World of Tanks Miniatures Game - A Review

 This Christmas my youngest son surprised me with a thoughtful gift: The World of Tanks Miniatures Game.  We played a couple of games this Christmas and it was a pleasant surprise to say the least.

I had seen this game before in the stores.  However I always passed it by since I did not want to start collecting WW2 tanks in addition to my already huge inventory of Sci Fi tanks.  The game is a tabletop approximation of video game of the same name.  Those familiar with that game, or WW2 armor will be right at home.

There are many unboxing videos on the net, so I will not go into depth on what is inside.  Suffice to say, you receive 4 tanks and their associated cards, upgrade cards for said tanks, dice, counters and 2D terrain.  Everything you need to play is in the box.  

The whole concept is similar to X-Wing: your stock tanks can be upgraded by spending part of your point total (typical games are 200 point affairs).  These upgrades can make a huge difference in the vehicle's performance.  The good thing is that unlike X-wing,  if you never cease plating this system, you can use these miniatures in other WW2 tabletop battles.  

The miniatures are well casted, with an acceptable level of detail.  To be honest, I was rather surprised and impressed with their overall quality.  Some tanks have holes for pintle machineguns and or antennas.  

The current game consists of 5 different tanks for each of the 4 nations, 20 total.  More are planned for future releases.  Considering the number of tanks in the WoT video game, the number of models that could potentially be released is large.

The models are pre-primed, and could be used right out of the box if you so wish.  Serious gamers will of course paint these models.  

The counties represented are Germany, the USSR, the United States and Great Britain.  Tanks have several categories which dictate their performance: 

• Tank Type: Light, Medium, Heavy, Tank Destroyer, Self-Propelled Gun (all of the tanks in the Core set are medium tanks).  Each type comes with a special ability which is tied to the class.
• Point Cost: do you go with cheaper tanks and overwhelm with numbers, or more expensive models with more abilities?
• Firepower: the number of attack dice they throw...more is better.  The maximum is 6.
• Survivability: the number defense dice they throw...more is better.  The maximum is 6.
• Mobility: the number of times they can move per turn...again, more is better.  
• Initiative: when they act in the turn in relation to all other vehicles on the map.  Higher is better.
• Hit Points: when you reach zero its all over.  Your vehicle becomes a wreck and potential cover for everyone else.  The colored zones only come into play with Crew Upgrades.  Some crew members actually perform better if they are about to die.  Go figure.  
• Crew: This allows certain Upgrade Cards to be played.  You cannot have two upgrades for the same crew position.

Some tank types provide different abilities, as do some individual tanks within a class.  There is a lot of variation to be had.  For example, Medium Tanks can re-roll a  missed Firepower die, whereas Heavy Tanks can re-roll a failed Survival die.

In the base game, Great Britain has the decided advantage.  The Cromwell stats are clearly the best, with the T-34 not far behind.  The Germans are the worst off, with the slowest tank and the lowest initiative.

Each turn is broken down into several phases, the Command phase (where you roll for repairs and "Advantage”, which is similar to Initiative in RPG combat rounds), Movement then Shooting phases.  Movement occurs in Initiative Order, starting at 1 and going up from there.  Shooting goes in reverse Initiative order, with the highest number shooting first.  If players have tied Initiative scores, then the player with "Advantage' goes first.  

Initiative is the key in the game.  Moving after your opponent is a huge advantage as is shooting before the enemy does.  Low initiative tanks will be forever one step behind their opponents. A crafty player with weaker but higher initiative tanks could possibly outmaneuver a larger and more dangerous foe and get in an ideal position for a killing shot. 

Initiative scores (as can some other scores) of tanks can be increased by purchasing various Upgrade Cards (Crew, Modules, Consumables, ect).  This is where each game can become unique since each tank has almost endless configurations.  Should you invest points in upgrades and field fewer but more capable tanks, or forgo those upgrades and trust to numbers to overwhelm your opponent?

Movement is handled by a special tool: a Movement Arrow.  You place the arrow at any point on the tank and move the vehicle up to the distance of the arrow (stopping at the base of the arrow head).  It is similar in concept to X-Wing and Song of Blades and Heroes.  This negates the use of a tape measure in the game.  This is a fairly loose system, allowing for a lot of maneuverability without the fuss of X-Wing.  

Prior to movement.

After movement.

Line of Sight is infinite as are weapon ranges; only hills and buildings block actual LOS.  A laser line is very helpful with determining LOS: if you can measure a line from the turret center to any point of an enemy vehicle you can fire at it.  The caveat is that, unless you can see at least 3 different corners of an enemy vehicle it is considered "in cover" which is beneficial to defense.  

Armor facing is very simple: everything on a horizonal plane from the front hull of your tank is a frontal shot.  Everything behind this is a flank shot.  Flank shots reduce Survivability by 1 die.  Some tanks (such as the Panther) are even more vulnerable to flank shots and reduce the number of dice by 2.  This vulnerability can lead to potentially fatal shots to even previously undamaged vehicles.   

Shooting is straight forward: the dice are 6 sided: each has 3 blank (miss) sides, 1 critical hit side and 2 regular hit sides.  When defending you roll the same dice; each critical hit or regular hit the defender rolls negates one of the attackers dice.  Most tanks have low Survivability scores, but this can be increased by using cover (which grants 1 additional dice) and by movement.  Each point of movement used during the turn by the target tank grants 1 additional defense die.  Also, each point of movement used during the turn by the firer grants the defender 1 additional defense die.  Standing still makes it easier to hit your target, but moving keeps you alive.  Both attack and defense dice are capped at 6, so there is a hard limit on what can be done at both ends.  Some tanks allow re-rolls to attack and defense dice; there is potentially a lot going on during this phase.  

Some of the various types of Critical Hits

Critical Hits are resolved with a separate card deck.  Some hits cause no superficial damage (i.e. loss of hit points) but degrade the vehicle in some way (eg: the crew bails out rendering the tank inert until they remount it), while others can be catastrophic (an ammo explosion or an engine fire) causing quite a number of hit points of damage.  Critical Hits add a lot of excitement and tension since you may hang on to that last hit point due to sheer dumb luck, or go out in a blaze of glory due to a lucky hit to your ammo rack.

Sci Fi Vehicles: Old Crow, Brigade Models, Darkest Star, GZG

Since I do not have any WW2 tanks painted up we used Sci Fi vehicles for our games.  Personally, I have no problem with this.  I am a fan of alternate history, and the rules are generic enough to be used across multiple historical spectrums.  Modern Sci Fi vehicles are larger than 1:100 scale WW2 models, but some of them do come close in size.  My inventory is vast so I already have all 20 of the current vehicles in the game covered.  It would be simple enough to take a photo of the tank I am using in place of the regular one and stick it to the tank card with white tac.  This would prevent confusion as to what is what.  

With a little imagination anything is possible.  Space T-34s, Space Shermans, ect.

The game is normally played on a 3'x3' table, but with larger models I would go with 4'x4' to accommodate the size difference.  Eventually I will add all of the actual vehicles to my model pool, and I will likely paint them as well!  This is somewhat necessary due to the fact that without the additional cards from the Booster Packs the game would be rather bland over due time.  Using both historical and sci fi vehicles also opens up the game and prevents it from becoming stale.  Sometimes I want Space Nazis, not regular Nazis.  

The game is amenable to House Rules.   Board game Geek forums are a good place to connect with folks who have already developed their own.  

Overall I am pleased with the game.  I would not normally be interested in collectible games, but this one hit the right spot for me.  It is fast and varied enough to allow enjoyment past a couple of plays.  If you love tanks (I do) then you will likely enjoy this game.