Operation Circus: Let the Tigers Loose was a three-game, 1,500pt Tank War event hosted at the world famous Chicagoland Games Dice Dojo. The event packet included additional thematic rules encouraging players to roll up with nothing but Armored Fighting Vehicles and AT units. Non-AT infantry were allowed, but if included, the player missed out on 10 bonus points to their overall score.

As we all know, Tank War is a silly game. It’s super fun, but just a couple hot rolls can be all it takes to secure the win. Tactics and strategy are often meaningless in Tank War. This is not a knock on the game, but players need to realize that going in. If you approach Tank War from the perspective of, “Let’s get all the tanks on the table and watch them go boom” than you’ll have a great time.

Now let’s dive into the event coverage!

Andrew’s German Tank Platoon – 1,475pts, 7 Order Dice

I busted out my old winter Germans for this event and added on the Kriegsmarine 88 for additional support. Seven Order Dice is on the low side but besides the Horse, there are no soft targets. The only unit with less than Armor 9 is a recce vehicle and the 88 is seven crew with a Gun Shield so I was feeling confident with my choices. My big concern was getting swarmed by AT Teams and light vehicles.

Panzer IV Ausf J – Reg – 235 Command Vehicle – 25 Radio Network – 5 Armor 9 Turret Heavy AT Gun w/ coax MMG Hull MMG Tiger Fear	265pts
Panzer IV Ausf J – Reg – 235 Armor 9 Turret Heavy AT Gun w/ coax MMG Hull MMG Tiger Fear	235pts
Panzer IV Ausf J – Reg – 235 Armor 9 Turret Heavy AT Gun w/ coax MMG Hull MMG Tiger Fear	235pts
Jagdpanther – Reg – 390 Armor 10 Forward-facing Super-heavy AT Gun Hull MMG Tiger Fear	390pts
SdKfz 234/4 Heavy Armored Car – Reg – 180 Armor 7 Forward-Facing Heavy AT Gun Pintle MMG Recce Open-topped	180pts
88mm Flak – Reg – 160 Super-heavy AT Gun Gun shield 7-man crew	160pts
Horse-drawn limber – Reg – 10 Armor 3 (literally soft-skinned) Slow (when towing)	10pts

Ben’s US Army Late War Tank Destroyer Platoon – 1,500 Points, 11 order dice

I brought out the same 1500 point list that I ran for Andrew’s Armored Apocalypse tournament back in 2022. Just like Andrew’s list it’s a heavily armored… wait no. It’s Armor 7 and below. Across the board. I utilized a Theater Selector from Campaign: D-Day: US Sector to run the US Army Late War Tank Destroyer Platoon, consisting of five Veteran M18 Hellcats, each packing a Heavy AT Gun, a pintle HMG, and Recce, supported by a Veteran M8 Greyhound with what I consider to be plot armor at this point, a Vet Jeep with an HMG, and a pair of Reg Bazooka Teams with their own Reg transport Jeeps. It’s a fast list with a lot of Order Dice for Tank War, and it can hit hard and play very cagey with the amount of Recce available. Actually taking hits is what it can’t do, so you have to play around it!

M18 Hellcat – Vet – 221 Command Vehicle – 25 Armor 7 Turret Heavy AT Gun Pintle HMG Recce Open-topped	246pts
M18 Hellcat – Vet – 221 Armor 7 Turret Heavy AT Gun Pintle HMG Recce Open-topped	221pts
M18 Hellcat – Vet – 221 Armor 7 Turret Heavy AT Gun Pintle HMG Recce Open-topped	221pts
M18 Hellcat – Vet – 221 Armor 7 Turret Heavy AT Gun Pintle HMG Recce Open-topped	221pts
M18 Hellcat – Vet – 221 Armor 7 Turret Heavy AT Gun Pintle HMG Recce Open-topped	221pts
M8 Greyhound – Vet – 132 Turret Light AT Gun w/ coax MMG Pintle HMG – 25	157pts
Jeep (No Transport) – Vet – 25 Armor 6 Pintle HMG – 25	50pts
Bazooka Team – Reg – 60	60pts
Jeep – Reg – 21	21pts
Bazooka Team – Reg – 60	60pts
Jeep – Reg – 21	21pts

Game 1
Supplies

First Wave mission with two static objectives on each flank, one moving objective in the form of a Supply Truck making a dash across the table from short edge to short edge. Only vehicles can capture an objective and once they do, they keep the objective with them until destroyed. Players only needed to outscore their opponent by 1 VP to secure victory.

Andrew’s Highlights
For Game 1 I faced Zak K in a German v German Grudge Match. Zak is famous for his Polish Warsaw Uprising force that uses multiple captured German vehicles so for Operation Circus, although Zak ran a “German” list, the lore was that each tank was crewed by Poles who had captured the vehicles. Zak was thrilled to field tanks that did not suffer from Unreliable for once! The opening turns were a slug fest of hits landing left and right but no significant damage. But then, at the top of Turn 3, Zak failed a critical Order Test on a Stug that gave me an opening. The Panzer IVs and Jagdpanther pushed forward, secured two objectives and scored two knockouts. With the right objective and the Supply Truck itself in my control, there was little change for the Polish-crewed tanks to battle back. A great game to open up a day of Tank War with plenty of big hits and misses, exactly what you want to see.

Result – Win

Ben’s Highlights
Game 1 I faced off against Ernie’s German force, which included a couple of Stugs, a captured French Flammpanzer, a Light Tank with an MLRS, a Panzer III, an Pioneer unit, and a few units of Infantry with massed Panzerfausts plus associated transports. With how much short-range firepower Ernie had I knew I had to maintain some distance and hopefully pick off a few units before I moved in for the objectives. I flooded my left side with four Hellcats to duel the Stugs and MLRS tank, getting an early knockout on one Stug and hoping to swing up from the side and contest the middle. The Objective Truck unfortunately came in from the right side and Ernie wisely knocked it out with fausts, so I had to accelerate plans. Fortunately I was able to roll over the left side and claim that objective while blocking the middle and Truck objectives. This is where Cougar (the M8 Greyhound) started utilizing his plot armor for the day. Ernie managed to knock out my supporting Bazooka on the right flank and pushed infantry through ruins to flank Cougar, who had to rush the objective to prevent Ernie from scooping it up and running away. No less than four point-blank Panzerfaust shots into the rear of Cougar (pictured above), three missed, and one hit but bounced the shot. Plus Cougar survived point-blank fire from the pair of tanks he was facing while the Hellcats rolled in from the left and put supporting fire in to secure the 1-0 win.

Result – Win

Game 2
Convoy

Game 2 was played from short edge to short edge aka “Hammer & Anvil”. Units were deployed up to 8″ from the short table edge with nothing held in Reserves. The objective was to get as many units as possible into your opponent’s half of the table. 3 VP for getting with 16″, 2VP for getting with 36″ and 1 VP per unit killed. Must win by at least 2 VP to secure victory. Tank War games have the change to devolve into a long-range shooting gallery. Luckily, this mission forced players to push, and push early to try and get into scoring distance. A 9″ Advance is not much when trying to cross six feet of table.

Andrew’s Highlights
My Game 2 was against Giuseppe and a US Tank Platoon led by a fearsome Veteran Pershing. Backing the Pershing were three Sherman 75s, an Easy Eight and a Bazooka Team aboard a Jeep. With the objective in mind, Giuseppe flew the Jeep and Bazooka 24″ up and tucked them behind a building. On the last Order Die of Turn 1 I sent a desperate salvo of 12 MMG shots at the Jeep and managed to both destroy the Jeep and takeout the Bazooka Team. A fantastic start! In the following turns Giuseppe scored hit after hit against my tanks but his dice turned cold when a roll for damage was needed. All three of Panzer IVs were immobilized by the end of the game, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Heavy AT Guns from blasting away at the US armor.

Giuseppe put up a solid defense but after a handful of lucky shots to knock out the Pershing, there was no stopping the still mobile German vehicles for reaching the scoring zone.

Result – Win

Ben’s Highlights

Game 2 I lined up on a fairly open board against Ed’s German force, which included a Tiger, some Pz IVs, and a Stug alongside a Pak 40 being hauled around by a Horse Limber. The longways board was going to be difficult to deal with considering Ed’s tanks matched my firepower but were far more survivable, and there wasn’t a ton of cover to utilize my Recce. Cougar made an early mad dash up the road and behind a building to take an advanced position and play cat and mouse for most of the game while the Hellcats moved through cover and tried to trade up. Fortunately for me the Tiger on my right flank failed an Order Test which gave me a turn of relative freedom on that side. I pushed forward aggressively mid game to get into scoring position, and after nearly killing the Pak 40, Cougar drove behind it and used the last crewman as protection from the other German vehicles to stay in the scoring zone. The Tiger also rammed a Hellcat on the right flank but only managed to immobilize it (to everyone’s surprise), and I managed to maintain positioning to gain the points for a 9-5 win.

Result – Win

Game 3
King of the Hill

Single objective in the middle of the table. Only vehicles could hold the objective and players scored 2 VP at the end of each turn they controlled the objective. Enemy kills also scored 1 VP each. Deployment was 8″ from the long table edge with both Reserves and Outflanking allowed (up to half a players units). This mission forced players to carefully consider when to rush the objective in hopes of scoring 2 big VPs each turn while risking exposure – this is again exactly what you want in a Tank War game.

Andrew’s Highlights
It’s the third and final game again John’s all-Vet US. It was gyro-stabilizers as far as the eye could see! Neither John nor I left any units in Reserve, everything started on the table. There would be no holding back. Both our forces had seven Order Dice and we knew it was going to be a hotly contested battle. The game started off with a blitz of fire – John knocked out one of my Panzer IVs immediately along with the Horse Limber from a lucky Calliope salvo. and I blasted Sherman 76mm off the table. In Turn 2 John penned and set ablaze my Jagdpanther who failed its Morale Check. My biggest weapon was out of the game. Luckily, a bold push with my remaining Panzer IV destroyed John’s Jeep and Bazooka Team aboard with 12 long range MMG shots. At the start of Turn 3, we had a total of only seven Order Dice between us! I had four and John had three. I moved a Panzer IV onto the objective and was able to rack up VPs on Turn 3, 4 and 5. John scored several hits but could not remove any of my vehicles from play and with the US unable to contest the middle, I secured victory. We ended the game with only six total Order Dice reaming. It was a hard-fought battle to the bitter end.

Result – Win

Ben’s Highlights
Game 3 was against John’s hilarious ToonKrieg force (but as we all know, the ToonKrieg were some of the most horrific forces historically). John had a collection of Panzer IVs, an 88 and Tow, and Panzerschreks in Kubelwagons. This was going to be difficult because King of the Hill with continuous scoring literally forces a slugging match at close quarters, something my force is not equipped for, and thanks to the German AT teams and transports, John equaled my Order Dice count so I didn’t have an activation advantage either. I probably could have tried to duel a bit more from outside and make up the difference by killing off some units then pushing, but the table didn’t have much area cover and the area that the Hill was in was wide open, so it was going to be a slugging match. John had a hot dice early and knocked a Hellcat out through heavy cover right off the bat in Turn 1 with the first shot of the game. There were some good duels and maneuvers through the game, but John proceeded to dismantle me fairly thoroughly, including finally killing Cougar, John’s arch nemesis, although it took an absurd amount of fire to actually accomplish in the end (because Cougar really does have plot armor). I did manage a few good kills including a point-blank Bazooka into the rear of the ToonKrieg Command Tank, but at the cost of a majority of my force.

Result – Loss

Final Thoughts

An incredible showing for the Chicago Dice Team – Andrew secured the top spot with John coming in third and Ben in fourth! Not a bad day at all. But beyond that, playing three games of Tank War was pure joy. Shout out to Shane for writing three wonderfully designed Tank War missions that ensured we didn’t end up with two gunlines blasting away at each other from 36″ away. The missions forced movement and demanded risky play.

The highs and the lows of single die rolls are something to be embraced. We are so used to chucking handfuls of dice for a shooting attack that playing a game of Tank v Tank were a single shot from an AT Gun can swing the entire battle is a novel experience. Through the day there was never a time when a player was truly out of the running. A streak of hot or cold dice is all it takes to snatch victory. Tank War be like that. Tank War be nonsense. We wouldn’t have it any other way.