Painting Update - Guild Ball

My Guild Ball project continues!

I finished Mallet (a fantastic Defensive Midfielder with a 3" attack range during his activation, in a game that normally has 1" or 2" attack ranges) and Honor, the team Captain, who exemplifies the team's ability to play either the scoring or the bashing game without really exceeding in either. She's a great scrapper who becomes very dangerous with the right support, and a decent ball handler who gets better with buffs from her teammates, like Mallet's [+1/+1"] KICK aura. 

Another two members of the Masons team are Flint and Mallet. Flint is the team's striker, and is apparently one of the best (if not the) best striker in the game. With the right buffs, Flint can score from 22" away - a very dangerous ability when the pitched is only 36" in length and width. With the right timing, Honor's Superior Strategy can let Flint go again and potentially score twice in a single turn! I'm interested to get him on the field, as so far Harmony has been my ball handler. She can do a fine job, but I'd like to see Flint take the field and try out his abilities. 

Tower, on the other hand, is definitely a defensive player. He'll work great with Mallet, as Tower gets bonuses when attacking models that have been knocked down. Additionally, he can suffer damage for other models using his Heroic Play (useful for players like Flint or Harmony that have low health, or players that are big targets, like Honor), and he can even force a single model to go last each turn!

So that's it for the original Masons. Hopefully, I'll have the chance to get Chisel, the first of the Masons' second season player. 

Masons vs. Morticians - Guild Ball AAR

Last week I managed to play another game of Guild Ball with Kevyn at Stomping Grounds.

I played my Masons in a 5-on-5 game against Kevin's Morticians. Our teams were:

Masons
Honor
Marbles
Harmony
Mallet
Brick

Morticians
Obulus
Dirge
Cosset
Silence
Ghast

I ended up winning the first dice-off, but decided to kick instead of receive. I wanted to see what it was like starting without the ball. So I gave Mallet the ball, and he sent it flying to the other side of the pitch.

The first turn ended with Mallet attacking Obulus with his huge 3" attack range. Silence ran the ball up the side of the pitch with Dirge.

Honor and Harmony ganged up on Ghast, while Cosset charged Mallet and Silence charged Marbles after being goaded.

The game then saw a big swing towards the Morticians. While Ghast was taken out by the two sisters (netting 2 VP for the Masons), Mallet was knocked out by Cosset, and Silence scored a goal, quickly making it a 6-2 game. I did use a couple Plot Cards to gain extra Influence and put a Vengeance Token on Silence however.

The ball was thrown back in, and Harmony managed to snap up the ball as Honor went after Obulus. Despite needing a single 4+ on four dice, I failed to roll a single success, and so the ball went shooting past the Mortician's goal. Then Harmony was taken out by Obulus, ending the turn with a score of 8-2 in the Mortician's favor.

Hoping to capitalize on Silence's Vengeance Token, I had brought Mallet back in only after a single turn. I quickly realized that this had been a terrible idea, as Silence put the old mason back down into the dirt again, scoring two more VP.

Finally, after surviving an onslaught from Honor, Obulus chased after Marbles (already weakened by an earlier charge from Silence) and put the Mascot down, gaining two more VP and ending the game 12-2.

Ouch - not a great start for the Masons. Although Harmony's terrible kick didn't exactly help, as it sent the ball to the very edge of the pitch, out of easy reach. And I definitely haven't figured out any kind of strategy of kicking the ball instead of receiving it! I think I tried too hard in the bashing side of the game, especially wasting a bunch of Influence and time having Honor and Harmony beat down Ghast. And the benefits from the Guild Plot cards certainly didn't outweigh the loss of giving the Mortician's the first goal.

Well, I've got Flint and Tower arriving soon, and Chisel following shortly afterward. So I'll be able to play full games, and will even have options to switch players in and out.

Update: I wanted to add a little more to this post. This past weekend, I played another 5v5 game against the Brewers, and ended up winning 12-0. I got the chance to see exactly how the Masons work, with player synergies helping each other. Honor and Harmony were the MVPs, with Harmony scoring two goals (even though she missed another), and Honor knocking out the Brewer's captain. Even Brick got his moment in the spotlight, when he stopped Stave (the Brewer's big guy) from getting off his knock-down AoE by attacking with his counter-charge ability. So, when the Masons work, they really work!

Painting Update - Kings of War, Guild Ball

Although I did play another demo game of Guild Ball this past weekend, I didn't get the chance to take any pictures, so here's a hobby update for this week. 

I'm stilling working away on my Kings of Men army. I managed to get a Cannon and a troop of Mounted Scouts (with pistols) finished.

Next up is the three troops of Arquebusiers. Two of those were already based, which meant I had to forcibly remove them from their base with clippers, with a few losing either a part of or the entirety of their feet in the process. This is especially frustrating because I have some forty-five other infantry models that are already based like this, and will have to be de-based as well.

If you've got any advice for me, leave a comment! From what I've learned, apparently leaving them in the freezer overnight may help make the glue more brittle, and so it might snap off easier. It's worth a try. Hopefully.

And speaking of Kings of War, with the arrival of a second Empire Battalion, five more outriders and thirty State troops (that'll be assembled as Halberdiers into two regiments of Pole-Arms), I've finally got everything I need to reach a 2000-point list! I'm aiming to have the whole army done by the new year.

I decided to go with the Masons for Guild Ball - I liked the look of the team along with their overall playstyle (which favors a balanced approached to the game with lots of synergy). Above is the ball included in the starter box, a goal post made from one of the role markers that came with the first edition of the Game of Thrones LCG (that I sold the cards and tokens for, but apparently not the markers), and Marbles, the Mason's team mascot.

As for actual players, I finished Brick and Harmony. Brick is currently the only in-faction "Big Guy" (i.e., model on a 40mm base) who seems to be more defensively orientated. Harmony, on the other hand, is much more offensive based, and is best paired with her sister, Honor, who is the Mason's Captain.

Apart from these finished models, I've got Honor and Mallet to paint, along with Flint, Tower, and Chisel (all of whom I should be picking up this weekend). That'll give me the full sweep of the currently available Masons to work with.

Not shown are the Strange Aeons miniatures who are getting their bases down. I'll work on them when I get tired of painting the KoW miniatures.

Sail the Spooky Seas - Sails of Glory AAR

Last Saturday was supposed to have been one of Bob's big games (Halloween-themed, appropriately), but last minutes problems came up and the event was unfortunately cancelled. Not having anything else to do, (other) Bob suggested we play Sails of Glory. 

The scenario was a simple "line up and fight" game, with my ship-of-the-line Genereux and frigate Unite against Bob's ship-of-the-line Terpsichore and frigate Defence.

The first few turns saw us maneuvering closer together. I was lucky in that I had the wind in my favor, although I made the mistake of assuming that Sails of Glory measures movement from front to front like most other wargames. This turned out not to be the case, and so for the first couple turns I was moving slower than I should have been! This was quickly corrected.

Maneuvering continued. Bob's ships were forced to sail into the wind, slowing their progress. My ships, however, had the wind angled right into their sails, and they plowed through the waves.

When the ships finally closed, their cannons boomed, with wood and men both flying apart, cut into tiny pieces. The Defence, caught between the Genereux and the Unite (which had started the game loaded with double-shot) was quickly shattered and sunk below the waves.

The Terpsichore came to a full stop and began to reverse, as the Genereux and Unite turned. Crews on both sides scrambled to reload their cannons.

Thanks to some poor planning on my part, the Genereux found itself out of the fight, and would spend the rest of the game trying to turn with poor sails and even poorer wind.

Meanwhile, I had sent the Unite after the Terpsichore. I fully expected this to be a suicide run, as even with the damage that had been done to the British ship from the Genereux, I didn't think the Unite's small armament could do much damage. What the frigate could do, however, is do enough damage that the Genereux could come in and finish the fight.

Events turned out a bit different, however. The British ship-of-the-line and the French frigate came close enough that muskets and swords were readied, and the resulting musketry and boarding action left both ships weakened.

As I had expected the Unite to go down after getting into close range, I had ordered for grapeshot to be loaded into the cannons. Now that the two ships were no longer touching, I fired a broadside into the Terpsichore's decks, along with musket fire from what crew remained on the Unite. This last volley was enough to disable enough of the British ship's crew that it could no longer fight. Victory to the French! 

As Bob and I discussed afterwards, Sails of Glory does have its share of problems. Most of that comes from how complicated the game is in some areas (like orders) and how simple it is in other (like movement). It's definitely a game that becomes challenging to run if each player has more than a couple ships under their control. I prefer it the way it was played in my first experience with the game - a large event game with each player controlling their ship. 

But that doesn't mean it can't make for a fun game, and I'm glad Bob decided to bring it out as a replacement. 

As an aside, we also discussed a set of rules Bob is working on to make use of his Dreadfleet models. They sound interesting, using playing cards for movement, activation, and attacking. Hopefully we'll get a chance to play in the future. 

"Friendly" Scrimmage - Guild Ball AAR

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, one of the games that several people are trying to push for in the local scene is Guild Ball. It certainly looks interesting - designed by high-level Warmachine players, and straddling the line between sports game and skirmish game.

Last night, Sean (one of the players in the ill-fated Blood Bowl league I tried running) and I were given a demo by Tom and Keyvn, two of the major backers for the game in the area. 

Since this was a demo game with cut down rules, Sean and I only had three players each

Kevyn brought an absolutely stunning play mat, and was also showing off his resin Alchemist team. 

Since this was a demo game with cut down rules, Sean and I only had three players each with cards that weren't as detailed as the standard versions. I chose the Butchers Guild (with Brisket, Ox, and Boiler), and Sean had the Fishermen Guild (with Siren, Angel, and Shark). 

I tried taking pictures after every turn, but with Sean and I focused on learning the game, and with Tom and Kevyn answering all of our questions and giving advice, the results are a little sparse.

After a dice off, I had won initiative (and would continue to do so for the rest of the game) and elected to receive the ball. I then apparently channeled some kind of inner connection with the Butchers, as I then proceeded to ignore the ball and focus on hitting the Fishermen.

Sean's team proved to be as slippery and quick as advertised, and I was forced to give Broiler the ball, instead of Brisket (who is the Butchers' best ball-handler).

Brisket was engaged by Siren, and Ox charged into Shark, and Broiler was left alone for the moment as Angel had been forced to retreat after taking a severe beating.

This gave Broiler the chance to pass to Brisket. Shark, however, dodged away from Ox (who ran after him, but ended up just out of reach) and engaged Brisket as well, tackling her and taking the ball away.

Brisket responded by tackling Shark during her activation, getting the ball back.

During the next turn, I loaded Brisket up with Influence (the resource that models in Guild Ball both generate and use to make actions). She dodged around Shark, activated her Super Shot ability, and scored, earning me 4 Victory Points.

I then learned how insane the Fisherman's passing game can be. Once a team scores, the ball is thrown up to 10" back into the field from the goal zone in a direction of the goal-owning player's choice. Sean had set up his team so that Siren received the ball, passed it to Angel, who then shot and scored a goal! In just a couple activations, it was a tied game. 

In doing so, however, Sean had left Shark in the middle of a Butcher scrum, and the Fishermen Captain was quickly knocked out. That earned me another two Victory Points for a total of six - enough to end the demo game. 

If I'm honest, I was pretty much hooked about a third of the way through the demo. The game is fairly complex, but no more so than what I remember having to deal with when I played the first version of Malifaux years ago. My Influence management was poor until the very end, but it was a learning game, and I did start to get the hang of it. 

Tom gave me some paper cut-outs for the Masons (apparently a very balanced team), and I want to try the full version of the Butchers as well before deciding to put down money for these (relatively expensive) miniatures.