First we set the trap and then we wait...for the Hunter's Guild.

Good time of the day for you fellow wargamers and welcome to another set of ramblings here at Wargamer Ramblings!  We are continuing the Guild Ball series with the next to last team to be examined and that is the Hunter’s Guild.  They are comparatively a smaller guild than the previous ones but that does not mean they lack in options.  As per usual their stat-cards can be found right HERE.

The Hunter’s Guild is a season 2 team so they were not out in the original release and therefore they do not have as many models as the other Guilds right now.  Lore-wise the Guild has been ever-present doing its own thing out in the wilderness but lately they’ve decided to come out to the pitch and start being represented in Guild Ball.  Gameplay wise this team has a lot of movement and ranged tricks up their sleeve but are not slouches in close ranges either.  The team has a lot of potential to manipulate the field, much like a hunter setting a trap for their prey, making it challenging to get around them without some kind of penalty/annoyance.  In addition they can generate a lot of MP easily.  So let’s begin.

The Guild Crest

The team captain for the Hunters is Theron and starting off his stat-line is pretty nice.  His MOV is solid and he has a nice TAC with average DEF and ARM.  His character plays are something to be considered though.  He can use ‘Pinned’ for 2 DMG and makes the model hit unable to advance unless it is directly towards Theron.  ‘Arrow to the Knee’ causes a debuff of -2/-2 to Kick and 2 DMG, and ‘Sun Strike’ grants a friendly model a buff to generate a point of MP per character play targeting an enemy model.  If Theron damages a model they are given the snared condition (-1 DEF and -2/-2MOV), he can create a 3” forest, and can draw LOS through forests.  His heroic play allows another friendly to use a character play with 3 or less cost for free. 

Unlike other Guilds the Hunter's started has a full team: Jaecar, Egret, Theron, (top) Hearne, (bottom) Zarola, and Fahad.

Looking at the team we have Zarola a winger with a pretty mobile stat-line since her MOV is pretty high.  Her character play help with mobility where she can grant a jog to another model or give an enemy 2 DMG and the snared condition.  She can move through rough terrain freely, once per turn if engaged she can make a 2” dodge, and when she activates she can have the team mascot activate right after her!  The mascot Fahad can grant someone a +1 DEF with its character play, has a decent stat-line/playbook, and if it activates then Zarola can activate after her!  Fahad can charge without spending influence and if the target is snared then it deals +1 DMG on playbook results.  Egret is a striker with a good stat-line to represent that.  Solid MOV, good kick, and good playbook options keep her mobile on the field.  Her character plays are where it is at though and for 1 INF she can shoot someone for 1 DMG and she can launch a flurry of arrows dealing 2 DMG and all other models in the 2” pulse from that target take 2 DMG also.  Now Egret has some neat things about her mobility.  Each time she damages a models not only does she give them the poisoned condition but she can make a 1” dodge also.  In addition she gets to make a 4” dodge at the end of her activation if she damages someone.  So potentially Egret with a move can 16” of movement while dealing out damage and poison.  That’s some hard potential there!

The aforementioned box but painted up!

Hearne is a center back fellow with a solid stat-line that befits someone who is going to react and sort of plug in the gap of your game plan.  His playbook makes it easy to launch his character play ‘Singled Out’ since he only needs 1 result to use, but in doing so also grants friendlies +2 TAC to that model.  His other character play deals 3DMG and the snared condition, thus further entrapping the enemy and their movements.  Once per turn Hearne can teleport into a forest within 4”, can move through rough terrain, and as a heroic play can pretend he’s Theron and do the same thing.  Jaecar is a mobile brute for the hunters and I imagine him going in for the kill to a snared target.  His stats are primed for fast aggression and his playbook results have a lot of momentous plays and repositions.  His character plays require GB results and he can grant the bleed condition or ‘Gut & String’ for -4/-4 MOV and -1 DEF.  He ignored 1 ARM when attacking, moves through rough ground easily, and gets to make a 4” dodge if he damages someone.  Also he can drop down a 40mm ‘Pitfall’ marker, which he’s only allowed 1 on the field, within 2” of himself and should an enemy model get within 1” of said marker they get the snared and bleeding conditions and the marker is removed.  Board control much?

The full team painted up by Jolly Roger Studio (great place!)

Chaska is the team’s defensive midfielder and he’s got a good stat-line to go with it with his decent sprint being able to move to counter any potential threats.  His playbook has a lot of momentous pushes allowing him to push people away from the backlines.  His character plays can grant a slight ARM buff but also he can cause an enemy model to be pushed 4” back AND take 4DMG!  Ouch.  Like Jaecar he can drop traps but he can have 3 of them and they are 30mm.  Unlike Jaecar’s they only grant snared, but still that is nice.  While in rough ground he gains +1 ARM and he can move through rough ground freely.  Finally we have Seenah the bear, not a metaphorical name but literally a bear.  Seenah’s stats are meant for the offensive and she is easy to hit but has enough health to soak it up.  Her playbook is extensive with the potential to do a lot of damage, pushes, and in some cases her character play ‘Bear Hug’ which doles out 4 DMG and bleed.  She can charge for free, reduces damage by 1, if targeting a snared model she deals more damage, and finally if she grants the takeout condition on someone your gain an additional VP.  She is definitely the bear you want if you are going for a takeout team as that additional VP will make it so that you only need 4 take-outs instead of 6.

Steamforge forum user syndrom painted this one up

So the Hunter’s Guild has a lot of internal synergy inside and has some strong board control with a lot of ranged potential.  Their mobility is strong on some models as is their ability to reposition enemy models.  They are a newer team so while they don’t have the luxury of having captain options or anything like that they make up for it in having a lot of inherent traits and abilities.  Well that’s it for this time around, stay tuned for the last article in the series where we look at the largest team right now, the Union.  Take care fellow GB players.

Let's have a couple pints then we'll kick the ball around and get some bruises aye? Brewer's Guild

Good morning gamers and welcome back to another post about Guild Ball and the briefest of brief team overviews (not really that brief).  It’s been awhile since our last team examination, good ole’ real life shenanigans, but we are back to look at the Brewer’s Guild!  As per usual stat cards can be found and downloaded right HERE.

As you can imagine the Brewer’s Guild are all about the fine art of crafting the beers of the cities and apparently they do their job quite well.  Thematically the Brewers are your drunken Scot/Irish group with a hint of Scandinavian aesthetics thrown in there.  On the field the Brewers have the ability to take a lot of hits while knocking people down quite often on their own (a lot of models have KD on their 1-3 playbook results).  There are some strong buffing synergies within the team and while they are thought to be generally slower than most teams, they have some tricks up their sleeves.  In addition a lot of models have heroic plays so the key for Brewers is to get that momentum going and keep it going.  So with that in mind let’s take a look at the various players!

The Guild Symbol

Starting up with the captains we have Tapper and Esters.  Tapper is the season 1 captain and while his stat-line isn’t really that impressive he does bring some buffing to your team through his character plays.  ‘Marked Target’ helps teammates get some speed when charging a particular model and ‘Commanding Aura’ gives friendlies +1 TAC/DMG.  He has some resilience with Tough Hide and if near Scum the mascot he gains +1/+1 INF.  His heroic play Old Jake’s is a neat one where he can allocate 2 INF to friendly GUILD models within 4”.  Note that it is for fellow guildmates and does not apply to Union models.  Esters is the season 2 captain and she is the proverbial fat lady opera singer.  Like Tapper her stats aren’t impressive (except her health which is a whopping 22 good lawd) but she can throw down some AoE’s from her character plays.  Her traits are where it’s at when it comes to her buffing and also some of her defense.  Due to her mass she ignores the first attack/character play against her per turn and she can grant a teammate through ‘Empowered Voice’ +2/+2 MOV, +1 DMG to playbook, or +1 DEF.  Her heroic play is a 3” pulse where teammates heal for 2 and remove conditions and her legendary play lets her use Empowered Voice 3 times.

Your stater box with Friday, Tapper, and Hooper

Friday is the team striker and her stat-line is pretty much reflective of that.  Her playbook is pretty sparse with only 3 columns and her character play is the ‘Dirty Knives’ of -1 DEF, 1 DMG, and poisoned.  She does get a free 2” dodge each activation, can make the cat Scum dodge his Jog speed to her, and within 4” of the cat gets +1 DEF.  Also she can take a drink as a heroic play to gain some kick boosting as well as added DEF against parting blows.  Hooper is an attacking midfielder with some hidden potential in him.  His stats are average for the role and his character plays allow him to give another model +1 ARM, or grant someone else a -4/-4 to their Kick (take that Fishermen!).  Against knocked down models he gains added damage and his heroic play removes all conditions on him and grants him +2 TAC for the turn.  Spigot is a defensive midfielder with a focus on reacting to what the other team is doing.  His raw stat line is a bit better compared to Hooper’s but is similar.  His character plays ‘Tooled Up’ and ‘Ball’s Gone!’ allows him to buff a friendly model’s damage output by +1, and you can tackle the ball out and give it to someone 4” away respectively.  In addition being near Spigot gives you a +1/+1 kick and if he targets a knocked down model he gains +2 TAC.  His heroic play grants models starting their activation in his 4” aura a +2/+2 MOV for advances.  His season 2 version trades in the defensive role for the striker one and his stat-line becomes similar to Friday’s.  He keeps ‘Ball’s Gone!’ but gains ‘Goad’ and while he possess the ball he gains +2/+2 MOV.  Spigot v2 ignores the first tackle result against him and if he is within 8” of the sidelines he can make a counter-attack for free once per turn.  His heroic play grants him +1 DEF and he can kick for 1 less INF.  So a note about Spigot v2 is that it would be harder to get the ball away from him through tackling because of his character traits.  He ignores the first tackle against him and if you succeed in the next tackle he can then use his counter-attack ability and if he scores 1 hit he has the ball again since he only needs 1 to tackle.  Annoying!

From left to right: Tapper, Hooper, Stave, Stoker, Scum, Friday, and Spigot

Stoker is another defensive midfielder with the noticed additional ARM, but otherwise sharing stats similar to Hooper and Spigot.  Stoker is an odd duck, his focus are on his character plays with are all fire themed (fitting since he’s the alcohol spitting into fire guy).  He can grant someone the burning condition, cause a piece of terrain to catch on fire and give them the burning condition, or shoot a flame jet for 3 DMG and give them burning.  Against models that are burning he gains +1 to DMG, additionally he gains +1/+1 INF for being near Stave, and once per turn removes conditions for free.  His heroic play causes models whose base he touches to catch on fire, but he takes 4 DMG at the end.  Stave is the big ole fella’ and his stat-line shows it.  His character plays allow him to push players he touches during an advance 2”, or lob a 3” AoE that models hit are pushed 4” from the direction of the AoE and are knocked down (Gragas much?).  His heroic plays causes that barrel toss to deal damage as well.  Mash is a striker but his stats are nowhere near Friday’s, he’s the alternative kind of striker.  His character plays boost his raw Kick stat OR he can launch the ball in a direction up to 12” and then it scatters.  He does get to make a 2” dodge when someone gets in his melee range, he gains an ARM bonus near Esters, and if he is within 8” of the enemy goal post he can make a score attempt for 1 less MP. 

Most of the Brewers painted up by Battle Brush Studios

Finally the mascots.  Scum is kind of just there but the cat does bring some buffing to specific members of the team if he is near them so if you are bringing Tapper and Friday it might not be a bad idea to bring the cat.  Scum can also ‘Hamstring’ an enemy model for a nice -4/-4 MOV.  Defensively Scum makes a free 2” dodge at the beginning of its activation and when someone comes into melee it can jump away for another 2” dodge.  Quaff is the St. Bernard dog with whiskey in its little barrel (I assume Whiskey, could be beer or whatever).  His character play ‘Second Wind’ gives someone a free jog at the end of their activation.  He is also a ‘Loved Creature’ so if you take him out they get 2MP, +2 TAC, and +2/+2 MOV.  Once per turn he can give someone a drink from his little barrel and they gain +1 TAC for the turn.

A commission by Kujo Painting for a most Scottish themed team

So there we have it with the Brewer’s Guild.  They have a lot of potential and depth with their buffs and heroic plays but they have the potential to also be really annoying.  As I said a lot of models can knock you down with only a few results so if you’re not careful they will knock you off your ass and then have the opera singer belt out a few lines about it while the fire breather lights up the pitch on fire.  Good times eh?  That’s it for this team, next time we look at the Hunter’s Guild as they are the last “real” guild before the Union players.  Until then happy gaming and good luck out there!

Like the mortar in our walls, we're laying it down thick for the Mason's Guild!

Good day to you my fellow wargamers and players of all sorts of games and welcome to another blurb about Guild Ball!  We’ve only got a few teams left to go over so let’s get going with it and take a look over the Mason’s Guild today.  As usual this is just a quick overview so I will only touch on what stands out to me.  As per usual cards can be found right HERE.

The Mason’s Guild in the lore had a pretty glorious and well envied position prior to the establishment of the sport, seeing as they are the builders of cities and what not.  When the guild ball game began the guild had a rather slow introduction and similar to the Fishermen they were relegated to ignominy until now!  On the pitch the team is considered as a jack-of-all-trades being able to score goals and take enemy models down well enough.  This gives them some flexibility compared with the more focused Butcher’s/Fisherman’s guilds.  In addition most of the team has some form of armor (with one person being the exception) making them slightly resilient in combat.  So let’s take a look at the individual models.

One tool away from Communism!

Captains lead the way and that’s what we are starting with!  Honour is quite a fan favorite and the favored option of many Mason coaches.  Solid stat-line all around with nothing standing out as being unbelievable or terrible, solid like a rock! One thing to note is that her playbook has all her momentous results in the first three columns almost guaranteeing that if you only get a few hits off you’ll also receive 1 MP.  She has a character play giving a 2” dodge but the one that stands out is Superior Strategy.  For 4 INF you can grant another friendly model 1 INF and they make another activation.  I’ll let that sink in for a bit.  The season 2 captain, Hammer, trades a bit of the balanced nature for more offense.  His character plays are a bit interesting as they steal INF off of friendly models to give him buffs to his move, damage, or kick stats.  Hammer lacks a legendary play but can give friendly models the same 3 character plays through his heroic play.  This allows some variability boosting for the team in being able to buff individual models through INF on friendly models.

Starter box with Harmony, Honor, and Mallet

I wanted to touch on the mascots next because often one in particular is taken for his buffing ability and that is Marbles, the crazy ape!  Marbles has the Tooled Pp character play buffing a friendly model’s damage by 1, which on the right person at the right time can lead to a knockout early one.  In addition he has Goad which messes with the enemy to make them move towards Marbles instead of where they wanted to go.  Wrecker is the season 2 mascot and I can tell he would be annoying.  He has armor 3 and his character play, Ramming Speed, moves people 2” out of the way when he contacts them during his move.  Oh and his character trait, Rollerball, gives him a +2”/+2” and can use Ramming Speed for free in exchange for losing out on attacks.  Still a 10” sprint that knocks people out of the way 2” when contacted is nice, and if he engages a model with the ball they need to spend 1 more INF to kick.

From left to right: Hammer, Flint, Honor, Brick, Marbles, Harmony, and Mallet

Coming up we look at Brick who has a average stat-line for a big brute, but with 2 armor!  His character play only triggers on a double ball but the target loses out on 1 INF point.  His character traits are definitely towards reacting with Counter-Charge and Tough Hide making him more resilient in combat and able to react to a crucial move in a 6” bubble around him.  Flint’s role as a striker is reflected in his stat-line with a difference being that his defense is lower than average but he has armor!  His character plays allow him to kick more effectively and get out of sticky situations with a 4” dodge.  He is able to control the ball a bit more by ignoring the first tackle against him and against men his defense goes up to a more manageable 4+.  Looking at Tower next he is similar to Brick in stat-line but with a better kick stat.  His character plays allow him to designate terrain for allies to use the Defensive Stance momentous play without spending MP, but also he can force someone to activate last on the enemy team (Mortician much there Tower?).  Tower can also use his heroic play to soak the damage on models near him, and per his character trait Floored he gains a TAC bonus when attacking models knocked down.

Some Mason commission work from Lil' Legends

Mallet is another defensive midfielder the Mason’s can wield and his stats reflect his role quite well.  One thing I noted was that both of his character plays require a single GB icon to trigger, both are against his target in melee, and both only need 1 hit result to get! He can target the model for allies to gain +2 TAC against or give them a -4/-4” kick! If you needed goal defense this guy is the one to do it.  Oh and his melee reach is 3” on his activation AND if he charges someone then no matter the result on the playbook the target gets a 2” push back and 2 damage.  Insane.  Chisel is different from the rest of the team in that she will play around damage.  She can take damage intentionally for more TAC, if below 6 hp she gains a +1 to damage and +2 TAC, and her character plays allow her to heal when someone takes damage in a 6” bubble around her while also dealing a vindictive 2 damage to those who hurt her.  She’s like Cosset’s sister in a different guild!  Harmony season 1 is a fragile winger who benefits from being around Honor and Brick, specifically she can use Honor’s TAC and Kick if within 4” and gains +1 armor near Brick.  She is agile with a higher defense, but no armor, and can make it so that you can only hit her on 6’s on parting blows.  In addition she can do a sweep for 3 damage in her 1” melee zone if she gets a GB icon in her playbook.  Harmony season 2 must have had a fight with her sister because she does not benefit from Honor’s character traits at all.  Harmony s2 seems to be more a team-wide buffer than her previous incarnation.  She can go around healing teammates for 2 and removing conditions while buffing them with +1 defense against character plays if she ends her activation within 6” of them.  Finally you can transfer damage from a friendly onto her if you need to.

Full team presented right here in model form! From Henry at Dakkadakka

So that in a nutshell are the Mason’s Guild members.  As I’ve been doing I’ve been giving a quick overview on the teams and noticing what stands out.  It seems that the Mason’s are about synergy and making the parts all work together but if you can get it down then I would say you are going to be a touch wall to get through.  That’s it for now, tune in next time for the Brewer’s Guild and we’ll see you next time!

Carving up the pitch like a Christmas ham: The Butchers

Good day to you fellow Guild Ball fans and welcome to another exciting post about the different teams in the game!  I certainly hope you all have been having a great time with hobby stuff lately.  As for myself I’ve got some things going on but right now I will continue to focus on the teams and today’s is none other than the polar opposite to the Fishermen but the Butcher’s Guild.  Once again cards can be found right HERE.

So the Butcher’s guild is, as the name implies, composed of those responsible for hacking up and carving your daily cow/pig/chicken/rat/whatever.  As far as lore goes I am not sure how old of a guild they are but I would imagine they have been in the game long enough.  For game-style purposes the Butchers are a pretty straight-forward team to play but that does not equate to being bland or boring.  On the contrary there are a couple choices once can take to alter the direction you want to take with your team.  So without further ado let’s take a look at those players shall we?

Dat Guild Crest

Starting off with the captains we have season 1 Ox and season 2 Fillet.  Ox is a burly sort of gent who likes to get in there and with his giant ham-hands beat people up!  His stats back up this notion with a solid TAC of 7 and a decent charge/sprint of 8”.  Ox’s character plays can help with some solid armor boosting and can also help bring down the armor of an opponent.  His final character play, also his aura character trait, and legendary play all equate to giving the team raw damage potential and in tandem with each other can give teammates a solid +3 damage to one target (who also is at an additional -1 armor).  Fillet while labelled as a striker is more akin to a nimble razor blade who wants to make everyone bleed.  She is all about playing around with bleeding conditions being able to charge farther against someone who is bleeding as well as dealing extra damage to that target.  In a 6” aura around her bleed conditions do not expire in the Maintenance phase and continue to exsanguinate targets.  Her legendary play causes models already bleeding to take some extra bleed damage instantaneously, whereas her character plays can cause enemy models to start bleeding while taking some mild damage.

Your starter box left to right: Boiler, Ox, Brisket

Boar is an interesting sort of meathead.  His INF stat is a 1/1 meaning that he can only ever get 1 to use, but he gets a lot of use out of the only point he can get.  For one he charges for free and if he damages someone with an attack he can make one attack for free!  It helps that he has a TAC of 8 and he stays in the game with a regenerative ability healing 2 hp per turn before taking off conditions.  Boiler is a nice winger model in that his speed is decent and he can cause models he damages to gain the bleed condition.  One of his character plays causes models to charge against his target gain a +2” to the movement lending some utility to the team.  Meathook is a solid lady to get some bleed conditions out there with solid damage.  She has Tooled Up and if used on herself while able to secure 5 hits she can then cause all models in her 1” melee range to suffer 4 (3+1 for tooled up) damage.  Oh and when she damages a model they are bleeding.  Go figure right?  Shank has the ability to move around the field a bit more than usual with his character play giving him a 4” dodge for 1 INF.  Should he gain 5 hits on someone he can cause them to debuff their defense by -2 and take 1 damage.  Really useful to get Shank into a flank to gain that -2 defense debuff off for the rest of the Butchers to carve up the target.

From left to right: Brisket, Boar, Ox, Shank, Princess da puppy, Meathook, and Boiler

Tenderiser is one of the few goalkeepers in the game and he’s a big ole brute of one.  He has the Rush Keeper and Goal defense traits making it harder for the opposing team to score goals.  On his return kick however he’s got some interesting quirks.  For 1 INF his kick cannot be intercepted and furthermore models in the path of the ball receive the knock-down condition.  His other character play costs all 4 INF that he can receive but in a 3” pulse he will push models 2” away and knock them down with some damage.  Brisket season 1 is a striker true and true and her abilities reflect that.  She has a self-buffing character play to her kicking abilities while also gaining a movement when an enemy moves into her melee range.  Against male models she has a +1 to defense which can help her out a little bit.  Otherwise she is a striker with a solid 18” goal threat range and 4 dice to roll (when buffed).  Brisket season 2 traded her striker role for a winger and she’s a pretty solid one at it.  Her stats remained largely untouched save for a slight increase to her TAC.  Each time she scores a goal she gains a permanent +1/+0 to her INF.  In addition when she is within 8” of the pitch sidelines she reduces the cost of her charging by 1.  Her character play options help with some mobility but one that catches my eye is Ball’s Gone which lets her tackle someone for the ball and immediately pass it off to a friendly within 4”.  Coupled with her old striker role stats she is certainly a model to keep an eye on when forming a team.

From Dark Iron Studios

Finally let’s give a quick peer to our two mascot options, Princess and Truffles.  Princess is a mobile attack dog who can cause bleeding or give someone a -4/-4” and poison.  She has the Loved Creature trait so if you take her out then the already nasty TAC values on several Butcher models will get a buff and they will move faster for a turn.  Truffles trades in some offensive/condition placement for some defensive capabilities.  He has Tough Hide and Sturdy adding some damage mitigation and the ability to ignore the first knockdown.  In addition he has Smell Blood which gives him some mobility and extra damage against targets with bleed.  He will pair up quite nicely if you plan on going with a bleed team.

Found this on twitter @BigJonBucket

So there we have it, the Butcher’s Guild in a nutshell.  They tend to deal a lot of raw damage so you can definitely get some nice VP’s in with takedowns but there are some models in the guild that can also give you a goal here and there as well.  I myself would be interested in trying a bleed team in the future and I think it would be an interesting game to have.  Until then fellow guildballers take care and happy gaming!

One fish, two fish, three fish, SCOOORE! The Fisherman's Guild overview.

Good afternoon my comrades in dice and welcome to another fine day in miniature wargaming!  I had been debating about doing a small divergent article from the Guild Ball series but after getting some gameplay via VASSAL I just wanted to continue the drive down the pitch!  So without further ado I would like to present the next team I’ll be overviewing (and interested in picking up next) and that is the Fisherman’s Guild!  Cards can be found right HERE.

So lore wise the Fisherman’s guild used to be weak-sauce in the competitive scene, so much that most of the rabble didn’t even know who they were.  So they went into the shadows for a bit and then all of a sudden they came back onto the ball scene with a bang!  They had a new lineup, new sponsorships, and new fortune and so now they are winning games left and right.  Mechanically the Fisherman’s guild has a tendency to be about ball control, early game scoring, and agility.  This is the team where if you are interested in being fast but fragile (sort of) and have a focus on scoring then you will fit right at home.

The guild crest if you will

Like before let’s start off with the captain choices, Shark and Corsair.  Shark is the starter box captain and a solid striker on his own accord.  A hefty 7/9” move with a 4/8” kick potential means that if you let him past your defenses then he is going to nab some VP for you.  His character plays are about movement manipulation as well, with one giving a friendly model a +2/+2” and another giving a friendly model a 4” dodge, you can easily move around with Shark.  Hell used on himself he can almost make a potential shot on the goal turn 1 (if buffed correctly) and definitely on turn 2.  Corsair is a bit different in his leading style in that he is not about moving around himself but manipulating the field around him.  His character play list can steal the ball from an enemy model, pull someone out of positions, or make a friendly model immune to knockdown for a turn.  His kick stat is decent as well allowing him to potentially steal the ball and pass it to an ally for a potential score.  His legendary play does give friendly models +1/2” on their kick, possibly giving a surprise shot to someone not looking out for it.

Starter box contents

Angel is another striker on the team and while her movement is slightly lower than Shark’s she does have similar kick stats.  Her character plays allow her to buff the kick stat directly giving them a +1/+2”, or give a nice DEF buff to a friendly model.  Remember what I was saying about Shark earlier?  Yeah this buff is how you get a turn 1 score with 5 dice on the kick.  Speaking of Shark if she is within 4” she gains +1/+1 Influence, nice.  Greyscales is a solid winger who can swoop in and take the ball from enemy control and give it to a friendly.  His TAC is a solid 5, so with a charge and only needing 4 results to trigger this ability, Greyscales can take advantage of poor positioning and regain ball control to the Fishermen.  Jac has some interesting abilities to clear the way for his fellow players.  His Ramming Speed character play pushes people directly out of the way when he contacts them and then he can cause a target enemy model to only advance towards him making it harder for enemies to go after your ball carrier.  Jac also has some abilities to weather the oncoming attack and can even make a stronger than usual counter-attack with his Resolute trait. 

Concept artwork?  Either way this is the 'feel'

Kraken serves a similar function to Jac in that he has the ability to manipulate enemy positioning with his character plays.  Harpoon can be used with some Influence to drag models closer to him, but his push ability requires 5 successful hits on his playbook to use.  His TAC is a decent 5 so you might need to get some buffs/debuffs rolling in order to get full advantage.  Sakana is an interesting fish to consider.  He has the ability to drop a smoke cloud and benefit from an increased advance if he starts in the cloud.  His big tricks appear to be weakening enemy armor for the other models to take advantage of and he himself can counter-attack once per turn for free (and possibly get a -2 to their ARM).  Siren Season 1 is another model manipulator with her plays either forcing the target to make a jog, or they will make a pass/attack.  Her defensive capabilities lie in character plays being at a reduced range when targeting her, and if the enemy is male then she gains a +1 to her defense.  Siren season 2 traded in her model manipulation for some hard debuffing skills being able to reduce enemy TAC by 2 when in her 4” aura.  Should she fall she gets to heal for 1 point, remove all conditions, and make a 4” dodge.

One way to paint them up as painted by John Zablan, source

Mascots are touched upon quickly due to Salt being considered by many to be “useless.”  He provides some proximity bonuses to the rest of the team but he himself does not do much.  Should he get knocked out then the friendly team gets 2 MP and a bonus to TAC and movement.  Tentacles has some more utility for the team.  His character play, Blind, can cause some debuffing for an enemy model if successfully hit.  Specifically they lose -2 TAC, -2/-2” Kick, and -2/-2 move.  If Tentacles has the ball he will ignore the first tackle against it, and finally he can get a free Jog once per turn when a friendly moves out of his melee range.  So whether you need the salient bonuses or some utility for your team will decide on which mascot you bring along.

Another set of models painted by Mike "Shades" Schaefer source

Of course as with my overviews we don’t go over everything but I hope this gives you a good idea of what a model can for the team.  As I said before with the right setup you can score a goal almost in turn one if not two.  As far as their staying power, well they aren’t the Brewers or Masons but they are the most nimble of them.  Stay tuned for the next line-up as we continue our series later one.  Take care and happy gaming folks!