Guild Ball – Match 2

The big re-match came around quicker than expected but both coaches were ready to get stuck in I think. We added the final dimensions of terrain and plot cards to the proceedings. Alas the plot cards I was dealt were pretty awful, and the one I could have used I forgot about!

We used Bull's rather fetching salt and pepper dispensers as goals – very impressive they looked too!

Brisket kicks off – from Bull's website

Bull won the initial roll-off and decided to receive – unknown territory for me already. I gave the ball to Brisket and she hoofed it into space on the far right. Alas it scattered back and landed at Harmony's feet. No point chasing that down.

Honour in the thick of it – from Bull's website

Harmony came steaming in to Boar and knocked him on his backside. The wounds were piled on and before long the big man was down to half. In the meantime Mallet was wailing on the Butchers captain, Ox. He also took a boat load of damage and was staggering on half strength before long. This was a side of the Masons I was not used too – sustained damage dealing – I was in danger of having a player taken-out (god forbid!).

The Masons moved the ball across the pitch to the other wing, where their main man Flint was waiting. It was done via a series of passes and earned Bull a stack of Momentum. This too was something I was not used to – the Masons outstripping me for Momentum points!

Shank intercepts Flint – from Bull's website

Flint had the ball on our left wing, but Shank still had his go left. He moved to intercept and engaged Flint from his superior melee distance. The Masons striker had a clear run on goal if he could get past Shank, but I had a plan. Each turn Flint ignores the first Tackle result against him (I've been the victim of this in the past), so come the new turn I had to make sure we got that out of the way.

As he was within my melee zone, when Flint attempted to move away I knew I would get a free attack. I activated Shank first, did some damage on Flint and attempted a Tackle (knowing it would automatically fail). Job done.

As expected when Flint tried to run past I got my second Tackle in and stripped him of the ball. This took the wind out of Bull's initial attack but with their Momentum stacking up I knew he would win the Initiative roll and I'd probably be down a goal. The silver lining was that I had taken out Honour and was currently 2–0 up.

As expected Flint charged in and got the ball back off Shank. He was able to move just enough to be in range, shot and scored. The Masons took the lead for the first time in a game 4–2.

However, play continues and when the ball came straight back out and I targeted Shank when I positioned it. It landed in a decent place and he raced off down the pitch.

Whilst the main focus was on this left side of the pitch, there was something of a large brawl in the middle. Boar managed to finish off Harmony and Marbles, making the score 6–4. Both he and Ox had managed to recover from their opening wound-related scare and were almost back to full health. Brisket had taken a handful of wounds but she too had recovered. The Mason players across the pitch (with the exception of Brick) were all down to half wounds or thereabouts.

Honour had come back onto the pitch immediately thanks to one of Bull's plot cards and she raced in to stop Shank from scoring. Ironically, because she was wounded, Shank got extra change distance and managed to engage her at his maximum melee distance ensuring she couldn't hit back. He did a small amount of damage in order to get a 2" dodge which took him to within range of the Mason goal.

With only two dice and needing a 4+ it was going to be a close call.

I need not have worried. The Butchers man of the match hit the target, 10–4 scoreline. I only needed 2 more points to win.

Shank then raced away towards Honour – he had to try and prevent the inevitable immediate counter attack. He wasn't quick enough.

Bull calculated his sequence of moves in order that Honour could get the ball to Flint, but when it was executed it somehow didn't work out. We went back and talked it through step by step to make sure he was maximising the available options. Eventually it all fell into place and Flint was away with ball in hand. With nobody in his way he strolled towards the goal, shot and scored. 10–8 and things were hotting up.

I knew that by this time most of the Masons had taken heavy damage. I only needed to take one down in order to kill the game. I had to decide where to place the ball after the Masons goal, so I pinged it across the opposite side of the pitch from Flint, into no mans land. Bull couldn't possibly get to it before I had killed off one of his players.

Boiler takes down Honour – from Bull's website

It fell to Boiler to take the glory and he leaped at Honour, needing only two rounds of melee to finish off the Masons captain.

Final score 12–8 to the Butchers.


This was a much better game than any we'd played so far. Bull had got the Masons playing much more as a team and playing to their strengths. We were both having to out think our opponent rather than just outfight each other.

Once I'd ridden out the opening exchanges and starting to inflict a bit of damage I grew in confidence and in the end was happy to concede the second goal in order to set up the finale. Lots to talk through and analyse. I think we may see a lineup change next time out!

Stay tuned!

Guild Ball Game Day…

Game Day for this month is tomorrow!

Can you believe it's almost a month already since our last game of Guild Ball? Bull and I learned so much from our last outing. We're yet to add terrain and plot cards into the mix, so maybe now is that time – extra layers to keep us on our toes.

I had big plans for this game. I have my two new Butchers players to try out but they haven't made it past the undercoat stage. The rest of my team were deserving of some extra paint but they too remain unchanged. Life is throwing our family a series of curve balls at the moment and we're struggling to get anything else done – hobby time has no chance.

The main aim for tomorrow's game is to get the team playing better as a whole. We know the Butcher's can get the job done just hitting things, but with so many abilities between them there has to be a more efficient way of doing it!

For starters my badly painted Shank will take on a new support role, rather than trying to stick it out on the front line. He shouldn't be going in first, better able to take down opponents who are already damaged.

My badly painted Boar will need to make better use of his abilities. By being stuck in combat for the whole game I was missing out on free attacks. As much as he has lots of wounds, he is easy to hit and therefore an easy target should an opponent want to get off a play. He needs to choose his targets better.

Stay tuned for the match report and post mortem…!

Infernal Kickstarter Miniatures

Some of you may remember my post from Salute 2015 where I raved about a game called Infernal by Wartorn Games. Obviously having a link to the project helps one's enthusiasm (we know one of the creators, Jon Corps, from our 40k tournament days), but Al did a great job of selling the game to us on the day. It was not a difficult decision to back their Kickstarter when it launched.

As with many a Kickstarter before, I forgot about it once it finished. Messages and updates from the guys landed in my inbox but I'll admit I didn't take much notice as most were production updates. Unfortunately when the survey came in I wasn't paying much attention either and managed to send it back with our old postal address on it. Fast forward to earlier this month and I suddenly felt left out as everyone was getting their stuff and I was still rather empty-handed.

Miss Neith

A bit of investigation revealed my mistake. What an idiot! I sheepishly contacted Al to explain the situation. Without any hesitation Al was happy to send another set to the correct postal address. How awesome is that – customer service at it's best. This was quite a gesture since they had gone out of their way to make sure people gave them the correct details, with reminders and prompts (which I had ignored). What an idiot!

Spider Bitch

Anyway, a top group of guys who are so enthusiastic about their new venture it's infectious… but on to the models. I went down the Tortured Souls route with my pledge – always rooting for the bad guys – and they arrived earlier this week.


Let's get one thing straight – this game is a horror movie in miniatures form and is not for the faint hearted. The monsters will give you nightmares and elements of the rulebook should come with a 15 certificate. For my £45 pledge I got six models: Miss Neith & Spider Bitch (two pics above), Dr Goodall & Black Death, plus a couple of scrawny looking zombies (Husks?).

For me the flagship model has to be the 13-piece Spider Bitch. Digitally created, it has a massive amount of surface detail and I am happy to say that it looks amazing in real life. The resin is remarkably clean (no release agent residue, almost no mould lines and no imperfections), in fact it's some of the best resin gear I've seen… ever.

Just to prove a point I took a closer image of the Spider Bitch body sprue.

The Black Death model is a huge lump of solid resin. I get the impression this was sculpted traditionally rather than digitally? The detail doesn't seem quite as crisp as Spider Bitch, but that may be intentional and it doesn't stop it being an impressive (and rather large) model. You can just imagine the ink washes flowing over this model bringing out all that amazing detail.

The 'host' models for these two big nasties are similarly impressive. Very unique characters that benefit from the same great production as the bigger models.

As you can see I haven't built anything yet – this is just an opening observation. I also got to download a monstrous zip file containing all sorts of files: tokens, character cards, wargear and of course the rulebook.

I have looked through the rulebook and that's going to need it's own blog post – I have plenty to say about that! Till then just enjoy these lovely models…!