M1 Tank Platoon rookie guide

I was a bit reluctant to post about this game... it's not because this is a Russian phorum and the game a relic of Cold War. After all, many games from that era are too. My issue with this game is that while I've played it for years and I love it I just can't claim a deep knowledge of it.

Because, see, when I finally moved from 8-bit to my first PC clone, one of the genres I really felt like exploring were military simulations. I had been reading reviews of those for years, and those, together with their incredible graphics, made a big impression on my younger brain. In my head the were action packed titles with almost realistic graphics and sound.

Wn I finally got around to play some of them, my mind had to readjust quickly. While they remained technologically impressive to my younger eyes, I also noticed they were noticeably more complex and tactical than I expected. And M1 Tank Platoon was one of the games that better exemplify this philosophy.

Because on paper a tank simulation might seem a very simple thing: hop on your vehicle and basically destroy everything in your path until it's mission accomplished, right?

Well, wrong. Doing so in this game will basically end up in several tons of smouldering metal and an upset player.

Because more than straight "tank sim" a la Armored Fist, M1 Tank Platoon is more like a mechanized war simulator. You don't manage just one vehicle, but a platoon of four M1 Abrams tanks. Plus auxiliary units, plus a mortar crew, plus airborne support units. You'll control the M1 tank directly or though orders, while other units can only be ordered what to do.

And you'll be doing most of your managing from this screen:



Depending on your briefing orders (and the result of the previous battle, if we're playing on campaign mode) you'll be asked to defend a friendly position, attack an enemy position, advance or retreat.

Now, this is an extremely difficult game. You shouldn't start a real battle until you've completed the training campaign. The best way to move your units is from hill to hill, always keeping them hidden from the enemy. If they still spot you, you can turn on smoke or ask the mortar crew to create a smoke barrier to cover you.

You also better learn quickly to place your units in "hull down" position. This is achieved by driving up to the closest ridge, then stopping right before its edge. If you do this correctly, your gunner will have a good view past the ridge, while the enemy won't be able to get a full view of your tank.

While driving to your next position it's good time to familiarise yourself with the vehicles themselves. Each of them has three possitions: commander, driver and gunner. There's a loader too, but you won't get to control them.

And of course, there are also external views:



Eventually you'll enter contact with the enemy, who is painted in red for better identification. Gee, I wonder what nationality the red color must represent.



That's you cue for jumping into the gunner possition of the nearest tank and start shooting. But don't shoot straight away! First use the laser telemeter (with SPACE) to set up the main gun, and then shoot (with INTRO). If you're lucky, one less enemy to worry about. If not, well, nobody said it was easy to aim and shoot at a moving enemy under the stress of combat.

M1 Tank Platoon might not the be the best looking tank simulation around, but I can assure, it is one of the very best. Yes, the scenario is not exactly diverse. It was meant to resemble the plains in central Europe, and it is a pity no other campaigns are available. So it's either green or white scenario. And the vehicles and buildings are plain 3D graphics, without anything close to textures. But if you consider the game could run on a 8086 CPU and fit on a 720 Kb. disk, you're getting plenty in exchange.

It's also not the easiest to set up under DOSBox. There are a few versions available, and not all of them can be unprotected. Which means you'll sometimes have to go through the copy protection questions:



Although I've definitely seen worse. Copies of the relevant sheets are available on the internet, and after a while you won't even need them, because you'll have learnt to identify most of the vehicles anyway.

The game also often needs the 386_prefetch option to be on, and being an older MicroProse title, you'd better type KEYB US before loading, oherwise some controls may not respond.

But believe me, everything pays off once you enter yor first tank battle.

Oh, and there was another version of the game available. When the first Gulf War erupted, MicroProse re-released the game with desert graphics:



Not that it changes that much, but if you're willing to experiment... I can't remember if the updated version is available on the site. I got mine after applying an official patch I found in some FTP eons ago over the standard version. If you want it, I still probably have it around.