So, 'not your typical French tanks'... that's because they are well armored, and also coming in the next update in December.
And yeah... there's more than one tank, as it's a new branch! Not a fully fledged one from Tiers I to X, but only three new vehicles starting from Tier VIII to X. The new line will extend out of the Tier VII Heavy Tank, the AMX M4 45.
 |
| New French Heavy Tank branch. |
As you can see from the picture, the new Heavy Tank line consists of the AMX 65t at Tier VIII, the AMX M4 51 at Tier IX and finally the AMX M4 54 at Tier X... and I'm gonna talk about all three of these new tanks, starting with the AMX 65t.
 |
| AMX 65t from WG's video. |
Well, maybe not the AMX 65t as there's nothing special about it.
Okay, only a bit...
The AMX 65t is the first from the new branch and is pretty much a French 110 with better gun(s) and turret armor. It's hull armor is rather poor, so even angling a small amount will make the frontal pike nose lose it's effectiveness. There's the 100mm gun that's comparable to the one used on the AMX M4 49, and then there's the 120mm gun which has much better DMG, but suffers a longer reload time and lower penetration.
But my gut says that the 120mm will still be people's choice as the premium shell penetration is a whopping 325! You can pretty much melt any tank you meet without breaking a sweat... but you'd still have to deal with the costs of the typical Goldshell, though.
It also looks like a fake tank that WG made [like the WTF E100] but it's actually real... albeit only in blueprint form.
 |
| AMX 65t blueprint. |
It even has a blueprint for it's turret, as well.
 |
| FAMH turret blueprint. |
I don't really understand why they decided to place a Tier VIII Heavy Tank with a 'pike-nose' frontal hull armor design when they have the regular AMX M4 hull that they can use... plus, it's the only tank out of the rest to have a 'pike-nose' design.
They shoulda gone with this for the Tier VIII:
 |
| Looks weird, but it can exist... |
They could just... strengthen the armor for the frontal hull and everything would go perfectly... just like that.
Oh, and it's stock turret resembles the AMX M4 49's turret. So there's that.
And that's all for the AMX 65t. I think it's okay, but not eye-catching enough for me... but that all changes when you get to the Tier IX tank, the AMX M4 51.
 |
| AMX M4 51 from WG's video. |
Look at that impressive turret... too bad you're gonna have to research for it, though. The stock turret that you have is the upgraded one from the AMX 65t.
It might also look like another fake tank made from WG, but it actually has a blueprint for it's hull... at least, I think this is what it's been referenced from.
 |
| AMX M4 45 with extra armor plating. |
The armor for this tank is much more better than on the AMX 65t, but also kinda disappointing. You see, the Premium Tier VIII Heavy Tank; the AMX M4 49 has 190mm of frontal hull armor compared to the Tier IX's 180mm.
Wut. 10mm less for a tank 1 Tier higher? And there's more, as the frontal armor "shoulders" [those small side sections] are 150mm for the Tier VIII tank... and it's the same for the Tier IX. That can be a problem, but I won't know for sure until the tanks are released for the players.
Anyway, passing that little rant...
The upgraded turret looks a lot like an M103's turret, but [obviously] it's not. Seems to be called the 'TCB' turret, and there's even a blueprint of it.
 |
| TCB turret blueprint. |
The one in-game looks slightly different, but I ain't complaining. Heck, it's about time we get some new French Heavy Tanks. May just be three, but I'll take 'em over nothing at all.
The AMX M4 51 has different gun choices too, not counting the stock gun which is the 100mm from the AMX 65t. The first one is the 120mm, which functions NOT like the one from the AMX 65t.
 |
| Long and accurate... |
A very long gun, but nothing beats the Panther and E50's long guns. The 120mm actually is the accurate one for the AMX M4 51, unlike the AMX 65t. As such, it will function pretty much like a sniper gun; accurate and quick to aim... reloads fairly quick, too.
Then we have the 'brawler' addition for the tank, the 127mm gun... or more specifically, the 'derp' version.
 |
| Shorter, but packs more punch. |
Heh, looks like a freaking chimney with that muzzle(?)
So obviously the 127mm will deal more DMG but will suffer from longer reload times and worse gun handling than the 120mm. But there's also another little special 'thing' to note about this gun, just like the 120mm on the AMX 65t.
You see, the reload time difference from the 'sniper' gun is only about 2.1 seconds... which makes it viable to use the 'brawler' gun for this tank in my eyes. Sure, you'll have the accuracy and aiming time downgrades... but for extra 70 DMG for just extra 2 seconds reload? Sign me up for the 127mm for this tank!
Also, the tank is pretty huge... about as high as the AMX 50B in height.
 |
| Same size as the AMX 50B, maybe even slightly larger... and it's the same for the AMX M4 54, too. |
And now we've come to the most exciting part of this post; the Tier X French Heavy Tank... the AMX M4 54.
 |
| AMX M4 54 from WG's video. |
It may look like the AMX M4 51 from the above picture, but it's actually not. You can see notable differences in the form of where the spare track links are placed [side of tank instead of at the front "shoulders"], the packed canvas at the back of the turret and also the positions of the nation decals [behind the turret "ears" instead of directly on it]. It also has the jerrycans moved to the back and even has "ladders" at the turret sides.
So, what's so 'exciting' about this tank? Well, for starters it has a much better stock gun. It is the same 120mm from the previous tanks, but with greatly improved stats.
 |
| Might be the same 120mm, but is still reliable. |
It's reload time is what makes it a great tank; just under 11 seconds... and that's before crew skills and equipments. That would make it like a Lowe with superb armor! The DMG is still on the low end of 400, but when you're putting out that many shots per minute you don't have to worry about DMG.
And here comes the 'brawler' addition to the tank; a 130mm cannon taken straight from an old battleship.
 |
| That gun is VERY THICK. |
That might not sound so impressive seeing how the IS-7's gun is about the same thing, but the best part about it is that it deals more DMG than the IS-7's cannon.
Yep, you read that right... about 70 DMG difference.
It's reload is not that far off from the IS-7, considering that it does as much DMG as the Pz. Kpfw. VII. Same caliber, different damage...
But that's not all! Above all this it also have improved frontal armor. You can even see the welded armor slabs if you view the tank from a certain angle.
Here's the comparison between the Tier IX and Tier X Heavy Tanks:
And here's the top view of things, to make it easier to spot the differences:
The picture on the top for both sets of pictures is the AMX M4 51, and the one below is the AMX M4 54. But this is where things get very bad, very fast.
Improved armor is to be expected when going up Tiers, and the 220mm frontal armor of the Tier X beast is somewhat sufficient. But the problem lies on a different place; the front "shoulder" armor... as it's still 150mm! Which is an armor value that has been existing since the Premium Tier VIII French Heavy Tank, the AMX M4 49.
Heck, there's even a blueprint for this tank that shows that it has a slab of 280mm of armor welded on the tank.
 |
| Notice the '280' for the darkened section at the tank's front. |
Even if you don't have any knowledge in the French language you can see the '280 for the frontal hull. This means the AMX M4 54's upper frontal plate is supposed to be at least above 300mm.
It might seem like overkill, but it still has the cupola, lower plate and frontal hull "shoulders" as weakspots... not to mention what High Explosive ammo does to French tanks.
And speaking of the frontal hull "shoulders", that's also another problem to highlight. The comparison picture between the AMX M4 51 and AMX M4 54 shows the areas of where the additional armor slabs were welded. But I've edited the picture to better highlight the problem that exists on the Tier X Heavy Tank.
 |
| Edited in good ol' Paint. |
Now, it's much easier to see the problems that this tank has. You can clearly see additional armor slabs welded not only at the front, but also the "shoulders" of the tank... but why is it still 150mm?
Sure, the angle might be steeper to increase the effective armor values... but it's still 150mm of armor, even though you can clearly see that they have received reinforced armor. Even if the upper frontal plate is 220mm, I can still live with that. But the "shoulders" should at least get an increase in the numbers, too.
Hell, even if it's just 10mm of extra armor for it to be 160mm... I'm still okay with that.
Because if you're gonna go through the trouble to add in "reinforced armor" that is visible, you might as well make it feel like it's "reinforced armor"... otherwise it's just a visual failure.
But despite all the letdowns it has, I'm still gonna get these tanks... except the AMX 65t, which I'll probably sell when I have enough experience to unlock [and buy] the AMX M4 51. I'll probably even install the World Of Tanks Common Test game folders just to use them early.
Can barely contain my excitement to use these vehicles!
I don't know why, but I've always loved the French tanks ever since I've started playing World Of Tanks. It was the first nation I've played and also got the first Tier X from said nation. Guess I have a knack for those obscure or less popular vehicles from some nations, like the Chinese tanks and also some of the German vehicles to a certain extent.
I even have the AMX M4 54 as my desktop wallpaper... although it has the 120mm equipped.
It's not this one as the wallpaper, as there's another one out there. Just putting it here to show what it looks like in-game.
Many people hate that we only get 3 new French vehicles, but I personally don't mind it. Sure, it might look like just a bunch of AMX M4 45s but with different turrets and guns but at least we get something instead of nothing... like all the other tanks stuck in development hell.
Maybe in the near future they will add more, but this is what we've get for now. A month plus more to wait before I can get my hands on them...
Anyways, that's all I have for now... looking back, most of it was me ranting about the Tier IX and X's tank armor and my undying love for French tanks, and less about the actual stats and history. But whatever...
I still have some World Of Tanks replays to record and upload, and one of them is even a French tank... so with that in mind, I'll be back when it's done. So stay tuned...
-Panzer Fist-
