Yesterday I had a chance to pit my newly-minted Etherian Horde robot team up against the Snake Mountain Smashers Orx/Goblin team in a game of Dreadball. William was coaching the Smashers, who were sitting at a whopping 145mc team value from their experience in the Trilogy league this spring. My Horde were at their starting 100mc, which gave them four rolls on the free agent table netting them two human strikers, an Orx guard and a Forge Father guard.
The Smashers started the game with home advantage and the punishment followed quick and painfully. My robots went from new and shiny to dented and decapitated in short order. They couldn't transform, or when they were successful simply got hammered back to the pitch, or knocked into the sin bin.
At one point near the 3/4 mark of the game I had two dead robots, and only two players on the pitch...neither of whom were robot players. Without my human striker (lucky #7) in there scoring points I certainly would have been out of the game near the half.
The score bounced around a bit because I started the game wanting to use my robots as much as possible. Against the extremely smashy Orx it rapidly became clear to me that my free agents would be the only way I could hope to compete. Once I made the adjustment I scored a quick two points, followed by a two point swing in favour of the Orx. However once I was set up offensively I was able to push a landslide victory of 7 (thanks to human striker number 7 exclusively!) on my final rush.
Since we treated it as a league game, we tallied up all the experience and damage. The Smashers guard 03 racked up a whopping FIVE experience points, which put him into rank 4, with 3 points left over. The Horde suffered rather badly, losing two players. However, rolling 7 income dice they netted a hefty 35mc to help them recover.
I lost two players: 02 and 03. One was revived on the cheap and suffered minor brain (hard drive) damage and now has a skill of 5+. The other was simply recycled for 5mc and replaced. With the left over income I purchased a second card and second coaching die. If the Horde can make some more income in their next game I'll be considering adding a seventh player to the roster
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Over lunch break I gathered a few co-workers and we fired up a game of Big League NHL Manager. The game sounds silly, and looks a lot like a version of Monopoly, but is honestly a lot of fun with the right players. In the interest of time we played to three match wins instead of five.
A lot of wheeling and dealing happened early in the game, with all the GMs vying for the strongest starting line-up. We had some crazy rosters arise out of those deals, and a few quick matches played to get things rolling. The game went without any matches for quite a while, but the GMs continued dealing feverishly, with the salary cap becoming an issue for most, and the bargains becoming fewer. The agreements grew more and more cut-throat as well.
All the GMs were up to two wins each for their teams, and it came down to whoever played the next match. That ended up being Wally's Edmonton Oilers vs my Florida Panthers. Wally started the game with a solid lead and hammered me 11 to 8 to take the match, and win the game!
The Smashers started the game with home advantage and the punishment followed quick and painfully. My robots went from new and shiny to dented and decapitated in short order. They couldn't transform, or when they were successful simply got hammered back to the pitch, or knocked into the sin bin.
Whoa it's getting crowded in here!
At one point near the 3/4 mark of the game I had two dead robots, and only two players on the pitch...neither of whom were robot players. Without my human striker (lucky #7) in there scoring points I certainly would have been out of the game near the half.
The score bounced around a bit because I started the game wanting to use my robots as much as possible. Against the extremely smashy Orx it rapidly became clear to me that my free agents would be the only way I could hope to compete. Once I made the adjustment I scored a quick two points, followed by a two point swing in favour of the Orx. However once I was set up offensively I was able to push a landslide victory of 7 (thanks to human striker number 7 exclusively!) on my final rush.
A shocking landslide victory!
Since we treated it as a league game, we tallied up all the experience and damage. The Smashers guard 03 racked up a whopping FIVE experience points, which put him into rank 4, with 3 points left over. The Horde suffered rather badly, losing two players. However, rolling 7 income dice they netted a hefty 35mc to help them recover.
I lost two players: 02 and 03. One was revived on the cheap and suffered minor brain (hard drive) damage and now has a skill of 5+. The other was simply recycled for 5mc and replaced. With the left over income I purchased a second card and second coaching die. If the Horde can make some more income in their next game I'll be considering adding a seventh player to the roster
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Over lunch break I gathered a few co-workers and we fired up a game of Big League NHL Manager. The game sounds silly, and looks a lot like a version of Monopoly, but is honestly a lot of fun with the right players. In the interest of time we played to three match wins instead of five.
A lot of wheeling and dealing happened early in the game, with all the GMs vying for the strongest starting line-up. We had some crazy rosters arise out of those deals, and a few quick matches played to get things rolling. The game went without any matches for quite a while, but the GMs continued dealing feverishly, with the salary cap becoming an issue for most, and the bargains becoming fewer. The agreements grew more and more cut-throat as well.
All the GMs were up to two wins each for their teams, and it came down to whoever played the next match. That ended up being Wally's Edmonton Oilers vs my Florida Panthers. Wally started the game with a solid lead and hammered me 11 to 8 to take the match, and win the game!
Bargaining GMs
Comments
The hockey management game is definitely not for everyone. But I enjoy it.