A mere oversight, I'm certain - but the rulebook seems about fifty pages too short. The following house rules are open to debate by anyone who shows up to play.
 
 

- With some exceptions, we use the rules as presented in the Car Wars Compendium, Second Edition

- We utilize the 5 phase second, as opposed to the older 10 phase second

- The following optional rules are being used: confetti rules, vehicular fire rules

- The following optional rules are NOT being used: concussion from rams

- The following weapons are outlawed: poison gas, deadman switches, vehicular grenade launchers, and anything with "military" in its name

- In arena combat, all exits remain closed until the beginning of the 6th second

- A pedestrian only receives prize money the first time (s)he runs over a particular prize counter

- When using laser guidance against a vehicle with reflective or polished metal armor, rockets will only track on a 1-2

- Single weapon computers and cyberlinks will aid all linked weapons of a single type in a single location

- Laser-guided rockets will be treated as unguided rockets when fired by a bumper trigger

- Standard oil slicks are not flammable

- Burst weapons do 1/2 damage to vehicular components facing the blast, and full damage to any vehicular component targeted directly

- Fishtails called for on Crash Table 2 will take effect immediately, but skids and rolls called for on Crash Table 1 will take place as mandatory movement in subsequent turns

- If a vehicle is in contact with a hazard counter (ice, oil, gravel, etc.) during any part of a maneuver, the appropriate hazard is applied

- A player may not measure range to target until they declare a firing action

- Gasoline must be purchased in 1/2 gallon increments, with a 1/2 gallon minimum

- Wheelguards have a chance of protecting tires from road hazards (spikes, mines, debris, etc.); armored hubs do not

- Linked weapons require individual to-hit rolls unless they are in a turret

- If a flame cloud gas streamer is aimed like a weapon, the player rolls to hit as if using a flamethrower

- For arena combat, vehicles may be equipped with no more than one backup of any component (for instance, you cannot have five one-gallon fuel tanks in zero spaces)

- Turrets cannot target tires from within 1"

- When traveling above 60 mph, a spoiler or an airdam reduces the difficulty of any maneuver by 1; a spoiler and an airdam reduce the difficulty of any maneuver by 2

- When place on automatic, dropped weapons (gases, liquids & solids) will fire once per phase. If a vehicle moves more than one inch in a single phase, the weapon will fire during the first inch of movement

- Thrown grenades will bounce half the distance indicated in the grenade scatter rules

- Cycles trikes and cars must have enough power factors to provide a minimum acceleration of 5 mph. You cannot put a variable pitch turbo on a 10 c.i.d. gas engine and give your van an acceleration of 5 mph.

- Any hazard which is reduced to zero or less by heavy-duty shocks (or some other means) will not force a Control Roll

- Any maneuver which is reduced to zero or less by spoiler, airdam, banked curves, etc. will not force a Control Roll

February 06, 1999

Last night's Car Wars game (2/5/99) was a gory, confusing abomination. Bones were broken, rules were bent, and logic was twisted. It was everything we thought it would be . . . Ask me about solid rocket boosters . . . really, ask me . . .

[Begin boring rules stuff] In keeping with tradition, we have a new house rule: Any linear movement (skids, not fishtails) resulting from a roll on the Crash Table must be taken as regular movement in the player's next turn. Why? Because we find that a vehicle which loses control at a relatively low speed will gain a dramatic burst of speed from skids. [End boring rules stuff]