CDBL Season 3 Regular Season Play Wraps Up

Last night we played the final game of the regular season for the Calgary Dreadball League. It had taken a few tries to get the game scheduled, but we finally did it and had a top-notch, down-to-the wire game of epic proportions play itself out on the table top.

Lair's "Mistakonic University Elite" was up against my "Berserker Island Beasts." With my team holding a 3-0 record, Lair could essentially decide who would take 1st place and earn a bye into the championship game. Orrin's "Rinberg Rallarat Rebellion" held a 3-1 record and a whopping 9 league points, so if I were to lose he would take first place.

I ended up as the visiting team and we kicked off. There was little in the way of scoring through the first 10 rushes, with the nameless guards really locking me down. Two of my guards were put out for a few turns. The high speed of my Veer-myn saved many of them from certain death, but mid-game the sheer number of dice I was losing in tests ended up with two of my strikers being killed.

In the 11th rush the MUE were able to score a 3-point strike and put me in a seriously tough spot, needing to score 4 points to win. In the 12th rush I was able to get into position for a strike attempt but failed, and in doing so left my 3-point zone unguarded. Some very good luck for me (or bad if you're Lair), resulted in a failed 3-point strike attempt by one of his strikers in the 13th.

"Bottom of the 13th, down by 3..."

Lair's recap of the 14th rush makes it sound way better than I ever could, so here's a little guest commentary on the end of the game.

"That was an epic game. In the final rush the [Veer-myn] striker in his own end Run action to evade (-2 dice) away from the tentacled grasp of my guard. Grab the ball (-3 dice) Doubles the pick up (5+)  Evades again, runs and throws a 9 distance pass with two success (5+) The receiving striker despite being in the threat hex of my guard. Doubles the catch on two dice, evades and twists into the 4 point strike hex. Two dice (5+) then scores three success to showboat to victory by 1.

Great end to a really good match. Congrats Charles on heading to the finals of season three. I was a little in shock it worked, but it was awesome (even though I was on the wrong side of the dice). "

In the first game of the season I had tried to make a pass early on and it failed spectacularly. After that I realized that skill 5+ does not make for good passing plays. With several of the other teams I've played with, passing was a frequent tactic for me to use. With this game I was sure that the Nameless had the game all sewn up, but when the striker missed on his 3-point attempt in the 13th, the long-bomb passing play was my only option. If I hadn't gotten my offensive play call success at the start of the 14th, none of it would have been possible either.

One of the things I have loved about Dreadball from the start is that you can have a game go right down to the wire and still be exciting. I got lucky in so many ways in this game and could easily have lost by 6!

The Berserker Island Beasts take a bye into the championship game. The remaining four teams will vie against each other in a game of Dreadball Ultimate (tentatively scheduled for March 13th), with the winner facing off against the Beasts for the season 3 championship title.

Level 10 Game of Pulp City Supreme Edition

Excepted from the Pulp City Gazette, published on Feb 24, 2016.

Time Bombs Have Explosive Results at Fairgrounds

Reports were received that two time bombs had been planted down at the old Pulp City Fairgrounds. Several members of the Ape Revolution Committee arrived and tried to dispose of one, while a motley array of heroes tried to dispose of the other. Iron Train hauled one explosive over to the speedy Androida who dropped it off in a remote area. Silverager failed to dispose of the other time bomb which went off in the middle of the grounds.

Although no innocent civilians were hurt in the fracas, hundreds of dollars in property damage was caused when the two groups began attacking one another. Granted, no one is likely to put in a claim for repairs since the the Fairgrounds have sat empty for quite some time.

Many eye-witness accounts seem to disagree, but many report that the members of the ARC seemed confused that Guerrilla, their on-again off-again leader, had taken up arms against them and quickly launched into battle against the heroes.

It appears that Gentleman, Red Riding Hoodoo, Foxxy Blade and some local vigilantes cornered Silverager and Howler near the old games area, with the intent of stopping the two from disposing the the ticking explosive. They weren't up to the task, but Guerilla and Gentleman stopped them in their tracks after disposing of the pesky Le Murtiple.

The ARC released a statement via Twitter earlier this morning:

"These so-called heroes stopped us from protecting the old fairgrounds and put ARC members and local Pulp Citizens at risk last night. They're not the protectors you think they are and will pay for their assault against the ARC!"

None of the heroes reported to have been involved in last nights' event have chosen to comment.

by June Summers
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The game took us quite a while and was the first time we used one of the plots. We haven't played in a few months and the first turn was lengthy while we read abilities and started remembering synergies amongst the characters we had chosen.

My team was made up of Ace of Wraiths, Iron Train, Androida, Foxxy Blade, Red Riding Hoodoo w/ Zombie Wolf, Guerrilla and a pair of vigilantes. The ARC forces included Le Murtiple, Howler, Apebot and Virus, and Dr. Red. I opted to split up, focusing a few supremes on taking out the pesky (but dangerous) Le Murtiple while the rest went after Silverager and Howler. It seemed pretty unlikely that I'd be able to take out the big guy in four turns.

I put the table together using a bunch of the Plastcraft Games pre-coloured "Dark Circus" sets. It looks good but is a little pricey for what you get in my opinion.

Every time we play a game of Pulp City I'm reminded how fluid the game plays and just how much fun it is. I'm already looking forward to the next time we get it on the table. I think we're just about ready to add in the agendas and really start playing the game with all the rules. I've a few things to finish on the hobby table, but when I get back to Pulp City I'll be tackling the paint work on all of my Grimm figures.

Calgary Dreadball League Season 3 Underway!

With a few local players expressing interest in playing another season of Dreadball, I put together a quick outline of the rules, posted some dates and within a few days we had people arranging and playing their games.

This season I elected to play Veer-myn from the debut season. I had to dig around in my copious amount of unbuilt models for the game to find my booster pack and build the remaining figures before I could start painting the Berserker Island Beasts.

Including the core team, booster, downed figure and keeper model I think I have 15 Veer-myn models. They're currently about half painted. Yep, halfway through the season with two wins, and they're not even fully dressed!

My first game was against a new player running an Orx team, the Atomic Smashers. It was a heavy hitting hard fought game in which I was able to win by 2. I was able to roll enough income to add an offensive coach, which I've always wanted to try.

For the second game I was up against an Unicorporated team, the Rinberg Rallarat Rebellion, who had been coached to three victories...two of which were landslides! When I had a look at the team roster it looked quite difficult to deal with. High skill strikers, heavy hitting guards and jacks, and me with only two guards and a bunch of low skill strikers.

With the underdog bonus I was able to roll for three free agents. I selected the season 1 free agent chart and luck smiled upon me: a Corporation jack, an Orx guard and a Forge Father guard. With home advantage I put all my free agents on the pitch, along with my two Veer-myn guards and a lone striker.

Early on I used the Orx guard to sprint down the field and take it to the two opposing strikers. I was able to put one out for two rounds, and kill the other. I made a few mistakes but was able to strike for 3 points to take the lead. I followed this with a quick 1-pointer shortly after to make it 4 points.

It was announced that the store was closing soon so we discussed whether to try playing one 1 or 3 more rushes (which would end at 12). We opted for 12, and each of my strike zones were covered by a guard, so the rebs jack focused on pushing my Veer-myn guard out of the way in my 3-point zone and scored to reduce my lead to 1.

On rush 11 I scored a 2-point strike but failed to use all of my actions, which stupidly left my 3-point zone open. Luckily for me the rebs jack bobbled his attempt to pick up the ball and the game ended.

Click here to see up-to-date standings for CDBL Season 3

It was too bad that we had to cut the game a little short, but if we had continued to play the final two rushes I think I would have still had the victory. My 3-point zone would not have been left open again, and with some luck I might have been able to try for a 3 or 4 point shot.

After the game I rolled 21mc on my five dice (woo-hoo), bought a coaching die and another guard. I also received man of the match and luckily rolled a skill increase on one of my strikers. Things are looking good for the Beasts.

Now I just need to finish those paint jobs...

BMG Arkham Origins Batman Painted

This model was the second Batman I added to my collection of Batman Miniature Game figures from Knight Models. The profile card and sculpt are based on the younger Bruce Wayne as portrayed in the "Arkham Origins" prequel video game. I think I'm in the minority but "Arkham Origins" is probably my favourite game of the entire video game series!

He is the second most expensive Batman in the game, behind the the 150 rep "Arkham Knight" figure released at the end of 2015.

I knew I was going to paint the Arkham Knight model in the classic black and grey scheme, so I wanted to try something really different with this model. One of the bonus skins in Arkham Knight is the Justice League 3000, which I had never seen before. I loved the sleek metallic red look, with the tech-looking ears and glowing red eyes.

Even though the AO figure isn't sculpted with the high-tech look I was hoping to emulate, it seemed like the body armour would work well for the colour scheme. I wasn't able to get the red as rich as I wanted but he did turn out very nicely. As I was getting close to finishing the paint job I was a little worried because it just wasn't looking right. A final dry brush of red on top of the cape and red armour, and a few light touches of dark grey on the black armour was just the push it needed.

Every incarnation of Batman needs an awesome car, so I found this one in my collection of Eaglemoss Batmobiles which suits him very nicely. The red on these windows is what I was going for but I didn't quite get there. He still looks pretty awesome next to that car...