Jeffro’s Car Wars Blog

I played a real miniatures game this weekend.  The rules were from the 1983 Challenger: Ultramodern, and they gave me a new respect for wars and warriors.  The biggest difference between this and other games I play is that we played much of it double blind.  I plotted my movements on a map and my opponent stuck closely to a plan.  My opponent feinted an attack in one quarter… and while my own tanks were moving into position to respond, they were overwhelmed by the brunt of his forces!

Turns went slowly.  Artillery attacks were declared.  Units moved.  Each unit then rolled to acquire targets.  Units that “saw” an enemy would roll to-hit.  Damage effects would then be rolled.  Finally, morale would be checked.  At the end of the turn, artillery attacks were resolved and counter batteries got to fire, too.  Each miniature repesented a single tank or apc, but things got pretty crowded– I can see why most systems opt for something like 1:3 or 1:4 in that department.

I’ve never played anything with this level of detail.  Little dinky accounting tricks seem to have little affect on the game: battles are won by those with good planning and cool heads.  My plan stunk, I froze, then I panicked.  I know it was my first game with the system, but I’m pretty embarrassed.  The game required so much honesty on the part of the players, though, that it really wasn’t so much of a competitive event: it was more about just experiencing how everything would play out.