A look at 2 simple chariot racing rules that do not use a grid. Both are in the Ben Hur style with options for offensive use of the whip and deliberate crashing. Although loosely based on the Roman style of chariots both allow variants so can be used for just about anything that races around a track.
Faustus Furius is from Ganesha games and follows their usual hook of rolling 1 to 3 dice and counting success or failures. Here in the first lap 2 good dice are rolled with a success on 3+ and 1 bad die needing a 4+ for success. In the 2nd or any subsequent laps 1 good and 2 bad dice are rolled. A player can choose to roll from 1 to 3 dice each move although in this game there is little incentive to roll other than 3. In other Ganesha rules choosing more dice adds more risk but here the benefits appear to outweigh any risk. Chariots move with a range stick marked for short, medium or long distances although few chariots will be able to use the long measure.
A chariot will always move medium and straight ahead unless it expends a die success to change that. Perhaps moving short or hazarding a turn. Success rolls can also be used to attack other chariots but the best choice is often to spend them to move further down the track. Failed rolls are just lost success opportunities except that 3 fails will put an obstacle exactly medium ahead of the chariot. There will only be a serious problem of a chariot rolls 3 failures on 1 turn and no successes the next, possible but not probable. Things can go downhill if a chariot is attacked successfully but any chariot making attacks is missing chances to move down the field. 3 successes gives a ‘get out of gaol free’ effect giving the owner a chance to avoid a collision or other bad thing.
In terms of gameplay the system works and chariots do race away. Bad effects can give a bonus to other chariots within long of the roller and chariots that are too close can collide. The flip side to this is that any chariot getting well ahead of the field will be hard to catch up with. It is all a nice simple system and easy to pick up but has the problem that there is not enough risk or reward in choosing 3 dice and there is no safety net if only a single die is rolled. This might be sorted by messing with the action tables and rolls needed for success at some cost in complexity.
Charioteer is from Two Hour Wargames, an outfit better known for combining a combat engine with a self-generating campaign setting making them well suited for solitaire campaigns. The base game seems to have vanished from the Two Hour Wargames stable although there are reference sheets on Boardgame Geek that could be used to reconstruct the game.
Charioteer does include a campaign system and NPC chariots within a race but only the base racing rules will be considered here.
Unlike Faustus and most other racing games there is no need for a physical track. The track element is seen as a set of stages; a minimum of 2 straights and 2 corners. Within each segment the position of the chariots along the track is not important only the position of a chariot in relation to each other chariot, like a cycle race peloton. Each turn chariots will try to overtake, attack or crash into adjacent chariots. This will effect their position in the pack but one will race off up the track or get left well behind as in Faustus. The exception in both systems being chariots that are irrevocably wrecked.
A chariot starts with a set of dice based on its characteristics and a pool of bonus dice. The base pool is of 9 dice and a chariot will usually roll 6 to move or attack (damage will pull this total down). Any number of bonus dice can also be rolled but those bonus dice are hard to get back and can only be rolled once then discarded. A roll of 1-3 is a success. Chariots will roll off when overtaking; the one with the most successes winning and overtaking the other. Attacks depend on how great is the difference in successes. If the defender has more successes on these roll offs they will be able to inflict harm on the attacker.
Each turn begins with the chariots deciding if they will try to overtake or stay in position. Staying grants a new bonus die. Random events are then rolled but usually these have no effect. They can lead to a chariot that was not in a position to attack suddenly getting a chance for that. There is also a chance of gaining another bonus die from the random events.
Although a success will allow a chariot to pass it might be better to not pass or allow a failed pass and attack the ‘losing’ chariot instead. This does not get the original winner further up the field but could reduce the target’s basic stats meaning that it rolls less dice on its actions. Without this the chariots are relatively equal and will bounce up and down the track with a hint of randomness. As with Faustus chariots can be classified as different types giving a better range in who can do what where.
Gaming in Blackshaw Head 