Hello everyone.
I’m Luke Kneller and you’re watching Best Replays of the Week.
We’re a little behind due to sickness, so these replays are a little old.
However, today we’ll see how warrior chief leads a charge from the front, a sniper duel waged by French autoloaders,
and an artillery piece taking on jobs usually reserved for combat tanks.
Let’s get started!
Steel Wall
Some people carry a game with mobility and tactical insight, others do it with dead-eye gunnery and just out-damaging the enemy team.
It takes a special kind of player to just pick up a sturdy shield and lead from the front!
Corvi is such a player and his shield of the day is the American T95 tank destroyer.
The fight is a standard face-off on Malinovka but this TD driver has no interest in sniping from the bushes.
As the battle is starting, a friendly T-44 calls out ”Follow me!”, and rushes down the left flank.
That’s the spirit! Corvi revs up his engine and charges after the eager medium tank at a blistering 13 km/h.
The first enemies are soon spotted.
Corvi takes a long range shot before continuing his dash.
The T-44 didn’t last long enough to receive any support but the leadership position is not his anyway.
Get out of way little ones - the chief is here!
Cannon and artillery shells are starting to arc in.
Good! Any strikes caught on the shield are ones not bothering the rank and file.
It lets the troops focus on killing the enemy.
The M103 should know better than to sit still, as the T95 has a gun to match its armour.
Have some of that! The 103 returns fire but only manages to slow the chief down for a moment.
A whole barrage of cannon fire rains down on the T95, but all they can do is make the hull ring like a church bell.
Corvi decides to take shelter from the storm but it turns out to be a mistake.
The track gives out again and the machine is left at a vulnerable angle.
Within moments, a third of his health is gone.
At least there’s an opportunity for a steady shot at the pesky KV-13.
The track is fixed and Corvi takes a little dip in the river to cool off.
And thinks - 'what was I doing again?'
Finally about to take the point, that’s where!
Fresh from the swim he pushes forward as a slow but unstoppable force.
The WZ-120 gets bullied out of position and is killed by the allied team and the worlds slowest “snap shot” finishes off the KV-13.
Chief Corvi has carried his shield to the gates of the enemy fortress and is challenging the foe to do something about it.
Blowing up the IS-2 should get the message across.
“I’m here! Come at me bros!”
The enemy give it their best.
Cannon fire and artillery shells fly at Corvi but nothing really bites through.
He still has a third of his health when the allied team finish their long push on the eastern flank and come in to mop up the last defenders.
That looked almost too easy, except…
Let’s take a look at the numbers.
Besides four kills, and quite respectable damage dealt, the T95 bounced or absorbed over 12,000 points of damage.
Talk about taking one for the team! A fine display of in-your-face tanking and our Steel Wall of the week.
Congratulations, Corvi!
Invader
The essence of the Invader award is taking the fight to the enemy.
Slipping past the defenders into heart of their territory and throwing them into confusion.
The aptly named predator900 will now show us his take on how this can be done.
The site of the standard battle is Kharkov, one of the newer city maps, and the predator is on the prowl in the deadly Bat Châtillon 25t.
It’s wise to hang back early on, when dedicated scouts are already heading out to gather the intel.
The 13 75 finds all three of the enemy top tier heavy tanks, and pays for it with its life.
All things considered it was probably a price worth paying.
It’s clear that a clash of titans is developing in the city center.
Joining the melee is not the best use of the Bat, so predator heads west on a flanking mission.
A Panther II is flushed out of its position, and finished off soon after.
The magazine is reloading, and it’s a good time to continue the infiltration.
It’s as if the city is being taken by the French special forces, as Predator is joined by his twin brother, and a 3rd musketeer in a Lorraine.
Here’s an inviting target for the reloaded drum.
Predator trusts his gunner, engaging target lock and shooting on the move.
Incredibly the 90’s shells fail to do damage, hitting the ground, pinging off the thin armor, and the last one getting absorbed by the track.
With two rounds left in the drum, predator and his companion breach the enemy artillery position.
Artillery support helps take out both targets after auto-aim has shown its limitations.
Again the reload, and there's little to do but stay safe and keep an eye on enemy movements.
They know he’s sitting in their base, bold as brass.
The IS-8 hesitates for just a little too long, and when he comes out, predator is ready for him.
Once again, incredibly, the enemy shell fails to penetrate.
Pradator clips down the now helpless heavy tank, and barely dodges the monster shell from an E-100.
Withdrawing to reload, but this time he doesn’t get away unhurt.
The shell from a Jagdpanther II strikes home, making it the first bit of actual hull damage the Bat has suffered.
A Tiger II takes out the track with a long range shot, but seems to lose interest after that.
The predator is ready with a full drum though, and since the Tiger II didn’t stick around he pumps them into the E-100 from earlier.
With a little help from the allied TD that is another enemy down, and back on the reload.
Still prowling in the enemy’s rear, it’s time to deal with the enemy TD that got a damaging hit in.
The Tiger II in the distance makes things difficult, and this time the engagement gets messy.
The Jagdpanther II is clipped down, but the tank is in bad shape, and gunner looks like he’s in a really bad shape.
The commander tells the gunner to use the med kit,
but he’s not going to take his eye off the targets while there’s still two rounds ready to fly.
“Seriously, can he even see anything?” *boom*
Apparently he could.
The last round takes out the Tiger II, and the satisfied gunner is now free to wipe the blood from his eyes while waiting for the reload.
Two enemies left and 5 rounds to go.
Predator doesn’t hesitate, and three of them are used to take out the IS-4.
Again he escapes damage, this time the gun barrel absorbing the hit.
Nothing wrong there that a repair kit wouldn’t fix, and the game looks just about won with three-on-one odds.
Predator herds to two lower tier machines into the cap-zone, and goes looking for the rival Bat.
He doesn’t get very far when the T69 is taken out with a single hit, a few seconds later, the IS-3 is also one- shotted.
The game is even… except predator doesn’t know how much health and ammo the rival bat has.
With just two shells left, this is going to be tense.
The team pings the map for the enemy location, and predator goes out wide to sneak up on him.
Nothing.
If he was here, he has moved.
It’s a deadly game of cat and also cat, and the first mistake either one makes will most likely decide the match.
The rival is spotted! Either the team was wrong, of he’s moving around just as much.
It also looks like both can still take a single hit.
Predator will need both his shells.
Moving carefully and keeping his gun aimed, Predator backs into the cap circle.
The timer is running.
Your move enemy.
It doesn’t look like he’s going to pop out from there, so this is not a good place anymore.
Predator relocates and uses his dead team mate for cover.
And just in time, if he had stayed where he was, he’d be dead now.
Ouch! Careful as he was, the enemy still managed to get a surprise hit in.
Firing on the move like that probably means the rival Bat has no shortage of shells.
The enemy tries to repeat the maneuver, and Predator evens out the score.
The next hit will decide the game.
The enemy empties his drum on low probability shots and moves out of sight.
The capture is half way done, and there’s enough time for a reload.
There it is! The capture is nearly done so the rival bat has to charge in.
Predator keeps his cool and puts in his last shell just as the capture is finished.
Wow!
Invader and Fadin’s medal in the same game, not to mention soaking up a surprising number of hits.
Predator put the pressure on the enemy base, and never eased off until the game was won.
He’s our Invader of the week.
Congratulations.
Top Gun
And now it’s time to set aside thoughts of self-sacrifice and teamwork, and watch some good old fashioned mayhem.
This week’s Top Gun is called Pericol, and his tool of destruction is the E-50.
The map is Fiery Salient, and the battle is an encounter.
The G.W Tiger P asks the team not to suck, and with that they are off.
Pericol races to the center of the map, spots a handful of enemies and gets to work dishing out damage.
No kills are done, but plenty of damage and harassment happens.
The commander’s sixth sense warns him that the tank has finally been spotted.
Staying to take one more shot is a mistake, and the ST-I on the hill puts a shell through the E-50’s track and hull.
The SuperPershing is shot through cover, but soon after the ST-I manages to cut the track again.
It gets punished in return, but not killed.
The IS-6 is a distraction, but only for a moment.
OK, the ST-I was finished off by allies.
That’s ok, the score is 8:11 and there are plenty of fools to kill before the battle is done.
It seems there are autoloaders everywhere.
The American is hit, then the big French one.
The 12t blows up nicely with a single hit.
Nine - twelve.
There goes the big AMX.
Who’s next? It looks like the allied IS-3 has decided to cap.
That just leaves more kills for Pericol.
Boom! That’s it for the American!
Dealing with the low tier Jagdpanther shouldn’t be too much trouble, except when another SuperPershing shoots you in the back.
The Jagdpanther also fires, but the shell is absorbed by the track.
Damaging the Pershing is not too hard, but it takes time, and the TD gets another shot in.
Pericol is forced to give ground, and while he does so, the friendly IS in the circle dies to artillery.
It’s two against four, and hit points are starting to run low.
But so what! There’s plenty of ammo, and his is the only tier IX machine left standing.
Let’s do this thing!
The Jagdpanther is out of its league, and gets neatly taken apart.
The turret could take the hits easily.
The SuperPershing is showing its weak spot, and shouldn’t be hard to deal with.
Dammit, that’s the real threat.
A track is gone again, and there goes the med kit.
Still, it’s now 2 vs. 2, and the remaining enemy tank should be easy prey for the friendly SPG.
“Arty? Wake up buddy.
Kill this heavy and I’ll go hunt down the SPG”.
Nothing? … It seems that the SPG who asked others not to suck has left the match.
Pericol does his best, but the enemy artillery advantage decides the game.
So close.
Tough luck.
You can’t win them all, even with a heroic effort.
Still, with Ace Tanker, over 8k damage and seven kills, you are our Top Gun of the week.
Fight on warrior!
Crucial Contribution
kxl will now demonstrate artillery play that is quite different from what you are probably used to.
The Bat.-Châtillon 155 58 is faster than most medium tanks, and its auto-loading cannon will show its power on Mines.
At the start kxl hops onto the nearest elevated position, and observes the allied push to the central hill.
There would be juicy targets to hit, but the loaders are taking their time with the first magazine.
As soon as the gun is loaded, we see the power of this machine.
Three direct hits in rapid succession force a pair of tier X tanks into cover.
The next volley harasses enemies on the island, and the following one nets his first personal kill.
The enemies are sheltering behind the central hill, but using the Bat’s speed in relocating should fix that problem.
Let’s try this again from a better angle.
Bang! Bang! The fourth magazine kills two and splashes a third.
There are probably enemies on the island, but kxl doesn’t seem too concerned about that.
Giving support fire is more important than personal safety.
10:8 it looks like the hard work is paying off, and the team is solidly in the lead.
Where is that last enemy arty though… This will do.
Look how fast the Bat clips down a T110E4.
Careful boys, just wait for the reload... Got ‘im! The Waffenträger takes a giant hit, then a teammate rams the enemy arty to death.
Four vs. two, and friendlies are capturing.
It looks like the game has been won now.
It’s a good time take the 70s reload, and change position, just to be sure.
I spoke too soon.
The enemies get together, and two allied tanks vanish from the map.
The cap is at 70%, but it suddenly looks very unlikely to finish.
The E100 puts up a good fight, and kxl is able to support him.
It’s not enough though.
The last ally goes down, and kxl has to run for cover.
The Bat can’t take a single hit from the enemy guns.
A recurring theme in this episode seems to be dueling autoloaders, as the WT gives chase.
In a stroke of luck, the 121 kills itself with reckless driving! Once again, the next hit will decide the match.
While the Bat looks and moves like a tank, it can’t aim well in direct fire mode.
kxl leaves the problem to the auto-aim gunner, and concentrates on his positioning.
The enemy is sighted and…. boom! Victory!
When watching this replay, we thought we were looking at a Confederate award.
Then the team collapsed, and it ended up more of a Top Gun.
Ultimately it’s a perfect example of our new award, Crucial Contribution.
Congratulations kxl, very well played.
That’s all for this episode.
We are catching up after the break
and look forward to using the freshes replays soon.
Also, check up the description for the new details we've added there.
Remember to click "like" if you liked it and I'll see you next time.