Thursday, June 16, 2016

Tanks The World War II Skirmish Game: My First Battle

played Tanks The World War II Tank Skirmish Game by Gale Force Nine the first time last night. This was a solo game play since no one else was available to play at the time. What I wanted to understand was the rules and how the game plays. So experiencing the game would be the best way to learn it I thought. After reading the rules and I thought I understood the game well enough to play it all the way through on camera.


I decided to use the scenario in the back of the rulebook. It is a simple scenario with just a few tanks. The decision to do this for my first game of Tanks was to just learn the basic rules. With only a few tanks involved it would allow me to concentrate more on learning the basics of the game instead of worrying about a bunch of tanks and their special abilities.


I set up the gaming table as shown in the book. You play on a 3'x3' size area for the game of Tanks.
After the set-up, I placed the tanks for the game in their deployment areas. It was now time for the battle to commence.



It was easier than I thought it would be to play this game. The movement arrow was easier to manipulate than I originally thought. The hardest part of the movement arrow is going around corners. However, after some practice, it wasn't too difficult. Also, I will have to remember the rule about impassable terrain. The arrow can go through impassable terrain but the side of the arrow your tank moves beside cannot be in impassable terrain. Otherwise, your tank has to stop at the impassable terrain.


Attacking was very easy. Unless some effect comes up from a special ability or damage effect you always roll the same amount of attack dice. Line of sight is really easy too. Look from the gun mount of the attacking tank and see if you can see any part of the enemy tank (except their gun barrel). If you can you are able to attack that tank. There is no range limit in this game because the area you play in is small enough to not worry about it.

When attacking you need a 4, 5, or a 6 on your dice to hit the target. So roll your dice and remove any 1s, 2s, and 3s. The defender then rolls their defense dice. They also are looking for 4s, 5s, and 6s. I thought this would be the hardest part of the game because the amount of dice you roll on defense can change from turn to turn. However, after a few defense checks it was easy to figure out how many dice to roll. The removing of successful attack dice by use of successful defense dice made the game more fun and interactive between players. The addition of critical hits to the game made it even more enjoyable and exciting. You wanted those sixes on the attack roll and if you are defending you wanted to get rid of the attacker's sixes. I also need to remember that the most defense dice you are allowed to roll is six.


The game only lasted about twenty minutes. But that was me also explaining the rules while I played. So, I can see this game not taking long to play. It was only a forty point game. Meaning forty points per player. I really want to try a one hundred point game. More tanks for more tactical decisions. I feel it will still only take twenty-thirty minutes per game.  In addition, you can buy "upgrades" for each tank. This can include better equipment and special crew members such as a better commander for the tank. These give bonuses to what your tank is capable of doing.


The future for this game does look promising to me. It's easy to learn and get into. Also, there are expansions. Those expansions add more tank and "upgrades" for your force. Right now the only countries available are Britain, Germany, Soviets, and USA. Each have their own special rules to make their playstyle unique. So if you get a chance to play Tanks go ahead. It is easy to learn, fun, and won't take much of your time.

The link to the battle report/tutorial is here: Battle Report and Tutorial - Tanks The World War II Tank Skirmish Game

As always, have a good game.

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