Veer-myn Guard, Painting Ideas

Hey Folks...Small update today.

In case you missed it, above is the new pic of the Veer-myn Guard from over on the Mantic site.  Looking forward to painting up Team LabRat.

Paint Scheme:  I'm painting up a Veer-myn team for a friend.  My idea is to make them Lab rats.  Albino in color, White fur, red eyes, flesh a little more pink than these pics.








Their armor will be as if they were medical assistants.  Seafoam Green for the main parts of the armor, Ivory secondary for the shoulder pads, wrappings and masks, Steel colored metal bits.  Going for a look something like this truck for the armor...with the white being a little more dirty ivory to show the difference with the white fur.





Hope all the East Coast US Dreadballers made it through Hurricane Sandy alright.  Stay safe folks.

The Founding of The Sons of an Orky Dreadball Club

  The story of Charming Field and how it came under the ownership of The Sons of an Orky Dreadball Club is convoluted but not a surprising one.  It all came down to Corporation greed and the scheming of two individuals.   Samuel Crow, one of the six co-owners of  the Charming Consortium, and a exceptionally ambitious goblin pirate by the name of Jaxx Stellar.

  The Charming Consortium is all about image, or more accurately re-imaging. They are molders of countrysides, and masters of terra forming. They take newly secured worlds of the Corporation and re-image areas of them with Earth of old as a template. They can take a desert wasteland and in a few weeks convert it to a kingdom worthy of royalty, for those that can afford it.   

  To show off their terra forming / landscaping ability the Charming Consortium made a big splash in the top tier Dreadball league.  They created Charming Field which was the first Dreadball pitch to feature WonderGrass. WonderGrass would not only grow on the Titanium pitch, it would also re-grow during the match!  They also founded and sponsored the Charming Princes Dreadball team, a true fan favorite for their golden armor with purple trim.

  Samuel Crow, however was tired of sharing the stage with the other co-owners of  the Charming Consortium.  Through back channels he had come into contact with a goblin pirate by the name of Jaxx Stellar.  Samuel hired Jaxx and his gang to raid and sabotage the other Consortium owners work-sites while they were terra forming.  Over time the other owners came to Samuel Crow for financial assistance, signing over small portions of their segment of the Consortium to Samuel.

   Finally it was time for the big play, and Samuel Crow got more than he bargained for.  Every year the Charming Corporation holds a invitational tournament.  The tournament is for charity and only teams with players claiming some form of noble bloodline may compete in it, along with the Charming Princes.  Sort of a Pro-am, many of the regular players for the Charming Princes step aside and the Co-owners of the Charming Princes take the pitch in their place.  The "prize" for winning the tournament is none other than the Ownership of Charming Field.  Though being a charity tournament it is understood that the Princes will win every year.


  For the first time in the Charming Tournament of Princes and Orx team was allowed entry.  Jaxx Stellar had brought fourth his team, "The Sons of an Orky King" to compete.  The royal lineage check was cleared through Samuel Crow's people and the entry donation put forth through a secret account set up by Crow.

  Many of the Co-owners were reluctant to have to take the pitch against an Orx team even in a charity match.  However after the witnessing the Sons first two vicorties, the co-owners worries were put aside.  In their first matchup The Sons defeated the Kimino Rangers without injuring a player of the normally fragile Judwan species.  The Sons followed that match with downright chivalrous manners in the semi-finals while winning against the Val-Core Vixens. The Sons even helping some of female corporation players back to their feet after having been knocked down.  The only injury that match was to Jaxx, who had his ankle shattered when the Orx Guard "Piney" accidentally stepped on his leg.  Jaxx was Medi-ported from the bench to the emergency center and would have to miss the finals.

  The other Semi-final saw the Charming Princes face off against the Badlands Brewers team of Forge Father Lords.  In an attempt to showboat, Samuel Crow attempted a diving catch and his momentum carried him headfirst into the arena wall. He was immediately Medi-ported to the emergency medical care facility while the gasps from the crowd were still in the air.  The Princes went on to win with a show of dazzling passing skills and advanced to the finals against the Sons.       


About an hour later the final match of the Charming Tournament of Princes began.  The Sons won the coin toss and would get first chance with the ball.  As a tradition, the five remaining co-owners of the Charming Consortium were on the pitch with the Charming Princes Keeper and Captain, Alaana.   For the first time in the tournament the Sons started the match with 5 Orx Guards on the pitch.  The strategy seemed evident to the crowd that the Sons would attempt to run past the ball blocking access to the ball to everyone but the lone goblin jack.  The scripted play was for the goblin Jack to miss his shot, and the Princes would recover and score two quick 4 point shots to win the tournament. 

(Picture will be updated once I get the Kickstarter minis)

 Back at the emergency medical facility Samuel Crow was recovering and drawing all the attention of every medical person there.  Leaving Jaxx Stellar to slip out of the medical unit and enter the buildings medi-porter control room unnoticed.

  With the first rush, the Sons Guards sprinted up the field past the ball as planned.  The Co-owners realized something wasn't quite right when the Orx Guard Opie lowered his shoulder and pancaked one of the Co-Owners.  The Striker armor wasn't enough to prevent the lethality of the impact, only the crumpled body and armor lay on the field as Opie rose with a primal roar.  The other Co-Owners just looked at the body...wondering why the medi-porter was not wisking it away to save the memories and intellect of the former body.  It was only a couple of seconds, but that hesitation brought about the end of the remaining Co-Owners on the field. To the horror of the crowd the Sons Guards made short work of the executive officers of the Charming Corporation.

  Jaxx, slipped back into his medical bed and gave a knowing look over to Samuel Crow.  A couple minutes later one of the MedTechs noticed the Medi-porter was in the middle of a self diagnostic check, and thus unable to transport the injured to the Medical Facility.  He glanced to the monitor which was displaying the tournament to see a Sons Guard hurl a lifeless contorted Prince body down the pitch.  The live audio feed of the in-game commentator caught the unfiltered emotion of Prince's Captain Alaana helmet microphone..."The Sons of an Orky...My @$$!!!, They are %&$*@ ringers!".  Which brought out a snort from Jaxx and it was all Crow could do not change his faked concerned expression.         

  Being the lone remaining Co-owner with partial ownership of the remaining sections, full ownership rights of the Charming Consortium went to Samuel Crow.  He had it all...for a fleeting moment.  It was just about a week after the Tournament when a package arrived on his office desk.  In the package contained two items, a data crystal and a letter.  Crow opened the letter and began to read, as he slid the data crystal in to the port on his desk.

  Good day Sammy,

  Just wanted to say thanks for Charming Field, the Sons love the set up.  You know this wondergrass of yours just won't die. That keeps Tig entertained for hours as he keeps trying to off some of the stuff but can't.  Anyway enough of the small talk, time to get to business.

  I know you want us out.  You have some plan to be rid of the Sons...yeah we are keeping the name, "Sons of an Orky"...fitting with all the news play it got after that game.  Oh right, back to business.  I know you want to be rid of us, but that's not gonna happen.  Here is the deal.


  One.  You are gonna honor the results of the tournament, and let us keep Charming Field...Tell the real Charming Princes we are the hot item and you are cutting them loose to go free agent.  We are done with those silly tournaments, Charming Field is ours to keep.

  Two. We like Dreadball, much safer than pirate work.  You will keep up all the scheduling, events, everything.   We will replace the Princes in every way, except in name. We even will keep the sponsorship from the Charming Consortium. 

  Finally Three:  50% of the new profits you are now getting from your sole ownership of the Consortium...is now mine.  I'll expect monthly dividend checks...thanks.

  Why would you do this?  Well, that brings us to the data crystal.  On it is a copy of every conversation that you had with me.  A full history of our relationship.  A step by step replay of how you brought about the downfall of your former fellow owners.  Take a look if you don't believe me.  Sorry if yah get a little motion sick...watching playback from eye mounted Internal micro-recorders can make you a little queasy.  Would be a shame if this hit the Corporation news outlets.

  The Sons of an Orky are now officially on the payroll of Sam Crow. 

Be seeing yah.
Jaxx Stellar

PS: Don't try anything stupid or I'll send Tig to visit yah.  I'm sure he'll have better luck with you than he does with Wondergrass.

And that is how the Sons of an Orky Dreadball club came into existence...with a full sponsorship and their very own stadium they call home, Charming Field.

Judwan Tactics...early guesses

  So here is some VERY early speculation on my part as to how the Judwan will play.  First up the Stats...

Guessing they will be...
Move 6
Strength 5+
Speed 4+
Skill 3+

I can see the move being a 5 or even a 7, that will come down to Jake and the playtesting.  For this post we will assume they get Move 6.

So you have a team of strikers, all with armor 5+ and strength of 5, meaning even a Goblin Jack is a threat to you.  Plan on losing at least one Striker to the bin (or worse) every round...I would even consider saving the coaching dice just for armor saves...more on that later. (EDIT...Buhallin reminded me the Strength Stat is unneeded on Strikers as they always must Dodge.  That being said the Speed of 4+ will still make them challenged to stay on the field)

I think the strength of the Judwan will be taking advantage of the "Free Action" for doubles on a catch.  The trick to this taking two Judwan and using a will be Rugby style or short Lateral passes backwards to a player behind you.  What?  That doesn't make sense...hear me out.

I call this play The Judwan Tango...(modified after realizing I forgot the moving throw penalty)

1. Striker A has the Ball and Striker B is 3 hexes in front of him.  Striker A uses an action token and declares a Pass.  
2. Striker A moves his 6 hexes, running past Striker B, but remains within 3 hexes of Striker B and turns sideways to face him, but still look up the field.  Then attempts to pass (Lateral) the ball back to Striker B.
3. Striker A rolls 3 dice (3 for short pass +1 for being a Striker, -1 for moving) needing 3+...You are hoping for at least 2 successes here...  
4. Say you get 2...Now Striker B has to catch the ball...He rolls 3 dice (2 pass successes +1 for being a striker) needing 3+ again you are looking for 2 successes here to get your free action.  Should be a little better than 50% chance thanks to the exploding 6.
5. Assume you get 2 successes, which means you get a free action right away.  Well you are a striker with another striker 2-3 hexes infront of you...sound familiar?
6. Go back to Step 2 with the roles reversed, using the free action to declare a Pass.

The trick will be keeping the Strikers facing each other.  You will be tempted to use a coaching die to improve your catch chances...I would say save you coaching die for your armor saves or your multi-point strike attempts.  Will it work every time...no.  But you could potentially move down the entire field and score with just two guys and one action token.  After they score...plan on writing off the Judwan in the scoring zone.  The key to this is the 3+ skill...other races lose the bell curve with the passing so the Judawn Tango will not work for them without some luck.

  Course there are other issues the Judwan will have to deal with...like how to move someone from the scoring zones.  But that is for another post.  

Potential paint scheme...Judwan Rangers?

To me Dreadball is more like Hockey than any of the other major professional sports.
With the Sin Bin (Penalty Box), players coming onto the pitch (ice) from the bench, the fluid end to end  gameplay, not to mention the Slams (Checks)...just matches up better.  Just think of it as three nets rather than one.

As long as I have liked hockey I have been a fan of the NY Rangers.  Their playoff run in 1994 where they Won the Cup was epic.

I ended up with the Judwan as my season 2 team.  In thinking about a paint scheme for them I came up with this...Why not try to do them as the NY Rangers?



Not sold on the black skate looks...may change it back to the red/blue.  I also landed one of the Alpha Simian minis...Think the big ape will play the role of "Richter" (Mike Richter, Rangers Goalie in 94) for the team when Season 3 Ultimate Dreadball comes out.  He will be getting the same uniform color scheme as my Judwan no matter what I eventually choose.

To keep with the Hockey theme, I plan on making a white Hex pitch using 1 1/8" white unglazed porcelain tiles.  But that project is for another day...may even make it the Ultimate arena.

Multiple Prone Markers...Tracking Idea

Played a test game, and at one point I had 4 guys down on the pitch.  Lacking prone markers we just laid our guys on the pitch.  The custom board I made has 30mm hexes, but with the 25mm hexes of the official boards I can see it getting crowded out there.  Laying them down will work just fine, unless there are 2 or 3 other models in the area.  The prone markers will be handy...though I can see it getting confusing with which player does which prone marker belong too.  So in expanding upon my Action tracking idea, I came up with this idea to help keep track of which prone player belongs to which marker.

Number your Prone Markers.  
When using prone marker #1, place the Mini you just took off the board next to the #1 of your scoring track on the edge of the board.  When using prone marker #2, place the player next to #2, Etc...

Example: Orx Guard #2 is knocked down, replace Orx mini with prone marker #1 and place Orx guard on the side of your board by the #1 of your scoring track. Goblin Jack #7 is knocked down, replace him with Prone marker #2 and place him by the #2 on your scoring track.

I can see players forgetting which player was prone in which hex when using prone markers.  I had players down for 4 or 5 rushes, because I was focusing on the ball and the players I had upright..  When the Judwan (All strikers) and Zee (all jacks) hit the board, I can see it getting even more confusing.  Using the scoring track will work because chances are you will not have more than 7 prone players from your team on the board (though I bet some Zee team will manage to do it eventually).

For those of you painting your prone markers, Number the bottom or make the jersey # be the prone marker number.

That's all for now folks...enjoy!

Stopgap rules for Fouls with Ref, and Warehouse closing

Fouls and the Ref, best guess rules to use until us Kickstarter folks get the PDF.


Pulled from "Lex Major" over on the Boardgame geek forums...Thanks Lex!

These are my idea of "stopgap rules" while waiting for the full ones (still 10 days to go at least!). These are "best guesses" on how to play fouls with appropriate rules. Feel free to suggest/comment.

FOUL ACTIONS
Fouls are called by the "victim" coach, and are rolled immediately after the Action is resolved.

Stomp: Is described in the rulebook preview on Mantic's blog. ( http://www.manticblog.com/?p=6362 )
Stall: Described at the same place.
Sucker punch: is a foul where you start in the target's front arc, and move to its rear arc before Slamming.
Sneak: is the foul where you put more players on the field than allowed. A random player is sent off.
Distracting the Ref: Choose a player within 3 hexes of the Ref, and have him spend an action. You can then Roll a d6 for distance and move the ref. Distracting the Ref IS a Foul, but only the player distracting can be sent off.

THE REF
At the end of their rush players roll a d6 and move the ref where they want. On a 6 you roll again and add to the initial score. The Ref starts on the checkered hex and can only be moved to legal locations (black hexes).

Spotting a Foul is a 1 Dice 4+ test when only the "Eye in the Sky" spots the foul. The number of successes will dictate the duration of the sin bin, with 4 being sent out for the match.
If the Ref is within 3 hexes of the Fouling player, there is +1 dice.

FAN CHECKS
Make a Fan check whenever a player:
- Sends another player out of the game.
- Scores a 4-points Strike!
- (there must be something about passes, etc, but can't think of it).

Roll 3 dice at 4+, and get the number of successes as a "Cheer" token. When you have 3 Cheer tokens, you gain a Coaching Dice.

EXTRA MOVE, SPECIAL CARDS, ETC.

Are not used.

Kickstarter When?

Also Mantic is closing their Warehouse in Mid-November to (I would guess) put together the Kickstarter packages for shipping.  So I would guess a first week of December arrival time here in the States.

Best guess for the PDF of season 1 rulebook is soon after they close up the Kickstarter Survey...so maybe a Happy Halloween Treat.  

Maine Dreadball League...Development Ideas

  Looking though Jake's website (www.quickworthy.com) I came across some of the core fundamentals of League play. Jake's notes will be in Italic. Some rough ideas of how we will use these will be in the standard font.


Core League Principles and Overview

The idea is a simple mirror of sporting reality. Leagues are played in rounds. Your team plays a game, individual players become more experienced and at a certain point this cumulative experience manifests as a new ability. Players with more abilities are worth more, and the whole team is worth the sum of its players + ancillary bonuses (cards and Coaching Dice). This is the kind of thing we see in real world sports. Manchester United is worth more than Scunthorpe because it has better and more highly skilled players who are worth more.

Normal players sign long term contracts, but there are two other types of players in DreadBall: MVPS and Free Agents.

MVPs are, in effect, very highly paid mercenaries who work for the highest bidder and only for a limited time (a round at a time). This maximises their income.

Free Agents are normal players who haven’t yet been signed to a team. They are used by the DreadBall Governing Body as balancing factors in games to ensure that the crowds get an entertaining match and the sponsors keep paying.



  The Maine League, thanks to our Kickstarter bid, will have a full complement of MVP's available.  Jake has said a good number of MVP's is having one MVP available for every two teams each round.  We will randomize this number, each round using die rolls and some sort of bell curve.  So that the average dice will result in a 50% MVP to team ratio each round.  Once the number of MVP's is determined we will randomly determine which MVP's from the pool will be that round for the bidding.

  Free Agents.  We will have a pool of Free Agent minis for everyone to use.  Apparently the team building rules are not applied to Free Agents so potentially an Orx Guard could be on a Veer-myn team as a one game Free Agent.  So where will this pool of mins come from.  We are lucky with the "Cheerleader" kickstarter we got.  Where we are drafting the duplicate MVP's to use as alternative posed models, some of us will end up with more players than we can actually have on a team.

  For example: My Orx team. Will start with I'm guessing 5 Orx and 9 Goblin minis (after the 2nd shipment with the alternative poses is sent).  The max number of Orx on a team is 6, the max number of goblins is 10.  My plan is to maximize my Orx to 6 and have 8 goblins...for the max number of 14 players on my team.  With my draft I landed the Duplicate Slippery Joe Goblin MVP which I will be modding to use as a Goblin Jack on my team.  So that will give me two extra Goblin Jack minis I have no use for.  These Goblins I can throw into the "Free Agent Pool" for folks to use as Free Agents.

  Anyone can use these, there will be rules for who gets to buy them first.  Consider the Free Agents a poor mans MVP.  The Free Agent minis remain community property until they are pulled out with a Waiver Token.  Of course you can just ask another player to use one of their unused minis to use as a Free Agent, but they are under no obligation to do so.

  Putting a mini into the Free agent pool will get you a numbered waiver token, which you can use to take any mini out of the pool for you to keep.  I think this wont have much use, until we get to the Xtreame Dreadball of Season 4, where folks will be looking to make some funky teams.


Player Experience

When a player takes part in a match they may gain experience. This is done by doing what they are supposed to do particularly well. So, Strikers earn experience by making 3 or 4 point Strikes, Guards earn it by killing opponents or injuring them for 3 turns, and Jacks get it for either of the above. There is also a Man of the Match award to give a random player a boost.

MVPs and Free Agents never gain experience.

Player experience goes in ranks, with a player starting at rank 1. You need to earn a total of the next rank’s worth of experience to advance a level. So, a rank 1 player needs to collect 2 experience to rise to rank 2. Each time you go up a level you can roll on a table to get a new ability or stat increase. There is a table for each player role, plus a separate one for Extra Coaching (with different abilities) if you want to permanently sacrifice a Coaching Dice to roll on it. if you roll a result you already have then you get to choose from the remaining opions. If you have them all then you get to pick from any of the other role specific tables. In this way the advancement is a mixture of choice and luck.

 I put this in here so folks can see how players advance, and to see the down side of MVP's and Free Agents.

Tracking Actions taken by players.

  Each player is limited to Two Actions Tokens and One Card per Rush.  With the free actions it can be a little confusing as to which player had used which action.  Add in the fact you can use an Action token on a player, move on to use actions on other players then go back to the first player you used an action with.  I know...how hard is it to keep track of 5 actions?  Well things happen, folks get distracted, and us older gamers don't have the memory we used to.  If nothing else this will be a tool to help when learning the game.

  Here is the idea to help you track which players had actions played upon them.

When you play an action on a player, place the action counter along side the turn track that matches that players number.

  For example:  My rush starts and I want to do a Run action with Goblin Jack #7.  I place my action token next to Turn 7 on the turn tracker along side the board.  My 2nd action, I want to Slam with my Orx Guard #3...I place the action token next to Turn 3.  My 3rd action I want to move Goblin Jack #7 again, so I place that token next to Turn 7.  The two tokens next to that turn show I can not play any more actions on player #7.  At the end my my turn I would pick up my action tokens.  You could also put the used cards in a turn over by the turn tracker I as well.

  I know that gamer attention spans are not the greatest in the world.  Or you may have to walk away from the game for a bit.  Heck this may be in the rulebook already.  Or attempting to use more than 2 action tokens on the same player my be a "Foul" only if you are caught...not sure.  Wanted to throw this idea out there as it seemed a simple means to keep track of which player had gone.

Edit:  Jake (the Dreadball designer) visited the blog!  He clarified that using more that the 2 allotted actions on a given player is not a "foul", doing so is just against the game rules and may not be done.     

Couple new Dreadball videos...

So looking for some background noise while doing the dishes...wow I know right.  I searched You tube for dreadball to see if there was anything new to see.

I actually found a couple of new vids that you might like...

First up are a close up look at the Human and Orx teams by Blue Table painting.  They got a couple of details incorrect (No goblin strikers) but the minis look sweet.

Second is a look at the Gameboards...Goes over the scoring zones which can be a little tricky to get at first.

First game played.

Played our first game this weekend, using the partial PFD rules.  Very Fun.  Took us about 3 hours to get the game in, but we were double checking rules and figuring it out as we went along.  Watching Football and Nascar while playing probably slowed us down a little bit to.  (Wheels side down Tony...Wheels side down)

To keep things simple we played Corporation team vs. Corporation team.  We screwed up a couple of things...but wow we had a heck of a finish.

Things Learned

Strikers are pretty good at doing their job.  Being able to catch an Inaccurate pass lead to two or three completions anyway.  Orx / Goblin team will have a hard time scoring lacking Strikers.  I'm thinking the Goblin claws you see on the minis are to pin the opponents foot to the floor so they can't run away as the Orx Guard runs up and squashes them.  Action 1, move Goblin Jacks up to threaten, Action 2 move second goblin jack up to threaten same target, Action 3, Running Slam target with the Orx Guard...sending them to the morgue.

Score can turn quickly.  Score on turn 11 was 6 points up for the home team.  Turn 12 the away team scored a 4 pointer.  Turn 13 saw the ball bounce off a home strikers hands as it came on the field making it turn 14.  Where the away team was set up to repeat the 4 point play..making the score 2 up for the visiting team.

Evade is worded funny, on purpose.  Evade is a 3 die progressive test (1,2,3)...with a -1 die for every opponent threatening the hex you left (max of 2).  But you only have to Evade when you have someone threatening the hex, so you are automatically one die down.  Thinking it over the wording makes sense, cause the rule would be more cumbersome saying ignore the first guy...and only subtract one more if there is a second guy.  Just different than the other tests that say ignore the guy you are slamming or the guy slamming in the case of a Dodge.

For Humans on Humans...we either had lucky dice, or didn't gang up enough.  I did not have a guy sent off the pitch due to injury.  Had 5 or 6 knocked down, but never more than 3 potential armor breaches, and made all my saves.  I only sent off maybe 4 or 5 guys, Two got into the 3 bin, but only had one chance for a death with 5 armor breaches.   So at least from my first game, I can see your bench being flexible, get the lead, play defense and bring some guards out, fall behind, bring out your strikers.

Question

Front arc.  This will be explained by the "Diagram on page 11"  You have to be in the front arc to "See".  Can't throw if you can't "see" your target,  Can't catch if you can't "see" the thrower (No over the shoulder catches at 200mph).  So, is the front arc the front 180degrees, or the front three hexes extended out like the front firing arc in Battletech?  Full rules will answer this one.  We stumbled on this on turn 13.  The Striker was standing in the launching hex and facing directly toward the scoring hexes (North/South)...when the ball came in from the side (East / West).  We played it as if the Striker would have a chance to catch it as an inaccurate pass, using the front 180.  But the ruling on this will open up facing to 4 facings for being able to catch a launched ball or limit it to 2 when coming down the launch line.



 

Charming Field...Ready for opening day!

Ready for a test run...

Kickstarter Draft Started.

We kicked off our the Draft of our Striker x2 set...You can follow along with the draft here or over on the google doc page linked to the right.

Round 1

1) Rob - Alpha Simian (Season 3, 3 Hex mini)

2) Jeff - Nameless Spawn (Season 3, 3 Hex mini)

3) Chris - Yurik "Painmaster" Yurikson (To be used as an alt pose FF Guard/Keeper)

4) Fabby - Female Corporation Player

5) Gregg - Wildcard (Female Striker)

6) Lee - Rico Van Dein (Corporation Striker) - aka Tom Brady

7) Dereck - Gorim Ironstone (FF Striker)

8) Josh - Reek Rolat MVP (Rat Guard)

Round 2

1) Josh - Buzzcut MVP (Guard / Coach?)

2) Dereck - Number 88 (To be used as Dwarf Striker or Coach?)

3) Lee - The Enforcer (Guard/Coach?)

4) Gregg - DBR-7 Prototype Robot (Cyborg Orx Guard? / Coach?)

5) Fabby - Female Corporation Player

6) Chris - Coach Renton

7) Jeff -  John Doe MVP Nameless

8) Rob - Slippery Joe MVP Goblin

Round 3

1) Rob - Mee-Kel Judwan MVP

2) Jeff - Nameless player

3) Chris -Coach Renton

4) Fabby - Female Corporation Player

5) Gregg - Wyn Greth'zki MVP

6) Lee -Lucky Logan MVP

7) Dereck - Rilla MVP

8) Josh - Teraton Player

Round 4

1) Josh - Teraton Player

2) Dereck - Zee Player

3) Lee - Coach Renton

4) Gregg - Mellisandra MVP

5) Fabby - Female Corporation Player

6) Chris - Ludwig Z'zor MVP

7) Jeff - Nameless player

8) Rob - Judwan player

Round 5

1) Rob - Judwan Player 

2) Jeff - Nameless Player

3) Chris - Z'Zor Player

4) Fabby - Helder Female MVP

5) Gregg - Robot Player

6) Lee - Nightshade MVP

7) Dereck - Zee Player

8) Josh - Teraton Player

Round 6

1) Josh - Teraton Player

2) Dereck - Zee Player

3) Lee - Asterian Player

4) Gregg - Robot Player

5) Fabby - Asterian Player

6) Chris - Zzor Player

7) Jeff - Nameless Player

8) Rob - Judwan Player

Round 7

1) Rob - Judwan Player

2) Jeff - Robot Player

3) Chris - Zzor Player

4) Fabby - Asterian Player

5) Gregg - Robot Player

6) Lee - Asterian Player

7) Dereck - Zee Player

8) Josh - Zzor Player

Proxy use of Duplicate MVP's

For those that don't know.  There are 8 of us that went in on a Cheerleader level kickstarter...which means 2 Striker Sets.  Which means two of all the MVP's included with the Striker sets.

We will take one set of the MVP's, seeing as how they are unique, paint them up in their official colors and keep them with the League stuff.

But what to do with the duplicate MVP's?

Well here is our plan.  Counting all the duplicate MVP's, the 2 coach minis, the two Mega Hex minis and all the Season 2 and 3 team player minis...there are 56 extra minis.  So we will hold a draft.  Many of the Duplicate Minis could be used as regular position player on their respective racial teams...just considered an alternate pose.  This will also give folks a chance to get a start on a second team.  Also considering the Rumors of Xtreme Dreadball...a wide selection of minis might be helpful.  Finally we have some play with the number of Buy one get one free season 2 and 3 teams.  Should folks come out of the draft with 4 of a certain race and an MVP of theirs, we can move the $12.50 to land them 8 players for that team and bam...pretty near full roster.

So the main point of the draft is to get some alternate sculpts for the starting teams, to start building the second team, or to get some odd minis for when the Xtreme Dreadball comes out late next year.

Yeah, some of the minis won't be around until next Spring and Fall, but that is fine.  Will give folks something to look forward to and plan for.

So I made a Tab on the Googledocs page to assist folks with the draft.  This till help folks best fit draftable minis into their current team or start building a new one.

Draft Tips page

Charming Field...update

Made some good progress last night on Charming Field.

Corrected the scoring zone mistake I had made.  Was a really easy fix.
Added a lighter colors spot on the Ref starting hex.

Sin Bin / Injury slots are three colored...black to dark green to light green.  May number them later...not sure.

Added the dugouts / bench areas.  This image you can see that there are some spaces where my fabric hexes have blended together.  Have to work on that as well, making the lines more clear.

"Corporation" takes the field against a "Robot" team...at least until we get the real minis.

Now to make the scoring track and turn track.

Alternative poses and Kickstarter Shipments

This whole post  is speculation on my part...

Just pulled this tid bit of information from the kickstarter comments section.

I got an answer from Mantic : "As for the alternate poses, they will indeed ship next year. The Human and Marauder teams will be getting 10 players this year and 4 next year, and the Veer-myn and Forge Fathers will be getting 8 this year and 6 next year."

So for those with the Kickstarter Striker package.
Looks like the the 2nd part of your Season 1 teams will ship with the Season 2 teams in the spring ./ early summer.

EDIT: Shipment counts confirmed by Mantic.

The 8 man contents of the team boxes are set:

FF - 3 Guards, 3 Jacks, 2 Strikers
VM - 6 Strikers, 2 Guards
Marauders - 5 Jacks, 3 Guards
Corp - 2 Guards, 3 Jacks, 3 Strikers.

The 10-player teams in the main box add-on 1 Jack and 1 Guard to the Marauders, as well as 1 Jack and 1 Striker to the Corporation.

The remaining figures in Jack/Striker will be random (though never exceeding the maximum number of player positions.)

Also from the "Asterisks" next to the MVP minis.  Looks as if there will be 4 MVP's that are part of the pre-Christmas shipment.  Rest will come with Season 2.

Lucky Logan - ???
Reek Rolat - Veer-Myn Only
The Enforcer - ???
Slippery Joe - ???

Looks like the Forge Fathers miss out on the early MVP's...unless one of the "Corporation" leaning guys will play for them.

As much as I am looking forward to all the great loot that comes with the Striker package.  I think the roll out with 8 to 10 starting players, and limited MVP's will make for stronger leagues down the road.  Baby steps...start small and work your way up.

The only downside I can see to getting two shipments of the Season 1 teams is a very minor one.  Painters, be sure to remember  (Or take notes) of the brand and color paints that you use.  I dislike painting units in separate waves as I usually get one shade wrong when I go back to paint the second batch.  "Did I use the GW Blue or the Vajillo Blue on these guys?".  Then the group does not look the uniformly painted.  I'll be sure to keep notes on my Orx...and probably set those pots of paint aside while they wait for the second shipment of minis.

Sneek Peek: Reek Rolat "Payback" Veer-myn MVP

So in checking out boardgamegeek.com I found this in their Dreadball game image files.

Things I have learned from this page...

* MVP's can be race specific.  Not shocking, actually expected this.  But this confirms some MVP's will only place for certain teams.

* MVP's have a position.  So they get the "Guard and Striker" added dice when doing certain things.

* The "Can't Feel a thing" skill takes away the first failed armor check roll...that is pretty huge.  You will need to beat Reek by least 5 dice to have a chance at killing him.  Plan on him being on the field the whole game with that ability.

* There is a minimum bid for MVP's.  Which is good.  Keeps them from landing MVP's for a 1mc bid.  Where our league has two of each of Season 1 teams in it, there will always be two bidding for the services of an MVP.

Edit: 10/31...Reek Rolat mini spotted!

Charming Field (Progress report)

Progress Report on Charming Field.

Got the hexes glued to the board.  Still need to work on the Sin Bin, Bech, Score track and Turn tracker.

Have to mark the Ref starting hex hex as well....along with the mid board markers.  Good start.

EDIT: and I screwed it up.  Middle scoring zones are one space too close to the center.  Will have to move 12 tiles to correct.  Oh well...better this test field rather than the hextile one.