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!