The game is basically "Battleship" with moving targets. The object is to destroy all of your opponent's tanks.

There is a set up phase. The 6 tanks for each side go on the 1st rank. The installations (ie, fuel dump, HQ tent, and ammo dump) go on separate ranks, between the 2nd and 4th ranks, and separate files. The 5 AT guns go anywhere on your side, but generally around the installations. You write down the locations of 2 minefield on a scrap of paper which is stored in the HQ tent.

Each turn, your opponent plots 6 direct fire shots on his hidden plotting board. If announced, your opponent can augment with up to 5 indirect fire (artillery) shots, but these are one-time shots and only 5 are available for the entire game. All plots have to go into empty spaces or (under optional rules) his own installations. You move exactly 6 spaces orthogonally. No one tank can move more than 3 spaces. At least 1 tank must move into an empty space. At least 1 move must be forward.

In practice, only 1 tank moves into an empty space, and 1 or 2 other tanks shuffle into vacated spaces. This is because when you finish moving, if any of your tanks have moved onto a plotted space, your opponent will show you the plot and inform you that the so-moved tanks has just been destroyed. If your tank moved onto an enemy minefield, your opponent will show you the corresponding half of the scrap of paper (because 2 minefield locations were recorded), and your tank is destroyed. You can move into your own minefields and discovered enemy minefields at will.

Then if any opposing tanks are adjacent, the lower ranking tank (or both, if equal rank) is destroyed by close combat. If any tank is adjacent to an enemy AT gun, the tank (1:6 odds) or the gun (5:6 odds) is destroyed. Losing an AT gun also loses an indirect fire shot. If the tank is on an enemy installation, the installation is destroyed.

Losing your fuel dump cuts your moves from 6 to 4 spaces per turn. Losing your amino dump loses all unused indirect fire shots and you only get 1 direct fire shot per remaining tank. Losing your HQ tent permanently deactivates your minefields.

There are a few remaining rules for a tank that reaches the last rank - it becomes a command tank and can move backwards - and for when your tank force is reduced to only 1 or 2 remaining tanks.

The best plotting and moving strategy seems to be to randomly pick 1 (if moving) or 6 (if plotting) spaces from the surprizingly small set of available empty spaces. Occupying more than 1 new space just increases the opportunity for loss.

For me, targeting my own installations has NEVER bagged an enemy tank, but that doesn't mean that I won't keep trying it: the children think it is REALLY funny when my own installation goes up in smoke all by itself.

The game is full of suspense for young children; however, if the children are too young, they do not handle well the loss of their tanks or the game. If close relatives play and do not use a random moving/plotting method, it is possible for one to know the other so well that the one side can lose 5 or 6 tanks in only 2 or 3 turns: I know this from close, personal experience.