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sean johnson
United States
avon
Indiana
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In the first half of 2011, I participated in several math trades in a row. In fact, I actually bought something for the sole purpose of trading in a math trade. At Goodwill I found two complete years of Strat-o-Matic Baseball MLB teams. I managed to math trade those strat-o-matic cards for Tank on Tank and Executive Decision. Since I only paid a couple of bucks for the teams, I was eager to trade them and was not to picky. So was Tank on Tank a good trade, or would I have been better off just leaving the teams at Goodwill and not messing with the trade in the first place?
Game Overview
Tank on Tank is meant to be a lunch break wargame. Many of the traditional wargame trappings are there. It is played on a hex map with small counters. Line of sight, facing, and terrain bonuses all come into play as well. Tank on Tank has simple scenarios which are really just excuses to shoot at each other. On a player's turn they will draw a chit that determines how many AP they have (it will be 2, 3, or 4). Each AP is used to allow a unit to take an action. The actions are simple, a unit may move or shoot. Each unit counter has three numbers on it: Range, defense, and movement. For shooting, two dice are rolled. a +1 modifier is added to the roll for each unit that is shooting at the same target. Terrain bonuses may possibly get added to the defenders defense rating. If the die roll plus the modifiers is greater than the defense rating of the defender, then the defender is destroyed. For example, if I order two Tigers to fire at a Sherman that is in range, I will roll two dice, let's say a 4 and 3. I add these numbers plus two (one for each attacking Tiger) for a total of 9. The Sherman's defense is 9 so it is eliminated. The game continues until one side is completely destroyed or the scenario reaches the set number of turns.
The Game We Played
We played the "Last Stand" scenario. In this Scenario the Germans have fewer superior units (Tigers) against more American units. I played the German side and my wife played the American side. Things went badly for the Germans from the start. In the first couple of turns my wife drew both 4 AP chits and I got both 2 AP chits. This allowed her to move into position quickly, and I could not really leverage my firepower. The bigger problem was the fact that I struggled really hard to roll above a four. Meanwhile, my wife rolled more 11's and 12's than anything else (this may be a slight exaggeration but not by much!). One by one the mighty Tigers crumbled before the might of the Shermans. On the last turn I only had a lone Panzer IV that had not been devastated by my wife's crazy high dice rolls. The scenario stated The Americans won if they scored more points than the Germans. Each destroyed unit was a point and each town hex the American side occupied was also a point My wife won 7 to 3.
Our Thoughts
My Rating: 4 (like it)
My Thoughts: I like that this game plays very quick is very accessible, but still delivers a fun, bit sized wargame experience.
Her Rating: 3.5 (it's ok)
Her Thoughts: I do not want to say I like this game because I am afraid that it will encourage my husband to get more war games. I like that this game is easy and quick. The only thing I dislike about it is that it looks like a war game.
Verdict
Combined Rating: 7.5
I have a fairly high degree of confidence that this is the only hex and counter wargame that my wife will ever play with me and at the end not say "You owe me for this." That reason alone makes it a game worth keeping.
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