Simplified Rules

[dartful]

I was wondering if there are simplified rules for car wars.

I played Car Wars in highschool (Over 20 years ago). Recently a friend bought me a new print of the game. Honestly I don't know how I played it 20 years ago. It looks like the same rule book, but it gives me a headache trying to figure it out.

I saw a new game called Gaslands it looks like Wings of War mechanics.

I prefer the turn tool and scale of Car Wars.

Are there rules that aren't so involved and you can just start playing, instead of hours building cars and dozens of graphs and charts to reference?

Sorry if I sound like I'm trashing the game, I'm not. I loved the game 20 years ago, but now I'm to old to figure it out and I don't have the time I did. I just want to drive around with guns and/or rockets attached to my car causing assorted damage.

[Magesmiley]

Originally Posted by dartful

I was wondering if there are simplified rules for car wars.

I played Car Wars in highschool (Over 20 years ago). Recently a friend bought me a new print of the game. Honestly I don't know how I played it 20 years ago. It looks like the same rule book, but it gives me a headache trying to figure it out.

I saw a new game called Gaslands it looks like Wings of War mechanics.

I prefer the turn tool and scale of Car Wars.

Are there rules that aren't so involved and you can just start playing, instead of hours building cars and dozens of graphs and charts to reference?

Sorry if I sound like I'm trashing the game, I'm not. I loved the game 20 years ago, but now I'm to old to figure it out and I don't have the time I did. I just want to drive around with guns and/or rockets attached to my car causing assorted damage.

It's understandable. The Classic rules can be hard to comprehend and make sense of. It's a bit harder than the pocket box actually. The items from the large cut-apart sheet became part of the rule book, which made them less useful as play aids. They're still in the book though.

Keep in mind that there are really two parts to the game - designing and game play, and tackling those issues are kind of two different beasts.

Starting with the game play. The charts are a bit dated. They're part of the rules currently in print, and kind of hard to rip out entirely (keep your eyes on the horizon for the 6th edition being developed though). The key charts you need for the bulk of game play are the movement table, the control table, and the targeting modifiers.

The crash tables and collision procedures are only needed when those things occur and pretty much round out the important ones for game play.

The core of the game play isn't too complex. The hard part is really parsing it from the rules. Look at the 7th post in this thread for a turn summary to help you figure out the flow of play.

You don't have to design cars from scratch. The Combat Garage is a great online tool for designing and printing out car designs or for using ones that other players have created. If you want a quick intro car to try out, print a sheet off for every player using this design. It's the one that I use for my convention games which is designed to teach players to play while not dragging the game out too much.

Hopefully these help somewhat. I keep meaning to take a crack at recording a YouTube video on how to play. I think it's going to make it to the top of my plate soon.

[swordtart]

If you free your self from the tyranny of having to design the optimum car and just use stock ones from the rule books and the AADA vehicle guides* then you can concentrate on drivin', shootin' and crashin'. Most of the designs in VG1 didn't have any of the rule bending gimcracks that appeared in later editions of the game.

If you are content to ignore the design aspects you might also consider 5th edition as there never was any design rules (though there are fan created ones).

5th is by all accounts pretty solid. It's main failings in the eyes of die-hard CW fans were:
a) the expensive way you had to buy it (having to buy the rules every time you wanted a half a dozen more car designs) - this is less of an issue since the division 5 design supplement came out and the PDFs on E23 are quite reasonably priced.
b) the afore-mentioned lack of vehicle design rules. This is only an issue if you are coming to the game from the old school, of you never knew any better or wish to avoid math-wars it may not be such an issue.
c) it is scales to matchbox cars and so everything is 3 times bigger than the original game. You can't play one of the big 2 page arenas at that scale, but if you are after simplicity you can easily manage a small arena on a table top and have lots of close up battling (which is generally what it all degenerates into anyway). You get a 3x scale turning key, so you don't need a grid.

On the upside, you can spend the time you would have designing vehicles on choosing (or modifying) matchbox cars and 3d terrain. This may also capture the 3d impact of WoW. If you can't be bothered use the 2d car counters supplied and make an arena from books, cans and placemats etc.

*Ignoring design rules means you can also gloss over some of the appallingly illegal designs that increasingly appeared in VG2 and VG3. Just accept them at face value. If everyone can choose what they want then it is fair. There are no cars that are optimal in all situations so embrace the chaos.

[dartful]

Thanks,

I looked around and realized I must have been playing an earlier version, because I remember the grid and I don't remember the turn key, although the open environment the turn key adds is awesome.

Gaslands looks close to what I want, but it's just missing the mark for me. I have high hopes for the 6th edition.

While I'm waiting for 6, I'll go through the prebuilt cars and print out a few equally balanced cars and give 5th another try.

Thanks again.

[Magesmiley]

Originally Posted by dartful

Thanks,

I looked around and realized I must have been playing an earlier version, because I remember the grid and I don't remember the turn key, although the open environment the turn key adds is awesome.

Gaslands looks close to what I want, but it's just missing the mark for me. I have high hopes for the 6th edition.

While I'm waiting for 6, I'll go through the prebuilt cars and print out a few equally balanced cars and give 5th another try.

Thanks again.

To clarify Swordtart's comments:

The Car Wars set which is currently in-print is part of the 4th edition rules, which is fairly close to the Pocket Box (1st edition), Deluxe Car Wars (white cover rulebook) (2nd edition), First Edition Compendium (3rd edition), and Second Edition Compendium (4th Edition). All of these used the gridded maps which you're referring to. The Turn Key was created late in the first edition (Expansion Set 2, if my memory serves me) and never was included in the pocket box, though it was included in all versions of the Deluxe Edition.

The Fifth Edition sets which Swordtart is referring to have a significantly different rules set than the other editions. They're only available in electronic form currently, unless you want to try E-Bay.

[jimmylogan]

First - good luck and welcome back!!!

Second - I run games all the time as PBEM (play by email, though now we're using Slack) - you're welcome to drop in and spectate and maybe get back up to speed (and you're welcome to play in a future event if you'd like)

Third - I have looked at Gaslands, but havne't made the jump yet... I love the IDEA of it, though!

[43Supporter]

I have a bunch of "simplifications" stashed away, if you're interested. (Fire and Explosion in one paragraph, with no tables? Got it. Two-sentence indirect-fire/grenades? Yup.)

[C. J. Burke]

Originally Posted by swordtart

If you free your self from the tyranny of having to design the optimum car and just use stock ones from the rule books and the AADA vehicle guides* then you can concentrate on drivin', shootin' and crashin'.

This ranks up there with the last time my brother played M:tG with me (many years ago). We just grabbed a couple of starter packs and played. No one would design a deck with firebreathing grizzly bears, but they are OH so much Fun!

Stock cars are fun and if the contest is really one-sided, then you can think of customizing or just taking a different car.

[Chris Goodwin]

If you go to the "Targeting modifiers" thread, and read through it, both Hawke and I have worked on a play aid to make tracking movement much faster and easier. I don't know if I shared my version, but Hawke did, so you can find a link to his at Boardgamegeek. I'll share mine later tonight or tomorrow, if there's demand. Print out one of those for each player, some cutting and assembling, and you'll pretty much eliminate the "How fast was I going again?" table talk that ate up so much game time.

[Toltrin]

Simplified means:
1. Less choice in each turn.
2. Less detail that matters (3 'turns', not 10 phases).
Computers are here and everyone has one.
Even the most basic computer with minimal RAM can handle the hundreds of steps to make a car wars game a reality.