What A Tanker!: Panzer Marsch!

After my Saga debacle I managed to get involved in a six player game of What A Tanker! at BIG on Wednesday evening, taking command of a Panzer IVH!

The game was reasonably balanced points wise with the Germans having three PzIVH's and the British a Sherman Firefly, regular Sherman and an M10. Jim dispensed with the initiative rolling and we drew cards playing cards to see which crew's turn it was. This was a good idea and I'd suggest it as a house rules as it made the game a lot quicker.

It was a good game and much better balanced than my exertions against the evil StuG's on Saturday. I managed to sneak around the side of the blue building in the photo above and brew up the Sherman Firefly who had kindly exposed his flank to me. Unfortunately the M10 lived up to its tank destroyer reputation by destroying my tank a couple of moves later as I tried to get into a position to hit him. Good fun.

What A Tanker!: StuG Bait!

The Lardies came to BIG today and ran a three game What A Tanker! tournament. As I had only given the rules a cursory glance and had a Sherman I didn't imagine I would do much in the three games I played. And I was not disappointed! :-)

My Sherman was downgraded to a basic M4A3 to start and with three others attempted to thwart an attack by three PzIV's and a StuG. Under the tutelage of Lardy Rich my tank was swiftly destroyed by the StuG, though my crew survived!

Steve goes BOOM!

In game two against two StuG's and two PzIV's  the Sherman team decided to play more conservatively - initially, making use of every piece of cover going.

A cautious advance - spot the hidden StuGs!

However even this didn't work as we soon lost the only tank who had been successful in the last game, so I decided to try and draw the enemy out by advancing as my two comrades picked off the German armour. That didn't work as one was swiftly blown up but my Sherman led a charmed life, despite its exposed and surrounded position, surviving the game with just one Command Dice left.

A Sherman called Starstruck survives!

For the final game my M4A3 was upgraded to an M4A3 (76) with the other Shermans being replaced with a Firefly and two M18 Hellcats. Against two StuG's, a Hetzer and a PzIV. I lasted two turns before being brewed up by a StuG! 

Steve goes BOOM! - again

My crew though survived and returned a couple of turns later in a M4A2 Jumbo. However pinned in the corner of the table with the Firefly and with a series of crap Command Dice rolls by both crews we saw the M18's obliterated and the Germans roll over the board.

The Jumbo does not a lot - the Cromwell's are proxies for  the previously destroyed Shermans!

A lot of fun, not sure how balanced the games were, the StuG's are powerful and hard to hit, could have done with a Hawker Typhoon! Overall the game is huge fun, not to be taken seriously, but does need a number of tanks on the table for optimum enjoyment.

What A Tanker!

The announcement from the Lardies that What A Tanker! was available for pre-order caused a flurry of excitement today on the BIGHW Facebook page with a lot of gamers expressing an interest and a consensus that 28mm was the way to go (Steve looks forlornly at his beloved 20mm...).

However on the hunt for the Gripping Beast Vikings and Saxons I bought a few years back (I knew I'd find some use for them!) I came across some 1/50th diecast tanks I'd bought over the years including a Corgi Comet, Corgi Churchill and Solido Grant!

As the game can be played with one tank per player I availed myself of the excellent bundle pre-order offer that gives you the rules and tool and token set for £24.08 (compared to the RRP £44.00). Looking forward to this and surprising some of them pesky squarehead tankers with the innocuous looking Comet's 77mm HV gun! :-)