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My brother and I were fortunate enough to get into one of the "Car Wars - Rogue Arena" games at Origins 2006. Rogue Judges events seem to be very well-attended, probably because the group does a great job of running the games it does. The GMs (game masters) know the games well, keep a positive attitude working with less-experienced players, have an organized system for going through players' turns, etc. It's because they do such a great job that they can effectively handle 20 players at a Car Wars table.  The Rogue Judges Banner in the Exhibit Hall Rogue Judges has a great-looking arena set up to play the game, with buildings you can crash through, pedestrians you shouldn't hit, trees, overpasses, etc. They have condensed rule cards they use to help move things along, as well as pre-designed cars that have comparable strengths and weaknesses. They maintain a good sense of humor and try to keep the game fun and realistic as they go. It's for these reasons I try to sign up for one or more of their events at Origins each year.  Car Wars Table Rogue Judges also does a great job of making it easy to find the games you're trying to play with them. Their banner can be seen all the way across the exhibit hall. Once you get there, individual sheets listing the games they're offering and the dates/times are displayed. Each gaming table also has a placard telling you at a glance what game is being played there. Compare this to Inner City Games, whose game I had a ticket for and couldn't find in the Exhibit Hall, even with the help of the HMGS folks on the stage at the front of the room (who had a map of the place).
My only complaints with Rogue Judges and their handling of Car Wars - Rogue Arena are pretty minor in contrast to the many things they do well.
 Car Wars Table First, it seems as though there is always a multi-car crash in the games I've played. Because Rogue Judges wants to do a good job of representing the crash realistically, as opposed to a somewhat unrealistic depiction of crashes in Steve Jackson Games' official Car Wars rules, they spend quite a bit of time resolving a crash. I didn't time it carefully, but my brother estimated that it took them well over 45 minutes to resolve one 3-car crash during the game. That's 45 minutes during which the progress of the game halts for 17 of the 20 players. I'm not sure what Rogue Judges could do to fix this, but it definitely takes away from the game's fun and slows it down radically.  Car Wars Table Second, I think Rogue Judges is something of a victim of its own success. Because the Car Wars event attracts a lot of attention and players, and because Rogue Judges wants to be sure everyone gets a chance to play that they can, the Rogue Arena event is usually booked to its 20-player capacity if not more. The fact that they can successfully run this game in the allotted time period with so many players is a feather in Rogue Judges' caps. However, going through so much game activity with so many players at once also bogs down the action and the excitement. It might be better if there were 2 or more "arenas" setup with a limit of 10 players each. This could reduce the effect of multi-car crashes on the pace of the game and also potentially offer the option for more players to take part.  Car Wars Table As I said, these are relatively minor concerns and Rogue Judges does so much so well that I hate to even criticize them. I should note that an issue last year which allowed a child (who was either intentionally or unintentionally cheating) to win the event was fixed this year by the issuance of tokens for turns and fire actions. (The kid shot multiple times, made multiple turns at high speed, etc., which was definitely against the rules.) Thus, it's clear that the Rogue Judges can and do improve their game mastering.  Car Wars Table - Note Pre-Made Materials for Easy Gaming The Rogue Judges are a class act, no question about it, and Car Wars Rogue Arena was a fun event. I recommend it to Origins 2007 attendees, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend any of the other Rogue Judges events, either. Below is some video I captured during the event:
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