Last Saturday Jared Burns ran a very fun game of GASLANDS at the February meeting of the Mass Pikemen gaming club. For those of you not familiar with the game, it involves an apocalyptic race/gladiatorial battle using Matchbox cars. The cars are armed with different weapons such as rams, machine guns, and armor, and in the scenario they were racing through three gates with the first car to finish all three as the winning car.
Each of us had two cars. Jared brought his car collection which he had very effectively weathered. Also, Scott Howland brought his cool GASLANDS cars, so we had a nice selection. Jared had also made some very nice dashboards which made play much easier.
We all started at gate one, with no firing weapons to be active until we crossed the first gate. Several cars, including my cab, never made it through that first gate. My rusty car did, and turned back to attack Jared’s similarly-armed orange car. I rolled well, and Jared did not, with the result being I destroyed his car. Unfortunately, his ammo sympathetically detonated and both of my cars took damage from that blast.
At the same time, Mike Morgan had been sidelined due to a starting box collision that left one of his cars just getting going. His other car was speeding dangerously towards the stadium wall (the edge of the tabletop), so he was not being engaged. Scott and Jared were both heading to the second gate and taking shots at each other along the way. Scott’s other car was in front of my rusty one, so I shot at it, and the dice were with me again. Boom.
Unfortunately, the act of shooting Scott’s car also caused an explosion that wrecked my rusty car, leaving me with only the cab.
This left Mike with two cars, and Jared, Scott and I with one, and mine could only ram. I saw them headed for gate two, so I headed there.
I did damage to Scott’s silver car, causing it to flip and hit the post, and explode. Both my cab and Jared’s blue car were caught in the explosion. This action took all three out of the game, leaving Mike with the only remaining cars and victory!
The game ended and I think we all had a blast (pun unintentional) even though I inadvertently succeeded in destroying my own cars. Thanks to Jared for running a great game.
Our next session is on March 2nd at 2 PM during which we will be playing What a Tanker in North Africa!
Mark A. Morin 
I have the rules and a pile of cars and weapons. One day I might actually play the game 😁
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It is fun, you should!
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I was a bit put off by the randomness of crashing and burning without shooting anything
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Sounds like my kind of game!
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Very apocalyptic Alex!
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Looks like it was a lot of fun. I liked the billboards … as a small detail, I thought the cement blocks were very realistic-looking, and the Lincoln Logs brought back memories. 🙂
It is always a good game when you succeed in destroying your own cars!
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It was fun using three people’s terrain to make a new tabletop. Of course Jared is an Air Force Academy grad, and I’m a West Point grad, so I’m counting it as a win!😀
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I just picked-up the rules book for this game! Looks like fun, can’t wait to get a game in and if it’s as much fun as your post, I’ll be diving right into the kit bashing!
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Thanks for looking! Very easy to learn and play
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Love the cars and the bill boards in particular, especially the Johnny Cab one. You weren’t tempted to use one of your tanks then? 😉 Looks like you had fun. Great photos too.
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Nice of you to say Dave. I would have loved to have any tank in this game! Glad you liked the photos.
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Actually, you can play with tanks in this game. There are rules for all types of vehicles including helicopter and ice cream trucks!
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Sounds like total chaos and that’s always fun! I have the rules and some unboxed cars so I need to get something done. Thanks for sharing!
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I have played twice now John, fun game to be sure. I would love to see what you do with some cars for this!
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So no pressure then! 🙂
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Well, that looked really cool, Mark. A great post and every picture helped tell the story too.
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Thanks!
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Very cool
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Thanks!
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Great looking game. I’ve read the rules but not yet had the chance to have a game of Gaslands sadly. Your pics make me want to hasten a change in that.
Cheers,
Pete.
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Thanks Pete. Give you a good chance to try a new game!
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Oh mate ! If only I had time to do more things ! ,looks like a lot of fun mate !.
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😄
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Looks like a great game. I’ve gotten a bunch of stuff together for it, but unfortunately haven’t managed to get a game in yet. Thanks for posting this up, Mark!
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I enjoyed it, and will be playing again at the end of April at the monthly Mass Pikemen session – a true game of mayhem and fun!
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