at 40 km/h and has impressive engine power, but doesn’t traverse quite as well.

The main difference however, is the armour. The M4 49 has stronger frontal armour but weaker sides and rear, and coupled with the extra gun depression this makes the French option a better hull down tank, at least on paper. You do have a prominent hatch on top, but the M4 49 is a smaller target, and in terms of numbers both tanks will be showing around 250 to 300 mm effective armour.

Eleven meters less viewrange, and ten percent lower credit coefficient than the “Bank of Deutschland” rounds off the comparison.

The Baby E75, being newer, is a little more expensive.

You get half a round more per minute, but again the shell speed is lower. The gun is the stock L/52 off the Tiger II, only it aims faster, is more accurate, more stable when moving, and you also get ten degrees of gun depression.

The E75 TS is a little bit faster than the Löwe, but the engine power being about the same, and the Löwe turning faster by almost ten degrees per second, mobility is similar for both tanks.

The armour is a major point of divergence. The turret front on the Baby E75 is more than twice as thick as the Löwe proper, but it’s completely flat just like an E100, so it’s difficult to angle and get more than maybe 240 mm of effective armour.

Both tanks have the same 150 mm front plate, but the E75 TS has a much steeper angle, making it more effective. What is really impressive though, is the 120 mm side armour with those big tracks and side skirts; when side scraping you will be showing like a thousand millimetres effective armour in places. You can also use the same tactic as the Rapa Nui tanks, where you angle the turret outwards in a side scrape situation to cover the turret side:

Viewrange is the same, and you have a 175% credit coefficient just like the M4 49.

Thus far the bench racing. Both these tanks will outperform the venerable Löwe in some instances, but my overall feeling is these three tanks fill the same role in a similar manner. They can all do standard Heavy tank jobs, and they all have slightly lower alpha weapons that need to build damage over time.

I drive all three tanks back to back platooning with a friend, and it does feel like they belong in the same niche. The weaponry is reliable, accurate, and a pleasure to work with. None of them feel too slow, and the armour works like you expect it to; angle, hull down, side scrape, and keep the gun singing.

I said last time that with a gun to my head I would probably choose the Löwe over the other two, but that is also the easy answer. I already own the Löwe, and so I don’t really need any of the other two. Just like if you already have an IS-5 or IS-6, you don’t really need more IS spam in your garage.

But if I were to choose between the Baby E75 and the French Tiger?

That’s a difficult question, because they’re both great tanks; likeable, accessible, and effective. Fifteen thousand is a hefty chunk of gold, but it’s really not that bad for two fully kitted out tier VIII premiums with legendary camos included.

If I was shopping for myself however, I think I would go with the French M4 49. Not because I think it’s a better tank than the E75 TS, and not just because it’s cheaper; I’ve just always felt it was sort of underrated, and I always have a good time driving it on the press account.

Either tank would make a nice addition to my garage, but the M4 49 is kind of rare in being a French Heavy tank with actual armour. It’s also currently the best performing out of the three.

The bottom line, then, is you don’t really need either of these tanks if you have a Löwe already, but you’re also not risking anything by getting one, or both of them. They have a similar playstyle, they make good credits, and they’re not at all hard to drive.

IrmaBecx says two thumbs up; one for each tank!

Thoughts on the ISU-130

ISU On The Cheap?

By:

IrmaBecx

So once again you can get your hands on what is easily one of the most curious tanks in the game; the ISU-130. I like to give a little shout out when tanks I enjoy come up for sale.

It’s basically the regular ISU with a 130 mm on it, and instead on high penetration, lower damage premium rounds, you get low penetration, higher damage ones; just like the SU-100Y.

Don’t get me wrong; it’s not a premium ISU-152, and it’s not a reason to skip the actual ISU grind, especially since it ends with one of the best dynamic Tank Destroyers you can find.

But for 7500 gold fully kitted out with the legendary camouflage, you may still want to get it for a bit of variety from the more serious, BL-10 toting tech tree ISU.

I’m looking at Blitzstars tank compare, but I know there’s really no comparison. Although they may look the same, they are two completely different styles of tank. Where the 152 will punch holes through anything you stand in front of it, the 130 needs a much more careful, considered playstyle to put out the damage, because you simply don’t have a regular premium round.

But that’s also the whole reason I always enjoyed the ISU-130 so much, when I wouldn’t give the 152 the time of day: it’s completely different.

You don’t buy the ISU-130 to grind credits; you buy it because it’s fun and interesting.

It’s not super fast, it doesn’t have a lot of hitpoints, and it doesn’t have a lot of frontal armour except for the gun mantlet. But if you manage your ammunition selection and your positioning right, you can have some fantastic games in it.

What will happen is, you start out being top tier and think “hey; this isn’t bad at all”, but as soon as you start facing tier IX, you will start struggling against more heavily armoured opponents.

What you need to do is choose different positions than you may be used to. Those same targets won’t be so tough when you tax them for over 500 damage from the side.

And sure. Even the HE rounds on the 130 do less damage than the standard rounds from a BL-10, but I did say there’s no reason to choose the premium tank over the tech tree version. Except for gun handling and credit coefficient, it doesn’t really do anything better. You also have an awkward gun arc with ten degrees to the right and only two to the left.

But that’s seeing problems and not possibilities. The ISU-130 isn’t the solution to a problem, it’s just a different way of doing things that can sometimes be more rewarding, and just as effective.

I will say it is not perhaps a noob friendly tank. You want to have some Tank Destroyer experience before you venture out in the ISU-130.

That’s not because it’s necessarily hard to drive; but because knowing your way around Tank Destroyers will make you appreciate what it is that makes the ISU-130 so different. It’s not a proxy tank for learning a tech tree tank, and it’s not a credit grinder; it’s more like a challenge you pose for yourself.

So here are some things you might want to consider.

First of all the ISU-130 only gets 25 rounds, so you want to be really careful choosing your ammunition loadout. There’s only like 30 mm difference in penetration between your standard and your premium AP, and a lot of the time you won’t be needing all of it. I run more premium rounds on the 130 than standard rounds for this reason.

The HE rounds only do 70 more damage than your premium AP, but of course they are much cheaper. For thin armour they will be the optimal choice. Speaking of, at 3600 credits, the premium rounds aren’t all that expensive, and with 170% credit coefficient, you shouldn’t be afraid to use them.

At around a nine second reload depending on your equipment choices, I don’t find I get a lot of use out of the adrenaline. You’re not going to get more than two shots anyway.

The thin armour means all your bounces are likely to be autobounces, so I run the extra hitpoints instead. You only get 70 more, but every little helps.

The camo rating is a little better than the tech tree version, so you might want to run the camo net. The one thing speaking against that is the awkward gun arc that means you will need to move the hull to aim left. The viewrange isn’t amazing either way.

Gun handling as I said is good; this is not one of those derpy Russian guns. You can comfortably stay at range and still hit your targets. Dispersion is a touch over 0.30, and you can get it down to 0.277 with the refined gun module. I tend to like my Vstab, but go with what feels best for you.

The playstyle isn’t really all that different from other Tank Destroyers; but it does revolve around finding the optimal round for every situation to a greater extent, just like your HESH Centurion or your LeKpz M41 90 does.

And that is really the “point” of the ISU-130, if you will. It’s a little more of a finesse vehicle than your regular doom cannon TD, and that’s why I always enjoyed it over a lot of the others.

So should you get one?

If you think not having a proper premium round sounds iffy, then no. If you look at the stats and all you see is a worse ISU-152, then no.

But if you think it looks cool, and you don’t mind the offbeat playstyle, if you are interested in game mechanics, or you are a little bored and jaded, then this could be just what you are looking for.

Personally, I have a couple of grinds going, new premiums, and some tank reviews to get to, so I’m not really looking for a new challenge right now. But I do plan on acquiring the ISU-130 at some point.

IrmaBecx says the ISU-130 has the tank philosophy seal of approval.

WZ-111 5A Review!

Chinese Bias Seven?

By:

IrmaBecx

So today I finally got access to one of my favourite tanks in the game again. I’ve not been able to drive it since it was in testing, but it has remained one of my absolute favourites.

Not surprising, really. It is the big sister of another one of my absolute favourites; the WZ-111 1-4, and yes, that means we are talking about the WZ-111 5A.

I love this tank. And it’s sort of hard to explain why, but it’s like an inversion of all the hatred and disappointment I’ve always felt towards the IS-7. I don’t actually hate the old IS anymore, I just think it’s boring, uninteresting; uninspiring to drive. Not because it’s been powercrept or anything, but because it’s so easy, and so predictable.

The 111 5A, for all intents and purposes is a Chinese IS-7. And if that doesn’t interest you, then you may as well get the original and save yourself upwards of twenty thousand gold.

But what does “Chinese IS-7” really mean?

The way you build a Chinese tank, is you keep the weight down by only using armour where it’s actually necessary, so you will end up with a vehicle that’s pretty fast even though the engine isn’t all that powerful.

You then compensate a little with some good gun handling stats and/or firepower. Chinese tanks, at their best, are wondrously well balanced.

The 5A has a 130 mm just like the IS-7, and the stats are fairly similar. The main difference is you get HEAT rounds instead of APCR. The 5A aims a little faster, is a little bit more accurate, and has one more degree of gun depression. Also the turret front is thicker, but otherwise the armour is a little thinner than on the IS-7.

Okay. I admit that doesn’t sound super exciting. And it’s not, really; in comparison.

But seen on its own, the 5A is a formidable vehicle with that particular Chinese feeling to it; it’s pretty fast in a straight line, the armour works really well if you angle and wiggle correctly, and the firepower is solid, but not amazing. The 5A has everything you need to do mobile Heavy tank jobs.

For me, the fact it’s a tier X version of the 1-4 is enough to make it worthwhile. But there are at least three tech tree alternatives you might want to consider.

There is the IS-7; the original Bias machine. Then there is the IS-4; very likely the best all purpose Heavy tank at the moment. Or, you could get the WZ-113 with top DPM and a flat, angled upper plate.

I have the 113 already, and I always liked the IS-4. I would say you really can’t go wrong with any of these tanks, other than one of them being really expensive, of course.

But how do you drive a Chinese IS-7?

None of the characteristics of the 5A, taken on their own, is very impressive. The armour’s not that great, the gun isn’t awe inspiring, and the mobility is fair, but not exceptional. You need a holistic approach.

That simply means realising the parts all need to work together to form a whole that is, in the best of all worlds, greater than the sum of those parts.

The WZ-111 5A will do 50 km/h flat out, but it doesn’t like soft terrain or going up hills, and it doesn’t turn all that well. If you’ve driven a Chinese Heavy tank before, you’ll recognise that. So you don’t want to try to drive it like a Medium tank; you still want to drive it like a Heavy tank and be on the lookout for situations where your straight line speed might be an advantage.

The armour is a curious sort of half pike nose, half flat front plate that’s also recognisably Chinese. It reminds me a little of a cross between the IS-7 and the IS-4. But it is still a pike nose, and so in a hull down position, you want to keep it pointed straight at your enemy. On flat ground, you instead wiggle from side to side, forming a rapidly changing kaleidoscope of autobounce angles.

The side armour isn’t very thick, but it does have a strip of spaced armour along the side. It can be just as effective as thicker armour, provided you angle it correctly. The upper part should be fine out to 25 degrees, but the 80 mm lower part will then be exposed. That will autobounce any gun in the game, but the angle needs to be shallower, and remember when you side scrape, the angled part of your pike nose becomes less effective.

2600 DPM isn’t very impressive at tier X, but you have comparatively high alpha. That means you will want to use your armour and mobility to make good trades. I’ve often said I like a good 130 mm main armament, and this really is a good one. But again, it’s not exceptional, and you can’t rely on the firepower alone. It’s just one of the parts that is supposed to work together to form the whole.

None of this is very novel. The 5A is really just a bog standard Heavy tank.

But I also feel like the 5A is the tank the IS-7 always should have been. It feels more straightforward, and less overtly Biased. When I get a bounce off the armour, I know it’s because I angled it correctly; not because I have like a thousand millimeters of Biased spaced armour all along the side.

So yeah; I am a total 5A fanboy.

But where does this all leave us? Should you drop all that gold on a tier X collectible tank because I happen to like the 111 1-4 a lot?

Not necessarily.

The WZ-111 5A will be the perfect Heavy tank for a certain kind of driver. Someone who appreciates a well balanced, synergistic vehicle, and is looking for something a little new but still familiar. Even then, it could be wise to wait for a better offer; the tank is still pretty new.

But I wouldn’t say the 5A is any better than your old IS-7, or IS-4, or WZ-113. I’m just saying I like it better, and in the case of the 113, that’s pretty much a toss up. I couldn’t choose between those two, because the whole point for me is the two tanks complement each other, and so I’ve always wanted to have both of them.

Wanted. Not needed.

One has a pike nose, the other is flat. One has a high powered 122 mm, the other a 130 mm. One has spaced armour on the side, the other doesn’t, and so on. Small differences that increase my enjoyment and enrich my collection.

No matter how much you look, that’s all you’re going to find. Small differences. Tradeoffs back and forth. And so the bottom line is you don’t need the WZ-111 5A, but you may still want it. And the reason for wanting it is just you feel those small differences are worthwhile in some way.

Back when the IS-7 was the most overpowered tank in the game, I said if we ever got the 5A in Blitz, I would give up Medium tanks and get one of those instead, because I can deal with one Bias seven in the game; but not two.

That’s not how things turned out.

I am a different player now, and I do enjoy a bit of Heavy tank gameplay now and again. I love my 113 and my new AMX 50 B, and I’m hoping to get the VK 90 some day too. Medium tank elitism has given way to Tank Destroyers and Heavy tanks, allowing me to learn more about those vehicle classes, and so improve my overall understanding of the game.

Twenty thousand gold is a massive amount. Personally, I don’t know if I could swing that. But I do want the WZ-111 5A, and I will own it some day, because I think it’s a wonderful, wonderful tank.

But for any player, myself included, a tier X collectible like this is definitely an extravagance. You could spend some time grinding and get something very similar and just as powerful from the tech tree; what you are actually paying for is things like convenience, exclusivity, and variation.

Is the 5A worthwhile? Yes.

Is the 5A worth it? Maybe. For the right driver.

Me, I am that driver, and I know precisely why. For you, twenty thousand gold for a glorified WZ-111 1-4 may be a little more extravagance than you are looking for.

British Light Tank Grind: FV301

FV301

By:

IrmaBecx

So I haven’t had as much time to play as I was expecting, and am still driving a fully kitted out FV301 with like a 90% crew.

And it’s great. A fine, fine tank. It feels kind of like driving a British T-54 Lightweight, which I think is a good place for the FV301 to be.

It’s also been a little challenging, especially with the crew not fully awake yet, but again; I think that’s a good place for it. Driving a higher tier Light tank should be difficult.

I said before these tanks are very nearly Medium tanks; you have a few bits of armour and very reasonable firepower; although the alpha is on the low side for the tier, the DPM certainly is not.

62 km/h is a tad below the other tier VIII Light tanks, but you get the highest specific power. Armour is second best after the Lightweight, and the gun handling is tier average, meaning really good, and you also get top notch camouflage values.

At present, in spite of my own attempts, the FV301 is the best performing Light tank at the tier. That shouldn’t surprise you since it’s mainly been driven by early adopters thus far. Still. Just under 58% isn’t that high; it’s maybe five percent over what you would expect from a Light tank at this tier.

But how do you drive the FV301?

So far, I’ve been running it pedal to the metal, early spotting, early engagements, and trying to find the limits of performance. The thing can brawl, let me tell you. Juking, wiggling, and angling can get you a few bounces, but it’s nothing like driving a T-54 Mod 1.

Sixty games it took me to get the 301 up to full crew, and my winrate isn’t fantastic.

But I don’t care, because I really like the tank. It brings me back to my old days of driving British Mediums, only this one is faster; like I always wished my Centurion was.

As stated, the FV 301 is reminiscent of the T-54 Lightweight. It’s more fragile than you think, and if you try to play it like a Medium tank, you’re going to take too much damage, and the firepower is going to be a bit of a letdown. The 301 has good penetration and tier leading DPM, but it’s still a 190 alpha weapon, and it takes time to put out the damage.

In a nutshell, that’s all you need to know in order to drive the FV301 successfully: If you try to drive it like a Medium tank, it’s going to fall short. And you need time in order to do your job.

From a Light tank perspective, the FV is really strong. Writing about the Lightweight, I called that a “Light tank with Medium tank benefits”, and this is the exact same kind of vehicle. You have Light tank camo on the move, and you have speed and manoeuvrability, but you also have a little armour, and so this Light tank can sometimes do things other Light tanks cannot. It’s just you don’t want to base your entire playstyle on what a tank can sometimes do.

That’s how you drive it.

Me, I don’t always listen to my own advice. I’ve been pushing my FV301 way too hard, and it shows in my winrate. It’s been a while since I drove Light tanks in earnest, and the fact this one is so strong will tend to give you a false sense of security.

Light tanks with armour will always be top of the line, especially if you drive them as if they have any, because the less you are the focus of attention, the less you will get shot at. And when you do get shot at, not all those shots will go through.

I tried running the camo net, but since I didn’t adjust my playstyle properly, I didn’t feel like I got a lot of use out of it. One more reason to revisit the 301 once things start calming down.

So should you get one?

Well, sure! High tier Light tanks are a blast to drive. But they are a blast because their speed means they are challenging to drive; it’s very easy to get ahead of yourself, and you need to be aware. If you are a newer player, I would say be a little wary, or at least expect to struggle a bit. That’s not a reason to stay away, just make sure you realise driving Light tanks is a tough job.

The FV 301 isn’t quite as overpowered as I thought it would be, it’s actually really nicely balanced. In that regard, I stand corrected.

But I also said these tanks were all going to be great, and so far I think I was right about that.

British Light Tanks Imminent!

Thoughts On The NBL

By:

IrmaBecx

So the new British Light tanks are going to be great. I have no doubts about that. Wargaming have been fairly generous in their balancing, but I think that is fair since these are still fairly weakly armoured vehicles.

The Sheridan didn’t bring about the renaissance of the Light tank. What it did was create a balance problem that still hasn’t been solved, and it was never going to remain as powerful as it was when first introduced.

And sure; the same may end up being true of the Vickers Light. You will of course see an instant surge in winrate as the early adopters descend on the current game meta in tanks people aren’t used to playing against, which will then start to even out as the rest of us catch up and start driving them. People of a sensationalist mind will immediately start complaining they are completely overpowered and have broken the game; this always happens.

Is the Vickers Light going to be the Sheridan killer?

Let us all hope so, because the Sheridan is a game killer. The Vickers is not. It’s just a regular Light tank, and pitted against other vehicle classes trying to fill the same roles, it will always be second best.

But the New British Lights are very nearly Medium tanks, and they have two or three advantages over them: Manoeuvrability, viwerange, and camouflage. Generally speaking, they pay for it with armour plating and firepower, but as I said they don’t pay a whole lot. All three have mid to high range DPM; not for their class, but for their whole tier. They also have excellent aimtimes, stability, and dispersion values for their tier.

And what about the armour?

It’s not far off Medium tanks either. All NBL have 51 mm side armour; that means they won’t be overmatched by a 152 mm weapon. At autobounce angles, they can side scrape both a missile tank and a same tier Heavy, and some Tank Destroyers. Front plates are either 76 or 120 mm, meaning they won’t be overmatched my any gun in the game, and they all have functional gun mantlets.

That’s actually quite a bit of armour to work with, especially when you have speed and stealth.

Oh, and firepower.

My colleague Martin pointed out another detail these tanks have going for them. I’m sure you have heard they will have the highest viewrange in the game, but they also have among the highest camouflage ratings.

Let me use DPM as a comparison. If you have high DPM, you can sacrifice some of that to run calibrated shells and increase your effectiveness. If you have low DPM, you could do the same thing, but if you have a long reload already, you might not want to make it longer.

In the case of British Lights, you will similarly be able to sacrifice a bit of viewrange in order to max out your camo rating. It sounded a little counter intuitive to me at first, but after thinking about it, it makes a lot more sense.

I was thinking that since you move around so much, you won’t actually get a lot of use out of the camo net, except in certain situations. But the thing is, that is forgetting something I struggled to fully grasp the meaning of for a long time, namely that Light tanks have camo on the move.

The camo net does give you two different bonuses, 3% on the move, and 6% after being still for three seconds. But as you have the same camo rating while moving in the NBL, you will always benefit equally from that 3% bonus; you don’t have to stay still to make an actual difference. Indeed, you don’t benefit from standing still at all until the camo net activates.

For some perspective, a Vickers with camo net has almost the same camo on the move as a T-62A does standing still. It has the same camo as a BatChat, and miles better than the Sheridan.

But with all these advantages, aren’t the New British Lights going to be too powerful?

My colleague Meadsy and I have different thoughts on that. He thinks the tier IX Vickers Cruiser may be a little overcooked, but the others are fine. I feel the same about the tier VIII FV301.

But these are just details. I don’t see these new tanks taking over the entire game and rendering all other vehicle classes obsolete. Driving a high tier Light tank; even something as powerful as the T-54 Lightweight or the BatChat AP, is a tough job. And it’s supposed to be a tough job. Light tanking should rightly be the non plus ultra of tank driving.

The NGL are high risk/high reward tanks, and if they turn out to be a little on the safe side, all that is needed is to increase the risk factor.

I am not going to go on about the Sheridan.

But yeah, the Age of Light Tanks is upon us. There will now be three to choose from. And for me, I’m betting on the tried and true BatChat and the new and shiny Vickers Light 105. I am easily a middle aged Blitz player. I have the resources to drive what I want, and I want the new Brit Sports Prototype.

I don’t want it because I think it will out-Medium any of my Mediums. I want it because I’ve done hundreds and hundreds of games in my premium Light tanks and the T-54 Lightweight, and I know the Vickers is going to be just about the best tank in the game for putting thought into action. A very pure expression of playstyle, able to adjust to several variations. Sneaking. Sniping. Brawling.

And yes: I know a Vickers Light 105 can out-brawl a Sheridan or BatChat, because I’ve done it on the test server.

Wargaming said they wanted three styles of Light tank at tier X, and I think they have accomplished that with 7.0. I am all about the Vickers, and I aspire to the BatChat autoloader variation.

Like Glenn Gould on Bach.

If you ever liked a Light tank, then the Vickers line is going to have something for you. A different way of doing something you already know how to.

I realise this sounds like some Wargaming propaganda, but I’ve been talking about getting a new tier X Light tank ever since we got the BatChat, and the Vickers is almost exactly what I had in mind.

I do think that in time there will be room for some of the ones I was hoping for. T-100 LT is viable; like the Object 140 of light tanks. Lower caliber with good DPM, and the armour isn’t necessarily better, it’s just smaller and more well angled, and it could have the best camo in the game.

The WZ-132 is viable. It could be the most robust, have the best aim time and perhaps a slightly higher caliber or alpha with six degrees of gun depression. Like maybe a 380 alpha 105 mm? We have a 310 alpha one already. Spaced armour, like a Light tank version of the E 50 M.

Maybe the German Rheinmetall Panzerwagen is viable also. It could trade firepower for armour against the Vickers, like the Leopard 1 does. Fairly thick angled armour is a common German trait these day, that could work; or inspiration could be taken from the Ru 251. The question is what would be at tier IX.

In this context, I feel the NBL have recognisably British strengths. That is after all an L7A1 on the Vickers; it’s just a little shorter, and of course it has a bit of the old HESH. Pretty sturdy armour that works best at an angle. And fairly superior mobility, like the Bromwell.

Like seeing the E 50 M from the tier VI Baby Panther, the Vickers Light is the logical conclusion of the British “Cruiser” tank concept. The tank you always wanted your Cromwell to be back in 2015.

But yeah, I feel there is easily room for a couple of more tier X Light tanks in the game. Russian bias. Chinese brawn. Or German precision. That is what is going to justify the British bias in the long term.

So yeah. The NBL are coming. And the game is never going to be the same.

I’ve said this a few times before, and it’s really not that hard to predict. When Wargaming make important changes to the game, they are generally sure to let us know.

But I think also being an observer of as well as a participant in the game for almost six years now, I do have a sense of the game meta and how it changes. My feeling is that this will be a profound change.

I am not ashamed to say I hope this will mark the beginning of the demise of the missile tanks, but I’ll not go on about it. What I am really hoping for is a renewed interest in the light tank playstyle on a wider scale. People driving their premium Light tanks to grind credits for their top tier Light tanks. More BatChats, Ru:s, Lightweights, LTTBs, and Littlepards.

I have alluded I hope this will also mark the renaissance of the BatChat 25t. It can in many way do the same jobs as the Vickers, but it does them with an autoloader. With burst damage potential. And if you have been curious about learning the autoloader Light tank playstyle like I have; what better time than now, during the renaissance of the hight tier Light tank?

What all this “renaissance” stuff means, is you are going to have to adapt to a new environment, whether you like to or not. There will be a new threat, and a new opportunity. There will be new ways of playing the old maps.

That’s what I always loved about Light tanks; any Light tank. They set you free; they both force and allow you to approach the game in a completely different way. They give you new and exciting options, but at the price of possible catastrophic failure.

I amuse myself by calling these tanks the “NBL”, echoing the “NGL”, or New German Lights from back when the Ru line dropped. But I really think their introduction will have the same profound effect on the game the German Light tanks had.

They may not look like much on paper, but they will sometimes be able to do things other tanks cannot.

And that is what will change the game.

Can.. Cna.. Caenravervon Action X

Action X?

By:

IrmaBecx

So if you’re feeling like you have way too much gold, you can now spend quite a bit of it on a new tier VIII British Heavy tank.

Fifteen thousand gold they want for the Caernarvon Action X, which is really just a Caernarvon with some spaced armour around the turret, and if you weren’t excited about the tech tree tank, you probably won’t be about this one either.

I’m just saying, because I was never that excited about the tech tree tank.

Other than the turret armour, there are a few other tradeoffs, and they’re almost all in the Action X’s favour. Shorter reload, better stability, higher top speed, more horsepower, and better traverse.

The tech tree tank in turn gets better camo values.

“Action X” is really the name for a turret modification on the Centurion, also called the “mantleless” turret. The FV4202 turret is actually a further development of the Action X. The Caernarvon AX turret also has “burster plates”, the point of those is to break up projectiles before they hit the actual armour.

The Caernarvon AX never existed, it’s a made up tank. And like I said it’s just the tech tree tank with a different turret. You still have the same 84 mm gun, it’s still fairly slow, and except the side armour being thicker, it has the same hull. Both tanks also get 10 degrees of gun depression.

If you put the Action X on a ridgeline, you’ll be showing like 4-600 mm of effective armour. Not a lot of tanks will be able to punch through the turret or the front plate.

But on flat ground, it’s a different story. Despite 90 mm side armour and a sturdy 130 mm front plate, the hull armour isn’t that strong; at a 20 degree side angle, the effective armour will be something like 250 mm unless they shoot at the burster plates.

You can still side scrape, and angle to get bounces, but the tank is decidedly less robust without using the gun depression.

What is the thing like to drive, then?

Well, it’s not bad, but it is kind of atypical. Working with less than 200 alpha is certainly a change at tier VIII, and it does feel slightly anaemic even though the four seconds and change reload gives you over 2700 DPM. That’s like 500 more than my Löwe.

This means that in some situations you can permatrack other tanks and just chew them up. In others, you will trade 190 alpha for 400 and end up getting wrecked in short order.

That’s what usually seems to happen to me.

36 km/h is like the low end of what I will drive before stuff gets too slow for me, but with over a thousand horsepower and 16 hp/ton, it’s still fairly mobile. I run the speed boost as usual to get into position faster, and help with brawling and with relocating.

I do find myself wishing I had brought some adrenaline too. I would get a 3.3 second reload for 19 seconds, meaning I could pump out almost six rounds in that time, and do over eleven hundred damage. I just don’t want to give up that speed boost, and I like having two repair kits, but your playstyle should be your guide here.

I will say I struggled to make the Action X work at first. I’ve never driven the Caernarvon, and it was quite a while since I drove the Centurion I. On some maps, the hull down playstyle isn’t going to be possible either.

But the tank does have some definite strengths, and when I started getting into it, I ended up having some really good games.

I’ll be honest and say this isn’t really my style of tank. It’s a low alpha, high DPM hull down Heavy tank with a spaced armour turret.

If you know how to drive something like that, you’re going to like the Action X. Massive turret armour, excellent accuracy and gun handling, high penetration, and it’s really mobile for a relatively slow tank.

But fifteen thousand gold?

This is the first time the Action X has been sold in a regular bundle instead of crates, and you are still paying for novelty. Unless you have to have it right now, I’m absolutely sure you’ll be able to get a better deal on one before long. You do get nine slots, one of the legendary paintjobs, and an avatar, but I still think it’s hilariously expensive.

If you love the Caernarvon, and the only reason you didn’t get the Action X back in March was that it was in crates, then I guess now’s your chance. But I can’t see a lot of people taking a chance on it this time around at the price they’re asking.

Okay. But if you do decide to get one, is the tank itself worthwhile?

I have to say I think it is. Once you understand what it does well, it’s not that hard to drive; it looks great, it works well, and it’s definitely not some faceless clone of a Heavy tank. Even though it’s not quite my thing, I did enjoy the drive, and I’m happy I got to try it out.

So that’s really all I had to say about the Action X, but I just couldn’t let it go, because I didn’t feel like I had gotten under the skin of the tank.

And now, I wish I had left well enough alone. I’m not even going to tell you my winrate at this point.

I know some people are calling this tank overpowered and pay-to-win, but all I have to say is I can’t seem to make it work, and I wouldn’t dream of paying all that gold for it.

Maybe it’s a fluke. Maybe it’s just me. But no matter what I do, I just can’t win a game in this thing.

So that kind of makes me want to say the Action X isn’t as overpowered and pay-to-win as you might think. Again, that might just be me, and everyone else may be able to make all kinds of hay with it, but I still feel like a low alpha, hull down specialist isn’t going to be universally effective.

It’s been few more days of driving now, and nothing seems to help.

The armour is certainly formidable, but I find I have trouble putting myself in situations to take full advantage of it.

Also, the tank isn’t all that fast, and this creates a unique sort of problem. Usually, Heavy tanks have higher than average alpha to help deal with that, but in this case you have lower alpha on a shorter reload. In practice, that means you have to stay exposed to get your shots in, and you need to rely on your armour to mitigate incoming damage.

Opponents on a longer reload will not use the same playstyle, They will take one shot and then pull back into cover, effectively negating your DPM advantage. And you can’t use superior mobility to overcome this disparity like a Medium or Light tank could; you have to use your armour. I should note the Action X has a slow reverse speed; only 12 km/h, which is really noticeable. My Löwe and my WZ-111 both do 15 km/h.

It’s fair to say I haven’t “clicked” with the Action X playstyle, it’s more difficult to drive than I expected.

And so I would offer a few words of caution if you are thinking about getting one. Unless you are really comfortable with the hull down/low alpha/high DPM playstyle, or you are looking for something different from what you are used to driving, it’s perfectly possible you will end up struggling like I am.

It’s still a nice tank. It looks really good. But it’s just not for me; I much prefer driving a different kind of Heavy tank. And really, you can get much the same experience from the tech tree driving something like the regular Caernarvon or the Centurion I.

So for me, the Action X is a no go. It does have a following already, and I understand that. I’m just not one of those players. It can certainly be a formidable tank; I’ve had a fair amount of high damage losses.

But fifteen thousand gold I think is way too much to take a chance on a new tank, so do make sure this one really is the tank for you before you buy one.

Best Tier VIII Premium Medium?

British Bias

By:

IrmaBecx

So a while back I wrote about what the best tier VIII tech tree Medium in the game is. And while the numbers still mostly hold true, there is a newcomer among the top three already; the old Panther II is nosing ahead of the T-34-2 among 55-65% players after the recent armour buff, and it’s closing in on the T-44 on Blitzstars.

So I thought I’d take a look at what might be the best tier VIII premium Medium in the game right now, and it’s largely because I had some idea of what it might be already.

Yes, it’s the Chimera. The very tank I chose for my birthday this year.

There are actually more premium Mediums than tech tree ones in the game. And looking though recent stats on Blitzstars, very few of them do worse than 55% average winrate.

If you are wondering what “very few” means, it means two tanks out of fifteen.

And out of those fifteen, the best performers are; in descending order, the Chimera, the Progetto 46, and the M4A1 Revalorisé; followed closely by the Defender Mk 1, and the old Hype 59.

I am sure no one is surprised at premium tanks doing better than tech tree tanks, nor at the auto reloader Progetto doing really well. But what makes the Chimera so strong? It’s not even a proper Medium tank, really; more like some Heavy/TD/ Medium hybrid.

For I minute, I raised my eyebrows at the M4 Rev. doing so well, but it’s not that strange really. You get higher than average alpha and top notch DPM with excellent gun handling, and you need to play it with care which helps you both with putting out damage and staying alive.

The M4 Rev. has around 500 DPM over the Chimera, and slightly better gun handling, but all in all the two tanks are fairly similar in most regards. There are however two important differences; the Chimera has almost 100 more alpha damage, and it also has much better armour. Where the Revalorisé is a tier V tank with a higher tier gun on it, the Chimera was purpose built to take on the IS-3.

Let us then look at some of the advantages of the current best performing tier VIII premium Medium in the game.

For starters you have that massive 440 alpha. That’s like twice the average for a same tier Medium, and it’s more than any same tier Heavy tank as well, with the notable exception of the two german VK tanks.

You then have Medium tank mobility, which allows you to set up your shots and basically dictate the terms of engagement. You also sort of have Heavy tank armour, and we’ll get back to that in a second. On top of this, you have a bit of Tank Destroyer DNA giving you excellent camo values, even for a Medium tank. Oh, and also excellent viewrange, again for a Medium.

You thought “British Bias” was a joke? Think again.

I’ll give you another example. The armour thicknesses on the sides and rear of the Chimera are 76 mm and 50 mm. If you happen to know a little bit about game mechanics, those two numbers are pretty interesting.

Remember this tank was meant down to take down the IS-3, which has a 122 mm gun.

First of all, it’s just the side armour behind the tracks and the side skirts that’s 76 mm; the upper part is 88 mm. But 76 mm means you need a 228 mm caliber weapon to overmatch it according to the three caliber rule. Thats not going to happen. It also means you need a 153 mm caliber weapon for the two caliber rule to come into effect, and there are only two 155 mm guns you are ever likely to face; the T30 and the T95 “Doom Turtle”. The back and sides of the turret are also 76 mm

The rear armour is given as either 50 or 51 mm; I’m not sure which is right. And that one millimetre makes a significant difference, because a 50 mm plate will get overmatched by a 152 mm gun where a 51 mm plate will not. But 50 mm is enough to negate the two caliber rule for a 100 mm weapon, and not get overmatched by a standard 122 mm Heavy tank gun.

Either way, the armour on the Chimera is better than it looks, especially if you help it along with a little angling. Oh, and then you have those spaced armour side skirts covering the wide tracks.

The engine deck and turret roof are both 25 mm, so that will get overmatched by a Russian 122. But those are the only real weakspots other than the lower plate.

So is the Chimera the most monstrously overpowered tank in the game?

Well, yes and no. It’s definitely powerful. And it does perform really well, but that can of course be partially explained by it attracting a certain kind of driver.

Really, what it comes down to is the Chimera not having any serious drawbacks at all. It has a long reload, the turret doesn’t traverse all that fast, and it’s not as stable on the move as, say, a Panther 8.8 or an AMX 30 1:er Prototype. The armour isn’t impervious, but it’s thick enough, and it will outmanoeuvre a lot of other tanks.

You need to make the right comparison here. The stats of the Chimera are really good for what it is; a big, bulky tier VIII Medium with a huge gun on it. If you try to play it like your favourite tier VIII Light tank, it’s going to fall flat on its face. But if you try to play it like a Heavy/Medium/Tank Destroyer hybrid, then there’s just not a lot holding it back.

And all you need to really do to be successful is keep track of your strengths and weaknesses, and put yourself in the right situations. Don’t get too close so you have time to reload, hide the lower plate, angle the armour, use the gun depression, and if things get too hot, then just relocate.

Me, I’m very happy with my Chimera. I actually drive little else at tier VIII at the moment.

And as usual I’m going to try to convince you it’s not because the tank is so strong, but because it’s so interesting. There is nothing else quite like it in the game.

But I’m not going to try to say that it’s misunderstood, or some kind of underdog. This is a powerful vehicle, and you need only look at the average performance and damage output to realise most people who drive it seem to have figured that out.

High alpha damage goes a long way towards making a tank successful. Throw in some armour and mobility, and you have yourself a winner.

What about in the more philosophical sense? Is the Chimera the best tier VIII premium Medium in terms of tank philosophy? The most poetic, elitist, and synergistic?

I think not. For one thing it’s the tank du jour, and it’s not the first time I’ve fallen for a new tank this way. But more importantly, the Chimera isn’t really a Medium tank at all; it’s something else. It expands on the concept of Medium tanks almost to the point of breaking. And although I may find that extremely fascinating, it still doesn’t make the Chimera a true Medium tank; indeed the whole point of it for me is that it’s not.

You could say that although the Chimera is the best tier VIII premium Medium tank right now, it’s almost like like it cheated a little to get there.

So yeah, most tier VIII premium Medium tanks perform really well. If you are into Medium tanks, you should definitely be able to find one that suits your particular playstyle.

And if you are looking for the best of the best, that’s very likely going to be something with either high alpha or an auto reloader.

But with all these Medium tanks on offer, and none of them really being a bad performer, I don’t think that mere numerical superiority should be your guiding principle when choosing one.

Time will tell if the Chimera will end up replacing the old Type 59 as my “go to” tier VIII premium Medium tank; my daily driver, my constant companion, and the yardstick against which all others are measured.

Somehow I doubt it.

The Chimera is still a bit of a novelty; a quirky, interesting hybrid tank that captures the imagination, but that also somewhat defies comparison by virtue of that same novelty and hybrid nature.

It is the best. But it’s also in a class of its own.

Help! I Got The M6A2E1!

The Baby Moai

By:

IrmaBecx

So a strange thing happened today. I got a tank from a free crate, and it presented me with a bit of a problem.

It’s the tier VII M6A2E1, and the thing is I always kind of liked it. I like that Wargaming managed to balance two tanks to work almost exactly the same at two different tiers, and I like the tall Moai statue styling with the huge anti aircraft guns. I also don’t have a tier VII Heavy tank, except the French M4 45.

But I’m not super interested in American tanks on the whole, and actually driving it would mean dropping over a million and a half credits on equipment and shells to kit it out. I’m not super keen on using my resources right before embarking on two new tier X grinds.

So the question is; do I keep it? Or do I sell it off? I could always use more credits, but I don’t really need the garage slot; I think I have a dozen or so empty ones.

Fortunately, I have a press account to help me make that decision.

Like I said, I’ve been a fan of the Rapa Nui tanks ever since they were introduced. It’s a special feeling rolling out in such a tall and imposing vehicle, and the height actually gives you some gameplay options you don’t normally have.

I like that the armour is super solid from the front, but as soon as you get a bit of side angle it’s totally weak, and you have to angle the turret outwards to cover your weakspots. I like that these are recognisably early tank designs, with a slight air of obsolescence around them; the A2E1 was specifically designed for use against bunkers and fortifications, but was deemed impractical and the project was cancelled by Eisenhower in 1944.

I’m sure you have seen the EXP out there. It’s become a bit of a notorious presence on the battlefield since you could grind one out in last years Independence day event. This is virtually the exact same tank a tier lower.

But what is the Baby Duck Mutant all about?

Two things, I would say. Strong frontal armour, and solid firepower mounted high up able to point down 10 degrees. The 105 mm has the second highest standard penetration of any tier VII Heavy tank, and you will beat the reload on anything larger with no problem. It’s not a complicated vehicle by any means.

So I kitted out the press account vehicle with my standard loadout and had a go. I will say I almost always go for speed boost these days, but you could also run the adrenaline. With high end consumables you should comfortably get two rounds instead of one and a half, but for me mobility is more important, especially since you can bounce off the front armour all day.

The first game ended in a loss, but I did put out more damage than anyone else on either team. Five players did less than 500 damage on my team compared to one on the red team, so I think it would be unfair to blame the tank for our loss. At almost 30 km/h, you can’t exactly switch flanks at will either.

I run a few more games, all top tier, and things go much better. The Baby Moai is really easy to drive when you understand what it does well, which is basically just bounce shells straight from the front and point the gun downwards.

The 105 mm works a treat. I get a 9,94 second reload with my setup, and a 0,38 dispersion. That doesn’t sound fantastic, but as the gun is also stable on the move, I have no trouble placing the shots.

Against same tier opponents, there aren’t really any frontal weakspots. Just point straight at them and you’ll probably be fine. You can also sidescrape a little, and if so, you’ll want to angle the turret outwards to cover the turret side, which is a little counter intuitive, but easy to learn.

The mobility is just enough for a bit of brawling, and if you manage to keep them in front of you the Baby Moai is a proper bully. As soon as they get at your sides it’s a different story, but that’s all perfectly reasonable.

My session continues to go well. Having such a tall tank does get you spotted, but it also allows you to peek over things you may not otherwise be able to, and get easy shots at turret roofs and upper decks.

In a tier VIII game, the Duck Mutant Jr. isn’t quite as formidable, but it’s still strong. You do the exact same things, only with a little more care. You will need to watch your weakspots more against opponents with higher penetration and better accuracy, but it’s pretty much the same deal as being uptiered in any other tank.

So yeah. The Baby Moai is everything I remembered; it’s powerful, it’s easy to drive, and it’s also a lot of fun.

But is it a keeper?

“I don’t know” is the straight answer. On the one hand I don’t actually need it, and I’m still not super into US Heavy tanks. But on the other hand I don’t really need the resources, and it seems a bit of a waste just selling off a free tank like this.

So I’m not going to do that; at least not yet. I think I’ll keep it around and see what happens; maybe I’ll be more enthusiastic about it in the future, or I’ll be short on resources and need the garage slot or the credits in a hurry.

The bottom line however, is the M6A2E1 is a great tank and a strong performer. You just can’t go wrong with it. And the best part is, if you can drive the tier VII, you can change up to the tier VIII EXP with zero problems; they drive the exact same.

If nothing else, I had some fun reacquainting myself with an old favourite, and it’s sitting in my garage ready to be equipped and turned loose.

Baby Moai is 100% legit.