The Gauntlet

By Joe Mauloni

"The Gauntlet" is a one- or two-player scenario. It requires the full map of Midville to play. The map of downtown Midville is available in either Crash City or Deluxe Car Wars. The map of East Midville is available in Car Wars Expansion Set 3.

"The Gauntlet" depicts the plight of a lone driver, lost and low on power, who stumbles into an abandoned town recently taken over by a cycle gang. The motorist player receives $15,000 to build a single vehicle. No gunners or other crewman are allowed, and the player gets 50 points to build a character, no more than 30 of which can be spent on any one skill. The cyclist forces are determined randomly as explained below. The motorist player enters the map at the Southeast corner on Maple, at any speed. Block 20 is empty at the start.

Road Hazards: The town is old and desolated. Many of the buildings are partially collapsed and the roads are littered with debris. To reflect this, whenever the vehicle comes within one inch of an intersection, roll one die and consult the following chart for each road leading from the intersection.

Clear
Light debris (3/0)
Moderate debris (3/1)
Heavy debris (5/2)
Heavy debris plus wreck
Road blocked

The numbers in parentheses are the number of debris/obstacle counters to be placed in the road section (debris is the firs number, followed by the obstacles). All of the counters are dropped by the cyclist player from a height of six inches along the length of the road section. The road section extend from streetlight pair to streetlight pair and do not extend into the intersections. Any counters falling into buildings or intersections are dropped again.

If a six is rolled, the road is considered to be completely blocked by rubble in an area two inches wide roughly centered in the road section. Should the driver try to force his way through this mess anyway, the following penalties apply:

Driving across rubble is a D6 hazard.
Roll one die for each tire. On a 1-4, each tire takes one die damage.
If the vehicle is moving faster than 10 mph, roll one die. A six indicates suspension damage. Handling class is permanently reduced by one.

Cyclist Placement: When the motorist reaches an intersection, roll one die for each block of buildings adjacent to the intersection; on a 1-3, that block is occupied by 1-3 bikers. (If a block is unoccupied, roll again each time you reach an adjacent intersection, until bikers appear.) For each biker, roll one die and consult the following chart:

shotgun
2 grenades
SMG
3 VLAWs
LAW
Shotgun 200

A roll of five or six on another die roll indicates that the biker is wearing body armor.

The bikers are placed along the sides of buildings so as to give them a reasonable field of fire along possible paths taken by the motorist. Whenever possible, they are placed in doorways for cover. Pedestrians will move to gain a field of fire, but will not pursue the motorist to a different block.

The Shoguns, if they are rolled up, are placed either behind doors or in parking areas with an access to the route taken by the fleeing motorist. On their initial turn of placement they will neither move nor fire. On the next turn, they will move only 1/2", but may fire normally. On subsequent turns, they will move normally. The cyclists are all Cyclist +1, Gunner, Handgunner.

Victory Conditions: The motorist wins by escaping from the north edge of the map on Kazango in a vehicle that is still drivable. Any other result is a biker victory.

Issue 3/2 Index