The Queen's Birthday Sprint

In the Australian wastelands of the post-apocalypse, racers still get together to celebrate a holiday known only as The Queen's Birthday. And they celebrate with a race.

(In reality I wanted to run through a quick game of Machinas to test out a few rules tweaks I'll be using for the game on Thursday. A race seemed the quickest way to do it. And we do get a public holiday for the Queen's Birthday here. I know: why?).

The race consisted of four cars racing for two laps. I took the pink peril, Lola. Other cars included the big-gun toting Fountain of Lamneth, The Anarchist with its flamethrower and the ram-car Dreamline.

The cars hurtle off the starting line. I chose to sit at the back - despite having rear-facing armaments and armour I decided that hanging back and letting everyone else wear each other out was the way to go initially.

And the 'wear each other out' bit started early when The Anarchist torched The Fountain of Lamneth with a single shot, utterly destroying it.

(I have added multiple hits from shooting and damage based on car size rather than speed. The Fountain of Lamneth rolled one success when being shot at, compared to The Anarchist who got an astounding nine. That equates to seven hits on a vehicle which can take four - instant kill)

The Anarchist and Dreamline then jostled for the lead round the first bend and along the back straight. I attempted my move on the second bend, but was immediately blocked by The Anarchist. As we headed into the second and final lap I tried again

I had no success, but The Anarchist took the lead not long after..

I tried again ...

... passing Dreamline and then taking on The Anarchist.

Success!

It didn't last long though. As we headed down the back-straight I decided to use my rear-gun to damage the opposition before it tried to pass me. Unfortunately I failed to line up my shot, which gave The Anarchist a chance at one. It scored no damage, but caused me to drop back into the other car. A series of involved control rolls ensued as both vehicles skidded ...

... and I was out of the race, bouncing over Dreamline as it tried to avoid The Anarchist swerving across the track.

More swerving saw The Anarchist just hold its position.

I ran the rest of the race with the NPC cars, as there were only a couple of track sections to go. The Anarchist was in the lead as they rounded the final bend towards the home straight.

But as Dreamline moved out to pass it, The Anarchist suffered locked brakes ...

... and lost the lead!

The cars raced neck and neck towards the finish line.

Dreamline crossed first!

The complex collision was caused by an oddity in the rules for tail-guns, which I think may need tweaking in order to prevent vehicles swerving back into the vehicle that shot at them. Currently replying to a failed attempt to use a tail-gun is almost as dangerous as being shot at by the gun itself, since the target swerves back into your position far too regularly. I have a possible solution, which I will work through in due course.

Anyway, this was a fun race, if a little short, although it didn't really showcase the shooting damage changes that well, with the only time they were used being a catastrophically skewed result.

Tomorrow I need to write up the game stats for the nine vehicles for Thursday's game.