Thunder Road: Vendetta Review: Death Race 2023 

Looks even better in person so I guess it goes to 11!

Same. I never do all in pledges and rarely ever back crowdfunded games. But the second this was announced I was throwing money at my computer monitor. When it went live I backed it all in, then did it again when the KS was relaunched.

Good idea adding the extra car for two player. I will try that.

I had the one from the late 80s with two long boards. It had puzzle ends.

Yup. Exactly.

Could Tom be wrong? My original one was just puzzle boards.

I still have the 80's version and it has the puzzle piece board that you move during gameplay

Of course Tom is wrong. The original is puzzle boards too.

Everything except the German Engineering is supposed to eventually make it to retail. The expansions add variety, but I feel like the guys overemphasized their necessity. It's the core gameplay that's the truly fun part.

​@@sm5574Restoration advised on the Kickstarter comments that only the Big Rig expansion would be available through distribution. Although they'll be selling excess copies on their site/at conventions etc.

@@stevenmcgoldrick8552, I think we're both wrong. I just went back and checked; unless something changed, the KS page says that the expansions excluding Extra Ammo (including Chop Shoppe) will be available at retail, but the add-ons will not.

@@sm5574 There was a quote from yesterday in the comments from RG, 'There are retailer backers who will have their stock from the campaign. We will have excess stock on our website after backers are fulfilled. The only expansion that is going into distribution is Big Rig and the Final Five.' One thing we can agree on, is that it certainly isn't very clear!

I agree; not everyone does KS, and it’s presumptuous to focus the review on that version when many won’t have it. Focus on core games for your core audience.

Huh, I must be mixing it up with another game.

@@thedicetowerthe problem with the old game is that you could repair a y car with a 6. And if all your cars were damaged, you could sit there and keep rolling until you got a 6. I played with a friend a couple years ago, and we both had all cars eliminated, and it was a race to see who rolled a 6 first. Not very exciting.

@@g8kpr3000 There's an easy way to house rule this that I never played without. Big car heals on a 6. Medium car heals on a 5 or 6. Small car heals on a 4, 5, or 6.

We played four games last night and I had the same experience with repair. The one time I did repair that car got shot again before I had the chance to move it and was disabled again. That kind of made me go on the offensive and use my chopper more instead of repairing in future games.

A pure ameritrash with dice allocation/placement/input randomness? Very interesting

It's one of those games where a big part of the fun is watching your plans fall apart, and then adapting on the fly. It isn't pure luck, but it's definitely more luck than strategy.

@@sm5574 agreed! We played a game on Saturday and one of my buddies who isn't into heavily luck-based games Lost two of his cars in like the first two rounds of the game hitting hazards and getting unlucky rolls and yet he won the game. He was all frustrated at first but I kept telling him yes, you lost two cars but you only need one car to win and the three cars are basically just like lives. He ended up liking the game anyways but That's probably because he won 🤣 Game came down to me and him. He was on the last space before the finish line. I had enough to get to the finish line but I needed to either make it through an oil slick, which had an impassable object behind it, toxic goo , or slam him, the bigger vehicle and get a lucky roll twice. I went into oil Slick and of course my roll went straight back into it and Destroyed my last car🤣😭

There’s a RE boxing video on their RU-vid channel. They linked to it on their last kickstarter update. I used it and it worked great. Most of the storage was fairly intuitive in my opinion.

For player aides that’s a good point but I suspect Restorarion Games is depending on the community to make something rather than pass the cost on the consumer. I definitely agree that a player aid will speed play.

I have just uploaded a player aid to BGG. Awaiting approval.

Gaslands is fun but has big setup and lots of overhead while playing. This game keeps the same feel but easier to play. The only thing that gaslands has is converting hotwheels for play.

The Big Red Rig is sort of a pseudo-one-versus-all expansion. It takes all the other players working together to bring that thing down! (Of course, they still each want to win.)

@@sm5574 Cool - with how they described it I wasn't sure quite how that variant worked

@@neilbiggs1353, it's basically a beast of an opponent, and that's it. It isn't technically 1 vs all, but if the players don't work together, they'll have a tough time winning. So I guess it's more an incentive to form alliances than a true 1 vs all. But if there's a player in your group who likes to be the bad guy, the Big Rig is perfect for them.

Want to feel like you're making smart moves? Get Heat. Want to laugh about misfortune? Get Thunder Road.

Retailers did have the option to purchase it. Restoration is working on setting up on their site I believe a list of retailers that have it.

Restoration will also be selling overstock on their website after fulfillment is completed.

The Maximum Chrome was KS-exclusive, but the only thing it has that won't be available at retail in some form arr the German Engineering and Extra Ammo. (Well, that, and a plastic insert for storage.)

Also the rulebook contains the rules for every expansion. The inserts are the best in the business. They snugly fit every component and account for sleeves.

Yes, it has a consolidated rule book, but it doesn't contain any additional information. My point is, there are only a couple of things you are _missing_ by not getting Maximum Chrome, and they are not essential.

I'm disappointed I didn't learn about Automobiles until it was out of print as that is another game where I have fun even when I lose - in that, you can have SPECTACULAR turns because you drew the right cubes, but it doesn't feel unearned.

Yeah I go head first into the hazard tiles and blow myself up pretty much every game, but it’s a blast lol.

Ha! Well... in photography and advertisement, having an analog clock or watch at 10:10 is a standard thing... it is considered to be "smiling" when it looks that way. Maybe Tom is adhering to that old logic. lol Who am I kidding? Someone else put that there because Tom has an aversion to analog clocks! ;-)

Don’t fall prey to the FOMO. If the game is popular, they’ll do another Kickstarter for the Chrome edition. It’s easy money for a publisher.

Everything except German Engineering and Extra Ammo is supposed to eventually be available at retail.

They are doing another Kickstarter

Thanks Kabuki. I’m pretty sure I emailed Reatoration a couple times as well. The end finish line piece was also my idea. So that was my contribution. Very cool to see that piece on the final game.

@@g8kpr3000 Ah! That's very cool! :-D Extra fun to see something you contributed make it into the final product. :-) As for me being the impetus behind getting the game made, that is just a joke.. but it is true that I bugged the heck out of Justin every chance I got! lol Maybe I helped soften him, eventually. ;-)

Yes I feel like the chop shoppe and themed commanders should’ve been included in the base game. Then like most updates of old games, they included a classic rules option that doesn’t utilize those components. They are instrumental to enjoying the game and I would never play without them so I think the base game may suffer reviews without them. Also, the wash should not have been a KS exclusive as they make the pieces pop.

Yes it's way too much

Yeah, I guess it was, but I never saw it or heard of it. And Vendetta is what I really would have wanted.