Playing What a Tanker!
Over the past week or so, I've had the opportunity to play several games of What a Tanker with different groups of wargamers, both locally and in Nottingham at the Lenton Gamers.
What a Tanker by the TooFat Lardies allows players to duel with tanks. Each player controls one (or more) tanks - there is no infantry, artillery or support - it is a pure armour game. Each tank has a dashboard, similar to a SAGA battle board.
There is a full review in WS&S 96, so I will only give a brief overview here. Once the initiative has been decided, each player takes it in turn to activate their tank. A number of activation dice are rolled to determine what the tank can do that turn. As the tank gets damaged, it loses activation dice.
Scenery is a definite MUST in this game. To survive, tankers need to use cover to their advantage and it means tanks won't get sniped off the table before their first turn, or just because they have a few bad dice rolls preventing them from moving.
The tension definitely builds when you're trying to get the right combination of dice, as you need to move into position, acquire your target, aim, fire and reload. Sometimes the dice don't favour you, which I rationalise as a crew panicking under pressure.
I think What a Tanker is a very enjoyable game, with some elements of chance (getting the right dice at the right time). There is certainly a strong element of tactical planning required, getting those side and rear shots in will pay off. This is a game I plan to return to and play more of, now what scale to play in? Hmm....
