Tooling Up

Right then. The first post with some actual useful Guild Ball content on it! 

It seems appropriate at this point to look at the resources that are out there for beginners and what you really need to get started. I fully accept this won’t be an exhaustive list, but it will include the bits I’ve found useful and the ones I’m aware of. 

So first and foremost. You want to play some Guild Ball but have literally no idea where to start. 

My initial advice would be to look for a Pundit local to you. Pundits are essentially the people who’ve signed up with Steamforged Games, the producers of Guild Ball, to give demonstration games and run events. They get cool shiny toys and encouragement for doing this so don’t feel in any way awkward about getting in touch!. 

You can find the list of Pundits here, no matter where you are in the world! Scroll down to the bottom to find the lists.

This was actually how I got my first games under my belt. I live near Northampton in the UK Midlands, and my local Pundit is Martin Rafferty aka Raff. Absolute gentleman – he talked me through the rules, showed me how it all works, then promptly kicked my head in in an initial game. It worked though – we’re now regular opponents and his Farmers or Engineers cross swords (sometimes literally) with my Union on a weekly basis. 

There is a boxed game out there, called Guild Ball Kick Off. It contains two full 6-man teams (Masons and Brewers) in fully assembled plastic, a booklet with intro rules followed by the full game rules, and a pitch along with templates and tokens. The price point is very, very reasonable considering what you get – my only quibble is that the plastic models aren’t quite as fantastically detailed as the metals.

If you have a mate who wants in, and let’s face it most games get invested in because two players quite fancy it against each other, Kick Off is the perfect place to start. Two strong, fun teams, all the gubbins and some well written help cards. 

The rules themselves, along with all stat cards and even paper dolls of the players, can be downloaded completely for free from the Steamforged website. So if you don’t want to spend any money before trying an intro, you can get started for the cost of some printer ink.

Downloads located here (scroll down a little bit).

We are here, to drink your beer...

After a couple of intros with your pundit or some kickabouts off the back of Kick Off, you’ll probably feel comfortable enough to start looking around to find a Guild you want to play. And at this point, my advice is pretty simple. 

Stay off the Internet. Don’t listen to podcasts. Pick what you want to play!

There’s plenty of debate from people about which Captains and which Guilds people think are good and bad. Sample lists will be produced and a lot of arguments built around ‘this team worked fantastically for this player’. 

If you’re a new player all of that is utterly irrelevant. You won’t get half as much out of that team as one of the world’s top players will, so taking an Internet team list will, if anything, lead to you having less fun than picking something you like the look of and running with it. 

I can actually say that from experience. I picked Union as my team because I loved the fact that I could pick the team to do anything. They have footballers, they have thugs, they have monsters, they have duellists. It is frequently argued they have 2 of the strongest Captains available in Blackheart and Veteran Rage. 

Pro tip. Do not ask Jason Mountain about Blackheart.
Unless you have a spare hour or 6.

Only I was attracted to Seasoned Brisket (Trisket, sBrisket or Brisk3t in Internet speak) as my Captain. I love the model, I love how detailed her background is, and above all else I love scoring goals. Score enough goals, the rest is irrelevant (yes, I am a Liverpool fan, how did you guess?). I played a few more games then went to a tournament. 

There was a lot of Internet opinion on Brisk3t and none of it was positive. Still isn’t for the most part. She’s too limited, she doesn’t do anything without the ball, these other guys are so much better. Playing the event, I even got a 10-minute lecture on why she was terrible.

Any excuse... 💗

Can you guess what came next? In a shark tank in Ross on Wye, Brisk3t carried me to 4th place, 3 wins and 1 defeat to James Long, the winner of the 128-player Vengeance tournament. There is no shame at all in losing to him, even in the 20 minutes it took me to lose 12-4. 

Guess who scored the consolation, even through Shark’s legendary play? That’s right. Brisk3t did. Guess who scored another 6 goals during the event? Yep. That girl Brisk3t again. She even netted (posted?) a hat-trick against the lecturer. If the model could have extended a middle finger, she would have done.

My point is that, even as a total rookie who played their first ever games against Fishermen and Masons at the event, I did much better than I should have done by sticking to my guns and playing what I wanted to play. I could have gone straight for Blackheart or Veteran Rage – I own the models and happen to adore my Kickstarter Blackheart – but I found I enjoyed playing football and scoring goals even more. So that’s what I did.

Some Captains and Guilds will take more work than others. Hunters and Morticians spring immediately to mind, because the payoffs for the control they exert are less obvious than the goals and takeouts that net you points. Engineers have fantastic combo play and are very strong when it all clicks, but if it doesn’t they can seem like hard work without much payoff. But if you want to play those guys, get the table time in and do it, because it will be so satisfying when things come together for you.

I would also add at this point that you might be worried about what the opposing team can do. I still am, pretty much permanently right now. All I can say is, if you know what you want to do, that's half the battle won. Your opponent might not be expecting you to use your team as you do, or you just have a plan that you know works so you stick with it. That's definitely a very strong option when facing new things - my current plan is take Brisk3t and Mist, and try to bang 3 goals in. It's proven surprisingly effective...

Having just spent a sizeable chunk of space on the Internet recommending that you ignore the Internet, I’ll get off my soapbox and get back to useful stuff for my fellow rookies!

Whilst we're on the subject of hypocrisy, there is a YouTube channel I would recommend to new players; the Don't Touch the Beard series by Beard Minis. This is made by a good friend of mine, who records and then talks nonsense over games of Guild Ball (his strap line, not mine!). Where these videos differ is that the content is very accessible to new players. Rules are displayed when something happens, playbooks appear when dice are rolled and particular scenarios are explained. I found the videos very useful indeed.

One thing you will find is that tokens are a major part of Guild Ball, more so than pretty much any other game I’ve played. It is actually in the rules that you have to mark conditions or areas of effect with a suitable marker or you can’t claim the benefits. 

Accordingly there are many manufacturers of tokens out there to choose from, and the choice is positively bewildering. My personal favourite is Muse on Minis, who produce a range of officially licenced tokens in sets for a particular Guild. They’re one of the more expensive options, but you know you’re getting everything you need along with any AoE (area of effect) templates.

Honourable mentions go to bendyboards.co.uk (particularly for their plot card stands), Counterattack Bases, Art of War Studios and Blotz. It’s all subjective so you may well find one of the other offerings is better for you than Muse on Minis. 

You’ll also need condition markers for things like Knocked Down, Burning and so on. Again, I’ve gone Muse on Minis, but all of the above companies offer such markers and Steamforged themselves have an excellent set too.

Another difference between Guild Ball and other games is how you measure. I used a tape measure in my first game but haven’t since, relying instead on widgets to do the job for me. By necessity, you often have to measure quite precisely in a tight spot, and consequently it’s much harder to have the space to get the tape measure round everywhere. I have a Muse on Minis Precision Measuring Set (which included all the scatter templates) and a set of BendyBoards Movement Chains – between those I find I’m able to cover anything that comes up.

BendyBoards Movement Chains in action

One thing I will say, and I risk annoying the powers that be by saying it, is that I would not recommend the official Steamforged templates. These are transparent which looks cool from a distance, but when you’re trying to play the game they’re sadly unreadable. 

You’ll also need a way to measure the points you score and momentum you accumulate during the game. A D12 for your score and some of the ubiquitous coloured glass beads for momentum will get you started and are what a lot of players still use. I’ve got a dial from Counterattack Bases to track both, but that’s mostly down to me being a clumsy halfwit who is way too prone to knocking things around! 

The club affiliation may not have survived,
but the dial definitely has.

One big recommendation I’ll make is the excellent GBKeeper app for iPhones and iPads. It has all the stat cards, the ability to track conditions and damage during games, and the full game rules along with the various updates for FAQs and erratas. Best bit? It’s free. 

If you don’t sip from the cup of Jobs, there is an equivalent Android app called Tooled Up. Not used it personally but I’m told it’s more of the same cool stuff. 

At this point I’d recommend playing a few more games with your chosen Guild. Get to know the players, enjoy tinkering with lineups and Captains and Mascots, and then you can start to progress.

Links to Cool Stuff!

BendyBoards Movement Chains and Plot Card Holders

The wondrous Beard Minis YouTube channel

Buy Kick Off here

Muse on Minis Guild Ball (whilst there are UK sellers, I would actually recommend you order direct. Stock over here can be patchy, and MoM are very quick at getting your stuff to you)

The very handy GBKeeper app

Counterattack Momentum & Score Tracker