World of Tanks: Historical Battles Guide

IPaul72:   Reviving the past in World of Tanks: Historical Battles.   Here is a video created by Wargaming about the new game mode.   One of the most keenly awaited features to appear in World of Tanks is here! Version 9.0 introduces the Historical Battles mode to the game. In this mode, the matchmaking system will assign you to a team based on the nationality of your vehicle, which will be set up with historically correct modules and ammunition load-outs that match those used in the real-life event. The first version of Historical Battles will feature three of the most important armoured confrontations of World War II, with more battles to be introduced in the future. The first three are: The Battle of Kursk
Operation Spring Awakening (Battle of Lake Balaton)
The Battle of the Bulge
Command a Tiger or a Ferdinand in Kursk against SU-152s and T-34s; face Panthers and Nashorns in your IS or ISU-152 at Lake Balaton; or show your resolve in your Hellcat or Sherman to push back Tiger IIs and Jagdpanthers surging through the Ardennes. Before you travel back in time with World of Tanks, explore this guide about our new game mode and get your head around the basics.   Main Characteristics of Historical Battles The victory conditions are the same as in Random Battles: either destroy all enemy vehicles or capture their base.
At the time of release only vehicles from Germany, the USSR and the USA can be used.
Only the ‘Standard’ battle type is available – the game mode cannot be played using ‘Assault’ or ‘Encounter’. It may be that the bases are in different positions than for Random Battles.
Each featured battle is played on a specific map from World of Tanks, there is no random map selection.
A battle can last a maximum of 15 minutes.
The ‘All’ chat channel is disabled by default, meaning that you cannot chat with the enemy team. However, if you wish to do so, you can enable this option in the settings.
The credits and experience multiplier is the same as in Random Battles.
  Getting into battle After starting the game client and logging into the game, change the selected battle mode by clicking on the drop-down menu directly below the’ Battle’ button – this will show “Random Battle” by default. After clicking this button, you will see a list of the different game modes. Select the last option – “Historical Battle” Historical Battles Interface Now you will see the Historical Battles interface, showing the currently available operations. Information: Please note that the screenshots for this guide are from the public test server. Of course, the final version will be translated into all supported languages.   (1)  As referred to above, there are three different Historical Battles available with the release of Version 9.0. Each battle has its own pool of available vehicles, as well as specific nations and map:          (2) Once you have picked which battle you want to play, a list of the eligible tanks for each side will be displayed. Choose the tank you want to use in the battle. Any tanks that you don’t have in your garage will be greyed out and will not be available for selection until you purchase them. Those you own but cannot take into battle will be marked by a small orange triangle with an exclamation mark. Hovering the mouse over the triangle will make a tooltip appear with further information about what is keeping your tank from joining the battle. If you select a tank that cannot join the battle, a message with this information will appear below the operation name.   (3) After you have selected a tank that is available for the selected battle, the cost of equipping it with its load of ammunition will be shown below the tank lists. This amount will be deducted from your available credits when you enter the battle queue. The value of any ammunition that is not used in the battle will be credited back to your account. The type of ammunition is predefined for each tank. You cannot change the ammunition load for your tank as you can in Random Battles. Historical ammunition loads contain a greater percentage of High-Explosive shells than is common in Random Battles, as well as a small amount of premium ammunition. Important: If you do not have enough credits or gold to buy the predefined ammunition loads, you will not be able to join a battle.   Modules and Equipment Selection In the same way as for ammunition, the tanks in Historical Battles have a predefined module setup. The module setup will vary depending on when in World War II the battle occurred. Hover your mouse over the ‘Historical Loadout’ icon to see which modules will be used by your tank for the selected battle.   You might find that your tank isn’t as fast or as well armed with its historical battle setup as it is with its fully researched and equipped setup for a Random Battle. Two good examples are the Ferdinand and the KV-1S, as their historical setup is simply their stock setup. If needed, a tank’s modules (guns, turrets, engines, tracks and radios) will be changed to match the historical module setup. This is done free of charge for the player and the previously-mounted modules will be reinstated once the player exits the Historical Battle mode. In contrast to the modules, the equipment mounted on the tank won’t be changed for Historical Battles and will stay on the tank. When you enter the Historical Battle mode, you might want to change your tank’s equipment in order to optimise its performance for the likely role it will play in the Historical Battle. Be aware that some equipment cannot be demounted without using gold or destroying it.   The Battle Begins Now that you have taken all the steps needed to prepare yourself for your chosen Historical Battle, all that remains is to click the ‘Battle!’ button. The matchmaker queue for Historical Battles will assign you to the next available battle. Although you won’t see a difference here from the Random Battles queue, the matchmaker works differently in Historical Battles. It tries to make sure that the teams are made up of different vehicle types and tiers. While there is no set limit, expect at least one top tier vehicle accompanied by some supporting vehicles from lower tiers. When you enter a battle you will probably notice a big difference with tank distribution. Most of the time the loading screen will show you a different number of vehicles per team and the number of top tier tanks may differ for each side. How is it possible that the tank distribution is so different from Random Battles? It’s simple: The tank distributions in the Historical Battles mode are specifically designed to have a setup as close to the original battle as possible. When these offensives were launched there was no real balance between the opposing forces, so our developers have modified the matchmaking system to reflect the imbalance of power that existed historically. For example, in the battle of Kursk the Germans had less tanks than the Soviets. The Germans, however, used powerful tanks like the Tiger I and Ferdinand, while the Soviets only had a few SU-152s at their disposal and mostly relied on large numbers of smaller tanks. In World of Tanks Historical Battles, German teams will mostly have to deal with a numerical disadvantage, so it is very important that the teams coordinate well and use their bigger tanks to maximum effect. On the other side, Soviet and American teams will have to make the most of their numerical advantage to compensate for the less powerful tanks they have available on the battlefield. After finishing a Historical Battle, you will see the usual results screen from Random Battles with all the crucial information about your in-battle performance.   Leaving the Historical Battles mode If you wish to leave the Historical Battles mode, you can do so in two ways: Click the cross in the top right-hand corner of the Historical Battles interface. A small confirmation window will appear. Click ‘Yes’ to exit.
Remember the mode selection button? Click it to open the drop-down menu and select ‘Historical Battle’ at the bottom of the list. This will close the Historical Battle interface and return you to Random Battle mode.   Either close the interface window… …or exit via the mode selection menu.   Special Achievements Of course, we have also created new, unique medals that can only be earned in Historical Battles. Can you add them to your collection? Take a look at this table to discover what the requirements are for each achievement:   Lessons of History:
Battle of Kursk Lessons of History:
Operation Spring Awakening Lessons of History:
Battle of the Bulge (1944) Win at least one battle on each of the opposing sides in any vehicle. Win at least one battle on each of the opposing sides in any vehicle. Win at least one battle on each of the opposing sides in any vehicle.     There will be two Stage Awards to collect as well:   History Maker Awarded for 5/50/500/2500 victories on each of the opposing sides.   Guardsman Awarded for 5/50/500/1500 victories in a support vehicle. Support vehicles are the weakest tanks in the battle.   Keep an eye out, even more shiny medals will be added in the near future!   Statistics in the Service Record   Like for Team Battles, statistics for Historical Battles will be separated from those for Random Battles and will appear on a dedicated statistics page in your service record.   Look up your general statstics…   …and the detailed ones for each vehicle     Commanders, are you ready to remake history?