Stacking Up with Wargaming West and World of Tanks
By: Stephanie “BettiePageGaming” Owens
On June 4th, I had the pleasure of spending the day with two very special people from our community, Ryan Devlin, and Jimmy Cribbetts.
Ryan and Jimmy flew in from CA and FL respectively as special guests to attend Wargaming’s World of Tanks Event held at the Museum of American Armor in Long Island NY.
Operational vehicles that are on display include an iconic Sherman tank, a Stuart light tank used extensively by the Marines during their Pacific campaigns, a potent 155 mm howitzer, reconnaissance vehicles that acted as armored scouts for American forces and anti-aircraft guns. Other vehicles range from a classic LaSalle staff car in the markings of a Fleet Admiral to jeeps, weapons carriers, and half-tracks.
Ryan and Jimmy participated in the Armor Experience Program sponsored by Wargaming West, which allows individuals to be immersed in a time and place where civilization hung in the balance during World War II. This is where the fun begins! Ryan and Jimmy suited up and attended a briefing about their mission.
From the MoAA website; “You are put in the lead of an armored column probing enemy defenses in what could be the French countryside some 70 years ago. Presented with a tactical challenge to confront a potential ambush, you are given period gear, placed atop WWII armor and sent back in time with living historians as every bend in the road holds hidden danger.”
After their mission was complete they returned to the museum for lunch and an opportunity to be some of the first to get hands-on with the newly released World of Tanks: Mercenaries.
For those of you who are not familiar with the game, World of Tanks Console is a team-based massively multiplayer online action game dedicated to armored warfare in the mid-20th century. Created by Wargaming West in Chicago, players immerse themselves in fierce 15-v-15 tank combat with opponents from around the world, while having five distinct vehicle classes to choose from. Players can fight it out on more than 90 different maps, and take command of their preferred vehicle out of over 660 different tanks from 9 nations.
World of Tanks Console is available on all Xbox One & PlayStation 4 generations, as well as Xbox 360. The epic, story-driven campaign mode, War Stories, can also be played for free, with regular, brand new episodic stories giving players the chance to revisit or rewrite history. Currently, there are five War Stories available, offering for the first time in the history of the World of Tanks franchise more than 12+ hours of stunning, immersive single-player and co-operative battles.
During the event, Wargaming unveiled the biggest content update since World of Tanks launched on console. It is available now exclusively on Xbox 360, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 and is poised to completely transform the World of Tanks experience into World of Tanks: Mercenaries on June 26, 2018.
Watch the trailer below:
I asked the guys what they thought about the game and here is what they had to say,
Jimmy, “Gameplay was smooth. Looked clean. Not quite long enough to get a good idea of the entire tank line. Won’t be able to determine how balanced the line is until it plays alongside the other tanks in the game.”
Ryan, “Amazing to see the M18 Hellcat and M4 Sherman running and gunning during the re-enactment. The Museum of American Armor was freaking awesome! The game was a great new aspect on what the game already was, I wish it was coming to the PC client!”
Stack Up would like to thank the crew of Wargaming West at the event; Steve Breden, Leo Flore, Sophie Filip, Ingo Horn and the team from ÜberStrategist, Mario Kroll and CJ Melendez for making this day possible.