The ragamuffins and outcasts here comes the Union Guild!

Good day to you my fellow Guild Ball players wherever and whenever you are, including YOU who might not have been interested but now you have been!  Welcome to another post about the last team I’ve got to examine (until new teams come on the field that is) and if you’ve been following the series you’ve probably noticed my lack of mention of them until now.  That is because we are talking about the Union team today and as per usual you can find the cards right HERE.

Dear reader I have to confess that this team has been the one team I’ve not looked forward to writing about from the beginning.  Let me explain.  Thematically this team is composed of the various rag-tag psychopaths and shady mercenary types that you can add to your guild roster in a game.  They can be used for whatever purpose you need them for but they can be fielded individually as well.  The thing about this team is that because of the nature of their role in the meta, each model has its own individuality and strengths to it.  So unlike the other guilds that sort of have a theme or a trend this group is full of special snowflakes.  If those special snowflakes actually did something and were murderous psychopaths.  Let’s get to digging!

The Union crest

Looking at the two captains we have Blackheart with some really good stats and playbook results and a nice ARM of 2.  He has the ‘Misdirection’ and ‘Commanding Aura’ character plays allowing him to steal influence from the enemy and buff TAC and damage against enemy models in his range.  His legendary play allows him, and friendly guild models in 8”, to receive a +1 to DEF or a 2” dodge.  Rage season 2 became a team captain and a murderous one at that.  His stats and playbook are aggressive and damage oriented.  His character plays allow someone to make a free attack, to receive a 2” dodge, or on a double GB result the target loses 1 INF.  He charges for free, receives an extra TAC against enemy Union models, and his first damage received each turn grants 2 MP.  His heroic play ‘Bloody Coin’ allows him to receive bonus TAC and damage when targeting someone who is already engaged.  His legendary play extends that bonus to friendlies in 6”.  So if you’re going for the take-out kind of victory Rage is definitely the kind of fellow you want in your arsenal to stack that damage up quickly.

A massive line-up left to right with: Minx, Hemlocke, Snakeskin, Fangtooth, Blackheart, Rage, Decimate, Mist, Gutter, and Avarisse/Greede

Moving on to the players starting with Gutter, her stats are oriented to being mobile and aggressive allowing you to move up the field quick and start getting some hits in.  She can ‘Chain Grab’ someone 4” to her and if she gets a single GB result in her playbook she can do a ‘Scything Blow’ for 3 damage in a 2” zone.  In addition she regains 1 HP each time she deals damage and she ignores 1 ARM.  Decimate has similar stats to Gutter with a slight buff to Sprint and TAC, but his playbook has several more dodge results.  He ignores 1 ARM when attacking and his character plays grant a friendly a free Jog, or with a ‘Thousand Cuts’ he puts a -2 DEF and deals 1 damage.  Decimate can set it up for other models to hit those more nimble targets dropping a 5+ down to a more manageable 3+.  Minx is a fast huntress whose kit is geared towards taking down a wounded prey as she charges for free, gains a charge bonus against damaged targets, and if they leave her melee zone then she can make a jog to them.  She can grant ‘Marked Target’ to help slower models get that charge boost in, and her ‘Screeching Banshee’ double GB play gives the poor target a -4/-4 MOV and 2 damage.  Hemlocke is a support model with a high MOV, low TAC, and high DEF.  Her playbook is minimal with only 1 potential damage coming out from her.  She can drop a ‘Blind’ on someone, heal friendly models in a 3” AoE for 2 hp AND remove any conditions on the affected (anti-alchemist say whaaat?), finally she can drop a 3” AoE with 2 damage and leaves the poison condition out on the field.  Oh and once per turn for free she can lose all conditions on her.  If she tries to leave on a parting blow her DEF goes up to 6+ initially.  What a crafty lady!

Your starter box with Gutter, Blackheart, and Decimate

Mist is a premier striker for the Union and his stats are reflective of being a nimble sort of lad.  His kick stat is great and he gains a lot of maneuverability from starting his move in cover which he can grant by dropping a smoke bomb on himself!  If he needs to start making some attacks on someone he can drop a smoke bomb on them and targets in cover he gains +2 TAC.  Rage is basically a beatstick with a high TAC and his playbook being filled with a lot of damage options.  He cannot be affected by other model’s character traits, can charge for free, inflicts the bleed condition on people he hurts, and if he does damage he gets to make one attack for free.  So if you’re rolling hot with dice (Scott I’m looking at you!) then Rage can pump out a sick amount of damage with only 1 INF given to him.  Granted that’s all that he can get but he can make it work.  Snakeskin is a charming lady with winger stats and a great ability to put some conditions on people while moving around the field easily, as she gets a free 2” dodge each activation and each person she damages is poisoned.  She has a good set of stats, good playbook, and can gain some added DEF with the ‘Nimble’ character play.  In addition she can make a ‘Clone’ of herself to help mitigate attacks, and against males she has an additional +1 DEF factored in.  Fangtooth is a big hunk of flesh and his stats are in line with that.  He is great at knocking people down with only 1 result and can grant bleed conditions with his GB character play, with ‘The Unmasking’ giving a 4” push with 3 damage on a double GB result.  He has a 3” aura of rough-terrain around him, ignores the first attack/character play against him, and his heroic play makes all friendly models in a 4” pulse take 5 damage for him to gain a +2/+2 MOV and +1 to his damage results.  A risky gambit unless you already have a strong lead ahead of the enemy and have nothing to fear from everyone taking 5 damage.

A close-up of the Avarisse/Greed oddity courtesy of Ridmasta over at Blood of Kittens

Greede and Avarisse are two models that need to be talked as together because they come together.  Greede is a striker who has 4 hp and comes attached to Avarisse.  Greede starts attached with Avarisse and in the maintenance phase he can either detach or reattach.  When Greede is detached from Avarisse he has a high kick die but low range and has a high playbook potential but average TAC.  His character plays can give him a 4” dodge and potentially grant a -4/-4 MOV and poisoned condition on 8 results.  Within 4” of Avarisse he gains +1 DEF, and if you’re feeling really bold you can take 3 damage for 3 TAC.  Avarisse’s stats are about average for a model of his health capacity and his stats favor being on the offensive.  His playbook has several options for dodges accompanied with damage so you can get a few punches in while moving up so that Greede can hop out of his harness…pouch…cage…whatever he’s in.  Snakeskin reminds me of a Alchemist in disguise and her stats are similar to other Alchemist guild members.  She has an average playbook with her momentous plays focused on her ability to tackle the ball out.  One thing of note is that anyone she damages, which she would only need 1 hit on 5 TAC dice, is now poisoned.  So you can easily toss a few conditions out there for little cost, otherwise she has an easier time dodging hits against males (due to her ‘Charmed’) and gets a free 2” dodge each turn.  Finally we have Harry the Hat who seems like a ‘jack-of-all-trades’ sort of fellow.  He has decent stats with none of them really standing out apart from 19 health, his playbook has a good mix of options albeit only 1 row, and his playbook grants him a couple options to either force a model to move to him through ‘Goad’ or he can drop a 3” burning AoE.  He can opt to take 3 DMG for 3 TAC and on the first time he gets damaged by an enemy model your team gets 2 MP.  Additionally his heroic play makes it so that anyone within 3” love his hat and gain a bonus to their TAC.  He’s got some Mortician stuff going on so if you need some of that manipulative ability then he’s your hat!

Some beautiful work done by JollyRoger Studio

Let’s take a quick look at the mascots.  Coin has stats similar of a mascot so there’s nothing special there.  What you take him for is the ‘Bag of Coffers’ which once per turn you can grant a friendly model 1 INF AND they get to use ‘Bonus Time!’ without spending MP.  This is a powerful ability for sure and the bonuses granted are nothing to sneeze at.  Strongbox is the turtle of the Union guild and his stats are pretty reflective of it.  His character play ‘Confidence’ allows you get a nice reroll on a friendly model’s next attack or character play (toss this on Rage on his charge and see what happens eh?).  He has ‘Tough Hide’ and ‘Shelling Out’ which lets friendly models who target an enemy model in this 4” aura gain +1 TAC and if they give a taken-out condition you gain +1 MP.  In my opinion Coin is probably one of the best mascots in the game and while Strongbox has a good supporting role I can see many people taking the snake over the turtle.

Well that sums up my examination of the Union team and all of the quick overviews for the teams in Guild Ball!  I hope you’ve enjoyed the ride along but dang this has been a lengthy article for me.  Next time we’ll talk about something else to give us all a break, am I right?  Until next time Guild Ball crew have a great time on the pitch!

p.s. I apologize for the long delay in making this article, a lot of real life stuff has popped up (and I’ve been addicted to WoW Legion) so hopefully I’ll be able to get back on a regular schedule and start pumping these out more.  Thanks for the patience!