Guild Ball: Kristiania Tiger Cup - March

We had yet another Guild Ball tournament today at Outland! Eight players showed up from nearby cities - two from Kongsberg and one from Gjøvik. Very nice to see more Guild Ball players popping up in Norway!

My plan this time was to try out Corsair as much as possible. Corsair got nerfed by losing access to Avarisse & Greede, which makes his list punch a lot less hard. I think this was a good change. I found the previous list overpowered and rather dull. I did have time for a couple of games with him earlier in the week (been too busy for match reports - sorry), and while the new list is probably a bit less powerful overall, Corsair is still very good, and it is certainly a hell of lot more fun to play.

I had played around with some different list options, and ended up with this roster:

Fishermen

Corsair
Shark
Salt
Tentacles
Angel
Greyscales
Hag
Jac
Siren
Gutter (Union)

Shark

Shark - Salt/Tentacles - Angel - Greyscales - Hag - Siren

More or less the Shark list I have been playing, but trying out Angel instead of Sakana. Three strikers, Siren for ball grabbing, Hag for the extra threat, and Salt or Tentacles depending on the enemy team.

Corsair

Corsair - Tentacles - Angel - Hag - Siren - Jac/Gutter

My plan would be to put Angel, preferably in cover, within 8" of the enemy goal, get the ball off the opposing team with Angel and Corsair, and then use her to snap shot in the goals.


If the stars are right, you can get:

Angel (4/8")
Angel's Super Shot (+1/+2")
Corsair's One Leg Stance (+1/+2")
Keep The Ball Moving (+1/0)
Bonus Time

For a total of 8 dice, that is 96.5% chance to score snap shots at 12" range. :D

Of course that combo does not happen every game, but it does not require much setup (Activate Angel, use Super Shot + Nimble, snap shot with bonus time) to get to 6 dice and a pretty decent 89.1% chance to score. It's better odds than a 3 dice kick!

I would use Gutter if I played an opponent where getting several takeouts seemed fairly likely. and Jac against tankier lists where it is useful to control and break up the scrum by pushing away key opposing pieces.

Games

Game #1: Corsair vs Ferrite
Game #2: Corsair vs Honour
Game #3: Corsair vs Honour
Game #4: Corsair vs Tapper

Guild Ball (#51): BonesCon 2018 Match 5: Shark vs Obulus

The last match of the tournament is against Eleonora, who is playing for the Swiss WTC team. I go for a pure scoring team with Shark. Salt is a pretty good ball carrier here, since his kick is a very short 4". It's hard for Obulus to get the ball of him reliably.

Fishermen

Shark
Salt
Greyscales
Hag
Sakana
Siren

Morticians

Really heavy takeout team, so I will just have to try to survive long enough to score my three goals.

Obulus
Dirge
Casket
Cosset
Graves
Brainpan & Memory

Round 1

Obulus kicks off.


Shark: 6, Salt: 1, Greyscales: 1Hag: 1, Sakana: 1, Siren: 3


Siren has 3 so that I have the possibility of getting the ball back if it gets stolen.

I get the ball over to Salt. Sakana gets pulled in by Obulus. Shark is able to get the first goal. 4-0 to the Fishermen!

Round 2

Shark: 6, Salt: 1, Greyscales: 4, Hag: 1, Sakana: 1, Siren: 1

There is a lot of ball killing and general milling about. No-one scores anything.

Round 3

Shark: 6, Salt: 1, Greyscales: 4, Hag: 0, Sakana: 0, Siren: 3

Greyscales gets the second goal. Both Sakana and Shark are taken out, those Morticians hit pretty hard! Memory scores. It's an even 8-8!

Round 4

Shark: 6, Salt: 1, Greyscales: 4, Hag: 0, Sakana: 0, Siren: 3

I get the ball off Brainpan, and kick it up the field. Greyscales grabs it and gets his second goal of the match!

The match ends 12-8 to the Fishermen, pretty close game! The tournament is over, I place 7th out of 25 players, which I am very happy with!

Guild Ball (#49): BonesCon 2018 Match 3: Shark vs Midas

For the next match I get a visiting Swedish player living in Switzerland, Hendrik. He takes Midas, and I take Shark, so this will for sure be a game with a lot of football!

His Longshanks info was chock full of typos and incorrect information, so let him now forever be known as Hemrik the Brit.

Fishermen

I switch out Tentacles for Salt, since I suspect this game will be all about the scoring. Salt is a great ball carrier!

Shark
Salt
Greyscales
Hag
Sakana
Siren

Alchemists

Midas
Naja
Compound
Hemlocke (my own Hemlocke model, actually!)
Mercury
Virtial

Round 1

Midas kicks off.

Shark: 6, Salt: 2, Greyscales: 1, Hag: 1, Siren: 1, Sakana: 2

Compound makes a good job blocking me off, and the balls is also stolen off me by Midas and passed up to Vitriol, so I am unable to make my first turn goal. I rather build some momentum and get Shark into position.

Round 2


Shark: 6, Salt: 2, Greyscales: 2, Hag: 0, Siren: 3, Sakana: 2

The plan is to start with Shark, and then use Siren to try to retrieve the ball again later in the turn.

Shark scores. I then have a pretty funny play with Hag, using her legendary to trap Midas in between the shed, Hag and Sakana.

Siren grabs the ball with her wily charms, and gets into a good position for the next turn.

Round 3

Shark: 6, Salt: 0, Greyscales: 4, Hag: 0, Sakana: 1, Siren: 3

Siren moves up and scores, 8-0 to the Fishermen!


My Hag play from last turn actually worked. Hemdrik the Brit has some poor dice rolls and is unable to get Midas out to retrieve the ball and score.

Greyscales is then able to retrieve the ball and gets it up to Shark, who taps it in. A perfect 12-0!

Hemrik the Brit had some terrible dice rolls in there. I, however, am quite happy with how the match went. 2-1 in the tournament so far! Next match it's the Corsair mirror, hope it won't be a drag (ahem).

Guild Ball (#47): BonesCon 2018 Match 1: Shark vs Theron

Tournament time! The first game of the day is Shark vs Theron, piloted by Graham. Super nice guy, we had a very good time!

Fishermen

Shark (Captain)
Tentacles (Mascot)
Greyscales
Hag
Sakana
Siren

Hunters

Theron
Fahad
Egret
Hearne
Jaecar
Ulfr

Round 1

Shark: 6, Tentacles: 2, Greyscales: 2, Hag: 0, Sakana: 2, Siren: 1

Egret's kick is a miskick so I get to place the ball on Greyscales.

Shark is pretty hard to block off, so he bounces off Hearne and lands the first goal. 4-0 to the Fishermen! Ulfr is the last to activate so he grabs the ball and moves up.

Round 2

Shark: 6, Tentacles: 1, Greyscales: 4, Hag: 1 Sakana: 3, Siren: 1

I intend to either peel the ball of Ulfr, or let him score and then pass it up to Shark.

Ulfr first measures up to Greyscales, but I remind him about the unpredictable. So he bounces off Tentacles instead and scores. 4-4. Theron beats up Siren and it's 4-6 to the Hunters. The ball is passed up to Sakana and he scores, 8-6 to the Fishermen. Egret takes out Hag. The ball is kicked down the field and ends up with Fahad.

Round 3

Shark: 6, Tentacles: 1, Greyscales: 4, Hag: 0, Sakana: 4, Siren: 0

I just need that last goal. Siren and Hag deploys into melee with Fahad. Greyscales takes the ball off Fahad and kicks it up the field. Hearne makes a valiant attempt to get the ball but with both Shark and Sakana there it's pretty much game.

Sharks taps the ball in, and it's 12-8 to the Fishermen!

First game win, the best start to any tournament! Next match, Hammer time.

Bonescon 2018: Friday Regional Cup

The Friday tournament consisted of 25 player, with Fishermen being the most popular (5 players). I know the Brits happen to be pretty good at this game, and the Norwegian scene is mostly pretty new, so I was expecting heavy resistance. I had also been caught up playing mostly Through the Ages the last couple of months, instead of getting in my reps.

I was hoping for maybe going even, playing some of the high ranked players, and pick up some clever tactics!

There were several players from Switzerland, and me as the lone Norwegian.

My lineup was:

Corsair
Shark
Salt
Tentacles
Greyscales
Hag
Sakana
Siren
Veteran Siren
Avarisse & Greede

Match 1: Shark vs Theron
Match 2: Corsair vs Hammer
Match 3: Shark vs Midas
Match 4: Corsair vs Corsair
Match 5: Shark vs Obulus

Tournament results on Longshanks

Early in the morning, this place is going to be full soon!

Guild Ball (#45): Shark vs Theron - Video Match Report

I have played my first video recorded match at the STF studios! This is a grudge match, Andreas was the only one to beat me in the last tournament, and now I have another go ith Shark versus Theron.

For once, I don't have to write a battle report! :D

If you support STF, then you can see - among hundreds of other videos - how it goes when I try Corsair versus Theron afterwards. Patrons only!


 

Guild Ball (#44): Shark vs Thresher

Shane Wattie and Alex Botts have been doing extremely well with Thresher at SteamCon US, so I thought that I should better play against this list and see what it is all about. Alexander borrowed my Farmers, and I brought Shark. This is the first time Alexander is piloting this list.

Fishermen

Shark (Captain)
Tentacles (Mascot)
Greyscales
Hag
Sakana
Siren

Farmers

Thresher (Captain)
Peck (Mascot)
Harrow
Jackstraw
Millstone
Tater


Quick breakdown of the Thresher list:

Thresher with Tooled Up from Harrow does momentous 3 damage on 2 hits, which in addition with the free 3 auto damage ability allows him to easily delete most models within 11". Millstone adds another 2" to the threat range. What he really wants to do is build a lot of momentum by going last, and then going first next turn, hopefully taking out 2 models.

Peck can use Cocky on Millstone so that anyone within Millstone can ignore the first two conditions.

Tater has Countercharge and can be used to protect the other pieces.

Jackstraw makes extra harvest markers and is also a good ball holder.

Farmers kick off (with Thresher, of course, for extra threat range).

Turn 1

Shark: 6, Tentacles: 1, Greyscales: 2, Hag: 1, Sakana: 1, Siren: 2

My plan here is to pass the ball back and forth and do a first turn goal with Shark.

Which Shark does just fine! 5 dice tap in. The ball is passed up to Thresher.

Then Thresher activates. The Farmers have blundered here by not having Jackstraw move up to place a harvest marker for Thresher. Still, a Tooled Up Thresher deals 14 damage to Sakana, leaving him at a single hit point. Sakana's free Poised Counterattack is useless since Thresher has 3" melee range during his activation.

Turn 2

My plan here is to grab the ball, pass it up on the right side, and score again. I cannot use Sakana, since he will die to Thresher's counterattack. I am at +3 momentum and win the roll off.

Shark: 4, Tentacles: 1, Greyscales: 3, Hag: 3, Sakana: 0, Siren: 3,

I get the ball off Thresher with Hag, who passes it to Siren.

I manage to pull it off. 8-2 to the Fishermen!

The ball is passed up to Thresher. Tentacles blinds Thresher. Thresher kills Tentacles and scores. 8-7 to the Fishermen. Tater knocks down Shark, leaving him at about half health.

Turn 3

Shark is knocked down and hurt so much that he risks dying to a Tater charge. I win initiative at +1 momentum, so at least I get to use him.

Shark: 6, Tentacles: 2, Greyscales: 4, Hag: 0, Sakana: 0, Siren: 3,

I activate Shark first to build five momentum and use Caught in the Net to make it hard for Tater stop my next goal. I also use Fast Feet (?) on Greyscales to make it easier for him to tap in.

The plan is to use Siren to pass the ball to Greyscales, who should then be able to just scoot up and score.

It works out perfectly. The cock is protecting the goal, so I need a single 4+ on 4 dice. Greyscales taps it in, for the win!

Sakana was also taken out again. Final score 12-9 to the Fishermen.

Post Mortem

This was pretty difficult. Usually I can make my opponent work really hard for the takeouts, but Thresher can just delete models at will. Alexander had not played this list before at all, and naturally he made several positioning mistakes. Also, everything I tried worked all game. Usually something blows up with all the passing and kicking and attacks.

Even so, this is one of the roughest Shark games I have played so far. If the Farmers had simply tried to kill the ball and do four takeouts, and then score, I think this would have been difficult for me to win. I might have won this one, but my estimate is that Thresher is up here. I must try out Corsair versus Thresher, and see how that plays out!

Guild Ball (#41): Oslo November Cup - Shark vs Veteran Rage (4/4)

After the narrow loss against the Hunters, I am happy to be facing our visiting player from Bergen! Kim brought his Veteran Rage (his only captain choice). Kim is the second highest rated player in Norway. Well, at least my Strength of Schedule will be high... :D

Fishermen

Shark (Captain)
Tentacles (Mascot)
Greyscales
Hag
Sakana
Siren

Union

Veteran Rage
Strongbox
Benediction
Decimate
Gutter
Snakeskin

This time, I get to kick off. I use Shark, since he is the most likely to peel the ball of the Union. I place him just outside the Union threat ranges.

Turn 1

Shark: 6, Tentacles: 1, Greyscales: 2, Hag: 0, Sakana: 1, Siren: 3

Union plays a really good game of preventing me from getting Shark into his face, hiding it with Gutter beghind his lines before passing it to Snakeskin who goes into cover and uses Clone. I am therefore unable to find a good vector, so I rather spend the last activation with Shark getting 5 momentum to set up the next turn.

Turn 2

Shark: 6, Tentacles: 1, Greyscales: 2, Hag: 0, Sakana: 1, Siren: 3

I expect to score with Shark, and Siren got 3 to maybe peel the ball of the Union again afterwards.

Shark scores, and then Decimate is pretty unlucky and fails to score at 3 dice. The ball goes far away to the right of the goalpost. 4-0 to the Fishermen!

Rage is blinded and he has to spend his activation building some momentum with Benediction.

Turn 3

Shark is in bit of a bind, crowded out by Snakeskin and Gutter.

Shark: 4, Tentacles: 1, Greyscales: 4, Hag: 0, Sakana: 2, Siren: 3

I fail to disentangle Shark. I just just have used a Tidal Surge and Dodge, but I decided to be cute and build momentum with dodges, A counterattack by Gutter pulled me in again, and then I could not get out. They still failed to kill Shark, leaving him at 3 hit points.

The rest of the turn was spend getting the ball and moving it up to Sakana.

I am quite happy with my position here, the Union players are spread all over the pitch, which removes a lot of their synergies. My Fishermen of course are not bothered much by being spread out.

Turn 4

Shark: 1, Tentacles: 1, Greyscales: 4, Hag: 1, Sakana: 4, Siren: 3 

Gutter seals the deal on Shark, and he is taken out. 8-2 to the Fishermen!

Rage has moved in to make it harder for Sakana score the goal, but Rage is unable to take him out. He is left at 6 hit points, and is able to disentangle himself and score.

The ball is kicked up to Gutter, and Greyscales moves up to try to get it. He gets the ball but is unable to score. Snakeskin and Gutter go base to base to try to lock him down.

Turn 5

I have half a minute left on the clock!

I activate Greyscales, who dodges out, hits Gutter for momentum, dodges again and scores! 12-2 to the Fishermen!

Post Mortem

The score does not at all show how hard fought the match was. Kim was great at positioning and making things difficult for me, causing me to waste a lot of time on the clock. He was quite unlucky with the Decimate goal failing, if he had had it he could have tried to get another takeout, hide the ball, and end the match with a goal.

I need more experience with the Fishermen to be able to calculate the threats and goal runs faster! I seem to spend maybe 15 minutes on the first rounds if there is a goal threat, and I really should be able to do it in 5, and avoid the time pressure at the end.

A very fun game! On to the prizes and final standings!

Guild Ball (#40): Oslo November Cup - Shark vs Theron (3/4)

The next game is versus Pundit Andreas, who is bringing Theron and the bear. Andreas is currently the top ranked Guild Ball player in Norway, so this is sure going to be hard. Turns out Andreas has actually never played against the Fishermen!

Fishermen

Shark (Captain)
Tentacles (Mascot)
Greyscales
Hag
Sakana
Siren

Hunters

Theron (Captain)
Fahad (Mascot)
Chaska
Jaecar
Minx
Seenah

Sorry about the lack of pictures. The game got quite tense and I really had to focus!

Turn 1

The bear kicks off.

Seenah did not know about unpredictable, I let him get a take back and go base to base. Greyscales is eaten up by a hungry bear.

Shark scores with the final activation. 4-2 to the Fishermen!

Turn 2

Tentacles and Siren are gobbled up, one of them with a Bear Hug. 6-4 to the Hunters! Shark is able to retrieve the ball and score again. 8-6 to the Fishermen!

Turn 3

I had forgotten about the Boom Box ability. Shark is pushed off the pitch! Sakana is bear food. 10-8 o the Hunters!

I am unable to score another goal before Greyscales is taken out again The Hunters ended up with 6 takeouts! This is the first time my Shark team has been totally gutted and stringed. 

Post Mortem

This is one matchup where I think it might have been a good idea to draft Veteran Siren instead of Siren. Having a very hard to kill player to block off Seenah could make things a lot worse for the Hunters here.

Playing new teams and models always gets a bit random. I learned how dangerous Seenah is, and I think that in this matchup a very important part is to delay him killing me so that I get time to score my three goals. Better knowledge of threat ranges is key, and deliberately placing models so that Seenah has to waste a turn running back after a kill might be a viable strategy.

My biggest single mistake this game was probably giving a critical takeback at the very beginning of the game, setting off a steamroll of Seenah eating my models. I probably should have said no! It's always a bit hard to know when to allow it, and when to not. Generally I think games are more interesting when there are fewer mistakes and gotcha moments, though... anyway it was my decision alone, and I did what I did.

I also need to play a bit faster! I was down a lot on the clock as well.
For the last match, I meet The Union!

Guild Ball (#39): Oslo November Cup - Shark vs Skatha (2/4)

My first every game against the Hunters. I have been reading the cards, but it is not easy to figure out how they play without seeing them in action, so I don't really know what to expect! Gaspard is piloting the Hunters.

Fishermen

Andreas had grabbed the mascot spot prize, so Tentacles is swapped in.


Shark (Captain)
Tentacles (Mascot)
Greyscales
Hag
Sakana
Siren

Hunters

Skatha
Fahad
Egret
Veteran Hearne
Jaecar
Seenah


I get Field Dressing, Who are Ya? and Wingback. Seems like a pretty nice set with Shark!

I win the roll, and Jaecar kicks off.

Round 1

Shark: 6, Tentacles: 1, Greyscales: 2, Hag: 0, Sakana: 1, Siren: 3

I forgot to take some pictures, but basically Shark does what he should do, and scores the goal.

Turn 2

There is some fighting back and forth, no-one scores and there are no takeouts. Shark builds a ton of momentum with his activation. I grab the ball and it ends up with Greyscales. I win the initiative.

Turn 3

Shark: 6, Tentacles: 1, Greyscales: 4, Hag: 0, Sakana: 3, Siren: 0

Greyscales is in a great position here. He activates first, bounces off Jaecar and lands the goal.

The ball is kicked up to Egret, who scores for the Hunters!

My goal kick then goes up to Shark, who charges up, bounces off Veteran Hearne, and lands the final goal. 12-4 to the Fishermen!

Post Mortem

The Hunters have lots of tricks, but they were unable to stop me from getting the ball. Quite interesting and unusual guild, for sure!

I forgot to use my Plot Cards. They are so hard to remember...

2-0 now in the tournament. For the next match I will fetch top ranked Norwegian player Andreas, also playing Hunters!

Guild Ball (#38): Oslo November Cup - Shark vs Honour (1/4)

In the first round I meet Manuel, who gave me a good fight in the same matchup a few days ago.

Fishermen

Shark (Captain)
Salt (Mascot)
Greyscales
Hag
Sakana
Siren

Masons

Honour
Marbles
Brick
Chisel
Flint
Mallet


I felt fairly confident going in, I have all the tools to get the ball off the Masons, and they will have a hard time making many takeouts with this list against me. However, Manuel is a strong player, he positions well, so if I make any mistakes he will certainly punish me for it.


I am lucky - Mallet does an agressive kick that fails. The ball is placed on Salt.

Turn 1

Shark: 6, Salt: 1, Greyscales: 2, Hag: 1, Sakana: 1, Siren: 3

Honour: 6, Marbles: 0, Brick: 1, Chisel: 1, Flint: 1, Mallet: 3, 

The plan here is to pass the ball, let it end up with Shark, and use the Hag and Shark's threat to score a first turn goal.

It works like a charm. Shark runs around Chisel and engages Marbles. The Masons had misplaced slightly, so Brick could not counter charge between Marbles and Flint. Then I built momentum and scored, ending with a Knee Slider out.

The Masons were on the ball, though (heh)... Honour kicked the ball to Mallet and gave him a double activation. He also scored. 4-4!

I kicked the ball to the left so that Sakana could grab it. The plan is to pass it up to Greyscales and score.

Turn 2

Shark: 4, Salt: 1, Greyscales: 4, Hag: 0, Sakana: 2, Siren: 3

Honour: 6, Marbles: 1, Brick: 1, Chisel: 1, Flint: 0, Mallet: 3

Siren is taken out. The Masons are kind enough to try to place Brick in the way of Greyscales, giving me a prefect target to dodge off on my goal run. Score! 8-6 to the Fishermen.

The ball is passed up to Harmony. Shark builds momentum and dodges towards the center of the pitch. I win the initiative, giving me good chances...

Turn 3

Shark: 6, Salt: 0, Greyscales: 4, Hag: 1, Sakana: 4, Siren: 0

Honour: 6, Marbles: 1, Brick: 1, Chisel: 1, Flint: 0, Mallet: 3

Sakana runs around the building and grabs the ball off Harmony, kicking it into space near Greyscales. No-one can stop Greyscales from getting the ball and tapping it in.

12-6 to the Fishermen!

Post Mortem

Things went pretty much as planned during this game. It really is quite hard for the Masons to keep the ball here! The counter-attack bubbles are pretty annoying, but of course the Fishermen are fast enough that they can often often dodge or run into melee, and then dodge or run out again.


Next round is against the Hunters!