Rallyman History

Jean-Christophe Bouvier wanted to bring the sport of rallying to the tabletop, having competed in events alongside his brother, Phillipe, in the mid 1990s, and self-published the first game in 2009, Rallyman, a race against the clock as much as a race against the competition.

It was expanded a couple of years later with Rallyman: Dirt, introducing new surfaces to race over, each with their own rules to give drivers more to think about, such as which tyres to use, knowing that they'll act differently on different surfaces.

Modular boards allowed the creation of numerous rally stages, and the Rallyman community has hosted tournaments and challenges ever since, including the International Solitaire Games on Your Table Rally Association events held monthly here on BoardGameGeek.

Close to a decade later, with the help of the next generation of fans and a Kickstarter campaign, the game was refreshed in the form of Rallyman: GT. Modular boards were replaced with hexagonal tiles for even greater level of detail in course construction, new dice were added to highlight the differences between rally and touring cars, and once again, a few years later saw the release of Rallyman: DIRT, an expandalone title, cementing the idea that modern Rallyman is as much a system to construct games out of, as it is a game itself.

What is Rallyman: GT?

This edition of Rallyman is for players who like circuit racing, competing not against the clock, but against everyone else on track, and as such the BGG community have said that this game is best played with 4 to 5 players because of the side-by-side nature of the racing that is depicted. That is not to say that Solo gamers are left in the dark, but the 'official' solo mode is considerably different to the gameplay at higher player counts to warrant a section of its own (See 'Can I play Solo?').

Out of the box you've got 6 cars, each with 2 types of tyres, 31 track tiles to make either the 8 suggested track layouts or any shape of circuit you can imagine, and some advanced and solo rules to look into when the need arises.

The rules are based on those of the original Rallyman, but they have been both modernised and adapted to better suit the style of racing that takes place on circuits, as opposed to stage rallying. Whether the changes have been flawless or warranted is a matter of opinion; there are some peculiarities that have had to be addressed, either by the fans or in FAQs.

What are its expansions?

There are three categories of expansions for Rallyman: GT.

• Larger expansions primarily focused on adding more circuit tiles to your collection.
  1. Rallyman: GT – World Tour - 12 track tiles and 10 track layouts.
  2. Rallyman: GT – Championship - 12 track tiles, 8 track layouts, and some light rules to score a Championship.
  3. Rallyman: GT – Team Challenge - 12 track tiles, 7 track layouts, a duplicate set of the base game cars and their components (Dashboards, Gear tokens) to allow for 12 car/team races, and some rules for different race formats.
• Smaller expansions focused on adding new car classes to compete with.
  1. Rallyman: GT – GT5 - 6 older cars that have access to a Boost die that allow them to skip Gears when accelerating.
  2. Rallyman: GT – GT4 - 6 even older cars that have access to another Coast die to allow them to extend their turns through multiple tiles.
• Kickstarter exclusive content.
  1. Rallyman: GT – Adrenaline Pack - A Bridge tile for Figure-8 tracks, Soft Tyre dashboards, Oil and Debris tokens, Danger tokens, and SISU tokens, all with accompanying and additional rules, like shunting into opponents.

No expansion is considered vital to improve upon or fix what comes in the base game, and in many cases their content can be easily proxied for you to try before you buy, and rules can usually be easily transfered into what you have access to.

All expansions can fit in the base game box with minimal box lift, provided you know how to play Tetris and don't sleeve your dashboards. Storage solutions are available from the likes of Folded Space, or community made 3D print files.

What other content is available?

What is it compatible with?

Rallyman: GT is also compatible with Rallyman: DIRT and its expansions (and in turn its community content), allowing GT cars to take part in rally events over dirt and snow, or rally cars to try their luck around a circuit against the GT classes.

There are 'official' ways to integrate the two games, such as the Crossover Dashboards, but the modern Rallyman system is flexible enough for you to essentially pick and choose what rules or components you want to make use of, and then get gaming. For any details about how to do something with what you've got, a trip to the forums is your best bet to see what's possible.

Rallyman: GT is not directly compatible with the older Rallyman titles, certainly not officially. Again, where there is a will, there may well be a way, so ask around for more information.

Can I play online?

Rallyman: GT is available to play on Board Game Arena, where you can compete either solo or against up to 5 other players in GT4's, 5's, or 6's on any of 100 tracks from the base game, expansions, or community. The rules are 99% identical, and you'll know you're a Rallyman fan when you can identify that final 1% - it's not gamebreaking, you'll have a great time.

A much more limited version is also available on Tabletopia, and there is an unofficial mod available for TableTop Simulator as well.

Can I play it Solo?

The officially included Solo mode in Rallyman: GT is a time trial mode where you keep track of your ending Gear each turn, where higher gears result in less time being added to the clock. Calculate your time over one lap, and see how you compare against other players, or previous attempts you have done.

This is the basis for the ISGOYTRA challenges, which can be found in the Play By Forum. Each month, a challenge is issued, accompanied by any relevant rules such as which car class to use, where you can submit your final time and see how well you did against other Rallyman: GT players. All the results from previous challenges are available for you to compete against those old times as well, so you can get an idea of how your driving compares to others.

This solo mode feels reminiscient of the original Rallyman, in that you're only recording your time, but as Rallyman: GT is all about bumper to bumper racing, the community felt the need to introduce automa opponents to better reflect the gameplay at higher player counts, as listed above. Each automa is different in terms of what they're capable of doing and how complicated they are to run, as well as what kind of racing they are suited to, so it is worth experimenting to find a set of rules that you are happy with.

The standout set of solo rules are Non Player Cars (NPCs) by DrWorm, which - to highlight the notion that modern Rallyman is a flexible system that works with whatever you throw at it - were designed for Rallyman: DIRT. With them, you can pick a difficulty level and control in detail their turn through the tiles ahead. For added complexity and a sense of realism, you can flesh these NPC rules out with hundreds of real-world drivers, from Formula 1 and Touring Car champions to those more suited to offroading from the world of Rally and Rallycross, such that you can directly compete against Lewis Hamilton, Jason Plato, Seb Loeb, Kalle Rovanperä, Ken Block, Abbi Pulling, Jutta Kleinschmidt... all with their own custom difficulties and skill sets, in whatever racing event you can imagine.

Is 7.1/10 an accurate score?

Rallyman: GT is an incredibly modular game where you can build whatever kind of race you can imagine, to whatever degree of complexity you want, and have a great time playing, especially as a group, but the rules have been known to confuse some players, or not be as thematic as some would like, and official support at this time is thin on the ground when it comes to addressing any such issues, if they haven't already been addressed.

It may take a while to set up and tear down, especially when you also have to organise expansion content or search for a specific car dashboard from the many that you may end up with, which is made even worse with ambiguous artwork and reprints to correct first print run errors.

Depending on player count and skill, there may be more time between turns than you'd think or like, making this a more laid-back game rather than a constantly hovering over the action game - a 'beer and pretzels game', if you will.

Rallyman: GT can also be seen as a 'proof of concept' game whose rough edges have since been smoothed out, either officially or by the community, but one that is still capable of providing a competitive game for all kinds of groups.

It can also be seen as something of a sandbox, or more appropriately a toolbox, where you can construct an awful lot more than the rules ever suggest you can, especially with expansions, but you don't have to break the bank thanks to the community content, should you want to dip your toes into Rallyman before fully committing.

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