Tabletop Tank Simulator...?

[Elbows]

Fellow LA'ers...

My buddies and I frequently play simulator online (Rise of Flight, Project C.A.R.S. etc.).  The other night we found ourselves bemoaning the lack of a quality tank simulator for the computer.  Myself, being a rather veracious table-top gamer then began to wonder...

Does a quality table-top tank sim game exist in miniature?  (WW2 or early Cold War would be preferred).  I'd be fine in any scale - just wondering if something like this exists.  An armour-biased game where you would perhaps play small armour engagements of 2-8 tanks per side etc . I'm not very familiar with the wealth of WW2 games.  Any suggestions?

[Supercollider]

You could try http://worldoftanks.com/ for an online fix... not sure if that's the sort of computer game you're talking about.  I have no idea of any suitable tabletop games.

[grant]

I work with a guy who is OBSESSED with World of Tanks! I haven't tried it as I have a Mac, which is great for forums, but not gaming. 

[dijit]

When I played 40k we sometimes just to do arena death matches with 200pts of vehicles. You could probably do something similar with all most any reasonably detailed WWII rule set with vehicles. I could for example imagine it working ok with 'Rules of Engagement'.
Duncan

[Arrigo]

GMT Panzer with its expansion. Plenty of detail without getting bogged down. You can quickly convert it to miniatures.

As far woT is concerned.... well it is just an online game that happened to be played with tanks, it is quite bad if you look for a real simulation.

[robh]

Aside from the infamous (and headache inducing)  Wargame Developments cardboard box tank sim the closest you will find for the tabletop is Jim Wallman's excellent "Hell on Wheels"

www.jimwallman.org.uk/wargame/HOW.pdf    (direct download link)

2 or more players, 1 is always the "Controller" or gamesmaster who handles the game/enemy/higher command and events the second (and subsequent) are individual tank or troop commanders.
Great fun in a challenging sort of way.

[julesav]

The old Avalon Hill board wargame 'Patton's Best' was the best 'tank simulator' game I've ever come across! It's designed for solo play with the player conning a Sherman variant through assorted scenarios/missions. We immediately started 'modellising' it by adding a central 1/35th scale Tamiya Sherman and using micro armour as the targets! Great fun!

Cheers

Jules

[Elbows]

Thanks guys, I'll start digging.  I've played WoT and it's...quite awful.     It's just an arcadey tank game, and has no remote reality involved.  I think it's cool that they have garnered so much enjoyment/interest from the ADD spaced-out game crowd though. 

(I figure drawing any attention to historical warfare is good, regardless of how pale it is).

What are some popular scales for armor games?  I'd be fine with FOW scale stuff, but that's even a little big for some armor games. Is there an industry standard for small tank gaming?  I know when I used to play ASL that they had adverts for Micro-armor or something.

[former user]

who will make a tabletop app with sounds? seriously, I am waiting for games to be delivered soon with "dice rolling apps" where one simply klicks the stats concerned and the device does the results

[Bergil]

Don't know about tabletop, but the theatre of war computer games have some pretty tasty 'realistic' tank battles.

[Elbows]

who will make a tabletop app with sounds? seriously, I am waiting for games to be delivered soon with "dice rolling apps" where one simply klicks the stats concerned and the device does the results

former user they already did this with...Il...Ex...Ex Illis?  Hold on...(googles)



^Ex Illis, yeah.  It was essentially a table-top game...but everything happens using a computer based system. Looked pretty awful personally, but it does exist.  I do like the idea of more modifiers/issues being taken into account with computer stuff (you can only do so much while modifying dice up and down).

[former user]

THX
Yes, that one...
I believe the problem was here that it was a computer game that was played out with miniatures. It has to be the other way round, a simple support software. You loose the tabletop feeling once the software does too much for You. You cant wargame with the computer telling you what happens, it has to be the other way round - and in an app, with optional sounds.

I can't program unfortunately, but a simple army builder should do, where You can click on the two units in combat, You are offered weapons choices, You click the distance and the app does the rest. There could even be a haptic throwing the dice where You shake the contraption. No graphics of the troops or battlefield. well, that's what I imagine.
The deal could be that the basic app is for free and the One can buy add ons for sound effects, random modifiers for weather etc.
I don't know, something like that....

[Elbows]

Oh, I agree...I was just pointing out what not to do.  I think you and I are tracking on the same idea.

It would indeed be cool.

[Ramshackle_Curtis]

Er, Flames of War? You can put a decent force for a long competitive game together for about £20. However, the starter set comes with about 6 or 7 tanks and is really quite fun.

[Elbows]

I've played Flames of War and I like it, but I want more in-depth attention paid to operating tanks.  I've already decided I'll probably be using FOW models for whatever I end up with.  Maybe I'll take a look at some of the outdated PC games and look up their data for damage/range/weapons/turret speed etc.