Fistful of t34s

Author: Ty Beard & Paul Minson

Publisher: Little Wars TV, 2026

Period: World War II

Scale: Midsize; Battalion-level

LIBRARIAN'S SUMMARY

Fistful of T-34s is a fast-playing set of World War II rules designed to get tank battalions on the table with minimal fuss. Based on the excellent Fistful of TOWs 3 by Ty Beard and Paul Minson, this free Little Wars TV version pares the system down to its essentials while preserving the core feel of battalion-level operations. One stand of miniatures represents a platoon, which means a player is likely to command multiple World War II battalions. At just 4 pages long, this is very much a stripped down adaptation of a more serious system. A typical game can be played in under two hours, making it ideal for weeknight gaming or quick convention scenarios. If you’ve ever wanted to try WWII armor gaming without committing to a heavier ruleset, Fistful of T-34s is an easy entry point.

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WHAT YOU NEED

If you're ok starting with paper models, you need access to a color printer and that's about it. Fistful of T34s is the perfect gateway game to ease wargamers into World War II action. Not only are the rules mercifully short, Little Wars TV developed a linked series of scenarios from the Stalingrad campaign, including all the necessary troop and unit types as free paper models. Players who prefer traditional miniatures will find Fistful of T34s scale and basing agnostic, working equally well with 3mm Pico Armor, 6mm GHQ, or up to 15mm Flames of War units. Tabletop sizes start as small as 4'x4'.

HOW IT PLAYS

ATTACKER ARTILLERY: Place templates and resolve barrages
ATTACKER MOVEMENT: Attacker moves and Defender Overwatch
ATTACKER FIRE: Attacker's stands fire if eligible
QUALITY CHECKS: Resolve QCs from Fire and formation losses
SWITCH: Defender conducts each phase above to complete the turn

The turn sequence in Fistful of T34s is a fairly conventional IGOUGO style, with the ability to interrupt a moving opponent with Overwatch fire. Command and control is fairly abstract. During your half of the turn, all units are permitted to move and fire....with two interesting limitations. First, companies and battalions do have a Cohesion distance (ranging from 2" to 6") based on their training and experience. This means low quality troops will be clustered together, while veterans can spread out more flexibly. There's also a simple but effective rule requiring low quality troops to pass a test in order to leave cover.

Infantry and armor fire in the same manner but with different consequences. All units have a Rate of Fire value, and this is the number of six-sided dice you roll to shoot. Targets are either at Short, Effective, or Long range depending on the weapon type. If firing against infantry, the results are pretty quick to apply. Infantry units can only be Suppressed and forced to test Quality. The process for resolving fire against armored units factors in gun penetration vs. armor. Hits that penetrate roll for damage, and if the firing unit rolls high enough, instant "brew ups" are possible.

It's surprising how much gets packed into 4 pages. There are rules for smoke, off table artillery, mortars, and spotting. In fact, hidden units play a significant role in the game, which gives light recon units their proper historical role. The use of artillery has been heavily streamlined from the original game rules. But at its heart, the design thesis for this game centers around unit Quality. Quality is a catch-all concept for training and experience. In the full FFT3 rules, there are seven ratings. In this free version, there are only three: Fair, Good, and Excellent. Quality impacts the game in many ways, including calling in artillery, cohesion distance for movement, rate of fire, hit bonuses, and morale. Excellent units will chew through Fair-rated troops quickly. And this may be one point of contention among players. Simply put, Fistful of T34s is a very deadly game. Platoons can disappear in a hurry, either as a result of a direct "kill" from fire or as a result of failing Quality Checks. Entire companies can evaporate after sustaining 2/3 losses. This keeps the game very brisk and fast-paced, but also means you want to play large enough scenarios that both sides start with multiple battalions, including some reserves to plug the inevitable holes that will be torn into your frontline.

FINAL Note

When you play Fistful of T34s, you'll be regularly reminded its a stripped down version of a more detailed game. Which isn't to say Fistful of T34s can't stand on its own--this is a complete system. But it's also one that authors Ty Beard and Paul Minson clearly hope will encourage fans to pick up a copy of their full game. This is most evident in the limited number of unit stats offered. There are two dozen German and Soviet units for the Stalingrad theater, but if you want Shermans for Normandy, Crusaders for the desert, or Panthers for Italy, all of those units stats are only available in the full game. This limits the focus of Fistful of T34s to the mid-war period on the Eastern front. If you're good with that, well, you're in luck. This is a fantastic entry-level World War II tabletop experience.