TANKS: THE WORLD WAR II TANK SKIRMISH GAME.

Having seen a review and a play through of the game in a recent Wargames Illustrated, and knowing it was based on similar mechanisms to X-Wing and Wings of Glory, I was intrigued. After vacillating all day during Claymore,it was a last minute decision to buy the game.

On the Saturday evening, still inspired by attendance at Claymore, we decided to try out the game. With no access to our gaming kit, and no glue, we had to make do with models that Neil could find as proxies.

The starter set comes with three 15mm kits to allow two Shermans and a Panther to be be built and used in the provided scenarios. There are cards for a selection of common Allied, German and Russian tanks, These show the initiative, attack dice, defence dice and damage capacity. A central plank of the game is the measurement arrow. This determines how far a tank moves; the angle of turns; short range and distance between terrain during set up.

For the first game, we decided just to do tank on tank without the crew and upgrades cards. I took a Sherman, which the Pershing stands proxy for and Neil took a Stug III. The terrain was laid in initiative order.

First move of the first trial game. The Pershing represents a Sherman, the Stug, a Stug!

There is no pre-planning of moves. Each tank can move none, one or two arrow lengths. This effects your chances of hitting or being hit. Movement is measured from the front of the tank, in any direction, to the base of the arrow, which also measures the angle for any turns.

Cat and mouse during the first game.

Lowest initiative moves first. Highest initiative fires first. The firing tank rolls their attack dice. Hits are scored on 4,5,6. A 6 is a critical hit. The defending tank rolls their defence dice, plus additional dice for movement of the firer and the target. Hits are cancelled on a 4 or 5 (shooters choice) and six (target's choice). Any uncancelled hits score one damage. Uncancelled critical hits mean the target draws a card and applies the effect and any damage.

An example of a critical hit. In this case, no damage but damage to optics, which means two less attack die.

The first game ended up very cat and mouse. The Stug had the highest initiative, so moved second and fired first. However, as the Stug has a limited traverse, the Sherman was mostly able to avoid being hit. In the end, we abandoned the game as a stalemate.

First move of the second game. The two Shermans close on the Panther.

For the second game, we played a version of the Barkmann's Corner scenario. We used the full rules and each side had a total of 50 points to choose their tank, crew and upgrades.

The Panther hides in the wood as the leading Sherman makes use of an upgrade that allows an extra movement to close the range.

The two Shermans combine fire on the Panther.

Two critical hits destroy one Sherman.

A close range duel ends with the destruction of the Second Sherman.

The crew and upgrades added a new dimension to the game. Some of the crew and upgrade cards are constant and others can be discarded to enhance a move or a shot or to cancel damage or an effect. This gives a touch of fog of war that makes for an interesting game. As an introduction, the two games we played whetted my apatite to try bigger games with more models. That will have to be in 20mm, as I have moved on my 15mm collection. This should be easy, as I can use models I have with all the cards in the starter set.