Stats:
No. of players: 2-10
Amount of time to play: 60-90 min
Age requirements: 14+
Set-up time: 5 min

Apocalypse Road mixes racing and weapons for up to 10 players. You gain VPs for destroying your opponents’ vehicles or completing a lap.

Apocalypse Road Rules Overview:

You start Apocalypse Road by picking the track for the race, your team, and starting cars. Each player begins the game with an unclaimed pool of 15 VPs and six movement cards. Each player has ten cars on their player mat but only four or five will be on the track at a time (depending on the number of players). Some cars are fast and lightly armored and armed while others are more robustly equipped but slower.

On your turn you play one movement card to move one of your cars. Depending on the movement type you might bring (or push) other cars along with you. Some cards will trigger a movement event. These may be helpful or hazardous. A Ram movement card lets you attack your opponent but will probably damage your car too.

You may also attack cars in adjacent spaces before or after you move. Which spaces you may attack depends on your car’s weapon. To resolve combat, you reveal the top card of the combat deck. At the top of the card is your targeting number. If it is equal to or greater than the car you are attacking’s defense rating, you hit. The card also lists each type of weapon and the damage it inflicts. After taking six damage cars are eliminated from the race. But don’t fear, if you still have a car on your player mat you can get them in the race.

Play continues clockwise until all players have moved all their cars once. Then you may discard any unwanted cards and draw back up to six cards. Each player also takes one VP from their VP pool. The first player becomes the player with the most damaged cars.

You gain 1 VP for each opponent’s car you destroy and for any of your cars that complete a lap. These are taken from your unclaimed pool. The first player to claim 15 VPs wins the game.

Quick Review of Apocalypse Road:

Apocalypse Road uses the same racing system as its siblings, Thunder Road and Grand Prix. So you take a good racing system, add weapons, and you get an even better game. This game is easy to teach and accessible to newer gamers. The movement types may take a few turns to grasp and remember, but after that you’ll be burning rubber.

The components for this game are good but have a few flaws. The art looks good and the tracks are gritty and match the theme. But a couple of the team colors are too close to the others. It is not too bothersome with just a few teams. But if you are playing with nine or ten players it might be confusing. I also wish the background of the car tokens had a greater contrast. It can be hard to see which cars have activated. The rules are well-written with lots of illustrations and examples.

Apocalypse Road adds to its predecessors without adding much (if any) complexity. Combat is quick and easy to resolve. The game moves at a quick pace and there is little downtime. The game comes with four tracks to extend its replay value. One even features a crossover.

The game is not perfect though. Ram attacks feel overpowered and can even be used to deny your opponent VPs. Take a nearly destroyed car and ram it into your opponent. You might eliminate them for a VP and destroy your own weakened car in the process. From what we read in the rules, you only get VPs for destroying and opponent’s’ car. Not when they destroy their car.

I also think more info on the car tokens would have been useful. The car’s defense value is there. But they easily could have added an icon for the weapon type and the car’s speed. As it is now you need to refer to your player mat for that. Not a big deal but a missed opportunity.

If you enjoy Thunder Road or Grand Prix, you will like Apocalypse Road. It removes some of the car maintenance in those games and adds weapons to your cars. Need I say more? It is my favorite of the series.

Score and synopsis: (Click here for an explanation of these review categories.)
Strategy 4 out of 6
Luck 5 out of 6
Player Interaction 5 out of 6
Replay Value 4 out of 6
Complexity 4 out of 6
Fun 5 out of 6
Overall 5 out of 6