Diesel DM

Guild Ball is a table-top skirmish game that combines combat with soccer (or football for those outside the U.S.).   Created in the U.K. by Rich Loxam and Mat Hart, Guild Ball launched as a Kickstarter in February 2014, the game miniatures shipped at the start of 2015 and the game began to gather momentum.  More often a game starts to lose momentum once the Kickstarter concludes, but Guild Ball’s initial 890 backers has grown rapidly since the game hit stores. The company, Steamforged Games, has shown a knack for engaging its audience via social media, with Periscope videos of production, Twitter and Facebook accounts and appearing on various tabletop gaming podcasts. While that accounts for part of the sustained growth, the game itself is what leads the way.  Guild Ball is composed of magnificent miniature sculpts, it’s fast to learn and so engaging to play that every demo leads to more fans.

Each release cycle of the game is broken out as a “Season”.  Season 1 was everything that came out of the Kickstarter.  Barely had Season 1 made it to the shelves when Steamforged Games announced Season 2 was beginning.  A new season means more models and an additional guild. Steamforged Games chose not to coast following Season 1, they punched the accelerator and chose to put out more models before the paint had dried on Season 1’s miniatures.

The Game

The game is played between two players, each fielding six models. Of those six models one must be a team captain, one must be a mascot and the remaining four models can be composed of any players that play for the same team as the captain. This allows both players from the same guild and “Union” players who can work for a variety of guilds.  The teams are deployed on a 3’x3′ game board or “pitch” that looks like a small soccer field complete with two 50mm based goals placed 6″ from each end.

A standard game is won by the first player to reach 12 Victory Points (VPs).  You get 4VPs for each goal scored and 2VPs for each player taken out.  Now this is where Guild Ball really comes into its own.  Rather than having an artificial scenario superimposed on a table-top miniatures game, the scenario is the game.  Because the scenario is baked right into the game the win condition can be acquired through a combination of scenario and attrition. Instead of winning by killing one specific model or holding a particular zone/flag/objective, you can combine the two play types together. You might score two goals and take out two players to reach victory. Certainly you can win by scoring three goals or by taking out six players from the other team, but the crux is that you can combine them together.

The Guilds

Just because you can win by scoring goals and taking players out, that doesn’t mean each team will do want to do both. Each team is composed of members from a particular guild (and possibly some mercenary-type Union players).  For Season 1 there are eight guilds, with a ninth announced for Season 2.

• Alchemists
• Brewers
• Butchers
• Engineers
• Fishermen
• Hunters (Season 2)
• Masons
• Morticians
• Union

Each guild has not only a unique aesthetic, but a unique approach to the game. Fishermen are highly mobile and great at scoring goals, whereas Butchers are designed to take players out with goal-scoring an afterthought. Masons are a flexible blend of goal scoring and beat downs. Engineers will manipulate the field and punish their opponent from range. Brewers like to knock the enemy down and punish them on the ground. With 8 distinct choices there’s going to be a play-style and visual appeal for most players looking to enter the game.

Another fascinating part of the Guild Ball design is that each team only needs 6 models to take the field. This means the barrier for introducing an entirely new guild is significantly lower than most table-top games.  In one interview Mat and Rich mentioned they have the ability to add both “breadth and depth” to the game through the guilds.  Breadth meaning more guilds, depth meaning more models for existing guilds.  Speaking of depth, at the end of Season 2 most guilds had access to 7 players and a few Union players.  Season 2 will introduce a new captain and mascot for each team along with a veteran player (an alternate version of a Season 1 model) and a brand new model. So by the end of Season 2 we are looking at 11 players per guild along with even more Union options.

The Miniatures

The miniatures for Guild Ball are very well executed.  There is a decent amount of detail, but it’s not excessive. There tends to be flat open spaces for freehand or to show off your blending skills.  The sculpts vary from sporty dynamic poses to more stoic battlefield poses.  In general the miniatures are metal, though they do release some exclusive resin versions through their online store.  Each comes with a slotted 30, 40 or 50mm round-lip base, just like Warmachine miniatures do.  Each miniature also ships with a card to track stats, abilities and damage.

I have painted three Masons miniatures so far and they have all been a joy to paint.  The fact that you only have to paint six models, each of them unique, to field a fully-painted team adds to the joy of painting.  No painting of 12-man units, no painting the same solo two or three times.  It’s no wonder the official tournament packet recommends fully-painted armies as a requirement.

The Rules

The rules are free. You can download the entire rulebook, fluff and all for free direct from the creators.  If that’s not enough they also provide paper doll miniatures to play with.  Free rules, free game stand-ins, it doesn’t get much easier to try out a game.  Beyond the ease and cost, the rules are tight and fast-paced. Here are some of my rule highlights:

• Alternating model activation: Players activate a single model, then their opponent activates a model.
• Influence: Each model generates a number of influence to a common pool that is allocated at the start of the turn to anyone on the team. These influence are used for sprinting, attacking and making plays. You also need influence to pass the ball or shoot on goal.
• Momentum: During a model activation they may generate momentum through attacking enemy models. These momentum form a second type of resource pool that can be pulled from by any model on your team.  Momentum can be used to give additional movement to models passing or receiving the ball, healing, counter-attacking, taking shots on goals (need one influence and one momentum) and a variety of other tasks.
• Playbook: Attacking another player doesn’t always lead to damage. Successful attacks can yield a number of different results determined by each model’s unique playbook, it might be damage, or it could be movement, stealing the ball (Tackle), moving the other player, knocking them down or doing a character play for free. Playbook results are also the most common way of generating momentum.  Each model (and more generally each guild) is rewarded with momentum for selecting plays that are within that guilds play style.  So Butchers generate momentum from choosing damaging plays, while Fisherman generate momentum from moving themselves or the opponent.
• Movement: The game is very rich in movement. While a model only gets one jog or sprint per activation, the playbook often yields a number of way to increase movement as do other character plays.
• Icy Sponges: If a player is taken out of the game (all their damage boxes have been marked off) that isn’t the end for them.  They are removed from the pitch and each turn accumulate an Icy Sponge which heals the model a pre-determined amount. They can come back in with a few healed boxes after one turn, or wait for a second turn to come back more healed.
• Guild Plots: At the start of the game each player is dealt five cards from a 12 card deck, then they discard two.  The remaining three cards are that players secretGuild Plots which have a requirement and a reward.  When the requirement is met, you gain whatever benefit is listed under the reward. For example “Make a Game of it!” requires that you concede the first goal, in return you gain an additional two influence the next turn.  They don’t break the game, but they can bend it at the right time to help swing the game back your way.

There’s always more to say about a game you’re passionate about, but this provides a nice overview of the game. Stay tuned for more introductory material and painted models entries.  The game is just beginning, it’s an excellent time to jump on board.