SUPER-SCALE CAR WARS

Ever since the 70's Steve Jackson's Car Wars has been one of the old faithfuls of the gaming industry. Nearly everybody's played it, and nearly everybody whose played it has thoroughly enjoyed it. The game's a survivor, and even in today's Card glutted market, it's still going strong.

One of the things that characterizes a particular group of gamers that I know is their love of the third dimension. Whatever game was being played, we'd run out and buy every figure we could afford, so that big brawls and explosive confrontations would look really cool. Let's face it. There's nothing like pushing figures around a tabletop, and then getting down for a "figure's eye view" of the action, to make a scene come alive.

We renewed own interest in Car Wars in exactly this fashion - taking it to the third dimension. Sure, we loved Car Wars.

For us, it's peculiar brand of large uber vehicular violence was unbeatable. However, we had to have that third dimension - the little counters just didn't cut it anymore.

Accordingly, we sized on an idea, and quickly implemented it. We each bought a 1:24 scale model car, assembled it, and then went through our spare figure parts boxes for weapon looking stuff to tack onto them. Super Scale Car Wars was born.

If the notion of playing Car Wars in 1:24 scale appeals to you, great. I've written this article with you in mind, and will explain as best I can how to get started. We'll jump right in.

The first thing you're going to want is some model cars (well, the first thing you'll need is a copy of the rules). Even if there isn't a very big game shop in your town, there's bound to be someplace that deals in plastic model (K-Mart, if nowhere else).

When purchasing a model, keep a couple of things in mind. First, try and stay with cars. The way the rules of the game are set up, cars tend to be more efficient to build and play. Therefore, pickups and vans, while having the potential to look really cool, ought to be avoided at first.

Selecting a car model can be tricky. There's a good chance that everybody is going to want sports cars. That's great, but I'd encourage variety. A field full of Ferarris and Porsches, no matter how they're tricked out, is going to look too uniform. In addition to the sports cars, I would recommend older cars (stuff from the 50's through the 70's - big old boats and lean muscle cars). These look mean, and have lots of flat surfaces on them for turrets, weapon pods, etc. Additionally stock car models can look really good (they've got all the roll cage stuff inside, and there's already only one seat), as do concept car models (the Stingray III, GT-90 and others). Concept cars are not readily identifiable by anyone walking by your game.

They also took futuristic, reflecting the game's setting. Several model companies, including Monogram, also make a line of weird show car designs that look nothing like any other car (the driver's seat is centered, the car isn't symmetrical, or whatever). These are great, if you can find them. Don't rule out the little cars either. There's little more satthan taking out a Cadillac with an upgunned Miata, and compacts add variety to the field. Above all, when selecting your car, be original.

The kits themselves don't have to be super detailed. Many buyers of plastic model kits are looking for detail, and that's what the companies cater to, but it's not necessarily what you should be looking for in a Car Wars model. Ease of assembly should be a high priority. There are a lot of good snap together model kits out there, which brings us to our next point.

I've even seen players skip the kit step entirely, and buy a die-cast car from a toy store. Such cars are available at most toys stores, and many are 1:24 scale. This is also the only way to get 1:24 scale motorcycles that I've ever seen.

Assembly and Accessorizing

When assembling your model, be aware that you will be handling it often. Some kits have opening hoods, trunks, and even doors, and I suggest gluing those down so they don't flap around in transit or during the game. You can spray the whole thing at once rather than painting the individual pieces if you glue it all down ahead of time.

Speaking of glue, avoid the classic Testors glue in the orange or blue tube. It takes a long time to dry and the bond it creates breaks down quickly. I suggest a good CA (cyanoacrylate) glue. Good model stores will carry it, sometimes in the radio controlled airplane section - just ask. CA glue dries quickly and bonds for a long time.

When assembling the models, feel free to skip steps. If you're gluing the hood down, you needn't feel obligated to assemble the engine, you're never going to see it, after all. In most cases, the engine is not critical to the structural integrity of the models (I recall a persnickety Lotus Esprit model that had no place to mount the back wheels unless the engine was present, though this is the exception rather than the rule). Additionally, the engine pieces can be used later when putting weapon mounts on your car, cylinder heads make great dropped weapon dispensers. The engine isn't the only thing you skip.

Most vehicles for Car Wars have only one crewman, and no room for any others, so leave out the passenger seat. If you are going to tack extra pieces of sheet plastic over the windows don't bother putting the clear plastic ones in. The same is true for ram-plates. If you're planning to put a big piece of sheet plastic over the front end, don't worry about putting the grille on. Let your creativity save you assembly time.

Once the car is more or less together, go ahead and stick weapons on it. If you've been collecting table top wargaming figures (like the ones by Citadel or Heartbreaker), you probably have what's called a "bit box", where you stash all the stray parts and extra bits that come with those sorts of figures. Bit boxes are gold mines to the creative super scale player. Anything can become a gun, and if not a gun, just a nifty looking accessory. Don't forget any spare parts that were left over from the model kit, and if you collected the old four inch high G.I. Joe action figures, their weapons and equipment are readily cannibalized. Again, be creative.

What's that? You don't play tabletop stuff, your mom thought G.I. Joe was a tool of Satan, and you bought one of those pesky Lotus Esprit models that require full assembly? Don't fret, help is available, it will just take a little longer. I mentioned good model and hobby stores earlier. They should carry a selection of plastic sheet and tube stock, from which weapons can be scratch built. Certain model companies that specialize in military stuff, notably DML, make packs of weapons, some of which are ideal. You could also go in with your friends and buy a couple of tank models, from which you can cannibalize the weapons (most tank models have several secondary machine guns and launchers which are a little more to scale than the large caliber guns).

Things to keep in mind when mounting weapons center mainly on a familiarity with the rules. I try to build models with a specific design in mind, and then try to stay true to the idea when designing the actual car. That way, everybody has some idea what everybody else has mounted on their car just by looking at the model. Ergo, I would counsel against turning your model into a rolling arsenal. Mount the number and type of guns you think you'd like the car to have, and then design it accordingly when its time to play.

COUNTERS

We need to address templates now. Most dropped weapons, and certain dischargers, leave counters behind, indicating a patch of oil, a pile of spikes, debris, or whatever. The Car Wars rules come with several sheets of such counters to be cutout and used when needed. You will need to make new counters for super-scale Car Wars. Counters will need to be either 4" x 4" or 4" x 8", depending on the weapon they are supposed to be dropped from. Counters can simply be cut out of poster-board and have the name of the counter written in big letters across it (i.e. spikes, mines, Oil, smoke, etc.), or you can get creative. This is a visual game, after all, why not go all the way?

Oil counters can have a large black blotch colored on them in magic marker. Smoke could be a gray blotch. Mines and spikes can go one of two ways. Keeping them two dimensional makes them easy to move models across, but taking them into the third dimension makes them more imposing. 2-D spikes can be represented by just about anything, but foil stars work. 3-D spikes, on the other hand, can be done by getting several packs of cheap plastic jacks from the local bargain store, cutting off one arm so they lay flat on the counter, and gluing them down. Mines are best represented by washers, or even pennies, glued in a random pattern on the counter.

Hardware stores carry a vast array of the washers, nuts, and other goodies that transplant into the three dimensional playing field. Some are flat and some are not. See for yourself what's available and decide what you think looks best. Try not to put more than three or four jacks, washers, or whatever on each counter or they will become cluttered and cumbersome. You might also want to write in small letters along one side of the counter what it represents, to avoid any confusion.

There are two types of dropped weapons that deserve separate attention i- flaming oil and ice. Ice is fairly easy. Your local craft store should carry sheets of adhesive-backed silvery prismatic stuff. This can be easily cut to the size of the counter and stuck down. Flaming oil can be a little tricky. The best way I have found to deal with it is to stick little pieces of adhesive magnet (the stuff they make refrigerator magnets out of ) in the center of each oil template. I also have a bunch of "fire-burst" cut outs made of red poster-board with a little metal washer glued to the underside. If the oil is on the fire, I stick the fire burst to the magnet. if not, there's no fire-burst and it's regular oil. That way, flaming oil is easy to distinguish from regular oil, and I do not have to make an entirely different set of counters for the two.

You will also need counters to represent pedestrians (in case a driver bails out of a flaming wreck), debris (bits left behind when cars take damage), and obstacles (lost wheels, large amounts of bits left behind when cars take lots of damage, etc.). I have not determined a decent way to represent this - 1:24 scale people are in short supply (though G.I. Joe figures, whose gear you just cannibalized, make passable pedestrians). And while you could glue engine blocks, stray doors, tires, whatever to your debris and obstacles counters, I do not. The reason I do not is that they usually come into high demand (lots of cars lose lots of bits in a duet), and so I need a big stack of them. For these three types, I just write the name in big letters on the counters so they are easily identifiable.

When doing your counters remember one thing. Be creative, but do not spend a fortune. Make counters as you think you will need them - if no one in your group ever uses a minedropper, do not bother making counters for it.

The Playing Field and Moving On It

Each car is mounted on an eight inch long base, and eight inches becomes the standard measurement for movement. This can pose a problem when looking for a playing surface -- a super-scale car traveling at 50 mph will move 40 scale inches across the field in a turn (just over three feet). The minimum size playing area for SSCW is a square 20-25 feet across. 30-40 feet works even better. Gym floors are ideal, with dorm hallways and common rooms coming in a close second. Parking lots, outdoor basketball courts, and the like have the added advantage of "chalk- ability" you can draw dropped weapon counters with chalk rather than having to make them.

You will need some sort of marker to delineate the boundaries of the field. I got some bricks and painted them a friendly caution yellow. We use them to mark the corners. Bricks have worked nicely, as they are big enough to be seen, and heavy enough to not be accidentally nudged aside by a player.

Movement in the Car Wars rules is given in inches, and this is easily converted into "lengths". That is, I inch equals I eight inch "length" in super-scale. The easiest way to do movement is with a ruler. Tape measures work for calculating ranges, but moving the cars with a yard stick is easier. Make sure to have enough for all of your players. We mark the rulers in eight inch increments ahead of time to speed up game play.

The turn key will need to be made super-scale. On a large piece of cardstock use a protractor to mark your angles. Make each flat side 8", mark it the same way the stock turn key is made.

Targeting, Wrecks, and Other Mayhem

To measure ranges and targeting modifiers use a tape measure of at least 25' in length (remember to multiply the range bands in the book by eight).

Your models will be fragile. Instead of flipping them on their back when they are taken out, place another marker (the size of the base) in place of the car. This marker could have an old model that has been whacked with a hammer glued to it. Alternatively you may place a counter beside your model car indicating what happened to it or you may just remove the whole model from the game.

The Car Wars rules are pretty complete but some situations are not fully covered. This can lead to amazing happenings in the game. just relax and roll with it. Remember it is all about having fun. Everyone at one time or another enjoyed crashing their matchbox cars together. SSCR is just the next step. Good Hunting!