Well, a week late, but Lucius and I managed to get a few games in of What A Tanker (WAT), by TFL. We were using my rule modifications for activations and really trying to see if we could make it work, so sadly there are few pictures as we were focusing on seeing how these rules played. Next time I’ll get a better narrative battle done. Please note that I’ve put our final version of our house rules later in this post.

The rest of the TFL’s rulesets are all about leadership as a resource. In Chain of Command, for instance, you need to use your activations wisely IOT win a game. In WAT, with the rules as written, it’s a crap shoot. In earlier games we played, we both had tanks that could do everything but fire. This got frustrating and wasn’t realistic. It was good for a silly game, but we wanted something more as the rest of the rules are robust and interesting. Using a 2d6 activation system to generate activations, this problem is solved. You get limited generic activations and 2d6 is a very easy to do math for.

With these modifications you can chose to reload where you stand (and risk being shot), or to jockey back and then reload to re-engage or re-deploy (which is, incidentally, what real tanks do). You really need to think about what you are doing and what your enemy is doing. This makes the use of terrain, cover, fire and movement as a team with other tanks, etc, more important.

We played a game of 3 tanks on 3 as our first test run. I used 2 x T34/85s and 1 x IS-2. Lucius had a Firefly (captured?), a Tiger, and a Panther G. I was able to take the Tiger out with my IS-2 early on.

Lucius managed to turn my flank with his fast moving Panther on my right and destroy one of my T-34s by sandwiching it between his Firefly and Panther. I did get a chance to ram the Firefly before that tank died at least.

My other tanks moved into position and flanked the remaining German tanks. Their better positioning, and having less damage, meant that  I was able to knock out the other tanks after a bit of terrible shooting (missing 2 of 3 shots at point blank range with my IS-2). IS-2s are beasts, and the “fast” rule for T-34/85s give them real options on the field with their good strike and armour. I really enjoyed playing them. I think my Soviets will grace the table more often.

After that fight, Lucius and I tried some Tiger on IS-2 action as they are equal point cost in the book. It was fast and furious and the rules seem to stand up to initial scrutiny. I think that these modifications will stand as our go-to for armoured combat for the time being.

SPQVI’s Rule Modifications for WAT

Initiative

Unchanged. Note that activation dice can affect initiative in the following round.

Activation

Instead of rolling Command Dice, roll 2d6 with modifiers and compare the total to the following table:

Modified Roll          Result
2                                   1 action, -1 to next round initiative
7                                   2 actions
10                                 3 actions
12                                 3 actions, +1 to next round initiative

*On a natural 11-12, you gain a wild die. Wild dice no longer shift actions or add actions, but otherwise are unchanged. This means wild dice can still be used to remove temporary damage or to add to aiming/shooting.

Modifiers

+1: experienced
+2: veteran
+3: ace
-1: per point of damage incurred
-1: 2 man turret
-1: conscript
-2: 1 man turret

A conscript T-26 would have a -3, while a veteran Pz IV would have a +2 to die rolls until damaged.

All actions cost the same

This means that if you get 2 actions, you can move and reload. Or aim and acquire. Up to you. This will force you to use real tactics. Don’t remain in the open too long or you will be shot.

Damage

Determining damage is unchanged. Instead of losing Command dice, you suffer -1 to your activation roll for every Command dice you would have lost.

At a total modifier of -5 (including your training/tank layout) your crew bails. A poorly designed but tough tank may be hard to knock out, but easier to force the crew out.

In practice, with a -4 modifier, a tank will rarely get 2 actions (needing to roll an 11 or better on 2d6), so going below -5 would mean an average tank would not only take more damage than in the standard rules it simply would not be activate very much and  you’d never get anything done. 

Ramming

2 full move activations are required to ram (down from 3 Drive dice). These activations must include 2 dice of movement between the activations. So pivot, move, move, ram, is allowed.

Fast

Add 2″ to your movement roll (not to individual dice).

Slow

Subtract 2″ from your total movement roll (not to individual dice).

So there they are. They worked well enough for us, and if you have any comments, questions, or quibbles, please comment or email. I’d love to hear what others think of these changes.

In Other News (the promised unrelated bits at the end)

My free BP2 figure has been painted up by Lucius. Once again he did a wonderful job. This officer may find himself fighting alongside a landing party in Sharp Practice in the future.

I’ve slowly moved ahead on my wire fencing while getting other small bits ready for Arnhem.

As you can see, the ground has been painted and the first flocking is done. I’ll be gluing in the wires next, and then finishing the bases. I’m pretty happy with how they’re looking.

The hedges are made from some craft supply wreath material that comes in sheets. I cut strips, folded them in half and then glued them to a balsa base. I think they work pretty well, especially considering the limited time and effort involved.

Once this fencing is done, I’ll be painting up some buildings and making some scatter terrain and tree bases. Then, once our troops are all painted, we’ll be ready to play the Arnhem campaign (finally). The good news is that once we have our forces and terrain ready, prepping for future campaigns will be so much easier.