Set up and hosted by Jeremy (much thanks) and ended up with 3 players per side.
Initially it was 3 Soviet fielding T34/76 and 3 German using PzIVH with anyone knocked out rolling for replacement AFV possibly an upgrade or indeed a downgrade.
First time trying What A Tanker and it is light playable and fun fare, kind of like a WWI dogfight or Western gunfight but with WW2 tanks.
No Infantry, Artillery, Anti-Tank or Airpower stuff to worry about just pure tank vs tank.
Players take turns based on Initiative order (normally a dice off but today using a card draw) then roll Command dice (basic 6 x d6 less any permanent or temporary damage) which allow various actions depending on the scores ie 1 = Drive action (movement) 2 = Acquisition (general knowledge of enemy target), 3 = Aim (drawing a direct bead on target, but broken if target moves), 4 = Fire action (actually shooting at target already acquired and aimed at), 5 = Reload and 6 = Wild Dice (can substitute for any other), these can be used in any order and combinations your rolls allow.
Fast Tanks (like T34) can change any one dice to a Drive dice and Small tanks require an extra Acquisition dice to be 'seen'.
Moving vehicles can varying direction up to 60 degrees (as can their turrets independently) or turn a full 90 degrees for -1 Move dice, reversing is at 1xd6 rather than 2D6 for forwards moves.
Some variation for terrain (affects number of Acquisition dice required), with to Hit scores required (basic 6+ on 2D6) amended due to cover and suchlike with double 6 or double 1 having improved or conversely an adverse effect.
Vehicle Armour and Strike Values standard Lardy stuff (same as IABSM or COC ?) with multiple dice to achieve penetration normally on 5+ and then Armour 'save' rolls.
Again some variation when rolling 6 (potential Critical Hits) or hitting Flank (4+ has potential effect).
Not a system I am big fan of but works fine here as unless 3+ excess hits achieved (ie target brewed) damage results in a Vehicle Retiring or suffering loss of Action Dice sometimes Permanently or Temporarily (can be restored by substituting a 6)
I do not have the rules so may be other stuff I am unaware off, but was able to play with very little problem from the QRS.
A 'Dashboard' is used for each vehicle to record various status of Tank such as when Buttoned, having achieved Acquisition or Aim and being Loaded or not.
Not a lot of 'meat on the bones' as a WW2 game but certainly a nice fun diversion especially in present lockdown circumstances.
I had a lengthy duel with a T34 which saw me lose 2 Action Dice temporarily but managed to get a killing shot on this enemy later.
However was unable to effect any other part of battlefield due to a couple of rounds of unusable dice (unable to move, no line of sight/acquisition etc).
In the end the Soviets lost 2 x T34 with one coming back as another T34/76 and the other as a more potent T34/85.
My two German comrades lost 4 x Panzers, one on last turn so not replaced whilst the other saw replacements of a PzIIIJ twice and a lowly PzIIC (rapid fire and small but poor armour and gun).
Think the kit was 15mm but might have been 20mm ?
A nice pick me up in this ongoing dearth of gaming period.
View of the Dashboard for my PzIVh with Zoom meeting on iPad (was able to bring up the tabletop to full screen as required)
Even for fairly simple rules, a six player game is a lot to handle for a Zoom game!
ReplyDeleteHost had prepared for 12 potential players ! Works ok as each players turn/actions are pretty much completely independent of each other (only saves are ‘interactive’) with no interruptive aspect. Worked pretty well and was great to have real players beyond me :-)
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