Guild Ball - Makin' Plans!

I've been following a game called Guild Ball for awhile now, since it was first posted on Kickstarter.  I chose not to back it for a couple of reasons, all of which had nothing to really do with Steamforge Games, but rather due to past experience backing games on KS.  Nevertheless, I've been super excited for this game since day 1!  Steamforge Games is a small company based in the UK, so it will take some before the game hits US shores, but I'm having a hard time containing myself!  I may look into buying a ton of stuff and seeing about having it shipped over just to get my hands on it sooner!  It has been a long, long, LONG time since I have been this excited and passionate about a game too, which is really refreshing.  There are a number of reasons why I'm excited, namely, I'm huge soccer fan,  Ive played it all of my life, up to a bit of indoor stuff in college, and it is the one sport I continue to follow to this day.  I'm also a bit of a fan of fantasy sports games, and I find every gamer should have at least one light, fun, sports game in their arsenal, that they can just pull out for a match every now and then.  As I'm sure many of you know, I am an avid planner, and one of the things I like to do when I start posting about a new game is to outline some of my plans.  So, below are just a few of my plans for Guild Ball, as well as showing off some of the teams and minis I like...

The Engineer's Guild...

As some of you may have seen from my short stint into Dreadball, I really enjoying loosely basing my fantasy teams around existing teams, and Guild Ball will be no different!  As of right now, here are some of my initial team plans and bit as to why:

Future SKC themed team?

Planned Teams:

Sporting Kansas City (Butchers) - SKC is my local MLS soccer team, and I am an avid supporter (i.e. an Ultra) and season ticket member.  My first team in Dreadball was SKC themed, and Guild Ball shall be no different.  Now, why the Butchers?  Simple: Barbeque.  KC is known for its BBQ, we even have a silly BBQ chant we do at the games, so it just kind of clicks.  It will also be interesting to see the models done up in "sporting blue" as opposed to the red the are currently displayed in.

I belong at Stamford Bridge!

Chelsea FC (Masons) - My team of choice in the EPL for a couple of seasons now.  Funny story, but when I decided a few years back to try to follow the EPL closely I initially chose a team based off a silly little online quiz.  It came back that I was destined to be a Chelsea supporter, and Ive followed them ever since.  It kind fits too, as my favorite color is blue, and I do have a thing lions.  Not too many people I imagine have picked their team, and loyally followed them, based off a random quiz!  So, why Masons?  Something about the models just fits for me.  Maybe it's the color blue, maybe the armor strikes some "Classical England" feeling in somewhere, maybe its the fact that the models/art have some kind of "premier elegance" to them, I just don't know.  Either way,  a Chelsea theme just fits them to me!

He could fit right into Guild Wars 2!

K-State (Engineers) - Not sure what it is like in your neck of the woods, but here in the midwest college sports is kind of a *thing*.  It's crazy just how serious people out here take college sports, I mean, c'mon, they are not even pros!  But I digress, and I cannot say too much, as I now have fallen into the college trap as well.  Now, I didn't go to K-State, actually, I went to the Kansas City Art Institute, but maybe one day my daughter will go to college there, which is why I'm throwing a lot of support their way.  K-State has a bit more of a rural, agricultural, country background, which coming from a family of farmers and "country folk", it is something I can relate to.  Not to mention a number of engineering programs.  It also looks like an official K-State Soccer team is in the works as well. But wow, talk about going off topic!  *Ahem*  Anyway, thus far, at least aesthetically, the Engineers is probably my favorite team thus far.  I just have a thing for this steam-punk style of building/engineering.  Even my actual artwork has taken on this type of aesthetic, steam-punk, and old automaton vibe.  The brown tones are, while fitting, pretty drab.  I do plan to paint the wooden elements pretty realistically, but as far as the cloth, aprons, etc, I'm planning to do them in K-States, Purple, Silver, and White colors.

Who's the cutest mascot? You are!

Those three teams are what I'm planning to be my initial "Main teams", and as of right now, without playing a game yet, the Engineers are probably my favorites.  I'd also like to find one that fits an AS Roma theme, which is another team I fell in love with during my brief summer in Italy.  Something about some of the union players fits that feeling, with the very Renaissance-esque masks and attire, but it may be a stretch.  Also, the union players can play on other teams as well, so it may be cool to have them painted to match the teams that I may be subbing them in for instead.  Now, I don't plan to stop with just the above mentioned 3-4 teams, I actually do want to collect them all, which brings me to my next set of plans... organized play.

Yet another cool team!

 Yep, it has been a long, long time since I have been so fired up for a game that I'd even considered starting up some sort of organized play.  One of my issues with Dreadball, and honestly, most games anymore, is a lack of local players to play with or organized events.  Ive organized leagues, tournies, and game nights so many, many times in the past, and always end up getting burned, but something about Guild Ball has me willing to risk it once more!  which is why I do plan to collect all the teams at some point, to allow new players the option to jump right in and try the game out, WITH a team that they think they may actually like, or that fits their play style.  Of course,  that will come down the road, after I've finished up my teams of choice first.  Also, if I want to start up some kind of Organized play/League, then I'm going to need to be able to potentially provide pitches to play, several in fact.  There has been talks/pics that they may be making playmats in the near future to go along with the game, but where's the fun in that?  I actually have a couple of ideas for pitches floating around in my head too.  The easiest one, and the one I'll do first will for the Engineers: either using laminate wood flooring pieces, placed together in a 3x3 square, complete with field markings and custom logo in the center, or even just going to the hardware store and picking up a pre-cut 3x3 piece of flooring to use.  For the masons, I may get a cheap "stone-like" counter top to use, again complete with markings and logos, or I may experiment with alternative methods for making something "stone themed".  From there, I can easily make generic pitches, grab a few of the play mats, or just use existing tables at the LGS.  Either way, I'm definitely making a pitch for my Engineers regardless of whatever else I choose.  Then of course, I'll need goal posts as well, and again I have several ideas floating around in my head, which will require some experimenting before I commit to one or the other.

You cannot tell me this guy doesn't look COOL!

And there you have it!  For the sake of those who didn't feel like reading a wall of text, here's the TL;DR of it:
- Super Excited!
- Favorite Team = Engineers.
- Want to start a local League.
- Plans for custom Pitches and Goal posts

As with everything I've been doing lately, don't expect tons of progress right away, these are simply my initial plans, hastily typed out in an excited frenzy.  I've already read through the current rules, downloaded the cards, and would like to get in some trial games as well to start working out any potential rules questions so I can dive right in once I get my hands on the models.  If you have not done so, check out the Guild Ball website HERE, where you can download the rules, cards, and paper proxies, and try the game out for yourselves!  And of course, I'll keep you updated along the way...

See you on the pitch!
-WuhSawBe-