Tank defense game: hold the base against waves

tankmash is a free top down 2D tank game in hi-bit pixel art, and its campaign is a tank defense game: fifty levels of three waves each, and one base to hold. If the base falls, or you run out of lives, the level is lost. Clear a level to open the next. No download and no account.

Play the campaign

Level 1, wave 1 of 3: the blue tank below its base, a command post inside a brick ring, as the first red tank fires down between two long walls. — Level 1, wave 1 of 3. The base is the command post inside the brick ring.

Cards between waves

After each wave but the last, pick one of three cards; from level 4 you also pick one before the first wave. Rapid loader, High velocity, Reinforced hull, Wide tracks and Twin loader build your tank. Steel the walls turns the brick around the base to steel for a wave, and Field repair rebuilds it. Gun cards put a machine gun, rocket launcher, mortar or flamethrower in your second slot. Lose the tank and its cards go with it.

Pickups

Shoot a flashing tank and it drops one. STAR upgrades your gun, SHIELD stops shells for 10 seconds, FREEZE stops every enemy tank within 10 tiles for 8 seconds, WALLS rebuilds the base's walls in steel for 30 seconds, +1 LIFE gives you another, and ROCKET adds a rocket launcher.

A boss every fifth level

Each boss leads the last wave of its level, and its banner says how to beat it.

Anvil, level 5: thick front. Hit its side or back.
Ironside, level 10: thick front, escorts. Go round it.
Lancer, level 15: fast. Hit its side to stop it.
Rampart, level 20: break its tracks, then take its back.
Beacon, level 25: kill it and the column stops coming.
Bulwark, level 30: kill the leader. Hit its back.
Thunderer, level 35: big gun. Step off the line.
Hammer, level 40: dodge the gun. Hit its back.
Hauler, level 45: stop it before it unloads.
Colossus, level 50: leader first. Dodge the gun. Go round.

When your tank is destroyed

You climb out on foot. Walk to an empty or enemy tank and press F or Enter, or tap the board button, to take it, with whatever it carries. A boss can never be taken.

Medals and ranks

Win a level to earn medals: Base Intact, No Losses, Perfect Run, and By the Book for a boss beaten the way its banner teaches. Every kill, wave and level adds to your rank, and the ranks from Sergeant Major up need campaign medals.

Classic: endless stages

For a defense run with no end, Classic is stage after stage of twenty tanks, on Easy, Normal or Hard. Map of the day gives everyone the same map. In a room, up to four players hold the base together: see the 2 player tank game page.

Controls

WASD or the arrow keys and the mouse on a computer, two sticks on a phone. How to play has every key, pickup and card.

Play the campaign

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