Old Gamers Never Die: Remembering MicroProse's 'M1 Tank Platoon'

"Main Title" screen from MicroProse's M1 Tank Platoon. (C) 1989 MicroProse Software

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, MicroProse Software was one of the most innovative and successful computer and video game publishing companies in the world. Co-founded by retired Air Force pilot  "Wild Bill" Stealey and Sid Meier, the Maryland-based company created some of the gaming industry's most popular titles, including Silent Service, its sequel Silent Service II, the three-game F-15 Strike Eagle series, Red Storm Rising, and the classic world history simulation Sid Meier's Civilization. 

Although MicroProse's catalog included games from various genres, many of its titles were military simulators. This isn't surprising; the company's co-founder was a veteran, and many of its best-selling games were simulators of combat aircraft (F-15 Strike Eagle, F-19 Stealth Fighter), submarines (Red Storm Rising, Silent Service II) and even helicopters (Gunship, Gunship 2000).

In 1989, the same year that saw the fall of the Berlin Wall and the beginning of the end for the Soviet empire, MicroProse released M1 Tank Platoon: The Definitive Simulation of Armored Land Combat, a tactical simulation of armored warfare set against the background of a conflict between NATO and the Russian-led Warsaw Pact in West Germany.

The MS-DOS version of M1 Tank Platoon. This is the one that I bought in 1991. (C) 1989 MicroProse Software

Designed by Arnold Hendrick and Scott Spartanburg and programmed by Spartanburg with Darrell Dennies, M1 Tank Platoon differed from such similarly themed video games as Abrams Battle Tank. Instead of being a typical "one tank against the entire Red Army" video game, M1 Tank Platoon allowed players to command a four-tank platoon equipped with the U.S. Army's M1-A1 Abrams, as well as various supporting units (armored recon, infantry squads with Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles, OH-58 Kiowa observation helicopters, AH-64 Apache gunships, and A-10 Thunderbolt II jets, as well as mortar, artillery, and multiple launcher rocket system support).

The tactical map of the gunnery training range. (C) 1989 MicroProse Software

M1 Tank Platoon could be played as a straight-up vehicle simulator in which a player took on the role of a tank commander, the gunner, or the driver. (The computer takes on the role of the loader.)  One could switch from one station to another (and from one tank to another) by hitting the proper Function key on the PC keyboard. Per the game, each tank crewman had personal skill levels that ranged from Inept to Superior; the idea was that just as in real life, crew members were not robotic automatons but human beings. To simulate the effects of improved performance over time (especially in Campaign mode), Scott Spartanburg and Arnold Hendrick decided to increase individual crewmen's skills based on medals and promotions. In theory, if players were lucky and managed to command their tank platoon without losing any tanks or crew members, they could end up leading a crack unit comprised of well-trained and highly-skilled combat veterans. 

The other way that one could play M1 Tank Platoon was as a map-based tactical simulation. In this mode, players issued commands to their core unit (the eponymous tank platoon) and whatever supporting unit the computer's "Battalion HQ" assigned for a specific mission. Using the keyboard (or a joystick) to move the yellow cursor (see tactical map above) and issue commands, players could, in theory, simulate training exercises, single engagements, or campaigns in what I call "the moving sand table" screen.

The Platoon Selection Screen. Note the cheesy late 1980s-style graphics. (C) 1989 MicroProse Software

Like all of the military-themed MicroProse games I owned at the time, M1 Tank Platoon had several different games one could play in progression: Gunnery Training, Single Engagements, and Campaign. Players could also choose various levels of difficulty; beginners would often select to do battle with "green" Warsaw Pact units with poor training and older equipment when trying out M1 Tank Platoon, then work their way up to face elite units that fielded the latest Soviet hardware, including T-80 tanks, BMP-2 armored fighting vehicles, and even Mi-24 Hind gunships.  (Check out the video I found on YouTube to see how the game was played.)

I'm not going to write a comprehensive review the game today; I'll save that for another installment of Old Gamers Never Die.  But I will give you some of my impressions about M1 Tank Platoon to give you some idea about how good the game was for its time.

"Nice shot, gunner!" A simulated Soviet truck explodes after being hit by a HEAT round from the Abrams' 120 mm main gun. This is the view from the open tank commander's station. (C) 1989 MicroProse Software)

 For its day, it was a complex and realistic game

Even though it was not as realistic as a real multimillion dollar U.S. Army tank simulator, M1 Tank Platoon tried to go beyond the usual arcade game conceit of portraying World War III as a one-tank army that can successfully destroy entire enemy battalions on its own. Sure, the graphics were rather primitive by today's standards, and Soviet units fielded red-painted vehicles that only vaguely looked like T-72 tanks or BMP infantry carriers. But the team led by Arnold Hendrick and Scott Spartanburg depicted the simulated enemy forces as canny, deadly enemies that, depending on specific game settings, could give the player's American forces a really hard time, especially in the campaign mode.

The graphics aren't that great by 2018 standards, but the game was intellectually challenging. (C) 1989 MicroProse Software

The game's emphasis on depicting armored land combat as a collaborative effort between several units was its best feature. Sure, it made the game more complex; each tank crew reacted differently in combat situations, for instance, so on many occasions, one tank would be out of synch with the others and be slightly more slow to react to orders from the platoon leader or it would find itself in a more vulnerable position while attempting to go "hull down" on a hill's reverse slope.  (This was one of the intended effects of creating a friendly AI that wasn't "all-perfect" in an attempt to recreate the human factor of warfare).

Per the Wikipedia article on M1 Tank Platoon, the game was reviewed in Computer Gaming World by Evan Brooks in 1992. Brooks was an Army Reserve officer at the time and had graduated from Armor School at Ft. Knox, KY.  He praised M1 Tank Platoon for its earnest attempt to simulate armored land warfare at the small unit scale and called the game "the best armor simulator currently available."

My only complaint about M1 Tank Platoon was that it only focused on a NATO-Warsaw Pact confrontation. I bought the game a few years after the fall of the Wall in Germany and the collapse of the Soviet Union, so when I played the game I imagined I was recreating the land combat bits of Red Storm Rising, another late Cold War era game I owned at the time.


Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1_Tank_Platoon