The year is 2036. Time to blow some $&@% up.
Car Wars! Just the name of the game conjures up many a weekend in my youth as our overpowered, over-armed, under-armored cars, vans, bikes, trikes, and semis would duke it out on the highways of a post-apocalyptic world. I can especially recall the epic car crashes.
I had a van that I built with a 700 cubic-inch, internal combustion engine, twin nitrous systems, and a ram-plate; it had some small arms on it, but the idea was to crush my opponents with the ungodly speed if this monster engine hyped up on crack after I hit the nitrous. I called that van Full Tilt Boogie. We started the duel in a large arena we had mapped out on graph-paper. I hit the nitrous at one point, and almost immediately lost control of the van. I missed my target, slammed into the walls of the arena and exploded in a ball of flame. So much for that one…
Later, some friends and I had a game we played with semis and cycle gangs. Two players made the semi with a cargo of food; the other four had the cyclists and had to get the food before the semi had traveled the two miles left before we got to KC1 — the fortified Kansas City of the Car Wars universe. That was a fun game — we had put in anti-personnel grenades along the 40-foot trailer of the semi which took out more than one cyclist. Unfortunately, we did not make it… but that was a blast of a time.
This review will be a bit different from my other reviews. The rules for Car Wars are simply more than I think anyone wants me to go over. It is a complete gaming system that can range from moderate to extreme complexity, depending upon how many optional rules you have turned on. What I am going to cover in this review is not specifics, but the feel of the rules and how they empower you.
You can build it…
Car Wars is a board game and (as stated above) a complete gaming system. At its most basic, it is a collection of pre-made cars that you can race with. The initial rules had all of the movement governed by 0.25″ graph paper. Later, the rules added the turning key which allowed for a lot less clutter on the maps, and a lot more freedom in movement. That little tool was a godsend for Car Wars fans.
Movement was relatively precise, being broken into ten segments. If you were moving 100 mph, for example, you would move ten inches on the board. This movement would be broken into ten separate moves of one inch each. This kept all of the vehicles on the board in relative locations based on their velocity. If you were moving 50 mph, then you would move every other segment of time, for a total of five moves of one inch each, allowing you to cover five inches. The scale of the game was such that a typical sedan was about one-inch long, so this was car lengths as well. This helped players to visualize the game relatively easily.
The initial game was for cars. The scenario was relatively simple: in some not-too-distant future, we are in some sort of ‘Death Race’ meets ‘Mad Max’ world where cars are using power cells (which was helpful in limiting the game to 100 mph) and are armed and armored for combat.
Later, motorcycles, trikes, larger cars and trucks, semis, boats, helicopters and so on were all added. Even true military hardware (tanks!) were included in the game. But through all of this, it remained a game mired in 1970s and early 1980s style game design.
Sure, it had a relatively loyal following. Steve Jackson games kept up a line of products for it (Autoduel Quarterly, Uncle Al’s Catalogs, etc.) that continued to define and enhance the game. A full back story was developed that included the release of cross-over products that allowed you to fully role-play in the Car Wars universe — the AADA Road Atlas series was amazingly well done! I loved the post-collapse history of Iowa. It was cool in that it sounded completely plausible … unless you happen to live in the State … or a neighboring state. Honestly, the Amana Colonies will never take over Iowa. No matter what happens.
Along with those pre-built vehicles, was a detailed, and quite flexible, vehicle design system. In fact, the design system would become the basis for all GURPS vehicle and equipment design systems in the early days of that RPG system. This was good in the early days; was amazingly dated in the later days. But it was fun. Hell, designing the vehicles and seeing just how much you could pack into the car and still move a respectable speed and acceleration was a game in and of itself — much akin to the way character creation in classic Traveller was a game.
One of the most fun expansions for the game was Dueltrack. This expansion added internal combustion engines and turned everything up to eleven. In the history of the Car Wars universe, gasoline was a rare thing. it typically ran $50-100 per gallon (or as we like to say these days, the California-rate). But man could those engines put out some power! Suddenly, it was possible for you to make a car that easily exceeded 200 mph! And believe me, I did that! That expansion was a favorite of mine. I can still recall the ‘Dragster Battles’ we did. Wow!
There have been multiple failed attempts to restart the line. These have been valiant attempts, but they failed… not because of the changes to the various systems as most of the updates have been in the realm of cleaning up elements that badly needed cleaning up. They failed for reasons having to do with the intersection of old-school and modern game designs not really working well together. Steve Jackson put on the brakes and let things simmer for a while.
Then came the 6th Edition. This is the current version of the game. It is a worthy successor to the original and a lot of fun to play. It lacks some of the clunkier elements that were (in their own way) charming back in the 1980s. It is a good, fast-paced game that captures that feel of living in one of those classic post-apocalyptic movies.
Conclusions
Car Wars is a great game. The originals, in the modern thinking of games, are dinosaurs. The prep-time in those games is long; the number of rules is intimidating; the movement is fiddly, damage and automobile handling require a lot of bookkeeping, and the teach can be difficult for new players. Those are not games for everyone. But if you like old-school games with a healthy dose of chaos and mayhem, Car Wars is a great time. I cannot recommend it enough.
Car Wars 6th edition is a cleaner, more modern gaming experience that is a bit more in keeping with what people expect today. Please note I said “a bit more in keeping with” – this is still quite old-school. Much of the fiddly elements and bookkeeping remain. Streamlined, yes; truly modern, no. Perfection. As with earlier editions, if you like your games with a healthy dose of chaos and mayhem, you need this in your collection.
Afterthoughts
This is a game I want to see succeed; I’d like to see it reach the heights of its glory days with expansions being released three to five times a year. I’d love to see Car Wars tournaments with hundreds of attendees again. But I get it… my days of laying out a 6′ x 4′ clump of taped-together graph paper with the track I designed drawn on it while several of my friends eagerly wrap up the designs of their new automobiles are likely gone. It makes me a bit sad.
Assuming I can convince my current group to use some pre-designed cars and spend a few hours chucking dice, using the turning key, and trying to blow each other up in an armed demolition derby… I might be able to relive a bit of the glory of those days. At least to some degree. We’ll see.
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