Battlecars Rulebook PDF
Battlecars Rulebook PDF
Battlecars Rulebook PDF
BATTTE@AMS
By the year 2080 automobile accidents were non-existent. One-way traffic on the
revolutionary Autoslot roads in electric cars built with computerised destination con-
trol, automatic pilot and speed regulators had long since put an end to collisions. Car
travel had become totally safe, but there were those who longed for the thrill and
danger of high-speed driving; freedom behind the steering wheel.
It was later that year that a few individuals started to search old barns and garages for
20th century sports cars. They would then spend months restoring these machines to
theirformer power and beauty. At secret places in the dead of night, the silence would
be broken by the roar of a'57 Chevy or '77 Corvetle coming back to life. But just listening
to the noise of a V8 engine was not enough for their owners -they wanted to drive theii
cars. Searches were started across the country for disused roads that had not been fit-
ted with Autoslot. A few were found and meetings were quickly arranged. The first
meetings were attended by only the drivers and a few friends, and ca rs were run up and
down small strips of road. Butthat soon became boring. ln early 2081 the first race bet-
ween cars was organised, and this attracted some spectators who yelled and cheered
with excitement. More races were organised, but it wasn't until 9.23pm on 23rd Sep-
tember 2081 that something terrible happened for the first time that century. Jerry
Tomasko died in a car crash. The news spread, and the attendance at the next race dou-
bled. A safe and passivq society thrilled at the prospect of seeing a real car crash, and
over the next months they weren't disappointed. Cars were now built with machine
guns, crash bars, and other defensive and offensive modifications. The crowds loved
it, and by 2083 the cars,were more prepared for war than for racing. The Battlecar had
been born, and brave were those who drove them. By now the object had become the
destruction of the other drivers' cars rather than racing against them.
The spor{ became known as Battlecars, and although illegal and highly dangerous, it
attracted a national following. By 2085 it was firmly established, and the State Police
were forced to turn a blind eye to its existence. So it was that outlaws like Pete 'Crazy'
Kowalski (14 kills), the most dangerous man on four wheels, became heroes.
EOUIPMENT
2 PLAYING BOARDS
These show the road surface and the lines of movement.
4 BATTLECAR CARDS
These are used by the players to record their speed, weaponry, and damage sustained.
4 PEDESTRIAN CARDS
lf a driver leaves a Battlecar, these are used to record the driver's speed, weaponry, and
damage sustained.
1 EIGHT.SIDED DIE
This is used to resolve combat and to determine the results of various actions.
4 PLAY SHEETS
These have all the various tables on them for easy reference during play.
OBJECT
The object in the basic street combat game is to be the last surviving car with a driver
on the board by destroying or immobilising the other Battlecars.
SETTING UP
Read the rules thoroughly. The basic game of street combat is d6scribed here. Other
scenarios are described at the back of the rules.
Only one Playing Board is used for a 2- or 3-player game. Both are used side-by-side for
a 4-player game.
The starting points are the centre points of the sides of the board.
Place Terrain Markers on the board to form streets, squares and areas of Grass and
Trees. The Markers must be placed so that the corners are on the intersections of two
diagonal lines where there is no movement point as in the Example Lay-out on page 7.
Terrain must be placed to allow access to the starting points.
Each player selects a Battlecar Card, a Pedestrian Card, a Battlecar Counter and a
Pedestrian Counter.
The players then arm their cars with the Weapons Counters.
The players dice to see who has first Move. Players, in turn, then place their Battlecar
Counters on a starting point of their choice. Only one car can occupy each starting point.
TERRAIN
and Firing. The Acceleration and trees. The dots are buildings.
dots are lhe points deceleration are location points to
for Movement. also reduced. The aid placement on
dots are Movement the board.
points.
BATTLECAR CARDS
The Battlecar Cards depict the various Battlecars. The information on the card is
detailed in the diagram below.
A TYPICAL BATTLECAR
{
I
Speed Track
Hit Location Tables l
l
for when an Armour
Block has been
breached.
I
Armour Block
Each of the different Weapons has a different range and does different damage. This is
detailed in the section on Firing Weapons.
The amount carried in each Pod is limited bythe size of each Weapon Counter. Thusthe
standard eight box Weapon Pod may carry two Rockets, four Shells and so on.
A Turret may only contain Machine-Gun rounds.
A Weapon Pod can only hold one type of Missile Weapon OR a mix of Passive Weapons.
MISSILE WEAPONS
These are Rockets, Shells, Machine-Gun rounds, and Flame.
PASSIVE WEAPONS
Smoke, Mines, Oil and Spikes
These may not be placed in a Weapon Pod wh ich f ires out of the f ront of the car.
RECORDING DAMAGE
Damage to a Battlecar is recorded by placing on€ Red Damage Counter for each point of
damage taken on the squares marked on the Battlecar Card.
Damage istaken by a car in the area of the Section nominated bythefirer. (See Firing: Mis-
sile Weaponsl
The firsttargetto be hit in the designated area isthe Armour Block. \A/hen an Armour Block
is totally covered in Damage Counters, any surplus or additional points of damage to it are
carried over to the interior of that Section.
When the interior of a Section is hit, a die is rolled and the result is referred to the Section's
t Hit Location Table on the Battlbcar Card to determlne what interior component has been
hit. lf the result is a component which has already been totally destroyed, roll again until
a suitable target is hit. Any surplus damage points left overfrom totally destroying a com-
ponent are carried overto anothercomponent in that Section again determined by die roll.
WRECKS
Once a car is destroyed, or rendered immobile, the Car Counter is left on the board as
a Wreck. Wrecks are treated in exactly the same manner as Trees and Buildings receiv-
ing damage in that Damage Counters are placed on the Car Counter. AWreck can only
absorb 2 points of damage. Any surplus is taken by any driver taking cover there. lf a
Wreck has any operationalWeapons, they may be fired by any occupant.
A CAR'S COMPONENTS: USE & EFFECT OF DAMAGE
Each Battlecar has various components. Not all cars have the same components. The
various components ai:6:
ARMOUR BLOCKS
Each Battlecar has 8 Atmour Blocks: One at the front, one at the rear and one on each
side of each Section. The Armour soaks up damage. When an Armour Block is
breached, further daniage to that Block will strike"an internjl cornponent.
ryRES
Effect of Damage
For each tyre destroyed, the car's maximum speed is reduced by 2.
ENGINE
Effect of Damage
For each sg.uare of the Engine covered by a Damage Counter, the car's maximum speed
is reduced by 1.
SUPER-CHARGER
This allows 1 extra point of Acceleration. lt fUnctions until totally destroyed.
AUTO.STEER
This allows cars to Corner more safely at high speeds. lt functions untiltotally destroyed.
GUNNERYCOMPUTER
This adds 1 to the chance of.hitting a target, allows an extra attack, and prevents Missile
weapons from detonating if they are hit. lt functions until totally destioyed.
FlRE EXTINGUISHER
This prevents a damaged Fueltankfrom exploding. lt functions untiltotally destroyed.
6
POWER BRAKES
These give a car 1 extra point of Deceleration. They function until totally destroyed.
THE DRIVER
Once he has received th ree points of damage, the driver is dead. That player is then out
of the game. The next time it is that car's Turn to Move, roll immediately for Skidding
using the ca r's speed as the Speed Difference. At the end of the Skid, the ca r's speed is
reduced to zero. lf the car is still capable of movement, it is not a Wreck and may be
commandeered by any Pedestrian reaching it.
2: The first player Moves the number of points determined -bY the ca r's. speed. Other
cars may Oe tireO at during the Move. They may return the fire. When the car's Move-
ment ends, that player's Turn ends.
3: Play passes to the next player on the left, who then Moves and Fires as in 2.
4: Once all players have Moved. the Round ends. A die is rolled for each Smoke Marker
on the board to see if it remains in play or is removed.
DieRoll: 1-4Smokeremains.
5-8 Smoke removed.
m
MOVEMENT
All movement is from point to point on Road and Grass.
carscannot MovethroughBuildingg,Trees,wrecksandothercars,oralongtheMove-
ment lines blocked bythe corners of Buildings and Trees. Cars may Ram int-o other cars
a.nd Crashinto Buil{ngs. Trees and Wrecks.tars may run over Peilestrians by moving
through them (see Pedestriansl.
All cars must move thei.r first point of movement in the direction that they were facing
at the end of their previous Turn, even if this means hitting an obstruction.
with Supercharoer
MaxAcceleration 2 1 3 2 I
Max Deceleration 3 2 4 3
REVERSING
whe.n moving from.a forward motion to reverse, or vice versa, a car must have a speed
of 0 before moving in the opposite direction.
The maximum speed in Reverse is 3 on Road. or 2 on Grass.
THREE.POINT TURNS
,A carwith a.speed of 0 may execute a th-ree-point turn. A car executing a three-point turn
rotates on the point that it occupies to face any direction. lts speed iemains it 0.
CORNERING
All Cornering is carried out while Moving.
The possible Corners that can be turned are:
iI
1
I
I
if a car corners^at a speed^which is greater than the maximum safe speed, the car must
test to see if it Skids (see Skiddingl.
1 ' Move the car onto the point where the Skjd may take place. lf the car is attempting to
Corner, it is not yet turned to face its new direction.
lf two or more of these instances occur at the same point. the SD is the instance with
the greatest value.
3: Consult the Drift Table and roll the die as indicated for the Speed Difference to see
whether the car has drifted on in its present direction and whethbr there is any damage
to the tyres.
Drift Table
SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
urstance
Drifted 0 l Die-7 1 Die-6 1 Die-5 1 Die-4 l Die-3 l Die-2 l Die-1
uamage
per Tyre 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 2
4: lf the car.has D{fted, move.itthe required distance in the direction it is currentlyfacing.
It cannot Fire while Drifting. lf the car Drifts into a Wreck, Building, Tree or anoiher ca-r,
do not go to step 5, but.refer to crashing and Ramming. lf therdis any damage to the
tyres, place the appropriate Damage Counters on the Battlecar Card.
5: Roll one die to determine the car's final
facing according to the diagram.
If the car is moving at a speed of 4 or more,
the following die modifiers are applied.
6: Turn the car to face the direction determined by the Final Facing diagram.
7: lf the Final Facing, is 1,2,3 or 4, the car musf now complete its move, cornering if that
had been its intention. Any other Finar Facing and the car's speed is imme"diaieiy
reduced to zero and it may move no further thaiTurn.
CRASHING and RAMMING
CRASHING
A Crash occurs when a car would move onto a pointcovered by an obstruction (Tree,
Building or wre-ck). The car does not move onio the point bui remains on the poini
im mediately before i mpact.
RAMMING
A Ram occurs when one car would move onto a point occupied by another car, either
deliberately or as the result of a Skid. A Ramming'car does not move onto the occupied
point but remains on the point immediately before impact.
The type of Ram depends on the direction the cars are travelling on impact. The diffe-
rent Rams are:
rE E
E[=l-O
" r+r-r
A: Head-On Ram B: SideRam 'Shunt'Ram
Both Cars take full damage The target takes fu I I The target takes fu ll
according to the Damage damage and the Rammer damage and the Rammer
Table. takes half damage (frac- takes half damage (frac-
tions are rounde*d down). tions are roundei down).
After a Ram. the speed of both cars is immediately reduced to 0.
3. Determine damage.
The.Relative Velocity of the impact determines the die roll for damage
on the Damage Table (right):
DRIVER STUNNED Stunned
DI.UI
A Stunned Driver cannot Move or Fire until the end of the current Game Round.
10
FIRING WEAPONS
Targetsthat Missile Weapons may be fired at are other Cars, Buildings, Trees, Wrecks,
and Pedestrians.
A car may only fire Missile Weapons during its Turn or to return fire when fired at.
During its Turn, a car can only fire any Weapon when it moves onfo a movement point.
It cannot therefore fire from the point on which it starts its Turn unless it is remaining
stationary, or is executing a 3-point turn.
During its Turn, a car may drop one round of Passive Weapons from each Weapon Pod
loaded with them.
DIRECTION OF FIRE
All firing is from point to point along the board's movement lines.
Each Weapon Pod may fire along the line that its barrel points and along the lines at 45
degrees to it on either side.
Obstructions
Only the nearest target along any line of fire may be fired at, though something beyond
may be hit if the shot misses the first target.
A car may notfire through any othertarget in the line of fire, regardless of whetherthe
nearest target has received its total amount of damage.
The corners of building and trees obstruct the line of fire running across the corner.
EXA,MPLE:
A may notfire at B, the line of sight
is blocked by the corner of the
building, but could fire at C or at
the building.
C may fire at B or A.
PASSruE WEAFONS {Oil, Smoke, Mines, Spikes)
They mayonly be dropped on the nearest point along the chosen line of fire. AWeapon
Marker showing the corresponding Weapon is placed on the board. The dropped
Weapon Counter is removed from the Weapon Pod which is firing it.
Passive Weapons have no effect until a car drives over the Weapon Marker.
Oil, Spikes and Mines remain in playfor the rest of the game. Smoke may be removed
during the final phase of each Game Round. (See Garne Roundl.
EFFECT OF PASSIVE WEAPONS
Smoke
A Missile Weapon fired th rough Smoke has a reduced chance of hitting its target. When
firing through Smoke deduct 4 from the final score to hit.
Cars driving into Smoke must follow the procedure for Skidding using a Speed Differ-
ence of 3, or their speed if it is greater.
oir
Cars driving onto oil mustfollowthe procedurefor Skidding using a Speed Difference
of 5, or their speed if it is greater.
Spikes
Cars driving onto Spikes mustfollowthe procedure for Skidding using a Speed Differ-
ence of 2, or their speed if it is greater.
Spikes also damage tyres. To determine the amount of damage, roll 1 die-3 for each
tyre on entering the Spikes. Dam.age cannot be carried over from one tyre to another.
Mines
Cars entering mined areas take damage both on their tyres and interior components II
regardless of whether the Armour Blocks are still intact or not. ,I
I
To determine the damage to tyres, roll 1 die-3 for each tyre. Damage may not be car-
ried over from one tyre to another. {
i
To determine damage to interior components:
I
I
1: Roll 1die to determine which Section has been hit: I
1 or2 Front Section.
3,4,5or 6 Centre Section.
7 orB Rea r Section.
2: Roll1 die and refer to the relevant Hit Location Table on the Battlecar Card to deter-
mine the component that has been hit.
3:Thedamagetothatcomponentisldie-2(unusedhitpointsarecarriedovertoother
components as normal see Battlecar Cards: Damagel.
-
12
MISSILE WEAFOT\I$ {Roekets, $halls. Machine-Gun, Flame)
To fire Missile Weapons. perform the f{rllowing steps in order: I
1. NOMINATETARGET
Buildings, Trees, Wrecks, Cars and Fedestrians may be fired at.
lf firing at anbther car, the firer must specifythe area of the $ec{ion of the target (front,
side-front, side-centre, side-rear, rear) at which he is aimirrg.
A car may only fire atthe areas of the target
nearestto it. lf thetargetcar is at45 degrees
to the firer. he has the choice of fi ring at the
target's end and the two nearest side Sec-
tions. lf the target car is side on, any of the
side Sections may be fired at.
EXAMPLE:
A may fire at the side-front or side-centre of
side 3 or the f ront (1 ) of C, or the f ront (1 ) of B.
2. CALCULATE RANGE
The range is the number of points showing between the firer and the target.
3. FIRE WEAPON
Remove and discard the Weapon Counter being fired from the appropriate Weapon Pod.
4: CHECK TO HIT
Flame
Flame hits the target automatically, but only has a maximum range of 3 points.
lf the total is equal to, or greater than the range, the nominated target has been hit.
lf the final result is less than the range the target has been missed. The Missile con-
tinues along the line of fire to the next possible target.
5; CALCULATE DAMAGE
The damage inflicted by Missile Weapons is as follows:
Damage Record
-Ammunition
Speed Track
A Pedestrian Card
A Pedestrian has 3 Machine-Gun Rounds only, even if his carwas not equipped with any.
Any hits already received by the driver are transferred to the Damage spaces on the
Pedestrian Card.
Movement and firing are carried out du ring a player's tu rn. exactly as for ears. except:
Pedestrians,may enter Trees. Buildings and wrecks. They may also fire from them.
They move from point to point in cover, just as they do in the open.
THE WINNER
The winner in the basic street combat game is the driver occupying the last mobile
Battleca r.
Other game scenarios are presented on the faclng page.
OTHER GAME SCENARIOS
ARENA COMBAT- For 2 (3, or +) Players
The diagram shows one playing board
laid out for Arena Combat. The black
areas are buildings representing stands.
The Winner
A decisive victory goes to the player who
kills the opposing driver. A victory is only
marginal if the opposing driver can
escape from the arena th rough a car entry
point, even though his car has been
destroyed or immobilised.
Variations
For more players, put both boards
together, and more stands to to create a
larger arena.
Spare car counters may be used to represent Wrecks from previous combats.
Cars may leave the arena by their entry points. and miss 1 Tuin to be re-armed.
Each player secretly rolls a die and refers to the mission plot (below) for his/her car
nu mber. The num ber that a player scores on his die roll gives the mission for the gamb.
The mission should be noted on a scrap of paper and kept concealed until accomplished.
The Winner
The winner is the first player to complete his/her mission or the last survivor.
Mission Plots
Car Number One Car Number Two Car Number Three Car Number Four
1-2 Killthedriverolcat2.He 1-2 Thedriverof€r'lisanold 1-2 Car'l justcreamed your '1 -2
Kill the driverof car'1. He
killedyourbrotherinacar opponentofyours. He cousin. Kill the swine! is the rat that jilted your
combat and only his gave you your limp. He 3-4 The driverof car 2 just srster.
death will even the score. must be killed. machine-gunned your 3-4 Yourtargetiscar2. His
3-4 Killthedriverofcar3.He 3-4 Thedriverofcar3has aunt's pedigree Siamese. paintwork is just too vul-
ran over your dog, and rubbedyourgang'snose Honour demands vou kill gar and killing him should
said something terrible initfortoolong.Hemust him. provide a much needed
about your parents. be killed. 5-6 Car4hasencroached on lesson in taste.
5-6 Killthedriverofcar4.The 5-6 Thedriverofcar4killed your gang's territory once 5-6 Thedriverof car3isa
honour of your gang yourbestfriend.Killhim. too often. You must kill member of a rival oano.
. demandsit. 7-8 Youhaveadealwiththe him for the honour of the The Scarlet Angels "muit
7-8 Yourscorehasbeenlow local car repair shop. Southside Marauders. kill him.
lately, you must kill any You get a commission 7-8 Youhaveadealwith 7-8 Yourscore has been low
other driver in order to on each car repaired. the local garage, you get lately. You must kill at
walk tall in your gang. lmmobilise two cars. commrsston on every least one driver.
Wreck they repair. You
must immobilise two
cars.
15
FLOW CHARTS
RAM/CRASH GUIDE SKID GUIDE FIRE MISSILE GUIDE
Move car to point of skid
CREDITS
Game Designers: lan Livingstone and Gary Chalk
'i lr'
'Development: Games Workshop
r rll
@) 1983, Games Workshop Ltd. GAMES
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