Jeffro’s Car Wars Blog

I noticed in the Battletech Master Rules that they’ve come up with rules for salvaging equipment from the battlefield. You can now cobble together “Frankenstein” tanks and mechs after all the dust has settled. Neat! That really improves the game a lot.

Even from the very beginning, though, Car Wars always had good repair and retrofitting rules.

I never liked the aspect of D&D type games where you gain “levels”, and “hit-points”, and take potions to get “healed”. I guess it’s essential for the game mechanic to provide the illusion of “progress”– but it’s completely bizarre when you look at the whole genre. Why should you have to hack on a 30th level fighter with a battle axe for hours before he dies…. Weird.

Anyway, Car Wars makes sense. It’s simple, too. A duelist fresh out of Amateur Night can add extra armor to his car and upgrade the tires. If he defeats a guy with a better weapon, he can rip it out and soup up his car or just sell it for salvage. It all makes sense. I’ll take a Division 30 Luxury Car over a 30th Level Fighter any day. (No wonder Lou Coatney refers to D&D as a pestilence…. I doubt he’d appreciate Car Wars either, though….)

As far as 5th edition goes… I appreciate how they’ve summarized everything you need to know to repair a car over in the vehicle description. Handy… though I have to shuffle through my Starter Sets to find them when I need to look it up.

I still eagerly await the 5th edition design and retrofitting rules to be released. They are, IMHO, the secret strength of Car Wars that clinched it’s superiority over Battletech and Star Fleet Battles for so many years. Without it, 5th edition Car Wars adventuring and campaigning is nigh unto crippled.