Delta "Forza"? Homebrew Car Racing Wargaming

My kids (including daughter!) have had a sudden craze for cars this last week, probably due to me introducing them to the PC game Forza Horizon 4. I can't walk down our hall, without tripping over Hot Wheels which are being tested off a ramp for speed and distance (they have elaborate championships with knockout heats).

I loved the idea of Gaslands but found it kinda gluggy and slow to play. Although my homebrew rules LOOK a bit like it, they probably owe more to my fuzzy recollections of a GW(?) game called Dark Future, where you moved along rectangles of highway in a set direction. I kinda adapted them into templates cos I'm too lazy to rule up/grid miles of highway gameboard. And we just had pizza and I need to get rid of the boxes...

 

My templates are based on 4x8cm rectangles and 45/90d turns.

My son (who had set up a medieval battle nearby; where he uses no dice and merely the coolest guy wins - a literal 'rule of cool') wanted to know what was up; so I made up some rules on the spot and he raced some cars around the track.  He had some ideas to improve it; he also wants damage and a way to tune your car (level up its stats) between races as well as improve your driver's stats and skills, which sounds kinda fun actually. But this is what we played, typed up:

Order of Play

Each player rolls; in order of highest dice to lowest, players chooses who goes first – either themselves OR they can select another player after them in the order.

Ties are broken by (a) best driver then (b) fastest gear then (c) fastest car

Basically, you can 'game the system' to create more rams, chaos etc for others

What you need

A set of templates

A d6 to be the turn 'clock'

A gear d6 for each car

Damage tokens for each car (wheel/handling, engine, crew)

Two different coloured d6 (crew + stat)

 

I based all my templates on a 4x8cm grid - the idea was from Dark Future....

DICE RESOLUTION: TWO STAT SYSTEM – It’s the driver AND the car; the man not just the machine…. Each situation rolls two different coloured dice. You must roll equal or above the relevant stat to succeed. A ‘1’ always fails and a ‘6’ always succeeds. Basically, roll both d6 and compare each to its relevant stat: “Success” Two successes – you do it well/get a bonus! “Partial” One success/one fail – you do it OK “Fail” Two fails – you fail DRIVER DICE ROLL – this is 3+ (expert/elite), 4+ (professional) and 5+ (amateur/rookie) Plus….. any one of these stats CAR DICE ROLL. The stat used depends on what you are doing. SPEED – this is top speed. It is used when driving in a straight line (and if speed 5+) to get a ‘boost’ move. It also determines the top gear. It is written as top gear + dice roll; i.e. 5/3+ ACCEL – this is used to increase the “gear” or “speed level” at the start of the activation; or a boost after a turn HANDLING – this is used to perform risky turns and rams BRAKE – this is used to reduce the gear/speed level or make a short “brake move”

STAT levels are broad: 2+ supercar (Lamborghini, McLaren); 3+ sports car (Corvette, M3); 4+ standard sedan (Ford Caprice, etc); 5+ poor (van, truck) Speed cap is basically  6 = Supercar (300kph+); 5 = Sports Car (250kph); 4 = V6 Sedans (200kph); 3 = van, truck, small V4 sedan (150kph) Examples: Car Top Gear/ Speed Roll Accel Handling Brake Special Toyota 86/ BRZ 4/4+ 4+ 2+ 3+ Drift Dodge Hellcat 5/3+ 2+ 4+ 4+ Hefty Koenigsigg/Zonda/etc 6/2+ 2+ 2+ 2+ BMW M3 5/3+ 3+ 3+ 3+ I’m tempted to switch to d10 actually so I can have a broader spread of car stats, say 4-5-6-7-8-9...

 

I ended up with a very simple set of templates. The small triangle is for 90d skids or 45d drifts and the "brake/boost" short rectangle is used for short moves or as a bonus move on the end of the turn if you roll well....

STEP 1: ACCELERATE/BRAKE You can always change your speed (up/down) by 1 for free. Car speed/gear is denoted by a d6 placed beside the car; roughly corresponding to 40-50kph per pip. ACCELERATE However if you want to accelerate more, you roll a Accel Test. Basically this is rolling vs acceleration stat and driver stat. Two success = you can increase gear by 3 One success = you can increase gear by 2 No success = you cannot increase gear at all. BRAKE The braking is just like acceleration in reverse; a Brake Test (roll vs brake and driver stats) Two success = you can decrease gear by 3 One success = you can decrease gear by 2 No success = you cannot decrease gear at all.

My son wanted to know about the extra move templates he spotted, and wanted to use them... I said he hadn't bought the expansion DLC.....

STEP 2: MOVING THE CAR A turn is broken into 6 sub-phases. Cars only move if their speed corresponds to the phase. All cars move on phase 1; but only a speed 6 car would still move in sub-phase 6. If your car can activate, determine the order of play (see above) each sub-phase, then.... (a) Choose a template (b) Check your gear (c) Roll dice There are three speed levels to be aware of that impact movement; low (1-2); medium (3-4) and high (5+). Below are the templates and how they work.  BRAKE (8cm) Use Brake Stat to test. 2 Success = May also choose Drift 45 or 90d in a direction of your choice “Brake Turn” 1 Success = Just move straight 8cm Fail = Spin or Skid randomly STRAIGHT (16cm) Does not need to test but may opt to Boost. Use Speed Stat to test. 2 Success = May Boost a bonus 8cm 1 Success = Move forward normally Fail = Move forward only 8cm (Brake) instead of the usual 16cm “Clutch slipped” GENTLE TURN (16cm + 45d) Must test if 5+ Gear. Use Handling to test. 2 Success = May Drift 45d in direction of turn OR opt to roll a single Accel dice* to see if boost 1 Success = Usual turn Fail = Spin or Skid randomly SWERVE (16cm; two 45d turns) Must Test if 3+ Gear. Use Handling to test 2 success = May Drift 45d in direction of last turn OR opt to roll a single Accel dice* to see if boost 1 Success = Usual swerve Fail = Spin or Skid randomly SHARP TURN (16cm + 90d) Must test if in 3+ Gear. Use Handling to test. 2 Success = May Drift 45d in direction of turn OR opt to roll a single Accel dice* to see if boost 1 Success = Usual turn Fail = Spin or Skid randomly Extra Information: *If top gear is 5+ may use Speed stat instead, if it is better. If current speed exceeds the 'must test' speed of a template; -1 to the roll each level... A 45d DRIFT causes a player to drop -1 level of speed. A 90d SKID causes a player to drop -2 level of speed. My son wanted to compare current speed to handling stat i.e. if your handling is 4, roll for any maneuvers at speed 5 or more… So the better your handling, the faster you go before needing to check. This makes sense, but requires me to rework my mechanics. =New Mechanics: Probably roll low = best i.e. roll equal or below a stat? i.e. Speed 4 = roll 4 or below to succeed….

The Shelby roars over the finish line as the Lambo spins out. We had a few rams, spin outs, and drifts and cars 'swerved' in front and got shunted along. To keep things simple, both cars were basic sports cars with professional drivers (see M3 profile above).

3. RAMMING, SKIDS & SPINS If a movement template intersects with an enemy car, the enemy car is either (a) moved aside or (b) shunted forward. If moved aside it is placed 45d from the template at an angle corresponding to the contact point. The ramming player finishes its move. RAMMING RESULTS Both players roll a Handling Check and compare successes. -The loser tests to Skid/Spin Out (see below) -If there is a tie, the rammer (moving car) merely shunts defender car sideways 45d like a drift (making it lose -1) 90d SKID/SPIN OUT If a car loses control, roll another Handling Check. Two passes = the car skids 90d One pass = consult spin table; reduce speed -3 Fail = car spins and reduce speed to 0   Using the Spin Table There are 8 faces, 1 each 45d. N=0, NE=45, E=90, SE=135, S=180, etc. Roll a d6. Begin counting at 45. So a 1 = 45, 2 = 90, 3 = 135, 4 = 180

It worked quite reasonably and seemed faster than Gaslands. Obviously, there was no combat/damage (yet) but the templates were simpler, and there was no 'recording' carrying over besides the speed dice next to the car. 

My son would like the mechanics to link speed and handling more, besides additions of damage - he'd like to increase the violence a bit more. I'd consider 'roll low on d10' as a universal mechanic that would allow car stats to be more granular. I tend to be pretty casual about mechanics and don't mind completely swapping d6 roll high for d10 roll low... it's more about the % they create and consistency/simplicity...

I probably also need to revisit spins/flips and negative effects. (Bear in mind I invented this 'on the fly' so it probably has a lot of 'assumed' knowledge and is not well explained...)

The lad also would like a 'campaign' where you can tune cars between races (i.e. i.e. add a turbo to increase speed stat +1 etc, add race tyres and strip weight for +1 handling etc); with drivers gaining skills - e.g. say "drift" makes the driver better at bonus drift moves etc.... Which would be fun to design but I need to make the game work consistently first...

Anyway, time for bed....

Delta Vector 2024 - Spaceship Game Design Manifesto - and some LEGO, LoTR

 This is mostly a post about spaceship rules. But my 8 y/o son painted some miniatures, so here they are:

He also has some rather cool not-LEGO. The army guys in particular may prompt some simplified LEGO wargame rules. 

OK, back to spaceships.

Spaceship rules are something I revisit every year, I create/play a few test games, then put them away, distracted by some new shiny. It's tradition. In fact, whinging about how spaceship games are boring wet-navy-in-space was one of my first forays into making games (besides the "make 40K better" most wargamers have tried). Hello, 2012. I then pumped out 30+ posts in April 2012 outlining my game. I just had a quick skim - it was obvious the games I liked and played at the time!

Making near future sci fi (so it's not just Vietnam in space) and jet fighter games (this is super difficult as the nature of jet combat seems naturally opposed to wargaming) as well as "better Mordhiem" "better aeronef" and "supercavitating fighter subs" and more recently "tank commander RPG" also get annual dust-offs. 

As I get older I am less interested in pet mechanics. The game mechanics must merely be simple, easy and serve the purpose. I like them to be consistent if possible. (Although I've always found this hard in space games). It's like a car. I don't care what is under the hood as long as it goes fast and is easy to maintain.

Ok, LoTR pics + space discussion is a bit confusing but I like to track my painting in the blog and I don't like empty posts. These Victrix are serving as Wildman of Dunland - a cheap horde option.

DELTA VECTOR the GAME: 2024 MANIFESTO

I do one of these periodically, to remind me of my core focus. How do I want the game to play?

Influences were EvE Online (game), The Lost Fleet (book) and The Expanse (book/tv). It was not designed to play Star Wars or Star Trek. It is more like a combined arms game (or party RPG) not a mass fleet battle game. It should give a unique "feel" of space not just WW2 navies/age of sail-with-spaceships.

There should be minimal record keeping and no needless recording. Anything that is recorded should provide a meaningful choice/tactics. There's no "empty hitboxes" where you tick off 10 hits and nothing happens. Recording for a single ship should not be more extensive than a General Quarters SDS or a Warmachine warjack. The game should handle 2-6 ships per side; task forces comprise of a couple of big ships and a handful of escorts.

All Ships Have a Role

The game is more like a modern task force (2-6 ships) than giant fleets. Small escorts are not just cannon fodder but are vital in supporting the fleet and can even take down battleships if correctly employed. Inspired by EvE Online, small ships can tackle (stop ships warping off); paint targets, jam and defend against missiles as well as launch attacks from difficult to defend directions.

Movement - Space, not Sea

This has a sense of momentum. Ship trajectories can be predicted. Ships can drift one way and face the other - to brake quickly, bring weapons to bear or show undamaged shields. I have used some good systems but they have been messy. Small ships have high thrust and are unpredictable, while lumbering battleships positions can be calculated a turn in advance.  This allows small ships to dictate fights.

The inclusion of reaction mechanics allow you to engage a series of ships in your path, with ranges being measured from the enemy bases to the closest point on your path past them.

Missiles, Terrain, AoE = Tactics

To avoid space feeling empty and encouraging a scrum in the middle; missiles make an AoE "attack zone" - a radius (almost like dangerous terrain) to be avoided. Battles always occur near something of importance, never in empty space. Gravity can affect ship trajectories. Asteroids block fire.

Facing - Shields and Spinal Mounts = Tactics

Ship facing matters.  Firepower is weaker through rear arcs. Shields cover forward and aft hemispheres; one side can be up and the other undefended. Mighty spinal weapons fire forwards in narrow arcs; laser batteries cover broadsides. This is another way for a thoughtful player in a small ship to outplay a larger ship. Shields are probably just up or down; i.e. attacks are resolved vs shields and if breached then excess (or future) damage is resolved vs the ship.

Lightspeed, Relative Trajectories = Tactics

How the ships approach each other matters. (This is vectors/direction of movement, not facing)

Example: (a) Both ship head on = combine velocities = add; (b) One ship approaches other side on = use highest velocity; (c) Chase (one approaching from rear) = difference in velocities = subtract.

Yes, math - but we're talking about the sort you can do on your fingers. Why does this matter? Because lightspeed hard caps movement and firing. As you get closer to lightspeed; you are harder to hit. Again, small high-thrust ships can control modifiers.

Signature Range, Target Numbers and Reactions = Tactics

Ships have a signature - their size + how "noisy" or "bright" they are. There's no magic cloaking. No ships are invisible (unless behind an asteroid etc) - it's just about acquiring a predictable target solution. A distant target may have moved since the light reflected from them arrives at your sensors. A ship with a large, hot signature is easy to react to and predict and thus has a wider "reaction" radius. I.e. a sig 3 small ship might trigger reactions from enemies within 6" and a sig 7 ship trigger reactions within 14". The ship sig also determines how easy it is to hit - the sig 7 ship might be 70% and the sig 3 only 30%, for example. This makes small ships surprisingly survivable, not disposable glass cannons or extra hitpoints for capital ships - they're hard to engage and hard to hit.

Capacitors (mana) = Resource Management/Tactics

A bit like shields - you either have spare energy or you don't; there's no complex recording. Capacitor power is like mana or stamina - you use it to power extra abilities like extra (or overloading) energy bursts; restoring shields, jamming enemies or charging warp drives.

Capacitor boosters or batteries allows you to maximize your "support" tech or simply fire and defend more often/powerfully. It's an X-factor that allows more player decisions. 

I found some unpainted Rohan during my shed clean. My total +29 = 68 LoTR for the month.

Simple but Distinct Weapons = Tactics

Weapons should be limited in selection but act differently; not just a +1/-1 modifier.  Range bands are simple: effective range and falloff range. Many weapons can change ammo types mid-game which adds player agency. You choose the right tool for the job.

Kinetic weapons are grouped into railguns (which fire AP shells or shotgun AA flak rounds) and PDCs (rapid fire small calibre miniguns). They are inaccurate at long range especially against fast movers but lose no damage (and even gain damage if closing velocities are high enough).

Energy weapons are grouped into cutting beams and pulse (pew pew) lasers; the latter mode is weaker but rapid fire with faster tracking; more for engaging fast targets with short bursts. Lasers are accurate but weaken at long range. Weaker against shields.

Missiles are divided into giant slow short-range anti ship torpedoes, long ranged guided missiles, and short ranged rapid fire/seeker swarm micro-missiles. They retain momentum from the firing ship which impacts range/AoE. Missiles are a great leveller; torpedoes can allow even a small escort to down a battleship, while agile escorts can avoid them (and their heavy PDC armament can shoot them down). 

Missile bays can also deploy unguided AoE EMP bombs - fired along a ship's vector to break locks and nova bombs - which do very slight damage to ships but are deadly to missiles and drones. Likewise similar AoE interdictor bombs prevent warping. They work on friend or foe.

Many weapons can swap between modes/ammo types from turn to turn (which is a decision). Weapons are classed as small, medium and large. Spinal weapons are very powerful but have a limited firing arc.

Drones not Starfighters = More AoE

There are no expendable one-man snub fighters. Drones are tethered to the mothership (another AoE to maneuver/consider). They are similar to missiles but have unlimited endurance and usually their own subsystems and weapons. Sentry drones orbit and protect their own ship.

Drones can perform support duties like webbing and various E-war; as well as self/ally repair (like a AoE healer).

Support Tools, E-War = Combined Arms Tactics

There are a few key tools/roles that debuff enemies or buff allies. Small ships are useful as a fast, cheap way to provide these roles - mostly borrowed from EvE Online. These support tools take up "bays" in the ship, and can kinda align ships to "classes" like a RPG.

E-War/Sensors: Can include target designators = increase enemy sig size + buff own/ally weapons; disruptors = decreases accuracy of specific enemy ships/weapons/reduce ally sigs; jammers = disable weapons (if use energy; emp bursts (AOE) jam. A tracking computer increases the ships' own weapon accuracy. Drone links increase drone range and buff drone rolls.

Energy/Repair = booster batteries (less chance to drain energy) and rechargers. Hull Repair Nanobots = heal self.

Tackle:Tractor Beams/Stasis Webs = slow/tow enemy ships/move self and others vector; warp interdictor beams = stop enemy ship warping.

Propulsion: Microwarps = straight-line tactical warp jump from A to B to avoids reactions (drains energy); afterburners (double sig, double thrust) = uses lots energy

Shield: overboosters or rechargers (increase size of shield or restore)

Limited But Flexible Build System

Ships have "mounts" that can fit certain weapon types or sizes.They have set turret mounts and sizes i.e. a cruiser may have weapon bays, subdivided into "3 medium turrets" and "no drone bays" and "2 missile bays" as well as general bays, subdivided into "1 sensor slot" and "2 support slots". A ship can have a maximum of one turret designated as a spinal mount (supersized weapon).

Particular ship types may have innate "perks" - +1 or so to energy recharge, or drone attacks, etc - which combined with hardpoints/layours encourage a particular style of play. So you can min-max; but within a pretty structured framework - something I enjoy from Mechwarrior: Online. Aim is to allow creativity but not 'anything goes.' Just like the whole game is not attempting to be a 'sandbox' for every spaceship movie ever.

Ok visitors arriving so I'll post this up. If anyone is interested I may put up some of my experimenting with the rules...

Victrix Dunlendings, Command Levels, Micromanagement and AI

There's still cardboard boxes to be unpacked but I did manage to get some painting in...

2024 LoTR Paint Count: 39

These are Victrix vikings. $1ea. My quick paint job by no means does them justice, but they are probably the best off-a-sprue minis besides GW. They are a significant improvement on, say, Gripping Beast. Assembly is a bit fiddly though.

 The White Hand of Saruman on their shields shows their alliance....

These guys will stand in as Dunlending Warriors worth 10x that from GW. They are a bit larger than the Perry-era LoTR sculpts but are close enough (and cheap enough) that I don't care. I simply can't afford a $500 army. Doing it this way is a 90% off discount per mini!

There is enough sculpt variety in the packet I could replicate all the Dunlending heroes, which is another huge saving. Admittedly I couldn't make a mounted Thrydan Wolfsbane...

...but I have only used 1/3rd of the packet and I already have a decent Dunlending force with an array of bows, 1H and 2H weapons. I'll probably pick up some 3D print ponies and crebain (crow swarms)- there's about 20 or so more wild men and warriors I've assembled, still to go. I'm aiming for 500-600pts which is pretty much all you need to use all the Dunland heroes and toys. I could tidy and detail the models more but at this stage I'm trying to just get things table-ready to avoid a backlog - which can cause crippling painting paralysis. I've been out for a while so I need to get 'runs on the board' - a bit of painting momentum.

This is a 3D print Watcher in the Water. It did cost me $40AUD - down from the official $134AUD. I'll come back and touch it up later; but it is also table-ready and functional. Not everything has to be a display piece by a full time Youtuber painter - some of us just need to paint our toys!  I did everything in an afternoon, after undercoating them last night.

Because my paintjob is a bit rushed and meh, here is the primed model to give you an idea of the detail.  In the background is my tomorrow job; some Black Numenoreans aka 'Dark Rhumenoreans' so I don't get bored of Dunlendings...

Command Levels/Micromanagement

I've discussed this before; how in wargames we usually control an unrealistic amount of things. I've been thinking about this a lot lately as quite a few PC games I should enjoy... but I don't.

Nebulous: Fleet Command - it's the Expanse; railguns, PDCs, missiles, E-warfare... and you can build your own ships! But... you need to micromanage each ship (and you have several of them) and can even program the flight patterns of missiles. This would be great if you were captain of A ship, but not when you command half a dozen. You are a squadron commander who micromanages individual systems on individual ships.

Men of War II/Call to Arms. It's a more realistic Company of Heroes which can be modded to Star Wars, or 40K. You can even play in first person mode like the old Battlezone games (FPS/TR hybrid). But... you need to tell individual soldiers to crouch, or throw grenades, or reload... when you command 30 or 40 of them. 

I've also discussed the amount of independently-maneuvering units a person can control in real life, and the sweet spot for wargames (I think my conclusion was 4-12). This obviously ignores the complication of the games mechanics - controlling 4-5 spaceships in Nebulous would be easy if your only decision was where to move and who to shoot at. 

Perhaps it could be a formula: units x decisions you need to make for each unit (besides - move to x, shoot at y). ME:SBG handles 30-40 individually moving/fighting minis reasonably well, but that's because the mechanics for most troops are so simple: most troops move 6", melee is highest wins with better fighters winning ties, and shooting/damage being 'roll over 4/5/6 on d6' depending on shoot skill/defense - so simple mechanics; with most troops moving in groups anyway. Adding just a few heroes and monsters - with special rules and resource mechanics will slow a game significantly because there is more to track/remember and just more decisions to make. A 9-man Fellowship with lots of special abilities takes the same time to play than a 30 man vanilla warband with a few generic captains.

In broader terms, this ties in with "wargames rules pushed beyond breaking point" - i.e. rules which have been either complicated or bloated well beyond their original scope or simply used to do too much; as well as "wargamer who is all-knowing god of battlefield" who can micromanage his troops with unnatural and ahistorical precision. What rules do/don't do this well?

 But what if micromanaging WAS expected? Something like a powerful AI which could flawlessly co ordinate swarms of units.

AI: Born to Micromanage

With the micromanagement in mind, since I'm also watching the surprisingly good Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles with my daughter; I've been thinking of a use for my 15mm minis.

Basically, you have warring AI (with both human, cyborg and robotic soldiers) who are allocated "processing power" - basically action points.

Units can act independently but have 'move x, shoot y' - but with the AI boosting or 'riding' the host they could do things like co ordinate actions with other units (i.e. act with 2 units on a single action); get extra reactions/actions (they process things/are more aware than usual so seem supernaturally fast to react) or even make boosted actions (like re-rolling shots due to immense calculating power eliminating all the variables). You could even 'bid' on who acts first.

Wifi range could be a factor (or just the ability to push signals through heavy jamming) - so signals must be 'passed on' by units in radius. EMP weapons could be deadly to fearless robots but be ineffective vs humans who tend to have other, different issues (suppression/morale). Humans could be better at independent action (better reactions, initiative, independent action) making them less reliant/vulerable to E-war; but have lower stats in accuracy etc. 

Basically, a paper-scissors-rock with AoE radius of wifi/signal playing a major role (also EMP disrupting AoE). Units who are cut off from the AI's mainframe cannot be assigned "processing power" so you may be unable to spend your "Action Points" - so besides killing enemies you can also deny them their buffs with EMP burst weapons, jammers, etc. 

Dreadball vs Speedball vs BB

On the steam sale Speedball 2 (a remaster of the 1990s game) is $4 so I bought it for 'research purposes.' I'll probably work on some homebrew Speedball-esque rules to use with the few Dreadball minis I actually like. 

I'm also curious about Tech!No! (Spivey's NFL rules based on old videogames) - has anyone here played it - as I think I registered it as a blip on my radar in ?2020? and never heard of it since.  I think I rejected it at the time as it seemed card-heavy (and I was/am very suspicious of any wargame that reliant on cards). Someone recently also recommended BB:Blitz but I'm not familiar with it - is it better than 7-a-side BB (the one with 6 turns etc)? I'd probably prefer the latter as you can just tape the pitch and have a normal BB option if you want. Hmm, decisions decisions. $250AUD for a BB set would buy me a crapton of Battlefleet Gothic 3D prints and I always regarded it as the GW game that aged best next to ME:SBG...