Battle Roads Miniatures (2016)

Battle Roads Miniatures is a table top board game set in a post apocalyptic world where civilization is rebuilding itself. A plague whose origin is not widely known wiped out most of the population. Attempts to isolate and purge the cause resulted in wide spread use of major nuclear arsenals and other weapons of mass destruction. Not much was left. Very few people were left. Those that survived found that they had undergone changes.

The technology in the cars is 20 to 40 years past the "weld on a gun, add some steel plate and go get stuck in" that immediately followed the plague and attempted purges. Vehicles are purpose built for their combat role and are far more deadly. Driver protection is at a premium so motorcycles have mostly been relegated to the few remaining fringe gangs. The mortality rate for motorcycle users is so high they are now called "coffins".

The goal is to survive the game and take out as many opponents' cars as possible. Game play is very fast with each turn lasting 3 to 10 minutes depending on how many cars are on the board. Each player uses a control board for each car that tracks turn speed, two phases of movement, component damage, and driver skill use (offense or defense). For the convention play version of the game these control boards are made of wood. For the mass production version (digital image in gallery), the control boards will be on silk screen impregnated boards (~5mm thick). Players track their car status and maneuvers by placing colored pegs on the control board.

Combat is via opposed dice roles. The attacker gets a pool of dice based on the weapon being shot and the range, speed and direction the target is moving. Driver skill can also add to the attack dice pool. The defender gets defense dice equal to their remaining armor rating and can get additional dice for range, speed and driver skill. Once rolled, any offensive successes over defense score damage. Critical damage is a big part of the game. Any time an attack rolls any successes their is a crit chance. It is extremely unlikely an undamaged car will take a critical hit but a medium to heavily damage car is highly likely to take a critical. The bad news with critical damage is the attacker assigns the damage location. Basically, the attacker hits what his/her driver was aiming for. Critical hits are to be feared and avoided!

Rules can be played at the Quick Play level, standard level or with all optional rules. The largest change between levels is how to handle collisions. Many diagrams are included in the rules to simplify the learning process and reduce the "rules lawyering" that may occur when questions arise.

Each game is played via individual scenario or players can play the long term campaign where they control an entire tribe including all their cars as well as drivers and advanced facilities. As drivers score damage, score critical damage, make kills and win scenarios they gain points that allow them to increase in driver skill or obtain upgrades for their cars. The core version of battle roads miniatures includes basic upgrades for the base cars like a bigger engine, bigger weapons, etc. A later expansion will include full design and upgrades of the cars.