"How Much of a Tank Expert Are You?" Topic

On a scale of zero (not at all) to 10 (encyclopedia), how would you rate your expertise on tanks?

Are we using the every day man's logical scale, or the newspaper/on-line news content writer's/editor's scale?

7 for the former, and 12 for the latter.

AND yes, I can tell the difference between a tank, IFV, APC, and truck.

I wouldn't be much of a wargamer if I couldn't claim at the very least a 6.

I installed this one so I must be an expert.

I'm not too sure. I've studied them since before I can remember. Lived on them for twelve years. I should think I know a thing or two about them…

About a 8. I've got highly technical knowledge of armor but a bit less on power plant and armament.

I think it's Ochoin for the win.

7.5 about tanks (types, usage etc)

Practical knowledge – 0ish

I know the difference between an M60 and M60A3

5 or 6.

Wargamer: 4 General public: 9

Wargamer:5 General Public:9 Practical Knowledge:0

5. I tank in about every other wargame I play. ;)

I can tell a PzIV from a T35 so, yeah, about a 13.

Never rode in one, but in terms of broad knowledge I'd say an 8 or 9. But only for WWII. All else a 5.

2, maybe 3

WW2-ish very high.

Much past WW2, very low.

7.

9.5+

Used to read encyclopedias in grade school.

Graduated to AFV Profiles and other technical papers, bookes, etc. as I got older.

Seven.

Tanks for asking.

Me < "Widely published tank expert" < "recognized tank crewman who saw extensive action" < "The top expert in the world on the subject" < The average World of Tanks player

10

I'd say a 5 at the most. I can't tell a Panther A from a Panther D.

I can recognise a stratco aqualine classic with a 75mm attached.

I'll go 9 on WWII tanks (not quite to the point where I can tell in what month and at what factory a certain panzer was made, but getting there … :) )

Drops to about 5 before or after.

I'm the best ever. Believe me! I know a lot more about tanks than the Generals…

Probably about a 9 for WW2, post WW2 a 2.

7. I like tanks so I do look at their stats, histories etc pretty often. Not any kind of aficionado. They are just pretty interesting to me.

I would go with a 9 on WWII and 7 on modern. Finding errors in books has become a pet peeve now that I know more than many who write them or at least their editors.

I would say an 8 – know a fair amount about tanks generally and a lot about WWIII tanks specifically

I can identify most of them through a bit beyond WWII, and can note a few armaments, variants, years of service, and production numbers.

Relative to people here? Maybe a 2.

Unless you can drive the thing or load the main gun I don't think you ought to be able to rate yourself at more than a 3-ish. ;)

-Will

In WWII I could have figured out which ones to shoot at. At least up until after D Day when people kept swapping.

Tankers were always my best customers.

Bullets, fuel, breakdowns, bogged in mud.

Yep, I can tell what a tank is… an insane drain on logistics.

Eric

I know a fair bit of what most people think are important about tanks, how thick the armour is and what gun it uses. But I have little or no clue about the really important bits like optics, vision, proper track tension, maintenance, where things like oil/fuel/cooling fluid go into, how to get onto one or even open the hatch …

I figured the poll related to a war gamer/modeler/armchair generalish style of 'expert'.
Stick me next to one and tell me to drive it off to battle and maintain it, and I'd rate myself somewhere in the negative range!

In a purely theoretical sense as regards reading history books and playing games? 6/10.

In a real-life sense? I've touched a tank and interacted with one is all, so 0.1/10 ?

Retired Armor officer, US Army, 1981-2001. Hands on tank experience includes 3 years in an Armored Cavalry regiment and 32 months of company command in a tank battalion--19 months commanding a tank company and 13 months commanding the headquarters company. Have done qualification tank gunnery in the M60A1 and M60A3 and completed the M1A1 tank commander certification course.

In other words, rate me a 1, maybe a 2, when it comes to the gaming table.

Ed M

8. Been into tanks since I was a youngster.

Reading the stats on Soviet tanks was a favourite pastime of mine as a teenager. Then I saw how easily they were killed on the battlefield. Of course I am an expert 10 (worth what you paid to read it).

If we have former armor officers classifying themselves as a 1 or 2, I would have to be way down in the minus numbers! I was going to say a 0 as to knowledge and eagerly admit to being the worst wargame armor commander on earth!

Bismarck – I figured I'd round up to 0.1 since we might get something right on accident :-)

Yeah probably a 2.

Not sure here. The comments (ex service men excluded) seem to only look at the vehicle and not how you would even attempt to use it. On that basis I would give myself an 8 as general public. I have studied and read the tactics of how to use tanks). I reality small difftences in tank marke are irrelevant in some ways. In many cases even upto days of the Chieften marls were mixed in units. I can tell basic tanks apart, maybe not the marks but again thet is proably not a key issue.

I am far from an expert, but I was once watching a movie on tv with a bunch of friends, and there was a Scorpion tank in the service of the (post-1975) Vietnamese army. "What's that Scorpion tank doing there? Did the Australians or New Zealanders leave it behind at the end of the war?"

My friends, who were of course not wargaming friends, asked, "what's a Scorpion tank?" And I answered that it was an aluminum-hulled British reconnaissance tank with a top speed on roads of about 50 miles per hours -- fastest tank ever -- a 76mm main gun, and a coaxial 7.62mm machine gun, which at that moment was shooting at the hero..

There was a long pause. Then one of my friends asked, "how is it that you know that?", which led to a discussion about building a 1/72 BAOR Scorpion-Scimitar recon platoon, miniatures and map-and-counters wargaming, and of course more beer.

So, to that group, on that evening, I was a tank expert.

Wargamer about a 7, general public 10.

Yes, I know the difference between a tank, IFV, and APC.

I know the German WWII marks in general, and most modern US, European, and Soviet tanks up to about the 1980s.

Tank you very much, g'bye

I attained intensive plastic kit-construction-level expertise back in the seventies – and haven't really progressed much beyond it since; maybe a 5, then?

I'm a 8. "Look it's a panzer tank!"

I think I know why the military guys are giving themselves such low numbers. I drive a car every day for several hours at a time, yet I still have difficulties identifying vehicles.

If you want to increase your knowledge RTFM:
PDF link

Wolfhag