Battlecars is a simplistic wargame based upon the Mad Max genre of a post-apocalyptic world dominated by aggressive, waring gangs. It was first published by Games Workshop in the early 1980s. Wargaming can be one of number of ways of exploring the effects of warfare without actual combat. ... Mad Max is an Australian apocalyptic science fiction film starring Mel Gibson. ... A gang is a group of individuals who share a common identity and, in current usage, engage in illegal activities. ... The style of the Games Workshop logo is copied in the titles of many of their games Games Workshop (GW) is a British game production and retailing company. ... The 1980s decade refers to the years from 1980 to 1989, inclusive. ...

Each player has one or more "battlecars" that are equipped with machine guns, flamethrowers, spike droppers and the like, with much taken from James Bond mythology. A machine gun is a fully-automatic firearm that is capable of firing bullets in rapid succession. ... German troops use a flamethrower on the Eastern Front during the Second World War A flamethrower is a mechanical device designed to throw flames or, more correctly, project an ignited stream of liquid. ... The James Bond 007 gun logo James Bond, also known as 007 (pronounced double-oh seven), is a fictional British spy created by writer Ian Fleming in 1953. ... ...

The simple game mechanics allowed for quick and entertaining gameplay, with damage being marked off using card counters. Possibly over-simplistic for some more mature players given its relatively basic ruleset and no capacity to design unique vehicles, it is possible that the game was intented to capitlize on the popularity of the then popular Car Wars game published by Steve Jackson Games. The production values of the game, however, were higher than those of the early versions of Car Wars. Car Wars is a combat board game developed by Steve Jackson Games. ... Steve Jackson Games (SJG) is a game company that creates and publishes role-playing, board, and card games. ... Car Wars is a combat board game developed by Steve Jackson Games. ...

One expansion set for this game was released, introducing "battlebikes" (motercycles) and some errata.