I did not (yet) have a lot of opportunities to play games at events and conventions this year. I even had to give Salute 2013 a miss. Oh well.
With a few deadlines out of the way, I thought I’d jump back in. In particular, I think it is about time to redeem my DreadBall Kickstarter-ticket and head north to Nottingham for Mantic’s Open Day.
I may get a chance to see a Deadzone display!
Even better, I should be able to in four DreadBall matches in a row next Saturday.
#1 – Which DreadBall Team to Pick?
Yesterday, I finally received my DreadBall Season 2 shipment. I was hoping to field “my” Locust City Chiefs, but there is simply no chance I would get the DreadBall Season 2 stuff painted in time.
Besides, “rusty” doesn’t even begin to describe my current DreadBall skills, especially for a tournament (and Mantic even wants to test Chess Clocks at this tournament, oh my!).
I need something simple… not one of those finicky Season 2 teams.
Long story short, I plan on bringing a Green-Skin-Team to pummel my way through the tournament, Marauder-style, and hopefully leave a good number of Judwan-shaped smears on the pitch.
As there will be no MVPs (if I read the tourney-booklet correctly), I won’t even have to bother with a Striker. As simple as it gets!
Or is it?
#2 – A DreadBall Conundrum: More Orx or Meaner Orx
So… Marauders. Greenmoon Smackers. I will need a name of my own too.
The tactics for a Green-Skin-Team, especially if you cannot switch it up with a MVP, are very straight-forward: Simply apply lots of Orx-fist-shaped pain until the pitch is clear (if a bit slippery)!
For this tournament, I’ll get the basic Greenmoon Smackers starting-roster:
- 5 Goblin Jacks
- 3 Orx Guards
Moreover, I get to spend 20 MC (millions of credits) on
- Additional Players (with Orx Guards costing 13MC)
- Coaching Dice (6MC per Dice)
- DreadBall Cards 10MC per Card)
- Advancement rolls (5MC each)
- Coaches and Cheerleaders (my lack of painted Season 2 models kills this option)
Now, I’ve been pondering two options all day: Get more Orx (i.e. another Guard) or better Orx (i.e. Advancements).
Option 1 – More Orx
There is nothing quite like deploying 4 Guards and 2 Jacks to set a suitably violent tone for the game right off the bat. It’s a proven set-up, a classic even, though it does have three downsides:
- As all the Open Day tournament games “re-boot” your team for each new round, and there is no league play, a roster of nine DreadBall players feels like a lot of extras to bring to a match. I might be wasting a lot of MC on the bench.
- 13MC for an extra Guard doesn’t leave much else. Probably an extra Coaching Dice for a total of 19MC spent?
- It kinda lacks variety over 4 games (which might also be a good thing).
Option 2 – Better Orx
So what if I don’t buy a 4th Guard, but invest in advancements and other bonuses instead?
It would probably either be 4 Advancements (I might even fork one for a Goblin) or 2 Advancements and a Card. Both add up to a clean 20MC spent.
The downside is… I’ll only have 3 Orx (and I will not be able to advance them to become Keepers, again for a lack of minis)! Are some fancy Steady, Does This Hurt? and Can’t Feel A Thing abilities worth the “lack” of a 4th Guard? Wouldn’t the extra Guard be more effective?
#3 – Coach Me!
If you know a thing or two about DreadBall, help me out and leave me some advice in the comments below! I won’t reveal which option I am going for until after the weekend, but I certainly will consider all tips and recommendations (it is the reason I write this post after all).
Let me know what you think!
Oh, and if you’re going to Nottingham this coming Saturday, let me know!
Z.