TEAM: Bremlin Nebulas (Kalyshi team)

Bremlin Nebulas (Kalyshi team)

Strengths: 
Asterian Scoring Chops - Want to score a goal? You can hardly get any better than an Asterian. With good Skill and great Speed and fantastic Movement, the Kalyshi are the perfect scoring team. They are reliable when it comes to putting points on the board, use them for that every chance you get. A Kalyshi Striker is one of tailor-made for scoring and...

Come on let's Jump! - Jump! Might as well, Jump! If you remember that your Strikers have Jump, you will find a place to use it. Jump is one of those underused abilities in my estimation, your experience might be otherwise. Speed 3+ Jump is even better. :-)

Jacked Up - Although they have pretty bad Strength, they have a few things to augment them, which is a good thing as they don't have any Guards on this team. Backstab is nice to have in your back pocket, but Shove is much more useful. The chance to move someone out of the way of a striking lane can be pretty handy. And speaking of strike lanes, these Jacks are fairly reliable scorers in their own right. Don't be afraid to utilize them as part of your offensive strategy.


Weaknesses:
No Dice and No Cards - This is pretty self-explanatory. They start with no advantages other than themselves.

No Guards - This team does not excel in hurting people. I have seen opponents realize halfway through a match that this team is just not set up for the Slam. If there is a useful, or dire, time you need to Slam, get those extra Threat hexes on your opponent and try to Backstab (or Shove).


MVP Recommendations:

Kailasa - First off, she is cool! I love her background, it might be a little cheesy, but it is fun. And I really dig her model. I like the fact she definitely looks like a Kalyshi taken to the extreme. Plus, she is a Guard. IS she the best Guard in Dreadball? Well, no. But she does have some really neat aspects. One, she is a Guard with Movement 6, which is a very nice start. Two, she has a 4+ Strength, not amazing, but better than her Kalyshi counterparts. Three, she has Backstab. Now, on a Kalyshi Jack Backstab is decent, but on Kailasa it is actually really good! Hitting someone in the back from 6 or more spaces away (let's face it, a Dash when you have Speed 3+ is well within reason) with 6 Dice is great, even with Strength 4+! So, yeah... do that. For 8 MC, she is a SOLID choice for any Kalyshi coach. I think she might be pretty awesome on Tsudochan team too, but that is for another entry.


Overall: 
The Kalyshi team is a team made for scoring. If you are playing them and you are wondering, "Should I hit that guy in the back, or should I try to score?" Go for the points. If the choice is doing (whatever) or trying to score, you should try to score. If you focus your efforts on getting to the Strikezone and throwing the ball in, you have a VERY good chance of winning the game. If you get sidetracked with ANYTHING ELSE (unless you have a decent MVP or Free Agent), you are risking losing the game. Do what this team does, go for the big scores fast.


Grade:
A

TACTICS: General Miasma (Hobgoblin Team)

General Miasma (Visitor)

Dark Blue - Guard, Light Blue - Jack, Green - Striker

After a recent game where I was playing the Hobgoblins against a Kalyshi team, and had a Kalyshi Striker smack my Hulk Guard in the back of the head, sending him out until the sixth Rush, I decided I needed a better setup for my Hobgoblins to start with when being the visiting team. I think I came up with something that works pretty well on a few different fronts, but mainly is about protection.

What does this setup protect?

1. It protects my precious Hulk. By placing him back-to-the-ref, he is protected from those deadly back-of-the-head throws. He still projects three hexes out and he is near the center line for some head smashing on the other side on the second Rush. 
2. It protects the 3-4 point goal. With Hobgoblin Jacks fully blocking the 3 and 4 point strikes, it will definitely take some effort to remove them. Plus, with Stench, they are Threatening tons of hexes all around them.
3. It protects the 2 point goal, and Threatens the 1 point attempts. By placing the Hobgoblin Strikers in the center, they Threaten ever hex of the Strikezone. 

I honestly feel this might be one of the best possible setups for the Hobgoblin team. I will let you know more after further testing.

My Hobgoblin team, "The Brown Dwarf Bashers".

TEAM: Long Rock Lifers (Convict team)

Long Rock Lifers (Convict team)

Strengths: 
Lots of humans - Six out of eight members of this team are human. They have the average stats of humans. I definitely consider this an advantage. One of the biggest strengths of the Corporation teams is their lack of any major flaws in the stats category and bringing the Convicts into DBO eliminated one of their only weaknesses, the fact that the Strikers had TERRIBLE armor. Now, the Convicts are like humans, plus...

Plus... - The Guard for the Convicts isn't quite human, he's better (Grogan)! With a the Strength of an Orx Guard and Threatening, this guy is a wrecking ball! He can reliably take out players by himself, but team him with another player and your are almost guaranteed to take someone off the Pitch.

Shocking Advantage! - A well timed Shock Collar execution can absolutely change the course of a game. And finally, a good use for a Jack!

The Warden - On top of all the above, the get an Offensive Coach. This really helps make the Convicts a team to fear on the Pitch.


Weaknesses:
No Starting Cards or Dice - This is a disadvantage, but only until a Convict Guard knocks a few guys out of the game and the Fan Checks give you some dice.


MVP Recommendations:

'Brickbat’ Vognar - Thematically, this guy is a given. On top of that, he is really good. With Lucky and Steady, and of course an Orx stat line, he is the extra helping hand that your already spectacular Guard want to assist them. And look at that model! So cool!


Overall: 
Amazing! This team is just fantastic on the Pitch! It is like playing Trontek, but deadlier. The Guards are monstrous. The Strikers are good. And the Jacks are moving knockdown/killing machines (technically the whole team is). The Convicts are really good. I can easily see them winning a tournament or a league with "shocking" ease. This team could give any team from any season a run for their money for best all-around. I might even go so far as to call them the best team in Dreadball... maybe.


Grade:
A+

SIDELINE REPORT: Bremlin Nebulas vs Rallion Roses

I was lucky enough to get a match in this week with a friend of mine. He decided to play the Kalyshi. I had thought to play them too (I wrote down their stats prior my friend arriving), and though a mirror match can be fun, I went with my second choice of teams (I wrote down the Hobgoblin's stats too, so I was ready).

My friend got the Home side of the pitch. Then he went with a fairly standard setup. I went with a variation on a setup I called Middle Irk. You can see the setup a little better below.

Orange - Kalyshi Jack, Yellow - Kalyshi Striker, Dark Blue - Hulk Guard, Light Blue - Hobgoblin Jack, Green - Hobgoblin Striker

I did my best to keep up with the turns, but I have got to discover a better way than just jotting down a few illegible facts for every Rush. Regardless, here is what I wrote down:

RUSH NOTES:

Rush 1 - Kalyshi Striker throws the ball at the back of the Hulk's head and sends him out for two rounds.

Rush 2 - The Hobgoblins knock out a Striker for a round. Then the Hobgoblins score 3 points.

Rush 3 - Kalyshi score 3 points.

Rush 4 - Hobgoblins score 1 point.

Rush 5 - Kalyshi score 1 point.

Rush 6 - Hulk comes back in and knocks out a few Kalyshi, the Hobgoblins run and hide with the ball.

Rush 7 - Nothing really.

Rush 8 - Hobgoblins score 3 points.

Rush 9 - Kalyshi score 3 points.

Rush 10 - ****can't read my handwriting****

Rush 11 - Kalyshi score 2 points.

Rush 12 - Hulk fails to injury the Kalyshi. Hobgoblins flub the attempt to get the ball.

Rush 13 - Kalyshi score 2 points.

HOBGOBLIN CONCEDE. 

What did I learn?

• Don't let a Striker-heavy team get the drop on the Hulk. The Hulk being out for 2 rounds was awful! 
• The Hobgoblin Jacks are decent at damaging opponents too. 
• I also learned that Brush Aside is not as good as I initially thought-it is rather situational.
• Kalyshi, much like the regular Asterians, should pretty much focus entirely on scoring.
• Skill 5+ is terrible! Argh!

Getting both your Strikers stuck in the opposing teams goal is no bueno.

INSIDE THE BOX: Kovoss Kryptics (Mutant Plague team)

As much for myself as for anyone else, I wanted to catalog what I had received in my Kickstarter for the Kovoss Kryptics. I do not know if this is exactly what would come in the retail box.

There are a total of eight bodies for the mutants (and two prone). Two bodies are very large. Two are large. Two are slim. Two have Yndij legs.

There are twelve standard arms.

There are six beefy Guard arms (maybe the top two are Teraton?). Two Z'zor blade arms. And two Nameless tentacle arms.

There are two sprues of heads. On each sprue there are five human heads, one Z'zor head, and one Asterian head. One of the sprues also comes with a ball. There are also heads in a small plastic baggie.

In the baggie, there are two Grogan heads and two Nameless heads.

There are four Judwan arms.

I received 5 tails total, two were Sphyr, and three were Veer-myn.

Finally, there were two sets of wings.

Have fun with these, all you mad scientists!

SIDELINE REPORT: The Fran-Taar Philosophers vs Long Rock Lifers

This is my first Sideline Report (Battle Report) on the blog. I plan on alternating some between the TACTICS and the SIDELINE REPORT entries. It is not the format I am going to follow, and I didn't know I was going to even write it when I played the game. But I did want to get some of these up here to discuss a few things about the flow and movement of games. We'll see how it goes...

I was fortunate enough to get in a game of Dreadball with a fellow veteran Dreadball Coach the other night. We decided to play two of the newer teams and see how the match went. He chose the Long Rock Lifers, the Convict team, and I chose the Fran-Taar Philosophers, the Tsudochan team. We had seen the Tsudochan on the Pitch before, but this was our first time trying out the convicts.

The Setup:

Orange - Tsudochan Jacks

Dark Blue - Convict Guard, Light Blue - Convict Jack, Green - Convict Striker

We both began the game in a very standard setup for Dreadball. We each had three players along the center and one player guarding the extra point lane of each Strikezone. My opponent's plan was obvious, he was going to try and hurt me with the Guards. Not a whole lot I was going to be able to do about that-a Jack with a 4+ Speed and a 5+ Strength isn't going to strong a monster 3+ Strength Guard. Oh well..
The first Rush went totally my way. Being on the Home side as the Tsudochan is a major boon to your game. You are pretty much guaranteed to get an attempt to score, which I did, for three points!
Then the pain... the rest of the Rushes after the first consisted of lots of pain, for both sides. For the poor Tsudochan, the pain was actual pain. Although he ever only managed to kill one player, I was constantly getting guys sent out and getting knocked down. There was pain on the other side too, but it was the pain of bad dice. My opponent missed every Strike attempt, when he actually managed to Pick Up the Ball.
The 12th Rush is the only other one worth mentioning. In the 11th Rush, I made a crucial error, I one I had avoided the entire game so far...

I ended my turn in the 11th Rush with the above setup. I had two Tsudochan Jacks (Orange) side-by-sideThreatening his Convict Striker (Green) who was sitting on the 4 point hex. On his turn, in the 12th Rush, she Sprinted a Convict Jack where you see above (Light Blue). Then he used his shock collar... *sigh* it sent both my Jacks out for two rounds (removing them from the game), and freed up his Striker, who finally scored a 4 pointer.

And though there was some valiant last ditch attempts at scoring, the Fran-Taar Philosophers met defeat that day.

What did I learn?:

1. The Convicts are a really good team (despite my opponent's terrible dice). They can score like Trontek (maybe even easier considering they come with an Offensive Coach), but there Guards hit like Orx. And that Shock Collar at the right moment can turn a game.
2. As much as I really want to like the Tsudochan, an all Jack team is still difficult to handle. With a 5+ Strength, your only real option is Dodge. Moving people is great, but you only get that on your turn. 
3. If you can at all avoid it, do not space your guys so that the Convicts can get that Shock Collar on more than one player.
4. With the Fran-Taar Philosophers, score early and go for the three pointers if possible.

PAINTING: Crystallan Team

I finished painting my Crystallan team (at least, the first team of them).

What I did:

• I used Vallejo Matt Vanish to lay down a simple coat to paint on.
• I used Army Painter Blue Tone to tint the model and darken the crevices blue.
• I dry-brushed a mixture of Citadel Foundation Mordian Blue and Army Painter Matt White - heavy on the White.
• I painted the metal areas with some Greycoat Grey topped with Citadel Chainmail.  
• On the metal areas, I then used some Army Painter Strong Tone to give it a little depth.
• Then, I went over the metal with some Vallejo Matt Vanish.
• I did some red coloring on the metal with P3 Khador Red Base.
• Finally, I went over the crystal portion of them with Gloss Vanish to give them a crystal-like shine.

I was pretty happy with the results!

TACTICS: Ares Rising (Martians)

Ares Rising (Visitor)

Dark Blue - Guard, Light Blue - Jack, Green - Striker

The Martians are one of my favorite teams (if you have read much of this blog you probably know that), but they are not necessarily one of the best teams out there. The following is a fun, pretty defensive setup for a Martian team.

Guards - I have set the Guards up as defenders of the 2 point line in the side Strike Zones. I chose them to be there because they defend slightly better than a Jack does, so they run solo the best. This should dissuade, or at least slow down, your opponent's attempts to make more than a single point in a Rush.

Jacks - I set three Jacks up in a full defense of the 3-4 zone. They work well to keep the opposing team out of this area because they are blocking the whole thing. As an added bonus, one of the side Jacks can Sprint up and turn to get into position to shoot almost anyone in the back-movement 6 is awesome! 

Striker - Well, you need one on the Pitch to grab the ball during your Rush, and placing the Striker where he is further argues to your opponent that going for the 4 just isn't worth it. And if it isn't worth it, then why bother the Striker. At least that's the hope!

Ack ack!