You just can't stop some game designers. Not content with inventing the sports-wargaming genre with Blood Bowl, legendary ex-Warhammer designer Jervis Johnson is back to try and score again with DreadBall: All-Stars, a sci-fi sports ball game he says is "like a full-contact version of NBA Basketball".
"I've always loved designing sports games, and with DreadBall: All-Stars I've created a board game where the action is fast-paced and non-stop", Johnson says in a press release. He promises the game will have "lots of opportunities to score, and just as many opportunities to flatten the opposition!"
DreadBall: All-Stars' Kickstarter campaign is due to launch on March 17. It's the latest iteration of Mantic Game's DreadBall, and takes place in a sci-fi cyberpunk future where hyper-violent sports are sponsored by mega-corporations all across the galaxy. Mantic's CEO Ronnie Renton says it's a "completely new experience set in the DreadBall universe, rebuilt from the ground up" - and if you've played earlier versions, "This isn't the DreadBall you may remember".
I played the original DreadBall literal decades ago and don't remember how it stacked up as a miniature wargame, but I do remember that in the setting, the ball the players are throwing around moves at hypersonic speeds and has to be caught in special force gauntlets.
The game is pitched as a more immediate and fast-playing alternative to Blood Bowl, featuring pre-assembled miniatures, streamlined rules, and fixed team rosters to make it quicker to get into the action. Games are supposed to take sixty minutes, which is about the minimum time I need to play a half in Blood Bowl.
The starting pledge is for a four-team boxed set with one arena; there will be higher pledges and add-ons including more teams, new arenas for different gameplay experiences (including a six player battle royale), and Championship play with 'Legacy cards' - given that team comp is fixed, I assume these provide upgrades for units within a fixed length tournament, rather than anything like Blood Bowl's league systems.
Did you play any of the older versions of DreadBall? Do you have another great sports miniature game to recommend? Let us know in the Wargamer Discord community. And to stay up to date with all of our best stories, check out the weekly Wargamer newsletter.