From the Big Box: Car Wars Deluxe

Time for another game from the big box of random boxed sets! Last time it was Warhammer this time it's . . .

This is going to be an image heavy blog as there's a ton of stuff in the box, and I haven't got a lot to say about it. So mostly pics. Sorry if that's a problem for anyone, but you've been warned.

I don't know what was originally in this boxed set, but mine is stuffed full of supplements, flyers, maps, counters, scraps of paper, and even a notebook, pen, and paper.

The introduction says . . .

Why is Car Wars so popular? I think the main reason is that it's an "accessible" fantasy. Everyone who's been behind the wheel of a car or motorcycle has encountered an idiot in traffic, and the universal  response seems to be, "If I only had some guns mounted on this baby, I'd show that bozo what's what!" Well this game gives you those guns! Of course, the bozos have guns too . . ."

Of course it wasn't that universal to me as 15 whose main mode of transport was the school bus, but I must have took some notice of this as I found a scrap of paper in the box witha car design in my illterate schoolboy scrawl and I'd named the driver Billy Bozo!

I remember my mate getting this boxed set, but don't really remembering us playing it that much. Judging by the evidence though . . .

. . . we really liked designing vehicles. I wonder if were slightly disappointed that it was more of a skirmishing game than an RPG. That and we didn't really know much about drift, cornering, and torque. Still, guns and gadgets = fun.

You can tell that's what we liked by the book marks my mate stuffed in the rulebook . . .

As for the rules; well they're full of the types of details that these days make my eyes glaze over, but as a kid I'd probably have been stoked at the 'realism'. Like I said I don't remember playing this much, but maybe it's the reason GURPS (and especially its fonts and layout) felt like an immediate fit for me when I grabbed it up nearly ten years later.

I wonder if the reason we didn't really get into that much was also because it's the sort of game that even our primitive Spectrum 48Ks, Commadore 64s, and BBC Micro's could handle better.

In fact I've no interest in playing Car Wars these days, but I'd kickstart the shit out of a SJG Car Wars MMORPG.

The game play in car wars is very much a wargame style. You have a basic scenario like Autoduelists defending a truckstop from roving bike gangs, and each side has a budget to build and arm their cars and then you play it all out on maps and track sections using 2d cardboard counters. I'm not sure if there was a range of miniatures, but the average scenario would need a lot of lead and cost a bit.

One of the fun things about using the track sections is that you can design your own Autoduel tracks.

Maybe it was just me that wasn't that interested, after all my mate bought quite a lot of supplements for this game . . .

I actually find these supplements more fun than the rules. And just to up the nostalgia factor I always find this sort of stuff interesting these days too . . .

Anyway thank's  KLC for doing such a great job of assembling Car Wars Deluxe!