*****Stars Review! Pedal to the metal to get Gaslands!

Not for the first time on this blog will I sing the praise of the Osprey rulesets. One of their latest publications once more proves that, in the immortal words of Goethe: "Limitation shows us the master".

Despite their diminutive format, limited 64 pages and Not-Always-50+-Friendly fonts their choice for Gaslands is an excellent one!

Readers of this blog will know that I collect rulesets and am always on the prowl for that elusive combinaton of innovative rules, fast play and fun games. This is such a combination.

Gaslands is about racing in postapocalyptic cars. Think Mad Max meets Death Race 2000. The fluff is minimal (capitalistic Martian plutocrats enforce their dictatorial rule over Earth's population through racing games) but let's be frank: postapocalyptic car racing is its own fluff and doesn't need any other. The game's theme is actually the only thing that isn't innovative, since postapocalyptic car racing has been a love interest for a growing number of people ever since Roger Zelazny wrote Damnation Alley in 1967.






























Enough about fluff. Let's get to the rules!

Gaslands is built up in turns which are in turn built up in 6 Gear phases. Players take turns (the First Player or player in Pole Position usually changing each turn) to move their vehicles. The higher the gear you drive in, the faster you go since you must move a vehicle in the Gear Phase that is equal or lower than your current Gear. So a vehicle in Gear 3 moves in Gear Phases 1 through 3 and a vehicle in Gear 6 moves in all of them. Once you complete the move of the vehicle, the vehicle may fire its weapons if it has any.

Shifting gears
A vehicle may roll 1 or more Gear Dice up to its Handling Factor. These dice give you either maneuvers or the opportunity to change Gear. The more Gear Dice you roll, the more options you will have and the more maneuverable you become. Or... the more risks you take to skid, slip & spin... Since you can cancel unwanted maneuvers with Shifts, but also need Shifts to accelerate and stay in the higher Gear Phases and never know how many Shifts you will roll, there are all sorts of choices to make.
























Maneuvers
The vehicles move along movement templates that differ with the gear you drive in. Your maneuvers can be spoiled in all kind of interesting ways with Slides and Spins, although these not always yield unwanted results. It's just a matter of whether that collision is desirable now, or a bit later....

Depending on the maneuver and the current Gear you get either bonus Shifts to enhance your maneuverability, or Hazard counters. Hazard Counters can be discarded with Shifts, but when not, stack up and as soon as you collect 6 your car will "Wipeout" as you lose control and the vehicle comes to a standstill in a cloud of swirling dust (when you are lucky) or a ball of flames (when you are not!).

You need higher Gears to stay in the turn, but also to acquire some maneuvers that are only allowed in higher Gears
























Models and scale
Gaslands is essentially scalefree. However the author encourages to use Hotwheel scale (if there is such a thing) cars to play with. The advantage is that these are roughly 1/67 scale which can be combined with 20mm figures and terrain. As you can see you can really go to town building all kind of terrain.
























Damage
Damage is caused by collisions, less succesfull wipeouts and enemy fire. This uses a simple system of chassis squares. Once they run out, you have been Wrecked!

Suffice to say this game is heartily recommended!

Escape from Amersfoort: Snake strikes again!

 Today I hosted another participation game at Ducosim in Amersfoort. Using my  Pijlie's Everyman's Wargames Protocol for Every War  (PEW PEW!) rules we played a game inspired by Escape from New York.

Commando Snake Plisskens landed by parachute in gang-infested Amersfoort to retrieve the diaries of the Prime Minister.

On the right the Gangsta gang, below Snake and his commandos.

To the right the local Cyborg club, below the Scraper Gang, who didn't get out much due to a slight shortage of players. Visitors were somewhat scarce today, perhaps due to a Fantasty fair on the same day.

On the right the Cannibals, below the Bikers

Here Snake's ride out of town hovers above the Amersfoort Red Zone, a gang-ridden radioactive hotzone crawling with zombies, radioactove monsters and debris.

Below some impressions of the games we played.

The event card calling forth the radioactive T-Rex didn't miss a single game. He ate quite a few gangers and even a Cyborg!

And when you leave a post-apoc helmet and goggles lying around, someone is bound to put it on....

By request here are the rules I use for demos like this: 

Pijlie's Everymans Wargaming Protocol for Every War! (PEW PEW!)

Figures walk the maximum distance between your thumb and little finger (small children get extra points for cover) or multitudes thereof for cars and fast monsters. You can evade 1 hit per turn by a succesful Stunta which gets you a free (re)action to seek cover or stage a counterattack. Most teams are made up of a main character, a second (these two have the best stats) and four Extras.
Weapons are either close combat wapens (various bonus on Fighta) and shooting weapons (Rifle 1D6, pistol 1 or 2 D6, MG 3D6 and -1 Shoota for every extra die). Shooting rangers are unlimited. Roll the Shoota number to hit. Cover means either -1 or -2 on the roll.
Activation is card-driven. Every team has two cards. Every team member may perform one action of choice on a card.
When rolling a 1 when shooting you draw a Trouble card. 3 out of 10 is no effect. The rest is assorted misery like shooting yourself, running out of ammo or a giant monster bursting from the nearest building, usually depending on the game theme.

Best used for action packed skirmish games with teams up to 6 figures. Every figure has six stats: Shoota (roll a D6), Fighta (roll a D6), Balls (roll a D6 to do something scary), Stunta (roll a D6 to do something hard, Hit points (2 for the main characters, 1 for Extras) and Oneliner (main characters only to save yourself out of a tight spot with some wisecrack oneliner to impress the GM or roll a D6 for the less confident).

These rules are heavily inspired by several other rulesets and inventions by others and myself over the years. The credit list should include people like Howard Whitehouse, Buck Surdu and Chris Palmer, Peter Schulein and Larry Brom.

On the left you see me throwing the paratroopers on the table. Plisskens men were equipped very well, but landed all over the place!

Many thanks for Sander for these last photos. As always I was too busy to take many pictures and missed some memorable moments.

We had a lovely day, some great games and a lot of response from passers-by, even if they didnt have the time to dive in and play. Thanks everyone for participating and making this a succesful day!

Post Apocalyptic survivors

Some of my painting of the last few weeks. Be it the nuclear winter or World War Z, these people have survived it! But will they survive the next game....?

EM4 Scavengers bought at Crisis last year and already they have been painted! I am so proud of myself. I especially like the stylish gent in the far right of the top picture.