Diesel DM

When approaching Guild Ball for the first time many Warmachine and Hordes players will pick up on the similarities between the two game systems. There are important differences too.  He’s a run down of things you should Warmachine players should know as they begin Guild Ball.

• You can measure anything at any time
• 360-degree Line of Sight, there are no front/back arcs
• Players alternate activating one model at a time
• Successful die rolls based on number of individual dice that separately exceed a Target Number (TN), rather than a total of dice against a TN
  • So you might roll 4d6 looking to beat a TN of 3+, each die with a 3 or higher is a success.
• Game isn’t just about dealing damage and Taking Out models
  • Some guilds, like Butchers, specialize in damage dealing, but it’s dependent on guild/team selection.
• Influence is akin to Focus
  • Each model generates a set amount of Influence at the start of each turn (like Focus on a Warcaster) and it all goes into a combined pool.
  • You can allocate out the Influence like allocating Focus to warjacks, but the allocation limit is set per model (second number on the card under INF).
  • Just like Focus, you can buy as many mêlée attacks as you want using Influence.
  • Influence cannot be used for boosting, however you can spend [1] Momentum to increase the dice-pool by one.

• Movement
  • Movement can occur at any point during a model’s activation, it doesn’t have to be before attacks.
  • There are two MOV numbers on the card: base-move (jog) and max-move (sprint). You can jog free, but sprinting costs [1] Influence.
  • Sprinting doesn’t end a model’s activation.
  • Charging costs [2] Influence, not 1 Focus/Fury
    • A failed charge ends your activation
    • Cannot charge while being engaged
  • Movements comes in two types: Advancing (jog, spring, charge) and Repositioning (dodge, push).
• Attacks
  • Attacks don’t always lead to damage
    • The Playbook on each players card determines the possible results of an attack.
    • Depending on the faction, movement or momentum generation could be better.
  • Passing Blow akin to Free Strikes, +2 TAC when leaving an enemy mêlée range
    • Repositions(Dodges and Pushes) don’t trigger Passing Blows.
  • There is no “default” mêlée range, currently models have 1″, 2″ or 3″ and it’s always listed on the card (back of Season 1 cards, front of Season 2 cards).
  • Taken Out models can return, they are not “dead”.
• Plays
  • Character Plays akin to Spells
    • Use Influence or Playbook results to use.
    • Roll a number of dice equal to the cost in Influence.
    • Sustains last until the end of the current turn, there are no upkeeps that span multiple turns.
  • Legendary Plays akin to Feats
    • No cost to use, once per turn, sustains until end of turn by default.
  • Heroic Plays
    • Cost [1]MP, only use once per turn.
• Team Building
  • Captain akin to Warcaster/Warlock
    • Only one captain per team, has the Legendary play.
    • Is often the most powerful model on the team.
  • Fixed number of models, they don’t have point costs
    • 1 Captain, 1 Mascot and 4 other unique players that work for the same guild as the Captain.
  • Union like Mercenaries
    • Each Union model has a list of guilds they will work for.
    • Can play just Union models as a team using a Union Captain and Mascot.