Holiday Ops 2021 kicks off on December 9th, with lootboxes making their biannual return to World of Tanks. One of the new releases available exclusively through Holiday Ops Large Boxes (for now) is the Premium Tier VIII Swedish Heavy Assault Tank, Bofors Tornvagn. This article outlines my first impressions in the statlines and performance in-game for this new kid on the block!
What's in the box?
In the interests of full disclosure, WarGaming have confirmed the following drops chances from each box, which will contain:
• 100% Chance of yielding a Non-Duplicate Holiday Ops Decoration and 250G, plus:
• 85.94% Chance of yielding one of the following: ◦ Premium Time (1 day, 3 days or 7 days) ◦ Gold (250G, 500G or 1000G) ◦ Credits (100,000 Credits or 500,000 Credits)
• 11.66% Chance of yielding one of the following Premium Tier II-V Vehicles: ◦ Pz.Kpfw. 35 R (new) - Premium Tier II German Light Tank ◦ Pz.Kpfw. M15 (new) - Premium Tier III German Light Tank ◦ Matilda LVT (new) - Premium Tier IV British Medium Tank
â—¦ M4-85 (new) - Premium Tier V Soviet Medium Tank
• 5.00% Chance of yielding one of the following Tier X 3D skins:
â—¦ Vz.55 "Hurricane" (new)
â—¦ Object 268 Version 4 "Fair Trade" (new)
â—¦ XM551 Sheridan "Salamander" (new)
â—¦ FV4005 Stage II "Thunder Child" (new)
â—¦ ST-II "Saiga" (new)
â—¦ Rinoceronte "Fortuna" (new) â—¦ Conqueror Gun Carriage "Little Bart"
â—¦ Maus "Landkreuzer"
â—¦ 60TP Lewandowskiego "40:1"
â—¦ STB-1 "Winter Lotus"
â—¦ WZ-111 model 5A "The Last Dragon"
• 2.40% Chance of yielding one of the following Premium Tier VIII Vehicles: ◦ Bofors Tornvagn (new) - Swedish Assault Heavy Tank
â—¦ M-IV-Y (new) - USA Versatile Heavy Tank â—¦ Caliban (new) - British Support Heavy Tank â—¦ 122 TM - Chinese Assault Medium Tank
â—¦ Skoda T 56 - Czechslovakian Breakthrough Heavy Tank
If your luck turns out to be positively atrocious and you haven't received a Premium Tier VIII vehicle after opening 49 boxes, the Premium Vehicle Guarantee ensures that you will receive a random Premium Tier VIII vehicle from the above list that you don't already own!
How does Bofors Tornvagn stack up?
A quick comparison against other hull-down capable Premium Tier VIII Heavy tanks reveals the following general pros and cons:
Pros:
• Narrow turret profile presents a small target when using its 10° gun depression
• Minimum turret armour is 250mm, but is substantially shielded by a large muzzle brake
• Upper frontal plate resistant to ordinance with >275mm penetration
• Excellent Standard APCR penetrates 248mm, upgradeable to 297mm with Premium APCR
• High Alpha damage of 400HP thanks to 120mm main armament
• Low profile means more opportunities to play hull-down
Cons:
• Low Damage Per Minute (1,635HP/min) due to 15sec reload time
• High base dispersion (0.42m/100m) and aim time (2.21s)
• Slow and Underpowered, max forward/reverse speeds 32km/h and 12km/h respectively
• Low base viewrange of 360m
While hull-down play utilising the tiny well-armoured turret represents best use of the vehicle, Bofors Tornvagn it is still perfectly capable of baiting shots in a poke or sidescrape. Just don't show too much turret side, even when playing from hull-down!
Setting up Bofors Tornvagn
The Pro's leave Bofors Tornvagn as a highly-capable hull-down fighter, with a low profile capable of turning a molehill of a terrain feature into a mountain of inconvenience for your opponent. The Cons on the other hand leave a series of key performance areas that need to be either tolerated or managed.
Given the choice between managing mobility and firepower, I've initially opted to tolerate the poor mobility and make every shot count by equipping Improved Ventilation, Improved Aiming and Vertical Stabilisers. Together with a Brothers in Arms crew, this confines dispersion to 0.38m/100m and increases damage output to 1,711HP/min. With such low residual DPM, a Gun Rammer wouldn't be completely out of place on this vehicle in lieu of either piece of the aforemented equipment. Testing thus far has also revealed the ability to crest a ridge with only the turret showing and fully dial the shots in with minimal fear of taking damage in the process (although one might feel differently in event of a 3SPG lineup). Whether I'm keen to let any further pieces of equipment go in favour of improving mobility remains to be seen. After all, what good is rushing to the front line if you can't hit what you're shooting at?
As for the oddly low viewrange, some things we just have to live with while focussing on appropriate vehicle roleplay.
Beyond the mandatory Brothers in Arms and 6th Sense, crew skills focussing on improvements to gun handling such as Smooth Ride and Snap Shot are a great first focus area. Repairs are also a sensible "if in doubt" point of study, allowing the vehicle to quickly remobilise after a track-related injury. As with many vehicles with a long reload time, Intuition is a must-have to ensure you have the right shell in the tube for the situation.
Countering Bofors Tornvagn
Fighting a Tornvagn on a ridgeline is like fighting the Russians in the Winter, so combat on its terms is best avoided. Stay low to bait it over, and hopefully your second-line or SPG's will have shots at the softer parts of the tank. If numbers are in your favour, split up as the turret is most effective when pointed directly at its victim. Most Tier VII and VIII guns will have an even chance of penetrating the side of a Tornvagn turret once it's more than 25 degrees off-centre. Bofors Tornvagns low DPM makes it vulnerable to rushing, and brawlers would do well to forget the upper frontal plate and focus on its sides and roof deck. Taking the initiative to sieze forward spotting and/or hull-down positions might even allow you to get your shot in first before the Tornvagn has had a chance to lumber its way into position.
Gameplay Review
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