Car modifier games

The Basics

Q. Car Wars? I heard of that once. What is it?

A. Car Wars is the game of automotive combat in the glittering arenas, crumbling highways, dirt roads, and apocalyptic wastelands of a grim future. It was originally published in 1981. Players can custom build cars, motorcycles, trucks and buses, and more exotic transportation, like helicopters, trikes, boats, hovercraft, and even more. Players load their vehicles up with arms and armor, then take to the open road to see who is King of the Highway – and who's roadkill.

Q. Is it complicated?

A. It can be, but it doesn't have to. Movement and Combat play a lot like an old-school miniatures game. Designing your own vehicles can be just as complicated as you want to make it. The game provides literally hundreds of pre-designed vehicles to play with, though, so there are shortcuts.

Q. So how many different editions of Car Wars are there?

A. Good question. The game started in a small plastic bag, and then graduated to a black plastic Pocket Box. Deluxe Car Wars came out as a boxed set complete with maps, counters, road sections, and a comprehensive rulebook. A few years later, we put out Car Wars Classic, a simpler, low-cost version of the game. Then came the Fifth Edition (1990), with some major changes in scale and rules.

Fifth Edition

Q. What's different about the Fifth Edition?

A. Visually, the big difference is: the scale is three times as large, and there is no longer a grid (or a map). The Turning Key determines all movement.

In terms of play, Fifth Edition goes much faster. In the last office playtest, for instance, seven players, all of them new to this edition and some of them new to the game, finished a Division 15 game in 1½ hours. That's with six kills. It's fast because we dropped a lot of complexity. We went back to First Edition and redeveloped from there . . . though of course we did keep later editions in mind, because there WERE a lot of good ideas in the past 15 years.

Q. What are some of the other differences in the rules?

A. A few:

• Each turn has only three phases. Movement is the same in all phases.
• You are now rolling LOW to hit, which speeds your mental calculations and makes the die-rolling quicker.
• Wheel hubs are a separate component, making wheels a bit tougher.
• Characters are killed by the FOURTH hit.
• Most of the charts and tables are printed on the Turning Key, so you don't have to look for them.
• Collision rules are vastly simplified.

Q. So is this edition compatible with older editions?

A. No. You can adapt some cars, and old arenas are easy to scale up and use, but this is intended to be a fresh start. Compatibility was not a priority. Any time an old rule got in the way of fast play, we changed it or ditched it completely.