Octopus Overlords

Well, not the Scooby-Doo bit. I'm mostly copy-pasting this out of the miniatures thread so that those who don't follow it can get in on the fun. Gaslands is a new tabletop game from Osprey that pits armed cars against one another. It feels a bit like Car Wars (although they play up the post-apocalyptic angle more) and uses templates a bit like X-Wing. It works for multiple players, not just two. The best part is that it's really, really cheap. The rulebook is $19 from Osprey, but you can get it as a pdf for $15, or for $12 from Amazon. You can download and print the movement templates, and can play with regular d6 dice (although there are third parties that offer acrylic or wood templates, plus etched dice really cheap, too.) Of course, it being a type of miniatures game, the real expense is always in the miniatures themselves.

Not in this case. Gaslands is designed to be played with standard Matchbox/Hot Wheels cars. They're a buck a piece at Wal-Mart, and if you have older kids like I do who've outgrown theirs, you probably have a ton of them lying around.

There'squite a community forming up around this game, and I have it on good authority that Miniature Market is looking at launching a line of 3d-printed terrain for it (and their terrain is only a buck or two per element.)

Some pictures, not my own work, that I've saved for later reference. Remember, this is all regular Hot Wheels cars with bits of cardboard and plastic glued on (although you could certainly play with them as they are.)

My buddy made these 4 cars using his kid's old Matchbox cars and some random bits he had around from other games. He printed out the car info sheets and then laminated them so we can just use dry erase markers to keep track of armor. He's currently working on mounting cars to clear bases, which I think is the best solution for us. Be warned, however, in buy general Calvary bases (if you go that route) as they're likely too large or too small for Matchbox cars. There are bases now that are being branded specifically for "Gaslands", so that's what you should look for. But if you're handy you can certainly cut MDF to shape. We liked having the bases as it made using the templates super easy.

He was also looking into creating some desert-rock pieces from insulation, but I'm not sure if that'll take too much time. You could really use anything for barriers or obstacles. That's one of the things that's so great - you likely have 90% of the stuff you need sitting in a box somewhere.



I have everything but cars.

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Tue Jul 31, 2018 5:09 pm I have everything but cars.

eBay lots or thrift stores should be able to help.

Oh, finding them isn't the issue. Preparing them is.

Plus, there's rules for motorcycles, buses and tanker trucks.

The first bit of advice I saw when prepping them (If you aren't using bases) was to superglue the wheels in place so that they don't roll.

The insulation terrain is very, very quick to make. I could probably cover a table in rocks like that in a few hours (not counting drying time.)

My buddy has a *ton* of insulation rocks, however as he pointed out, they're cave-style rocks, not desert-style rocks. This, of course, is unacceptable.

Funny I just found this game too. Haven't played it yet but I love the idea of it. Looks awesome!

I found this page a few weeks ago, showing off just how easy it is to make environmental bits. I wish I was crafty and could just think of this stuff on my own, but I was amazed at the conversion of cardboard tubes and straws to industrial tanks.

To expand on what I said before, Gaslands was recommended to me at Fear the Con. I was staff for that one, and got to talking with the guy running the booth for Miniature Market during a slow spell. After talking Gaslands, he mentioned that MM was looking at adding a bunch of Gaslands stuff to their Tiny Terrain which is good quality and really well priced. They were talking stuff like oil barrels, jersey barriers, tire piles, that sort of thing. I just saw their GenCon announcement, and they're going to be unveiling some new stuff for the line there. I don't know that it is the Gaslands stuff, but I'm going to swing by and check.

This looks really cool. I may just give miniatures gaming another try. I've been priced out of it in the past. How long does it take to setup and play a typical scenario?

You can set things up in various ways - there are various modes and recommended setups depending on what you want to do. I played a 7 person demo game that lasted 3 hours; we had a death race. But you can set up traditional demolition derby car battles or do a "rolling map" where you try to take down a convoy. I think once you know the rules and assuming you're playing with 3-4 people, you could easily do it in 90 minutes as the various templates really speed things up. There's not much decision making in terms of what you can do each turn - you have to select an appropriate template, place it and then move your car to the new position. It fundamentally comes down to move yourself in a controlled way or press your luck (roll some dice) and hope you don't spin out.

Interesting. How complicated are the rules? Wondering if my 6 YO son would be into this.

I wouldn't go so far as to call them intuitive, but once you figure out what they're trying to do, eventually they make sense. The core/basic rules are rather straight forward and they logically make sense. There are advanced rules (that we didn't play with) that layer in additional elements for damage modeling and movement.

It might be challenging to understand the movement templates as you need to select appropriate templates matched to your gear (speed), but I can't think of a reason they couldn't play. The only thing they might have trouble with is the "pace" - why are we going so slow, why can't I just move over here to shoot you, etc...

The rulebook is cheap as hell and worth picking up. I see that the Kindle version is $1.99 - if you're into that kind of thing. I'd still get a hard copy of the book, but if the Kindle version is updated with info from the most current Gaslands FAQ, it might be worth it...

Wish I would have noticed that before I paid $9 for the PDF last night...

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Wed Aug 01, 2018 12:37 pm The rulebook is cheap as hell and worth picking up. I see that the Kindle version is $1.99 - if you're into that kind of thing. I'd still get a hard copy of the book, but if the Kindle version is updated with info from the most current Gaslands FAQ, it might be worth it...

I only checked the first two errata, but it does not appear that the kindle version is updated.

I have decided my first car was a little too clean.
I watched a video on how to make my own weathering powders from chalk pastels, so I gave it a shot.

It's a little more red than I was going for, and I think the spray fix I used might be a bit on the old side because it kind of has a fine dust all over it now. Still, not bad for a first effort.



Also, here's a video I watched last night where this guy uses paper clips to make raised suspension. This is giving me ideas for future cars.

Dusting effect when using clearcote is usually because of humidity. But on a car assembled from spare parts and sent into an arena, it's not necessarily a bad thing...

The second (free) mini expansion Time Extended just came out this week.
Adds a bunch of new weapons, some perks, a sponsor and 2 more scenarios.
The two stand out highlights for me are Harpoons & Blunderbuss guns. Harpoons are cool and the Blunderbuss seems like it might be more fun and easier to scratch build - since I still have not located a good source for cheap free machine guns.
I'm not so excited about some of the more fantasy type weapons, like the Mind Control Device.

Yeah, my difficulty is that because I've never done any sci-fi minis (other than Star Wars miniatures game) I don't have anything in my bits box to use. I poked around at American Science and Surplus today but inspiration never hit me.

There are options out there. There are a few people on the Gaslands Facebook group that sell 3d-printed 'weapon packs' that look really good. The group also posts a half a dozen different finished cars per day, showing all sorts of improvised modeling solutions. Military model equipment sets work. Printing your own works. And then there is the old fashioned approach - start tearing apart every piece of junk you come across. Lots of bits and pieces make good improvised weapons. Cannon barrel? Empty ink tube for a standard Bic pen. Machine gun? Toothpick, plastic tube, whatever you have laying around. Netting? Tulle. Armor plate? Cardboard or plastic card, plastic 'diamond plate' sheets for car modelers, playing cards + spray adhesive + tulle. Grating? Window screen. Spikes? Toothpick or skewer tips. Improvising this stuff is half the fun. Tearing apart an old toaster or motherboard for cool looking bits is one of the side perks!

Ooh, and that gives me an idea. Chop up some ink inserts for pens (empty) or some small round stir sticks. Glue them into a cluster. Cut the points off of a few toothpicks, put them in the straws protruding just a bit.

Rocket pod!

Found a cheap download for shipping containers on Wargame Vault. Here’s the first one:



It claims to be scaled for 28 mm, but seems a little small. Anyway, will work for cheap terrain for the time being.

And pylons and goals for Death Race...

First game in last night to learn the rules. 2 player Death Race, each player with a buggy, car and pickup, each vehicle armed with a machine gun to keep things simple. No perks, no team benefits, no applause points. Matchbox cars right out of the box. Cardboard scenery. Felt like my old Warhammer Fantasy Battles Days!

It was a learning game, so there were lots of rules lookups and hesitation as to what to do, but we played for about 2.5 hours and had one vehicle destroyed and only 2 of them managed to cross the first gate by then!

One thing that seemed different than most of the YouTube play videos I saw was that we had LOTS of wipeouts occurring. The players started to learn towards the end that hazard management was pretty important.

Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Discussions abounded about setting this up at OctoCon as a death match game.

hentzau wrote: ↑Thu Aug 16, 2018 10:57 am One thing that seemed different than most of the YouTube play videos I saw was that we had LOTS of wipeouts occurring. The players started to learn towards the end that hazard management was pretty important.

Awesome. During the demo I played, it was the same. If you don't pick up on the "push your luck" element and just assume you should be rolling dice every time it's your turn, things can get out of hand pretty quickly. Choosing the right templates and slowly building up your speed vs rolling dice to aggressively shift absolutely increases the risk of trouble.

hentzau wrote: ↑Thu Aug 16, 2018 10:57 am
Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Discussions abounded about setting this up at OctoCon as a death match game.

Or a scenario to attack/defend the war rig.

Archinerd wrote:

hentzau wrote: ↑Thu Aug 16, 2018 10:57 am
Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Discussions abounded about setting this up at OctoCon as a death match game.

Or a scenario to attack/defend the war rig.

For that, we would need a War Rig.

I might be able to make that happen depending on when the next Octocon is. I've got a few personal projects I need to finish up before I let myself get distracted with this game though.

hentzau wrote: ↑Thu Aug 16, 2018 6:02 pm

Archinerd wrote:

hentzau wrote: ↑Thu Aug 16, 2018 10:57 am
Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Discussions abounded about setting this up at OctoCon as a death match game.

Or a scenario to attack/defend the war rig.

For that, we would need a War Rig.

Is this close enough?

El Guapo wrote: ↑Fri Aug 17, 2018 4:09 pm

hentzau wrote: ↑Thu Aug 16, 2018 6:02 pm

Archinerd wrote:

hentzau wrote: ↑Thu Aug 16, 2018 10:57 am
Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Discussions abounded about setting this up at OctoCon as a death match game.

Or a scenario to attack/defend the war rig.

For that, we would need a War Rig.

Is this close enough?

I know that a lot of toy stores sell matchbox sized big rigs. I know for a fact Walgreens does (did?)

OK, I really want to try this Death Race layout. Cars start at their own gate (to cut down on the starting gate death trap), then cross the center gate to activate weapons. Then around the upper corners, and everyone down the center straight to the finish line.




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Just picked this up...



Not sure I have the heart to rough this one up though.

I wouldn't.

It's been done, I say go for it.
Madmax batmobile.

Bought these at the Party Store today...10 cheap diecast cars for $5.



Not the best for racers, but I’m going to use them for terrain/obstacles. I envision bulldozers just pushing all of the losers into big piles.



Going to strip the second bag and ruin them up and then glue them all onto a base.

I've seen interesting results with dremmel bits being used to create 'furrows' and holes to create some convincing damage.

Got started on a War Rig this week. The hope is to have it at least assembled and primed in time for Octocon. It's a bit of a project, because Hotwheels/Matchbox scale seems to be off on these bigger vehicles.
I'd really like to use a Kenworth K100 as a base model because I think the front of the truck could be painted to kind of look like the Atlas from Battletech.
I haven't found any affordable options so far though, so instead I'm scratch building and kit bashing to try and come up with something. After a few days (and failed attempts) here's where I'm at with the War Rig cab.




It's a hotwheels fire truck, turned backwards with the front chopped off and the outer shell removed.
Replaced the front (now back) wheels with something a bit beefier.
Added a rat rod body from a cheap matchbox knock off.
The engine turbocharge intake is a plastic tube (I think a paint brush cap) with a bit of metal scrap that came from a laminate finish swatch board - the type of thing you'd use to pick a paint color or carpet only for custom millwork.
Some additional details added with plastic card & a cut up playing card (didn't pay attention to suit or value).

A few more details I want to add are possibly a hood ornament, some rear suspension detail, possibly some armor or spikes on the wheels, and maybe some small flags or heads on sticks.
Guns will all be mounted on the trailer, which is a whole other thing I don't have figured out yet.

Update. War rig is primed and the first pass is done. I'm planning to add more color and pick out additional details before it's finished.

The trailer is scratch built using a plastic spray bottle for the main tank. The bracing around it is balsa wood sticks, tooth picks and heavy cardstock.
Added some more details to the cab section as well. Reworked the front a bit and added a big exhaust pipe along each side.

Great job on the scratch building! I hope to finally start working on some GL stuff soon, as soon as I finish a couple of other projects.

Arch, do you strip your vehicles prior to priming and painting?

I'm hoping to spend this week building out a bunch of vehicles, but I think the only way I can get these done prior to OctoCon is if I don't try and disassemble and strip them.