By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)
Those thrilling car chases in Mad Max or Cannonball Run is getting a Steve Jackson Games‘ (SJG) rebuild of their classic game Car Wars. It’s on Kickstarter to help revv production up to a higher gear before it makes its reintroduction in the retail market. After more than a week since its launch, this miniature war game hit its goal of going into production and it’s about time it’s reimagined as my friends and I have played more than a decade ago.
Citadel Miniatures and Grenadier had an assortment of products which I raced over to my local game store to purchase! Instead of cardboard cutouts of obstacles and buildings, sometimes I opted to use film canisters and dominos so the playfield is more three-dimensional than simply flat. Add on top the supplements for funky weapon options, I was hooked.
The reinvention keeps a few core concepts from the game when it was first introduced in 1981. The faithful few who kept up loved it, and it still retains a cult style following to this day. In its heydays, magazines and aftermarket offerings expanded the world and when Origin Systems developed a video game to establish more of a role playing game environment, I was hooked for life.
The game simply involves each player taking turns to move their vehicle by so many inches (depending on the weight modifications), use a cardboard turnkey to determine where the car lands after making a stunt, and use dice to determine success in the battlefield. In what’s changed is a faster way to design the car and keep track of damage.
I offer a simple out-of-game idea to deal with players who are indecisive and are more like strategy decision makers: use egg-timers. Games involving situations where it’s supposed to recreate split second decision making require them. In a Formula One race, to use the inside track or outside can mean all the difference to make it to the end.
The revised game offers proper scale model miniatures than cardboard cutouts and yes, this product is compatible with Matchbox scale vehicles! In how this game has changed is the use of cards to randomly determine hit locations, “Dashboards” keep track of damage and are made of durable material to last for many games to come.
When considering how well Origin Systems Autoduel handled the adaptation to the computer realm (for the C64, Amiga and PC system), to offer this bonus will be welcomed. Anyone craving more than a retro game making a comeback can be glad to learn SJG is also bringing this game back! It should release sometime mid 2020.
While this company is still invested very much with their Munchkin line, it’s their classic material which I adore. If I was to predict their next project, my request is for them to revisit the world of the Illuminati!
To support this game, please visit the Kickstarter page here. No estimated time of arrival is announced for the retail edition.
I didn’t play Car Wars, but I did play “Auto Duel” which was an ’80s video game that was based on Car Wars, so it has some nostalgia for me because of that. Auto Duel was a computer RPG. I played it on the Commodore 64, but was available on a bunch of systems. Ah, those were the days…
Great post :)