Spent the afternoon at Mantic, talking with Ronnie and Chris about all manner of plans and excitements for DB. One thing we decided on was that you guys would benefit from the example Rush I’ve written for the rulebook. It’s intended to give an overview of how a Rush (or turn) hangs together.
Rather than me blithering on about it, have a read of this pdf and see what you think:
Any questions?
Quirkworthy 
Interesting… the run/sprint mechanic is nicely done I reckon. Are guards are harder to ‘evade’ past than other players or is there no real difference?
There is no difference between evading a Guard and a Striker as both can trip you up just as effectively 😉
And did I miss the reason one route got more dice to Evade than the other?
When you Evade you take a dice penalty for each opposing player who has a Threat Hex on the hex you are leaving (max -2). One route has only 1 Threat Hex on any Evade and the other has 2.
On the (5) example PDF I see that the goblin hasn’t any threatening hexes on the striker’s route as he is facing left so the striker can pass behind the goblin and need to evade just the Orx. Am I seeing it wrong?
He isn’t facing left. The Goblin in (5) and (6) is facing down the page, in the direction he is pointing. This means that one of his threat hexes is on the Striker where the model is shown in (5). Does that make sense?
thanks, it’s clear now.
If you are standing on the bonus hex for your strike zone can the player going for a strike get a bonus without knocking you off the hex?
Each Strike Zone is made up of a set of 9 hexes as you can see in the pictures. At each end there is a single hex that sticks out. One of these is the Strike Hex which contains the target you must hit in order to score a Strike. The hex that sticks out at the other end is the bonus hex in which you must be standing when you Throw your Strike if you want the extra bonus point.
So, if I want the bonus then I must get onto the bonus hex, using my Guards and Jacks to clear the way if you are on it. Then I can move on myself and make my Throw.
Does that answer the question or have I got the wrong end of the pilchard?
Nope you got it dead center 🙂 I can see a lot of interesting angles and I expect there will be a lot more once I see the rules. Hard to avoid getting sucked in.
Muahahahaaa!
So my evil plan is working!
How many success need a player for make a strike?
When you are Throwing a Strike, all you need is 1 success. That makes it sound far easier than it really is 🙂
Hmmm… let me get this straight. On Action 2, why was the Corp Guard was able to Run and Slam the Orx with only one action? Because he succeeded especially well (doubled) on his Run roll? Because he’s a Guard? Because of an Ability? Because the Stars Were Right? (…awakening the Great Cthulhu in the process, who then proceeded to devour them all?).
If my memory serves correctly from reading a snippet from someone somewhere, you can make a limited move as part of your Slam action (I think it might have been 3 hexes?)
I try to avoid writing rules that summon Great Cthulhu as all the inevitable worshipping and endless torment gets in the way of playtesting. So that can’t be it.
Good guess though.
Twahn is in the right place. A Slam action allows a 1 hex move for a Jack, but as this is the special area of the Guards they are allowed a Run move as part of their Slam action. Throw is similar in this regard with Jacks being allowed a single hex move and Strikers being allowed a full Run as part of that action.
Interesting! Now for the bonus question: do “Running Slams” have bonus die over “non-running” slams? I love the idea of “move-slamming”, it makes for a very very dynamic game, at least in my mind.
And… you go and try to tell me John Doe does not have a special relationship with our Tentacly Friend ….for future record: I want, have always wanted, and will always want a team of Space Squids. Space [Cats,Lizards,Insects,Elves] have all been done to death, Cosmic Cephalopods need more time in the sun!
A Slam gets +1 dice if the player moves adjacent, ie a Jack can get the bonus too because he can move 1 hex. No you can’t start adjacent, step out and back. The ability to move more than 1 hex is a massive advantage for the Guards from a tactical and threat point of view.
Oddly, JD wasn’t really inspired by everyone’s favourite resident of R’lyeh, at least consciously. Mind you, it would be just like him to stick his tentacles into my subconscious when I was asleep…
And you have to be careful with those Cosmic Cephalopods – they dry out in the sun.
Why was the Goblin generating EVADE throws with him being knocked down?
If you look carefully you will see that there are 2 goblins. The one generating that gets knocked down is different from the one forcing the Evades. You are quite right that a player does not cause Evades when they are on the floor.
Har! So I’ll toss them all to the ground with the Orxen and just have a nice stroll on the pitch with my goblins. HARHAR!
Sounds like a plan!
Again, the coach dice mechanic really adds up! What you need to knock me down, so you can bring your plan to full fruition. Sorry pal, got some coach dice to spare, this model stands! Better luck next time… though the riposte might be. Oh yeah? Bring it on, got some coach dice myself, now it’s a mexican stand! Let’s put some power into the punch, hope you already numbered your teeth. And I guess the dreadball cards are going to do something similiar in kind of action and total testosterone on the field. By far, these coach dice – and as you see I can’t stress that enough – sold the game to me; Giving power where needed!
And it’s a gambler’s power too. You’ve got to decide where to put them before you roll anything. Because of the way the dice work, the value of the Coaching Dice changes depending on who you are using them with and which test you are rolling.
Where will you take the risk?
However I must say, I am waiting for another mechanic that amazes me like the coaching dice :). The activation tokes are close, but I do know other games that uses them in some way or another.
Also I hope you don’t mind enganging with you that often – I am only very stoked about that game. that is all…
No problem Kiwamu. We’ll have to see if anything else catches your imagination 🙂
Hiya, just read the final rush sequence – my first thoughts are very exciting and as I re-read it, lot’s of queries come to mind. Firstly, slamming – I get that you move your player next to the opponent you want to slam, but I noticed that the gobln that was slammed moved in a SW direction instead of NW as I expected – does the slamming player choose the hex the slammed player moves to? The second thing is to do with to odd turn sequence (or not resetting as you put it). Does that mean that once you have attempted a strike, the ball automatically goes to a defined player in the opposing team? If so, how is that player defined? Lastly (I promise! even though I do have lot’s more Q’s!), the dreadball cards – are these cards like random event cards or are they like bonus cards that allow for more flexibility in your next move etc? I noticed that the human coach elected to gain a DB card event though it was his last rush – can you use these cards in your opponents turn then?
Some good questions.
Slam – when you beat an opponent you get to push them into one of the 3 hexes that are most directly away from you, ie the one directly away and one either side. Winner picks which.
Sequence – if I attempt a Strike and miss, the ball scatters. The ball is not repositioned at all. The other player just starts his Rush with the ball wherever it ended up. If I do score a Strike then the ball is immediately removed and relaunched along the centre line (I think I explained that in the article on scoring).
Cards – both. About a third are event cards, and the rest are mostly Special Moves. I’ve discussed some of these (particularly how Special Move cards are used) in various places, but a whole article might help. They do other things too, but that’s the bulk of it. You can play some of them in your opponent’s turn, but in this case the aim is to get an extra Special Move for next turn (making the best use of his 5 Team Actions.
More? – Please ask away. That’s why I’m here, and I’m sure others would be interested to read them too.
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