Let me guess, you’re stuck at home? Try Gaslands! The game is a skirmish game that is, in essence, a Mad Max Simulator! Check it out.
JStove here, and a long time ago, I used to be the most prolific writer of 40k news on this site. Or at least, the most prolific writer of 40k news that was related to hating on the Tau, having a huge bias towards Chaos, and making jokes about the Dark Angels being traitors.
But unfortunately, that’s not the case anymore. Due to the COVID pandemic closing all our game stores, and a very badly timed edition change of 40k, that has kept me and everyone else who doesn’t play loyalist Marines waiting for our new codex. Needless to say, there hasn’t been a lot of 40k going around. Don’t worry though, today I’m here to talk about solutions.
Stuck At Home? Try Gaslands
Stuck at home? Can’t go to your favorite local game store? Sick and tired of trying to play a new version of 40k and buying new books, models, and game aides? Brother, it’s time you jumped on Gaslands.
What is Gaslands?
Gaslands is a skirmish game that is fundamentally a MAD MAX simulator. It plays very similar to FFG’s X-Wing game, although I personally think it’s better than X-Wing. Because it’s cheaper, cleaner, and more accessible because you aren’t constantly a slave to FFG’s favorite game mechanic- Keeping track of a million little cardboard chits and cards. They love cardboard over at FFG.
Gaslands has rules to replicate every movie car and every car chase you can imagine. Want to make a haunted murder car from a Stephen King movie? It’s in the rules. Drive a war rig like Fury Road or Road Warrior? In the rules. Jason Statham Death Races with death row convicts locked up in exploding bomb cars that have to win the race or die trying? It’s there. The depth and scope of Gaslands are entirely complete.
Is it cheap?
Yes. Gaslands is inflation-proof because Gaslands does not have its own miniature line. Instead, you use Hot Wheels cars as miniatures. This makes the game impossible to ruin by corporate cash grabs. Because Hot Wheels have been $1 per car since 1968 when they first came out.
Want to play a miniature game where the price of the minis has not gone up in 50 years? And there’s more variety in models and minis than you could ever want or need? It exists, and they’re Hot Wheels cars, and you can buy them just about anywhere. The worst thing about Gaslands is that there are no official minis that you can just dump out of the box and play with. The BEST thing about Gaslands is that there are no official minis you can just dump out of the box and play with.
Is it consistent?
One of the problems people are dealing with in the COVID world now is that GW’s rollout has become very problematic for gamers. This is something that the independent game store owners already knew- GW has constantly snubbed them. Put hilariously low limits on the number of exclusive items they can order, and generally bottlenecks their own product to boost their own retail sales at the expense of independent retailers.
Now, that might sound like a lot of “boo-hoo” crying to you if you don’t care about the plight of small business owners, or your local game store is a GW. But this has been going on for a long time, and you, the stay-at-home hobby gamer, are starting to feel the pressure of it in the COVID world. You can’t go to stores, they don’t have product, and you never know what the next book is you’ll have to download or buy to play the game.
GW has done a very good job of creating a sloppy, breakneck release schedule that only they are in control of. It works for them, but it’s stressful for you. Remember when you used to go to 8th edition 40k games with a rule book, a Chapter Approved, 2 codexes, a Forgeworld book, and 3 pages of errata printouts? 9th ed is already looking like more of the same, and we’re only 2 codexes into the edition.
Gaslands Doesn’t Have that Problem
First of all, there are currently exactly 2 rule books in the history of the game. The first and original Gaslands rulebook was a 12 dollar softcover.
The second and current rulebook is a more expensive hardcover book, but it cleans up the rules to be more readable, and it added in all the content that the creators released for free on the game’s website. It clarified, collated, and centralized every snippet of Gaslands rules that existed at the time it was published.
The best part? The rules themselves didn’t actually change or get rehashed. You can still play the same game with both rulebooks, and they are both still valid as game aids. The only thing the second book did was add value and centralize content. In other words, the guys behind Gaslands did with their rulebook what a miniature game rulebook is SUPPOSED TO DO.
Gaslands is a Living Game
Throughout the last few years, the devs released new content in the form of an e-magazine on their website, which again, all of which has been collated and centralized into the most recent rulebook for one-stop shopping.
There is also a new expansion currently in development. What does this mean? It means that the game has had a much cleaner dev cycle and edition history than your other favorite miniature game.
The rules haven’t changed, there have been 2 rulebooks in the entire time the game has existed so far, and the only things that were edited were edited for clarity and all of the bonus content is still free online. How long has this game been out? 3 years. Two rulebooks and a bunch of free expansions online, with a new hardcopy expansion on the way, it’s a pretty damn good look for a miniature game. Want to play a game where you show up to the table with literally just one book that has everything in it? You need to get on this Gaslands.
What Do I Need to Play and Where Do I Get it?
As I mentioned above, Hot Wheels cars are inflation-proof. They’ve been a dollar a car since your daddy played with them when he was a kid. But modifying and turning them into hot rod death machines for your own amusement? How do you do it without a giant game company being there to sell you stuff like plasma guns, shoulder pads, and paint handles?
Fortunately, that problem is also solved, and inflation proof. Gaslands has an open creator license. You can buy all the stuff you need on Etsy. People are allowed and encouraged by the devs to create and sell dice, templates, and other game aids. The 3d printing market is not only tolerated, it’s embraced as the go-to source of modifications and weapons. The devs behind Gaslands never had the power of a major corporate plastic machine, and they never set out to make one. Everything you buy for the game is by gamers for gamers.
A New Set of Hobbyists
The best part though is that Hot Wheels already has its own community of hobbyists and customizers that modify cars. This means that even before Gaslands, there was already a rich market of customizing parts, diorama and terrain building pieces, and hobby techniques for painting miniature cars. There are tons of vendors online that are willing to sell you exactly what you want, whenever you want, whether it’s a specific car that you’re looking for and willing to dump a couple of extra bucks to get, or a set of new tires or engine parts to make your hot rod Frankenstein.
This is a wonderful thing because it means that the development and release of products are driven by market demand, not by a bunch of game devs in a conference room who have a bunch of marketing goons hitting them over the head with bats to make the game more profitable. When you buy parts for Gaslands from another independent creator, you’re handing money to another gamer enthusiast that is creating parts that you want, not parts and products that the corporate designers created to drive sales and try to steer a meta that they don’t actually know anything about.
Stuck At Home? Try Gaslands Here!
Have you tried Gaslands? Have you been looking for a new game to dive into?
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