Goals and gauges

So, gentle readers, we played Guild Ball last Saturday (that’s one of the things I do remember). As I’m sure you recall from the previous post, we decided to show the lads the glory of the Guild Ball pitch. They all seemed to enjoy it (as well they should) with Hammet playing the Brewers, Chris playing the Engineers and Grant usng my Butchers. For me one of the best things was how easy it was to explain. The rules really are that elegant and it’s a nice change from the weighty tome that is 40k. I should have perhaps spent more time playing and less time helping others with the rules as my win/loss ratio left a lot to be desired. It was distinctly one sided. Bah! Still, a sign of a good game is one in which you had fun despite not winning. And I definitely did both of those things.

These are Hammet's lads. Tough buggers. — These are Hammet’s lads. Tough buggers.

My first opponent was Hammet and his Brewers. Tapper, Hooper and Friday. If these are anything to go by then this guild will be hard for my Butchers to put down. Tapper and Hooper both have a point of armour and “tough hide”, combined these can really put a damper on my damage output. Not good news when it’s what you specialise in. They also have easy access to momentum generating knockdowns meaning they have the potential to keep the Butchers locked down while psyching themselves up. Hammet picked up on this annoyingly quickly and soon realised that Friday is a great striker. I’ve got a feeling that he’ll really enjoy using Stave and his “lob barrels” play. Great, more knockdowns.

The Engineers. I've no doubt that it was the smaller table but there was a distinct whiff of extra-mature cheddar about them. — The Engineers. I’ve no doubt that it was the smaller table but there was a distinct whiff of extra-mature cheddar about them.

So, Chris manages to get the team that brings crossbows to a football match. I wish I could feel surprise. Ballista, Salvo and Velocity. Two ranged knockdowns and a wooden robot. MORE freaking knockdowns. What I didn’t know is that Chris had already checked out the rules and worked out what he could do. He was laying down crossbow bolts like you wouldn’t believe and even managed to drop his legendary “minefield” within range of all three of my players. Bugger.

All in all it was loads of fun and I can’t wait to get stuck into some full size matches with some terrain and a full team roster. That is how the game is designed to be played after all. I’ll be interested to see how the full teams play, working out the synergies and trying to keep the mascots from getting taken out.

Let us know how you’re finding Guild Ball in the comments below. Have you downloaded the rules yet? Why not, they’re free after all? GO AND DO IT NOW!!! Leave some comments below and you too could play Guild Ball.

Until next time gentle readers.