Gaslands

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Gaslands is a tabletop game written by Mike Hutchinson and published by Osprey Wargames on November 20, 2017.

Description

Gaslands is a miniature game in the vein of games like Car Wars and Dark Future, with elements of the X-wing Miniature game. Gaslands has no set miniatures, instead requiring the players to use their toy car collections as units in game. Movement is conducted through the use of templates, much like X-wing Miniatures. Major elements that differentiate Gaslands from similar games is the gear and the pole position mechanic.

Gear can be best described as how fast a unit goes. Each turn is separated into 6 gear phases, or 6 potential times a unit can activate in a turn. Shifting up to higher gears gives the advantage of activating more often in a turn. The downside of going for the higher gears is that this can lock the unit from using many of the turning templates. Pole Position is turn order. Depending on the scenario, certain actions will result in the player order changing.

Gang Creation

Each gang is given a limited number of points and a sponsor. Points, called Cans, are spent on everything from cars to weapons. Generally, 50 Cans will give the player a starting gang of 3 cars. Sponsors are the closest Gaslands comes to factions. Each sponsor offers perks and special abilities. These can range from special weapons and vehicles, to abilities that affect gameplay.

Car Creation

Car creation is simple in Gaslands. Each vehicle has a cost, hit points, a max gear, number of crew, special abilities, and build slots. All the player needs to do is calculate how much upgrades cost and what facing the weapons are mounted on. The customization is not that extensive, but works well enough.

Sponsors

The "factions" of Gaslands, each sponsor offers different benefits to the gang. Some Sponsors, however, have requirements that prevent the player from taking certain vehicles. The Sponsors are as follows.

• Rutherford: The Doug Dimmadone (owner of the Dimsdale Dimmadome) of the game. Gangs sponsored by Rutherford specialize in causing large amounts of damage. If you are not using a ammo token with every attack, then this is not the sponsor for you. Gangs with his sponsorship can purchase a tank and helicopter, get more ammo for ammo weapons, and gain audience tokens for causing lots of damage. Rutherford's main weakness is that his gangs lack light vehicles. This means that aside from performance cars, Rutherford can't activate vehicles in the higher gear phases. Perk wise, his gang is powerful at causing damage and tanking hazard tokens. A good sponsor for new players.
• Miyazaki: The drift queen of the game. Gangs sponsored by Miyazaki are all about maneuverability. Perk wise Miyazaki is the only sponsor to use the daring perk list, which emphasizes movement. Her audience token benefit is conducting spins and slides with her cars. Basically Miyazaki can drive circles around her competition. However, Miyazaki lacks access to heavy vehicles like trucks and warrigs (though oddly enough monster trucks are ok). If you loved Initial D and Tokyo Drift, than Miyazaki is the sponsor for you
• Mishkin: Russian Mad Scientist, nuff said. Gangs sponsored by Mishkin have access to some bizarre weapons and perks that at times can be both a hindrance and a blessing. Mishkin weapons tend to attack indirectly (and at times indiscriminately as is the case with the arc projector and the thumper). His weapons also use ammo, though this is not so much a problem as he can reload by driving in higher gear phases. Perk wise Mishkin is the only sponsor with access to Technology perks. Technology perks are all over the place in content ranging from regaining health, teleporting, and gaining random perks from other perk lines. Mishkin's strength is also his weakness. His weapons are not the most reliable in hurting the enemy. His technology perk selection is powerful, but too situational at times. Overall, Mishkin is unpredictable to both his players and opponents.
• Idris: Speed, pure speed. Idris is all about moving fast and covering lots of ground. With his cheaper nitros and audience token generation from going the distance, Idris should always be moving fast. The problem with Idris is that he has difficulty with maneuverability. He can go the distance, and at times into a wall. Idris also can't take gyrocopters, but honestly that's not much of a hindrance. That being said, Idris has a easy time generating audience tokens, especially if motorcycles are involved. Overall Idris is fast, and that's about it.
• Slime: If reckless driving is your style, Slime is for you. His special ability pinball can allow for vehicles keep activating, allowing for multiple movements in a single gear phase. Perk wise, Slime prioritizes movement and close combat. You want to be up close and personal when playing as slime. Reckless driving is also how Slime gains audience tokens, as you need those hazard tokens to be in significant number to get the audience token. Its here where Slime's weakness comes into view. Due to his method of gaining audience tokens, buggies are kind of the go to vehicle for Slime. Problem is that while buggies can reliably survive wipeouts, their health points are rather poor. You could go for better vehicles, but those can't reliably survive wipeouts. Overall, players using Slime need to recognize what they can and can't get away with.
• Warden: Death Race the faction. Warden relies on cheap cars that go boom. That pretty much sums up Warden. Her two abilities allow Warden to make her vehicles cheap with a reduction in hull points, and audience point generation if her cars blow up. Perk wise Warden emphasizes melee combat and hazard token manipulation (IE preventing a car from wiping out and to cause tremendous damage when the car reaches its target). The problem with Warden is her Audience token generation and her combat effectiveness. Remember, you need to destroy your own car to generate a audience token. Not only that, but your vehicles are weaker and more prone to exploding. Overall Warden is not easy to play, but rewarding if you can make your plans work.