Friday 14 September 2012

DreadBall - The Futuristic Sports Game

Kickstarters seem to be the latest trend to take the internet by storm - there seem to be half a dozen springing up every day. For those who are unfamiliar with the concept, Kickstarter is billed simply as:

"a funding platform for creative projects"

The general idea is that individuals, a bunch of friends and even full-blown companies can start a Kickstarter to "kickstart" funding for a certain project. They pitch the idea to the masses, promise rewards in return for cold hard cash and, if they meet their funding target, they go into production. Kickstarter isn't just for wargaming-related projects, but even so there seem to be tonnes of wargaming projects running Kickstarters in an attempt to raise funds for new miniatures and games. It mostly seems to be the province of indie companies who would otherwise be unable to afford all the production costs, but every so often a big established company jumps on the bandwagon to launch a product of their own. 

I'm pretty sure most people in the wargames hobby will have heard of Mantic Games by now. You might also have heard about this new game they're launching, called DreadBall.



Now, until about a week ago, I'd not really paid much attention to either Kickstarter or Mantic Games. I'd heard plenty about both; I'd seen all the people pushing various Kickstarter projects and I'd seen people using Mantic figures for Warhammer armies and the like, but I'd not really looked into either of them for myself because I didn't see anything that immediately appealed to me.

That was until I saw DreadBall. I saw something that looked like Blood Bowl for sci-fi fans and so, being a big Blood Bowl fan, I thought "that looks cool" and went over to Kickstarter to check it out. What followed was a 48-hour long torment, as I wrestled with my conscience about whether to pledge or not. Alas, being weak-willed as I am, I gave in an signed up at the 'Keeper' ($80) level. That gets me the complete DreadBall game (two full teams, the rulebook, the pitch and all the cards, counters and dice needed) plus the RefBot figure and a signed lithoprint of the cover art. I thought it over and decided this was really the minimum level I could go in at, because I'd need the complete game (i.e. the rules, a pitch and two complete teams) in order to convince anyone to play it with me.

Since then though, I've seen the funding shoot up, I've seen the new Stretch Goals come and seen them achieved, and I've seen all the new goodies that keep getting added to the 'Striker' ($150) level. Four complete teams, ten MVP figures, freebie figures from each of the "Season 2" teams (yes, funding has reached such heights that they can already afford to produce the first DreadBall expansion...), extra accessories for the game including Hex Bases for the figures, extra counters and the like, plus a free ticket to any DreadBall event at Mantic HQ, plus a Buy One Get One Free offer for all of the Season 2 teams at 'Striker' level and above.

All goodies that, at 'Keeper', I'll be missing out on....

So now, I'm going through another wrestling match with my conscience. I probably shouldn't have pledged to just $80 (which is only about £50.....). I'll really be in trouble if I up my pledge to $150 (about £90...).

But I really, really want to!


P.S http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1744629938/dreadball-the-futuristic-sports-game

Go over and pledge some money. It looks like a very cool game, you can get loads of cool stuff for your money, and the more people who pledge, the more figures everyone gets, including me!!





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