As I have mentioned before, Events in Apocalypse Road are handled differently than in Thunder Alley or Grand Prix. Waiting for everyone to move all their cars didn’t seem to be exciting enough, and resolving an event after every car was too much and too chaotic. What Carla & I settled on is an occurrence of events based on the speed of the cards you use. The faster you go, the more likely you are to initiate an event. Not every event is bad. In fact, roughly 40% of them are good for the active player, 32% bad for the active player, and the remaining 28% are random targeting and with unpredictable effects. We wanted to make it not dreadful for the active player to have an event and even worse make the playing of fast cards to be detrimental. The result is that the play of an event-generating movement card is overall usually favorable to the player. What I would like to do today is to describe the effects of these individual Movement Event cards to give you some flavor of the game. I will rate each card in respect to the active player on the following scale:
- 1: Positive to Active Player
- 2: Situationally positive to the Active Player
- 3: Neutral Outcome
- 4: Minor negative to the Active Player
- 5: Negative to the Active Player
Big Air (1): Yes it looks great, hitting the hill at high speed and soaring high into the air. But what goes up must come down, and hard. Causes 2 Damage to the car furthest along the jump section. Not as bad as greasing the landing but not at all positive. 5: Negative to the Active Player
Blown Engine (1): Sometimes it is not the opponents that do you in, but your own mechanics. Yes, it’s as bad as it seems. 3 Damage (half of a car’s allotment). No way that this is good. 5: Negative to the Active Player
Blown Transmission (1): High speed turns, downshifting into the dirt, revving up coming out of the jumps. It all takes a toll and sometimes you lose a gear, or two. Another in the really not good category. Three Damage to you. 5: Negative to the Active Player
Bottoming Out (4): Every time you leave the ground there’s a chance that those shock absorbers will fail and then you remember just how hard the ground really is. Those jump sections can be harrowing, try to pass through them quickly. This card only affects cars that are currently in the jump section of the track so in my opinion, it is truly a neutral card. 3: Neutral Outcome
Bounty (1): When the Skull and Crossbones flag comes out you better man your guns. The race marshall has declared that the next four cars eliminated are worth double points. Watch your six! Awards a temporary bonus for the next four cars eliminated. While I would be tempted to call this one slightly negative to the active player, the truth is it’s hard to kill a car and there may still be a bounty point or two on the card when it gets back around to him or her. In my opinion, it’s a wash. 3: Neutral Outcome
Bump and Run (4): If you’re not rubbin’ you simply aren’t racin’. Use your car to knock the other guy loose and put them in a bad position. It has its uses. The ability to knock adjacent opponents around is interesting if not always beneficial. Much more of a “race” event than a destruction event. 2: Situationally positive to the Active Player
Bumpy Ride (1): It doesn’t take long for cars to make their mark on a track. The loose gravel, the divots, the mud, the rocks; they cause damage to all cars in the dirt. The dirt is a place to speed through, not to set up camp. 3: Neutral Outcome
Dangerous Debris (3): Banging fenders, shell casings, shrapnel, explosions, everything leaves reminders of its presence. Moving at 140 miles per hour down the backstretch gives every piece of debris on the track the opportunity to become a projectile weapon. You take a damage and you take a damage and you take a damage. Everyone gets a damage. Each player gives one damage to one car on their team. Minor and evenly distributed damage. 3: Neutral Outcome
Drift (3): Don’t be afraid to use every trick in the book to get ahead. The active car may swap places with a car directly in front of it. This requires that there actually be a car directly in front of you. It also then puts you directly ahead of a car that may potentially have a clean shot at you. Because the card is identified as an action you ‘may’ utilize, you can ignore it if you feel it puts you in a negative position. 2: Situationally positive to the Active Player
Engine Failure (1): All that jostling can play havoc with your finely tuned engine. Having your engine act up during a race is never positive. Chalk this one up to the negatives. 5: Negative to the Active Player
Fuel Leak (1): What is that smell? The fuel lines and tank are one of the most secure items in the car. But even so, they can only handle so much abuse. Only one damage caused, so it could be worse. 4: Minor negative to the Active Player
Get There (2): When you push the engine to the limit sometimes you can get just enough boost to nose ahead or squeeze in. Sometimes you just need that little extra oomph! And sometimes you don’t. It may allow you to link up with cars ahead or squeeze into a draft line or it may not. 2: Situationally positive to the Active Player
Greasing the Landing (1): That moment when you are in the air and staring through the windshield and all you see is the ground. Hope your crew installed those replacement airbags. Really dangerous card but requires two things; first to be in the jump section and second to be the furthest through the jump section. Did I mention you need to get through the jumps as fast as you possibly can? 3: Neutral Outcome
High Flyer (1): Occasionally you hit those jump combos just right and everything seems to fly by. A positive move gaining five spaces through overtake movement, but awarded to a car that is usually in a dangerous position for events. Yep, not just in the jump section but furthest into it. Usually a bad place to be. 3: Neutral Outcome
Into the Weeds (2): Sometimes the tracks just aren’t wide enough. Maybe at one time there were retaining walls but now it’s just so much rubble keeping you in. Flying off the track and not being able to shoot may not make you any enemies, but the inability to shoot or be moved by other cars for a turn sure isn’t a benefit either. At least you don’t suffer any damage. 4: Minor negative to the Active Player
Missed Jump (2): A list to the left, not enough speed, to little speed, slipping on some grease; these can all lead to a less than perfect jump. Minor damage inflicted on, everyone say it with me, the car furthest along in the jump section. 3: Neutral Outcome
Open Road (6): The best way to go fast is when you are not shooting or being shot at. Finding those gaps can be very rewarding. Allows the active car to zoom any distance along the track to become linked behind the next car on the track. Essentially the Clean Air card from Thunder Alley. I always take this to be a positive card and the inclusion of the word ‘may’ solidifies it for me. 1: Positive to Active Player
Outta Gas (1): Apparently that little leak was worse than you thought. Now you have to conserve what small amount of fuel you have. Not quite as bad as blowing your engine or transmission but two Damage is nothing to sneeze at, your opponents won’t as you just became a prime target. 5: Negative to the Active Player
Race Bonus (1): When the crown flag drops its time to get across that finish line fast. Four possible points, one each for the next four cars to cross the finish line. Really it could be anyone depending on how the track looks. 3: Neutral Outcome
Reloading (3): Occasionally the belt jams or the auto-loader breaks or the missile just falls out of the well-worn tube. As usual, that is exactly when a juicy target lumbers into your cross-hairs. No damage but a missed shooting opportunity has occurred. Not great news but you’ll live… probably. 4: Minor negative to the Active Player
Roll (1): Occasionally when you miss a jump, you get to see the world from a whole new perspective. Yep, it’s every bit as bad as it sounds. Have we mentioned how dangerous it is to be leading in the Jump section? We should have. 3: Neutral Outcome
Shredded Tire (1): With all that metal littering the track it’s only a matter of time before someone’s tires come apart. What can you say? Not good but at least its only one Damage. 4: Minor negative to the Active Player
Shot of NoS (1): Is nitrous legal? Sure. However most drivers are too sane to pack an extra bomb inside their car to be ignited by random gunfire. A little extra boost in the system. Always a good thing. 1: Positive to Active Player
Sideswipe (9): There’s rubbing and then there’s all out vehicular assault. This is the latter. Make a collision attack against a car next to you. It’s like Rubbin’ is Racin’ except that you can inflict real damage. While it’s not always the best option, attacking is usually good. 2: Situationally positive to the Active Player
Snapped the Struts (1): It’s a lot of damage but only to a car in the rough section, and not just any car but the one furthest through the dirt. The dirt is also a terrain to get out of as quickly as possible. 3: Neutral Outcome
Spin Around (2): Occasionally getting jostled can send you careening out of control. Often, the infield looks like the best place to let it slide. A mild annoyance as it prevents you from shooting and actually takes you off the track and out of the draft lanes for a turn. The lack of damage keeps this as a minor inconvenience. 4: Minor negative to the Active Player
Suspension Failure (1): A day of wear and tear on your suspension can cause it to wear out. Causes one damage but can cause more if you happen to be in a jump section of the track. It’s bad and it could be worse depending on your position. 5: Negative to the Active Player
Transmission Failure (1): The constant shifting can cause even the best of gearboxes to slip. If only you knew where to find one of those ‘good’ gearboxes. Is shifting gears important? This cannot help you at all. Chalk this one up to the bad side. 5: Negative to the Active Player
The overall goal of these cards is to begin to stir the pot. Even if players don’t start mixing it up, the small cuts will begin to reveal blood in the water and once there is a target, then it’s truly game on. And in case I missed it, don’t forget to race through that jump section as quickly as possible.
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There are still items that can be named for Apocalypse Road including teams drives and tracks if you are interested.
Author: Jeff Horger
Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.