Nathan C. Developer, Designer, 3D printer runner, Thinker-upper. Doer of everything.
Riley C. Senior Developer…..I’m Nathans younger brother….so I have to be senior something sometime. Why not now? Also, if you couldn’t guess, writer of this part. Also, doer of some stuff.
Kristy C. Designer-extraordinaire, without whom this game would be on laminated white copy paper. Also, wife to Nathan….that one is a bigger achievement if you ask me (Riley being me)
About us (Nathan and his family being the “us” in this context)
Board games have always been a big part of our family life. For years, I’d joke about how someday I’d create a game of my own but never felt quite creative enough to actually try. One afternoon while trying to find something for my youngest son to do we decided to just go for it and that is where Tank Tango started.
My son loves all kinds of games, especially strategy games, so we knew early on that we didn’t want something based purely on luck. No dice. We wanted a game that was strategic but also one that our whole family would play.
We wanted a game that felt a little different every time you played and decided to use a hex-based board that changes with every setup. We chose tanks as the main playing pieces because, let’s be honest, who doesn’t enjoy shooting someone else’s tank?
The first several hours of development were spent figuring out a movement system that actually worked, which turned out to be much harder than we thought it would be. We experimented with different tank abilities and upgrade systems as well, but after testing them realized the game was becoming too complex. In the end we decided simpler was better so we scrapped all the upgrades and special features and kept a more basic tank.
After we had the basics down, I started talking to some family members about what we were doing. I spent hours brainstorming with one of my brothers, bouncing ideas back and forth and refining the mechanics. We felt like we really had a game that would work and was unique enough that we decided to work together to produce it.
From there, we moved into prototyping. We used my 3D printer to create the first modular game board and then printed, laminated, and hand‑cut every card so we could test the game properly. Our earliest play testers were family and close friends. After many test games, we noticed that younger players were far more focused on attacking enemy tanks than completing more complex objectives, so we decided to create simpler objectives they could go for and that became our “Tanks for Tots” objective deck. We also love games that support larger groups and cooperative play, which led us to develop the “It Tanks 2 To Tango” expansion that allows up to six players. This expansion adds mountain tiles and a new artillery player piece as well as a teams option. All versions of the game are designed to mix and match, allowing you to tailor Tank Tango to fit the players, play style, and experience level at your table.
Our biggest challenge was artwork. We knew we wanted the game to look great on the table, but we also wanted to keep the project entirely in the family rather than outsourcing to someone we didn’t know. My wife Kristy has always loved designing things but had never done anything remotely like this. She spent countless hours teaching herself Adobe Illustrator through YouTube tutorials and went on to design every card, the rulebook, and the box art. There’s no way we could have ever done this without her help.
Finally, we want to thank the friends who have helped guide us through the Kickstarter process and the many steps required to bring a game from an idea to production. Your advice and support have made this possible.
Tank Tango started as a simple family project and grew into something we’re incredibly proud of. We’re excited to finally share it with you and we hope you enjoy it as much as we do.