ALTERNATE WEAPON MOUNTS FOR CAR WARS

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.