You waited for it. You believed in it.
And it happened!
Personal Missions! The Second Front campaign.
There are no strict limitations on vehicle types.
There are national formations. And, most importantly, new rewards!
Meet the Trio of the new Personal Missions campaign!
What are these vehicles and are they worth sweating over?
Let’s find out!
Guide Park
The first thing you need to know about the new Personal Mission campaign
is that it’s divided into three operations.
Each operation will bring you one vehicle.
It all starts with the British Tier VI tank destroyer—Excalibur.
It’s clear from its name that…
ONLY A TRUE KING CAN POSSESS THE EXCALIBUR!
Hmm… Sorry, not really.
The missions of the first operation are cumulative,
so almost everyone will receive this carriage sooner or later.
But its availability shouldn’t confuse you.
On the contrary, it should make you glad.
And the reason for this is simple as pie—
this vehicle is really interesting!
Well, it might look like a dinner table or a fat caterpillar. But!
First of all, to each their own.
And secondly, the Excalibur has excellent characteristics!
The vehicle’s speed is 50 km/h.
Its power to weight ratio is more than 18 horsepower per ton.
Add good maneuverability,
and we get a vehicle that reaches the required bush just when needed.
It's no surprise that the Excalibur pays for its good dynamics with its armor.
We could go into the numbers, measure the thickness of the effective armor,
discuss the caliber rules, consider normalization and RNG, and other stuff…
But the truth is that the Excalibur
is still a hybrid of a dinner table and a caterpillar.
And it has the corresponding armor.
The only way to stay healthy is to be stealthy.
Surprisingly, this Brit is good in this department.
Its size doesn’t hint at reasonable concealment, but our hero
is right in the middle among all Tier VI tank destroyers in this characteristic.
However, there is something insulting about this line…
“Right in the middle!” Doesn’t sound good enough!
In World of Tanks, you want to be at the forefront.
And the Excalibur is the first in some things…
Meet the real power of the British—its gun!
This TD has an excellent gun!
Aiming time, accuracy, and gun depression of minus 10 degrees
make firing as enjoyable as possible!
Small damage per shot is compensated by a crazy rate of fire.
So, summing up…
We get a nice gun with good damage per minute.
Same-tier TDs, lower-tier tanks, higher-tier tanks—who cares?
The only difference is that you will have to aim carefully at some of them!
The Excalibur may cause some confusion.
When you look at it for the first time, you don’t expect such power.
But the Brit can impress.
DPM, good dynamics, and concealment make this beast an excellent TD.
A turret with a 200-degree traverse makes you respect it even more.
Talking about respect…
My respects! The Excalibur is a king’s weapon!
Hmm… I didn't get the reference, but all right.
Meet the Chimera, the British Tier VIII medium tank!
The first thing you may notice is
there’s no snake tail or body of a goat, for better or worse.
However, this combined monster still justifies its name.
For example, the Chimera’s armor
is better than that of a regular medium tank.
However, there’s a small nuance to it: it’s still mediocre.
It’s as useful as that goat part.
Or a submarine with screen doors. Not very.
Its dynamics are another matter.
Average indeed. No more, no less—50 km/h.
Power to weight ratio and maneuverability are normal.
And its durability and view range, would you believe, are average as well!
But the Chimera wouldn’t be a chimera without something monstrous…
So, now we come to why this vehicle is worth a look.
Damage per shot! Yeah!
It has a monstrous alpha hit—440 points!
For a Tier VIII medium tank, it’s not just excellent, it’s unique!
What’s even more pleasing is that the other gun characteristics are on par.
The accuracy for a gun with such alpha damage is reasonable.
Its armor penetration is good enough. Aiming time is good.
Gun depression is as low as minus 10 degrees!
Sure, the rate of fire is low, but it doesn’t hurt its damage per minute.
And everything seems fine,
but there’s still a question that comes to mind: so what?
A medium tank with high damage per shot. What else?
Hmm… here’s what.
All Tier VIII medium tanks have one thing in common!
They have no idea what it’s like…
What it’s like to punch out half of the enemy’s HP! Or even more!
What will remain of the SU-100 after it’s spotted? At most, the SU-18.
A platoon of Chimeras knocks down same-tier medium tanks in a second.
This is no exaggeration.
Boom. Boom. Boom. Ah, beautiful.
Alpha damage rules!
The Chimera is controversial.
On the one hand, its “averageness” is too boring sometimes.
On the other hand, it’s a medium tank with enormous damage per shot!
Yes, its capabilities are limited. Yes, it’s played situationally.
But still—big alpha!
It brings you joy in one crude and straightforward but very pleasing way…
The art of primal aggression.
Specifically for its fans.
Well, now we’ve come to dessert. This is it!
The one that doesn’t need a famous name like Excalibur or Chimera.
The one that you just want to add to your Garage.
A Soviet heavy tank, limited edition—the Object 279 early!
Let’s start with the obvious. This is a tank with four tracks.
Sounds bold. Looks defiant.
Makes you fall in love with it at first sight.
But in addition to the exterior beauty,
you need to know that those tracks also have a gameplay purpose.
Let’s try to find the lower glacis plate.
It’s missing! This is the reaction
anyone who meets this tank in Random battles will have.
The most vulnerable and inviting part is now missing.
Surely, other spots to penetrate are still there. But here’s the catch.
You can’t penetrate the Object through its tracks.
There’s nothing behind them. The upper glacis plate is well sloped.
Now meet the turret—it’s Soviet.
As a result, even the most dangerous guns in the game
will only penetrate it half the time!
Its dynamics and maneuverability are on par with the IS tanks.
The famous gun depression angles are also here, that’s a given…
The best thing this heavy has is its gun.
You can’t say a lot about it. It’s just better than the IS-7 and IS-4 guns.
With all the bells and whistles, including improved equipment,
the Object’s gun fires every 8 seconds!
Its aiming time is 2.18, and accuracy is 0.33.
And… it’s still just good, nothing more.
The dynamics are okay, but, obviously, not the best.
The armor is good, but penetrable to the front with gold shells.
The gun is fine, but it’s not a destroyer.
None of the Object 279’s characteristics are outstanding!
Yeah, it’s a really good tank without any significant drawbacks.
But what’s so special about it?
Only its design? Lack of a lower glacis plate? Well?
And here’s a revelation for you.
The main feature of the Object is not its characteristics.
Not its design. And not even its gameplay.
It’s its owner!
You won’t just work hard to get this vehicle. No!
You’ll have to go down the throat of a volcano,
drink some tea with the devil there, and take the 279 away by force!
Just imagine such a tanker! This guy can do everything.
He soaks up damage, wiggles, baits the enemy to knock off a track,
uses a hull-down position,
plays its damage per shot, damage per minute, concealment, dynamics.
He spots and overspots, rushes in, crushes, wins, and…
You can be that guy!
This is why you should try to get the Object 279.
This is why this tank is unique.
You can't measure this tank using the usual methods and scales.
It stands apart from all others.
Its owner will be envied. Its owner will be feared.
Its owner will have confirmation of their greatness.
There are cheap vehicles.
There are expensive vehicles.
The Excalibur is a vehicle to have fun on.
The Chimera is a true beast with a unique feature.
And the Object 279 is a priceless one.
It’s a status vehicle.
A Rolls-Royce of World of Tanks!