Friday Hobby Check In – May 2018

Welcome to June. May was a busy month so I didn’t get a huge amount done, but there were some things.

Bolt Action – American Update

No pictures for this one, but I have assembled and undercoated 20 American GIs. NCOs have SMGs, two BARs, and the rest have a mix of M1903s and M1 Garands.

I also bought another box of US Infantry (and was thrilled to receive the email two days later to say a new US Infantry box would be released soon…), a half track, and an MMG team.

I’ve also got a partially assembled M8. It’s the old resin one and while I’ve got all the big things in place, it’s the fiddly little bits that I’m unsure where to place that remain. I’ve been unable to find the old assembly image so it’s been set aside in frustration for a time.

Guild Ball – Stoker

I finally got around to painting Stoker. Not much to say really, he came out ok.

I’m also pleased that I was able to get my hands on Esthers and Pint Pot, so I’ve all the Brewer’s models now (except regular Spigot, but I’m not fussed about that, I have the Veteran Spigot model which I can use. It’s not like both can be on the field at once). My one aim for June is to get those two models painted.

Reaper Bones

Here we have the clockwork dragon. This model is probably my favourite from the Reaper Bones line. The paint job is very basic, but I think it came out nice. It’s also a lot larger than I first envisaged. (The images I took tonight were a bit bright, so I’ve included one I took on the kitchen cupboard that does a better job of showing it off I think).

Then the other night I got this mage done in about an hour or so. Again, incredibly basic colour scheme for the most part. I somewhat wish I’d done two different colours coming out one a piece from each hand and mixing in the middle. I like the end result of the magical energy though. It reminds me of the most enjoyable colour combination in Magic: the Gathering: red and blue. (Again, I think the brightness fades it out a bit, but the magic goes blue from the hands, lightening through white to orange at the top).

I have so many Reaper Bones miniatures and hardly any are painted, so it is nice to get these two done. I’m not too keen on the medium used in Reaper Bones, but the simpler models come out quite nicely with basic paint jobs.

Next Time

I’m really not sure how productive the next few months will be. I always have so many things vying for my attention, and winter tends to be a less productive hobby time for me. I’d really like to see Esthers and Pint Pot painted though. I’ll also see if I can’t do a few more Reaper Bones, just for a bit of variety. I suspect the Americans will be waiting for the warmer months.

More immediately though, my brother and I will be playing some Guild Ball tomorrow. I might write up those match reports, dependent on how they go.

 

Guild Ball – Fish (Shark) v Brewers (Tapper)

This is the second game my brother and I played last weekend. We switched teams so I could show him how to Fish.

Line-Up

Me: Greyscales, Siren, Shark (cpt), Salt (msct), Jac, Angel

Lee: Vet Spigot, Stave, Scum (msct), Tapper, Hooper, Friday

Match Report

Lee won the roll off and elected to receive. I kicked with Shark, joggin him right up the middle and putting the ball about 3” over the halfway line. Stave went first, sprinted up and snapped the ball, and dropped it behind him at the end of the sprint. He then threw a barrel at Shark, pushing him back and knocking him down.

The majority of the rest of the turn was players repositioning. I shifted Jac, Salt, and Greyscales into position to receive a Lured Stave, courtesy of Siren. But when Tapper charged Jac and put him into the ground, I decided instead to use Seduce on Tapper to get him to attack Stave. The reason for this was that Stave blocked a charge on Jac from Hooper. I also only needed a single momentum to get Shark back on his feet. Meanwhile, Scum had snapped the ball, and Friday headed to my right near the tree, Scum tagging along with the ball but just short of getting cover.

With my one momentum from using Tapper to knock down Stave, I got Shark to his feet. He charged Stave, wrapped and was able to use Tidal Surge and a 1” dodge to shift 5” around, passing through Hooper and on to the other side of Tapper. Another attack and dodges put Shark into melee with Scum, but he wasn’t going to be able to tackle, dodge out, and have range on goal. I tackled the ball and then scored a couple of dodges to generate momentum.

I won the roll off for turn two and Shark went first. He attacked Scum five times, generating five momentum, then jogged up to the goal and nailed it. Me 4 v Lee 0. I used Run the Pitch to dodge Shark closer to the goal. Lee put the ball in on the right, next to the tree but out of snap range of Scum and Friday. Stave then used momentum to stand back up, hit Ramming Speed to push back Jac and Salt as he moved, and went to knock down Siren. Except that two attacks totalling 12 dice failed to net him a single 5. I repositioned Greyscales, before Tapper went in on Angel (Jac having stood back up and healed last turn). Angel was knocked down and took a beating, but I repositioned to Jac to cut off a charge from Scum and save her.

Friday sprinted, collecting the ball and passing to Hooper, who took a momentous dodge towards Shark (hoping to avoid a Seduce from Siren. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to Lee, I had the plot card Good Mark, giving Siren’s Seduce +2” range. I was able to shift her around Stave, hit Seduce, use Hooper to pass to Shark, then bonus time a snap shot to score a second goal. Me 8 v Lee 0. The ball came back in with Spigot, who moved on Greyscales, managing to knock him down and generate some momentum. Scum went in on Jac and did some damage, while Angel stood back up and was healed at some point.

Turn three and Lee got first turn. Spigot got some momentum from Greyscales, sprinted and nailed a goal. Me 8 v Lee 4. I kicked the ball back in on the left and used Salt to collect it, and then drop it off near Greyscales (him being knocked down still). I forgot about Friday though, and she was able to nab the ball and kick to space near the tree on the left. I used Shark to generate a bunch of momentum from Hooper and knock him down too. Tapper wailed on Jac, getting up Commanding Aura, before I used Siren to Seduce Tapper into attacking Scum, putting him to half health. A fully loaded Scum then went at Jac, but fell just one point short of getting a Take Out with the first attack, allowing me to Counter Attack, taking the cat down to one health.

Scum finished Jac off and went in on Angel next, but she also Counter Attacked and was able to do the last damage to Take Out Scum. Me 9 v Lee 6. I stood Greyscales up and used him to collect the ball. Hooper had a go at Shark, but the dice continued to be against Lee and he netted nothing.

Turn four and I won the roll off. Greyscales went in on Friday, generated three momentum, passed to Shark, who then too a Bonus Timed Snapshot to win the game. Me 13 v Lee 6.

Aftermath

Lee felt this game went better than the first and preferred the play style of the Brewers. He noted that I played much more aggressively than he did. I was also able to split his players up and avoid a gang of Brewers roaming around, beating me into the ground. He had some very bad luck though: Stave not being able to do anything to Siren, Hooper doing likewise on Shark, and he wasn’t to know I had Good Mark which allowed me to pull off the second goal.

 

Guild Ball – Brewers (Tapper) V Fish (Shark)

The first of two games I played against my brother this weekend.

Line-Up

Me: Vet Spigot, Stave, Scum (msct), Tapper, Hooper, Friday

Lee: Greyscales, Siren, Shark (cpt), Salt (msct), Jac, Angel

Match Report

Lee won the roll off and elected to kick with Salt (I did recommend Shark), who put the ball on the right near the crates.

Friday used Shadow Like and a sprint to collect the ball and pass to Tapper. Greyscales moved up before Stave sprinted and threw a barrel behind Greyscales, knocking him forward. Lee moved Jac up, and then I went in on Greyscales with Tapper by first passing to Scum, using a momentous dodge to move up, then charging. I hit Commanding Aura and put some serious hurt in, I also hit my heroic and gave two influence to Hooper.

I think Angel shifted up at this point, before Hooper charged in and finished Greyscales off. Me 2 v Lee 0. Shark activated and went in on Tapper. He was unable to hit Tidal Surge though and just spent his influence generating momentum and dodging around, trying to get closer to Scum. Obviously I wasn’t going to let this happen, and moved Scum into cover of the tree on the left. The final moves were Siren and Spigot moving up the field.

Turn two and Lee won the roll off. Unfortunately the dice were not in his favour after that. He tidal surged past Tapper and Hooper, scored a momentous dodge off Stave, but then couldn’t get a single 5, let alone two, to tackle the ball off Scum. His last attack likewise failed. I got Scum out of trouble with Shadow Like, then made sure to move more than 4” away from Shark. Siren came in and seduced Scum to pass to her, before she passed to Greyscales (who had come back on near her).

I used Stave to knock Shark down and do some damage before Jac went in on Friday, but failed to do anything. The rest of the turn for the Fish involved repositioning from Greyscales and Angel (who lurked at the back, Lee just didn’t want to play aggressive) and Salt was around somewhere. For me, Shadow Liked Friday out of trouble, charged Shark and got Dirty Knives off and some small damage. Tapper turned on Shark, got Commanding Aura up and did some damage to boot. His activation finished with his heroic, again giving influence to Hooper who came in and finished off Shark with ease. I then played Man Marking for +2 influence next turn. Me 4 v Lee 0

I won the roll off easily and put Tapper into Siren straight away, knocking her down and hitting Commanding Aura, but only doing 5 damage. I used Sic ‘Em to charge Scum into Shark who’d come back on the left side, but only did minor damage. And Spigot moved up and engaged Siren, who he took out but couldn’t quite dodge around enough to get to Shark. Me 6 v Lee 0

Meanwhile Jac engaged Hooper but failed to do anything good, Greyscales and Angel moved up, Salt darted around where ever. Hooper and Stave together knocked Jac down and put the boot in, leaving him on five health.

Turn four and I had two take outs waiting. I started by using Tapper to take out Shark, Me 8 v Lee 0. Angel then activated, sprinted forward, Super Shot, and kicked a goal, after which Lee played Knee Slider to reposition Angel away from Hooper and Stave. Me 8 v Lee 4

I kicked the ball back in on the left and then used Hooper to finish Jac off easily, Me 10 v Lee 4. Greyscales then activated and went in on Stave. He used push dodges to move Stave along with him, before hitting Where’d He Go? on his final attack and dodging across to grab the ball. Stave retaliated by throwing a barrel at him. The knock down ball scatter was favourable to me and sent it straight towards Spigot, only millimetres from snapping to him.

Lee didn’t have much left he could do. A reposition from Salt, but Spigot was then up and grabbed the ball, sprinted up, and used his heroic to make a kick without spending influence to nail the winning goal. Me 14 v Lee 4

Aftermath

This was only Lee’s first real game. He found constantly being knocked down frustrating and felt like he couldn’t deal with my scrum game. I pointed out that he needed to play much more aggressively and attack hard, using his longer melee range and dodges to skirt my players and run amok.

Guild Ball – Brewers (Tapper) v Fish (Shark)

With a full team painted, I decided to play my Brewers last night. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures.

Line-Up

Me: Friday, Stave, Scum (msct), Tapper (cpt), Hooper, Vet Spigot

Ely: Greyscales, Jac, Shark (cpt), Salt (msct), Siren, Angel

Match Report

Ely won the roll off and elected to kick, using Shark to put the ball on the left in front Friday. I assigned two influence each to Friday and Stave, four Tapper, three Hooper, and one Vet Spigot. This allocation was my first mistake.

Friday grabbed the ball and passed back to Scum, but missed the kick. Scum was able to nab the ball in a scatter which Ely forced me to reroll with Match Fixing. Shark then activated and did Shark things. He charged Scum, tackled the ball, used Guy and Strings on Stave and pushed him around, bounced off Tapper, shot and scored, then momentous dodged near Friday. Me 0 v Ely 4. I activated Stave, played Good Mark, and used his two influence to throw a barrel next to Shark, pushing him passed Friday and knocking him down. Greyscales shifted up, then so did Scum who used Shadow Like then jogged around Shark, keeping in melee range, to block an escape back to Ely’s side of the pitch.

Siren Lured Tapper, but he still had plenty of range to charge Shark, hitting Commanding Aura and Marked Target (so Hooper would have charge range on Shark), before dishing out some pain (10 damage in two attacks I think). Jac shifted up and Ely cleared conditions on Shark to stand him back up. Hooper charged in and Ely used Defensive Stance and Counter Attack. Hooper was able to put him back on the ground, but failed to do the damage to take him out (Shark was left with 3hp). Salt moved up before Vet Spigot (who had the ball from when I kicked it back in) sprinted up to the fast ground on the right. I went a little too far though and Angel was able to charge me and get a momentous push dodge.

Although I was up on momentum, the dice were against me and Ely won the roll off. I went with four Vet Spigot, two Friday, three Tapper, and two Scum. This allocation was also a mistake. Shark forfeited his movement and got up. Hit his legendary and promptly dodged his way out of the scrum with a succession of attacks. In hindsight, I probably should have taken the chance with a counter attack from Hooper on the first attack to try knock Shark back down. Even then though, Ely would have generated one momentum from that attack and been able to stand right back up. After dodging clear of everything, Shark healed 4 (so he was now on 7). For my first activation, I went with Friday and hit Dirty Knives on Shark. This choice was also a mistake because Siren Seduced the ball of Vet Spigot and then passed to Salt. Tapper put up Commanding Aura, then hit his heroic to give two influence to Scum (this was an error, Scum has a max of 3). Angel then ran up into a snapshot position, before Scum charged Shark who put up Defensive Stance and Counter Attacked. I was only able to do two damage after a terrible roll, and then Shark’s counter attacked dodged him away. The only other interesting thing to occur this turn was Vet Spigot charging Angel, who also hit Defensive Stance and Counter Attack, failing to do anything, but Angel getting a dodge.

I lost the roll off again, and the turn began with Greyscales grabbing the ball (dropped by Salt) and moving up into tap in range. He hit Stave for some momentum before hitting the goal easily. Me 0 v Ely 8. I took a risk with the kick back in and ended up landing it with Angel. This forced me to activate Vet Spigot first, who took two attacks to tackle the ball back off Angel and couldn’t do anything else. Ely repositioned Jac to engage tapper and Hooper, followed by a Scum charge on Shark. A charge that fell one damage short of taking him out, followed by a second attack that scored nothing. That summed up the game pretty well. Shark went in and generated some momentum from Friday and Tapper. Tapper shifted across and laid the smack down on Jac, knocking him down, getting up Commanding Aura, and doing a total of 10 damage (and that was after Tough Hide). But the end of the game was nigh. Siren seduced Vet Spigot who passed to Angel, who then made the Snap Shot to end the game. Me 0 v Ely 12.

Aftermath

Well I learnt a lot about Brewers. The low movement and lack of abilities to repositions hurts big time. But it didn’t help I made endless mistakes. I realised afterwards that my allocation in first turn should have shifted two from Hooper and added one to Friday and Stave. This allocation would then allow me to make use of Tapper’s heroic to top Hooper’s influence up. This would have opened up my options, allowing Friday to use Dirty Knives as well as passing, or Stave to sprint and throw a barrel. In fact, even just opening with Stave and using a barrel to push Shark away perhaps would have been a better choice. He would have been knocked down, Ely would have no momentum and a hard time getting any, so a fully loaded Shark would likely be able to do little more than waste his movement standing up, Tidal Surge, and then nothing.

In the second turn I should have ignored Shark after he had activated and used Vet Spigot to score a goal. Even though the ball would have come back in to Ely, it likely would have been the better choice. I also should have only given Tapper two influence. I knew Ely was going to use Caught in a Net with Shark, so there was no point to giving him four influence. An extra two on Friday would have allowed her to use Dirty Knives and move in to attack Shark. Or two on Stave to use a barrel.

As for the last turn, well there wasn’t much avoid the outcome. Though better rolling would have taken out Shark, forcing someone else to generate the momentum for Ely’s snap shot.

The other big mistake throughout the whole game was constantly forgetting Shadow Like on Friday and Scum, and Unpredictable Movement on Scum (which might have been able to prevent Shark’s first turn goal, or even just keep him closer to my goal and easier to smack down.

Fish are a tough match up for Brewers though I think, especially when you’re playing your first game with them against someone who is very familiar with Fish. I’ve at least one, hopefully two, matches lined up against my brother tomorrow (1 July 2017) though, so hopefully I can use what I’ve learnt and play a better game (his inexperience should also put us on a more equal footing).

 

Guild Ball – Fish (Shark) V Union (Blackheart)

No game last week because I was busy, but this week it was a match against Dave playing Union. I was pretty tired, so details are a tad hazy.

Line-up

Me: Greyscales, Siren, Salt (msct), Shark (cpt), Jac, Angel

Dave: Snakeskin, Harry, Blackheart (cpt), Rage, Coin (msct), Avarisse & Greede

Match Report

I won the roll off and elected to kick with Siren. The ball ended up on the right hand side of the pitch, scattering towards the Union line. Usual influence assigned: one a piece Greyscales, Jac, and Angel, six Shark, four Siren.

I’m a bit hazy on the first turn, but ultimately Greyscales, Jac, and Angel all shifted up. Avarisse & Greede, Rage, and Coin all did likewise. The ball was picked up and made its way to Blackheart, never snapping to anyone (Coin missed the pass to Blackheart anyway). Blackheart was able to snap the ball in his activation, pass to Harry and take a Momentous Dodge, Shadowlike, jog into combat with Siren and take her out while she was still fully loaded. Me 0 V Dave 4 and four influence down the drain. I moved Salt into melee with Blackheart before sprinting Shark in, but could only generate some momentum and knock Blackheart down – no pinball to get to Snakeskin through Harry who had the ball.

The highlights of turn two were Rage taken Shark down from full with a single influence and loads of Rage – again, Shark was fully loaded. Me 0 v Dave 4. Blackheart was passed the ball and he shifted up, but the ball was tackled back off him by Greyscales who dropped the ball away from him. Avarisse & Greede came in, and Greede was able to collect the ball and pass to Blackheart. Blackheart then went in on an Icy Sponge’d Siren, taking her out for the second time, and scoring with ease. Me 0 V Dave 10. I kicked in way up to the right and managed to scatter the ball to Angel.

Turn three and it was pretty obvious the game was over, but I wanted to at least get some points on the board so we played it out. Harry tried to take down Greyscales, but poor dice kept him alive. Angel then activated, sprinted, Nimble (why not?), Supershot, and kicked a screamer from tap in range. Me 4 V Dave 10. Finally, Rage went in on Greyscales and finished him off handily. Match over, Me 4 V Dave 12

Aftermath

Mistakes a plenty this game. Siren probably wasn’t the one to kick off with, or I should of kept her out of danger. I feel I got unlucky with Rage, but sending Shark into the centre was probably a dumb idea. Greyscales probably should have held onto the ball at the end of Turn 2, and I should’ve given Siren three influence for Seduce in Turn 2 too. Hopefully next week I’ll be able to put on a better showing and have a closer game.

 

 

Guild Ball – Fish (Shark) V Fish (Corsair)

I ended up playing X-Wing last week, so there was no game, but this week it was back to Guild Ball.

Line Up

Me: Greyscales, Siren, Salt (msct), Shark (cpt), Jac, Angel

Elly: Sakana, Hag, Veteran Siren, Corsair (cpt), Tentacles (msct), Greyscales

Match Report

I won the roll off and elected to kick. Siren was my kick off choice again and put the ball just over the line to the right. Influence went four to Siren, six Shark, and one a piece Angel, Greyscales, and Jac. I forget Elly’s allocations, but Corsair received a full stack.

Elly’s Greyscales went first, moving up and taking the ball, before passing back to Vet Siren and hitting decoy. I moved Siren up, hit seduce on Vet Siren, took a momentous dodge off the successful pass and passed the ball back to Jac. Hag activated, moved up, and hit her legendary to dodge Elly’s team up. Jac then moved up and passed to Angel. Corsair was next and he charged into Siren. I went defensive stance, but it didn’t do much. Siren was knocked down and stomped into the ground with ease in the following attacks. Me 0 v Elly 2. Angel moved up into cover and passed back to Shark. Veteran Siren then moved into the middle of Hag, Corsair, and Tentacles (who she brought along) and put up dread gaze.

I then went to make my Shark play, but no direction looked good. I ended up trying to go through Corsair, who counterattacked and tackled the ball off me. I was able to get it back, but by this point had spent four influence and there was no way to get through to take a shot. I attacked again for more momentum, then passed to Angel who used a momentous dodge to move up. The final moves were pretty dull, with Sakana and my Greyscales moving up but otherwise doing nothing exciting.

I won the roll off for turn two thanks to having more momentum and went first. Siren came back on in front my goal and I assigned six to Shark, four Angel, two Greyscales, and one to Jac. Corsair again received a full stack, plus some to Elly’s Greyscales, Vet Siren, Hag, and Sakana. I activated Angel, charged Tentacles, hit a momentous push dodge that I was able to use to neuter Tentacles counter attack, then hit Super Shot and kicked through Greyscales in melee range, nailing my first goal. Me 4 v Elly 2. I played Knee Slider off it and dodged Angel up and into tap in range of the goal for Snap Shot purposes. Elly played Super Fan to put the ball on Vet Siren, then moved Corsair into Shark, bringing Tentacles along with him. Shark was knocked down and pummelled – ending with on 3 hp left. But 3 hp was more than enough. I used momentum to stand up, jogged around Corsair (keeping Tentacles in melee range). At this point I should have used my legendary, instead I hit Tidal surge into Vet Siren and Greyscales then used my legendary – which fell just short of Sakana (I knew it’d be the case, that’s why I intended to use it before Tidal Surge but forgot). I tackled the ball off Vet Siren, attacked again for a momentous 1” dodge, then shot and scored my second. Me 8 v Elly 2.

I think the ball came back in and snapped to Hag. Elly then activated his Greyscales and went in on Shark, but poor rolls meant he still couldn’t finish him off. I moved Jac into Corsair and brought Salt along too, and a bad roll netted me one momentum. Elly turned Vet Siren who went in on Shark and finished him off. Me 8 v Elly 4. I moved Greyscales up into Sakana, but failed to do much and had Sakana dodge out of reach in response. I used my last influence on him to Where’d He Go? up further. Hag then got the ball to Sakana, I shifted Siren up a bit, before Sakana jogged up and made an easy shot on goal. Me 8 v Elly 8. I put the ball back in far up on the left – in a great spot for both my Greyscales and Hag (with Shark to run on too) and the game was on.

Elly won the roll off and elected to go first. Sakana received a couple and Corsair the critical amount of four. Meanwhile I jogged Shark on the left side onto fast ground. Influence went six Shark, four Greyscales, one Angel, and three Siren. Hag was up first and dodged around to the ball and then kicked it off the pitch – which I did not see coming. The ball scattered back in and snapped to Corsair. I knew what to do and activated Siren, who successfully Seduced Corsair to pass to Greyscales, who took a momentous dodge to the left. Corsair was next and moved out of melee with Salt and Jac, taking two damage for his trouble. He tried to hit Rough Seas on Greyscales, but failed. He then hit a Drag on Greyscales, but he was out of influence and unable to try take the ball off me. Elly also had no momentum. Greyscales attacked twice for two momentous dodges, hit Where’d He Go?, jogged up into tap in range, and bonus timed to nail just not a goal, but a Screamer. Me 12 v Elly 8.

Aftermath

My two mistakes for the game were not taking a momentous dodge with Shark after receiving the pass in the first turn (which probably turned out for the best because it allowed for a two goal turn two), and forgetting to hit my legendary at Tentacles (which would have ranged Sakana and might have prevented Elly’s goal – it may not have though). Going into the last turn I knew I was in the better position. Elly was always going to need two activations to score, while I had both Shark and Greyscales around the ball and a momentum to start off with. Had Corsair received five or even six influence, things would have been different. Chances are he’d take the ball from Greyscales, then I’d need to spend two attacks just to get it back (in addition to perhaps needing one momentum to stand up or forfeiting my move). It was a close game though, could have gone either way, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

 

Guild Ball – Fish (Shark) V Hunters (Theron)

Weekly Thursday game, Fish (Shark) v Hunters (Theron)

Line-up

Me: Greyscales, Salt (msct), Siren, Shark (cpt), Jac, Angel

Campbell (of Double Dodge): Jaecar, Theron (cpt), Vet Hearne, Zerola, Chaska, Fahad (msct)

Match Report

Cam won the roll off and elected to receive. I decided to kick off with Siren, the ball landing about 2” over the half way line on the right in front Chaska and Fahad.

I went with four influence for Siren, six Shark, and one a piece for the rest of the team. All the Hunters were assigned influence, but I forget the allocations. Fahad went first, moving up to pick up the ball and back to the deployment line to drop it off. I then moved up Jac into cover on the right. Vet Hearne charged Siren, knocking her down and doing 1 damage. I moved Salt up into Vet Hearne, before Zerola had Chaska jogging up the pitch setting up a possible charge on Siren, but also great pinball for Shark. I decided to take the opportunity and charged Vet Hearne, triggered Tidal Surge into Chaska, then a momentous dodge, then another off Zerola to pick up the ball, a third to bounce back for an uncontested shot, then nailed my first goal. Me 4 v Cam 0. I threw down Knee Slider and moved Shark back to block off the Chaska charge route to Siren. Cam used Superfan to put the ball with Jaecar.

Unfortunately this put me in a position where Theron could charge Shark, and he did so. Theron knocked Shark around, applying a snare and pushing him around for Chaska. Greyscales moved next, jogging up and hitting Where’d He Go? to engage Vet Hearne. Jaecar made his move, throwing out a trap near Greyscales and jogging up, leaving the ball on the deployment line. I decided to stand up Siren, forfeiting her movement, and used her to generate three momentum. Chaska then laid into Shark, knocking him down and reducing him to 10hp. My final move was to sprint Angel up to within 4” of Shark.

Cam was up one momentum on me, and subsequently won the roll off and elected to go first. I forget the allocations, but Theron received a full six and Fahad two. I went with four Greyscales, Jac, and Angel, and three on Siren. Fahad was up first, charging into Shark, taking him out in two attacks easily and dodging around to engage Angel. Me 4 v Cam 2. Cam also played Man Marking for an extra two influence. He also triggered the linked activation with Zerola, who grabbed the ball and jogged off to the back right, taking the ball out of range for me to grab this turn.  I decided to charge Jac into Chaska, knocking him down and pushing him about. Jaecar then sprinted around Greyscales, taking a parting blow and some damage, before laying into Siren, who was left on 3hp and knocked down.

I wasn’t sure what to do next, but figured this wasn’t going to be my turn so I best set myself up for next. I activated Angel and struck out at Fahad, missing everything on my first attack. My second attack was all hits however and I hit momentous double dodge, then sprinted just short of Zerola (not wanting to trigger Unpredictable Movement) and activated Nimble. Theron went next, finishing off Siren and turning on Jac who was snared and took minor damage. Me 4 v Cam 4.

I ran Salt around Vet Hearne to trigger the trap next to Greyscales before Vet Hearne moved in to join the gang up on Jac, who took a little more damage. Greyscales made his way up the pitch into cover on the left, clearing conditions on Jac but discarding his last influence. Finally, Chaska stood up and used Boom Box twice (from a blessing) to knock Jac back a total of 8”.

Cam was well ahead in momentum and was first up again. I brought Shark back on the right side and Siren in front my goal. Influence for me went six to Shark, four Angel, two Greyscales, one Jac and Siren. Chaska was up first, charging Jac and pushing him back two, before hitting Boombox and sending him off the table. Me 4 v Cam 6. I was ok with this play however because it allowed Angel to sprint around Zerola into Tap In range, grabbing the ball on the way, Super Shot, then easily score goal number two. Me 8 v Cam 6. The ball came back in into space between Greyscales, Jaecar, and the scrum to the right. Scatter was favourable to me and put Greyscales in a goal scoring position. This forced Cam to activate Vet Hearne to grab the ball and pass to Jaecar – which he missed. His original scatter would have allowed Jaecar to snap the ball, but I played Match Fixing and instead it ended up heading the same direction, but much further, snapping to Fahad instead.

With eyes on the prize I activated Shark. He charged Fahad who went defensive stance. I scored a momentous dodge, second attack netted the tackle, two more attacks (one Fahad, one Chaska) for another two momentous dodges, hit his legendary (in the event my dice went bad), then a clear pass to Angel, who then nailed a bonus timed snap shot (with Super Shot this was a six dice kick needing two 3s) to score goal number three. Match over, Me 12 v Cam 6.

Aftermath

Kicking off with Siren is something I’ve wanted to try for a while now. I think I shouldn’t have sent her up as far, but it turned out ok. I possibly should have used Knee Slider to get Shark back more, but that would have meant saying goodbye to Siren turn one. The scrum in the middle was a real mire for me, but after Shark and Siren were taken out in turn two, it allowed me to spread everyone out and cover all sides of the pitch, while Cam was roving around in a pack. Cam’s shanked pass to Jaecar was a real boon to me, but even he’d nailed it, chances are he’d be looking at a goal and a take out (Siren again0, with the ball coming back in for Shark to pick up and score with. So tough spot all round for him.

Finally, Jac getting knocked off the pitch was pretty cool too. I like it when things get knocked off the pitch, even my own.

I’m hoping to teach the basics of Guild Ball to my youngest brother this weekend, then next Thursday I’ll be back at it again for another match. Till then!

 

 

Guild Ball – Fish (Shark) v Union (Blackheart)

Game from the other Thursday that I hadn’t got around to posting up, Fish v Union. Unfortunately there was no game last week (18 May 2017), but I’ll aim to get this week’s game up more promptly after the fact.

Line-up

Me: Greyscales, Salt (msct), Siren, Shark (cpt), Jac, Angel

Darryl (of Nerdvana Games): Mist, Blackheart, Coin, Snakeskin, Avarisse & Greede, Decimate.

Match Report

I won the roll off and elected to receive. Snakeskin kicked off and scored a poor scatter, so Darryl re-rolled and scored a worse scatter, putting the ball a bit in front of Salt. I went with six influence for Shark, four for Angel, and one a piece for everyone else. Salt activated first, collected the ball and passed to Siren. This was a big mistake, because Snakeskin then activated, charged Siren, tackled the ball, threw up clone, and dodged, then scored. Me 0 v Darryl 4. Snakeskin then repositioned into cover.

Ikicked the ball back in just in front Siren and used her to collect and pass to Shark. Decimate then moved up the pitch. Shark then put Quick Foot on Angel, used Tidal Surge on her, then moved up and passed to Angel, who took a momentous dodge 4” up. Coin threw up a token and jogged around a bit, nothing exciting, before Angel made her play. She sprinted up the right side of the pitch, hit Nimble, Supershot, and kicked on goal with five dice. And missed. The ball failed to scatter passed the goal, allowing Blackheart to collect and pass it back and forth between himself and Avarisse. Or he would have, had Avarisse not failed his kick, scattering the ball into space near the centre of the pitch.

Things were not going well and I could tell this was going to be a quick game, but there had to be something cool I could do. And you better believe there was. Snakeskin was a little over the goal line. I activated Jac, hit Ramming Speed, jogged him into Snakeskin to push her back towards the board edge, then used Jac’s heroic (for the first time ever). A further 4” push put her off the board and Taken Out. Me 2 v Darryl 4.

Next came Avarisse & Greede who powered up the pitch. Greede lept off Avarisse and worked his way through Siren with the ball. He couldn’t get out of both Siren and Jac’s range, but even with the -1 kick for being in Jac’s melee range he easily scored. Me 2 v Darryl 8. The ball came in and Greyscales collected it, before Mist made his way up the pitch.

Turn two and I won the roll off and, stupidly, decided to go second. I forgot Mist had 2” melee. Also tackle on the first column. Also that Greyscales has 17” goal threat range. The influence assignment really doesn’t matter. Mist went first, charged Greyscales, nabbed the ball and dodged, and made an easy shot on goal. Match over, Me 2 v Darryl 12.

Aftermath

It was a very quick game in which I made several mistakes. Passing to Siren: poor choice. Not going first in the second turn: another poor choice. Angel failing a 5 dice kick: the worst luck. I certainly didn’t bring my A game to the table, so hopefully I can be more focused this week!

 

Making a Guild Ball Pitch

Last week I finished off my Guild Ball pitch.

The Pitch

I hit up Bunnings for supplies for this project. A sheet of MDF, 1830x915x3mm cut in half to form two 915mm squares, a sheet of XPS 1200x600x30mm (I had a second sheet at home), some non-slip rubbing matting material (roughly 900mm square), and some duct tape.

I glued my two sheets of XPS on to one of the pieces of MDF. After it had dried, I clamped the second square of MDF on to form some sort of MDF XPS sandwich. I then cut the excess off with a knife, before using my hot wire cutter to bring it right back to the edge and make it nice and neat.

Some wood putty was required to fill the join where the XPS sheets met, and as it turned out I didn’t fill the slight dip in that section quite enough. I then glued sand on the XPS surface and sealed with PVA.

Next up I painted the play surface. A heavy coat of dark brown, followed by a light coat of a lighter brown, then a dry brush off off/bone white.

I mixed up some flock (light, dark, and mid green in a ratio of 1:1:2) and glued that on to the play surface, again sealing with PVA. I mucked up the sealing and didn’t cover the whole surface sufficiently, so I had to redo.

The play surface has a nice variety of green, with some dirt and sand looking spots too. I like how they add variety. Next I used a stencil of the Guild Ball logo I made (Photoshopped to get the right size, printed, glued to cardstock, then cut out with a scalpel – I’ve included the templates at the end of this post) and sponged it on in white. I probably went a little heavy and I had to touch up the flock to mark out the G, but it came out alright. Next I lay out the pitch markings with masking tape and brushed them on in white. Finally I used another template to do fancy goal markings (I knocked up a half template in Photoshop).

For the final touches I taped around the edges with the duct tape. I made cuts at the corners to fold and stick the excess to the underside of the pitch. Finally, I covered the back in PVA and glued on my anti-slip rubber matting material.

I’m pretty pleased with the finished product. I think it really pops from the table (which was the aim), and the non-slip matting means I don’t have to place a tablecloth on my kitchen table to protect it when setting the board up, in addition to the pitch not sliding around when bumped.

The above templates will give you a Guild Ball logo and half a goal line marking. Each are 150mm square. When using the half goal marking, remember to ensure the surface of the stencil is dry before flipping it to do the other half of the goal marking!

Guild Ball – Fish (Shark) V Alchemists (Smoke)

Thursday night game at Harlequin Halls, tonight’s match: Fish V Alchemists.

Line-up

Me: Greyscales, Salt (msct), Siren, Shark (cpt), Jac, Angel.

Michael: Mercury, Naja (msct), Venin, Smoke (cpt), Compound, Calculus

Match Report

Michael won the roll off and elected to kick. I can’t recall who kicked, but passing his kick test and re-rolling the scatter wasn’t enough to stop the ball failing to clear the half way line. Good omens for Fish! I opted to give the ball to Greyscales. I assigned one influence each to Greyscales, Salt, Siren, and Jac, 6 to Shark and 4 to Angel.

Greyscales started, moved up and passed to Salt. The Alchemists did a little movement, then Salt moved up a little and passed to Siren. Compound put up his Foul Odour before Siren moved back and failed to pass to Shark. He was able to snap it any way as it passed through his base. Another Alchemist shifted into the centre of the field, before Shark used Tidal Surge on Angel, moving her up 4”. He then moved up to the centre of the pitch and hit a pass to Angel, who used a momentous dodge to get a further 4” up and just before the halfway line to my right. Shark’s last influence was spent to give Angel Quick Foot. Michael knew what was coming, but didn’t have a lot he could do, so he opted to throw fire at Shark, dealing 2 damage and giving him Burning. Angel was next, sprinting up the pitch, staying out of Compound’s Counter-Charge range, Nimble, Supershot, kick and goal! Me 4 v Michael 0.

Before kicking back in, Michael played the plot card that puts a Vengeance token on a goal kicker when they score. The ball came back in and ended up with Compound. The rest of the turn saw players move towards the centre of the pitch with templates a plenty thrown around. Salt took damage and Burning, Shark took more damage and was Poisoned, Jac and Angel also both became Poisoned.

Turn two and I won the roll off and elected to have the first activation. I went with 6 Shark, 4 Jac, 2 Angel, and one each for Siren and Greyscales. Shark was first and dove right into the enemy line. It was spectacular. A bunch of not much was achieved. I generated 6 momentum, did a bunch of dodging but ultimately moved back because I couldn’t see a way through the line. My last attack applied Gut & Strings to one of the Alchemists (Venin I believe) before I removed Shark’s conditions. This was a mistake, and healing would have been the better choice. The rest of this turn was fairly uneventful. I shifted my players around, Greyscales and Siren moving up, Salt coming over to assist Shark and Jac. Jac got blinded and did close to nothing with his influence, more damage was put out on Shark, Salt, and Jac, including stacking Poison, Burning, and Bleed on the mascot and captain. Angel did nothing. Smoke ended up with the ball after a pass from Compound.

Turn three and I lost the roll off. At this point, shark had 7hp left, Greyscales was threatening the ball big time though. I opted with 4 Greyscales, 4 Shark, 3 Siren, 2 Jac, and none for Siren and Salt. Naja went first and moved in to hit Shark, he failed to do a huge amount though, leaving Shark with 5hp (I think). I decided hitting another goal was more important than making use of Shark’s influence. Greyscales moved and used Where’d He Go? to get in on Smoke, tackled the ball, dodged out, and hit a goal. Me 8 v Michael 0. The ball came back in with a bad scatter in between Smoke and Naja – well within distance for Shark to pull off a move and pick it up. Michael wasn’t going to let that happen, and I believe Calculus came in and took him down. Salt got blasted at about the same point. Me 8 V Michael 3.

Smoke collected the ball in her activation, but Siren Seduced her to pass it to Greyscales. I forgot about my Composure plot card and promptly missed the pass, which would have given me a Snapshot and chance to end the game. The ball scatter passed through Greyscales and he picked it up. Angel did her nothing, then the Alchemists (I forget who) closed on Greyscales, triggering Unpredictable Movement. I used Jac to generate some momentum, but not a huge amount. This was a mistake and I should have charged Mercury who was gearing up for a charge on Greyscales. The charge came, I counter attacked, but he wrapped, tackling the ball and pushing me back 2” and out of melee range.

Turn four and I again lost the roll off. Mercury activated and dropped the ball with Compound before moving off to the centre of the pitch and throwing out a Fire Blast. I stalled with Jac, doing little. I can’t recall the Alchemist’s next move, but I then activated Shark, who’d come on near my goal. I ran him up to Venin, generated some momentum and got him into Tidal Surge range of Angel, shifting her up and into cover. Compound shifted across to his old spot to protect the goal and engage Angel. He also passed to Smoke, who I promptly Seduced with Siren. This time the pass was good, Shark took the ball and momentous dodged into cover. Siren then moved up to engage as many Alchemists as possible (four). Naja ran over to engage Shark. I pulled a Wingbacker charge from Salt on the right to try engage him, but he used Unpredictable Movement to avoid and still have range on Shark. Smoke then dove in to try take the ball back. I counter-attacked and not only did she fail to tackle, I dodged out of her melee.

Turn five and once again I lost the roll. It was all up to Smoke. She was loaded up and she dove in on Shark. He successfully counter-attacked and dodged away with the ball again – this time into cover. She dropped a smoke template, teleported up and wailed on Shark. She couldn’t hit enough successes to steal the ball though. Shark activated, hit her for a momentous 1” dodge, jogged around to Compound, Tidal Surged up to the goal, and tapped it in – just (1, 2, 2, 4). Me 12 V Michael 3.

Aftermath

I think the score belies how intense this game was. Michael really dished out the pain on me. Greyscales and Jac were close to dropping, Siren and Angel had a little bit of damage, and Shark was back on at half health. He just couldn’t keep control of the ball when it wasn’t on Compound. When he tried to get it to Smoke to make a goal play, Siren was there and ready to throw a spanner in the works. All up, a very hard fought and thoroughly enjoyable match.