Two games of Dreadball down, and more learning to do.

While on vacation in Arizona seeing the friends I got in two games of Dreadball, one with Jon & one against his son Jake.  The first game against Jon was a learning process for both of us, but I think Jon was more prepared for it then I was.  We only used basic rules and didn't include the Ref or Fouling (at least we thought) in the game.  Jon used the Human team & I used the Forge Father team, both fresh out of the box and just put together for the game.  Didn't have time to paint them or really clean all the models up first, and so we really didn't keep track of and players by number or any stats on the guys.

It was a fairly hard hitting game with the Space Dwarves (basically that is what the Forge Fathers are from my view point), but the Humans were still able to get the ball moving around for scores.  Jon when up with 2 point strike, then I scored a 1 point strike, then Jon answered with a 4 point strike, and I answered back with a 4 point strike of my own, then Jon came back right before the last few turns and scored another 4 point strike.  Which left the game at 5 points for Jon, and it was a very good game just getting use to the way things go.

Then a day or two later I had a game with Jake (his first game of Dreadball), Jake to the Forge Fathers (his team of choice from the starter box) & I used the Orx & Goblin Team.  This was still a learning game for use, and again we decided to leave out the Ref & Fouling (at least we thought) for the game.  This time the game was not a high scoring game as the one me and Jon had, as we both had throws on the 4 point Strike hex that missed.  And the game came down to me trying to get an Orx Guard sprinting down the field and making a Slam on an Dwarf Jack right next to my 4/3 point Strike zone.  I got the knockdown on the Jack and scattered the ball in a direction I didn't want, and putting the ball a few hexes out of where I needed it to pickup with a Goblin Jake and make a 3 point Strike to win the game by 1 point. 

After reading over the rules a little bit more the nite & the next day after the match I realized that I'd missed some rules that would have lead to me getting the ball and maybe being able to get into the 3 point Strike zone and scoring the game winner.  That rule would have been some Dashes, which depending on dice rolls would of had the potential to move the Jack into the Strike zone and use another Action token to get Strike throw.  Also on the Fouls section; even though we said no fouls for the games, after reading the Fouls section I believe we preformed a few without really knowing it.  Which those were Sucker Punches, where you preform a Slam action with the player being hit with their backs to the person making the Slam. Which is a Foul and would have need to have an Eye in the Sky check and possibly a Ref check depending on where the Ref bot would have been on the board. 

Even with these oversights on the rules we had fun and will for sure be playing more Dreadball (with painted miniatures), and will be playing with all the rules in play.  I'd really like to see Dreadball played within a league setting, I would really like to see how the team progression goes.  So overall we were really happy on the way the game plays, there were a few issues we found with the size of the game board.  As with the miniatures and how close they get when beside each other in the hexes it can be a little bit of a pain to keep from knocking over miniatures trying to work out the plays.  But with that said it would not be that hard to fix on your personal games, as we are thinking that maybe bumping up the hex size from their standard 25mm to a 35mm or 40mm would be better.  And if you happen to be thinking of making you own personal Dreadball field you can expand the hex size to work for what you want, you just have to make your own bases for the miniatures to fit with the size you have decided on.  This is possible due to the everything within Dreadball being based on how many hexes away you are, so hex size really doesn't matter.  Unlike BloodBowl which has a throwing ruler that you would have to rework to match your new board size, and I know there is some sites that have the squares figured out for throwing ranges in BloodBowl (but it's still a pain, and not everyone will approve of the changes made).

But hopefully soon enough I'll have some miniatures painted and ready to go, and talk some local friends into trying out Dreadball as well.  And I'll get working on my custom Dreadball board as well, just have to find some laser cutters & CNC routers to make my ideas come to life.