Disclaimer about myself : I have 15k battles, started as a tomato and slowly got to 53% WR. I play mostly free to play (aside for a few christmas boxes once in a while) which means I play without food. I just finished the 3-mark grind on this tank and wanted to share my humble experience (189 games, 1700 average DPG + 700 assist for a 51% winrate).
Now before starting, we have to acknowledge that the Guard is no Bourrasque or Progetto, far from it. Speaking of bond tanks, we are in the situation of chosing the best out of mediocre tanks. I initially chose the Guard as I needed a trainer for my russian medium crews, and boy was I disappointed to see that the crew only matches my 430 crew and no other as I don't have grinded the K91 line. Since then it has been buffed by WG which gave me a motive to try it out again.
Technical sheet:
Pros:
- 390 alpha is nearly best in class for a tier 8 medium
- camo values are insane, comparable to Udes14-5 and slightly below Bourrasque
- its limited height can also be a very good advantage you can use, side hugging tall heavies so they cant shoot you or just disappearing behind really small cover
- gun accuracy is also very good at 0.32 base, especially for a russian 122mm bad boy
- actually has some turret armor compared to other "sniper/light" medium tanks
- rear mounted turret and OK side armor means its also a decent sidescrapper
- HE shells are pretty good at 61mm of penetration and 530 alpha
Cons:
- gun handling is poor, fully aiming is mandatory
- shell velocity is poor, sniping require good aim with lead or swaping to gold APCR rounds
- front-mounted engine breaks literally (and I mean it) ALL THE BLOODY TIME
- poor view range at 370m
Other:
- limited (but still pretty usable) gun depression at 6°
- average DPM of 1900 base (comparable to Bourrasque)
- unremarkable but still OK mobility (50/20kmph)
Combination of camo and alpha is not to be underestimated, it allows you to have the first shot advantage most of the time and slap ennemies with your good old 122mm death stick. The reload of about 11s is also pretty neat since you will be unspotted for the next shot. Rince and repeat this ambush tactic for great efficiency. Also, this russian pancake can be a very good secondary scout and that's the most interesting thing you can exploit, especially with the second build that field mods give you.
Speaking of field mods, its pretty straightforward:
The most important one that I found, surprisingly, is the -50% reduction penalty to engine breaking since this tank is basically a Tiger II in disguise in that aspect. The others are self-explanatory: more accuracy, more camo, and a view range slot for optics/CVS.
The main equipment build is dictated by the poor view range of the tank: optics and vents are mandatory to reach 445+ VR and rammer is.. well… rammer. You could try to sneak in a turbo or a stabilizer instead of vents if you really want it, by using view range directives or bounty/bond optics to reach the max VR (or just slapping food on the tank lol).
As for the secondary build, it's a bit more complicated… I really wanted to have a CVS in the right slot + an exhaust to boost the camo, so the only way to reach the 445m was to use bounty optics. You could keep the vents and have the regular optics instead if you don't have access to it but this way I can reach 33% camo on the move which is great. Also if you're using food, standard optics will obviously do.
Final words: it's not the best tank in the world, but I think it's one of the best tier VIII (if not the best period) in the bond shop. As a free-to-play, it's not gold-intensive to play, makes good credits, and will do wonders in the hand of a skilled player that can abuse camo mechanics and ambush tactics. I hear people saying the Udes 14-5 is one of the best tier VIII med, but if you look closely the Guard is very, very similar in what it can do. Thanks for reading until the end, I'll be glad to have other people opinion on the matter 🙂
PS: I realize I didn't talk about crew skills but it's the most basic stuff: BiA, camo/repairs and the view range skills are the most important. Special mention to intuition since all ammo types can be useful.
edit: formatting
