v1.0 / 2026-04-27

Overview

Speedway is a game in which armed and armored cars drive around an arena and blast each other to bits, the last operable car being the victor. It owes much to the original SJG Car Wars, but the rules are very different.

Game Components

The various components used in the game are listed here.

Car Counters	These are rectangular cardboard representations of cars placed on the map.
Other Counters	These are counters placed on the map which represent other things, such as debris, mines, oil, water, smoke, paint, and other obstacles.
Dice	The game uses both normal and special dice differentiated by color. The normal dice are used to determine success of weapons fire (ie, does a shot hit its target). Blue , red , yellow , green , and gray special dice are damage dice, as detailed in the Damage section, and white special dice are driver dice, which are used for driving challenges as explained later.
Status Chips	Inertia chips are collected by individual cars based on how crazily they drive. Fire chips are collected by cars as they catch on fire.
Speed Indicator	A counter placed on each car's sheet indicating its current speed.
Skid Indicator	If placed on a car counter, this will indicate the direction in which the car is skidding.

Cars

Cars drive around the arena and shoot at one another. Each player controls one or more cars, and once a player's cars are all disabled, they are out.

At all times, each car has a speed, even if that speed is 0. This determines how many hexes the car will travel during its turn. Also, at all times, a car is either in control or out of control. Cars are in control normally, but circumstances may cause cars to be out of control.

On the map, a car is represented by a Counter, which always occupies two hexes (the front half of the car and the back half). It may have an additional skid indicator counter placed on top of it, if it is skidding.

Each car is also represented by a Car Sheet, which lists its capabilities and statuses, maintained by players off of the map. Capabilities are listed as a series of damage boxes, and the effectiveness of each (the rating) is indicated by the value in the leftmost undamaged box. If all boxes in a particular system is destroyed, then the value is indicated by the number to the right of all boxes; if there is no such number, then the system itself is disabled.

Engine

This determines the amount by which the car can increase its speed each turn.

Brakes

This determines the amount by which the car can decrease its speed each turn.

Suspension

This determines how many inertia chips are removed by the car at the beginning of each turn.

Driver

This determines how many driver dice get rolled for skill tests referred to as Driver Rolls. A Driver Roll will total the values of these dice, and if the total meets or exceeds the testing value, the roll succeeds.

Targeting Computer

This value is added to weapons fire rolls to determine success.

Armor

This is the amount of damage results that the car may ignore when being damaged.

Weapons

These are used against other cars. They are more fully described in their own section.

Player Turns

Each player's turn consists of a Upkeep phase, followed by the Movement phase.

Upkeep Phase

The player performs the following actions for each car they control.

1. Remove a number of Inertia tokens from the car sheet equal to the car's Suspension rating.
2. Set the car's speed based on its current speed. Cars can slow down by as much as their Braking rating, or speed up by as much as their Engine rating. If the car starts out at a speed of 0, all Inertia tokens are removed.
3. Roll a number of blue dice equal to the number of On Fire chips the car has, and apply the indicated damage.
4. Roll a number of red dice equal to the number of On Fire chips the car has, and remove one for each blank face rolled.
5. Remove any smoke tokens from the board that they deployed on the previous turn.

Movement Phase

Each turn, a car will have a number of Moves equal to its speed. Each one of these moves will depend on whether the car is In Control or Out Of Control.

In Control

Car moves are selected from the following list. Each one has a cost in how many Inertia Tokens it earns its driver, and a Skid Speed, at which taking the maneuver may incur a skid. If a car takes a move at at leas the skid speed, the driver has a choice either to accept the skid, moving the car laterally along the indicated arrows, or to resist the skid.

Resisting the skid involves rolling a number of Driver dice equal to the car's Driving rating; if this value is equal to or greater than the car's speed plus its Inertia tokens, the driver retains control of the car and may proceed normally. If this roll fails, then the car moves along the indicated arrows, a skid indicator is placed on top of the car's counter indicating the direction of the skid, and it becomes Out Of Control.

At any point during its movement, the car may fire any of its weapons. No individual weapon may be fired more than once per turn.

Normal Move	Sideslip	Turn	Tight Turn
	Skid Speed = 5; 1 Inertia Token	Skid Speed = 5; 2 Inertia Tokens	Skid Speed = 3; 3 Inertia Tokens

When making a Sideslip, Turn, or Tight Turn, and any other car occupies either of the skid hexes, the active player may expend an additional Move to Swipe that car. This does to each car, and the swiped car gains an Inertia token. This action replaces the skid procedure above, so the driver neither has to accept nor resist the skid.

Out Of Control

If a car is Out Of Control, it moves one hex in the direction of its skid, then loses one point of speed, and then the driver may try again to regain control of the car as described above. The driver rolls a number of Driver dice to again try to roll a total of speed plus inertia tokens. If this roll is successful, the car once again becomes In Control.

If an Out Of Control car slides laterally into another car, it stops, and both cars take .

If an Out Of Control car slides laterally into an immobile object, it stops by colliding with it, as described in the section on Collisions. If the immobile object only contacts one of the car's front or back, but not both, then the car takes , its speed is reduced by 1, and the car rotates its free side around the obstacle.

Weapons

Weapons are grouped into Offensive weapons, and Defensive weapons. Offensive weapons fire at other cars, while defensive weapons deploy counters to the map for cars to encounter later on.

Weapons are mounted on either the Front, Back, Left, or Right of the car, which determines the arc of targets which can be hit by the weapon. If any part of a car lies in a weapon's arc, it can be hit by that weapon.

Offensive Weapons

In order to hit an opponent car with an offensive weapon, the firing player rolls a number of standard dice equal to the weapon's undamaged boxes. This is usually 3, which means the firer would roll 3d6. The firer's Targeting rating is added to this, and if the total is equal to or greater than the range in hexes to the target car, the shot hits.

Each weapon has a list of damage dice that determine the damage it does, and at what ranges. These are listed on the weapons table below.

All offensive weapons must be able to trace a clear line of sight from one hex of their car to one hex of the target car, and the weapon has to be in the correct arc as shown above.

Weapon	Damage Dice Per Range
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Max
Recoilless Rifle																Max = 15
.50-Cal Machine Gun																					Max = 20
Vulcan Machine Gun																Max = 15
10mm Chaingun																Max = 15
40mm Grenade Launcher																	Max = 16
Rocket Launcher													Max = 12
20kW Laser																					Max = 20
30kW Laser																					Max = 20
Flamethrower										Max = 9

Damage

After damage is rolled, the target may disregard one result for each point of Armor the target car has. Damage results hitting the Armor itself cannot be disregarded. Remaining damage effects the indicated system, crossing off boxes from left to right. This will invariably chgange the corresponding rating, since there will then be a new leftmost value of that system.

Defensive Weapons

When fired, the corresponding hazard counter is deployed to the map. The firing car is immune from the hazard until it moves more than one hex away from it.

Mines

When fired, a mine counter is placed directly behind the car.

The first time any car enters a hex with a mine in it or a hex adjacent to a mine, they make a Driver roll against a 3. If this roll fails, the mine explodes, doing to all cars on or adjacent to the mine hex, after which the mine is removed from the map.

Oil Slicks

When fired, an oil counter is placed directly behind the car, and does the same for each of its next four moves.

For each oil hex a car travels through, it gains an Inertia token.

Smokescreens

When fired, smoke counters are deployed to the hexes as shown. They remain on the map until the beginning of the driver's next turn. Cars cannot fire offensive weapons through smokesceens. If any car enters a smoke hex, the smoke counter is removed.

Collisions

A collision is either a car running into another car, or a car running into an immobile object.

Ramming Collisions

These are circumstances where the front of one car, called the Attacker, runs into at least one hex occupied another car, called the Defender. The Collision Speed (Vc) is based on the speed of the Attacker's Speed (Va), the Defender's Speed (Vd), and the angle of the collision, as shown in the diagram below. The attacker's directions are shown in blue, and the defender orientation is shown in red. Fractional Vc is rounded down.

1. Each involved car rolls a number of Gray dice, with the attacker rolling one additional die, and applies the resulting damage. The amount of damage done to the Defender is Dd, and the damage done to the Attacker is Da.
2. Both cars lose speed equal to the damage it takes.
3. Each driver makes a Driver Roll. The Attacker adds Dd, and the Defender adds Da, to this roll. In other words, each driver makes a driving roll with a bonus equal to the damage done to the other car. Ties are rerolled.
4. The higher-rolling player decides on the resulting post-collision position of the cars. Either (A) the Attacking car must take a turn maneuver on its next move, if possible, or stops otherwise; or (B) the Defending car rotates around the un-struck hex away from the Attacking car, which moves forward into the hex vacated by the rotation. If such a rotation is not possible, the Attacking car stops.

Stopped cars move no further in the current turn, and begin their next turn at Speed 0.

Swipes

When a driver takes a Sideslip, Turn, or Tight Turn maneuver, and either of the skid hexes contains any part of a car, the driver may choose to expend an additional Move to bump into that car. This does to both cars, the target car gains an Intertia token, and the Attacking car ignores the skid procedure as described in the Movement Phase.

If a driver is Out Of Control and slides laterally into another car, the moving car stops, and both cars take damage.

Striking Immobile Objects

Drivers may strike immobile objects like walls, posts, and the like. If this is a straight-on collision, then the moving car rolls a number of Gray dice equal to its speed, and then stops. If it slides laterally into an immobile obstacle, but only one hex of the car is struck, then the car takes damage, its speed is reduced by 1, and the car rotates the struck hex around the obstacle.