As some of you may have noticed, the 70th anniversary of Victory Day (May 9th, 1945) came around just 2 weeks ago. In response, Wargaming released a set of 4 tanks, named the “Berlin Quartet”, to commemorate the historical event: The T-34-85 “Rudy”, Cromwell Berlin, ISU-122S, and IS-2. In this article, I’ll be taking an in-depth look at each vehicle in-game.
T-34/85 "Rudy"
So, let’s start (somewhat) small. The first of the Berlin Quartet tanks, the T-34-85 “Rudy”, is a tier 6 medium tank based off the T-34-85 used in the Polish TV series called Czterej pancerni i pies (“4 tankers and dog”). It is pretty much identical to the non-premium T-34-85 already in game: it has pretty terrible armor (45mm at the front isn’t much for a tier 6), but it has good acceleration, maneuverability, and a fantastic 85mm gun. However, unlike the existing T-34-85, the “Rudy” has 100 less engine power (500hp vs 600hp), which reduces its power to weight ratio slightly (15.45 hp/ton vs 17.83hp/ton). Happily, the Rudy has better traverse speed (42 vs. 38) and slightly improved terrain resistance, which makes the tank about as fast as its non-premium counterpart. Also, despite the gun being labeled “85mm S-53” which is the stock gun on the T-34-85, the gun is statistically identical to the 85mm D5T-85BM on the T-34-85. So, overall, it’s just a T-34-85 that makes more credits and XP. That Brothers-In-Arms crew it comes with makes for a nice bonus, too. Oh, and it wouldn’t be complete without the dog: not only does the dog (Szarik) replace the radioman as a crew member, but if you have the Sixth Sense crew perk on your commander, he barks every time you get spotted. It certainly gives the tank that extra bit of character!
Cromwell Berlin
Next up, we have the Cromwell Berlin. This is another tier 6 medium tank, but this time, it’s a British one. Once again, this tank is quite similar to its non-premium brother, the Cromwell: it has the same gun, same acceleration, and similarly terrible armor. However, this thing has a few differences when put side-by-side with the Cromwell as well, although these actually benefit the performance of the tank quite nicely. To start, one of the main complaints I had about the regular Cromwell was that its traverse speed was fairly low (36 deg/sec) when taking into consideration its turret traverse and acceleration. Somehow, the Cromwell Berlin fixes this problem completely: the tank has a 50 deg/sec traverse speed! Additionally, the terrain resistance is almost half of the regular Cromwell’s, meaning that this thing handles and accelerates very well on-and-off-road. Similarly to the Rudy, this tank’s gun is listed as the stock 75mm from the Cromwell; however, it is statistically identical to that of the Cromwell’s top 75mm HV gun. Strangely, this tank actually has slightly better armor when compared to its non-premium counterpart, though: the side armor on both the hull and turret is slightly thicker, which gives it better protection against High Explosive shells. And once again, the Brothers-in-Arms crew increases this tank’s potential even further. This is definitely my favorite tank out of the pack due to the high rate-of-fire (and damage per minute), surprisingly good accuracy, incredible speed, and slightly improved protection from HE ammo.
ISU-122S
Thirdly, we have a tier 7 Russian tank destroyer: the ISU-122S. This tank is a bit more peculiar than the others so far: other than the fact that it’s a tank destroyer and not a medium, it takes a tier 8 platform (ISU-152), bumps it down a tier (and lowers its hitpoints, sadly), and gives it a 122mm D-25S gun similar to that of the IS-1’s topmost 122mm gun. However, unlike the IS-1, this thing doesn’t have the armor, hitpoints, or turret. Happily, there’s a balancing factor: the 122 on this tank destroyer has an incredibly high rate of fire & DPM (3.7k with a gun rammer and vents) and improved accuracy when compared to the IS-1 (although it’s still a little wonky at times). Also, as with the tier 8 ISU-152, this tank has a very trollish mantle, which can bounce the occasional shot from vehicles of tier 6-8 (don’t expect to bounce shells consistently, however). Despite being built on an IS hull, this thing doesn’t have as low of a top speed (43kph vs 38 on the IS), and although the acceleration is not very good (13.1 hp/ton + somewhat high terrain resistance), this extra speed comes in handy for downhill charges or ramming light vehicles. This tank is probably my least favorite of the quartet despite these advantages, as the accuracy (while improved over the IS’s) is still too unreliable for my style of play, and it doesn’t have the armor to get up close to the front lines in tier 8-9 battles. Still, not a bad tank by any stretch of the imagination.
IS-2
Last (but certainly not least) is another tier 7, this time a Russian heavy tank: the IS-2. Sound familiar? Yes, there’s now 2 IS-2s in the game: the Chinese version and now this. To make things more confusing, they both have the same name in-game, so it can be a little hard to tell the difference between the two. They do share a lot of similarities, including their turret armor profiles, guns, and mobility, but several things have changed. For one, the upper plate armor on the Russian IS-2 is 100mm thick (vs 90mm of the Chinese variant). This might not sound like very much armor, but the front is nicely sloped, making the upper front plate armor effectively ~160mm thick, and angling increases the effective thickness even further. The Russian version also has 80 more horsepower in the engine (600hp vs 520hp), which allows it to accelerate a little faster than its Chinese brother. Beyond that, it pretty much shares the same playstyle with the Chinese IS-2 and Russian IS-1, so for anyone who already played either one of these tanks, the new Russian IS-2 should be easy to adapt to. Overall, I’ve found this to be a much more comfortable tank to play than the ISU-122S, as the added armor, turret, and better hitpoints compensate for the slower reload, worse accuracy, and lower top speed. This thing falls just short of the Cromwell B on my list of favorites from the Berlin Quartet, but it still holds up very nicely for its tier.
So, there we have it! Overall, I really do like each and every one of the tanks in this pack (for once). Sadly, it’s not on sale anymore, but if it ever does come back to the shop (although it’s been said before that it won’t come back), I’d highly recommend picking these up. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the tank reviews!
Before you go, I have a quick announcement to make: Originally, I planned on writing a new car review (requested by GeneralRambo) this weekend, but finals are just around the corner, so I’m going to postpone the review until 2 weeks from this Sunday (May 24th). Sorry for the short notice, but things are picking up a lot faster than I expected (oh boy, test stacking, fun).
As always, thanks for reading!
So, there we have it! Overall, I really do like each and every one of the tanks in this pack (for once). Sadly, it’s not on sale anymore, but if it ever does come back to the shop (although it’s been said before that it won’t come back), I’d highly recommend picking these up. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the tank reviews!
Before you go, I have a quick announcement to make: Originally, I planned on writing a new car review (requested by GeneralRambo) this weekend, but finals are just around the corner, so I’m going to postpone the review until 2 weeks from this Sunday (May 24th). Sorry for the short notice, but things are picking up a lot faster than I expected (oh boy, test stacking, fun).
As always, thanks for reading!