The Little One and I have had some great games with the Road Wolf rules and I really like the fact, doing it with 6mm cars, that we have a little 40 by 20 cm piece of road that we can take with us wherever we go (more about it here).  If you have followed this blog you know that I have a passion for post apocalyptic settings with regards to gaming and I have another ongoing project Mutant 1984 (see more here) that I was going to use the Scrappers rules (another Osprey set) for.  However, this project is not progressing very quickly but we will get there one day (I blame the management).

I got Osprey’s latest game Gaslands and it certainly scratches the same kind of itch and since I already had some appropriate vehicles there is very little work involved to get a game going.  You can listen to an excellent interview with the author of the rules, Mike Hutchinson, in the latest Meeples and Miniatures podcast (link here) and check out the Gaslands webpage (link here).  What immediately appealed to me are the manoeuvre templates that reminds me of the X-wing miniatures game that is an old favourite here at the Roll a lot of Ones game table – although we have not played it for some time.

The backdrop for the game is an alternative Earth where a successful manned mission landed on Mars in 1976 followed by colonisation, secession and eventually a Martian Nuclear Attack in 1999, leading to the collapse of Earth as we knew it.  The year is 2018 and in the aftermath of the devastating war the population of Earth is enslaved and is being pacified by ultra-violent blood sports on television. The most popular show is Gaslands that show death races where the ultimate objective is to end up in the prime-time international final and a the chance to win a one-way ticket to Mars to make a new life.  What is there not to like?

You can buy the rules and also some nice manoeuvre template, markers and dice from the Gaslands website. You can also make these yourself.

I had a first pass of the rules and I really enjoyed reading them and together with what I have seen in the various videos on YouTube I am hooked – but have not yet played it.

As the Little One and I already have a lot of 6mm cars we decided to do it in this scale using 50% of the measurements (this mean that that you would have to make the measuring sticks yourself and print them out at 50% size) –  a 2′ by 2′ (60 by 60cm) playing area in relative terms is the same as playing the rules as written on the recommended 4 by 4 table (using roughly 20mm scales cars).   I have started doing a track but have some detailing left and I need to pour some coloured resin in those toxic pits.  I suppose the track was laid quickly in some area that could not be utilised by the Martian industrial machine, without excessive remediation. So instead it became a regional lower league Death Race track.

 

 

 

 

However, one drawback in doing this in 6mm is that it does take away an interesting element of the Gaslands experience, This is about finding a Matchbox or Hot Wheels car and giving it the post-apocalyptic treatment using your old kit box (I actually kind of did a post apocalyptic vehicle last year, but I am not sure it was enforced enough to last for any length of time in a death race, see more about the muddy vehicle here). But then I did some mods to some of the vehicles.

 

 

I introduced some of the factions I have done to date in previous posts and this blog entry serves as and overview of what I will be using.  I also comment on the suitability of some of the vehicles I have bought, to ensure you get something that works together on the tabletop.  Having done a lot of “Micro, 6mm. 1/300. 1/285” stuff I know far too well that each manufacturer have their own interpretation of the scale – with human sized individuals ranging from 5mm to almost 8mm, this is the equivalent of using 25mm miniature alongside 40mm ones.  In some cases, as we shall see, there are differences between ranges within the same manufacture too.  To quote Peter Berry of Baccus (from his FAQ section) “Figure design is an Art, not a Science. Every artist sees things differently, as does every designer.” Of course this is part of the charm, but it can be frustrating if you do want to widen your options.

I hope that what follows will be of some use if you want to get into 6mm Post Apocalyptic vehicular battles and at least show you some of the options available. Please do get in touch should you have any other sources for vehicles or questions and I will update this section. As to ordering more vehicles I think I am more than happy with what I got – for now.  Remember that you will only need a handful of vehicles to play the game – this is overkill but that is how we (wish we) roll!

Irregular Miniatures – UK based

I really like the Mad Ron vehicles and the full pack is £8 and will give you 10 ready pimped vehicles – just need to paint them and turn the ignition key.  There is also a set of civilian cars (also priced at £8) that are actually the same type of vehicles before they got the combat car treatment – I have used some of these for terrain, etc.  Ian is a pleasure to deal with and  will normally send out your stuff straight away.  Link here.

 

 

Microworld Miniatures – US based

I really like these and recently a wave 2 was released — I have one issue and that is that the 1st and the 2nd wave are noticeably different (with the exception of the motorcycles and the Mini-bus).  This whole range is very good but I have put most of the wave 1 stuff on the side for now.  Steve, who runs Microworld, has done a good job in growing a very extensive range of 6mm stuff, especially Fantasy and Sci-Fi, but also a growing historical renaissance range that is very interesting indeed.  The wave 2 stuff works with the Irregular cars that, due to the fact I got them first, is my baseline.  Remember that you may have to pay an additional charge on top of your order to get it through customs (I paid a £17 top-up on my order) if you order from the UK – this is not Microworlds doing but part of international trade. Link to the Range here.

Wave 1 – Light Rig, Wasteland Bikers (works well with Wave 2) , Wasteland Buggies, Wasteland Mobile, Wasteland Mini-bus (works well with Wave 2), Wasteland Hot Rods.

Wave 2 – Denizens of the Wasteland 1 and 2.

You can order some of the 1st wave stuff from Vanguard in the UK, but I am not sure if they will carry the 2nd wave stuff (in writing this they only had some wave 1 stuff). Link to them here.

Heroics and Ros – UK based

I got a few things from Heroics and Ros as I wanted to create a Police/Military type of faction. The Bushmasters I got luckily work alongside the Irregular and Microworld Wave 2 vehicles (The Bushmaster is a Protected Mobility Vehicle (PMV) and is currently used by armed forces in Australia, Netherlands, Britain and Jamaica). I did buy some more vehicles from Heroics, however most of them are a little bit on the smaller side. Here is a link to H&R.

Onslaught Miniatures – UK based

My favourite cars in the garage are the armoured Limousines from Onslaught miniatures. They are not the cheapest but they look like they mean business and are beautiful models. Link here.

 

 

In addition I did a bonus blog showing some filler vehicles, i.e. cheap architectual and railway model cars, that can be used for Gaslands and are very cheap, see more here.

 

 

I also finished the deathrace track, it is can be found here.

 

 

/ Hope that was of some use, all the very best.  Next time we will discuss a small but important aspect of the Poltava 1709 Battle.