Skirmish at Siniyat: What a Tanker in the Desert

Earlier today I was finally able to run a Game of What a Tanker! for the Rejects in Posties Shed-o-War. I've been buying and painting early Desert war tanks since April and I now had enough to begin a campaign style series of games using these rules. Each player would start the game with an entry level tank of their choice, but I also have several additional tanks to bring in to keep the game running along. I wanted to give this game a feel like a regular scenario driven game so I set up the terrain with what looked like a strategic objective in the centre. I didn't actually give the players any objectives but they seemed to make them up for themselves, forgetting that the game is purely about killing the enemy tanks. It was fun to watch and for the most part very easy for me to umpire.


The Setup
The game was set in later 1940 and represented a side skirmish of tanks that randomly encountered each other. Vehicles from both sides had been sent to the small village of Siniyat which although abandoned by the locals could be used as a supply depot by either side. Four players started the game each with a single Level one tank each but I brought on three more tanks as the game progressed to keep things moving. As this was a 'learning the rules' test game I also gave all players a couple of special cards to help spice things up. The result was an educational experience!


Order of Battle
Italians
   M11/39 Medium Tanks x3
   L6/40 Light Tank x1 

British
   A9 (Cruiser Mk I) x2   
   A10 (Cruiser Mk II) x1


The Action

The setup - A ring of hills overlooks an abandoned village in the desert. The area is crossed by dry Wadis, dotted with Palms and studded with rocky outcroppings and low ridges. 

The first few turns are taken up with cautious movement as the players come to grips with the rules and the intricacies of the WaT! dashboard and command dice.  

An early set of perfect dice allows Postie to move his A9 into a strong position and get an Italian tank in open sights. He them rolled the perfect hand with three hits (two Critical) to which Richard failed to save any....Kaboom! Richards M11/39 goes up in flames! 

More tanks come on the table and after an hour of static exchanges of gunfire suddenly there is movement and tanks rushing about trying to jockey for position (or just keep out of enemy acquisition!). 

James takes a long range pot shot at the Italian tank threatening Postie on the far hill. Despite landing several shots Richard is able to save time and again, somehow keeping alive. 

James brings his firing even closer but still fails to land a killing blow. 

Despite the apparent disparity in sizes the A10 and the M11/39
are closely matched. 

Ray gets a small L6 Light tank and zips around the fringes of the battlefield looking for a likely target to take a  pot shot at. 

Meanwhile James finally destroys Richards M11 but only because he is able to hit the rear armour. 

Multiple tanks are burning and they are all Italian...the last remaining M11/39 is trying desperately to get away so that the crew can fix some temporary damage but before that can the British tank hits them in the rear as well. With three burning Italian tanks on the field, Ray decides enough is enough and withdraws his outclassed L6 from the game. 

Analysis
By the end if the game nearly everyone had had two tanks and we managed to keep the battle rumbling along for over four hours before things came a head. This of course kept the football obsessed members of the group happy because it meant they could get home to watch the World Cup final, even if it was sans England.

I learned a lot about what to do (and what not to do) for future games. Firstly running a new set of rules with four players that have never used the rules before can be very hard to manage. It was hot as hell in the Shed-o-war and my brain felt utterly fried by the end of the game. I think that future games will go much smoother as now I have a group of players that seemed to be quite comfortable with the rules and didn't really need the help of an umpire towards the end. Based in the success of this game I'll definitely be running another (hopefully for more players and involving more tanks) later in the year.