Returning to The Game of Highway Warriors

 Returning to The Game of Highway Warriors

My first game of Dark Future in decades

In my last post, I teased that I had received my copy of Dark Future from my younger brother in April. I originally bought the game back in 1988 when it first came out. The game is far from pristine, but all of the components are there, along with White Line Fever and all of the articles from White Dwarf that I cut out back in the day. My older self almost cries at the destruction I meted out to those magazines, but it does mean that I have all of the rules that were published for the game.

As I went through the box more carefully, I noticed that all of the road pieces are a bit warped. The corners are worse than the straights, and even the spin template is showing a bit of a twist, but they are nearly forty years old, so what can I expect? All of the pieces are still usable. The cars and bikes are in surprisingly good condition, and once I slap a coat of paint on them, I can get them on the table.

I took about a fortnight to go through the rules before I was ready to play my first game. Fortunately, the rulebook comes with a series of six learner games. I thought that I would give them a go.

Game one

I broke out two of the cars that I made for Gaslands to try the first scenario. It is a very simple game in which one car is trying to get to the end of seven road sections before the other car destroys or disables it. You may have noticed that my table is a little too small for seven road sections, but I simply removed the rear section after no vehicles were on it and placed a new section at the front of the road. I may try to play my next game on the living room floor, but I am not sure that my knees will be up to it.

Battle report

Along a lone strip of highway, Paz and Baz Chuckle were in pursuit of Lawford Featherstone of the Westbury Warlords for encroaching on their territory.  

Paz opened fire with the machine gun, scoring a critical hit on Lawford's engine and destroying the carburettor.

The brothers could not avoid the oil slick that Lawford had dropped, and Baz panic-braked to keep the car under control.

Lawford sped away from his pursuers, dropping oil slicks as he went. His buggy was constantly being hit by machine-gun rounds.

Hitting a second oil slick at 100 mph, Baz lost control of his vehicle.

The car skidded, heading towards the verge.

Baz fought to right the car, but it started to spin.

Hitting a third oil slick, the car went into a roll.

The Chuckle brothers were thrown clear as their car bounced along the tarmac.

The wreck finally ran out of steam and shuddered to a halt.

Lawford Featherstone drove away from the scene with only minor damage to his car.

Thoughts

The first question that might have crossed your mind is how this compares to Gaslands. The best thing that I can say is that it plays differently. It has a bit more crunch than Gaslands, but not as much as I have often heard on YouTube. I am always a bit disappointed when a YouTuber shows off their copy of Dark Future, or any old-school game for that matter, and declares that they will never play it. For me, these games are there to be played and enjoyed. That is probably enough of a rant.

Dark Future is not a game that I would bring out for a pick-up game on a club night. I think where Dark Future shines is in the campaign rules and the slightly more granular combat. In Gaslands, there is no degradation to your vehicle; it can continue to take damage until it is destroyed. Not so in Dark Future. Cars get worse as they are riddled with bullets, and critical hits can destroy a vehicle really quickly. I enjoy both games because they scratch different itches for me. I am glad that getting into Gaslands has led me back to an old favourite from my childhood.

Dark Future is also packed with glorious images like this: the 80s at their best.

Mud, Blood, and the Golden Ticket to Mars-Some thoughts on Gaslands

 Mud, Blood, and the Golden Ticket to Mars

Some thoughts on Gaslands

It won’t have escaped the regular reader of this blog, if such a thing exists, that I’ve really got into Gaslands. I’m not sure how long this obsession will last; I can already hear the roar of an engine from Dark Future calling to me, but Gaslands has quickly become the most-played tabletop game for me in a long time. I’ve managed to get in fifteen games since February, all against other people, which is a bit of a record for me, as I spend most of my time playing solo.

Why has Gaslands taken such a hold on my gaming? I think there are a few reasons why I’m really enjoying it at the moment. The first has to be the social side of it: I’ve managed to get my gaming group into the game, and there’s nothing quite like a group of mates hanging out and getting excited about the roll of a die or the choice of a template.

The second reason is the game mechanics. It’s quick and intuitive, so I can get straight into the story unfolding on the table. Some of this may be because it shares mechanics with games like Wings of Glory and X-Wing. More than one game has hinged on a single bad choice of movement template—sending cars careering into walls or barriers. The look of horror on the face of the person who picked the wrong one is priceless.

The final reason has to be the building of the cars for the game.  Each car that I have made has drawn me into the game more and more.  It is hard to express the joy that I have found from taking toy cars apart and making them my own but there it is.  Gaslands got me using a power tool for the first time in decades.  Did I feel more like a real man for taking an electric drill to a Hot Wheels car?  Probably not, but it was fun.

Carnage on the raceways - My Gaslands obsession continues.

Carnage on the raceways 

My Gaslands obsession continues

I’ve taken advantage of the spring break to continue building cars and playing games of Gaslands. This has impinged on my blog post writing a little, but when push comes to shove, I’d rather push some figures around the table than write a blog post.  

I finished two more teams in the last month—one for myself and the other as a gift for a friend. The first team, the Westbury Warlords, came together really easily. I was given some 3D-printed pieces that hadn’t worked out for my friend, and once I saw the French Renault FT17, at least, I think that’s what it is, I knew I wanted to stick a car body on top of it. The turret didn’t really work with the other cars in the build, so I put it to one side to use in a later project.

The second car I built also uses some 3D-printed cast-offs, but in this case I removed the car’s wheels and replaced them with tracks. The front ram was made from pieces of an old broken toy, which I think gives it the right level of brutality—or orkishness. I’m sometimes drawn to the Orks of the Rogue Trader era for inspiration.

For the final car in the team, I wanted to make something a little more toned down and cheaper in cost. I found a buggy in my local toy store and thought it only needed a few adjustments to make it table-ready. I didn’t use any 3D-printed parts on it; instead, I raided my bits box for weapons and things to stick on the car. I chose to add a Lewis gun from a box of Wargames Atlantic WW1 Tommies fairly early on. I’ve always been a bit of a fan of the Lewis gun, and this buggy was the first vehicle where I felt it really worked.

So, that’s the Westbury Warlords complete. On the track, the team has had mixed results, as the tracks don’t seem to help that much. Still, I think they look pretty good—and the rule of cool always comes first.

The second team, the Semyonovsky Lifeguards, drew inspiration for its paint scheme from the Mod movement: blue, white, and red, along with my attempt at freehanding a roundel. It wasn’t the most successful, but if you don’t try, you’ll never improve. Volvo estates were always known as “tanks” when I was younger, so I thought the turret from the Renault would work on one. It just about fitted on the roof of the Volvo, so that was a win.

I wanted a more technological look for this team, so when I was hunting through my bits box, I pulled out any weapons that fit the bill. To help sell that more scientific feel on the second car, I bent some wire into cabling that runs into an engine at the back.

I experimented with the final car in the team, an Alfa Romeo. I wanted to add a smashed windscreen, so I took one of those protective film things for a smartphone, cut it to shape, and then hit it a few times with a bradawl. It took a few attempts to get the look right, but I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. The other experiment was my attempt at a roundel. I definitely need to work on my freehand skills a lot more.

I really enjoyed putting this team together for a friend, and I’m looking forward to racing against them on the track.

The Gasland build continues part 2...The Astor Old Guard is ready to hit the tarmac

 The Gasland build continues part 2...
The Astor Old Guard is ready to hit the tarmac

I picked up some more discounted Hot Wheels from the toy shop near my apartment the other week. None of these cars really grabbed me to begin with, but they were very cheap, so that swung my decision. One of the things that I have noticed since I was bitten by the Gaslands bug is my obsession with looking for more vehicles to convert. I hope that it fades at some point, as I am running out of space. The thing that really brought these cars to life was the paint scheme. Once I hit upon that, I became a lot more excited about building and painting them.

The first car is based on a DeLorean. I wanted to try something different with the front windscreen, so I cut it away from the rear section and replaced it with some photo-etched strips that I had lying around. On top of that small change, I stuck an old GW Imperial Guard lasgun on the roof and added a rear-facing mortar. I also added a driver.

I am planning to run this as having a car chassis, but sadly I am running out of crew figures, so I could only add one person to this vehicle.

For the second car, I went with a ’62 Corvette. I really like its sleek design, so I didn’t want to add too much to it. I decided that all it needed was some weapons, and for that a pair of rockets would look suitably Fallout.

I had another bit of a disaster when I was trying to glue it back together. I am really not sure what it is that I keep doing wrong on these things. I probably just need more practice.

To hide the gap at the front of the car, I added a large bumper. I am glad that I did, as it made the Corvette look a lot more like a Gaslands vehicle.

I have been enjoying converting several cars for Gaslands, but I felt that for the final vehicle in this team I wanted something a bit chunkier. Luckily there was a Dodge van on the toy rack. I decided to make a few more changes to the van than I did to the Corvette.

I replaced the windscreen with some wire mesh, which I took from a one-hundred-yen oil guard. I also added a new roof with a harpoon, and made some crew members from parts of a sprue and a few skulls.

The view of the crew members behind the mesh is not very clear, you can only really make out their shape, so I didn’t want to use one of my remaining driver figures for it. Scratch-building these crew members wasn’t very difficult, and they do the job nicely.

The Astor Old Guard is complete and ready to make its mark on the raceways.

The first car is the Lazerburn, driven by Ward-S. At first, I was going to give it a performance car chassis, but then I remembered that it’s a DeLorean — which is about as close to a performance car as I am to an Olympic sprinter — so I decided to give it a standard car chassis instead. For armament, I’ve given it a forward-facing combat laser and a rear-facing mortar. I’ve also added a roll cage, for a total of 25 points.

The second car is the Typhoon, driven by Dez. I gave this vehicle a performance car chassis, armed with rockets and a submachine gun, for a total of 25 points.

The third car is the Attrition, driven by Rabid Rob. I ummed and ahhed for a while over whether to make this a truck or a heavy truck, but in the end I decided to make it a truck. For weapons, it has a forward-facing harpoon and a ram. I had a few points left over, so I’ve given it armour plating, for a total of 25 points.

The Gaslands build continues...The Combe Valley Crew is complete

 The Gaslands build continues...

The Combe Valley Crew is complete

I managed to finish two more cars for Gaslands. The first is based on a Hot Wheels Morgan Super 3. I already felt the design worked perfectly for Gaslands, so I didn’t push the conversion too far. I simply added two weapons: a machine gun at the front and a dropper at the rear.

The trickiest part was getting the driver to fit inside the car, as I’d decided not to break it down. Painting was likewise fairly straightforward; all of the rust effects were achieved using textured paints. Even so, I think the end result looks really effective.

Having taken the easy route with the first car, I thought I would push the boat out with the second. I found a Hot Wheels Austin Mini Van at my local toy shop. It’s not the most exciting of vehicles, but I felt it would complement my other cars really well. It would take some work to make it fit the aesthetic I was aiming for, but that’s half the fun.

After adding turret-mounted machine guns, I felt the car needed something more to make it pop. I toyed with the idea of a ram, but it didn’t sit right with me. In the end, I decided to add some extra armour and plate over the windows.

I didn’t want to cover the driver’s window, as I had a figure I was keen to use. The armour looked good on the body, but I realised the wheels didn’t look quite right, so I swapped them out. This wasn’t as straightforward as I’d expected, but after a bit of work I achieved a look I was happy with.  It did leave quite a few ugly gaps, which I covered up with additional netting.

For the paint scheme, I decided to use the salt weathering technique again, but rather than just sticking to green, I also added some white. I want the three cars to look as though they’re part of the same team, while still being different enough that they could compete against one another.

This more difficult build hadn’t finished testing me at that point. It caused the most trouble when I tried to put it back together. Multiple test fits led me to believe it would be smooth sailing, but the moment I applied the glue, the beast seemed to change its mind.

I tried several times to clamp it together, but it simply wasn’t having any of it. I suspect the issue was the computer console I’d added, but by that stage there wasn’t much I could do about it. In the end, I gave up fighting it and filled the gaps with baking powder and superglue.

Luckily, the car is meant to look dilapidated, so it’s not a major issue.

My previous car, the Headhunter, rounds out my first team: the Combe Valley Crew.

The Warhammer is driven by Bri and Ricky. The loadout I’m going with is a car chassis fitted with a turret-mounted heavy machine gun and armour plating, for a total of 25 points.

The Queen of Hearts is driven by Tak-75. The chassis is a performance car armed with a forward-facing machine gun, a rear-facing oil slick dropper, and a nitro booster — again coming in at 25 points.

The Headhunter is driven by Paz and Baz — the Chuckle Brothers. The build is a car chassis equipped with a front-facing flamethrower, an SMG, and a shotgun, also totalling 25 points.

 Building a car for Gaslands

There are times when I wish I could control my butterfly tendencies, but this is not one of them. The devil that is the YouTube algorithm recommended Wastelands Raceway, a Gaslands channel, and I was hooked. Their battle reports got me thinking I should definitely give the game a go, so I quickly got on to North Star Military Figures and ordered some swag.

Those purchases ate up the last of my hobby budget for the month, so the tokens and templates will have to wait until next month. I might try Sarissa Precision for those, as the postage is much more reasonable. The bane of a hobbyist in Japan - postage.

I decided to start on my first car before the rules arrive, so I took a wander into town. One of the benefits of Gaslands, apart from its really low buy-in cost, is the ready availability of toy cars. I checked out some of the bigger shops in Hiroshima, but none of the modern cars were grabbing my imagination. I’m a child of the 70s, and the cars that appeal to me are those from the 60s, 70s, and 80s that I remember seeing on the roads during my childhood. Luckily, there’s a small toy shop near my apartment, and they not only had some Hot Wheels on sale, but they also had a car that caught my eye.

The minute I saw the Land Rover, I thought I could definitely do something with it. The first thing I had to do, after watching a few tutorial, was to take the car apart. This is probably the first time I’ve used a power tool in the last ten years. Drilling out the posts that hold the car together wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be.

I’m very fortunate to have a large bits box, a by-product of having so many different projects, so I started pulling out anything that spoke to me. I found my ridiculously large GW box of skulls, which I’ll never finish, and the idea came to me. This car should be a punk vehicle, covered in skulls and spikes. I did toy with the idea of turning it into a Viking ship, with a row of shields on each side, but I didn’t like the look of it. I think I made the right choice.

I was a little worried that some of the things I was adding weren’t attached very securely, so I turned to baking powder not only to strengthen the joints but also to add a bit of texture. I was hoping the effect would look something like bad welding.

I wanted a distinctive signature weapon for the Land Rover, and fortunately Gaslands has a decent selection of weapons — not as silly as Car Wars, but there are enough. After a bit of searching, I decided on a flamethrower.

Building the car was slightly delayed as I waited for some figures to arrive to crew the vehicle, but I decided to use the time to try a new paint technique. I am being pleasantly surprised by how much converting this toy car is forcing me to push my hobby skills.

I really wanted the Land Rover to be a proper rust bucket. I was going to use some rust-effect paints, but I thought I could try something different. After watching a few YouTube videos by Gaslands TV, I settled on the salt weathering technique. It didn’t seem beyond my skill level, and the effect looked really good.

After the crew arrived, I realised that I had made a small error in my build. The front windscreen protection I had added meant that I couldn’t fit them in, especially the driver. I ummed and ahhed for a while until I decided to paint the driver without his arms on. I thought I would be able to sort it out afterwards.

With the majority of the painting done, I glued the car back together. I do have some doubts that superglue will be strong enough, but that is a problem for another day. For the metallic parts of the car, I used two rust-effect paints by Vallejo: Old Rust and Rust Oxide. I was worried that the two different rust techniques I had used wouldn’t work together, but I am happy with the results.

To finish the car off, I painted the second crew member and the wheels. After a very pleasant few days of hobbying, my first Gaslands car is finished. I might still add a little dust, especially to the wheels, but I’m not sure it needs it. I’d like to think about it for a while.

Here is the Headhunter, driven by Paz and Baz — the Chuckle Brothers.

A final shot produced by AI to get a dynamic image of the Headhunter.