CARnage in the Canyon- AAR with Axles and Alloys rules

Easter afternoon saw the first in what I hope will be many battles using different rules for vehicle combat. I'm trying out many to get the flavor of each, and maybe will mix up some for some house rules. Who knows. I played with my kids, and they immediately decided on boys vs girls. So I drew up two medium cars for my son and I, and two lights and a heavy for my three daughters. We played on my all purpose boards, that measure 6'x8'. AA rules are for 20mm, but we kept the speed measures the same and doubled the weapon ranges. That seemed to work well; speed was convincing enough and weapon reach was just right.

The board, all ready to go. 

Team Havoc Cars:

Ben's car                                                                

Name: Mini Tank                                                   

Weapons: Dual Machine Guns, Oil Dropper              

Description: Tan Armored Porsche                       

 My Car

 Name: Marauder

 Weapons: Machine Gun, Missile launcher, Smoke

Description: Cream 57 Chevy

 Battle Diva Cars:

Gillian's car: 

Name: Death Bug

Weapons: Turret Mounted Machine Gun, Mine Dropper

Description: Purple Escort

Elise's car:

Name: Bee Sting

Weapons: Dual Machine Guns, Spike Dropper

Description: Yellow Escort

Allison's car:

Name: Reaper

Weapons: Mini-Gun, Two Flame Throwers, ram

Description: Black Range Rover

Turn 1, 2, and 3: 

Team Havoc wastes no time and floors it out of the starting area down the right flank, keeping together as wingmen. The Battle Divas also stick close to each other, but they approach the middle with much more caution. 

Not much happened in these turns, so I included them together. 

Turn 4, 5 : 

Reaper Peels off of the pack to go wide around a rock while Death Bug performs a bootlegger reverse to... Bring the turret weapon and rear mounted minedropper to bear? Dunno about the strategy, lets see if it pays off. Meanwhile, Team Havoc drops oil and smoke then performs expertly synchronized drifts around the rock to bring their first victim into view. Bee Sting drops spikes and hits the gas in an effort to loose her pursuers. 

OK, Gillian was helping her younger siblings stratagize and move their cars so she forgot what weapons her car had. The sporting player she is, she decided to go ahead with her planned move. That move however, was not in the rules. We had to make up how to do it, and it worked out pretty good. The smoke dropped in turn 4 didn't last to turn 5; it has a random life based on a d6. 

Turn 6:

The lead starts to fly! Bee Sting is peppered with concentrated MG fire and blasted with rocket hits as she desperately tried to flee. Death Bug slams it into reverse to give the little yellow car some room to maneuver while opening up with her MG on Marauder. Reaper also manages to peek its mini-gun around the rock and give a good volley into Marauder. An ambush plan comes together...

First shots of the game went off well, with all who shot getting some damage. Hitting and damage is all combined in one roll, based off weapon strength vs distance and speed. Weapons are very generic, classified as light, medium, or heavy. You can have a light hairball shooter or a heavy aardvark launcher, it doesn't matter what the description is, as its just fluff. 

Turn 7:

Crunch Time! After dodging the spikes and dropping smoke and oil,  Marauder narrowly misses getting blasted by Reaper. Mini Tank was not so lucky. The heavy truck came in with guns blazing, sinking its ram into the side of the tan terror with devastating results. Maurauder lines up a collision on the now stationary Death Bug, while Bee Sting uses the new distraction to bring its MGs around for effect. Death Bug lures Marauder into yet another ruse, skitting out of the way at the last second and leaving a pile of proximity mines in its place. Lots of lead (and some flame) was slung by everyone this turn, but no damage was taken. 

Its a good thing everyone hit last turn, because this turn was horrible for shooting! 

Turn 8:

After the collision, Mini Tank is pushed aside as Reaper locks up its brakes to avoid a second impact, this time with a ginormous boulder. Death Bug Repositions around some rocks While Maruader, having passed over the mines without setting them off, gets smashed in the side by Bee Sting. Shots are exchanged with no one able to find an opening in the enemy's armor.

More shooting without results. to be fair to the rules, they simplify shooting and hits might have happened, they just didn't cause damage. 

Turn 9:

Reaper manages to slow down and slide sideways into the boulder, causing damage but nothing catastrophic. Mini Tank burns out in reverse, desperate to bring his guns online. Death Bug slows down to line up her shots on the floundering tank...

Bee Stings impact damages Marauder and put him into a spinout! 

In the rules, any hit on a stationary object destroys a vehicle. There are "advanced " rules which allow cars to bounce off glancing type hits, but nothing straight on. We decided that because Reaper managed to slow and slide into the collision, we would just double the damage it took, instead of destroying it completely. The collision damage given to Marauder was against the odds, but so far its the only damage Elise caused and it was well timed, as she was starting to lose interest. 

Turn 10:

In a lucky turn of events, Marauders spinout ended with him facing the general direction he wanted to be pointed, but he was stalled for this turn. Bee Sting dropped more spikes, hoping to deter a pursuit. Further up the arena, Death Bug riddles Mini Tank with MG fire while Reaper sprays liquid fire all over it. The combined assault damages Mini Tanks engine and sets it aflame! Mini Tank returns fire, but can't find his mark through the smoke and heat. 

Sweet lord Jesus there's a fire! This became the highlight of the game, and a bit of a distraction, as you will see in a bit. We added the rule of a car not being able to move after a spinout, as it seemed to quick a recovery otherwise. 

Turn 11:

Apologies!!!

This is why it was a distraction, we were having so much fun with the car fire  I forgot to take pictures of this turn . There was key action too, so I will try to be descriptive. 

Reaper Pulled away from the boulder while still pouring flame into Mini Tank, he tried to advance on his attacker, but the fire knocked out his MGs and blew out his front tires, causing steering issues. Death Bug re-positioned around the rock and Bee Sting sped up and flipped a u-turn. Marauder watched the little yellow car flip around in front of him, and pass right into his sights. It wasn't gonna get any better than this...  

Bee Sting is torn asunder with MG fire and rockets. Armor fails. Major systems are hit. The driver is killed and the little car speeds away uncontrolled. 

I know, first kill of the game and I missed it. With her car dead, Elise decide she wanted to take her driver model to my Gray Haven town to go shopping. Allison my youngest, bailed too. Girls. Gillian stuck with it and took over Reaper. 

Turn 12:

 The driver of Mini Tank bails out of his still burning and all but useless vehicle. Two down, but one is not quite out...

 The bloodied wreck of Bee Sting slams head on into the advancing Reaper, inconceivably damaging the mightier vehicles engine! 

Reaper pushes the smaller wreck aside, while Death bug takes a wide sweep around the rocks. Mini tanks driver takes cover and some small arms shots at Reaper, which she seemingly ignores. Marauder Barrels ahead at Reaper, both exchanging shots with no damage. 

I told you there was key action in that last turn!  We again tweaked rules here, allowing the much heavier vehicle to shunt aside the small wreck. Also there are no Pedestrian rules in this game, so I just added some, as my son desperately wanted to shoot it out with his sister still. She however knew this and chose to ignore his pedestrian on purpose, just to aggravate him!  

Turn 13

 Marauder jinked out of fire arc of Reaper and put more rounds and rockets into the side of it. MTs driver sprayed more lead with no results, and Death Bug took a scenic drive around  some rocks. 

Gillian was keeping her little car out of harms way while making the damaged heavy do all the work and wear me down. Clever girl. 

Turn 14

Marauder drops smoke and speeds away, slipping a little on his own teammates oil. He still managed to get shots off on Death Bug, Causing the only damage to it so far. Death Bug responds by dropping mines in the way. Reaper limps around the other side of the rock, its damaged engine slowing its top speed considerably. 

Oil is meant to cause an immediate spinout when contacted during the game. We decide that would be in use only if a turn was attempted in oil. 

Tun 15

Marauder barrels around the corner and ends up going head to head with the charging Reaper. Both vehicles open up with everything they have. Bullets and rockets split armor, destroy components, and in an spectacular blaze of glory, both vehicles are destroyed and their drivers are killed! Death Bug remains alive, so Battle Divas win! 

What an ending!

 The driver of Death Bug poses with her intact car. 

Ben wanted credit for getting his guy out of his car and attacking with a SMG, 

so I'll give him an honorable mention for that. 

All said this is a fun set of rules. not to crunchy for the youngsters but with enough substance to keep the big kids interested. And the best part. Free. There are some problems sure but they can be modified to your own needs. Drop weapons seemed weak this game. Oil was the only thing that did well, anything. But still, We shall be playing this one again. 

I hope you enjoyed the AAR. 

Till next time, 

Papa Spanky