Pardon the photos but I thought I'd share the results of my homebrew tank rules. I've always wanted a campaign game with a few tanks (yes, I realise there is "What a Tanker" but that's $50AUD not including postage to Australia).
My original rules with 15mm have split into a simplified "Tankmunda"in 1:300 (1930s Dieselpunk with landships) and a mode "in depth" detailed set "Delta Tango" using 15mm FoW minis (but of course it's a pulp WW2 with the Teutonic Empire vs Bretonnia and the United Federation of States - mostly so I can paint the tanks without reference to historical accuracy)
Basically the 1:300 rule have been stripped back and simplified (and owe a lot to FoW/FFT3) but the newer rules have more complicated activation mechanics and "detail."
My design brief is:
1.Crew are the most important factor
2.While tanks should feel 'tanklike', gameplay trumps rivet counting
3. Fast play - can handle 4-12 tanks in an hour
4. Campaign rules (Tankmunda/Tankheim) with crews gaining skills and tank upgrades
While the mechanics are pretty much GW with some hit locations thrown in, activation is 3d6 against crew skill, with each success gaining orders. Basically I want it so in the chaos of battle, good crews can do more. Basically I'm focussing on activation/initiative and orders and keeping my old pretty barebones mechanics, while also streamlining damage resolution.
The battle: 2x regular PzIII short 75s + 2x elite StuGs vs 2x regular Churchills and 2x regular 75mm Shermans.
Right off the bat, a StuG knocks out a Churchill from across the table. A bit unlucky with the rolls, but maybe toughen the Churchills up more with +1 more frontal armour?
A Churchill retaliates and knocks out a PzIII. I've realised there's no point in having a +1 Aim action vs merely firing an extra shot. So far tanks seem to want to pull up and pump shots into enemies at their best RoF. But this is probably fairly realistic?
A Sherman spanks another PzIII. There's been a lot of 5s and 6s thrown for damage rolls giving instant knockouts - I'm a bit sad as I want to see how my "damaged" mechanics works and I can't if they keep dying all the time! Maybe I need to buff frontal armour as a whole.
I also realise I forgot to activate a StuG. Oops.
A StuG pumps two shots into a Churchill and both hit the crew compartment. While one hit would inflict penalties to dice rolls etc, the second hit kills all the crew. The tank would be relatively intact to salvage in a campaign game, once you cleaned up the mess inside.
Next turn the same elite Stug hits a Sherman in the turret and jams it. The shock of the concussion disorientates (temporarily penalises) the crew. Unfortunately it is finished off by the other Stug anyway so I don't get to see how Shock impacts things.
The single remaining Sherman exchanges fire with the two StuGs. There's bad dice rolling all round - few activations, lots of misses and some bounces. Both sides do resist being "shocked" by the ricochetting rounds, however.
In a surprising twist, the lone Sherman guns down both the better crewed StuGs, knocking one out with a single shot, then repeatedly tracking the other. The shocked crew fails a test from the repeated hits and bails out, giving the underdog a surprising victory.
Thoughts:
My method of determining overall initiative at the start of the turn (roll d6 vs Crew for each tank, and compare total successes) was a tad clunky.
If a tank failed its roll it could be reactivated later, so there was a bit of "back and forth" rolling as both sides failed activation rolls. Not sure if this is good or bad.
"Aim" order was worthless as it was always better to fire twice instead. Amend this.
I never bothered to use overwatch. Possibly this is because activating last is usually bad (i.e. if you have extra units "left over" after your opponent acts with all of his, you only get 2 activations max, not 3.)
I forgot that commanders could share orders.
The tanks slow movement (5" move, 10" sprint-but-not-fire) and long range encouraged tanks to park and open fire as soon as they made contact. (Perhaps realistic, but do I want this?) I have lots of built-in flanking bonuses but they were never used as it was too tricky to get into position to use them. (Need more cover? Need a wider board? Or maybe increase tank speed or allow a Sprint-and-Shoot action - but at a penalty to accuracy.)
On the plus side: it was fairly cinematic and I handled 4 tanks per side in half an hour so my aim for ~8 per side in an hour seems very achievable.