Arthur Erickson
United States
Greensboro
North Carolina
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I recently visited Austin, TX, where I had the pleasure of meeting MattV (http://geekingmattv.blogspot.com) again and playing a few games with him and some of his gaming crew. We played four games in all, in two different gaming sessions.
Day 1:
3-way team event at Waco's Double Drum
Bandit attack on a tractor trailer rig
Day 2:
Cycle vs. car duel at Austin's Mueller Duelling Arena
3-way team event also at Mueller
This post will detail game 1. As always, games I run are set in an ongoing campaign currently in the year 2029. This duel occurred on May 11, 2029.
The combatants were MattV, Le Frenchman and myself. We each controlled a pair of vehicles- an Arden Motors Lothario and an Acme Chimaera.
Lothario, designed by Jeffr0
A popular vehicle commonly seen in the Free Oil States in the late 2020's. Arden Motors would later fold after its headquarters were looted by a mass cycle gang attack late in 2029.
Sedan, Heavy Chassis, Large Power Plant, Heavy Suspension, Puncture-Resistant Front & Rear Tires, Driver, front: ATG, right: 2 HR, back: RR, Weapon Link, Armor F41, R30, L30, B35, T10, U10, Accel. 5, HC 3, 5604 lbs, $12508
Chimaera, designed my Earlburt
Acme released the Chimaera in 2029, marketing it specifically to arenas for use in Amateur Night types of events. While costing less than seven thousand dollars, the vehicle manages to feature a different weapon on every facing. Its light armor could not survive a pair of its own heavy rocket hits, but once they're shot, they're gone. (FNORD Motors currently has litigation against Acme for the use of the name, Chimaera. FNORD has previously marketed a Hot Shot variant under that name featuring heavier armor, two front mounted RL's, two rear mounted FT's, and an MD with an extra magazine). The Chimaera never caught on and did not gain the traction that the Killer Kart and Stinger did as stock arena cars.
Mid-Sized. Standard Chassis, Medium Power Plant, Improved Suspension, Heavy Duty Front and Rear Tires. Driver, front: 3 HR, left: VS, right: FT, back: PS, 2x Weapon Link (2 or 3 HRs). Armor F15, R15, L15, B15, T8, U8. Accel. 5, HC 2. 4193 lbs, $6916.
The Lotharios started in one drum, using gates 4,5&6. The Chimaeras were in the other drum, using gates 1,2&3. The drums were open and drivers were free to go wherever they pleased. We started the cars in different drums simply so that the Lotharios would not be able to tear the Chimaeras apart right at the opening.
The end gates (6&1) were the bad draws, because cars in those gates had opponents to both left and right. We randomly determined who got stuck with the ends. Mercifully I did not. Matt had 6 and 2. Le Fr. had 4 and 1. I had 5 and 3.
Out of the gate, Matt's Lothario turned towards Le Frenchman's. Mine tailed Matt's for a second or two. On the other side, Le F.'s Chimaera turned towards mine and Matt trailed him. In the opening passes, some big hits were scored by the Lotharios' ATGs and three debris counters were put down. Still, nothing decisive happened. We were all hesitant to use the HRs on the Chimaeras, so the opening seconds on that side were mostly using the vehicular shotgun, due to the fact that had our left sides facing opponents. It took us a second or two to realize what we really wanted was to bring the flamethrowers to bear.
We all accelerated at roughly the same rate and all more or less headed towards the central opening. By turn 10, we had nibbled at each other a good deal and were thoroughly entangled:
Some debris is in the west and a smoke counter from a FT shot in the east.
The Lotharios are red/pink
The Chimaeras are green/teal
Close up, end of Turn 10:
Northeast is Le Frenchman's Lothario (red w/yellow stripe) heading away around the east drum. My Chimaera (green Scorcher) is heading into the middle from the NE. My Lothario (pink Applause) and Le Frenchman's Chimaera (green chassis & crossbow) are criss-cross in the center. In the southwest Matt's Lothario (pink striped Pirahna) and Le Frenchman's Chimaera are heading towards each other.
End of Turn 11:
My Lothario and Chim beat on Le F's Chim from either side. He starts to lay down paint. Matt scores a good hit on my Lothario's side (debris) before he turns to follow Le F's Chim. Le F's Lothario turns to enter the north tunnel. My Chim tries to tail Matt's.
End of turn 12:
Matt's Lothario, in handling trouble from too many turns and a Flamethrower hit from my Chim, rolls through the paint rather than risk more maneuver.
End of turn 13:
Matt & Le F's Chims peck at each other as they pass. Matt's Lothario takes a big hit from Le F's Lothario, back in the action from the north tunnel.
End of turn 14:
Matt makes one maneuver too many and rolls his Lothario into the wall on its side. It is the first casualty of the day. His driver is alive though. Le F's Lothario switches targets to Matt's Chim and knocks it out with an ATG shot through the side, killing the driver. Matt is out of the game. In the south, Le F's Chim (after being softened up by my Chim's FT) is taken out from the side by a clean ATG shot from my Lothario (finally back from the east drum), also killing the driver.
End of turn 15:
We all circle to get back in the action. Le F seems to feel confident that his barely hurt Lothario can pull down both of my more wounded cars piecemeal.
End of turn 16:
He apparently thinks better of it, and maneuvers to flee through the north tunnel. Or maybe he is low on ATG ammo, and wants to bring the RR to bear. In any event, my cars are pretty well set up to pursue.
End of turn 17:
I score a big ATG hit on his right side (debris counter).
It scored 18 damage. It was also my last ATG round  .
End of turn 19:
Knowing that his right side is gone and is the only weak spot, I worry he will escape out Gate 1. My Chim t-bones him, killing the driver and damaging the plant, rather than risk escape.
Taking a D6 hazard, my Chim then fails a control roll and goes into a roll. The speed is low, however, so the Chim simply rolls once onto its side. My Lothario, having sped up to 60 in a vain attempt to keep working on the side armor has to do some fancy maneuvering (a D3 followed by a D2) to avoid the wreckage in front of him, but he makes it.
At the end of the duel, there were three conscious drivers and three fatalities. Despite the Double Drum's excellent medical staff, big ATG hits and the ram made for a deadly match.
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Arthur Erickson
United States
Greensboro
North Carolina
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We used the Compendium, with a couple exceptions. We used a modified speed/range to-hit chart from Gurps 4e and the 5th ed. fire rules.
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Jeff Johnson
United States
Harrisonburg
Virginia
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No one used their HR's?
Wah....
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Arthur Erickson
United States
Greensboro
North Carolina
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Oh, they did. Just to no effect. Two of the Lothario's used both right HRs-- I think one of the four hit. I didn't fire either of mine.
I think one Chimaeras got off one HR, and the other two fired all three. Again though, maybe only one or two connected.
There was actually very little tailgating and parrallel movement overall. There was much more criss-cross and crossing the T type of action. The best to-hit roll anyone had with an HR was 8. Mostly the HRs had 10/11s.
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Herodian Smith
United States
Alabama
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Excellent report! Makes me want to drag this game out and take a look at it again after twenty years...
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Jeff Johnson
United States
Harrisonburg
Virginia
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Cross posting for those digging through their copies of GURPS Autoduel:
It's the Speed/Range chart from GURPS 4e... converted to CAR WARS inches and mph... and then tweaked slightly to more-or-less yield the same results as the basic CAR WARS pocket box modifiers for typical ranges and speeds. I pretty much made it up.
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Aaron Krogh
United States
Spokane Valley
Washington
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Great Report! Very Nice writeup and quality pics.
I've been working on getting back into Car Wars after a 2 decade hiatus. Used to play all the time in the mid 80's.
I am currently in the planning stage for starting a campaign for my gaming group. (most of whom have never played) and this is great inspiration.
thx
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Arthur Erickson
United States
Greensboro
North Carolina
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The Car Wars boards at the SJG site sometimes have some good campaign/scenario threads. There's a good one running right now--
http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=74372
Just skip the posts arguing about rules and weapon capabilities, which is roughly half of them.
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Aaron Krogh
United States
Spokane Valley
Washington
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thanks for the link. I've been perusing the sjgames forums a bit. I did see an interesting thread about alternate fire rules...
I'm pretty intent on sticking with the the Deluxe Rules (v2.5?) but i would like to know where the new (v5.0?) fire rules are printed so i can see if those might be a better fit...
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Jeff Johnson
United States
Harrisonburg
Virginia
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The 5th edition fire rules are in the "Division XX Set N" Booklets:
http://www.warehouse23.com/info/carwars.html
They all have the same rules... just different cars and countersheets. The rules are streamlined and fast-playing-- three-phase movement, no movement chart (move you speed in inches per phase), hotwheels scale, etc. At thoughtful implementation of the rules that went over like a lead zeppelin.
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Aaron Krogh
United States
Spokane Valley
Washington
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Thanks for the info.
I'll post about my campaign once I get all the setup worked out!
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Matt Velentgas
United States
Austin
Texas
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This was a fantastic arena duel. I've never played Car Wars controlling more than one car, and this time we all controlled two. With three players controlling two cars you area always in the action.
I liked the combination of cars we decided on. The Lothario is much tougher, but is susceptable to the Chimera's flame weapon. The Chimera is an interesting car to game with having all the options.
This was also my first time dueing at the Double Drum. I've heard it mentioned again and again and it is popular with many players, but I never understood why. I had thought two circular areas connected isn't all interesting, but it is a good size with just enough options for manuevering.
This car wars duel would be in my top 5 Car Wars games I've played in.
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Posted Fri Nov 12, 2010 4:08 am
