Snap shot: The Senlac on Lakeville

Had a good World of Tanks battle on Lakeville in the Senlac this morning I thought I'd tell you about.

We were on south spawn in a tier VIII/VII battle. Each team had two LTs and two arties. 

Initial rollout

During the countdown I announced to the team that I planned to spot from the G7 area initially. I don't really trust the Senlac yet, the camo rating isn't amazing so I don't want to be TOO aggressive at the outset; especially if I don't know what kind of team I have.

When we rolled out I was a little disappointed that our 13 57 also came to the G7/H7 area not far from me. That meant we had no light tank on the middle road, but fortunately one of our two E 25s went middle road to hold and spot.

Almost immediately I spotted the enemy Progetto on the middle road and our team was able to punish him pretty hard. In fact, after the initial volley he was basically a 2-shot, and a couple minutes later we respotted him and he got knocked down to just 14 hit points. That was important for reasons I'll explain in a moment.

I also spotted an SU-130 on the middle road; and he suffered the same fate as his Progetto pal. So we were off to a good start.

The Valley

The good news is that neither of our light tanks (of course I was one of them) went valley at the start. The slightly less good news is that really NONE of our team went valley at the start. This, however, provided a good example of why valley isn't a terribly useful play, most of the time. 

Four enemy tanks, including two of their three heavies, rolled basically unopposed through the valley. But when they arrived at our end of the valley, they couldn't exit. Why? Because we had a Mutz, an E 25, our arty and one or two TDs all punishing them every time they poked.

Having decided that the G7 spot was used up, and that the 13 57 had good vision on that side of the lake, I had decided to rotate over and see if I could get spots on middle road. On the way there, I noticed the enemy force trying to get out of the valley by our cap. So I took up a good sniper position, double-bushed, and proceeded to put shots into the enemy tanks; including getting a pair of kills.

The End Game

Since a large group of the enemy had pushed through the valley, and the enemy Progetto was still pinned down on 14 hit points on the middle road, our group that went city didn't have too much trouble winning the city. Seeing that they were coming out the north end of the city, I decided to push middle road (along with one of our E 25s) and see if I could help finish off the last of the enemy that weren't in the valley, then flank down onto their remaining valley tanks. 

Knowing the Progetto was nearly dead (and I was on 85% hit points) I decided to just push the road. I could afford to take one hit from him if I had to, and sure enough I came over a rise, he was looking at me, and I ate one shell, as I finished him off.

The remaining enemy were a T20, an IS, a T26E4 and their arty. All three of the tanks were one-shots at this point. I spotted their arty, who was quickly eliminated. and came past their base as the T20 poked the B3 corner to base def. I deliberately drove past him at full speed figuring that he'd have to rotate the turret to hit me and that would balloon his aiming reticle, making it less likely to hit.

Curiously he wasn't even looking at me as I came around the corner so it was trivial for me to right-click, left-click to let the autoaim help me land the kill shot as I went by.

Pushing down into the valley I deliberately took the high spot around E1 (rather than just YOLOing down the middle of the valley) in hopes of respotting the last two enemies who had gone dark, while still having some cover.

Sure enough, I lit the IS and the T26E4 and the E4 was sitting sideways to me in the open. Neither spotted me so I took my time, aimed in, and finished off the E4. A few seconds later a teammate came around the I2 corner and killed the IS.

A solid 15-8 win. I finished with 4 kills and a modest 2500 combined.

Lessons Learned

1. Patience pays off. I spent quite a bit of time sitting quietly at G7/H7 just passive spotting for my team. There were times I thought I should go do something else, but I held out for an extra few seconds and almost every time was rewarded with a new spot, and some more assistance damage.
2. Relocating when the spot dries up. Eventually the SU-130 was dead and the wounded Progetto had crawled back into a nook where I couldn't see or shoot him. The 13 57 had vision there so I looked at the minimap and decided it was best to relocate back to the West and see if I could work up the middle road.
3. Using the minimap to recognize the situation. On my way to the middle road I saw that the enemy were trying to push out of the valley and decided to help my team. We already had a medium (and a TD?) who had good vision on the enemy so there was no need for me to drive into the fray. I could pick an advantageous spot from which to snipe where I could remain unspotted.
4. Using my hit points. The Progetto was a high priority target and he was on 14 hit points. I knew that I had about 850 hp left so I could afford to take the shot from him. Recognizing that he was alone (the other three remaining tanks, other than arty, were in the valley) I just drove at him, ate the shot, and got the kill. If he hadn't been a one-shot I'd have had to play that differently.
5. Using autoaim. Coming around the corner on the T20 I wanted to be a moving target; I didn't realize he wasn't looking at me. Soon as I saw him I snapped on the autoaim before I fired (right-click, left-click) to make it more likely my shot would hit.
6. Using cover at the end rather than just driving out in the open. Yes, the T26E4 and the IS were both one shots, but I didn't want to drive out in the open, get spotted, maybe not pen my shot, then have both of them returning fire at me. By taking the E1 position first, behind a bush, I could use my strengths (camo/vision) to spot them, realize I had an easy kill shot on the T26E4 (without risk) and play from there.

Hope you found that interesting/useful. If you have any tips/questions/comments please leave them in the comments below.

GLHF!