Kicking Off

Kraken, displaying my burning desire
for Guild Ball

For a long time I've been looking for a second game, for a little minx of a mistress with which to spend every other weekend cheating on the game I'm married too, for a game and system which is different enough to my number one, and cheeky enough to keep my interest keen. The 'ball and chain' game in question is Dropzone Commander, a 10mm hard sci-fi and incredibly tactical wargame (for those interested, check out my other blog Orbital Bombardment), and sometimes I feel like I truly am in a relationship with it. Over the last two years I have played the game pretty much every week, as well as attending and hosting tournaments and helping play test with Hawk Wargames.

But all I've had over this period is Dropzone, and after a while every move and play becomes a little similar. Any game replayed over and over again, much like a delicious cake which has been left out over night, becomes stale, no matter how good it was at first. Imagine hanging out with your friends every night. That's right, those mouthy scroungers. Every. Single. Night. You get the idea.

My group have flirted with alternative games, perhaps even dated a few, but nothing ever got too serious. I went on a few dates with Infinity, but found I didn't have the time to invest to get to know it seriously enough. A serious contender for my heart was Bushido, but this game has a serious gambling addiction (the combat mechanics), and that just isn't for me.

There was a system which had caught my eye though, and every time I found myself wanting to flip a table at Dad-wing, or partake in a massive strop as I lose a model to a roll of two dice in Bushido, the thought of it was lingering in the back of my mind; Guildball.

Being a man from the Land of Eng, naturally this game would appeal to my sporting tastes, but the real draw however was the art and models. Since the Kickstarter I had wanted to get my hands on it and get a game in, but you know how it is with gaming groups and new games; people aren't sure, or don't want to spend the money, or 'don't like football'. Heathens. So I was pleasantly surprised to hear my friend Mike had bought wholesale into it, and was assembling an Engineers team! I'm not ashamed to take sloppy seconds, so after plundering the loft for all my old MtG cards and trading them in at my FLGS, a shiny Morticians team became my new love affair.

And affaired we have, and I'm enjoying every minute of it. The models are as gorgeous as I expected them to be, and a joy to paint. That's another point as well; I get to paint 28mm again! Dropzone is strictly a 10mm game, and as great as that is for speed painting, I like to pretend that I'm an artist at heart and did miss the curves of a robe, or even the odd bulging bicep. As for the mechanics, they are different to how I expected, but I am pleasantly surprised. Although I can imagine a few gamers will be very 'power gamery' with the rules set, stoking their long dirty, beard while they belly laugh as your reach is 0.003 inches shy off their mascot, with at least my group I haven't found this to be an issue. I guess we'll find out at my first tournament. And that last sentence for me solidifies how much I like this game. I want to tournament with it. I want to get deep into the meta and flow of the game, and most importantly I want to be good at it. Whether I can be or not is something we will find out in time!

Letting Steamforged into my bodoiur might be the best move I've made in a long time, just don't tell Hawk, I can't afford the maintenance.