SPONSOR SPECIALTIES: Thinking about overall strategy... BASHY TEAM (Part Two)

Let's talk about some Groups for a Sponsor wanting to building a team for crackin' some heads!

A tool I use every time I begin to construct a Sponsor for a team is a little spreadsheet I made for just this type of application:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wL9uBdE06CwtfcvVORn63nymCzVjkfEkzDF39TI4zSA/

Feel free to copy it and paste it into your own spreadsheet where you can easily manipulate it using filters.

Below is a typical systematic process that approximates the way I would build a bashy team.*

With a Sponsor for a Bashy team looking for first and foremost great Guards, I thought that the Group "Guard" would be a perfect place to start. In Guard, you have the following players:

Ada-Lorana Guard

Crystallan Guard

Brokkr Guard

Trontek Guard

Marauder Guard

Jetari GL14 “Brawler”

The Enforcer

Grak

John Doe

Yurik Yurikson

That is a pretty decent start. I mean, you've got some of the classic choices in there for Guards: Marauder Guard, Trontek Guard, The Enforcer, John Doe, Grak! That is a nice place to have some options from. Now, keep in mind that this is just filtered for "Guard", meaning that if you took the Group "Guard", these would be guaranteed to be Allies, but not Friends yet. So, like I said, this is a good place to start.

What would be another trait that Guards that like to beat people up might have? How about "Vicious"? Well, the "Vicious" Group is a much longer list...

Asterian Guard

Kalyshi Jack

Convict Guard

Forge Father Guard

Hulk Guard

Void Siren Guard

Koris Guard

Kovossian Guard

Martian Guard

Martian Jack

Martian Striker

Nameless Guard (Hard)

Rebs Rin Guard

Teraton Guard

Veer-myn Guard

Z'zor Guard

Nameless Bloodsucker

Barricade (GIANT)

Iron Ancestor (GIANT)

Asylum

Buzzcut

Crypt

Dozer (GIANT)

The Enforcer

M’zei Kein

There we go! Now we are pulling in some of the meanest and most brutal players in all of Dreadball. In "Vicious" we have Buzzcut, Nameless Guard (Hard), a few GIANTs, and hey, there The Enforcer again! But, other than the Enforcer, there seems to be no overlap with "Guard". 

Let's go a little more hardcore than "Vicious" though, let's try "Psycho":

Hulk Guard

Marauder Guard

Pusk Rampager

Buzzcut

Grak

Mellisandra

Nightshade

Reek Rolat

Tycho Brahe

Now we're talking! We have a nice bit of "Vicious" and "Guard" overlap with "Psycho". And what's better is that they are all three in different columns on the Groups chart! So, let's put those three down as our starting three Groups for our Sponsor.

What could we do next?

"Hunter"?

Koris Guard

Sphyr Guard

Avaran Treebeast

Pusk Rampager

Alpha Simian (GIANT)

Nameless Spawn (GIANT)

Sann-gar (GIANT)

A’Teo Adysi

Reek Rolat

Eh... not really feeling "Hunter". What about "Convict"? Surly there are some bad characters in the prison system!

Convict Guard

Convict Jack

Convict Striker

Asylum

‘Brickbat’ Vognar

Lyra the Fixer

Well, I suppose those are decent choices. Maybe we can put that in our back pocket for later. How about a more broad category that might allow for some overlap and cool flavor, how about "Alien"?

Crystallan Jack

Koris Jack

Martian Guard

Martian Jack

Martian Striker

Nameless Guard (Sticky)

Nameless Guard (Hard)

Nameless Striker

Rebs Sorak Jack

Sphyr Striker

Teraton Guard

Teraton Jack

Tsudochan Jack

Nameless Bloodsucker

Vlorox Spinpede

Yndij Reaver S

Alpha Simian (GIANT)

Chovar (GIANT)

Nameless Spawn (GIANT)

Irsala

John Doe

Kryphos

Ludwig

Schnörkel

There we go! So, let's see what we have so far:

Alien (Column A), Psycho (Column B), Guard (Column C), Vicious (Column D)... what about Column E? Well, there's Greedy, Hunter, Pirate, Outcast, Weird Science and Machine-Mind. So, really at this point it is mostly about flavor and taste. Me? Well, I would go with "Weird Science". Why you might ask? Well, with our other Group choices, it give me these guys as Friends:

Martian Guard

Martian Jack

Martian Striker

Tsudochan Jack

And I am a huge Martian fan, especially in DBX where they all have guns! And oh course, paying 7 MC for a pseudo-telekinetic (Tsudochan) is a steal!

Now, let's make the team... in Part Three...


* I wanted to mention that one thing I will not be taking into account, in this entry at least, is the League Option for a Sponsor to "Buy Group" at the beginning of a match. This is an incredibly powerful option an tool at a League Sponsor's disposal. I really do think this option should only be used in League play too (as in the Rulebook). In one-off games, it could be a very unbalanced power-gamer option that could make the experience just not fun for the opposing Sponsor. In a League, it is a great tool for underdog Sponsors who might not have chosen their groups wisely.

SPONSOR SPECIALTIES: Thinking about overall strategy... BASHY TEAM (Part One)

With a new blog series I am calling "Sponsor Specialties", I will be exploring some things to consider when creating and growing your Sponsor in Dreadball Xtreme. I hope this is an interesting and engaging exploration of this topic and welcome thoughts, feedback, or any constructive critism on the series.

Let's begin now...

HOW DO YOU WANT TO PLAY?:

Even more than in Dreadball Original, Dreadball Xtreme caters to an individal's style of play. Whether you like a fast team with a high potential for scoring, or you like to play a team that crushes your opponent into food for space worms, or perhaps a balanced approach is more your style, DBX can be a lot of fun to play.

So, first ask yourself, what type of team do I like/am I best with/would like to experiment with? 

Then I would actually delve a little deeper into your desire than the cursory thought of the overall team strategic makeup.

Today, I would like to explore the thought process behind playing the...



Bashy Team

• Would you rather have one or two super strong players and back them up? This focus has pluses and minuses. You are putting your eggs in one basket, but it is a monster of a basket! A Hulk backed up by a couple of players with Gotcha! can be hard to stop. A Giant smashing through the enemy lines with a few Hobgoblins can be devastating. There is little to no subtly in this setup, but who cares! This is about taking one or two powerful Guards (maybe a powerful Jack?) and wrecking face! The drawback is glaringly obvious, if that player gets taken out, well, I guess don't let that happen. :-)

• Do you want to play a team where basically everyone is capable of hurting the other side? It is possible to play a team where every player has the potential to take down the other team. If you focus strictly on Jacks and Guards, then you can do this. In DBX, this is a perfectly viable concept. With the emphasis on the Nasty Surprise cards and hurting the other team, coupled with the ability to Dunk, there is no reason you can't go this route.

• Is the idea of racially-focused team of muscled Guards appealing to you? Perhaps you are thinking, "I want an Orx-centric team!" or "Nameless Hard Guards are too awesome, I need a few of them!", then go for it! When thinking about your bashy team, if one type of race is speaking to you, then use that as your focus. It can be a very good starting point. Through in some guys that can score with your team and go for it!

• Like the way your team crushes you opponents in DBO, and want to play that team that you already know and love? Fantastic idea! And of course, the back of the DBX Players Manual has rules for exactly that! This is an interesting choice for a starting DBX player, transitioning from DBO, or a veteran that would like to try out something different. I also really like the idea of constructing a narrative around a League where you start with a DBO team, and as a Sponsor, you learn to stretch out and grow from there.

• Surprisingly your opponent with loses he did not see coming your style? Bashy does not have to mean hitting someone over the head... ok, technically, I think it does, but playing to murder-death-kill the opposing teams players does not have to be obvious to them. Maybe you would like to utilize abilities like Ram, Push, and Feint to direct your opponent to places they did not want to go-beside a crate, with their back to one of your players, into a Threat hex of two of your team? Or perhaps, you work on setting the Backstab? Maybe you like to use Runaround to double up on someone before you Slam them? These tactics are surprisingly "bashy" and focusing on them can make for a fun, if quirky, Bashy Team.

• I only want to CRUSH MY OPPONENT!!! Well, actually, your could play the hard-nosed, full-on, just-Guard Kill Squad, but it is risky! Without at least one person to score for you, you might be at the mercy of the "clock". You can of course do this, and it might be loads of fun, but don't expect it to work every time, or even usually. A few bad dice rolls and you might be looking at a sad Pitch with less blood on it than you wanted. Having warned you though, if you injure everyone on the Pitch, you win, so... what the heck, if it's your thing, go for it!

Next installment, Choosing Groups for the Bashy Team...