Rush N' Crush (2003)

In a post-apocalypse future (à la Mad Max), with scarce resources and few individuals, the survivor clans resolve disputes through ritualised racing instead of open warfare. You are one of these mad drivers. Only the first place counts, and no holds are barred.

The print-yourself components include 10 two-sided race track segments, six player cars and control panels (with tokens for shift gear and engine temperature), a 54 card deck (of additional car equipment) and armour, tires, brakes and turbo tokens. Five dice are also needed.

On your turn, you can speed up, slow down or change gears. This is cleverly handled by the control panel, where speed is vertical and gears horizontal - but not all grid points are connected. You can only go so fast in first gear! The gear diagram is also colour-coded to indicate how bad the engine heat test is. In addition, you may spend brake or turbo tokens (to slow down or speed up further).

You manoeuvre your car from lane to lane - but this depends on speed and your driving skill test. The faster you go, the less you can switch lanes. Tire tokens are spent for extra lane changes. If you ram an obstacle or another player, armour tokens are spent. Other cars could end up being pushed. A favourite technique is the Rush N' Crush, where you speed up right behind your opponent so as to crush him forcefully.

There are two versions of Rush N' Crush. Go to Rush n' Crush for the 3-6 player Rackham version.

FAQ's for P'n'P version of RnC

Q: When you use a parachute to make a re-roll at the time of collision to a rock face, is it 'optional' to move one space less when you continue due to the chute-brake?
A: You are forced to reduce your remaining movement points.

Q: Do you make a Heat Test for every colour Red/Orange/Yellow that you pass through, or do you only check on final placement?
A: You only check against your final placement.

Q: Can you place Nail Tokens only on empty squares? Or on vehicle occupied squares as well?
A: A player is forced to place a Nails token on one of the empty spaces on which his vehicle has just vacated.

Q: If a vehicle hits a solid obstacle and survives, he can 'force the way' by moving into the adjacent lane. But what happens in the event of only one available lane space being occupied by a vehicle, and the player failing to push said vehicle out of the way?
A: In that case (failure to push the vehicle blocking the only free adjacent lane), the player must move again straight into the solid obstacle and undergo new damages (losing armour tokens). If his vehicle is still not destroyed in this second head-on collision, he can try again to push the vehicle in the adjacent lane (and so on until either his vehicle is destroyed, its move is over or it manages to push the other one).

Q: Is Forcing the Way free, or must you use a tyre?
A: The "Forcing the Way" move is indeed tyre free (but still costs one point of movement) because it is in a way paid for with the "Armour Tokens" lost in the head-on collision. This means that "Forcing the Way" can be a technique to spare a tyre token at low speed to use it later at higher speed. Possible but risky...

Q: What happens when a vehicle finishes its move on a Wrecked vehicle space. Do the vehicles share the space?
A: That's right. Concerning the wrecks, we have decided to treat them as "light obstacles" only to avoid traffic jams, especially in the "pipeline". So if a vehicle passes on or finishes its move on a wreck, the player just has to perform a difficult test of armour (success on 5 or 6 only) and "share" the space.

Q: Have the equipment cards to be discarded after use? If so, have I to draw new cards to refill my hand?
A: You discard the cards once used, and they are not replaced.

Q: There is no way to cool down the engine apart from the Extinguisher equipment. Is this correct?
A: It is correct. The reason you gain heat is by pushing through the gears too hard, so try not to do it too often. There's still a chance the engine won't heat up though even if you do need to make a Heat Test.

Q: When using multiple brake tokens, can some be used before changing gear and some after? For example, can you go from 180 in 5th gear to 100 in 3rd gear by using 4 brake tokens? If not, must braking be done before or after changing gear, or is it the player's choice?
A: You decelerate before you move. You may play as many Brake Tokens as you wish, along with either a Deceleration or Gear Change up to or equal to the amount of Brake Tokens you just played, in 'any' order.

Q: Do you retest overheat if you don't move gear shift lever? For example, on turn 10 I go from 80 in 2nd gear to 100 in 2nd gear, and do a 2 dice heat test. On turn 11 I remain at 100 in 2nd gear. Do I do a second 2 dice heat test?
A: As long as you remain in the red you perform a heat test every turn.

Q: If a car pushes another car diagonally, does it use a movement point up? What about if it tries to do so but fails?
A: If successful it pushes the target car and you continue as normal. When you move onwards you use your next movement point (this includes moving into the empty square it previously occupied if this was to be your intention). If you failed to push it you would continue & move past it (if you had any movement points left).

Retail Version announced for September 2009:
http://www.rackham.fr/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=260&Itemid=1