More Pics of Tank War Battles...

This first picture is the battlefield before fighting began. The Germans are on the right, USA on the left...
Here we see things after they have started a bit... The two Kingtigers have been damaged as a result of direct and indirect fire. But now the Panthers (Panzer V's) are in position to move through the gap...
And they make it through, although severely damaged... Still, things are looking good for the Germans. They have destroyed and damaged more tanks than the Americans, relatively speaking. (the Panzer III's took a beating, and a Panzer IV or two was KO'ed. But for the most part, the German warmachine is still intact.)

Here's where I stopped the battle, primarily because it was getting late and I wanted to make this post... I think the game has some tactical depth, and just the right amount of complexity. Tell me what you think when you read the rules... By the way, just a note... Me playing this game by myself meant that I was able to finish it in about 30 minutes, maybe 45 at most. It would probably take an hour and a half to play this between two opponents. That's not too bad, when you think that other miniature games take lots more time. As I said, tell me what you think. Thanks!

WWII Tank Game Rules...

WWII Tank Game...
1.0 Repair Damage.
1.1 Damage is repaired by rolling 2d6 (two six sided dice).
1.1.1 A roll of 7 (seven) on 2d6 will repair a damaged tank or vehicle.
1.1.2 A roll of 2 (two) on a 2d6 will destroy a damaged tank or vehicle.
1.1.3 A roll of anything else leaves the tank damaged.
2.0 Movement and Overwatch
2.1 The base movement value for each tank is listed in inches on its corresponding data card.
2.2 Tanks are moved one at a time. Once you have moved a tank and moved on to another tank, you may not go back and move the first tank, even if you have extra movement on that tank.
2.2.1 Forested terrain is rough going, and your movement is halved in those conditions.
2.2.2 Conducting more than half your move on a road gives you +2 inches of movement for that vehicle for that turn.
2.2.3 Damaged tanks and vehicles move at half speed.
2.2.4 Mountains and rivers are impassible.
2.2.5 There is no penalty for moving uphill.
2.3 While tanks move, the non-moving player has an opportunity to fire at any tank that moves towards his tanks and is within line of sight.
2.3.1 The overwatching player may not fire on tanks or vehicles that are moving away from him. (i.e. retreating)
2.3.2 There are two ways that this firing can be done.
2.3.2.1 First, the overwatching player can say, "STOP" at any point in the other player’s movement. If necessary, the overwatching player may point to the exact spot where the moving player moved his tank. Line of sight is traced, firing is done (see 3.0), damage is allocated, and a "fired" chit is placed by the overwatching player’s tank. As many tanks as desired may fire, provided they are in line of sight. After all fire has been done against that one tank that was moving, that tank may, if able, continue its movement. Then, the moving player may move his next tank.
2.3.2.2 Second, at the end of the moving player’s move, the overwatching player may decide to fire (again, see 3.0) any tank that he has not fired at the enemy, provided they are in line of sight. Again, after allocating damage, a "fired" chit is placed by the overwatching player’s tank.
3.0 Firing
3.1 No tank with a "fired" token may fire during the firing phase. They have already fired in the overwatch phase, and therefore are "reloading" to fire in the next set of phases.
3.2 In order to fire, the enemy tank must be in line of sight. Use a yardstick to determine this. If not in line of sight, direct fire weapons may not fire.
3.2.1 Line of sight is determined by tanking into consideration blocking terrain. Blocking terrain are hills, forests, and buildings. For forest to be blocking terrain, the tank must be on the other side of the forest. If a tank is in the forest, the terrain is no longer blocking. (See 3.3.2)
3.3 In order to fire, after checking line of sight, compare your firepower to the target’s armor, situation, and range. First, add any armor values due to situation. Second, compare your firepower to the adjusted armor on the Firepower vs. Armor chart. Third, if at long range, subtract one die from the result. Finally, if firing on overwatch, subtract another die from the result. Then roll the dice. At long and medium ranges, 6's are hits. At short range, 5's and 6's are hits. One hit is a damage. Two hits is a KO.

The picture to the left will help you understand just what "hull down" and "in cover" mean...

Tanks A, B, C, and D cannot see Tank 1. The hill is in the way.

Tanks A, B, C, and D can see tank 2, but Tank 2 is "hull down" because the hill partially blocks tank 2.

Tank 3 can see tank D, but tank D is in cover because of the blocking building.

Tank 3 and tank 2 can see tank C, but tank C is "in cover" because of the tree line.

Now back to your regularly scheduled tank rules...

3.3.1 Tanks are "hull down" when they are defending the back of a hillside. They will be harder to hit, as only the top part of the tank is visible. Therefore, tanks that are "hull down" have a +2 to their armor.
3.3.2 Tanks are "in cover" when they are in forest. (Or see 3.3.3) Tanks "in cover" have a +1 to their armor.
3.3.3 Tanks that are half exposed, (i.e. tanks that you can see some part of in LOS, but not the full tank) due to buildings or other tanks or wrecks, are said to be "in cover."
3.3.4 Long range is over 36 inches. Tanks firing at long range loose one die of their roll. Tanks firing at long range need a 6 to hit.
3.3.5 Medium range is over 12 inches, but under 36 inches. Tanks firing at Medium range need a 6 to hit.
3.3.6 Short range is under 12 inches. Tanks firing at Short range need a 5 or a 6 to hit.
3.3.7 Firing while on overwatch means that the firing tank loses 1 die.
3.3.8 Damaged tanks roll a six sided dice to see if they can fire this turn or not. On a roll of 1, the damaged tank fires, but the shell explodes in the breech and the tank is destroyed. On a roll of 2 through 4, the damaged tank may not fire. On a roll of 5 or 6, the damaged tank fires as normal. This roll must be done every turn the tank is damaged and you decide to fire. You may decide not to fire a damaged tank.
3.4 In the advanced rules, one may do what is called "indirect fire." Only the Brumbar, Sturmgeschutz IV and the M7 Priest may fire indirectly. Indirect fire must be done with the following stipulations...
3.4.1 First, the target for indirect fire must be in the line of sight of one of your active (i.e. not KO’ed) tanks.
3.4.2 Second, due to the inexactness of indirect fire, the firepower of those guns goes down by two.
3.4.3 Third, indirect fire is indirect, (i.e. it comes from overhead) and therefore "Hull down" tanks do not receive their armor bonus. Tanks in the forest receive their "cover" bonus, but tanks whose line of sight is partially blocked by blocking terrain do not.
3.5 After firing, remove the "Fired" tokens from the units that fired on overwatch. They may fire in overwatch again, or they may wait to fire in the fire phase.
4.0 Morale
4.1 In the advanced rules, Morale becomes a factor. When you have 5 tanks or less that are not KO’ed at the end of your turn, roll a six sided dice to determine if your troops are still going to fight. If you roll above the number of non-KO’ed tanks, the battle is over and you have lost.
5.0 Turn Sequence – condensed...
5.1 Damage Repair (player one)
5.2 Movement (player one) and Overwatch (player two)
5.3 Firing (player one)
5.3.1 Direct Fire
5.3.2 Indirect Fire (Advanced)
5.3.3 Remove "fired" tokens (player one only!)
5.4 Morale (Advanced) (player two)
5.5 Damage Repair (player two)
5.6 Movement (player two) and Overwatch (player one)
5.7 Firing (player two)
5.7.1 Direct Fire
5.7.2 Indirect Fire (Advanced)
5.7.3 Remove "fired" tokens (player two only!)
5.8 Morale (Advanced) (player one)
5.9 Repeat until victory is apparent...