SIDELINE REPORT: Ro-Tek Brutes vs Glambek Ghosts

We got together for a little Dreadball finally! It has been over a month since I got a team on the Pitch! I was happy to try out my take on the Mechanites too, while my opponent tried out the Ada-Lorana.

Ada-Lorana Guard, Ada-Lorana Jack, Ada-Lorana Striker, Celoxon A4 and A7 Mechanite Strikers, Offensive Multibot V.8 and V.9 Jacks, Defensive Multibot V.10 Jack, Fortetron Build 12 Guard

For the stats and builds of my Mechanite team, check out my earlier blog post about my design.

The initial setup did not seem to favor anyone from the onset. And as a matter of fact, both teams fumbled the ball in each team's first Rush!

But the highlight of the first Rush, and the possible MVP move of the game was the Ada-Lorana Guard destroying my Defensive Multibot V.10 before he got to take advantage of his Gotcha! ability. The Ada-Lorana Guard rolled 6 successes! I rolled one, and no armor saves... sad face. Wow. And since each of us only had 6 players on the Pitch, that single loss before I got to even move him really hurt.

The game went fairly average to good for my opponent. He missed some rolls, but he got the majority of his attempts at throwing, dashing, and scoring. The Ada-Lorana are great at getting done what they need to. With average stats, and their abilities, and dice, and cards, they are a team to be reckoned with.

The Mechanites, well, they could have been good, but my dice HATED me. I fell on Dash attempts, my Strikers failed to pick up balls, my Guard could not knock anyone out. IT was not a night for the Mechanites, maybe it is was my faulty programming.

The game was a lot of fun, but ended in a landslide victory for the Ghosts. Man, that team is strong.


What did we learn:

- When designing a Mechanite team, don't go for the Launcher (Long Arms), at least not on all your Strikers. Not being able to score in the 4 point hex hurt me some, but not being able ot score in the 2 point hex hurt a lot more. My opponent basically won from 2 point scores.

- Mechanite Running Interference is a great deterrent.

- The Ada-Lorana are still really good. Speed 3+, plus the Phaser ability and the card and dice... may be too much. We discussed that perhaps their hard counter is the Hobgoblins, but then again, aren't the Hobgoblins the hard counter to a lot of teams?

- 4+ is not as good as 3+ no matter how many dice you have! I know statistically this is not true, but dang it, it feels like a axiom when playing Dreadball!

TEAM: Glambek Gosts (Ada-Lorana team)

Glambek Gosts (Ada-Lorana team)

Strengths: 
Phasing - This is obviously the special advantage only the Ada-Lorana have. Being able to just ignore the other side's players and position wherever you want is cool. This does make positioning pretty simple. AND, it has the added bonus of subtracting dice to to Slams (yours and your opponent's). This makes them nigh impossible to take out, especially when you couple it with...

Gaseous beings on Speed - The entire team has 3+ Speed. With the negative to Slambacks, I even find myself using a Dodge on my Guards! Taking out a an Ada-Lorana is ridiculously hard! 

Cards and Dice! - The Glambek Ghosts begin play with a Card and a Coaching dice. Considering their stats, I am not sure this was neccessary, but if you are playing them, it really makes you happy.

Great Strikers - With average Movement, decent Skill, amazing Speed, and Phaser, the Strikers really deserve a specific mention themselves. They are fantastic!


Weaknesses:
How many players? - You only have 6 players to put on the Pitch. When you lose someone, even for only a Rush or two, you feel it. And should someone get lucky, or your dice rebel against you, and you lose more than one player, you game becomes a bit more diffcult.

Damaged - With only one Guard, you don't have much of a bashing game to speak of. If you want that in a team, I would look somewhere else.


MVP Recommendations:

M'Zei Kein - Though it might not intuitive, I think that the best bang for your buck is going to be M'Zei Kein, the Tsudochan MVP. You might be tempted to grab a Buzzcut, or Enforcer, and they would be fine choices, but I think that to completely dominate the Pitch, just add a little Push to the mix. Everyone but the ball carrier will be able to Phase, so we should fix that! With Push, you can clear the Strike Zone, or remove a Threatening player. You can move a Striker that extra hex to allow him to Throw without moving. I really think that utilizing M'Zei Kein for the Push is the way to go. Oh, and he is a Guard with 360 and Grizzled... so there's that too!

Overall: 
The overall themes of the Season Six teams are "practice to perfection" and "utilize your uniqueness". The Ada-Lorana are by far the most forgiving of the season (as long as you keep them alive). The are great at getting into place, Stealing, scoring, and not getting hurt. Honestly, they would be a great team for a player that is fairly new to the game. That is not to say they aren't pretty awesome for a vet to play with... then they are awesome!


Grade:
A-

SIDELINE REPORT: Glambek Ghosts vs Sulentic Shards

I had the good fortune of being able to slip in a game tonight with my buddy, Dan. We both came in wanting to play the Glambek Ghosts, but not wanting to play a mirror-match, Dan grabbed the Sulentic Shards. It was my first time trying out the Ada-Lorana and Dan's first time playing the Crystallans. Two blue plastic teams! Woo hoo!

The Game:

Dan ended up being the home team and set up his Crystallans in a very aggressive formation. He had Jacks and Guards lining the front of his side of the Pitch.

Dan's initial setup.

I counter by setting up my Ada-Lorana way back, and trying to keep as many Strikers out of reach without hampering my ability to go after the ball.

My initial setup.

The Pitch looked like this at the start of the game:

Red - Crystallan Guard, Orange - Crystallan Jack, Dark Blue - Ada-Loana Guard, Light Blue - Ada-Lorana Jack, Green - Ada-Lorana Striker

The first Rush saw Dan's Crystallans work in cooperation to Slam my Jack in the 1-2 point Strike Zone. But the elusive form of the Ada-Lorana Jack proved to be too difficult for the Crystallan Guard, even with a Crystallan Jack Threatening the Ada-Lorana. 

"Why won't this guy die?!?!" - Crystallan Guard

Then one of Dan's Crystallan Jacks grabbed the ball and the first Rush ended. He moved the Ref down toward the action.

On my Rush, I concentrated entirely on scoring. I stole the ball. And tried to throw it in for a 3 point Strike ... and I did... and thus ended the second Rush.

The next Rush, Dan managed the knock out the Jack he was focusing on by getting one of his Crystallans "fully harmonic" (getting all the bonuses from Harmonics). But even then he was only knocked out for 1 Rush. Then Dan grabbed the ball again and it went back to me.

I stole the ball. Then, I believe this was the Rush that I used a Showboat Card doing an Evade in the 3 point Strike Zone and caused the Ball Shatters event - hooray! So, no scoring for me this Rush...

Next Rush, Dan's guys attacked mine. That was the pattern usually. And my guys took it fine. 

Then this was the Rush I missed the goal and the ball scattered... :-( But it scattered right in front of the Striker that had jetted out of the cluster above. 

Ok, so... here's the very short version of the rest of the game. Crystallans try to Slam Ada-Lorana and just can't do it. Ada-Lorana score and win.

Final state of the Pitch.

What Did We Learn:

• The Crystallans NEED to play the defensive game. Even better if you can start second, maybe the best team to be the Visiting team as.
• You have to think not one, not two, but three or four steps ahead when playing as the Crystallans.
• The Ada-Lorana are really fun to play.
• The -1 to the opposing player's Slam, coupled with their 3+ Speed make taking a Ghost out nigh impossible.
• The Movement of 5 and only having 6 players keeps the Ada-Lorana from being too overpowered.
• The Gruba-tek VII Coliseum Pitch is awesome!

PAINTING: Ada Lorana

So, I attempted a similar technique that I used on my Crystallan team on my Ada Lorana team. I was not as happy with the result, and I am definitely going to experiment with completely painting my other team of Ada Lorana, but I am happy enough to put them on the table. It is hard to tell from the pic, but there are subtle shifts in the shades of blue on them.

One thing I did that I did definitely like the result of was painting the different positions a different color. I used Yellow for Strikers, Orange for Jacks and Red for Guards.

I do see that the yellow could use another coat... gotta get to that. 

:-)

TEAM: The Glambek Ghosts (Ada Lorana team - beta)

And yet another team!

http://quirkworthy.com/2015/04/20/the-ada-lorana/