Well Boys and Girls, the Americans have, at last, arrived to War Thunder's Ground Battles. In this short but (hopefully) guide, I'll do my best to prevent existing and future joiners to the American tanks from effectively falling on their own swords.

I'm not going to fly into any effort over the M3A1 or anything Tier 2 (yet, at least, as I don't have the M3A1 anyway). The M13 MGC also, won't warrant anything other than what's said here- as let's face it, AA vehicles don't *really* differ enough at Tier 1 to really justify anything other than the standard "Will whip planes, hopefully also some lightly armoured things".

As it's generally the most-seen Tier 1 Yank Tank, we'll start with the Light variants. It comes in several flavours- the M2A4 (reserve), M2A4 "Premium" (i.e bought from the store), M3 and M3A1 - one of which is also available in premium flavour. There's some little differences between them, though beyond the M2A4 (reserve) having thinner armour, it makes up for it as it's the fastest (Aside from the Premium- but a respectable 57km/h compared to a flat 50 for the rest).

It may seem to be an unremarkable, little thought of Tier 1 tank, but it's one of (as far as I'm concerned) the better starting tanks. It's nippy, handles like a greased Weasel and has a fine 37mm Cannon. Paired with the M51 shot, you can achieve good penetration on the cast majorty of tanks and happily hold your own. You can field enough of them each game to never be without one as well, so if you come to love it, you'll never be without one - especially as Tier 2 brings with it the M5 Stuart tank.

How to play it
The biggest strength of the Stuart lies in it's ability to flank opposing tanks- granted it hops about like a pogo-mounted Ferret on uneven ground and sometimes feels like it belongs in Need for Speed Drift the way it slides around, but it can be to your advantage at times.

This comes in particularly handy when facing the next tank up, due to it's equal popularity, the M3 Lee. Far too many times I've seen players trying to face these down in a duel or even as a group, with everyone failing miserably to take them out, which is ridiculous. The Stuart can easily get to the side of or behind it and, if skillful/lucky enough, take it out with impunity. A generally successful tactic is to as quickly as possible get next to it so the Lee's 75mm gun isn't an issue, then sucker punch it from the side for an easy kill or disablement of the crew.

As some have come to find, circle-strafing just about any tank (especially those with a poorer turret traverse speed) leads to numerous easy kills, or at least a form of escape by capitalising on the speed. While it's possible to go nose-to-nose with any number of tanks in the right hands, it's still best to maintain an advantage using speed and manoeuvreability, angling if possible to try and maintain extra ding-potential.

The other advantage of the Stuart's mobility is its high profile and suspension base - while this is a disadvantage in some circumstances, it comes as a huge blessing on certain maps with driveable water features. The Stuart is able to ford the rivers excellently, in places where German and Russian tanks would drown. This can allow for surprising attacks and point-captures over otherwise-impassable terrain.

Lastly, the Stuart is capable of but not ideal at pop-tarting around corners and in streets, as it needs very little time to shift forwards and back, letting off a shot or two before retreating. The delicious 2.9-3.7 second reload speed (depending on crew skills) can mean you can, with good aiming, take out other tanks each time you pop out.

One of the most devestating sights to many players is seeing this parked in a street, or just about anywhere else where it's pointing in their general direction. I've seen tanks retreat, turn tail and run, but irrespective end up burning wrecks due to the Lee's firepower.

Armed with a 37mm and 75mm cannon and the most ding-worthy armour of the Tier 1 Armerican Tanks, it's a force to be reckoned with. A capable player can wreck havoc, dominate an area by themselves and still take out aircraft with the machine gun in their spare time.

How to play it
The biggest strength of the Lee, aside from possessing two guns- one of which by itself would put it on par with other tanks of the same Tier, is the armour. The sloping design makes the Lee nigh unstoppable if you don't pick your shots right and has nearly earned it the KV-1's reputation from early World of Tanks days for dinging shots and annihilating things. Unless the opposing players have a clue of where and how to hit you, you've little to worry about beyond perhaps, if unlucky, having a crewmember getting temporarily knocked out. I've yet to have the 37mm gunner get taken out, meaning you're generally a big threat regardless.

Another, evident, benefit is that of the 75mm cannon- even if you have both the M51 shot for the 37mm cannon, M61 rounds in the 75 make this tank the main threat to most tanks- even being a contender in Tier 2 matches with correct shot placement. It can by itself take tanks out in one hit or outright disable them enough to be taken out at liberty by the other cannon.

The best bet you'll have is to keep yourself angled correctly to provide the thickest possible armour to incoming fire- restricted fire lanes and cover to your sides are your best friend, as they'll prevent attacks to your sides which will, with few exceptions, mean your doom. The Lee can tolerate a tremendous quantity of fire (usually) before crew start getting knocked out, so provided you can keep turning and firing, you'll be fine. Even if you do get a pesky Stuart or other fast tank orbiting you, sensible, calm rotation to speed up the traverse while remaining aware of other threats can still get you out of trouble if you're lucky.

If you like, play it at a bit of range, as this will put your most vulnerable spots out of most dangers- as at closer ranges it's possible to even get some nasty shots on your Glacis region and totally ruin your day. However, the most terrifying thing for most players is coming face-to-face with this in a street- whether it's at 100m or 10, you'll see oil leaking out of any tank's pants debating on how many seconds they have to live. If you employ the cannon correctly without being silly and going it alone, you'll control a swathe of land. Just be aware that overconfidence can and will get you killed- we all do it, overextending ourselves in a relentless advance to get one more kill- but the instant the opposition can get side shots, especially if they kill your engine, you'll be out of fashion quicker than Jimmy Savile.

Proof of the Lee's abilities can be seen here- which I'm seeing on an irregular basis as it's players work out how to actually use it.

Reliable, the M2 Medium Tank is a useful little beast. Maintaining the tradition of 37mm Cannon, the M2 also has 4x 7.62mm Machine guns which come in very handy, particularly towards unsuspecting planes. Still capable of using M51 rounds, it proves to be a capable tank even if it lacks quite the same thickness of armour that it's Tier 1 bretheren possess. It doesn't hurt either that the M2 can manage a respectable 54km/h, which pits it in the middle ground for the Tier 1 American tanks.

How to play it
The evident advantages of the M2 lie in A) Extra anti-air capability, if you can get the right angle to use them, B) Angled frontal armour. Neither are, to be fair, particularly easy to take advantage of unless facing opponents in a position to actually employ it. The MG's can't always get a good bead on aircraft unless you're tilted right on the ground, while the slanted armour can still be penetrated at closer ranges.

The answer, evidently, is to play to the advantages you can, when you can. It's no AA tank, if you want that, go fetch the M13 MGC and have at it- but it's still handy in a pinch if your M13 is out of order and you've got the opportunity. There's little else to add on the MG front as, unless you're facing paper armoured AA vehicles, you'll get little out of them unless you can button opposing armour by scoring lucky hits on their viewports.

Armour though is a different question- get the right positioning going and you can be a little ding-machine. I've seen M2's manage to bounce nearly as many rounds as an M3 Lee on occasion simply by being well positioned. Even if facing another tank dead-on, you can still manage a good number of bounces provided you keep wiggling so the opposition have to aim a little harder.

There isn't much in terms of difference in tactics that can be used for the M2 that can't for the Stuart as well- the extra speed can still be employed to flank and nip to where you want to be, while the 37mm is quite capable of punching through it's own Tier of armour.

Seeing as how the Americans are such a recent addition, I'm holding out on adding anything further until any balance, bug or other changes are made. As it stands, things up to Tier 2 I've played through enough to be satisfied, but it's nice to be sure.

Nothing to add about the M13 MGC as, let's be fair here, there's not a lot of difference between Tier 1 AA vehicles beyond hoping you'll penetrate Tank armour but being confident you can and will shred aircraft a good majority of the time.

In the meantime, toss in your suggestions and ideas and I'll see what I can do- as things can and will inevitably change. I'm not one for throwing in statistics that aren't relevant or deemed important as, well, come on people- you can see for yourselves in-game.