You may recall way back in April, Bull invested in a couple of teams for us to start with Guild Ball. They're lovely looking miniatures and the premise seems great – Blood Bowl meets Malifaux. I even got so far as building my starter team but that was not a great experience and then I downloaded the rulebook. Hmmm, my enthusiasm evaporated rather quickly as I found the rulebook not very clear and was more confused after reading it than before.
The summer and autumn seasons have been a hobby-free period as family, building work then illness got in the way. Then I got to thinking about painting something. Bull had suggested I paint something special as a comeback project and my thoughts returned to the Guild Ball models that have been patiently sitting in a box in the spare room.
In the absence of any actual painting I thought I would do some reading up as it would be a shame not to give the game a decent go before consigning it to my gaming history. This time I avoided the main rulebook and downloaded the Quick Start Rules.
Oh my word, it suddenly started to make a bit of sense. I was now able to understand what some of the special plays meant and the pros and cons of various models. However, what I also discovered is that my team of choice – the Morticians – are the most difficult team to play. That sounds familiar, didn't the same thing happen with Blood Bowl… me choosing the three most difficult teams to play with!?!
This new information only came to light after I had ordered some additional Mortician models… of course!
I know what will happen, I'll lose my first few games and get very demoralised and feel like it's all been a waste of time. So, I've invested in a new team to start things off. Of the two flagship teams that they recommend for demo games I've gone with the Butcher's Guild. It was a tough call as I love the Fishermen's Guild models, but I just felt that I needed something with straightforward rules to begin with.
Also, from a painting perspective, I have plenty of experience painting red and brown colour schemes. Easy does it!
Looking forward to getting this up and running. Looking forward to seeing some painted models on the blog again!
Stay tuned.
He, he - and so it begins. As I understand it you have to make your own goal posts. Now that should be a project worth getting right!
ReplyDeleteAfter our experiences making Bloodbowl dugouts, Guild Ball goals should be easy… and a lot of fun!
DeleteI found the perfect goals in the form of chessmen from the Harry Potter Chess game. Haven't painted them as of yet, but I will!
DeleteI have a dim and distant memory of this too, can't wait to see what you come up with.
ReplyDeleteBe on your guard, lest you be dragged in kicking and screaming!
DeleteI've only just started with GB, but the game does play very well. As they kindly give away the rules for free, I made my own teams (including Morticians) from my bits box to try it out.
ReplyDeleteThe game is good enough that I will be buying in when I can get my friends playing.
Having all the rules and cards available for free is excellent and makes for some great reading. It has helped me get my head around things and I may still buy the rulebook.
DeleteI just played my first demo game using the Butchers. My opponent and I were helped out by two more experienced players, but the demo cards/rules went a long way to making the rules make sense. I was also given files for a cut-down version of the rules (with no extraneous fluff/images) and a quick rules sheet.
ReplyDeleteSo now I'm going to try out the Butchers and the Masons with the full game rules using the paper dolls and see which one I like more.
Well, I will have my Butchers soon and Bull has Masons, so hopefully we can help you make some decisions :)
DeleteIts good to see I am not alone. I bought into the original kickstarter & had a friend also buy a couple teams. I painted my first team, but have only had the opportunity to play a demo game once. Not a big fan of tournaments as it brings out a lot of min/max asshats. However I still hope to play this game one day!
ReplyDeleteI hear you Terry. Won't be going to tournaments anytime soon, but hope we can get some fun out of this one – looks like its got potential!
DeleteI'd love to have a chat about the rules and rulebook parts you found to be confusing! I actually found the rules to be pretty straight forward, although the initial beta games I played were taking a long time. This was rectified with the switch to VP.
ReplyDeleteOverall it's a fantastic game and I'm really enjoying it. Ping me sometime and we can chat about it (on or off the air!)