TheBattlehammer

Okay so first of all big apologies for having not written anything in a long time. Unfortunately my excuse is #firstworldproblems! The combination of having a little dude running around (well crawling actually) and being pretty busy at work have left me with little actual hobby time. Also the time I have had has been spent at tournaments recently. Which although they have been a lot of fun have also probably put me on the brink of divorceJ. We took a road trip to the Field of screams event down in Hastings, which was hosted by the 1066 lot. Definitely recommend getting down there if you can, they are a really nice bunch of people great tournament and I played absolute shite (still Captain though!). Then shortly after this we were back on the road to “The Heroic play” in Nuneaton. This was the first team event I have ever been to and as far as I am aware it is also the first Guildball team event that has taken place (although I could be wrong on this). Again another awesome tournament and a really nice change to the normal format in that we were in teams of 3 and each round you played another team of 3. The rankings are then based on the overall result of your team in the round (I believe anyway). At both of these events I used my Morticians and with a mixed level of success.

So that is a brief overview of what I have been up to and therefore brings me around to what I am going to be doing and you will hopefully be getting updates on in the coming months. We are saddling up and heading slightly dan sath to Cambridge on Friday for the start of a Big league which is being run by Pistol Pete the Pundit. There are 4 guys from Cambridge and 4 of us from Norwich taking part. I believe that people have selected the following captains…

Straw: Obulus

Parky: Smoke

Dan: Theron

Pete: Esters

Jon B: Hammer

Grrrrr Russell: Vet Rage

Lee (@NationOfLee): Shark

I was really tempted to go Obulus as he is the main captain I am playing at the moment but in the interest of not having any duplicate captains, I figured it would be a good opportunity to dust off my first love the Brewers and more specifically Tapper! (Editor’s note.. I will probably use Straws Brewers as they are better painted than mine, although at the time of writing he doesn’t know thisJ). It has to be said that I am really looking forward to using the Brewers again, although it has been awhile and I hope I haven’t forgotten what to do… hit, momentous KD, stamp face, repeat!

In all seriousness though I am hoping that having not used them in a while I will have learnt some new tricks and that to try. When I first started playing Guild ball punching face was a fairly reliable way to get things done. But I think the game has in general moved on from this. Personally I much prefer to play a football based game than just fighting now, and hope as a result of my play experiences will have a much better understanding of how and when to score a goal. As it is not always the best idea to just score when you can, after all it gives the ball back to your opponent for a start. Another reason not to score straight off and I think this is particularly relevant to Brewers who are in general as slow as Parky getting up the stairs on a hot day after 5 pints of “Granny loves you”, is that the ball is more than 4vp it is also a movement device that gets you an additional 4” move for the kicker or receiver. So with this in mind and before I go too far of topic (as usual, some things just don’t change) it may be worth looking at my initial 8 I have selected with a brief bit on my thoughts on their inclusion. The first 6 are pretty much my go to team with the last 2 being the subs.

Tapper: Obviously you have to have a captain and Pete is already on Esters (oooopppsss pardon) so that left Tapper for me. Although to be fair I probably would have picked him anyway. I have way more experience with Tapper and also seeing as Jon B has Hammer I really want to see who can wreck the most faceJ. Now you don’t need me to point out that his key point is the pure damage output this guy has, along with possibly the best heroic play in the game. There is never a reason to not use “Old Jakes” except turn 1 if you can’t get to anyone. Along with allowing Tapper to use 7 influence it also makes your team potentially a 15 influence team… Awesome. However I am also setting myself the target of scoring at least a couple of goals with him. His kick stat of 3/6” is a fairly standard kick, but trust me when I say.. Having been playing Obulus this seems like gold to me! With Spigot it goes to 4/7” and then Bonus time it up to 5/7” that is almost fish like levels of kicking!!!

Scum: Mainly because at the start of this league Quaff isn’t available yet. I reckon as soon as the St Bernard is out and we get to make a swap I will be dropping the cat. Scum is not a terrible mascot and perhaps I didn’t use him to best effect when I last played Brewers. That being said I just feel Quaff is going to be a lot of fun and I like all the models I have on the pitch to actually want to do something, not just run away and that. Not wanting to fill this bit with stuff about Quaff I will add that other than the obvious reasons for taking Scum being that he effectively brings 2 influence to a Tapper team, he does make it worthwhile to take the plot card “I don’t believe it Geoff!!” I Can happily allocate him 0 influence get Tapper to do some work on somebody and then “Old jakes” the cat 2 influence, charge him in and if I have “Steamroller” in my hand I can hopefully get someone taken out for some juicy campaign points.

Hooper: because this is a Brewers team and If you play Brewers and don’t take Hooper… you are wrong, just wrong.

Friday: Next to Vitriol and Brisket (or some may argue ahead of) this lass is right up there as a dual threat. She can score from downtown and wreck face just as easily. Her short playbook and momentous damage on 2 make her great for tracking the other teams’ strikers or mascots. Along with the fact she can be rolling 6 dice on an 11” snap shot make her a threat in either playstyle. “Dirty knives” is great for reducing the defence of targets before your big hitters go in. although I would very rarely buy it for 2 influence, I much prefer to go in on an easier target and get it off the playbook with its 6” range. “Shadow like” is the only dodge she has access to, therefore her playstyle is quite linear. There was a time when I thought Friday was un-droppable but there are certain match ups I could see her possibly sitting out in the big league, fortunately there is no Midas to steel  “Dirty Knives” and just make a mess of things. I do still think that potentially I would drop her against Hunters and Alchemists as they both have long ranged threats that could neutralise her fairly efficiently. Also care must be taken to not get her locked in the scrum as like all strikers she is pretty easy to take down. In an Esters team she is more survivable for sure, but with Spigot around she can take a couple of hits. Which brings me onto..

Spigot: The Parker of the team. This guy drinks but makes those around him much better, he is the force multiplier. Also he is the weak underbelly due to his def 3+ and 1 armour, yes he has 16hp but man does that go quickly when he starts to get hit. That being said if you keep him behind the heavy hitters and wait for his opportunity to strike he can really churn out some hurt. With his +2 tac vs KD opponents (remember your playing Brewers, your opponent should always be on the floor!), “commanding aura” and ganging up bonuses Spigot can do the damage perfectly well. He also has “Balls gone” allowing you to get round “Close control” and for 1mp you can use “times called” which really helps with the teams low Movement (+2/+2). “Tooled up” just makes things go a bit bananas on the damage output of the beaters in a Brewers team. Spigot is also my second line goal threat, although to date I haven’t actually scored with him! That however was due to my incompetence at the game when I started playing it. Like Friday there are match-ups that I would not take Spigot, funnily enough they are the same 2 match ups (Alchemists and Hunters for those with short memory). As I mentioned earlier Spigot is relatively easy to take out and I think I can use the players I have on the bench in these games.

Gutter: what do Brewers lack? 2” melee and damage output! Ha.. But in all seriousness one of the reasons for Gutter being included is that I have never used her before. The other reason is that I love 2” melee models it just gets round so many issues like “unpredictable movement”. Gutter also gives me a 3rd pretty tanky player, sure she doesn’t have tough hide as such like Captain Tapper and Hooper. What she does have is the ability “life drinker” whereby she gains 1hp if she damages an opponent, which she should most definitely be doing. 14hp with def 4+/1 is a fairly solid stat as well to keep her going. With her speed and 3/6” kick she is also another solid goal threat. “Chain grab” allows me to drag someone into the scrum who is perhaps trying to avoid a punch. The other ability I really like on her which surprisingly isn’t “scything blow” (although very good) is “anatomical precision” having used Scapal a fair bit in my Morticians has really made me appreciate how invaluable this ability really is. Ignoring that point of armour is really solid perhaps more than I first realised when starting out in this game. Along with the bonuses from “commanding aura” and ganging up Gutter really does become a scary prospect, her Tac 5 can comfortably be tac 7 usually against a KD opponent whose armour she is ignoring!

The subs

Stoker: Simply put this guy is a tank! 3+ with 2 armour and 18hp makes him fairly monstrous to take out also he is a good place to put the ball for a turn if I need to hold onto it. He is however evidently weighed down by his armour as he is slow as fuck! (Even slower than Silence). I have only used Stoker a couple of times previously but I really like his playbook as he has some great counter attack options, particularly the double push on 1 success. The main reason behind his inclusion is for when I have to face Smoke and Theron. With his “magical Brew” ability allowing to clear conditions for no MP it will allow me to at least keep moving forwards through the AOE’s and snared things flying around. He also gives me a ranged threat so whilst I am slogging it up the board trying to engage the buggers I can at least try and burn (hmmmpphh hhhmmppphh no pun intended hhmmmpppphhh) some of their MP as I go. He also has a pretty respectable 3/6” kick which means if I can get hold of the ball I should be able to generate some MP from passes and that.

Hemlock: Same as above really.. to deal with teams that want to pump out conditions and slow down the Tapper pain train. Hemlock is pretty fast compared to the rest of my team, with the exception of Gutter. Her Ranged plays have a nice threat range of 18” therefore I can see her getting quite a bit of my influence early in the game as she helps to keep the team moving forwards with “smelling Salts” and also put a bit of damage out herself with “Noxious blast”. Hemlock’s kick stat also ticks the 3/6” box that is easily the average of any line up I pick. Definitely need to make sure I keep her safe though as def 5+ with 10hp does not go far at all. She will 100% be keeping an eye out for the likes of Vitriol and Jaecar who will ruin her day in the sun.

 

So I think I will wrap it up there! I was going to talk a bit about my strategy regarding plot cards and that. But to be honest I think I will save that for tomorrow as this article has already topped over 2000 words which I think is enough for an introduction. Hopefully you have enjoyed reading it, its certainly been awhile since I wrote anything and it has been a pleasure having a brain fart. Let me know your thoughts and that on my team selection and anything you may think of I should do instead.

 

As always love and kisses

Totes

xxx