I was really excited when I saw AutoDuel coming up on the list. I remembered playing it on my Commodore 64 over 20 years ago. I was looking forward to the ultra-tactical combat involving dozens of vehicles, in which you would pull your 24-person bus alongside the outlaw gang's tractor trailer unit, unload a volley of rifles, and then board it.
Car Wars, by Steve Jackson Games, has been one of my all-time favourite board games since I was still at Simon De Montfort Middle School in 1984, so I'm sure you can understand my frustration that the map for one of the games classic supplements 'Autoduel Champions (Second Edition)' has become extremely difficult to come by in recent years, even the official Warehouse 23 pdf, sadly lacks this crucial map, which is an integral part of the supplement. Now just imagine my delight when a couple of nights ago I found an image of this rare map via the 'Ecosia Search Engine'. It was rather grainy and somewhat smaller in size than the original, but it was still perfectly adequate for my needs, which were to own a fully playable product (see Autoduel Champions map jpeg below).
As a result of my find, I today embarked upon a personal project to sketch a precise replicated map at the exact original A1 1/4' scale (see sketch drawing jpeg below). For those of you who play Car Wars and are unaware, you can still purchase 'Car Wars Blank Map Sheets' today. Simply follow this link and add a tube to your shopping cart.
You, like me, will then be able to use the original map jpeg with its 1/4' Square Grid to reproduce your very own Autoduel Champions Gaming Map and experience the thrill of Champions RPG Superhero characters in your Autoduelling Adventures. All that I needed to achieve this task, was one Car Wars Blank Map Sheet, a Black Fine Point Sharpie, a Scale Ruler, four paper metal clips and a very basic A1 Technical Drawing Board, plus an hour or so of your time. I'm sharing this post on my Social Media channels now, in the hope that it may inspire or encourage other 'Autoduel Champions' enthusiasts to maybe try something similar and once again experience their enjoyment of this much-loved game.#sjgames #warehouse23 #champions #herosystem #championsrpg #superhero #carwars #justinknightfloorplans #justinknightcartography. Wasters often adopt off-trend vehicle prints that find their way from the GigaCity ReproUnits to the markets and scrap heaps of the shanties beyond the walls. Vintage models are especially prized as physical embodiments of the ‘AntiNow’, a lost age before the tyranny of the AI controlled GigaCities.#postapoc #cyberpunk #hotwheelscustom #mycustomhotwheels #warmongers #wargaming #miniatures#customhotwheels #scalemodelcar #164diecast #164scale #customdiecast #diecastcars #postapocalyptic #tabletopgames #wasteland #pickup. OK, so, way back in 1980, Steve Jackson Games released Car Wars, a post-apocalyptic vehicle combat simulation board game. It came in a baggie, as was the way of things back then.
You might think it was inspired by Mad Max (1979), but it actually came out of an Alan Dean Foster story, “Why Johnny Can’t Speed.” Car Wars is cool, and I will probably cover it eventually, but as a board game, it kind of falls apart after it introduced vehicles that weren’t cars or trucks.¶ Autoduel (1986) has no such problems. While Car Wars was limited by maps and table sizes, Autoduel, like most tabletop RPGs, just needs space inside your brain.
Mostly. ¶ In Autoduel, you get the setting background (a post-apocalyptic America, where autoduelists roam the highways looking for adventure), character creation rules, vehicle creation rules and a super robust system for vehicle to vehicle combat. This allows you to participate in all the vehicular manslaughter you could possibly desire. ¶ Funny thing, though: Autoduel holds up as a solid campaign setting even if your characters never take the wheel of a car. The world, with is clones and competition circuit and political factions, does more than just provide an excuse to play chicken on a ruined highway. SJG thought so too, publishing seven regional sourcebook over the years as well as a pile of scenarios. It is easy to see how this would hold up on its own, or be an invaluable component of a custom post-apocalyptic game. ¶ Bonus: this is a GURPS book with pretty good art, too! ¶ Patreon link in bio! This armoured recon vehicle’s patrolling an irradiated expanse north of GC9 to ensure no unregistered mobile shanties or bandits use the cover of an encroaching dust storm to cross the GigaCity exclusion zone.Wheel mounted Grinders protect it’s AdapTread tyres which morph to counter variable wasteland terrain.
Armed with a Dust Devil missile system that locks onto exhaust heat signatures the driver can neutralise suspicious vehicles from a safe distance and amid the fiercest sand storms.#postapocalypse #postapoc #cyberpunk #hotwheelscustom #mycustomhotwheels #warmongers #wargaming #miniatures#customhotwheels #scalemodelcar #164diecast #164scale #customdiecast #diecastcars #wasteland #dunebuggy #dicemechanicgames. Maybe you want your Car Wars game to feel more like a Mad Max-style Road Warrior, then get yourself the Fall 2033 issue of Autoduel Quarterly for the Chassis & Crossbow rules. Besides rules for “low-tech” autodueling, you get an alternate, retconned timeline for the Car Wars universe and a very Road Warrior-style scenario called “Playing with Fire.” One player controls the refinery and the other the raiders. Art by Speed Webber and David Martin (Games of Berkeley Ad).
Art for the Compleat Strategist “How to Own the Open Roads” ad unattributed.#boardgamegeek #deathrace2000 #alandeanfoster #whyjohnnycantspeed #lordhumungus #wez #toecutter #immortanjoe #maxrockatansky #rictuserectus #imperatorfuriosa #ttrpg #tabletopgame #tabletopgames #tabletoprpg #postapocalyptic #postapocalypticworld #dystopia #americanautoduelassociation #gaslands. Maybe you want Car Wars to play somewhat like an RPG. In Convoy, your characters have signed up to drive a tanker full of disease-resistant algae (i.e., food) from Lexington to Memphis in 13 hours. Requires 6 characters across 1-6 players and can be played solitaire. The “choose-your-own adventure” style reminds me of solo adventures for Tunnels and Trolls. In Convoy, you resolve combat with road sections and play like regular Car Wars. Illustrations by Daniel E.
Carroll.#americanautoduelassociation #aada #postapocalyptic #postapocalypticworld #wargame #ttrpg #tabletopgame #tabletopgames #tabletopgaming #tabletoprpg #gaslands #alandeanfoster #whyjohnnycantspeed #deathrace2000 #roleplayinggame #boardgame #boardgames #boardgamegeek #scifiboardgames #simulationgame. Maybe you like the basic world of Car Wars but would rather play a simpler version with familiar mechanics, then Car Wars—The Card Game would be right for you. Whereas MiniCar Wars simplifies the simulation rules of the classic edition, the card game abstracts the mechanics. It gives the flavor of the world setting but not really the experience of Car Wars.
It’s a quick and simple game which should always have a place in every gamer’s repertoire.#whyjohnnycantspeed #tabletopgame #tabletopgames #boardgame #boardgames #boardgamegeek #ttrpg #tabletoprpg #roleplayinggame #roleplayinggames #gaslands #madmaxfuryroad #autoduel #americanautoduelassociation #wasteland #deathrace #aada #postapocalypticgame #wargames #scifigame. Maybe you want to give Car Wars a try but you don’t want to invest the time in the relatively complex simulation rules or the money on the classic rules (4th Ed.) box set, then Mini Car Wars is for you. For only $2.50 you can get simplified rules and a cut-out straight roadway and vehicle and debris tokens. It may be limited in replayability but at that price point can you really complain? I absolutely love the idea of a complete game, rules and pieces, that can be printed in a pamphlet.
I have a version of Ogre that also comes in a simplified form.#ttrpg #tabletoprpg #gaslands #alandeanfoster #whyjohnnycantspeed #autoduel #americanautoduelassociation #aada #deathrace2000 #deathrace #wasteland #boardgames #boardgame #boardgamegeek #wargame #wargames #tabletoproleplayinggames #roleplayinggame #scifigame #postapocalypticgame. I’m going to try a theme here. Given my last post on Tiny Wastelands and recent post on a game he is developing, let’s take a look at the post-apocalyptic genre.
Car Wars was a game I admired as a teenager in the 80s pouring over my friend’s books but never got to play until about three years ago. The game is very fun but mentally taxing in terms of rules. The classic rules strongly emphasize simulation, making for a fairly crunchy system. The included arena and track are somewhat hard to use being a very large piece of folded paper. The many creases make it difficult to play on. But the basic concept is intriguing.
Life after the collapse, due to government overreach of natural resources and food shortages from widespread crop disease, turns to bloodsports as a diversion. Car Wars is the result. The game setting evokes Mad Max but with a unique 80s sci-fi flavor (e.g., most cars are electric not i.c.e.). Supposedly, a new edition is in the works that I imagine tamps down the crunchiness, but it’s long overdue originally planned to come out in 2016.
Meanwhile Gaslands has become a more popular Mad Max-style game. Playing pieces for illustration purposes only—not a game in play).
Cover Art by David R. Deitrick.#tabletopgame #tabletopgames #boardgame #boardgames #boardgamegeek #wargame #wargames #simulationgame #simulationgames #ttrpg #tabletoproleplayinggames #roleplayinggame #alandeanfoster #whyjohnnycantspeed #scifigame #sciencefictiongames #scifiboardgames #americanautoduelassociation #autoduel #aada.