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Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Axles & Alloys 2 at KublaCon 2012

KublaCon 2012 has come and gone, and with it much gaming was had. On Saturday, Spooktalker hosted a story telling based RPG, then our Op-For Overlord ran an awesome Necromunda scenario game in the evening. I hope he posts some shots and the low down on the game. I placed second of the starting 8 players. (so close, it came down to a couple last shots that could have turned the tide) Be sure to chalk it up to my noob status. This post will cover the game I ran on Sunday.

Axles & Alloys 2
@ KublaCon May 27, 2012

Download Quick Rules Sheet | Download Car Sheets

Download Full Rule Set (I changed up & removed some of the rules for the con)

We had a full turnout with 8 players signed up. I setup the board with terrain and briefly gave a run down of the rules. Everyone seemed ready, grabbed a car and we were off. (Mental note for next time, bring a tan/brown sheet to lay over the white table for better visuals)

Game 1
Scenario: Speed Bumps

I picked a scenario called "Speed Bumps" pitching everyone against each other with pedestrians that randomly spawned around the table each turn that awarded bonus points for killing. One point for each car kill and 2 points for each pedestrian taken out. At the beginning of each round, I rolled and randomly spawned 3 new pedestrians at 6 different possible points around the board. It was great fun to watch everyones plans adjust to were the people showed up. A few times right in front of an oncoming car. Once the game got underway, everyone quickly realized that it was best to go after the pedestrians than the other cars. But we did have, I think, 2 cars destroyed during the 8 round game. Victor picked a winner Kubla Pin and second place got $10 KublaBucks. After the game wrapped, we still had plenty of time and everyone wanted to go again (cool!), so we took a break and got ready for another game.

The rules are light, but tactics are still king
Cars dance around the table


Game 2
Scenario: Ambush!

For change of pace, I picked a scenario that would form 2 teams and pit them against each other. One team was in charge of escorting a semi truck (Semi with two escort vehicles), their victory condition was to drive the semi from one end of the table to the other. The attacking team of 4 cars drove in with the sole purpose of destroying the semi. Each team deliberated over tactics, then charged into the fight. With the escorting team being alittle too aggressive and over taking the semi and driving to the other side of the board, leaving the truck to fend for itself. With a huge deluge of well placed dropped weapons (spikes, mines and napalm) the semi was left in a pickle of a situation. It narrowly avoided the deadly path left by their adversaries, but was plinked away round after round until it eventually was destroyed before reaching the half way mark on the table. Victory and $5 KublaBucks went to the attackers. All to easy.

2nd turn of game 2
Escorting vehicle drives by semi
Witness the impending path of this semi through napalm, spike stripes, and then mines to finish the job!
By luck (or terrain adjustment) the semi cranks the wheel enough to detour from disaster

Final Thoughts

All but two players had never played the game before. Everyone unanimously agreed that it was a great game to run at the con, with easy to learn rules and quick turns, plus fun cars. From the feedback, the truck was both underarmed and should have used the same targeting method as the cars for taking fire. I personally had a great time running the games. I can also say that the game ran very smoothly because we had a great group of people at the table. Thanks for those who came to play!

Be sure to visit the creator of this rule set at axlesalloys2.blogspot.com

12 comments:

  1. Great game! Well run and well played. As for the Necromunda game... I'm sorry I called you a noob. I forgot you have play before. Oh well, we all got beat by an actual noob, so there.
    I'll post some shots of the Necro game asap.

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  2. Looks & sounds like a fun game! Bummed I missed it!

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  3. No worries OpFor, it's all in good fun.

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  4. Excellent stuff! We haven't played A&A2 for about a year although I did buy a couple of hot wheels cars recently with an eye to doing some new conversions. I'll get this linked to on the blog as soon as I get the chance.

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  5. Looks like it was a good time! Sounds like Kubla was fun.

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  6. It was a terrific game. I (brown backwards baseball cap and black hoodie in the pix) and my buddy (bright yellow Jayne Cobb t-shirt in the pix) have gotten into A&A2 pretty big since the con. We've made some good looking cars, collected some terrain and made up some rules for grapples (think tow truck with an electromagnet or car with a giant bear trap on the front) and for motorcycles. We'd love to share them!
    Bean 965 at hot mail.

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  7. Hello,

    If got a question to the rules:

    How exactly does the turrets work? If you have to set the direction before the game, I do not understand why this should be to powerful and why you shold not permit the 60° rear fire arc. If you set the direction for the turret before every turn, this would be very powerful and would give you an advantage on small tables.

    Thanks for your help and Bye.

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  8. To Anonymous. Yes, the turrets tend to be too powerful in the system. Currently they can fire in any direction without restriction. I think turreted weapons could be restricted to light weapons only (12" range). Currently, I have a few medium turret weapons (24" range) and they are way too powerful.

    Possibly during your movement phase your turret could be moved to select the facing direction and then that turn you can only shoot in that direction. Still gives that flexibility, yet provides restriction and adds second guessing where the other cars will drive. Thanks for posting.

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  9. Thanks for your reply. I want to present your game on a convention in germany. Hope this is okay.

    I read the axles and alloys II playtest rules 11. feb several times, but I do not find the term, that the turrent can fire in any direction.

    It says in the rules:

    Weapons that are within a turrent must be declarde to occupy on of the directions. THIS MAY NOT BE CHANGED DURING THE GAME.

    To me this means, you decide the direction BEFORE the game and the turrent fires the whole game in one direction. Also this does not make sense to me and also this does not seem to powerful to me, I ask myself if I did not read the term, that allows you to fire in any direction through the whole game or are the rules I read not the latest one to choose?

    Cheers,

    Tyzor

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  10. Tyzor,
    By all means run it!

    Yes, I found that mention in the rules. I am unclear on how that applies, and choose not to use that portion. I would think it kind of lame to be limited to one direction all game. In that way it would be the same as any other weapon.

    I like your suggestion of selecting the direction the turret is facing each turn, and it is limited to that direction until your next turn. That way enemies could have a chance to drive around to the other side to get you.

    We had played it could fire in any direction, at any time. A bit over powered.

    So please share the game, and post back to us with feedback or a battle report.

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  11. Hello,

    The first Convention here is over and the players loved the game. We translated the rules into German and fixed some things we thought should be different. We also converted it to 1/87 or H0 size. You can find the German rules and in a few weeks also a report about building our gaming table and the cars on our website:

    http://wittyw.de/tabletop.php

    Who ever speaks german can watch it up.

    Under the second website you can find some nice pictures of our gaming table and the cars.

    http://www.4shared.com/all-images/H-0zfhWz/AA_online.html

    We love your game and we are trying to present it another time on a convention in february.

    so long,
    Tyzor

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  12. Tyzor, Thanks for sharing! You've crafted a fantastic game board! That would definitely attract people to come check it out during a con.

    Google translate helped me read your post. I look forward to the ongoing adventures! Please do share.

    We have a convention in May, which we will be hosting.

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