Moon Variants
from “Flipping Out”
by Alan R. Moon
in THE GENERAL, 17, #5, pp 6-7.


OPTIONAL RULES

     Despite Don Greenwood's dislike of this section of the article, CIRCUS MAXIMUS is the type of game that cries out for more rules (says he!). So, to add the Hollywood touch, I suggest one or more of the following optional rules.

A More Detailed Specification Method
     As much as I like the simple four point preparation point setup, I'm sure there will be others who will prefer this type of thing. The tradeoff is, of course, playability for realism (?).
     1. Each player receives 32 Preparation Points.
     2. Preparation Points may be distributed in any manner among the categories on the Specification Chart with the following restrictions:
          a. A player must have four horses. Horse Four may not be faster than Horse One, Horse Two may not be faster than Horse Four, and Horse Three may not be faster than Horse Two.
          b. A player does not have to have a whip. He cannot have more than one whip. A long whip moves attacks on the Lash Attack Table two columns to the right.
          c. A player does not have to have scythe blades. He can have scythe blades on only one wheel or on both wheels and can even have different types of scythe blades on different wheels. When a player has scythe blades on only one wheel or has different scythe blades on different wheels, all die rolls on the Corner Strain Chart are + 2 and all die rolls for Flip due to Wheel Damage are -1. Scythe Blades add + 2 to all Ram Attack Damage dice rolls and Long Scythe Blades add +4 to all Ram Attack Damage dice rolls.

SPECIFICATION TABLE

(Cost is the number of Preparation Points in parentheses)
Horse One 1(0) 2(1) 3(2) 4(3) 5(4) 6(5) 7(6) 8(7)
Horse Two 1(0) 2(1) 3(2) 4(3) 5(4) 6(5) 7(6) 8(7)
Horse Three 1(0) 2(1) 3(2) 4(3) 5(4) 6(5) 7(6) 8(7)
Horse Four 1(0) 2(1) 3(2) 4(3) 5(4) 6(5) 7(6) 8(7)
Driver Modifier 0(0) 1(5) 2(10) 3(15)
Driver Hits 2(0) 4(1) 6(2) 8(3) 10(4) 12(5)
Regular Whip (2)
Long Whip (4)
Left Wheel Car Hits 2(0) 4(1) 6(2) 8(3) 10(4)
Right Wheel Car Hits 2(0) 4(1) 6(2) 8(3) 10(4)
Endurance 20(0) 25(1) 30(2) 35(3) 40(4) 45(5) 50(6)
55(7) 60(8) 65(9) 70(10) 75(11) 80(12)
Left Wheel Scythe Blades (4) Left Wheel Long Scythe Blades (6)
Right Wheel Scythe Blades (4) Right Wheel Long Scythe Blades (6)
Both Wheel Scythe Blades (7) Both Wheel Long Scythe Blades (11)

SPECIAL WEAPONS
POUCH OF DUST: Cost: 1 Preparation Point.
     Once during the race, a player with a pouch of dust can attempt to throw the dust into the eyes of another driver. His car must be adjacent to the other driver's car at the time the dust is thrown, and this action costs one movement point. When the dust is thrown, the attacker rolls two dice and adds his driver modifier to the total. If the total is '10' or more, the attack is success fu I and the attacked driver must roll two dice (adding or subtracting his driver modifier) and consult the Dust Attack Table. Whether the attack is successful or not, the player has thrown his dust.

DUST ATTACK TABLE

Dice Roll Result
2 Defender falls out of his chariot and becomes a dragged driver, except that
he is behind his car and team, not just the team. The team and car are treated
as a runaway team.
3-5 Defender swerves into the attacker. Treat as if both cars are damages in a
ram attack.
6-8 Eye Wound. Same as “5” on the Critical Hit Table with the following
additional result: the defender must move straight for the next two
movement turns except to avoid other chariots in which case he must change
lanes to the outside if possible.
9-10 Defender swerves away from attacker. Sideslip two lanes.
11 Defender is blinded and must take driver hits. In addition, the current team
speed is reduced by half and cannot be changed. Each turn thereafter he
must roll one die, and cannot regain control and full usage of his team speed
until he rolls a “5” or a “6”.
12 A gust of wind blows the dust back into the attacker’s eyes. Treat as an eye
wound as in “6-8” above against the attacker.

KNIFE: Cost: 2 Preparation Points.
     Once during the race a player with a knife can attempt to throw the knife at another driver or team regardless of facing. The range to target is calculated by including the target hex but not the attacker's hex. The knife attack costs one movement point. When the knife is thrown, the attacker rolls one die for each hex of range and subtracts his driver modifier from the total. If the total is “3” or less, the attack is successful and the attacked driver must roll two dice (adding or subtracting his driver modifier) and consult the Knife Attack Table. Whether the attack is successful or not, the player has thrown his knife.
     Each player also has a small knife used for cutting horses and himself free during a race. This may be thrown using the procedure above, adding “1” to each To Hit die roil since this knife is not meant for throwing. However, if a player does not have this knife (or another knife instead), he may not cut horses or himself free if the need arises.

KNIFE ATTACK TABLE

Dice Roll Result
2 Defender killed. Treat the body and team as a dragged driver and a runaway
team as in “2” on the Dust Attack Table.
3-6 Major Wound. Defender suffers a number of hits equal the the roll of one die.
7-9 Minor Wound. Defender suffers one driver hit.
10 Minor horse hit. Nearest horse suffers one hit.
11 Major horse hit. Nearest horse suffers a number of hits equal the the roll of
one die.
12 Horse killed. Nearest horse killed.

SPEAR: Cost: 4 Preparation Points.
     During the race, a player with a spear can attack other drivers or teams with the spear. His car must be adjacent to either the other driver or team at the time the attack is made, and this action costs two movement points. He may make only one attack per turn, but may make one attack during each turn he still has the spear. When an attack is made, the attacker rolls two dice and adds his driver modifier to the total. If the total is “10” or more, the attack is successful and the defending driver must roll two dice (without modification) and consult the Spear Attack Table. In addition, when a driver with a spear is straining in a corner, ramming another chariot, or being rammed by another chariot, the player must roll two dice (subtracting his own DRM), and if the total is “10” or more, he must then himself roll two dice (without modification) and consult the Spear Attack Table; to see if he has been injured by his own spear.

SPEAR ATTACK TABLE

Dice Roll Result
2-6 Major Wound, same as “3-4” on Knife
7-9 Minor Wound, same as “7-9” on Knife
10-12 Defender killed. same as “2” on Knife

HORSE CARCASSES
     When a horse is killed and cut free, a horse carcass counter (use a blank counter) is placed in that square on the track. Chariots passing over horse carcasses treat them like chariot wrecks with a special -1 DRM. EXCEPTION: The horse carcass has no effect on the chariot from which it is cut loose on the turn it is cut loose.

CRITICAL HORSE HITS
     Whenever a horse takes a hit, the attacker rolls two dice and consults the CRITICAL HORSE HIT TABLE.

CRITICAL HORSE HIT TABLE

Dice Roll Result
2-8 No additional effect
9 One more hit
10 Two more hits
11 Three more hits
12 Horse killed

FIRST TURN ACCELERATION
     On the first turn of the game, each player must roll two dice (subtracting their driver modifier) and reduce their written turn speed by that amount (to a minimum of 0).

VOLUNTARY STRAINING
     Players must write an 'S' after their Turn Speed (example: 19S), when writing their Turn Speed each turn in which they wish to voluntarily strain their teams. If they do not write an 'S', they may not voluntarily strain that turn. This replaces announcing voluntary straining at the beginning of the player's move, and creates a more realistic limit upon the drivers, although it does take command of the game away from the players to a certain extent.

WEATHER
     After players have built their chariots, but before the race begins, one player rolls one die and consults the Weather Table. If the result is 'Rain', players must consult the Weather Table every other turn during the race beginning with the second turn of the race until the weather clears.
     Should 'rain' remain in effect until the first horse completes the third consecutive corner under rain conditions, weather conditions change to "mud" for the balance of the race whether the rain continues past that point or not.

WEATHER TABLE

Dice Roll Initial Result Subsequent checks
1 Rain* Clear
2 Clear** Rain
3-6 Clear Rain
     * Rain is in effect. Reroll on this column immediately. Another “1” result means that the race starts under mud conditions as well as rain.
     ** Reroll on “Initial Result” column at start of each lap.

RAIN
     Rain has the following effects as long as it continues to rain:
     1. Dust attacks are not allowed in the rain
     2. Team speed is reduced by one
     3. CORNER STRAIN CHART MODiFIERS are amended as follows:
          Light chariots add '3' to all dice rolls.
          Normal chariots add '2' to all dice rolls.
          Heavy chariots add '1’ to all dice rolls.
     4. LANE CHANGES are now subject to modification as follows:
          Light chariots must roll one die whenever they change lanes. If the result is a ‘5' or '6’ they complete the lane change and then immediately sideslip one lane in the same direction. There is no movement cost, but all normal rules apply, such as involuntary ram attacks. Normal chariots must follow the same procedure, but only sideslip on a result of '6’.

MUD
     Mud has the following effects:
     1. Once mud has been declared the effects of Rain on lane changes and corner straining become permanent even if the rain stops.
     2. The combined effects of rain and mud increase the Corner Strain DRMs by +1 for each type of chariot.
     3. The safe cornering speed of all chariots is reduced by three when "mud" is in effect.
     4. Team speed is reduced by two.
     5. A dragged driver suffers only one third (as opposed to half) the resulting numbers of hits determined by one die roil at the conclusion of each movement phase in which he has been dragged.
     6. An individual driver on the track can move one square for each three (as opposed to two) remaining unmarked driver hit boxes (fractions rounded up) per turn.

Updated 14 Jan 08.

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