**Tank Commander** is a simple table-top game where two players take turns to shoot at each other's tanks. The game is played on a hexagonal grid, and each player has a tank that can move and shoot in six directions. The simplest goal of the game is to destroy the opponent's units.
Players take turns activating a unit, performing a number of actions with it, and then ending their turn. The battle is over when the mission is complete, or a player concedes, or after 10 turns of play.
This game is still in early development. If you want to give it a try, please give feedback in the form of an issue or pull request to update or clarify rules.
I've 3D-printed some models for the game, based on Epic-scale Warhammer 40k Imperial Guard models by [JahnZizka](https://cults3d.com/en/users/JahnZizka/3d-models):
- [Battle Tank](./models/tank.stl) and [turret](./models/turret.stl)
- [Armored Personnel Carrier](./models/apc.stl) and [turret](./models/apc-turret.stl)
First, select a target within range, and visible to the turret's current facing.
A target is visible if a line can be drawn from the center of the firing tank's space to the center of the target's, without going through any squares occupied by another tank or terrain or smoke.
The player must roll equal to or higher than their accuracy score to hit. If the shot hits, roll a die and add the round's strength. If the result is more than the target's armor on the the side where it was hit, the target takes a penetrating hit. Otherwise, it's a glancing hit.
A glancing hit wounds a random living crew member on a 4+. When a crew member is wounded, randomly select a living crew member to be wounded. If a wounded crew member is wounded again, they are killed.
A penetrating hit always wounds a random living crew member, and reduces the tank's hull points by 1. If the target's hull points are reduced to 0, the tank is disabled -- it cannot perform any actions, and remains on the table until the end of the battle.
Additionally, a glancing or penetrating hit from an HE round can start a **Fire**. Roll a die. On a 5+, the tank is _on fire_. The tank's crew can use an action to extinguish the fire in their turn. If the fire is not extinguished, the tank loses 1 hull point at the end of each turn until the fire is extinguished, or the tank is destroyed.
At the end of every turn a disabled tank is on the table (including the turn it was disabled), roll a die. On a 4+, the ammunition cooks off. The tank is destroyed, and any units within 2 spaces of the tank are hit with an HE round with a strength of 4. The vehicle is replaced with a Rubble terrain piece. If the tank's last hull point was lost to **Fire**, the ammunition cooks off immediately.
If the Commander is wounded, the tank can perform 1 fewer action each turn. If the commander is killed, it can perform 2 fewer actions.
If the Gunner is wounded, the tank's accuracy is reduced by 1. If the gunner is killed, the tank cannot fire its weapons.
If the Loader is wounded, loading takes 2 action points. If the loader is killed, the tank cannot load its weapons (it can fire any remaining rounds that are already loaded, and any Anti-Infantry Weapons).
If a Lieutenant Commander is replacing a killed crew member, they always performs the job of the crew member it is replacing as if that crew member was wounded, until the Lieutenant Commander is killed.
### Terrain
- **Open Terrain**: No effect on movement or line of sight. This can be a road, or grass. Most of the board is open terrain.
- (Advanced) **Hill**: When a tank is immediately behind a hill space, enemy accuracy is -1. When a tank is on a hill space, all hits against it are taken against the rear armor value.
- (Advanced) **Mines**: Tanks moving over mined spaces take an AT hit with a strength of 6. Roll to see if it penetrates. The mined space is then removed from the board.
Some battles may include infantry units. Infantry units can move 2 spaces, and can fire at tanks within 2 spaces. Infantry units have an armor value of 2, and a hull point value of 1. Infantry units can be destroyed by a hit from any main gun, or by an Anti-Infantry Weapon. Infantry can't be targeted if they are in an adjacent space to a friendly tank.
- **Fire Missile Launcher**: Fire the missile launcher at a target within range, using either AT or HE rounds. (Rounds do not need to be loaded first)
- **Fire Anti-Infantry Weapon**: Fire the anti-infantry weapon at an infantry target within range.
- **Take Cover**: Enemies shooting this unit have -1 accuracy until the next turn. The unit cannot move or fire while in cover.
- **Capture Objective**: Capture an objective. The unit must share the space with the objective to capture it. They don't need to remain on the space to hold it.
- **Disarm Mines**: Remove an adjacent mine space from the board.
- **Mount Up / Dismount**: Infantry units can mount or dismount from a tank. They can only mount or dismount once per turn.
- Infantry can ride on the outside of tanks. If the tank takes any hits while infantry are mounted on the outside, they are destroyed.
- Infantry can ride inside Armored Personnel Carriers (APCs). See below.
Mark a space anywhere on the board. In the next turn, the player must roll a 6+ for the air strike to hit. On the following turn, it's a 5+, and then 4+, and so on. An air strike is never called on a roll of a 1.
When an air strike is carried out, the marked space is hit with an AT round with a strength of 6. Roll a die to determine the direction of the blast (1 is north, 2 is northeast, and so on). Then roll a die to determine the distance of the blast (1 is 1 space, 2 is 2 spaces, and so on). Each of those spaces are also hit with an AT round with a strength of 6.
Playing to destroy your enemy is only one way to play Tank Commander. Missions can be created to add objectives to the game. Some examples of missions include:
- [**Beach Landing:**](./missions/beach.png): Attacker/defender where attackers begin in water (as Mud), with defenders guarding 3 objectives on the beach.
- [**Urban Warfare:**](./missions/cityfight.png) Navigate tank columns through a maze of streets to take the town's central plaza.
- [**Cross Minefield:**](./missions/minefield.png) Navigate across a minefield with infantry disabling mines.
- **Night Fighting:** Accurancy is lowered by 1, visible range is lowered by 3. Tanks can use an action to fire flares to light up 3 spaces around them for both sides.
- **Campaign Progressions**: Players can keep track of their tanks and crew from battle to battle. Crew members can gain experience, and tanks can be upgraded with new equipment.
