Matchreport: Ratcatchers into Masons

Hello Guild Ballers,

It started itching again to work on this blog, so I decided to report on my last game.  As per usual I did not take notes and have lost count on how many games I'm at.  So here goes for my umphteenth game of guildball:

My lineup: Standard ratcatchers with Piper, Squeak, Pillage, Skulk, Scourge, Miasma.

The Masons line-up: Honour, Marbles, Harmony, oChisel, Flint, Mallet

So I received and put Skulk on one side away from the diseased duo, Pillage in the next spot and Piper and Squeak on the other side.

Mallet kicked the ball towards a barrier and I gave Scourge 2 to go and collect the ball and pass it.
The pass failed (towards Miasma, who was my only player in his kick-range) but scattered onto Pillage.  The monkey walked up a bit so I did the same with squeak. Thinking I wanted Flint and the sisters out of the way before I tried to move Pilage up field to go and score the first goal.  You guessed it, they didn't move and towards the end of the turn Superior strategy was lurking around the corner to activate Harmony a second time (who kept INF).  Not enough to charge/walk in and hit me AND score, but enough to steal the ball from Pillage and screw up my game plan.  I did some measuring and saw that Piper was just out of range, so the ball would be safe on him.  So I passed towards Piper, sprinted towards Harmony to block a direct charge lane (in case some dodging got involved) and awaited the masons activation.  It was Flint coming up the field blocking a walk towards the goal from Pillage after I'd heroic Harmony out of the way with Piper...  Ah Well, with only honour left it was now or never,  I moved Piper up field with the ball with a jog, passed towards Pillage (it landed thank god) leaving 3 to reverie Pillage.  Made Flint chose if I could go towards him or if I could move flint towards Piper.  He let me move Flint, so I moved him out of my way and in engagement with Miasma (who had thrown some damage and disease on Mallet and was now in the middle of the field)    I then had to use my legendary to free Pillage up since I wasn't within 4" of Harmony to push her away.  Then I went forward with my plan and used reverie on her to score.
Honour picked up the scatter after that and Flint got a superior strategy after her legendary went of to create enough influence to make the pass towards him.  Flint didn't screw up and scored to make it an even VP distribution.
I shot the ball towards Skulk, hoping it would scatter out of range - so Mallet couldn't get to it.  But hoping is a thing you shouldn't do in this game.  This was proven by Mallet scooping the ball up (with a card giving my opponent initiative - but allowing me to dodge Scourge up field to threaten Honour and Harmony) and trying to hit Skulk for some momentum.  He was within Skulk's melee, so I announced a counter.  I was able to steal the ball and double dodge since I played the card that gives my players +2 TAC.  I couldn't get away from Mallet (he still had his movement) but dodged into cover to lower Mallet's dice pool.  And here my opponent was hoping to steal the ball again.  Now didn't I say you shouldn't put your hopes up in this game?  - Mallet failed to hit his tackle result.
I didn't want to measure it out but estimated Flint didn't have enough influence to steal the ball and score - he was too far out.  The only other model that could get to Skulk was Marbles, but he didn't have any INF and Honour had already used her legendary! So no need to hurry up and score again on my part.  Instead I activated Miasma, used comon mate on Scourge (since he was KD from previous turn) and stood her within 2 of Scourge.  Threw some damage on Honour and Harmony diseaseing them both and swung for 2 on Honour not hitting any results worth mentioning (I think I went with a momentous push).  Honour went into Pilage taking a parting blow from Miasma that put bleed on her.  Honour didn't do much damage.  I figured with Chisel or Harmony going in on her she wouldn't die just yet.  So I think I moved Squeak up field over some fast ground.  Flint came in next going after the ball.  Piper saw that coming and stole it back (after Skulk did a counter to trigger close control) Flint only had one counterattack so couldn't escape losing the ball again.  Piper passed towards Skulk who dodged up field to go and score.  This time Harmony went to take some more healthpoints away from Pillage.  But she's a pain for your MP-pool if you damage her.  I had to activate her next or I'd lose her next turn and get no activation out of her.  I hit Honour once, moved out and hit Harmony next, not killing any of them.  Chisel failed a charge - well the charge worked, the dice roll failed - Pillage was still alive.  Scourge went KD'd Honour and took away some of her health.  Nothing much else happened...
Another round of initiative and I was 1 MP up, my opponent having already played his seven might still have a six to force something, so I had to play a 6.  So I sold it to the crowd and played my own 6 just in case.  Scourge went, killed Honour after a snackbreak, moved over to harmony and took her down and that was that. 4 to Masons, 13 to the Ratcatchers. 

I left my opponent drooling for some ratcatchers, I wouldn't be surprised if he bought them. - although with his masons as his main I should urge him to wait a little longer, enjoy VChisel first and then hold on till the Masons Minor hits.  It was a fun game (I hope for both of us) and can't wait to play this wonderful bearded man again!

Bob Out

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