Battlecars - 28mm Post Apocalyptic Road Test

What with the latest release of Mad Max to the cinemas I thought it best that Shed should get in on the action. One of my friendly gamers and I have plans to develop our own post apoc road rules BUT the absence of time has meant returning to that GW gameset released in 1983 - Battlecars.

I recall vividly when this came out - I was 18 just left school and was working in the demanding world of Sainsbury's as a trainee manager on the princely sum of £4k per annum.

Upgrading the box set into 28mm was extremely simple.

My gridded board would be the same one I use for my predator games with the diagonals drawn on. Terrain pieces are then laid over the top. In this case I used my post apoc ruins, crashed and burnt out cars and other sundry stuff.



Diagonals still to be drawn on

The cars themselves were built years ago...

links here
http://shedwars.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/mad-max-motor-mayhem.html

http://shedwars.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/out-of-paintshop-and-into-town.html

As to the play sheets I just photocopied some of the original car sheets and players will use felt tip pens to mark off damage and ammo. A bulldog clip sliding across the top helps to mark speed.

For passive weapons drop offs like smoke, mines, oil and spikes I made up some bigger cards to place on the board. These were printed and laminated.

In time, and if this proves popular I'll create some bespoke pieces.

With four of us playing we managed to squeeze in three 'fast and furious' games.

The first two were simple classic affairs - hurtle around the board and try to be the last man standing. All good fun.

The third game was very different and has certainly lead to some thoughts as to how this might progress. We set up a track around the board. The Winner being determined by the first person to complete three laps or go the furthest distance.

We diced for pole positions and with Mark taking the lead he soon shot off in the distance only after dropping mines on the starting line. My car soon followed with two tyres blown out by the mines.

As each car left the grid they deposited their grisly loads. It soon became a game of cat and mouse with the track being covered in spikes oil and mines. Navigating these treacherous areas soon became impossible and the cars were forced to run these channels of destruction.

Flame, Rockets and Machinegun fire echoed across the track as the cars steadily traversed the oval circuit. By the end of Mark's first lap he was soon close to lapping those in the rear. This of course brought into play some new behaviours with the rear running cars (mainly driving on near flat tyres) to try and take out the leaders. All good fun.

In the end Legatus managed to take out our lead runner with a combination of mines and flame into the rear of the leading car - Kaboom as the fuel tank exploded. With his tyres shredded Legatus managed to limp around the track and take the crown.

It soon became apparent that this game had begun to look a bit like Deathrace (the movie set in a future prison starring Jason Statham). I the film the convicts race on a specially designed track in custom cars with the potential of parole for the winner of the race. The cars are equipped much as ours were but weapons were only activated when the cars hit certain hotspots.

With this in mind I am going to re-watch the movie and try to recreate the track and these hot spots.

Until next time

My First Photo Shoot

Hi Folks

A bit off piste here folks but we will be back to the 18th Century very soon....but... 

 

A few weeks back the good guys at Amera Plastics (http://www.amera.co.uk) wrote to me and asked if I could send them some more pictures of their ruined buildings in play.

Always happy to support the guys who produce our toys I set up my first photo shoot !

The buildings in the shots are all from Amera, and the figures and tank are from the excellent Pig Iron range.

The ruined cars , rubble and other bits and bobs are either scratchbuilt or have been collected along the way.

If you are looking for a ruined city check out their site its a quick and easy way of putting a lot of buildings out in one go.

Cheers

Eric

A very few of the pictures sent to Amera

Street Life is tough...

Sunday night saw the chance to play test a new set of home brew skirmish rules in the ruined city.

Titled War in Wastes they are loosely based on the Crossfire Rules with the main exception being that each units initiative is activated by card. These cards are shuffled each time the pack runs out. Extra spice is added with the inclusion of event cards (hidden snipers, random HE bursts etc).

This was a styraight forward engagement between two forces of equivalent size. The figures are all from the excellent Pig Iron range.

The following photos give a flavour for waht was a fast and furious firefight with neither side really getting the upper hand until the off tabl;e artillery found its mark.

Below you can see the left flank from the Rebel perspective - the counters signify no fires (white) and suppressions(red).. The rebels are holed up in a building facing incoming fire from a squad of marines.



On the right flank a Rebel Tank cruises up the side street towards the main thouroughfare. Infantry support can be seen to the right. Although powerful tanks in the rules are vulnerable to infantry assualt.

Below we have a raised road running across the table. This was siezed early on by a Marine Walker - it didnt last very long !



Runnng the length of the table was a wide road - efectively acting as a no mans land. You can see the road bridge with ruined bus in the back ground. A rebel waker has hit the dust from a Marine missile.

An atmospheric shot under the bridge.

Heavy marines advancing on their right flank suppoeted by an armoured robot. A ruined taxi adds a nbuit of local flavour. Most of the buildings are scratchbuilt but in this photo you can see one of the excellent Amera plastic ruins. 

The Heavies didnt last long - they were soon wiped out by the staunch rebel defenders. Unfortunately the building they ran to caught fire criping what was left of the unit. Next time boys.

The Marines fared better with their snipers - three to be precise - two additional snipers appeared on the table and caused no end of mischief.

And through the square window - rebel defenders waiting for those heavy marines

A rebel light tank lies smoking - the armoured robots cannons wiping this unit out in two successive shots.

Meanwhile the rebel heavy Tank started to play its game.

Edging out into the road it started to seek out targets.

A Marine support weapom opened fire - missed and subsequently fell victim to the armoured beast.

A rebel walker engulfed in fire down the alley by the bridge.

The tank then traversed its turret and took out the Walker on the bridge - for some reason this Walker became known as Barry.

Reverse shot of 'Barry' taking incoming fire.

Meanwhilst the Rebels gained two squads of infantry - the first entering on the bridge.

The second arriving on the right. These irregular troops quickly came under fire and did not last long

Rebel infantry defending a building and coming under heavy fire..

Finally the observers got into a advantageous postion. Heavy accurate artillery was called in.

Boom, Boom, Boom...a marine stronghold takes a direct hit. Killing all those in the building. The smoke is illuminated with a small torch.

With heavy artillery raining down and both sides now fighting a war of attrition we called a halt for the might. Beers and Pizza await for no man.

Out of the paintshop and into town...

Following on from the build we managed to get six of the eleven cars painted and onto the table. Hopefully the following pictures do the wasteland warriors justice... 

Hey guys - wanna lift?

I think the engine has seen better days!

Phil Oakley of Human League is impressed with his new buggy

The Jamaicans hide behind their wheels....

Crazy Mohican's with crazier wheels

Jeep & Cheap

I think that body suit is very tight !

The Gold Hot pants were fun to paint

Hostage in chains

Mean Biker with wheels

Lets get this party to rock.