Dreadball comes to Melbourne

For the few and far between who've not heard of Mantic, their latest release is a violent sci-fi sports game called Dreadball which, having now played five games - is AWESOME!

And for so many reasons, too
  

 Forge Fathers undercoated and ready to be painted after fixing to their bases

 My pal Ben helps out doing some inking on the Corporation team

 Whoever designed the Dreadball box made the cards iffy to get to so I built this silly mdf structure to lift the cards up just that tad they don't crease or bend trying to wring them out.

 Card protectors should come with ALL games that have cards I think

 First finished miniature - the trophy! (undercoat black, spraypaint gold, black ink, gold highlights)

Avengers WIP

 I gots me GOLDEN BALLS!

 The Hyacinth Avengers begin to take shape

 Trophy, ref, balls and first team all based and varnished for their first outing

Commentator - "Welcome sports fans! Yes you, of all races, ages, species and varieties, who've come to join us in the opening of this season's pre-season match-up rounds. You know you wanted it, you know you needed it, and Quimby Enterprises is glad to announce Melbourne is firmly set to establish its own League in this glorious sports year to come!"

Fan crowd - "Yeeeeay! Hissss!! Gragragrak!! [sounds not comprehensible by nanotranslator by strange alien fans]!! Waaaarrghhh!!!"

Commentator - "As the pre-season opens in Melbourne XIII's iconic St Phillips Stadium, we see the Hyacinth Avengers Corporation team take the field in a pair of pre-season practice matches against the up-and-coming Forge Fathers of Doomwaaaaaaaaaark!
The first match sees the Corporation slammed, literally, from nanohab to sinbin by their stunty cousins. Many brave moves on either side, truth be told, couple dodgy moves the Eye in the Sky didn't fail to see - though we wonder if someone maybe spraypainted over the eyes of the refbot as she missed a few funnies herself - wink wink! - but on the Corporation went to defeat the Fathers 6-0 after many a daring pitchlong run! Scoring not one but two roars from the Fans with free screams and shouts from their Coach. The Avengers seemed impossible to get off the field by slamming - they fell but that armour just kept on keeping them safe! And the inability of their smaller adversaries to stumble over continued to threaten hexes all over the board. Wait...wait....we hear word now - just live! - that the Forge Fathers striker has been FIRED! after failing to make a single Strike out of six attempts - even from one point only hexes!
What a shame for the Fathers, the way they just couldn't get those Strikes in!!"

Fan crowd - "Yeeeeay! Hissss!! Gragragrak!! [sounds not comprehensible by nanotranslator by strange alien fans]!! Waaaarrghhh!!!"

Commentator - "Here we have the Avengers coach - let's see if we can get an interview?!

HA Coach - "Who the f**** - oh it's you, commentator guy. Sorry about the last game, things got out of hand... 


WHO ARE THE HYACINTH'S AVENGERS?

The origin of our team? 
Well we're told Hyacinth is a Greek myth of olde where she and Apollo (the Sun god) are playing with a frisbee (kind of like a dreadball, but flat - think...frisbee! Or squashed DreadBall) and the god of wind (can he blow 300mph?!?!) Zephyr gets iffy that she likes Apollo better than her so blows a gush of wind at a frisbee that hits the tart in the head and bang down she goes dead. 
Hades comes along and says in typical Monty Python style "bring out yer dead! Yeah....her............chuck on the cart!" but Apollo instead tells the Hades to go stick it, starts a war with Zephyr (because Roman and Greek gods are always at war, and it's usually over women or money - much like today come think of it!) keeps her body and makes the beautiful purple flower Hyacinth out of her."

Commentator - "Right...well...thanks for that. More information than we needed but thank you! GOOD LUCK with you next game!
The second game was between a second corporation team and another FF team and the game was IMMENSELY different!

Fan crowd - "Yeeeeay! Hissss!! Gragragrak!! [sounds not comprehensible by nanotranslator by strange alien fans]!! Waaaarrghhh!!!"


Commentator - The score wasn't, the game ending on the 11th rush in a 7-0 to the Corporation, but the dynamics of the game, pre-season coaches trying out new tactics and strategies and synergies and...well...blood and money - it was all very so different. Forge Fathers striking, Jacks being used as Jacks, much more in-your-face-play-action by this set - and a lot less work for the nanohabs and nanodocs! - and much more maneuvering and blocking and threatening hexes. Less event or fan driven action than the first match, much more centre-pitch and tangle and strategic. How many facets to our sport!
What a strange and wonderful game this Dreadball of ours!
May your strikers run as fast as the wind, and your MVPs never fail to make a bang!
From Melbourne XIII
Until our next pre-season, await some still shots of the action when our crew from the EYECORP friendly Co-Prosperity Public Record Acceptability Institute have gone over the footage for all to admire!

Stay tuned for a message from our MAAAAAAAAAANY SPONSORS!!!!!!!!!!"

 Mike and Tom, my first fellow Coaches

 A game in progress, this I think was mine vs Tom at the very opening moves

 Partway through the game I'm running out of manpower - fast! But the scoreboard isn't looking too bad..

 Tom and Ben's game

 My first and deal-breaking 4 pointer (yeeeeaahhhh!!!)

 We copped a lot of violence, both sides, in both games.

Another shot of the Hyacinth's Avengers post their first win!

So....views on the game?
It's simple. But it's not easy. It's basically three dice plus minus a bunch of mods vs fixed teamplayer values (Guard, Striker, Jack)
Guard can't pick up the ball but is generally much better at running up and bashing into opposing players
Striker is supposed to be more fragile (mine went down but kept making them armor rolls!) and focuses on dashing, throwing, passing, scoring
Jack (of all trades) excels at nothing but correctly positioned (say in front of your own 1 and 2 point hexes where he's still IN the game, far enough upfield to be brought into the action, but mostly to deter the opponent from easy 2 point Strikes) they were very interesting to play.
Very tactically deep, but not in a head scratching way. Due to the nature of the sport, it's more "do I bash first or run or...."
With only five (potentially more but say five) actions per Rush (turn in DB) and six players in the field each of which can only be activated twice tops (unless you use special cards you can buy instead of activating), there's a lot of pre-planning involved to set a Strike up. And even then, there's no guarantees at all of success (ask Tom...)


The Ref is a lot of fun, the ball scattering mechanic can be annoying if the ball scatters a lot (which it seemed to in one of our games) and the cards really add replayability (hands up who wants a handful of Fan Support Coaching Dice!) and flavour (fan favourites, sticky pitches, players being booed off game, blood splattering the floor making it slippery, the Ref having a girl's moment...all epic laugh opportunities)
I can see this will be a staple game for some time.

Thanks for popping by!

Now onto get more figs painted in this scorching 41 degree day (they'll dry in an instant!)