Hello, I’m Luke Kneller
and welcome to Best Replays of the Week.
In this episode we have:
an unusual looking Wall of Steel,
an IS-3 punching above its weight,
and an M60 on a quest for a mark of excellence.
Let’s take a look.
Best Replays of the Week
Let’s kick off with a Steel Wall performance from the EU region.
Gwandi’s unbreakable machine isn’t one of the massive heavies,
but rather a tier 7 Soviet medium tank, the A-44.
It’s a curious looking beastie for sure.
Its strongest bit of armour is a 150 mm thick belt on the front glacis.
Gwandi heads out into the Windstorm, far ahead of the pack.
A Tiger rolls down the street to test the strength of our unusual Steel Wall.
It’s not a promising start.
The second shot does bounce off Gwandi,
but Gwandi prefers to warm up with an easier machine.
Ok, let’s try again with a Tiger.
A rear-mounted turret is great for side-scraping.
This is too frustrating for the German feline,
which decides to leave the fight.
That suits the quick and agile A-44 just fine, of course.
It’s much easier to kill the heavy from behind after all.
The rest of the team are doing terribly.
Just tanking a lot of shots isn’t going to be enough to win this one.
Nice ollie there. Too bad there isn’t a rail to do a grind on.
Gwandi bounces a shot off a Chi-Nu Kai,
before taking out a cheeky artillery piece.
This sport KV’s toy gun is no threat.
And the same goes for the rest of them.
Except, maybe for the artillery.
There goes the last teammate.
The armour is holding up great,
considering that the tank is mostly just protected from the front.
This gun belongs on a heavy tank, and it handles terribly.
But the alpha is very satisfying.
Boom, baby!
Good speed and a heavily armoured front make for a decent rammer as well.
Artillery strikes again, giving the T20 an opening to attack.
It gets a free shot at the A-44’s vulnerable side,
but that’s not enough to defeat our Steel Wall.
The T67 is actually a bigger threat.
One more shot in the back would have been fatal.
Gwandi needs to be careful here.
Wait long enough to disappear from view, and then go in.
Remember that sweet ram earlier? Let’s have another one.
Is the SPG going to have a go? No? Let’s go find it then.
Ah, so that’s why it didn’t fire.
The artillerist has decided to try the direct approach.
That was a brave attempt, but it has left the SPG helpless. Good game.
Unusually for us, Gwandi dishes out a lot more damage
than was blocked by armour. Who cares though!
An unusual game with an unusual tank, and we’re happy to share it with you.
Confederate
Continuing in the EU region,
we have the streamer dakillzor piling up damage in an M60.
I’d say something about Daki showing off with a Clan Wars trophy,
but it’s not like it’s a particularly powerful tank.
As is typical for Malinovka,
one of the foes charges into the open straight at the start.
It’s not the only target on offer either.
For a while there’s a whole buffet to choose from.
Eventually, the camping spot goes stale.
Time to go looking for more targets.
Up the hill and straight into the fight.
Too bad the first shot bounces.
Don’t worry though, that was a rare exception.
Daki gets into a nice rhythm, dishing out damage like it’s going out of style.
A T57 attempts to slip behind the friendlies, but it won’t be allowed to.
Chaotic melee takes its toll on the M60,
but the T57 gets utterly wrecked.
Holding the Reds back is a team effort,
but Daki is doing a lion’s share of the damage.
The question is, can the M60 survive this fight?
It’s a large, poorly armoured barn of a tank.
Suddenly, the Red team starts to collapse. Attack!
This E 75 seems invulnerable, as shot after shot bounces off.
Until one doesn’t.
The remaining foes are still singing camp songs at the base.
Daki lines up a shot… and runs straight into a boulder. Ouch.
It’s ok though, everyone was wearing seat belts.
As you can see, the gunner didn’t suffer any ill effects.
Down goes the Type 5 Heavy.
The last foe gives up the ghost before Daki can so much as aim for it.
Game over.
Just four kills, but an impressive 10,800 points of damage.
That should help dakillzor in the quest for that 3rd mark of excellence.
Good luck!
Defender
Now let’s hop over to the American region,
for a Defender game by Vladimir_Lemon.
Vladimir’s tank is an E 50, seen here at sunny El Halluf.
Taking point, the E 50 leads the pack to the north-western choke point.
The first pair of shots is enough to secure a kill. It’s a nice start.
Teammates should have this under control,
so Vlad pushes on to the next choke point.
There’s a lot of steel to cut through here, and some of it cuts right back.
It would be nice to pick up a couple more kills,
but the Defender is needed elsewhere.
This WZ is trying a sneak attack from the rear. Not on Vladimir’s watch!
Unfortunately, the rest of the infiltrators prove more difficult to eradicate.
There goes another one, but the damage is already done.
The team is in dire trouble Trading fire with a TVP
wouldn’t be a problem, if it wasn’t for the artillery.
Vladimir executes a tactical redeployment,
managing to stomp on a cockroach on the second try.
After an IS falls to a snapshot,
the situation is starting to look much better.
Vladimir goes on the hunt for the SPGs.
A tortoise enters the capture circle,
but the allies seem to have things under control again.
Ok, maybe not.
At least the IS-6 brought some time.
There. That should help.
The remaining teammate has joined in the hunt,
but their style is a little suicidal.
At least there’s no need to hunt this thing down.
Right. Now let’s get to the Defender part.
Tortoises are tough as nails, armed with guns
which can easily finish the E 50 off at this state.
Vladimir makes good use of the slow Encounter capture,
driving all the way around the map.
And it pays off. There’s still almost half a minute to spare,
when the reset shot slams home.
You probably noticed that the critical hit didn’t do any actual damage.
Our Defender still needs to kill that thing.
A second shot blows away a chunk of hit points.
The Tortoise decides to leave the circle,
but exposing its side gives Vlad the opportunity to cut its track.
A repair kit gets it moving again, which earns it another hit to the track.
Now just get down from the mountain without breaking your own tank…
And take it to Pound Town.
Nicely done. Not only was it a good Defender display,
but Vladimir_Lemon racked up more damage
than the rest of the team combined.
Crucial Contribution
Our next battle is fought over Airfield on an EU server,
where SMSkateCrew delivers a Crucial Contribution.
Reworked matchmaking helps,
but playing as a bottom tier heavy is still a difficult position.
There are three top tier machines to worry about,
one heavy and two tank destroyers.
So naturally our champion runs smack into one right at the start.
Taking a hit from it would really hurt…
unless the big lump decides to fire HE for some reason. Weird.
Teammates join in, ganking the massive heavy in seconds.
SkateCrew moves on to skirmish with a KV-4,
while looking for an opportunity to attack the Type 4 Heavy.
It takes quite a few tries, but the gunner does eventually
find a weak spot on the rolling fortress.
One more hit, and the beast has had enough.
It tries to disengage, but others finish the job.
SkateCrew circles around to get at a T34,
taking a shot from an S-tank along the way.
Both of the remaining tier 10s are here.
SkateCrew lines up a shot, but the Swedish TD continues being a pest.
Since it insists on dying first, the bigger foes will have to wait.
“And stay down.” Now let’s see about those top dogs.
The Jagdpanzer E 100 has a devastating cannon,
but it can’t kill what it can’t hit.
And when it loses its cool, charging out of its fortress, its fate is sealed.
It looks like the American tier 10 is the last foe standing.
SkateCrew goes for it, pulling back just in time to bounce a shell.
The E4 legs it, possibly hoping to find an easier target.
It won’t get away, however.
Our killer IS-3 will have its prey.
I don’t know if SMSkateCrew deliberately made it their business
to take on the biggest foes, or it was just how it played out.
Either way, impressive work!
Top Gun
We have reached the finale,
this time delivered by our Top Gun, STRAIKER_.
The battleground is Pilsen, with a Type 62 administering the beat down.
Now that light tanks are tiered the same way as everything else,
it’s possible for them to kick much more rear plate.
Armed as it is with an 85 mm cannon,
the Type’s alpha strike isn’t particularly impressive.
But the damage per minute is excellent.
After a couple more kills, the location dries up.
STRAIKER_ looks for more targets,
eventually settling on a group of tanks on the west flank.
Nice shooting. The crew are obviously working hard
for those improved combat rations.
Charging in to finish the job gets our Top Gun to… well, Top Gun.
The Type gets a little banged up in the excitement as well.
The engine sounds a little unhealthy for a while,
but only until the repair kit comes off its cooldown.
There’s a big push into friendly territory,
with nobody left to guard the base, aside from our Champion.
Better start thinning out the herd.
There’s a brief capture warning,
but it doesn’t look like the opponents are serious about it.
STRAIKER_ disposes of a T71 with a single quick shot,
just in time before the next foe charges in.
The WZ-131 is the Type’s more powerful, non-premium version.
It’s a tough fight, but our hero prevails, one hit from death.
The remaining teammates have been working on a capture.
It’s starting to look like they may even pull it off.
It’s a good effort, but their luck runs out.
One of the cappers is felled by a Nashorn,
which doesn’t get to celebrate for long.
STRAIKER_ has time for a single shot,
before the last friendly dies in a 1 vs. 3 gank.
Another shot brings the odds down, and anyway, they are just SPGs.
A hasty shotgun attempt falls short,
and a second SPG turns into a smoking wreck.
The remaining foe manages to beat the reload, barely making it into cover.
Still, how hard could it be?
STRAIKER_ hesitates at the last moment,
looping around again before going in.
The first shot misses, but reload is quick.
Oh no…
Twelve kills, but it ends in Heartbreak.
STRAIKER_ played an excellent game,
only messing up on the very cusp of victory.
Hopefully, getting on the show makes you feel a little better about it.
That’s it for this episode.
We look forward to seeing what you manage to pull off next.
I’m Luke Kneller.
Thanks for watching and I’ll see you next time.
Rrredi? Okei let's do dis.
Hallo am Ljuk Nieler and wlcome 2 bess ripley of da wik.
In dis apetsode we hav en enusual luking still...
Nah, it's ok.