Tanktics

''Tanktics: Computer Game of Armored Combat on the Eastern Front'', also named ''Wargy I'', is a 1976 two-player tank battle video game by Chris Crawford. It was Crawford's first video game; it was initially sold directly by him, and was published by Avalon Hill in 1981 under the name ''Tanktics''.

The game has no graphics; the player moves tokens on a physical map to represent a tank battle, with the computer controlling one of the sides.

The game received weak reviews by critics, who found the artificial intelligence to be weak and suited for players who wanted neither a complex nor fast-paced game.

Gameplay

The game simulates a two-player tank battle on a large hex grid. ''Tanktics'' has no graphics; the player moves tokens on a map using coordinates the computer, acting as referee, provided. Crawford used maps and tokens from Avalon Hill's '' Panzer Leader'' when developing the game. To compensate for the computer's weak artificial intelligence, he gave it twice as many tanks as the player and deleted U-shaped lakes from the map. There are several terrain types: forests, lakes, plains, rough and depressed ground, and also roads which allow much faster movement. There are many types of tanks—different ones for the German and Russian side each—as well as stationary anti-tank guns. At the end of the game, a point system determines whether the player has won or lost the game.

Development

Crawford created the game, first called ''Wargy I'', in FORTRAN for the IBM 1130 from May to September 1976, reporting that it defeated several experienced war gamers at a December 1976 convention. It was his first video game; he did not sell any copies, which he attributed to the IBM 1130 not being a consumer computer that war gamers would have. He ported it to a KIM-1, then the