Rules in Car Wars have covered both a “Chassis and Crossbow”
style of environment and a high tech level that is the standard Car Wars
atmosphere, but there are no rules for crossing over. For instance a bad lands gang armed only with
old metal armor and a few MG’s on pintle mounts ambush a TL 8 dueling
vehicle. Sure the weapons work the same,
but the low tech pintle mounts of the gang actually cost and weigh more than
the high tech cyber-slave mount of the dueling vehicle. Even if these weapons were fixed mounts
they’d still cost and weigh the same as CS mounts, which doesn’t seem
right. In order to rectify this
situation I have rewritten some of the weapon mounts and added a few others.
These rules apply only to direct fire vehicle weapons
and any deduction to cost and weight of the weapon are taken after any
modifiers due to long barrels or other modifications and are applied to the
empty weight of the weapon (round all fractions up). If a rule for the weapon mount is not listed
then it is assumed to follow the standard Car Wars listing for that entry. Computer targeting can be added to any weapon
mount as long as it is available. Weapon
types may be mixed on a vehicle, but one type of mount controls can not be used
to fire another of a different type (i.e. CS and hydraulic mounts are mutually
exclusive). The weapons are in
descending tech order.
Vehicle Mounts
Cyber-slave mount (CS): (TL 8) This is the standard Car Wars weapon
mount listed for reference. No change in
cost, weight, or use.
Cupola ( C):
(TL 8) No change.
Turret (T):
(TL 8) No change.
Remote Turret (RT):
(TL 7) -50% to cost of
turret. This works the same as a
standard Car Wars turret (T) except for the to hit penalties. The driver fires this weapon at -2 to the
front, -3 to the sides and -4 to the rear.
A gunner would fire this weapon at -1 if both he and the turret weapon
were facing the same direction. -2 if firing the weapon to his left or right,
and -3 if firing the weapon at a target behind him. (Note that the front facing of the gunner may
be different than the front of the vehicle and this should be noted on the
vehicle sheet.) These can be made pop up
and/or universal.
Hydraulic mount (HM):
(TL 7) -30% from cost. The precursor to CS. It uses the same firing
arcs. This is the mount most of us would
be familiar with. It consists of a
joystick, and primitive HUD linked to the weapons. Either the driver or a gunner may use any
hydraulic mounted weapons in the vehicle subject to the following
modifiers. The driver is -1 to fire a
weapon mounted to the front, -2 to either side, and -3 for rear firing
weapons. The gunners direction of facing
must be stated when the vehicle is designed and an arrow used on the vehicle diagram
must show this direction. The gunner
suffers no modifier for shooting a HM in the direction he (not the vehicle) is
facing. He suffers a -1 to fire a weapon
on his right or left side and a -2 to fire a weapon to his rear.
Early Cupola (EC):
(TL 7) -$500 from cost of regular
cupola. This mount still gives a +1 to
hit like the standard cupola, but only turns to cover two firing arcs per turn.
(Example: The player designates that the EC is covering the front and right
firing arcs of the vehicle, thus if a vehicle showed up on the left or back arc
the gunner would have to take one second to switch to either of those firing
arcs during which no firing is possible. Pop up is not available on this or
lesser tech cupolas, but universal mounting is.
Late Ball Turret (LBT): (TL 6) -$1500 from regular C. This mount does not give a +1 to hit but turns like an EC.
Ball Turret (BT):
(TL 5) -$2500 from regular C.
This mount does not give a +1 to hit and only rotates one firing arc per
second during which the gunner can not fire.
(Example: If the BT was aimed out
the back it would take one second to switch to the left or right and two
seconds to aim to the front. No weapons
fire is allowed during this switch.)
Ring Mount (RM):
(TL 4) Cost $500. Weight 100 lbs. 3 Spaces. The cost and weight as originally presented
for this item seemed too high. This
weapon can only change facing by one firing arc per second during which it can
not fire (as BT). Remember the gunner is
exposed when firing RM weapons.
Pintle Mount (PM):
(TL 2) Do not add any extra cost
or weight for this item when mounting it. Just state that the weapon is pintle
mounted on the record sheet and use it accordingly. (I never did understand why this item costs
more than a CS mount when it can only be used by one person and they are very
vulnerable to weapons fire. I also never
understood how a short metal pole could cost and weigh more than CS mounts.)
Swivel Mount (SM):
(TL 2) Reduce the cost of the weapon by 40%. Do not add extra weight. This weapon can only be fired by one crew
member location which must be designated when the weapon is added. A driver fires this weapon at -1 all others
at +0.
Fixed Mount (FM):
(TL 1) Reduce cost by 50% and weight by 10%. (For simplicity I only allow these weapons to
be front or back mounted, but feel free to mount them any direction if you can
agree on firing arcs.) These weapons
fire in a straight line out the front or back and are treated as being in
lock-down mode for purposes of targeting
(i.e. they can not be aimed at tires or other vehicle components). Front mounted weapons are -2 to hit while
rear mounted weapons are -5 to hit. The
driver may add his driving skill to the to hit roll.
Infantry Weapons
Mounted on Vehicles
Of course your players will want to mount hand held weapons
on their vehicles. These weapons may
only be fixed, swivel, or pintle mounted.
In this case increase the cost and weight of the hand weapon as follows
(always round up). Fixed: +20% weight. +20% cost. Swivel:
+30% weight. +50% cost. Pintle:
+30% weight. +50% cost. No hand held rocket or rocket launcher of any type may
be vehicle mounted. All fixed or swivel
mounted hand weapons take up one space.
Only pintle and swivel mounted hand weapons get bonuses for being
braced, and then only if the vehicle is stopped. When a hand weapon is mounted to the vehicle
use the to-hit penalty for the type of mount instead of the standard Driver -3,
Gunner or passengers -1 for non-mounted hand weapons.
Infantry Weapons
IMG: This
weapon always seemed too wimpy to me. In
order to beef it up I assume it has an integral bipod and thus can be set up to
receive the bracing bonus and if it has a long barrel, to receive the aiming
bonus for that as well. (Long Barrel IMG -1 per 12” to target. See firearms rules for its use.)
IVMG: These
weapons can not be braced unless they are tripod mounted or attached to a man
portable brace. They can not be made
long barreled.
Man Portable Brace:
I think rules for these have been written somewhere before, but I can’t
find them. Use whichever you like. Add 10% to the cost of the infantry weapon
and 10 lbs. This allows the firer to
take a braced shot (but not an aimed shot) any time he is stationary. Available for IMG and IVMG only.
