Whats up with all this Gaslands???

I have been thinking a lot about Gaslands Refueled of late and it has captured most of my hobby time and imagination. I keep purchasing more Hot Wheels, thinking about different tracks I can build and what new cars I can come up with. I am even dreaming of it, which is strange. And it seems I am not alone in this as most people that come to the game have the same thing happen to them. So, what is it that causes this? Drunken Samurai and I were talking about it last night before we played Kill Team. Here is what I am thinking the reason for it is.

First off, it’s a fun simple game, I mean the rules are complex once you start digging in, but overall, they are very simple set of rules. Movement is dictated by templates (very much like X-Wing), it does use specialty dice ( once again like X-Wing and other games now a days) and the templates are in the back of the book to photo copy and there is a dice chart for using regular 6 sided dice. Everything is in the book.

Secondly, no one is telling you what you must have in your list! Most big game companies will be more then happy to sell you unit X or Z for your game that you must have. Gaslands allows you freedom to build or use whatever you want and since Osprey only makes rules, you can choose any models to play with. There is freedom in that aspect as you can and are encouraged to do your own thing. That right there is huge as I think that is partly why games like Gaslands resonate with older gamer's.

Thirdly, it’s got to be the cost. Heck right now you can get the main rulebook for less than $20.00 on Amazon and as stated above, you can photocopy the templates from the book (or download them from Osprey) and use regular dice with the chart in the book. That leaves a few cars that you can either purchase or raid your kids toy box, and that it! How many other miniature games can you purchase that can have you playing for less then $20.00???

Now most folks will buy cars and much like myself, they start with Hot Wheels. Most Hot Wheels you can get for a $1.00 or less, which leads to you purchasing 5-10 cars at a time. I will admit, I now have more cars then I really need for the game. It seems that buying Hot wheels triggers collecting Hot Wheels! I now have a few “cool” cars that I will not use for the game, why you ask? Well I do not know! All I can say is that there are many cool cars out there and I seem to find new cars each day! Its funny, when I see a car that is more than $1.00, I ask myself if I really need it. I have no problem spending $30.00 on a single model but spend $3.97 for a car is crazy! It makes no sense but that is what goes through my head looking at cars.

Fourth, customization and conversions, Gaslands allows you to do some cool conversions on cars. I have been playing GW games for years and I have always loved converting my models, but as of the last few years, GW has moved to models that go together only one way. There is less and less options to convert models or it takes way too much time or money. (Who wants to chop up a $30.00 model?) But with Gaslands and Hot wheels, I can afford to convert to my hearts content. And there are companies out there that are offering parts for conversions like Northstar Miniatures cool Implements of Carnage sprues. You also have access to 3D printed parts as well, the sky is the limit to what gamer's have access to for the game.

So, with those four things, I have a better understanding of why Gaslands is so popular and why it has taken hold of me the way it has. The last time I felt like this was with Lord of the Rings years ago and all I really want to play or work on is Gaslands. It doesn’t mean I will not play other games (playing Bolt Action this weekend) but I keep thinking about Gaslands and what I can do with it.

TK