Mike Newman Speaks...

Dreadball

Humans

As some of you may be aware we've been working on the Dreadball Kickstarter Teams in the studio recently.

As parter of the Mantic Games Kickstarter for Dreadball, we pledged to paint some gaming standard versions of the teams for customers as a way to help raise funds for the Dreadball project.

This was going to be  alot of models, so to get us in the mood we've been watching the fantastic Friday Night Lights TV series in the studio while painting the models (this may later inspire some Dillon Panthers Dreadball teams)

There was a number of people very interested, who put their money where there mouth was - mainly for versions of the studio colour scheme, in the case of the humans, the silver an blue of the Trontek 29's. We had no less than seven Trontek teams to paint!

Interestingly though a lot of people have requested custom versions of the teams though, following their own colour scheme's, - based mainly off references to real life NFL teams, or comic book super heroes. This is a strange throw back to the original colour concepts our graphics department came up with when we were first approached by Mantic about this project.

And so, here's what we've come up with so far.

Adding inside geek references as the basis for paint jobs is something we really enjoy doing. Not only does it bring us a sense of amusement and self satisfaction, but its a great way to help people relate to a completely new reality! We call these original sparks of inspiration "jump off points" that help lead to final colour schemes. How many "jump off points" can you recognise across the human teams, both concepts and final?

Plus keep your eyes peeled for more as we continue to paint the expanding Dreadball realm - especially with the cool new MVP's

That's all for now

DreadBall at FlameBowl

As if six games of Blood Bowl weren't enough for the hardcore fantasy sports gaming crowd, attendees at FlameBowl MMXII were treated to demonstration games of Mantic's shiny new DreadBall. Tactically situated on a table neighbouring the FlameBowl lunch buffet, Blood Bowlers had a chance to compare and contrast this new kid on the block with their 26 year-old classic.

 

The grizzled 'Bowl veterans grasped some of the tactical subtleties straightaway - starting their rush with Slams and manoeuvrings and only getting to the important scoring business at the end. There were a couple of observations that kept cropping up...  

Passing the Ball - Passing in Blood Bowl is a rare sight. The chances of losing the ball and suffering a turnover are high, even with skills such as Pass and Accurate. Blood Bowl teams tend to cage and advance down the pitch in tired, predictable fashion. In contrast, there's a lot of passing in DreadBall and more of a feel it's a sports game.  

Pitch Size - DreadBall's pitch is much smaller than Blood Bowl's. This is in partly cos there're a lot less models on the field (six a side rather than eleven). However, the models control much less of the board in DreadBall - rather than exerting eight squares of tackle zone in the all the adjacent squares DreadBall models only project their influence forwards into the three front hexes.  This is refreshingly different.

 

Game Speed - Khemri were 0-4 down against Elves, still with turns on the counter. Would no-one put Schmee's Tomb Kings out of their misery while the game dragged on to its inevitable conclusion? In DreadBall, if a team are running away with the scoring then the game ends - keeping it fast and fun.  

Nice Smells - The alternative MDF pitch smells of lasers. This is a nasal treat - much like the smell of printing in a new book, or the air inside a boxed game. If the DreadBall boxes came with MDF pitches inside it would be an olfactory joy explosion.

 

Special thanks to Mantic for sponsoring FlameBowl, their prize support and free Goblin miniatures for every player.

Chris "Curis" Webb

Spee... er ... DreadBall!

"Speed? Ball? Two?" Jake asked back. "I've not actually heard of that." he confided. "I loved that game as a kid!" smiled one of the other playtesters. "ICE CREAM! ICE CREAM!" somebody chimed from the back, making those with memories of the classic Amiga game smirk. Veteran game designer Jake Thornton had no idea why we were giggling about frozen desserts. 

 

Lucky Logan's playing for the Trontek 29ers - his vintage battered plate in complete contrast to Trontek's hyper-polished alloys. With Jake oblivious to the violent sporting game, and resistant to my straplines referencing Brutal Deluxe (Brutal Influx? Brutal Bollox? Brutal Haddocks?) I thought I had to throw in a homage somewhere. That opportunity came with the Season 1 MVP Lucky Logan. I decided to recreate the 16-colour pallete of the classic Bitmap Brothers game with the official paintjob.

  

 Hence mucky turquoise shaded with purple and cross-faded to grey. 

 

This ties nicely to the background for me - Logan is allegedly one of the original DreadBall players from many years back. What if "back then" was 2095 - the year when the original SpeedBall was founded? (And maybe even this 2095?) 

 

At Golem we're painting a huge influx (a brutal influx) of DreadBall for the Mantic's Kickstarter, including a number of Logans. If you'd like me to paint you an exact copy of the studio paintjob, get in touch.

Chris "Curis" Webb