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call me lazy for not searching better but can anyone give me a quick breakdown on how this game plays?
it seems that all i hear is good things about it and thought it might be worth checking it out.
whats the learning curve like on it? is it something that i could play with my 10 yr old son?

is it anything like blood bowl? thats the closest thing that i can think of that ive played that it might compare to.

Other than being a sports game with minis, it's pretty different.

Each team defends their half of the field/pitch while trying to score on the other half. Each side owns 3 goal locations similar to basketball goals/hockey nets.

Two of these locations are close to the mid-line and give 1 pt if either are scored in. The third goal is farthest away from the mid-line and is 3 pts. To throw into any of these goals, a player must be in an attached scoring area for that specific goal). If you throw from the farthest space of the scoring area, you gain a bonus point (making a 1 pt goal into 2 pts and a 3 pt goal into 4 pts). Scoring does not reset the board (i.e., you don't line up again like BB). The ball relaunches from a launcher mid court and both teams have to scramble after it again.

There are 3 primary positions in the game. There are 12 teams and not every team is able to field all 3 positions.

Guards (cannot interact with the ball; have best armor; and are designated slammers to try to clear the opposition off the board if possible). Strikers are lightly armored; cannot attempt to slam opposing players; and have bonuses to their ball-handling/shooting; In between Guards and Strikers are Jacks (short for jacks of all trades). They can hit but not as well as Guards; they can handle the ball and shoot but not as well as Strikers; they have armor in between Guard and Striker protection.

Games last 14 turns (called rushes). Each turn you get 5 action tokens to play on your players. No player can have more than 2 tokens played on them per turn. There are cards in the game that can be 'bought' by trading in action tokens. Not all teams can 'buy' cards this way (another way of making the teams different).

The game ends when somebody gets 7 pts more than their opposition or for being the first to score in overtime if the game is tied on turn 14.

Dice (d6) tests are used to determine success in actions. Most tests are 3d6 and you try to roll your appropriate stat or better. A 3+ Strength Orx Guard needs 3 or better on his dice in a slam attempt. A human Guard is only 4+ Strength and would need 4s or better on his dice.

wow, interesting. ty privateer.
do you enjoy it?

Privateer summed it up pretty well. The game is a ton of fun. If you have friends interested in sports games, it's a real winner. There are also rules for MVPs and campaigns, and doing a campaign during something like Football or Hockey season while listening to games on the TV or radio would probably keep the spirit of the game going as well-they'd play off of each other. It's better than just sitting on the couch watching football and scarfing nachos, anyway.

I definitely enjoy it. I own all the teams released thus far (11 out of 12 of them are painted).

Heh - let me put it this way...

I really do not like the game.

I am the only one in my group that doesn't like the game.

Despite really not liking the game, I think that it is a great game!

It is very quick - and the mechanic that drops the ball back into play as soon as a goal is scored means that it can turn around very, very quickly.

It has depth, which is not something that I had expected (or even suspected).

The only thing that makes me dislike the game is that it is a sports game - I just don't enjoy them. :(

I... was tempted by Xtreme, even though I don't like the base game - I think that it could make a very interesting backdrop for an RPG. (Joise and the Pussycats, with a Dreadball team... and a lot more stubble! )

Try the game - the odds are very good that you will like it.

The Auld Grump

I really like Miniwargamings League videos for showing a game in progress:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OO9Wey6mfU

@theauldgump - lol. I think you probably just gave one of the best compliments to a game that they could ask for.

Ty so much everyone. I think I'll check it out.

I wasn't a fan, but that was before it was Faq'd regarding the Judwan and some other errors. All the miniature sports games I've played have team tiers and this is no exception, however I've started to dislike a lack of balance in all my games so that was another downvote for me. Plus the models are god damn awful to clean up and had serious flaws. It's hard to enjoy the game and entice others when your models are practically limboing.

Dreadball is a lot of fun.

It really is wonderful. In terms of rules it is probably the best set of rules that Mantic currently produce, and that is saying a lot... it just captures the fast-paced nature of the game so well... you have players stomping each other and pulling off stunt goals and sometimes the ball is shooting around everywhere like a pinball machine. Exploding 6's mean that even the most impossible-looking thing to try and pull off is always possible.

As for ease of play I've seen demos run with 7 year olds who figured it out pretty quickly, 10 year old will have no trouble at all.

Start without using the cards, then introduce them later.

It's a really quick game too, generally takes about half an hour or so and can end even more quickly if one player gets a landslide.

You only need to paint up 17 or so minis for two teams and don't need any terrain either, so it really is extremely easy to get set up with it. You can get everything cleaned, assembled and painted over the course of a few evenings, the minis lend themselves really well to a 2 or 3 colour paint scheme with the sporting gear.

 TheAuldGrump wrote:


The only thing that makes me dislike the game is that it is a sports game - I just don't enjoy them. :(

Friend of mine is in the same boat. As much as he appreciates the rule mechanics, the minis, the overall aesthetic of the game, he just doesn't like sports games. Same with anything I suppose! If you don't like driving computer games, you're not going to enjoy Gran Turismo, no matter how much appreciate it as a great example of the genre.