Now On Kickstarter!

[Shadekeep]

Haven't played Car Wars since the original days of the game, but I'm loving how it's been retooled for 6th Edition. It seems really dynamic and a lot more accessible. Original Car Wars was okay with me because I was used to Star Fleet Battles, but some players seemed to find it overly fiddly in terms of mechanics. This one appears to be streamlined with an emphasis on fun. If it plays as good as it looks, it'll be a winner!

And I too pledged for the day-one $139 tier. It's already up to an unfeasible amount of gaming booty, with more than a month left to go.

Oh, and a quick word about the Crew Cards - love 'em! They remind me a bit of the 80's cartoon M.A.S.K., with the special abilities and the groovy code names. Well done!

[philreed]

The $340,000 stretch goal has been unlocked:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...-jackson-games

[beetle496]

Originally Posted by philreed

I promise you have blocked some memories.

Originally Posted by kbs666

Maybe you have a higher tolerance for this but a 6 player arena fight took 2 days to complete for me and friends on a couple of occasions.

Thanks for the replies! I am beginning to recover memories of arenas battles never completed...

Originally Posted by Parody

For the last ~20 years we've been playing CWC2+UACFH with 5-8 players most months and a maximum time limit of 6 hours.

Glad to hear you still having a good time with it! I don’t know that I will ever plan to play a six hour board game any time in the near future.

We also enjoy designing vehicles in the time between games.

Reflecting back, that might have my favorite aspect of the game.

When looking at Sixth Edition, though, set aside what you know about Car Wars except for the concept of “Cars with Guns”. This is a different game and should be evaluated as such.

I get that, and I think I like all the changes I have seen so far! (Except that it seems to me, because of how turns alternate — and that there is only one movement phase, a slower car can ram a faster car from behind?)

[philreed]

Originally Posted by beetle496

(Except that it seems to me, because of how turns alternate — and that there is only one movement phase, a slower car can ram a faster car from behind?)

Yes, because the game is an abstraction and not a realistic simulation. Every round is a snapshot of combat.

[HeatDeath]

One of the really neat things about the game is the way movement order changes every turn, but in a deterministic manner you can plan around. You have to pay real attention to who's moving after you, and who moved before you.

In simulationist terms, your speed is far less important to your move order than your "initiative". There's a good realist argument to be made there, as well as an interesting possibility for a more variable initiative rule [though the box set's simple rotation is definitely a better default for a current mass-market game than Battletech-style initiative, let alone B5Wars-style initiative!].

But yeah, don't stop a few car lengths in front of someone who hasn't moved yet. :)

[Parody]

Originally Posted by beetle496

Glad to hear you still having a good time with it! I don’t know that I will ever plan to play a six hour board game any time in the near future.

It's no different than any other leisure activity: if it's something you want to do you need to set aside some time for it. Some aspects of life may make it more difficult, but that's OK. There are things more important than Car Wars!

Hopefully, if you choose to purchase the new game, you will find its more casual nature means you can find time to play. For us, I wonder if making it less of an event to play would make us less likely to get together. Guess that's one way to solve that four player limitation. :(

[beetle496]

Originally Posted by philreed

The $340,000 stretch goal has been unlocked

I am in at $139 level.
I am 90% I want Miniature Set 2 and Playmat #2.
I think I see where I can add $80 to my pledge. I have not done that yet.

1. Should I be able to find a way to pre-order those two items, or otherwise explicitly indicate what the extra pledge money is for?
2. If no, why add the $80 now instead of waiting for when the Kickstarter ends? What do I risk/lose by waiting until the product ships? [I think the (only) reason to up my pledge now is so that my $80 would add to the stretch goals. Is that correct? (If so, then that is not a very compelling reason to me, sorry.)]
3. The one other add-on I know I want for sure is two more dashboards. The $139 level includes plenty of miniatures and skids and weapon cards, etc. Will the dashboards ever be available separately? (The $50 two-player add-on is temping, but I would resent having the duplicated miniatures. So I think if ever want to even try hosting 6/8 player, I will be demanding that someone else buy their own set.)
4. I am hoping the post-Kickstarter retail versions include an option without miniatures at all. Any chance of that? Would I be correct in assuming that the miniatures are one of the more expensive components? Plainly, the miniatures are the least important component, so it would be a shame if a significantly-higher-than-necessary retail price inhibited adoption.
5. Is this a good forum for asking these sort of questions? (The Kickstarter page itself IMHO is kind of a mess for Q&A. I could easily ask these questions there. But I find no mechanism there for my tracking my questions!)

[Frumious]

My typical Kickstarter experience has been that after the kickstarter ends, Kickstarter will charge you for the amount you've pledged. Then a week goes by to track down credit card errors, and get those fixed. Some time after that (typically a few weeks, but it depends on how long it takes to get set up and smoke tested) you'll get a email to a pledge manager web site (backerkit) that will give you credit for what you pledged on Kickstarter, and allow you specify which add-ons you want the extra funds to go to, and/or add more funds for more add-ons and also pay for shipping. Some time after that the pledge manager will close and you'll be charged for the shipping and add-ons. Some (long) time after that, your packages will show up. There may be a round of "last change to change your mailing address" emails before things ship.

So:

1. Right now all you can do is add the $80 to your pledge, you'll say what it's for later in the pledge manager.

2. Stretch goals benefit everyone. You can wait slightly longer to pay for add-ons and shipping when the pledge manager goes live, but you'll still end up paying before it ships. I typically don't add funds for shipping until the pledge manager calculates it for me, so I don't make a mistake. SJ Games has always delivered, so I'm not worried about risk there.

3. If you want more dashboards for more cars, you also need tokens and cards to make/play those cars, so discussion on the Kickstarter comments suggested that another core set makes the most sense cost-wise for both sides (to avoid extra labor/packaging costs). More than 4 players is not officially supported and will take a longer time to play, and a 36x36 arena might be too crowded, etc.

See the 2nd tab (Unofficial FAQ) where I pulled out all the replies from the Kickstarter comments - there's a section about games with more than 4 players:

https://www.google.com/url?q=https:/...it?usp=sharing

4. I don't know. They've said "Go on and tell us what you want" and they want new ideas to consider. People are back at work on Monday.

5. If you ask on the Kickstarter comments and someone replies, you can configure your notification settings so you'll see it (e.g. via email) - https://www.kickstarter.com/settings/notifications

[PresidentTwoeagles]

I watched that drag race video without interruption and really sunk into it and I must say I'm really excited about the gameplay. In just that video and looking at images of the dashboards and the cleverness there and how the dice rolls on the cards work it all looks really straightforward and fun. When I watched that 90-minute video a few weeks ago I couldn't make sense of all the tokens and dice flying around but after the race it's really clear on how it all works. And it was fast paced while still explaining how things were happening without really bogging down the playtime. It might be wise to do some adjustments on that assault rifle though :)

When I read some of the comments from the naysayers on these videos, it makes me a bit sad. What were they expecting from a new edition? If they like how the old edition worked, play that - or play this edition and make house rules if you want! And why complain about the bases? The curves that allow better conforming movement after a collsition work great. The old counters are just rectangles with a car image on it, how is that different than a base with a miniature on top? In a world with X-Wing we all should be used to bases by now.

[philreed]

Originally Posted by beetle496

Should I be able to find a way to pre-order those two items, or otherwise explicitly indicate what the extra pledge money is for?

To include add-ons in your rewards, increase your pledge in Kickstarter. In the BackerKit survey, opened later, you''ll make your exact selections.

Originally Posted by beetle496

If no, why add the $80 now instead of waiting for when the Kickstarter ends? What do I risk/lose by waiting until the product ships? [I think the (only) reason to up my pledge now is so that my $80 would add to the stretch goals. Is that correct? (If so, then that is not a very compelling reason to me, sorry.)

Only you can make this decision.

Originally Posted by beetle496

The one other add-on I know I want for sure is two more dashboards. The $139 level includes plenty of miniatures and skids and weapon cards, etc. Will the dashboards ever be available separately? (The $50 two-player add-on is temping, but I would resent having the duplicated miniatures. So I think if ever want to even try hosting 6/8 player, I will be demanding that someone else buy their own set.)

There is no $50 two-player add-on. The only official add-ons are those listed on the page. If the list is updated with new add-on options, we'll announce those in a project update.

Originally Posted by beetle496

I am hoping the post-Kickstarter retail versions include an option without miniatures at all.

This will not be an option

Originally Posted by beetle496

Is this a good forum for asking these sort of questions? (The Kickstarter page itself IMHO is kind of a mess for Q&A. I could easily ask these questions there. But I find no mechanism there for my tracking my questions!)

You may ask questions here. We'll answer as best we can and as we have time.