Anyhow I want to clean up my living room and I got a few pickups these last few weeks.
Let's dig in!
But first since it has been forever, links back to the first two installments:
http://wargamedork.blogspot.com/2013/11/operation-game-collection-car-warsgurps.html
http://wargamedork.blogspot.com/2013/11/operation-game-collection-car-warsgurps_26.html
(NOTE: You can also click most images for larger ones if you want.)
Six more of the small format Autoduel Quarterlies, four of which have the fun mailing covers on them with their little cartoons and other nifty bits. I am worried I might already own one of them but I haven't had time to properly inventory them yet. And they were cheap so at worst it is collateral damage.
One of the big format issues I didn't have and the new retail rerelease edition of classic Car Wars! Because the Ogre Kickstarter proved to SJG that HOLY SMOKES THEY CAN DO MORE THINGS THAN JUST CRAP OUT AWFUL ARSE MUNCHKIN GAMES ALL DAY LONG.
For twenty US dollars it is a good value! It even has precut counters as opposed to the sheets you had to chop up yourself back in the day! Sadly it keeps to the older format record sheets as opposed to the more advanced look of the last Compendium release.
Something they tried also was a stand alone card game in an anime style given the time it was released. Obviously they.. didn't exactly get the best art. The game itself is quite a fun little card game however. Just ignore their bad attempts at anime people.
The thing under it is that Fantasy Trip remake's one dollar intro product. A little solo party adventure you can also run players through as a GM. Has a battle map and some counters to cut. Neat!
And the previous attempt at a Car Wars reboot. Get rid of all the cruft, all the absurd levels of megarules and nonsense? Make it cheap to hop in? Sure! Even everything in FULL COLOR and toy car sized scale so minis fans can customize toy cars.
But.. are you noticing what 6 bucks got you? Repeating the majority of rules per book. No construction rules. Two cars and two variants plus some minor options.
They broke it down and made things easier to get into but for existing fans it was clearly a giant longer term waste of money if you wanted everything. And things like a vehicle design ruleset, larger cars and trucks/vans, no motorbikes. In trying to slim it down they gutted it entirely. And as it did not do well at all it hamstrung the game as even the vehicles they do have don't fit into a construction ruleset thus even making it a failure in the future had it done well.
Its still basically classic Car Wars just streamlined to the rules you CARE about in an easy to digest format and some lovely counters. Its just even weapon rules are generally split per book that needs it, while 80-90% of the rules in each booklet are identical. It could almost be considered a prototype of modern BUY OUR SUPPLEMENTS gaming. Just.. it was cheaper per hit as opposed to nowadays with 50-60 dollar core rulebooks that still need three or four other books to actually be a properly complete game.
The rules look lovely though. Very well put together of products. And it removes the grid from classic Car Wars meaning it is well suited for miniatures play. If nothing else consider getting one of the Vs books for a miniatures rules supplement.
And some of the bought at clearance GURPS books I got. As I have said GURPS itself I think is an ok system it just gets lost up its own ass with tons of extra rules most of the playerbase seems obsessed with. But the books are fun for fluff if nothing else.
This could even be counted as a proper game system for the amazing Steampunk setting of Castle Falkenstein which is a very addicting and interesting world setting but was also one of the first uber rules light storytelling game styled systems which I am not too keen on personally. I go for lighter middle levels of rules crunch myself. Enough to be interesting but not so many as to be overwhelming, annoying, slow, and forgettable in play.
And we finish out with the stand alone Prime Directive GURPS game. So you don't even need to buy the big ass GURPS Fourth edition megabooks. Just get Prime Directive and play Starfleet Universe Star Trek with just the GURPS you need. And the Klingon book is cool fluff for their empire. Making them more than the silly NOBLE WARRIORS of Next Generation and more than their Original Series NOT SPACE COMMUNIST RUSSIANS YOU JUST CAN'T TRUST. They are by no means angels but they are interesting antagonists you can play as! I should really see if they released the Romulan book one of these days...
Keeping with Starfleet Universe and GURPS heritage the artwork is.. nothing special at best. And given your leanings TOS women's wear in the Federation might be distressing or hot depending on how you feel about such things... As complicated as GURPS can get I would honestly rather play Trek RPG using this game than using FASA Star Trek rules and ship combat. I mean I have enough Federation Commander supplements to pretty much cover the entirety of the TOS-Animated era through the Andromedan Invasion...
The core book pretty much has the foundational rules to pretty much play any of the Starfleet Universe races. It just so happens the SFU is full of furries. For some people this is a good thing. For others not so much... I am in the middle. Don't mind space animal people races but don't exactly think what most of the furry fanbase really wants out of playing them if you know what I mean.. (And if you don't count your blessings. Lovecraft was right about ignorance sometimes being a good thing.)
So as far as I know/remember these are my Car Wars and GURPS things. I may have more but if I do I don't really remember WHERE they are. I could have sworn I had a couple more books but if I did my record of it is gone.
You see part of the reason for this long term collection posting thing I do is not only to show off what I have, and to share my love/like/dislike of various gaming things with others but its also to organize stuff, get it all in the same place so I can find it, and then be inspired to get more storage solutions for them. In some cases it even makes me remember things I forgot I owned! Or want to go back and enjoy them again. I HAVE TOO MUCH STUFF. So nowadays I am trying to be more responsible in my purchasing and realize how much I already have that I don't get to enjoy.
Saves me a hell of a lot of money on Steam sales I tell you what!
Though if I could get more folks to try some of this stuff out and hopefully LIKE IT I might use it more, eh?
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