Ten Cars In The Core Game!
over 4 years ago – Thu, Dec 19, 2019 at 12:33:27 AM

Last night, you unlocked the $507,500 stretch goal and added another car miniature to the core game box. That makes a total of ten cars in the box; and we've not yet revealed all of the project stretch goals!

Upcoming Stretch Goals

At the moment, there are five revealed stretch goals waiting to be unlocked. Many of these improve existing items; one of the stretch goals (if unlocked) will add another playmat to the Double Ace stretch rewards.

• $512,500 - Improved - +16 cards in Miniatures Set 1.
• $520,000 - Improved - +16 cards in Miniatures Set 2.
• $525,00 - Double Ace - Playmat #3 is added to the Double Ace stretch rewards.
• $530,000 - Improved - +1 car miniature added to Miniatures Set 4.
• $535,000 - Improved - +16 cards in Miniatures Set 3.

Yesterday, we unlocked two stretch goals. Can we unlock another two today? We can with your support! Please get out there and let the world know that Car Wars Sixth Edition is now on Kickstarter . . . and it is a remarkable deal for project backers!

- Phil Reed

Car Wars Miniatures Set 4 Unlocked!
over 4 years ago – Wed, Dec 18, 2019 at 10:24:10 PM

As the project leaves $500,000 behind, we can report that another stretch goal has been unlocked and Car Wars Miniatures Set 4 is now available as an add-on item. This pack includes three new miniatures, plus bases, and even more new cards to expand your car design options!

To add this set to your rewards, increase your pledge by $40. In BackerKit, when the campaign has closed, you will make your exact add-on selections and tell us exactly which items to add to your rewards.

Stretch Goals!

At this moment, we have five locked stretch goals that are waiting for attention. 

• $507,500 - Ace/Double Ace - The core game gains another miniature! This mini will be packed in the blue/green subassembly in the core game.
• $512,500 - Improved - +16 cards added to Miniatures Set 1.
• $520,000 - Improved - +16 cards added to Miniatures Set 2.
• $525,000 - Double Ace - Car Wars Playmat #3 added to the Double Ace stretch rewards!
• $530,000 - +1 miniature added to Car Wars Miniatures Set 4.

And now we dive back into working on Car Wars! As always, please ask any questions that you may have in the comments and we will answer as best we can. NOTE: Questions in threaded comments can be easily missed; the Kickstarter commenting tools make it challenging for us to spot comments that are responses to older entries. A new comment is the best way to be seen.

- Phil Reed

Turrets and A Manufacturing Meeting
over 4 years ago – Mon, Dec 16, 2019 at 11:48:43 PM

Two bits of info today. 

• One, David and I spent the day at the GPI offices going over the Car Wars Sixth Edition project. From packaging to tooling to scheduling, we touched on every part of the project and have a plan for how we will spend January 7th and January 8th; finalizing the project details!
• Two, Sam is back with more behind-the-scenes info on the design of Car Wars Sixth Edition. This time around, Sam touches on turrets in the game. Enjoy, gang!

- Phil Reed

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Be Careful Where You Point That Thing!

In early development sessions for Car Wars Sixth Edition, a number of otherwise exciting gameplay ideas ran into two particularly nasty traps that Randy and I try to steer away from. Turrets kept running into BOTH traps. For a while, we thought we weren’t going to be able to make them work in the new game. (Spoiler: we did.)

Trap #1: The One True Way

Anything that risks becoming The One True Way is a problem. You’ve seen it in countless other games, where one method of play is superior to all others. If there’s only one competitive car build in this new edition, what’s the point of bothering with all of the other stuff? Smart players always end up with basically identical car designs. That shrinks the game and shrinks the fun.

Trap #2: Fun for One

Tons of Car Wars ideas suffer from “fun-for-one” syndrome: situations in which the fun only exists for one player at the table, often at the expense of everyone else’s enjoyment of the game. If I can, for example, make you lose your turn over and over, I may win, but you aren’t even getting to play. The only one having fun is me. This is a fast way to drive new players away from your game.

Turrets Then

In early testing, players would buy a turret and the heaviest structure available, then turtle as far away from the other players as possible, taking potshots from extreme range. And it was a winning strategy. We quickly realized that you needed a turret to be competitive. It was The One True Way, and even worse than fun-for-one, it quickly became fun-for-none, because it made the game predictable and boring. We‘re making a tactical vehicular combat game, and turrets negated all of the vehicular tactics (driving and positioning).

Turrets Now

HOWEVER, with some tweaks to how turrets work (and by throwing out some old expectations), we’ve made them viable. Now your turret can shoot — and be shot — from all directions, regardless of firing arcs. They are a bit fragile as a result, because a weapon’s durability doesn’t increase simply by putting it in a turret. If you want your turret to last, you’d better equip something to protect it. And turrets are somewhat expensive to equip. Sure, that turret gives you a huge tactical advantage...but for the same cost, you could equip a fixed weapon that punches much harder.

Vroom Vroom Pew Pew

As I said in my previous article, everything boils down to your playing style. Want to build the “turret turtle” that I described above? You can. Tired of playing against the turret turtle? Use your money to make your car more maneuverable and stick your biggest gun right up their tailpipe!

~ Sam

$492,500 Stretch Goal Unlocked: Goblin!
over 4 years ago – Mon, Dec 16, 2019 at 12:42:55 AM

A new miniature has been added to the core game, improving the Rookie, Ace, and Double Ace rewards. The Goblin will be packed inside the Red/Yellow box.

Tomorrow, once the office is open, the add-on graphics on the main page will be updated. (It is Sunday, so please allow our team the weekend to relax.)

Up next: $500,000 which, if met, will unlock the Miniatures Set 4 add-on! That brings more minis and cards to the game, so we very much hope to unlock that stretch goal since we know how many of you want even more options when you sit down to build cars and play.

- Phil Reed

$485,000 Stretch Goal Unlocked, New Stretch Goals Revealed
over 4 years ago – Fri, Dec 13, 2019 at 10:11:55 PM

With the $485,000 stretch goal unlocked, the Road Tiles expansion now includes a total of 18 double-sided tiles. Ben is still working on the three new tiles; we'll reveal the designs before this project comes to a close.

New Stretch Goals

As part of yesterday's review of the Car Wars Sixth Edition project, we shuffled some of the unrevealed stretch goals and eliminated miniatures sets 5, 6, and 7 from our plans. Instead, the miniatures (and cards!) allocated for those sets are being folded back into earlier packs. This led to a bit of a revision to stretch goal placement in the project.

At the moment, these are the still-locked stretch goals:

• $492,500 - Rookie/Ace/Double Ace - One miniature added to the core game. (This also affects the Rookie level two-player pack.)
• $500,000 - Add-On - Car Wars Miniatures Set 4. This is an add-on item only and includes three new minis plus new cards.
• $507,500 - Ace/Double Ace - One miniature added to the core game.
• $512,500 - Improved - +16 cards added to Miniatures Set 1.
• $520,000 - Improved - +16 cards added to Miniatures Set 2.
• $525,000 - Double Ace - Playmat #3 added to the Double Ace stretch rewards and available as an add-on item.

By collapsing the unrevealed miniatures sets (5, 6, and 7) into earlier packages we can reduce the overall manufacturing costs. This will require three fewer boxes and three fewer rulesheets (if everything is unlocked), which means we spend more of the budget on the minis and cards and less on packaging.

Please Share With Your Friends!

Only by reaching more potential players can we continue to unlock stretch goals and improve the overall game, which means we need your assistance in spreading the word. Please share this Kickstarter campaign in your favorite Facebook groups and forums, at your favorite blogs, and at BGG (here is their Car Wars Sixth Edition page where you can post and interact with BGG users). 

- Phil Reed