And now: Dreadball

To fight the bug, we must understand the bug.

A month or so ago, I won the Dreadball team from the fine gents at the Combat Phase podcast. Full disclaimer: I know both of the gents behind it from waaaay back in the 90's, although I don't get the chance to game with them anymore. However, Rob is still (mostly) local, and he took the time to deliver my prize in person, and teach me the basics of the game.

After agonizing between the many choices, I narrowed it down to either the Locusts or the Robots, based mostly on looks. Eventually picked the bugs. Looking forward to getting some paint on them, after... some construction. Any suggestions for paint schemes? The good things about terrible space bugs is they can be, really, any color you want. Time to troll through Google Image Search for ideas.

For the test run, I used the Corporation and Rob went with the Marauders. We didn't use all the rules, but rather went through a basic game, which him summarizing how the other elements added in and affected the gameplay. Highly effective! I learn best by actually playing a game, and this was a good combo for me.

Yes, the above shot actually happened.

The game itself was fun. The Marauders scored big early, and lead most of the game. Amusingly, every time the ball turned over, it relaunched to point two, meaning there was a permanent crowd around there.

The game played faster than I expected, and momentum went back and forth very smoothly. Definitely more like basketball than (American) football. In the final turn, I managed to duplicate the hail-mary play he made to earn a big lead quickly, and while it didn't tie the game up, it stopped it from being a rout. The Marauders took the day, 1-0.

Side note: it was actually a pretty light night for the store, but two of the locals did have this sweet Infinity setup. Lot of junk pieces there (electrical boxes and receipt rolls) but painted up and based nicely. The posters made for nice easy details too.