Rawr! I am Luke Kneller and this is Best Replays of The Week.
Today we’ll see where greed can lead you, learn the truth about artillerists and meet a KV-2 that can see the future.
Also, I don’t know about where you live, but it’s noticeably colder over here; so let’s get this warm-up underway!
Judging from the teams we’re somewhere in Tokyo… in a tank kindergarten… and the map is Province.
Like all tier 1 battles tend to be, this one is absurd and fun, but at a one point the situation becomes deadly serious:
two brave young ninjas from the rival clans of “Cancer Sake” and “Subcaliber Harakiri” meet, draw their katanas and start hacking away.
It’s a pity that no one has told the young warriors; you can’t kill an opponent by repeatedly knocking off their tracks.
The furious leg-chopping goes on for about two minutes until finally a victor emerges and is free to roll on.
We continue warming-up at the Abbey.
The score is 12:13 and the only survivors are artillery.
A Lorraine and an AMX 13 F3 on one side, and an SU 14-1, an SU-14-2 and a rival Lorraine on the other.
We all know how it’s sometimes easier to show what you shouldn’t do rather than explain it.
The Lorry decides to do just that.
“Look AMX, don’t shoot like this”.
The tiny French arty gets the message, takes half a second to think it through, and proceeds to destroy all the remaining opponents.
We finish warming-up at Himmelsdorf.
The German VK 72.01 (K) tier 10 heavy is not driven be many for a reason.
It appears that only a select few can manage the raw fury of this machine.
Then again, why restrain yourself?
This is a battle after all.
Our hero agrees and blows up a T-54’s ammunition, rams the IS-3 to death as well as an allied BatChat just to cool himself down a bit.
So be cautious and keep your eyes peeled when you see a raging VK.
This is all for the warm-up, and we proceed to the nominations.
This week’s top gun is a player named YashTank driving a Borsig.
The map is Abbey and our hero rolls to the hill to cover his allies in the canyon.
Soon enough the enemies appear and a KV-5 receives a swift kick.
The enemies are in cover for a moment, but the T-34-85 still gets some: first a tracking hit and then a garage ticket soon after.
The A-43 gets dangerously close before dying,
and an artillery shell landing just meters away reminds our hero – you can’t stay on the hill forever.
After a pause for thought the Borsig decides to finish off the already “tagged” KV-5.
He pulls off the execution, but not without taking damage.
Continuing down the canyon he notices an IS and makes a marksman-grade shot.
There is little chance for repeating this and the artillery is watching.
Time to retreat.
Making sure that the surroundings are safe our German keeps moving and gets his 4th kill by taking down the IS he saw earlier.
Everything is going fine, but the mini map shows at least 5 tanks rushing the allied base.
He has to get back.
Two accurate shots and the enemy KV-1S is no more.
Don’t forget about the canyon’s exit, though.
The American becomes the sixth kill.
A bold KV-4 rolls towards the base from the lost flank and gets a shot. And another.
The following two are less successful.
A small pause to catch his breath and realize that there are no more allies.
It’s one against six.
OK fine, two more shells fail to damage the KV-4 and then everything is silent.
The map is empty, the base is not being captured, so it’s time to head back to the canyon.
He rolls towards the enemy base, climbs up a hill and hears the siren.
Just our luck.
The bar climbs steadily, and our hero realizes that there is no choice but to get back to the base.
He gets to our usual spot, sees a Lowe and reduces the cap at 96% while sending the Lion-king back to the garage.
Roll back, return and kill the Jackson – 8 kills.
The capture continues thanks to our old friend – the KV-4.
Finally! He was asking for it.
Ok, the capture is taken care of, but that still leaves 3 more opponents.
He proceeds to the middle of the map, has a look into the enemy base and sees a sleeping IS.
Great, an easy target.
Everything would be fine, but the TD misses twice and is left with only 3 shells.
Foreseeing a potential capture attempt our hero goes scouting. He was right!
Here is the SU-8 capturing, and clumsily showing its side.
It’s an offer you can’t refuse.
11 kills. 2 shells and an enemy IS-3 left.
He goes on a search and finds the IS almost instantly, and though the first shot does no damage the problems come from earlier.
The IS-3 is undamaged, and taking his 1500 points with two shells is…
If he is set on fire, maybe, but the second shot hits the front of the Soviet heavy.
Pretending to still have ammo doesn’t really help.
8 hit points left and a laconic crewmember calls out: “Our main gun is damaged. It's working but not very well.”
Now he needs to escape.
I know you are wondering how the Borsig will manage to win this.
Ram the enemy? Or drown him? Or something, but the miracle doesn’t happen.
The heavy easily finishes our hero off.
As you can see it’s not good to get greedy.
While chasing high damage numbers our TD forgot that he also needs to win the battle.
If he didn’t shoot at the AFK opponent he would’ve had a good chance to win, and even getting the Best Replay nomination… but it didn’t happen.
The battle was tense and interesting however, so our hero receives the title of the Top Gun of the week. Congratulations.
The title of the Sniper of the week is once again shared by three contestants.
This extravaganza of fantastic shots starts with a player named KosmoLife driving the VK 36 01 H.
As you know the latest update has added more determination to the shells.
No longer will a puny fence stop the armor piercing package from reaching its destination, instead it will only lower the penetration a little.
Our hero decides to use this new possibility to its fullest and blow a red hot kiss to the enemy’s TD from 500 meters away.
Through a wall. Without a silhouette. And the shot doesn’t just hit, it passes right through the commander’s cupola.
The next participant named Krambambulya driving a Carnaervon doesn’t send any kisses.
He is really hostile and destroys someone’s fairy tale faith in all that is good.
When an enemy 212 sees the score is 12-3 he decides he doesn’t want to be an artillery anymore,
and decides to dive into the sea and become a beautiful mermaid.
The Carnaervon won’t have any of it, and rolls up the hill to stop him.
A snap shot gives unexpected results as the 212 blows up on the way to his dream.
The arty doesn’t get to become a mermaid, but maybe you could use the wreck to smoke fish?
And the last sniper of this week is a player named Stealth driving a FV304 British artillery.
He grows tired of the usual arty stuff – all this “choose a position, switch to arty-mode and aim”,
so he decides to try increasing the velocity of a shell – by shooting on the move.
Well, you can kick a football faster with a running start, so why not try it with an HE shell?
The first attempt is a success, fired at 40 km/h.
Everyone is happy, except for the Stug.
Speed is increased to 60, and the SU-8 can confirm the effectiveness of this method as well.
However, for this tactic to work reliably the player needs to max out the “Luck” skill to 100%
and unfortunately we don’t really know how to level it.
The winner of this week’s Steel Wall nomination is the player named BenSala driving the legendary KV-2.
The battle turns out to be quite strange to say the least.
See for yourself – an encounter battle at Himmelsdorf, our hero faces tier 8 tanks and decides to go… somewhere.
Just drive forward really.
A brisk tank massacre has already started around the castle and our heavy is slowly strolling down the streets.
It’s as if he has seen the future and knows he’s not in any hurry.
He takes a look at the mayhem on the hill and… is not interested.
He definitely knows something.
The KV-2 doesn’t even turn his turret when he is shot in the back several times.
He just doesn’t care about the hill.
The score is already 9-7, and our hero is yet to fire a shot.
Maybe he’ll go and capture the base?
It’s not that simple – an American T34 come into view.
This is where the KV-2 was headed – to attend a duel.
No seconds, no rules, it’s a little informal.
There is a furious clash on the hill, but our duelists have their own private battle to complete.
The other players try to finish their combat as quickly as possible to witness the epic duel at the railroad station.
The last two heavies at the castle decide to leave the mortal plane together by ramming each other to get to the post-mortem mode.
The KV-2 uses the tactics of tanking with his track to its fullest, but the T34 doesn’t use any tactics at all.
Maybe he thinks that repeated shots to the track will tear it off permanently sooner or later?
Having no luck with the left track the American goes around the building to try the right side.
Unfortunately, the T34 doesn’t have enough time to test his theory,
because during the experiment our hero has been taking less experimental shots and dealing damage.
The KV-2 is victorious in the duel as well as in the battle,
and for getting more than eight thousand potential damage from a tank two tiers higher he also gets the Steel Wall of the week award.
Congratulations!
This week’s invader prize is awarded to the player named Hello_Kitty in an IS-3.
The location is “Airfield”, and our hero’s platoon ends up in a tier 10 battle.
The beginning is pretty standard: the opponents steadily recycle each other with no clear advantage on either side.
When the score is 8:8 our hero decides that the time has come for an invasion,
and drives towards the enemy base accompanied by an allied BatChat.
Oh, the great feeling of arriving at the enemy base when no one knows you’re there…
The French tank comes to help with the capture, but it also turns out he is all that remains of the allied team…
Too bad, but life goes on.
Clearly, the capture can’t remain unchallenged forever and here comes the first opponent – an object 261.
The arty instantly kills the Bat, but gets shot by the IS.
No use hiding, but then another object arrives on the scene.
This one is a 140.
Our hero sends it to the garage, but the cap is reset.
He needs to start over.
Now it appears that the SPG has reloaded and is ready to get close and personal.
Pushing through everything in his path the 261 comes at our hero like an angry ticket inspector.
His charge is so relentless that in the end he collides with the heavy and misses his shot.
The IS-3 doesn’t forgive such mistakes and yet another opponent leaves the battle.
The enemy team is left with a T32 and a JagdPzE100.
The capture is halfway done when the American tank arrives.
The heavyweights are a little cautious, but soon the fight is under way.
The IS shoots, but fails to penetrate the T32’s thick hide and this seems to be the end.
The JagdPzE100 has also crawled his way to the base and is ready to punish the bold invader.
And now the Great Random, who favors our show’s participants, takes action.
First the T32 shoots the Soviet heavy with no damage whilst the returned shot takes a huge chunk from the American’s HP and sets it on fire.
Then the JagdPzE100 finally gets into a shooting position
and the giant shell that usually brings pain and tears just ricochets from the IS-3’s rear.
There is no time for anything else – the capture is finished.
Well-timed boldness, steady nerves and lady luck’s favor have brought our hero Hello_Kitty victory in this battle,
along with the title of Invader of the week.
Congratulations!
And finally our main award – The Best Replay of the Week.
Today’s winner is a player named Chandler_1987 driving… the FV304.
How strange, the SPGs were nerved, but arty drivers make it into one of the nominations nearly every episode.
Can it be that the frustration and suffering has gradually turned the players that like to eat during battles into ruthless monsters?
Does the arty need to be nerved some more? Let’s see.
Pearl River is not the best map for arty, so our hero leaves the base in search of a better position in the hills.
And here is the first candidate to get a present – the T34-85.
The package is sent; sign here please, and have a nice trip to the garage.
Thought our hero doesn’t get a kill it’s still a good start.
The Briton continues to do a good job, but the right flank is lost and the enemies push to the allied flag.
The ARL is a serious threat, but right now a small Ke-Ho capturing the base from behind some rocks is a higher priority.
Luckily fire from the allies spooks the Japanese into the splash damage zone, which is followed by returning into the eternal cycle of rebirth.
The situation has improved, but only from critical to serious, since enemy heavies are taking the flank at a steady pace.
The ally markers wink out one by one and the Briton does his best to help an allied A-43.
Sadly it’s impossible to save him from an artillery shot, and so the FV 304 is all alone.
And you know, when an arty is the only one standing against five unspotted enemies,
you can practically hear the driver asking the commander for the shortest way to water.
Our arty is not like that though,
and the appearance of a red bar only tells Chandler one thing – one of his victims is somewhere in the base circle.
The KV-1S emerges just around the corner.
A brief but intense clash, a little luck and there are four opponents left.
After waiting to vanish from enemy radar our hero drives towards the base and finds a British vehicle similar to his own.
This one wanted a Raider medal so much that he traveled all the way from base to base, but it’s not happening.
Some careful play from behind the bushes followed by a skilled rush to his rear leaves the unlucky invader with no chances.
Three opponents left, and before our hero can leave the base a VK 30.01 rolls into view.
The good old bush trick still works and even the Chi-To who comes to help his comrade is powerless – there is no stopping this arty now.
That just leaves the KV-1, but he can’t be beaten so easily in a head-on fight, even by a ruthless warrior like our FV.
This calls for cunning.
Our hero sets out to capture, but runs into the heavy on the way.
The surprised KV fires a warning shot, but the Brit just keeps going.
And there’s the base with the long-awaited cover.
Tense moments of waiting for the KV… There he is!
Carefully now.
The heavy shoots the rocks while the capture bar is filled.
Victory.
AS you can see the outcome of this battle was decided by skilled and clever actions that saved the day,
and not by alpha-damage, armor, or damage per minute.
It’s not about the vehicle,
but about the player who gets gold and glory for winning the Best Replay of The Week award along with the medals for this battle.
If you want to get on the show, check out the “How To Get Into BROTW” video, link is in the description,
clickity click those like and subscribe buttons if you want to see more and I’ll see you next time!