Death Race

Last night saw us playing Gaslands at the club again. Bailey and I were playing, and we had the promise of two new players as well. I designed a team for one and Bailey designed one for the other. As it was, one of them couldn't make it, so we ended up with a three- player race (I chose a race as a good way for new players to learn the game). And it also turned out that all three of us had gone for 'teams' consisting of  a single vehicle.

I fielded my newly refurbished heavy-truck, 'Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven', sponsored by The Warden and with a big ram and a mighty sound system. Bailey brought the 'Spongebob Speedboat', which was illegally sponsored by Rusty's Bootleggers. Illegally in that one of the requirements for the team is that at least one of the vehicles must have a trailer, and he didn't. Bailey missed that bit in the rules. A Rusty team drives drunk; it can't go in a straight line, but is much more tolerant of hazards. Finally Bailey's friend, newcomer Minh was running (literally) the Mishkin sponsored 'Victor Charlie' - a cart pulled by a pair of what one must assume were super-soldiers and mounted with a flamethrower and a horde of heroic soldiers with handguns.

So a fairly silly setup even by Gaslands standards.

Because I was anticipating two new players I kept the course fairly small; a straight run down the left side and around the top, cut across the middle through the first gate and then a hard left to the finish-line. It would have been a tight course for four players (and multiple vehicles) but quick-playing. For three of us, and three vehicles, we anticipated a quick game,

Lift Your Skinny Fists and Victor Charlie made a strong start, the former using a spin and slide combo to edge ahead and the latter, loaded with hazards from its close encounter with the mighty digger, wiping out but flipping into a better position. After Gate One weapons were hot. Literally in the case of Victor Charlie, who hosed Lift Your Skinny Fists with the flamethrower, setting it on fire. The digger responded with a ram and a volley of gunfire, plus some very, very loud music (Godspeed You! Black Emperor, naturally)

Lift Your Skinny Fists rammed Victor Charlie again. I realise we made a mistake here, since I think Victor Charlie should have caught fire.

And what of Bailey in the Spongebob Speedboat? He'd whizzed off to the side at the start, collided with a concrete barrier, bounced across the track the other way, wiped out and flipped back across the track to end up facing the wrong way. Don't drink and drive, kids.

Victor Charlie and Lift Your Skinny Fists negotiated the tight first bend. I fired at Victor Charlie, putting it on its last hit, but the cart had the ability to return fire and used it effectively, wrecking the mighty digger. Naturally, as a Warden vehicle, it wrecked and exploded, but against the odds did no damage to Victor Charlie (two hits off eight dice and he evaded them both!).

Thanks to Lift Your Skinny Fist's attacks, though, Victor Charlie was loaded with hazards and wiped out, leaving it at a standstill and facing the wrong way. This allowed the Spongebob Speedboat to catch up. As it sped past Victor Charlie used its return fire ability to shoot at it - and wrecked it.

At that point I remembered a rule about the Death Race - if at any stage a player is the only one with active vehicles, they win! So Minh had won his first game of Gaslands!

However we decided to carry on until someone crossed the finish-line. I respawned Lift Your Skinny Fists (something I could have done a phase earlier to prevent a potential Minh win had I thought about it), and rammed Victor Charlie out of existence. This would leave Minh out of the game for the rest of a newly started turn. In theory it also meant that I was now the winner, with the only active vehicle, but we discounted that.

But with a new turn starting, the Spongebob Speedboat was back in the running, faster (by one gear) than the truck and more tolerant of hazards.

Both vehicles cut across the middle.

But the extra gear phase put Spongebob ahead ...

... and crossing the finish line in a deliberately spectacular style

So thanks to the low vehicle density we all won the race at some point. It was a fun evening and I think Minh is keen to play again, despite Bailey's eccentric ( and semi-legal) designs.