The Drill: Winners’ Impressions

admin: The Finals of The Drill tournament on the European server took place on May 15th and proved that the German team Panzerknacker “drills” the best!

We invited Grimmblut, the captain of the winning team, to share their impressions with the tankers and we are glad to post it here for you.
Grimmblut: First of all, thank you for the chance to give you some feedback about „The Drill“. And the first thing we would like to point out is that we've been really impressed by the new automatic system which organizes and sets up the matches for the participating clans. It worked great and it's a really good development. We would have wished for some more detailed info about it and the new registration system as well, as it pretty much came as a surprise that everyone of our members, who'd like to participate in The Drill, has to register himself for it on the WG homepage.
Cheeka: What do you think about the regulations of the tournament? As 5/60 is not a traditional division for championships within World of Tanks and it was held for the first time, your feedback is of huge importance for us!
Grimmblut: The limitation to tech tier 4 for artilleries and tech tier 5 for any other tank was a good choice in combination with the Westfield map. The artillery wasn't able to reach every spot on the map from just one position, so each team had to include the tactical element of repositioning its artillery during the game rounds. However, it became obvious that the KV is, at the moment, the most powerful tech five tank there. To be honest, I've seen no other heavy tank in any match during The Drill except for the KV.
Many people complained about the regulation regarding the disqualification of both teams if none of them have been able to get two victories in five rounds. The main problem here is not actually the regulations but the lack of the ability of many teamleaders to adapt one's own tactics to the defensive tactics of the opposing team. Many teams we encountered during The Drill had the same tactics and they did not adapt it to our tactics in any way or just in a trivial way, even after several rounds. We, however, changed our tactics in many cases several times even during a single round. That way we've been able to win over teams with camping tactics and those with rush tactics alike. Although we did not receive a single free slot during the whole tournament, we've lost only one round! That was in 1/8 finals against 1SBP "13 Rota Husarii", the hardest opponent we encountered during The Drill. 1SBP brought in a very artillery heavy setup in the first match, which ended in a draw. Our adaption to this was to change our tank destroyer focused setup to a medium tank focused setup and a fast rush, which led us to victory in the second round. We tried the same tactics in the third round and were defeated by 1SBP who entered the round with almost the same setup like before, but a changed tactics - changed in a way to bring our fast rush to a halt. Again the key to victory was adaption, but during that round it was used against us. We had to change our tactics again and, fortunately, we were successful.
Cheeka: If you were to choose between 5/60 and 6/60 division, which one would you consider more appropriate?
Grimmblut: I must admit that I have no strong opinion about this. Tech five means a more balanced artillery, both in effect and tactical possibilities, but the KV somehow sets the standard when it comes to the question which tank to use. 60 points are too much if the tech cap is at five, since you can easily bring in nine tech five tanks and tank destroyers, two tech three scouts and two tech four artilleries. That basically means you can bring in a top team with all relevant tanks/SPGs meeting the tech level cap. 55 points would be better as you would need to bring in some tanks as well which are below the tech level cap.
Tech 6 really focuses on artillery since tech five artilleries can reach any spot on most maps and do an awful lot more damage than their tech four counterparts. During The Drill the players complained about KVs and tank destroyers. Would it have been a tech six tournament (tech five for artilleries), they would have complained about the artilleries.
Cheeka: It seems to me that your personal attitude to artillery is rather negative…
Grimmblut: Oh, no. Quite the opposite is true: I'm the commander of our clan's artillery division. To prove this, I'd like to ask a small favor for us, artillery players: Please lower the number of needed kills for the Wittmann-medal from 10 to 7, if you play an artillery. I've got a few Wittmanns during the beta and since release, but I've never heard or seen someone who managed this with an artillery. ;-)
Cheeka: Oh well, the only thing I can promise you to do is to pass the suggestion on to those whose authority is enough to make such decisions!
And going on with our interview I can’t but ask you what do Panzerknacker think about their opponents?
Grimmblut: In the name of all Panzerknacker, I'd like to thank every opponent we had the honor to fight against during The Drill. Every match was fair and filled with good sportsmanship.
I, personally, would like to thank each and every member of the Panzerknacker team for their outstanding good work as well as all our comrades who cheered for us. Last but not least, all of us Panzerknacker thank our tactical genius Krauti, who prepared every match so well and never failed to rally us when things looked grim and who led us to the victory in this great tournament.
Cheeka: Thank you for your cooperation and detailed feedback about The Drill: Training Camp tournament. Our congratulations on your victory and good luck in the upcoming championships and tournaments!

Grimmblut, Panzerknacker captain. The picture was taken at the Soviet War Memorial in Berlin (district of Tiergarten) on May, 21st. The Memorial was built in 1945 to honor the Soviet soldiers who had been killed in action during WWII. The tank in the background is a T-34.