Car Wars Gets More Love

A lot of gaming news is coming out of Austin, TX these days (and not all of it is Munchkin related)! In the run up to Car Wars 6th edition, it appears Steve Jackson has found that Car Wars has a fair amount of pent up demand.

The first print run of Car Wars Classic sold out to distributors almost immediately, and the second print run should be hitting store shelves soon... So get yours today before they sell out! Back to the news...

Over the last week, there have been several exciting announcements related to Car Wars. "Sixth Edition" is not yet ready for Kickstarter, but they have announced a couple of items intended to support the Car Wars line.

Car Wars Arenas is the biggest news of the week. This boxed set will be Kickstarted starting March 31st with the entry level pledge starting at $20 and a funding goal of $50,000.

The basic box will contain 5 full-sized fold out arena maps in Car Wars Classic scale (1 inch). The cover art is the classic "Speed" Webber Murdercycle originally printed on Space Gamer #50 back in 1982. The only formally announced stretch goal is a promise of a Car Wars Arenas 2 Kickstarter if the first is successful. Speculation to other goals include additional maps and/or motorcycle rules for Car Wars Classic (given the box art).

http://www.sjgames.com/car-wars/games/arenas/

The Car Wars Sixth Edition Kickstarter will not likely see the light of day prior to 2016, but there have been drips and drabs of news there as well. Scott Haring has already shown the 3D cardboard standee cars, but SJG is also exploring the idea of true 3D plastic cars and accessories for use with Car Wars (in the similar vein as X-Wing models). We're all hoping the price won't be prohibitive. It's one thing to pay $10 - $15 for a Star Wars ship, but a different beast entirely for a small car with guns when alternatives like Hot Wheels are so inexpensive.

On a related note, SJ Games has also hinted (basically out-right stated, but not formally announced) that the Car Wars Card Game will be reprinted with some additional new cards.

Lastly (while not technically Car Wars related), Ogre: Operation 218 is a 2 person card game based on the Battle for Hill 218 card game. This looks to be an interesting extension for the OGRE game line.

It's good to see Steve Jackson Games exploring the viability of their intellectual property other than Munchkin these days.

Playtesting #CarWars The Card Game with Steve, Scott, Phil, and Brian! -RF

A photo posted by Steve Jackson Games (@stevejacksongames) on Mar 10, 2015 at 2:02pm PDT

Postscript: My favorite comment from the forums on this picture "Half-eaten sandwich appears to be winning!" (although we find out later it's actually a cookie).