Car Wars - sixth time the charm?

I'm really torn. I've played Car Wars from the pocket edition in the eighties, through the 5th edition. Playing both with friends and at conventions. Playing the highways, arenas, and races, Convoy, and The Car Wars Card Game.

I like the saving of investing almost $200 (Canadian) instead of $500 to get most of it. But the game seems so radically different from the versions I remember. I'm not sure if anyone I used to play with would play this version. I'm not sure if I need to be the one to buy everything from this version in order to play.

Based on the videos, I don't like the car design compared to what I remember. I don't like the control panel compared to the old record sheets. I don't like the forced upsizing and do not like the look of the cars (too much Battlecars compared to the old artwork). The game play in the videos with the special dice compared to the old modifiers seems a bit cold to me.

Still, it is a really good price.

Kickstarters - updates

My Kickstarters have been paying off.  I’m still waiting for my first one – OGRE Designer’s Edition from May of 2012 – but should finally be shipping soon.  This one is going to be huge.  I’ve even ordered a few of extra sponsored counter sheets.

The Dungeon Roll from back in March came in earlier this month.  It’s so tiny.  The box is the Kickstarter mimic version instead of the regular treasure chest version.

I just got Walk the Plank in this week with my extras.  It too is a bit smaller than I would have thought.  I got the pirate stickers and ghost pirate figure as Kickstarter bonuses and had ordered the Sharkspansion and Pink Robot for Get Bit as well.  This had been paid back in April – so that makes it the shortest turnaround time I have.

My only other Kickstarter was a non-game one – the Veronica Mars movie.  That was paid back in April too.  We already got the DVDs back in August but still are waiting for the t-shirts.

So far, my experience has been very good with these.  I haven’t been checking as often as I could but, so far, nothing else has caught my eye – or my pocketbook.

Kickstarter - the new thing for games

I really need to check in to Kickstarter more often. I had to get into it to get the Ogre Designer’s Edition , but haven’t really kept up with what else is coming through it. But, especially in the Tabletop Gaming category, it’s almost a good idea to keep checking.

There have been three games that have interested me lately – and they are each a different use of the Kickstarter engine.

Some manufacturers are using Kickstarter as a means of judging interest and to be able to take advantage of the economics of scale. They may also be using it as a way of generating pre-order sales. Our friends over at CheapAss Games have used this as a means of judging interest in their full color reprints of their games. They did Unexploded Cow last year and are doing Deadwood Studios right now. By pledging, you get a copy of the game, plus a few non-game bonuses. Due to the high shipping costs on top of the regular game cost, I’ll wait until it’s in the stores.

The Ogre Designer’s Edition started out for these reasons but also had stretch goals that included extra in-game units that were only available through Kickstarter.


Walk the Plank – a thematic prequel to Get Bit! Follows this second model. In addition to the game, which looks like fun, there are bonuses that improve the game the more that is pledged. Since the shipping was very low, I signed up for this one. Then they added the ability to get the exclusives from the Get Bit! promo so I had to up my pledge in order to get the Sharkspansion. This had been a Kickstarter exclusive from the original Get Bit! offer. They had tried to offer it afterwards but got a lot of flack from those who thought it should be a Kickstarter-only exclusive.


The third model is similar to the second – with additional improvements in the game being added as stretch goals are reached. But instead of keeping these goals as kickstarter-exclusives, they reserve the right to make them available after the Kickstarter funding has ended. The people who fund through the Kickstarter do get the occasional exclusive but they mainly get the extras earlier than later buyers.  Dungeon Roll follows this model with most of the bonuses being early versions of later expansions and a different box for the Kickstarter edition.