Restarting the Egnines: Which One First?

[Wanderhoof]

Hello there, everyone!

So, I have decided to get back into Car Wars by buying some of the PDF reprints from Warehouse 23. Back in the day, I bought the pocket boxes and other materials sequentially as they came out (Car Wars, Sunday Drivers, Truck Stop, the Uncle Albert's and the ADQ's). That made for a fun progression of excitement and discovery, always anxiously awaiting the next new bit of material to come out.

Now, however, I can just start right away with the Compendium and have 99% of the rules right off the bat. This would also initially save quite a bit of money. However, I would be missing out on a quite a bit of the 'flavor' of Car Wars that was sprinkled throughout the pocket box editions and the Uncle Albert's and ADQ's. Of course, if I go the 'sequential' route again, it does mean that these purchases will be spread out over many months, and thus I will have to wait to use things I already know about but would not have the rules for, not to mention missing out on some of the errata corrections.

Thoughts? Advice?

[owenmp]

Wanderhoof,

Car Wars Compendium 2.5 with Uncle Albert's Catalog From Hell (UACFH) gives almost all of the current rules for Car Wars 4E.

I highly recommend purchasing the Car Wars Classic Box Set. It includes two arena maps published in no other Car Wars product, and its rulebook is based on Car Wars Compendium 2.5. Car Wars Classic is an excellent set of rules to introduce Car Wars 4E to new players and veteran Car Wars players without overwhelming them with all of the details in Car Wars Compendium 2.5 and UACFH.

The Car Wars Classic rulebook is also available as a no-cost PDF on the SJ Games Car Wars Web site.

Consider purchasing Car Wars Deluxe Edition on Warehouse 23. It includes Car Wars Compendium 2.5, the Truck Stop map, and two Midville maps.

Arena supplements such as the ones below will give you fun maps and background material.

Arena Book 1988 Edition
L'Outrance: The AADA Duel Circuit
Car Wars Expansion Set #4: Armadillo Autoduel Arena
Car Wars Expansion Set #5: Double Arena
Car Wars Expansion Set #7: Ozark Off-Road Autoduel Arena
Car Wars Expansion Set #9: Muskogee Fairgrounds and Family Emporium
Muskogee Mayhem: A Car Wars Adventure Pack
Car Wars Classic Arenas 1
Car Wars Classic Arenas 2

The 40 issues of Autoduel Quarterly and the seven volumes of the AADA Road Atlas and Survival Guide are excellent for details on the Autoduel America gameworld, details highly recommended for scenarios and campaigns.

[Wanderhoof]

owenmp,

Thanks for you thoughts and breakdown of the products available.

After looking at the products available, reading through your reply, and pondering it overt a bit, I think I have a roadmap for how I want to approach getting back into car wars:

1) I am going to download and print out the Classic Car Wars rules from the website. That will give me plenty to scrape the rust off with for quite awhile as I re-familiarize with the rules. Also, it will be a good starting point to introduce my son into Car Wars.

2) I will buy the Deluxe Edition and the UACFH so that I have a comprehensive copy of nearly all the rules I could possibly want, need, or use. It's there for when I am ready for it, basically.

3) Maybe once a month or once every other month, I will purchase one or two of the other items to get the feeling of excitement I had getting the Car Wars products when they originally came out. So, Get the 'box set' version of the Car Wars rules, then Crash City, then maybe an ADQ and an UA catalog, then Truck Stop, and so on. This will also allow me to pace out the introduction of more and more rules, while already having the Compendium to make sure I have errata corrections along the way.

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I appreciate your input on the matter, and am always open to more input and advice.

Happy dueling! And remember: Drive Offensively!

[owenmp]

Wanderhoof,

You are welcome. You probably remember the 64-page Car Wars Deluxe Edition rulebook in 1985 (with a white-and-black front cover) combined Pocket Box Car Wars, Pocket Box Sunday Drivers/Crash City, and Pocket Box Truck Stop.

Car Wars Compendium Second Edition Fifth Printing (CWC 2.5) has replaced Car Wars Deluxe Edition rulebook in the Car Wars Deluxe Edition set available on Warehouse 23.

The current version of Car Wars Deluxe Edition includes background material from Crash City and Truck Stop. CWC 2.5 has the construction rules for oversized vehicles from Truck Stop, and the rules for pedestrians from Crash City.

Many gamers who play Car Wars Fourth Edition (Car Wars 4E), the set of rules discussed in Car Wars Compendium 2.5 and UACFH, have created custom playing materials in 3X Car Wars scale, permitting 1/64 die-cast vehicles from Hot Wheels, Matchbox, and other die-cast lines to be used. An advantage of 3X Car Wars scale for Car Wars 4E is the miniatures can be used with the under-production Car Wars Sixth Edition (Car Wars 6E), and the multiple other car combat tabletop game rules available today from other sources. SJ Games Forum User Magesmiley has built gorgeous 3-D arenas in 3X Car Wars scale, and uses Hot Wheels, Matchbox, and the out of print Jada Battle Machines for Car Wars 4E games at Seattle area gaming conventions.

Car Wars 1X scale is not obsolete. Unless you have a large amount of room, playing all six maps of Midville is easiest in 1X Car Wars scale versus upscaling to 3X Car Wars scale. Pre-printed maps in 1X Car Wars scale are excellent for Car Wars players with limited gaming space or limited gaming time to produce custom and upscaled gaming materials.

My Web site is long overdue for reorganizing, but it still has a few useful resources for Car Wars. You might find some helpful information on it.

If you have not already, I highly recommend you watch the movies Death Race (2008), Death Race 2 (2010), and Death Race 3: Inferno (2013). If you have not seen them, watch the movies in the order of Death Race 2, Death Race 3: Inferno, and Death Race. The Death Race Trilogy is as closest to arena autoduelling and combat racing action of Car Wars being shown on a movie screen. The Swords, Shields, and Death Heads pressure plate system from the Death Race Trilogy should work well for Car Wars arena fights and combat races.

Feel free to drop me a note if you have further questions or want to discuss the game. Welcome back to the sport of autoduelling.