AP #3
Movement on ice will add D4 to all maneuvers (except when using special equipment listed below). If a vehicle strays into the outer shore banks of the lake at the Pale Horse Arena it is a D3 hazard. Hitting an ice-pothole is a D1 hazard. At the referee's discretion, catastrophic mishaps on the Crash Tables, such as vaulting or flipping over, could be substituted with spin-outs or severe skids. Since ice has very little friction, tire damage from spins or skids is non-existent.
The following special equipment is available for ice driving:
Ice-Racing (IR) Suspension (page 20, ADQ 5/3): IR Suspension gives a vehicle a HC of 4 while it is on ice, HC 3 on snow, and HC 2 everywhere else. IR Suspension costs 300% of body cost for trikes, and 500% of body cost for cars. IR Suspension is not available for any other types of vehicles.
Tire Chains: (page 89, Uncle Albert's Catalog from Hell and page 20, ADQ 5/3): $25 and 5 lbs. per tire. Tire chains reduce the D hazards of ice and snow by D3. They also reduce top speed by 10 mph and HC by 1. Racing slicks and radials outfitted with tire chains lose their HC bonus as well. One point of tire damage will destroy a tire chain. If a vehicle loses one tire chain, the D-hazard from snow and ice is reduced by only D1. If two or more tire chains are lost, all benefits are nullified.
Snow Tires: (page 85, Uncle Albert's Catalog from Hell and page 20, ADQ 5/3): Adds $100 to the cost of each tire. Cannot be used with racing slicks, and only adds $50 to the cost of each tire when applied to off-road tires. Reduces the D-hazard of ice and snow by D2 and reduces the hazard of hitting an ice-dropper patch to D1.
Ice-Racing Tires / Icetires (page 21, ADQ 5/3): These special tires have been designed with ice-racing in mind. They have 1/2" steel spikes set in the tread to provide traction. These reduce the ice-driving penalty to D1 and do not reduce a vehicle's HC on ice. However, these tires are no good on any other surface: -2 HC on snow and -3 HC on dirt and pavement. Ice-racing tires are available in all types, but weigh two times as much and cost three times as much as standard tires. Ice-racing tires also take less damage from debris, obstacles, and spikes (-1 point) and have two extra DP.
Skates (page 21, ADQ 5/3): These are used in place of the front tires on ice-duelling vehicles. HC is not affected, and a vehicle using skates suffers no additional penalty for maneuvering on ice. Skates come in three types:
| Light | $100 | 50 lbs. | 10 DP each |
| Medium | $150 | 70 lbs. | 18 DP each |
| Heavy | $200 | 100 lbs. | 24 DP each |
Skates take up no space, and are targeted at -4. They can have up to ten points of wheelguard armor without suffering any HC penalties. They cannot use wheel hub armor. If one skate is destroyed, the vehicle rolls immediately on Crash Table 2 and its HC drops by 4 permanently. If the second skate is destroyed, the vehicle decelerates by 15 mph per turn and cannot maneuver. Skates cannot be used on cycles or oversized vehicles.
Retractable Skates (page 21, ADQ 5/3): These are similar to regular skates, except that they are mounted with tires instead of replacing them. The mechanism which raises and lowers the skates weighs 100 lbs., takes up two spaces and costs $1,000.
A number of other factors must be considered in ice duelling, namely:
Thin Ice: Areas designated as Thin Ice may not bear the weight of a passing vehicle. The referee should pre-assign weight limitations to these areas. Any vehicle under the weight limit can pass through a Thin Ice zone without difficulty. A vehicle that is over the limit, but no more than twice the amount will last on Thin Ice for one turn before the ice breaks. If a vehicle weighs more than twice the weight allowance will immediately break though the ice and sink. Breaking through the ice will leave a hole the same size as the vehicle with an additional 1/4" all the way around.
Water: Water depth at the Pale Horse Arena ranges from 15 to 37.5 feet and is very cold. Unless a character has special protective clothing or is rescued, death will occur within 30 turns. Rescue crews stand by to fish survivors out of the water, because it is nearly impossible to climb out of the water (using the two dice and pray method, it would require a 11 or 12, and only one attempt can be made every ten turns). Certain grudge matches stipulate that the rescue crews not be available, but most of the time, characters in the water will be rescued.
Acceleration: With regular tires, a vehicle may only accelerate at 2.5 per turn until they reach 25 mph, after which they accelerate at the normal rate. Snow tire/tire chain-equipped vehicles accelerate at no greater than 5 mph, regardless of power factors. Ice racing tire-equipped vehicles accelerate at whatever rate their power plants allow.
Braking: Braking on snow or ice is limited to 5 mph per turn. Anything higher will be considered a hazard and will induce ice/snow penalties (which are reduced or negated by the previously mentioned tires). Heavy-duty brakes will work on snow and ice but at reduced rates (decelerate 10 mph per turn safely, after which apply ice/snow and breaking penalties).
Weapons: Dropped weapons such as ice and oil have no effect on the Pale Horse surface. Sand will negate ice/snow penalties only in the areas it's dropped. Incendiary weapons are not allowed until the end of the year. Though not illegal, firing upon the track is highly discouraged (a fine of $1,000 per pothole is levied against the offender).
If a weapon (or group of linked weapons) does more than 15 points of damage to the ice surface, a 1/4" pothole is created. Hitting a pothole is a D1 hazard and causes 1d6-4 points of damage to any tire or skate. If a pothole was created on a patch of thin ice, it will cause similar penalties in addition to reducing the weight limit by half in a 1" circle around the hole. If a pothole was created by incendiary weapons, it will turn regular ice into thin ice, and thin ice into open water (both have 1" area of effects).
January 2020 Note from SWAT HQ: Spiked Tires and Skate Guards, items that can be useful for duelling on ice, are available in the AVRO Equipment Locker, previously published on the AVRO Web site from 1996 to 1999.
