Cars Wars Companion and Red/Yellow Starter Set Review

Stats:
No. of players: 2
Amount of time to play: 60-120 min
Age requirements: 10+
Set-up time: 5-10 min

The Car Wars Companion adds new options, scenarios, and rules to enhance and customize your auto dueling experience. Many of the scenarios work for four players so I tried out the Red/Yellow Starter set too.

Car Wars Companion Description:

The Car Wars Companion starts with an introduction and explanation of how to use the book. Next there is a section about building an arena. It gives rules for existing obstacles and hazards as well as introducing new obstacles and hazards. This includes turrets, grandstands, charge plates, flaming oil and saw blades. You can put these into the arenas you build to add even more action and danger for your automotive combatants.

The next section (and majority of the book) has over 30 scenarios. These scenarios alter some rules, add some hazards and obstacles, and/or introduce entirely new elements to the game. Each scenario starts with a brief introduction, followed by the set up and any specific rules needed to play. The components box highlights what game sets or expansions are needed to play the scenario. You don’t always need all of these components, like specific playmats etc, but they might make it easier. The write up also includes the map, ways to score points (if applicable), and the win condition.

New optional rules from the scenarios and beyond are included in the next section. You can add these as you like to your Car Wars game. There is a section of weather effects so you can add the natural elements to your outdoor arena. And a section on underdog tokens. These are tokens you earn when things don’t go your way. You can spend them later to add dice to your attack or defense or other bonuses.

If you have less than four players you can add bots to the game. Bots still require a dashboard and are managed by a human. The next section details how to build bots, how they act in combat based on their personality at that time.

After the bots section you learn all about the dice. There is a graphic showing all the different colored dice and their faces. It also talks about the strategy of re-rolls and which dice might be beneficial or detrimental to re-roll.

The book ends with some sample maps you can make using the road tiles you may purchase.

Red/Yellow Starter Set Description:

Previously I reviewed the Orange/Purple starter set. The Red/Yellow starter set is similar but does contain a few more items. It includes six miniatures instead of just two. There are still just two bases so more miniatures doesn’t equal more than two players. There are just more miniatures options. Also instead of having sample builds in the rulebook, there are record sheets for each car. Other than that the sets are the same.

Quick Review of the Car Wars Companion:

The Car Wars Companion adds a bunch of fun ways to play the game. The scenarios alone add a ton of wrinkles to the game. The additional hazards and obstacles allow players to create their own unique scenarios and customized arenas. This all increases Car Wars’ replay value.

The bot rules allow for solo play or you can add more opponents to scenarios with more players. Running the bots are a bit cumbersome at first, but over time they get easier to manage. They can help add targets, but they are not as intelligent as actual players.

Some of the other information in the Car Wars Companion is nice to have. Like the theories on re-rolls and sample maps. It is cool to get but the main reason to pick this up is if you want to add some variety to your Car Wars game.

Quick Review of the Car Wars Red/Yellow Starter Set:

After playing two player games with the Orange/Purple Starter Set i wanted to try out four player games. Getting the Red/Yellow or any of the other Starter Sets made this a reality. I am happy I tried it out and there are different things I like about Car Wars at different player counts. With two it is less chaotic and there are fewer targets. When playing with three or four players there is more action, but opportunities to gang up on one opponent. Two vs two team games can strike a chord between these, but they are all fun for different reasons. I will say three players is awkward as one player tends to be taken out quickly as ganging up and king-making is more likely.

The contents of the Red/Yellow Starter Set is similar to the Orange/Purple Starter Set. The extra miniatures are nice. And for newer players the pre-made cars are great for jumping in. Having two starter sets is nice as there are lots of dice to go around. Everyone gets their own turning key too.