Another cog in the wheel! (Guild Ball)

3...2...1...and I am back!

Welcome one and all. This Saturday just gone, our local pundit Rob (@derby_malal) was running a tournament at my FLGS - Phoenix Games, Stourbridge. I was down to play my first tournament and it would be safe to say that I was quite looking forward to it! I even made a goal to enter the competition (because i wasn't going to win the whole thing).

Unfortunately, the dream of having a Saturday when I didn't have a game of a sporting nature was short lived as I got called up for sporting duties meaning that I couldn't make the tournament! Not particularly a great shame, as I wouldn't have offered much in the way of resistance when playing what, in truth, are some very good players! There was a sizeable waiting list willing to take my place and I'm happy that someone managed to put up more of a fight than I would have!

Despite not being able to make the tournament, I did get a 'tournament style' game in. I hoped that I could have fit two games in - One tourney prep and one of my big league fixtures but unfortunately, the big league game suffered so I had to settled for one game with the fixture for the big league being rearranged for next week!

So, into the game - I was trying something completely new - Engineers! There's something about a crossbow wielding captain that just makes it all seem fun. People have said that he wouldn't fit my playstyle but in truth, I don't have a playstyle - I play everyone equally badly!

Admittedly, I'm not a fan of all the Engineer models but I'm certainly a fan of the captain; Ballista and Salvo (another crossbow wielding maniac). What's my playstyle? Shoot them... shoot them hard! I got a game against Si (@irons1de) using the tournament clock - something I've never used before and in the end it proved costly! Disclaimer: This is the first time we have both played on the clock and the first time I played with Engineers - mistakes may have and were made! Don't beat on me too hard, it's not the fact I'm doing it intentionally, I'm just shit!

Here are the teams:

 I went for: Ballista, Velocity, Salvo, Mainspring (yes, he looks like a snake but it's just a clever ruse!), Gutter and Rage.
You may have heard this being talked about on a recent podcast when the US Champ was talkinga bout a build which suited his meta and after listening to it, I thought it would be fun to try!
The simple idea is - move them! This team has the potential to push out unwanted players and drag in those who are weak!

Si has taken a standard Union list - Blackheart, Rage, Gutter, Mist, Coin, Averisse and Greede. So he's looking for out activations and use Rage, Gutter and Blackheart to smash face together.

We deal our cards and I get:

I select:

I tend to go for a more defensive style of card because I guess I know I'm going to get beat on. One day I'll actually go for a more offensive set of cards (and I might actually read them so I know what I'm doing).

On to the game -
Si win the roll off and elects to recieve. I set up pairing Ballista and Rage together so Ballista can benefit from Tooled Up when he unleashes that crossbow shot! Gutter stays in the middle in order to control space and Velocity, Salvo and Mainspring bunch together in order to play football up the right flank.

 Seeing my set up, Si puts Averisse on the left hand side to counter my footballing intentions with Coin, Blackheart, Gutter and Rage in the middle with the intention of clogging up the middle of the board for Mist to come around the outside and get the ball. Now, I'm not entirely sure why Mist is on the right hand side (left if you look at it) because my set up has the ball on the right (his left).

With Velocity, I come forward and kick to place the ball at the very edge of the terrain on the left flank so a slow moving Averisse is probably not going to get there before Velocity!

 As the first turn progresses and the clock runs, Si moves his threats into the middle of the board. It's my intention to play on the right hand flank and get the ball moving!
Gutter pulls Blackheart in in order to get him in range of Ballista who promptly knocks him down and causes 4 damage (using Rage's Tooled Up ability).

 When Mist comes in, she hits Gutter and bounces out again!

 Next turn, Mist bounces across the board to 'relieve' the ball from Salvo and saunters down the board. The 'Super Smash Crew' get involved into Rage and Gutter - Gutter moves out in order not to take a beating!

 As the battle in the middle rages on (see what I did there!), Mist continues down the flank, popping smoke in order to bounce quicker!

 Ballista stays back and lays down some heavy firepower on Blackheart, Gutter and Rage - making them use activations get up and move out of his range!

 Averisse (slowly) comes towards Ballista... but gets knocked down!

 Rage goes down to a heavy beating - 0-2!

 Velocity dashes over to Mist, tackles the ball off him and gets it up to Salvo! Mist however, isn't done! His activation moves him up the board to Salvo and pushes him off!

 0-4! Not a good start!

 Rage and Salvo come back on as Velocity gets towards Mist and tackles him...again. Trying to get away, Velocity gets held up by Blackheart and Mist...

 Averisse moves towards Mainspring and deals enough for it to blow up! 0-6!

 Ballista and Gutter turn their attention to the middle of the board. Already low on wounds, Ballista deals with Rage, then puts in the finishing wounds into Gutter. 4-6!

 Velocity does get away from Rage and Blackheart but eventually the dash for the corner is too late! They catch up and finally push it off! 4-8!

 A team united, the Engineers clean up! Coin and Mist go down! 8-8!
Averisse finally bites the bullet after being down by Gutter - 10-8! I feel that the favour has fully swung in my favour. Ballista and Salvo get Greede down to 1 wound.
Here's the problem... I've run out of time! So every activation now costs me a VP!
...
10-9...
10-10...
Into the final turn... every activation counts. I win the roll off and activate Ballista. I can win in this activation. I'm within range of hitting Greede with two of my character plays. It would go to 11-10 if I didn't hit...
Right, here we go... 2 dice - 5s to hit... double 1. Not a problem, next play... 3 and 2!
Rage takes his charge into my Rage, doesn't cause enough damage so it gets back to me!
This is the part of the story where it got tense. Salvo had to go. His ranged attack was just in after moving and he had one shot to bring Greede down or it would be a 12-10 loss...
He shoots...

He misses!

The game was lost 12-10 in the most awkward of fashion. For me, this was a really disappointing way to finish a game. The system of losing a VP every time you activate is very frustrating, particuarly when turns don't take long! Nevertheless, that is the nature of the game. Si played well and he has learnt a lot since our first game about a month ago in the Big League. He's getting the hang of the Union and understands their character plays and tactics better. A very interesting game and plenty to think about.

Lessons Learnt
- Engineers are best kept together.
- Gutter can be kept wide in order to draw key players away from the centre.
- Don't be afraid to walk Ballista up the board and take down models near to Velocity.
- Protect Velocity more. Nimble is good but she is better on the flank however with the threat of getting pushed off the board, it needs some protection in order to stop that from happening.
- Identify a threat and take that target out - one at a time. Engineers' access to pushes is actually quite good so they have the ability to clear channels on the board.
- Play ball! Passing ability between Salvo and Velocity is quite good, so their ability to generate momentum sets you in good stead for the turn!

Well, a different type of game to ones that I am used to. It was quite an exciting game and a really interesting challenge! I look forward to playing them again in another game! Hopefully with a better result!

Thanks for reading!
I'll see you soon!

@geekphotoguy

Winter is...Fast Approaching (Guild Ball)

It's fair to say that there are a lot of interesting and innovative models out and about across all ranges of miniatures and there are some amazing designs. Today, I am focusing on the Hunters Guild - the newest team to take to the pitch. They took my eye straight away but at the time of release, I wasn't particularly interested in Guild Ball and just had my Kickstater teams in a dusty case! Now, is a different story!
Now... oh, now - I've got them (most of them... anyway). I haven't got 'The Bear' yet due to the fact - I couldn't afford it at the time I got everything else and he seems fairly straightforward to play, so I wanted to get to grips with the faction first before I get/use him. I don't like leaving factions unfinished in any system, so he is on the radar!

So the team got built and I went for a bit of creative basing - simply because I hadn't seen anyone do it before! If it doesn't matter that a model protrudes the base, then let's get some trees on it!
I loved the idea of the Hunter's coming from the tree tops, almost Robin Hood Esque. I've seen a lot of excellent basing ideas from others who have painted the Hunters with snow or grass tufts. I really liked the idea of snow, particularly settling in trees/on branches.
Those who read this blog regularly or know me, know I that I can't really paint - I can if I sit down and try hard - like 'Disney make a wish on a shooting star' hard but that doesn't happen very often and it's easier to outsource painting to someone else who does it as part of his job. So, Steve (@furryjamhats) is my commission painter who does all of my Malifaux and 40k bits and bobs. I've shown you some of his work before and he does a very good job at getting my models painted! I have to feel sorry for him slightly as he currently has my Age of Sigmar army to paint - 100 Spider Riders, 3 Araknaroks, 3 Rock Lobbas, 1 Warboss of Spider, 1 Warboss on Giant Squig! Sorry... not sorry!

Anyway,

The finished result - very autumnal! The next step - SNOW! After all, Winter is Fast Approaching!

These are some good shots of highlighting the snow but it was about 12am when I finished the snow on the bases, so I look some lighter ones!

You may be sitting there thinking: 'Oh, they're cool but... why the orange ball?' If you like/play football (soccer to our beloved bretheren) then in the 'Ye Olde Olden Days of Ye' when REAL MEN PLAYED IN THE SNOW (not angry just upset) the ball was a bright orange so it could be seen! I thought that this would be better for the Hunters' Guild in my world because the North is grim and full of snowbears!

Anyway, that's all I've got for you in this post. I managed to play a warm up tournament game again Si (@irons1de) on Thursday which I'll put up in another post soon. I will say that I used something slightly different to what I've used before!

Thanks for reading,
I'll see you soon!

@geekphotoguy

Something's a-brewing! (Guild Ball)

And, we are back!





So, we are in to Round 4 of the Guild Ball Big League at Phoenix Games and it is getting instense! The fight for the bottom of the league is heating up and it's a crunch week!

Current Results 
Round 1: Si (@irons1de) 8 - Me 12 (Union)
Round 2: BYE
Round 3: Jimmy (@jimmygstar) 12 - Me 0 (Union)
Round 4: Archie (Brewers)

This week I take on Archie and his Brewers in what is set to be a battle for the Wooden Spoon! Conversations have been flying about regarding the bottom of the league teams (Archie, Si and I) and we have decided to create a 'sub-team', a franchise if you will. Like The Dudley Boyz or Generation X (I stopped watching wrestling a long time ago, okay?! Give it a rest!).
We've decided to go for...

Reflects our current situations!

Anyway, Archie has so far played against: Steve (Brewers), Si (Union) and has had a bye last week!
Like a lot of the people in the league, Archie is a proper sound bloke! He's been around miniature gaming for many years and is a pretty good painting to boot! He's the kind of guy that enjoys his games and has a laugh whilst doing it!

The Team
What do I expect Archie to take? Well, there are 4 staple players I would expect for him to include in his team and two others which could be an interchangeable depending on what he thinks at the time.

Who are these mystery players?
Let's start with the captain - Tapper.

Solid player who is a great support piece. For the third game in this league, here is a player with Commanding Aura so players will look to be in and around him (4") - into the brawl! Marked Target is also a fantastic tool in order to take down models.
No Legendary Play here but having an heroic which gives 2 infludence between friendly guild models that can pull off every turn is very useful, particularly when you need to reallocate quickly to react.
With cheap access to KD's (momentus too!) he is a bit of a beast. Oh, and a 2" melee zone!
The way to combat him? Play around him. He is tough to take down but I have a feeling he will be in the centre of board trying to clog up the middle.

Next, the cat...

 Those who know GB know that the cat is a must kill! He provides additional infudence for Tapper (on Tapper's card) and he's a little bitch! I suspect he will be near the goal so getting to him will be difficult but essentially if he's not close to Tapper, he won't cause too many problems... for now!

Now on to...

Big Hooper! The model with a big stick! His heroic play makes wrap arounds very easy. Hooper is really more of a support piece, pushing models into a postion in order for others to wail on them. Shove the Boot in is another ability which should not be underestimated - like they say: 'Every little helps!' Like Tapper, Hooper has Tough Hide, reducing the damage of each result by 1. This, coupled with ARM 1, makes him a tough model to bring down!

Finally, the final part of the Fantastic Four (for the Brewers), our girl:

 

Friday! See what I did there?! Best striker in the Brewers faction! Armed with a dangerous 3/8" kick and ARM 1, she is a real threat. Another model here with an Heroic play. This one give her +1/+2" kick AND +1 DEF against parting blows! I don't really see her as a melee monster but a momentus tackle on 1 playbook result and 'Dirty Knives' ability makes her another excellent tool in the Brewing Machine. 

Looking at the back of her card, a 2" dodge to start her activation and gaining extra DEF whilst involved with Spigot is just excellent! 

There are the 4 which are certainties. What other two may he include? Well, I think Spigot is a choice which you would be foolish not to in this build!

Despite being a defensive midfielder, he's got access to a cheap tackle (momentus), a heroic play - giving additional movement when starting activation within a 4" aura, making Friday a 8"/10" player without anything else! 

Tooled up, again another amazing ability. He is another utility player which adds the topping to a well lubricated machine!

Finally, the final, final choice... 

Mash! The monster, Mash! I know - I'm just full of puns today! With the potential to go into a 4/8" kick, Mash is another threat which should not be taken lightly. However, a 2" melee range makes him a better piece which can support through denying channels due to his lack of mobility. His Long Bomb for 1 INF makes him seem more like a midfielder or an opportunistic striker (like Bonesaw in the Morticians). I feel this is better with Esters, giving him better ARM but unpredictable movement is just incredible action in order to get moving further up the pitch. We've seen with Obulus how good that ability can be!

The Plan!
The plan? Stay the hell away from the centre of the board! I think that both Archie and I will be trying to achieve the same thing - board dominance. Archie will undoubtedly want to smash face and I really don't want that! I don't like getting into a brawl and this week I'm going to try something new - playing football. Something I've not been very successful with before. This will come down to positioning and how well we set up.

Team Selection
How are we going to go about dealing with the Brewers? It seems to me a lot of control should be met with control! Therefore, Obulus would seem an obvious choice in this situation. His ability to control players (particularly those with low DEF) can allow for movement tricks and clearing parts of a board. Obviously Silence and Dirge are auto includes, along with Ghast! This leaves two spaces available.
What I've learnt from the previous games is that scoring for me is an issue. The fact that Scalpel and the kill team scored by going up the board and dodging in and out gave me some heart but I don't feel that using her with Cosset and Scalpel will be of benefit in this game as they are fragile against a team with armour and the ability to smash face.
If I'm looking to play football, there are a number of options. I could look at getting players in on loan for the week - Angel from the Fishermen, for example. Looking deeper and thinking about movement tricks - Zarola's Midnight offering can allow for players to move further up the pitch in order to clear space. Alternatively, Hearne's Heroic Play with a 2" can make him a decent threat in the way of board control.

A potential team would look like this:
- Obulus [C]
- Dirge [M]
- Silence
- Ghast
- Hearne [Loan]
- Graves

Looking in further depth, the final place is still up for grabs but looking at the Brewers' - Momentum is fluid but making Archie remove conditions instead of spending it on Heroic Plays would seem a sensible choice! This make Graves a more potent choice for the team!

That's it from me, for now!
Thursday will be the biggest game since Aston Villa last won a game!

Thanks for reading!

I'll see you soon!

@geekphotoguy