Tank Board Game 2020

Tank Board Game is a board game of armored battles of WW2. Its central focus is armor with minimal infantry rules. The attacking player tries to capture 3 of the defender’s 4 towns by game turn 15, while the defender tries to keep 2 of his towns.

Players move their tanks on a square grid gameboard trying to get a clear shot at the thinner side or rear armor plate of the enemy tank. Players can also move their tanks to higher-level positions and shoot down onto the enemy tank’s thinner top. When a shot is taken, the tank's ability to destroy the other tank depends on its gun's penetration at target range, the thickness of the armor plate hit (turret/hull: front, side, rear, or top), and the angle the shell hits (level shot or falling shot & full-face or quarter hit). Shot resolution is simplified using 3 randomly drawn chits (hit/miss, hit location, and critical hit) and then a quick table to find the effective armor vs. the gun’s penetration. Armor plate thickness and gun penetration are all historical based.

The “Starter Rules” include only tank vs tank direct-fire combat. The “Advanced Rules” cover tank hunters, armored cars, self-propelled guns, armored personnel carriers, towed guns and aircraft. They cover indirect fire, rockets, and close infantry combat. In addition, they cover mechanical reliability, smoke, mines, demolitions, pontoon bridges, airborne, weather, and an optional concealment rule.

A total of 24 scenarios are provided: eight “Starter” scenarios and 16 historical “Advanced” scenarios. The starter scenarios include common favorites: M-4 vs Panther, T34 vs Panther, and M-4 vs T-34 (Korea). The historical scenarios start with the invasion of Poland with an optional armored train, and end with “Into Germany” putting armored goliaths against each other. Scenarios are designed to provide near-balanced fun games featuring 30-40 tanks and supporting units of the period, with the “feel” of the campaign in which the scenario took place. Two gameboards (Northern Europe and North Africa), 295 units of 163 types, as well as markers and chits are provided.

—description from the designer