How to Play Car Wars Sixth Edition

Forty years after the original a new version of Car Wars is here and it's been designed with modern game play principles. That is, it's fun! Here's how to play...

[TabletopGameTalk]

A few clarifications:
- Collisions: When losing control tokens during a collision, if you do not have any tokens to lose, you instead take 1 tire damage for each token you can't lose. If you can't take any more tire damage, THEN nothing happens.
- Collision Damage: Damage is assigned starting with the car starting the collision and working out from there.
- Speed Changes: Speed is only changed at the beginning of your movement phase.
- Reverse: If your speed is zero during your movement phase, you can declare you're going in reverse at speed 1. Move your car as normal but treat the back of your car as the front and the front as the back. You'll roll 1 yellow die for your defense rolls for going speed 1 (even though your speed will read 0 on the dashboard). You can hard break from speed 2, going to 0, and still declare you're going in reverse. You can also normal break from speed 1 to speed 0 and go in reverse, even though the net change is 2, this is NOT a hard break.
- Movement: Remember, unless performing a slide maneuver, you must always move 1 full car length forward before you can turn.

[DazBotTube]

I played a lot of Car Wars back in the 80s (I'm 50 now). I can't believe how much this last edition has changed! Very streamlined and modern. I sunk many hundreds of hours (and hundreds of dollars) into it the original game - hunched over a calculator and scraps of paper to put each new car design together, then filling out the vehicle sheets. I think the first ever time I used a spreadsheet program was to help me design vehicles for Car Wars.

[TheAukel]

Excellent primer.

Thank you. Appreciate the time you took to make this.

[VaughnRipley]

Great job covering the rules, Chris. Your explanations were succinct and full of useful content. Thanks for sharing and I look forward to future video tutorials!!!

[Adenton]

A friend and I are trying 6th edition for the first time tomorrow (we both played 1st edition back in the day), thanks for this video it was really helpful in getting a grasp of where to start.

[scotthughes]

I loved the aesthetics of the original game and this one. This is my favorite Steve Jackson game series of all time.

[techydog]

Coworker just got his Double Ace edition and I can't wait to challenge him to a duel. Haven't played Car Wars since the first edition so it's been a while. Thanks for the video and looking forward to more.

[PaulPinkosh]

I just happened on this. Your explanations are clear, and I would show people this if they were going to play. Excellent!

[DarkEmpireGames]

First time here, great job explaining the game in a simple way!

[rickwagoner]

Well done Chris - Looking forward to the build

[mickwinters]

Got my Double Ace box last week! So excited for this new edition. Dusting off my old AADA Atlases.

[stevenpoor]

Great stuff - thank you for the details!

[croissantlover]

Cool video, i came here looking for the VHS' called Car Wars by K-Tel XD

[YanniCooper]

The chart at 13:00 really should have been included in the manual (on the back maybe)

[Jakalhaups]

Where did you get the binder pages that fit these cards? I am having difficulty finding it.

[Shadrackc]

Had the first ziplock bag version, cut out the counters, and played it to death with Ogre, GEV, Wizard, and Malee. Got the big cube as well and looking forward to it. Anyone know why it was expansion 1 and 3? As well as playmat 1 and 3? What happened to 2?
Looking to make or find a well designed insert for this game.

[anthonyneal]

In your partial cover example.... would the automatic defense count only from an attack from the yellow cars left side to red, or both the left side and front? The front arc doesn't pass thru the cover, but does that matter...?

[DasDevilSquid]

Thanks for the video explaining stuff.

What size is the play area?

[tedalbert]

Great Car Wars content! As an avid player in the 80s I'm really bummed that I missed this Kickstarter. I would love to see you play some games so that I can follow game play better. What are your thoughts on a campaign mode, or is this purely one off game play? In the original the campaign was really what made the game enduring.

[madquest]

I have to say that the design rules in the original are more fun and the game seems less complicated than this revamp. I say stick with the original, it's cheaper and looks to be waaay more fun.