Theory Crafting over the Blacksmiths

Hello Guild Ballers,


I have both boxes of blacksmiths sitting in front of me and I am keen on having my first game with them.

I won't put up all the cards again, since there's plenty of content out there on the interweb.  I will go over them one by one...

What I will do is look at every Master and let the cards sink into my brain.  I'll make a list of pro's and contra's and will decide on an orientation for that master (VP-scoring more leaning towards football or takeout)
Then I'll look at the apprentices and do the same.

After that I'll try and put a team together and come up with a gameplan for it.
Wish me luck! And enjoy the journey with me!

 

The Masters:

Anvil

  • With a move of 4/6 I'd start with the general idea this guy is about dealing damage rather than chasing the ball around.  So 1 vs 0 on fighty.
  • TAC 6 with a playbook of 6 long is pretty standard, but then you see there's almost no DMG on there and if it is, it doesn't net you any momentum.  Then what is Anvil's purpose? To set somebody else up.  A lot of help for fighting he brings: KD on 1, Singled out on 3. 2 vs 0.
  • Kick 3/6 is pretty avarage, not bad, not good, a Tackle on 2 (non momentous) gives him some football options, so I'll give him the point.  2 vs 1
  • DEF 2 + ARM 3  and tough hide with 19 boxes of HP.  A sucker for getting character plays on him, but a bastard to bring down through playbook damage, another point for fighting 3 vs 1
  • 'While the Iron is Hot' is both usefull for threatranges on goal or on other models, so I won't give out point to one or the other in this case. 3 vs 1.
  • Lastly he's still got Sentinel and Tested Mettle, both help with fighting... 4 vs 1 on fighting.
I'd say our Anvil is a good option to set a good figher up on your team.
As for a captain choice, I don't see his legendary be usefull other than in your random fight against brewers or butchers maybe.

Burnish

  • Moving 5/7 he's a bit faster than Anvil, but still no scoring devil in my mind. 1 vs 0 to fighty.
  • TAC 5 with a 4 long playbook brings the brewer feel out.  But then there's no momentous damage, he's loaded up with pushes and a KD on 2.  Is Burnish there to set another model up too? 2 vs 0.  I already get the feeling order of activation with this guild is going to be key - let's hope Obulus doesn't bring Silence to the table...
  • Kick 3/6, another avarage stat here. He doesn't get a point though, I don't like to tackle on 3 with only 5 TAC.  So no points for footballing.
  • DEF 3 + ARM 2 with 18 boxes of HP. You'd think he'd draw in character plays like Anvil, but he just might not... as long as you have momentum he ignores that play! So yeah, tanky gets him a fighty point. 3 vs 0
  • ‘Reduction’: a play to remove other conditions - situational but helps with survival of all models, so no points in either category.
  • ‘Flame Belch’, together with his legendary can potentially dish out 3 DMG a turn, (4 if there's a tooled up option)  So Fighty points!  4 vs 0
  • ‘Kill the ball’ - this earns him the one point in footballing.   He's a decent piece to recover the ball with.  KD on 2, shoot the ball and there you've used your 3 INF. (if you charged) 4 vs 1
  • Ignoring Fire?  Meh, fits with his reduction, but no points. 4 vs 1
I'd put him on par with Anvil, but would prefer him in a footballing list over Anvil.  Kill the ball does that for me.  I don’t see him as captain, unless you go for a heavy take-out team.

Farris

  • Moving 5/10 this time, now we're talking some distance - scoring potential : 0 vs 1
  • TAC 6 with that brewer playbook again! No momentous Damage but Stagger to set the team up for a beating, pushes and a KD + a tackle on 3... It's rather high up, better than Burnish but not enough to say : footballing!!  1 vs 1
  • Kick 2/6 not what you want on a fast model, but maybe you'll get in tap-in range...  No points though.
  • DEF 2 ARM 3 If not for missing 1 HP and the tough hide I'd say copy paste from Anvil.  A bit less fighty though, but... 2" melee! Helps the fight a lot, if not for a crowd out alone...  2 vs 1
  • ‘Quick Foot’: Very handy as setup - threatranges increased! no points in either category though
  • ‘Give it a whack’ - it's ball orientaded, so 2 vs 2
  • Impact + Ride Off = 2 vs 3.  Steal that ball with a push?  loveley...

More an allrounder than both previous captains.  Very mobile.  Looking forward to try her out in a scoring line-up.
As a captain I don't see ‘giving it a whack' will do much.

Ferrite

  • Moving 5/7 would put her back into the fighting sceme of things so 1 vs 0
  • TAC 5 with a 4 long playbook, man, these really look like brewers, but look, Tackle on 2 momentous! 2 set-up plays on 1, a push dodge on 3 and a KD on 4 puts this captain in the more scoring the ball directions for me. 1 vs 1
  • Kick 4/8 1 vs 2. No explanation needed.
  • DEF 3 ARM 2 gives her a tanky feel, but no other tools to keep her HP up.  She gets 17 boxes of it. 2 vs 2
  • ‘Acrobatic’ works both ways, be we all know it’s better for scoring goals.
  • ‘Disarm’ helps with declared counterattacks
  • ‘Weak point ‘ helps get better playbook results.
  • ‘Get over here Iron’ could also go both ways…
  • ‘Hobble’ do damage to give a player -2/-2 MOV, great!
The main contender for ‘pick me first’.  And also the main contender for a Captain slot, +2/+2 MOV on all your players?  Thank you!

Furnace

  • Moving with a speed of 5/7 we’re looking at that fighty team again. 1 vs 0
  • TAC 6, playbook of 5, hello drunkard… some damage, pushes and KD… meh. Non momentous Tackle on 1 – options, options… 2” melee 2 vs 0
  • Kick 3/8, 2 vs 1 !
  • DEF 3 ARM 2, tanky again, with 20 HP. Rather fighty 3 vs 1
  • One at a time, helps remove crowdouts – so helps out in the scrum4 vs 1
  • Tooled up. More Damage you say? 5 vs 1
  • Fire Forged, is a trait… nothing much pro or contra here.
  • Searing Strike, helps setting up better playbook results, limits movement. 6 vs 1
  • Sentinel protects apprentices inside the bubble. 7 vs 1
  • Tempered steel, helps survivability 8 vs 1
Don’t see him as captain though.

Hearth

  • Moving at 4/6 we’re back to the slower model. 1 vs 0
  • TAC 5 with a 4 long playbook and 2” melee, KD on 1, pushes, tackle on 3, you know…  2 vs 0
  • DEF 2 ARM 2 this is a target but with 23 HP and Sturdy to keep her on her feet. 3 vs 0
  • Kick 3/6 is average.
  • Instruction, goes both ways, closer to high DMG results or Tackle results
  • Use This: bigger melee zones also works both ways.
  • Match Experience: 3 vs 1.
  • Armoury, if only she had KD like Tater has… 
Allrounder I would add to my team without a doubt.

So far as Captains I’d put Ferrite in that position. Hearth in and Farris in gives me 3 already… 2 of which have 2” melee!

The Apprentices

Alloy

  • Moving 7/9 he gets my footballing vote 0 vs 1
  • TAC 5 with a playbook of 6, where’s the brewer thing gone? Tackle on 2 Tackle double doddge on 5, yep: 0 vs 2
  • Kick 3/8 – footballing!!  0 vs 3
  • DEF 4 ARM 1 only 12 HP – squishy no points for fighting
  • Acrobatic: As said before, would work both ways, but no points.
  • Dirty Knives, helps with playbook results, in this case: tackles, in other cases: DMG? No points
  • Back To the shadows: 1 vs 3
  • Arsenal: applying the possibilities to the card, 1 vs 4.
Alloy fits my team !  I already picked his Master, so why not add him!

Bolt

  • Moving 4/6 with Stamina: effectively 8/10 = footballing material. 0 vs 1
  • TAC 5 5 long playbook, nothing special here. Dodges with momentum, tackle too…  0 vs 2
  • kick 4/6 0 vs 3
  • Def 4/1 11 HP = no points
  • I’m open: 0 vs 4
  • Shoemerang: take 2 DMG myself for a free KD on the ballcarrier?/obstructing model towards the goal? I’d use it to play football, but then again, it’s setup for a murdermachine …
  • Tutelage: nice thing to have, free plays!!
A good footballer!  I’ll have him!

Cast

  • 5/8 Move 0 vs 1
  • 5 tack 6 long playbook… sheeees. Some DMG some ‘lose the ball’
  • Kick 4/6 0 vs 2
  • DEF 3(4)/ ARM 1 (charmed male)
  • Shield Glare: 1- TAC – 1 DEF (early activation setup)
  • Burning Passion 1 vs 2
  • Swift Strikes no points.
She feels like a good option to chase the ball in a fighty team…

Cinder

  • 6/8 move = 0 vs1
  • 5 TAC with a 5 long playbook, dodge options some DMG, tackle on 3. No points
  • Kick 3/8 = 0 vs 2
  • DEF 3/1  with Decoy and 13 HP + Unpredictable movement  to weak to score fighting points
  • Kill the ball 0 vs 3
  • Kindled= receive burning strike = meh
  • Hot Shot: super nice! I've fallen in love with this trait.

I might take her for a safe tackle from a distance, specially with Heart that can give her 2 net hits for free… only one more needed for the tackle!

Iron

  • 4/6 move= 1 vs 0 BUT there’s Impetus: bringing that up to 6/10 = 0 vs 1 -> so no points
  • TAC 6 with a 7 long playbook both early tackle as momentous DMG results -> no points
  • Kick 2/6 = not a footballer, no point
  • Def 2 ARM 2 = target with only 14 HP, ok with Tough Hide! 1 vs 0
  • Battering Ram frees up lanes to the goal, moves people out of the way to remove crowd outs … no points 
  • Close control- 1 vs 1
  • Tryhard: 1 vs 2
A good footballing model I’d thrown in the mix to finish a player off.

Sledge

  • 5/7 move is on the slow side of things. 1 vs 0
  • TAC 5 with a playbook of 7 is nuts, it has good momentous damage results + Piledriver so I’ll go with 2 vs 0
  • Kick 3/6 is average, no points
  • DEF 4/1 only 12 HP = glass cannon
  • Long Bomb = 2 vs 1
  • Piledriver makes the playbook brewer- like and he already got a point for his playbook DMG
  • Tutelage = free piledriver (or occasional free long bomb)
  • Knockback: good for disengaging after a tackle, good for moving people around.
  •  
I like Cinder, Alloy and Bolt best.  But I don’t have any DMG output then…

Is the team with favourite players playable?

Hearth + Alloy / Farris + Bolt / Captain Ferrite + Cinder


First Two combinations are a given, they came together from the shelf.  I added Cinder more because of Hearth’s Instruction. Instruction + an attack from hotshot needs only 1 hit for a Tackle!

Receiving with this team:

Starting positions.
  • Bolt on the flank nearest to the kicker.
  • Cinder, opposite flank but as close to the center as possible.
  • Farris and Alloy next to eachother in the middle.
  • Hearth inbetween Alloy and Bolt
  • Ferrite in between Farris and Cinder.
Idea:
  • 1st activation is either Cinder [2/12(10)] or Bolt [2/12(8)] to get the ball with jog/decoy/’kill the ball’ or Sprint and pass.
  • 2nd activation is the other of the 2 IF a pass got to them pass to Ferrite [1/12(7)] or Ferrite gets the ball and passes to the one that didn’t activate.
  • 3rd activation is passing with whoever didn’t go in the above scenario, Pass to Hearth [2/12(5)]
  • 4th activation is Hearth who passes to Farris and gives Use This to Alloy.
  • 5th activation is Farris [3/12(2)] who passes to Alloy (measure if you need to dodge with Alloy and use Match Experience) and gives him Quickfoot
  • 6th activation is measuring to see if Alloy [2/12(0)] can sprint (11” towards the goal – after dodging 4”- to shoot it 8” in the goal)
From turn 2 on it’s going to be:
  • Instruction on Cinder from Hearth [1]
  • Tackle pass from Cinder to whoever can score [2]
  • Creating momentum and scoring with the model that can [2+?]
Try to set up so that if you Kill The Ball it can be intercepted by a model further back [Hearth?] to activate Bolt – ‘I’m open’ + sprint + pass or shot on goal [3]

Kicking with this team:

  • Put Ferrite with the ball in the middle – jog and kick to where the obvious striker can’t come and get it.
  • If you then can activate Ferrite to steal the ball of whoever got it and score, do so. [5]
  • Put Cinder opposite to the striker model with [2] for a hot shot tackle with Instruction from Hearth and Quickfoot from Farris
  • Use Farris to go up to the flank where no enemy is coming or engage a countercharge model.
  • Use Bolt to follow Farris or cover the flank if she’s preventing countercharges.
  • Keep Alloy back but far enough up field on the other flank to counterscore if needed. Use him for a Dirty Knives if possible to make Cinders work more agreeable.
  • Can’t steal the ball with Ferrite and she’s going to get killed? Acrobatic out of there and try to disarm your killer
  • Can’t get to the ball with Cinder as last activation?  No harm done, you should get 2 momentous DMG at least…
Good luck Ballers,
I know I'll need it!

Greetings,
Bob Out

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