by As early as 1979, Mad Max opened the door to an entirely new cinematic genre: post-apocalyptic punk stock-car mayhem ! A franchise now counting five films at the time of writing, but also spawning a more or less successful lineage such as the “Death Race” saga. Special mention goes to Death Race 2000 (1975), starring Sylvester Stallone, which laid the foundations for televised race coverage — a key element of the game I invite you to discover.
ON THE ROAD TO MARS
Timeline: Tempus Fugit Gti 16
1969 : Apollo 11, first human on the Moon
1976 : Ares 1, first human on Mars
1979 : August, first Martian settlement
1982 : beginning of civilian colonisation of Mars
1991 : secession of the Martian colony
1999 : Martian attack and collapse of Earth
2008 : launch of the Gaslands TV show
GASLANDS : Fiat Luxe
Earth is a wasteland, its last remaining resources siphoned off to fuel Mars the Red. The survivors are corporate slaves, numbing themselves in front of the Network. These viewers gorge themselves on ultra-violent mechanised games, of which GASLANDS is the most popular. This death race brings together amateur and professional drivers from across the globe, battling for the ultimate prize : a one-way ticket to Mars to begin a new life.
The deadliest death race ! The most unhinged spectacle ! The most delirious audience !
Gaslands, every Tuesday and Saturday night, 21:00, Central Martian Time
The game : Panem et Soupapus
Gaslands is a brutal race where vehicles clash under the watchful eyes of spectators who, if suitably entertained, can grant advantages to drivers during the race. Using Hot Wheels or Majorette-style cars to represent your team, you face off against your opponents on a 90cm square battlefield, Mad Max-style. Races, stock-car events, capture the flag… several scenarios are possible. The common denominator ? CARNAGE ! Audience votes and your sponsors can grant you the decisive edge on the road to victory.
The system : Dura Lex Sed Lexus
Ready ? Go! Each vehicle has a set of shared attributes. Handling, which represents your car’s agility and is expressed by dices. Maximum Gear, which determines your movement from 1 to 6, as well as the number of activations you receive each round. Hull, which indicates the condition of your vehicle — in other words, its hit points. The race unfolds over successive rounds. Each round is divided into six speed phases. To move, nine templates — from short straight lines to tight corners — are available depending on your speed. To increase it, you must accumulate Gear tokens. These are gained by using certain templates and/or rolling Handling dice.
Equilibrium
But there’s a catch : Hazard tokens generated by Handling dice or gear changes (among other things) reduce these gains. Each gear change generates one Hazard point, which can either be cancelled by spending a Gear token or kept, up to a maximum of six before losing control. The special six-sided Handling dice can generate Gear tokens, Hazard tokens, or special maneuvers (spin or slide). This remains optional — you choose whether to roll the dice or not — adding further tactical possibilities. The core of the game is built around risk-taking, but also around risk management. More risk means more speed, more actions. To top it all off, templates are chosen by eye : no test fitting allowed, you must judge your trajectory as accurately as possible.
Quo Vadis
During his first “death race”, Franky, at Speed 2, uses a medium straight template and gains one Gear token. After some thought, he decides to roll 2 Handling dice out of the 4 he has available and gets 1 Gear and 1 Hazard. The Hazard token cancels out the Gear token, leaving him with 1 Gear. With this point, he increases his Speed by 1 and therefore adds an additional Hazard token to those already accumulated. McKenna, also at Speed 2, settles for a short template to close in on Franky. He gains 1 Gear token but chooses not to roll any dice, judging it unnecessary at this stage, and also increases his Speed. This is his first Hazard point. Finally, he opens fire with his two Gatlings… but that’s the next chapter.
Combat : Si Vis Pacem, 9mm Parabellum
Violence and carnage come with their share of gunpowder and molten lead — and with a whole arsenal of absurdities, of which the car-cannon is far from the most outrageous. Gravitational cannon? BFG*? Wall of speakers? It’s all there ! Your vehicle has a number of slots allowing you to install equipment. A 125mm cannon, better suited to a truck than a motorcycle, for instance, takes up three slots. Damage is expressed in D6. For each die rolled with a value higher than 3 : one hit ! The target still has a chance to evade, rolling one Evade die based on its speed, but it must score a 6. Ranges are measured using straight templates (short, medium or long), with no additional tools required.
Handheld weapons are not forgotten either. Pistols, assault rifles or explosive cocktails — everything is there to let drivers and crew join the party. Feeling like getting physical ? Ramming is an option ! Front, rear or side impacts, the rules cover collisions perfectly. Depending on the speed of the vehicles involved and their weight — light, medium or heavy — the effects can be devastating. Fixed objects are also formidable opponents : choose the wrong template and BANG ! Once again, speed and weight determine the damage. The icing on the armour-plated cake : you also have access to various dropped weapons such as smoke, oil or caltrops, although my personal favourite remains the remote-controlled suicide car.
BFG: Big Fu****g Gun, 10 damage dice
The equipment : Mobilis in Gabarit
For around thirty euros, you get a 196-page hardback book filled with high-quality colour photos and illustrations. As for equipment, it’s very much DIY or BIY : “Do It Yourself” or “Buy It Yourself”. The book includes all templates and tokens to photocopy or scan and print yourself, as well as vehicle sheets. It’s up to you to choose the most elegant (or least expensive) solution for play. You can glue the templates onto cardboard to make them easier to handle, or scour the web for small independent stores offering templates and tokens in transparent acrylic, varnished wood or luxurious plastic. The same goes for Handling dice. You can use standard D6s and refer to a table to identify the results, or purchase dedicated GASLANDS dice from the same abundance of web shops. Personally, I bought some blank dice onto which I glued and varnished custom-made decals. The handcrafted nature of the equipment is very much part of the gaming experience.
The vehicles : V8 ex machina
The delightfully regressive charm of GASLANDS lies in playing with the little toy cars that have been gathering dust in our drawers for far too long. Depending on the race, you are given a number of “cans of gasoline” points (build points / also called Cans) to assemble your team. This is where the FUN begins ! Grab two or three Hot WheelsTM, an old Warhammer 40K© sprue, some super glue® and BAM — there are your first Gaslands cars. Once the virus gets into your bloodstream, shift up a gear ! Buy more HOT WHEELS, scour Gaslands web stores for parts and start gluing. Dozens of machine guns, cannons and reinforced bumpers are available as sprues, resin kits or printable files — either by yourself or by your neighbour/friend/buddy (strike out as appropriate) who owns a printer. The pleasure can go very far by heavily modifying the original model, especially since nothing forces your vehicle to visually match its stat card. Of course, other toy car brands and whatever bits you have lying around will do just fine — unleash your creativity. All that’s left is to paint your creation in your sponsor’s colours.
Sponsors and audience : Charognardi Te Salutant
Thirteen sponsors can grant you advantages tied to their specific fields of expertise. From the hyper-technological MISHKIN to the mystical BEVERLY, each provides access to unique perks. New options open up at the cost of build points, just like those used to create your vehicles. You are by no means required to include these rules in your games ; however, these abilities greatly enrich each race while adding a strong narrative layer that helps players fully embrace the setting and even organise complete campaigns.
No sporting event can exist without its main ingredient : THE AUDIENCE ! Gaslands’ spectators, much like ours when watching less violent shows, wield the power of the vote. If competitors fulfil very specific conditions that excite the crowd, they can benefit from positive effects ranging from extra ammunition to a return to the track for players whose team consists only of wrecks. It is each driver’s spectacular actions that prompt Earthbound tifosi to vote for their favourite team. While it may appear simple on the surface, Gaslands is packed with variables that make every game unique. Fans of variations on a familiar theme will be well rewarded.
Why should you play GASLANDS ? Tu quoque, Cylindrum ?
Why, yes — but why ? First of all, there’s the sheer fun of “building it yourself”. Templates, dice, vehicle sheets or scenery — everything is yours to create. This freedom is refreshing and makes the game accessible to every budget. Then there are the rules : quick to learn, especially thanks to the many examples scattered throughout the book, yet surprisingly rich. And finally, variety. No two games can ever be the same ; change a weapon or an obstacle and the entire race takes on a new direction. I’m probably forgetting something, right ? DESIGNING YOUR OWN VEHICLES !!! I could even have put that first — there’s nothing quite as satisfying as placing your lovingly crafted little creations on the table.
Conclusion : VAE VICTIS ET VEL SATIS !
GASLANDS is a game by Mike Hutchinson, illustrated by David Auden Nash, available in both French and English from your local game store or, failing that, online. It’s worth noting that the French cover — evocative of the Renault 5 Turbo 2 — is the work of Martin Pique. Expansions are not numerous, but by digging around here and there you can find plenty of material to diversify the experience once the championship seasons and the included narrative campaign have finally quenched your thirst for mechanised carnage.
“Velsatis” meaning “Speed and Satisfaction”, with a wink to the Latin “satis” for “enough”
David Logan, host and executive producer of the Network, wishes you the most spectacular Gaslands season of all time!!!
All illustrations and photographs in this article are by me, with the assistance of AI for some drawings
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