Malifootball (rules variant)

[L3gion]

UPDATE: A (HOPEFULLY) IMPROVED VERSION OF THE RULES IS FURTHER DOWN THIS TOPIC.

 

Hi.

I'm not a sports-lover by any stretch, but, with the recent release of the Pyre videogame by Supergiant Games (the creators of my beloved Bastion and the slightly-less-beloved-but-still-awesome Transistor), I started to look into tabletop fantasy sports games. I am currently very intrigued by the Guild Ball Kick Off set, but, while I save money for it and contemplate if I can afford another miniatures game in my life (the answer is no, but that particulcar set looks quite appealing to me, and I'm a consumerist Rotten Belle, soo...), I made up this little scenario to play a ball game in Malifaux. I've yet to test it, so any feedback would be appreciated. Sorry in advance - I don't know how to use the fancy Malifaux symbols here, so I described them in Italic in the text. I'm also not sure if this post belongs here or in the Rules Discussion thread, and if it needs to be moved there, so be it.

Feel free to comment and/or modify this as you please, and I hope you find it interesting!

 

MALIFOOTBALL

SET-UP

This scenario uses Standard deployment.

Place a 30-mm Ball Marker in the center of the table.  Each player places a 50-mm Goal Marker on the edge of her deployment zone that is also the table’s edge, 18” from the edge’s corners (in the middle of the edge closest to the player).

SPECIAL RULES

This scenario does not use any Schemes; all VP are earned from this scenario alone.

There is no Turn limitation in this scenario; the game ends as soon as one of the crews scores 12 VP.

When a model is about to die, it performs the Drop It! action (if it has the I’ve Got It! condition), loses all conditions, heals all damage except for the amount dealt by the killing blow, gains the Paralyzed condition, and is placed in its respective deployment zone.

A model may perform a (1) Interact Action in base contact with the Ball Marker to discard it and gain the following condition:

I’ve Got It!: As long as this model has this condition:

-          when this model suffers Severe damage from any source, is moved by any effect not caused by its player, or is about to be removed from play (killed, sacrificed or buried), it first performs the Drop It! action;

-          when this model suffers damage from another model’s Rg (claws, meaning close) Attack Action, this model loses this condition, and the attacking model gains this condition. The attacking model may choose to not apply any damage dealt to this model;

-          this model gains the following Tactical Actions:

(1) Kick It! (Rg: (Projectile) 3/6/10): This action counts as a Simple Duel and is affected by modifiers and cheating.  Choose a direction or a model within 10” and the LoS of this model. This model flips card(s) to determine the Rg of this action, as if determining damage from an attack; Black Joker causes this action to be considered the Drop It! action, the 1 AP spent is lost; the Red Joker counts as Rg 13. If this action targets another model, and the target model is within the determined Rg of this action: this model loses the I’ve Got It! condition, and the target model gains this condition; if a Red Joker has been flipped or cheated for this action, the target model also suffers 2 damage. Otherwise, this model places the Ball Marker within the determined range of this action, along the chosen direction, and loses the I’ve Got It! condition; if a piece of Blocking and/or Impassable terrain, or a table edge, is blocking the chosen direction and is within the determined Rg of this action, the Ball Marker must be placed along the chosen direction, not further away from this model than in base contact with the terrain’s edge that is closer to this model (or at that point of the table edge).

(0) Drop It! Place the Ball Marker in base contact with this model (or, if impossible, as close as possible to it). Remove the I’ve Got It! condition from this model.

When the Ball Marker touches or overlaps the opponent’s Goal Marker, all effects that are supposed to take place during the currently acting model’s action take place, then the current Turn immediately ends, and the other crew Scores a Goal. All models are placed in their respective deployment zones, retaining all suffered damage and obtained conditions; the deployment order is determined as usual, by the players’ flips. The Ball Marker is placed in the center of the table, and the new Turn begins.

VICTORY CONDITIONS

A crew immediately earns 3 VP for any enemy models killed by actions of the crew’s models.

A crew immediately earns 4 VP when it Scores a Goal.

The first crew to earn 12 VP wins!

Edited August 18, 2017 by L3gion
added the Update.

[Myyrä]

Kick it! would work better if it were worded something like this:

(1) Kick it! (Sh 5 / TN 9): End I’ve Got It! Condition on this model and place the Ball Marker in a base contact with this model, then push the Ball Marker up to a distance equal to the amount that this Action's final duel total exceeded the TN. If the Ball Marker comes into base contact with another model, the model gains I’ve Got It! Condition and the Ball Marker is removed from play.

3VP also seems like kind of a lot for killing enemy models. Wouldn't 2 be enough?

[L3gion]

51 minutes ago, Myyrä said:

Kick it! would work better if it were worded something like this:

(1) Kick it! (Sh 5 / TN 9): End I’ve Got It! Condition on this model and place the Ball Marker in a base contact with this model, then push the Ball Marker up to a distance equal to the amount that this Action's final duel total exceeded the TN. If the Ball Marker comes into base contact with another model, the model gains I’ve Got It! Condition and the Ball Marker is removed from play.

3VP also seems like kind of a lot for killing enemy models. Wouldn't 2 be enough?

Your wording for Kick It! certainly sounds better) And it is shorter, which is also a plus. The rules for collision with terrain and table edge can be put in the general rules section, that is for sure. I didn't really want to use a TN for this action (it's just kicking the ball, after all), but your variant is still very viable. A couple of things though:

- I went with the Projectile mark specifically to prevent the use of this action while engaged;

- I added the Black Joker part to replace not meeting the TN, as a chance to fumble the kick. And I like the idea of killing weakened enemy models with a mighty kick of a Red Joker-powered ball in the teeth) Just seems fun to me.

To summarize: it might be a good idea to move the terrain/table edge rule out of the condition description and remove the Black Joker rule (or modify it for not meeting the TN). But I would keep the Projectile mark and the Red Joker rule: the first is kind of important, and the second provides players with another tactical trick.

As for VP scoring, I basically went with the Guild Ball system. However, there's also the lack of Turns limitation: I don't want the game to drag on too long, with Turn after Turn of no VP for any of the players. For this very reason, I would recommend using small crews, 20-35 SS each, lead by henchmen.

Thanks for the suggestion! I will wait for other comments (if any), read through the OP and your wording again and then either edit the OP accordingly or provide explanation for not changing it. I tried to base my wording on a specific order of events and effects resolution, to avoid confusing situations. If changing this action does not affect this order, I don't see any other reason not to change it.

[LordZombie]

Wow! I was just thinking of trying out something like this also. We have a few guild ball players in the area and a few play malifaux also. I am going to try it out this weekend.

[L3gion]

LordZombie, awesome! Please, let me know how it goes)

Meanwhile, I gave it some thought and decided to implement a couple of changes based on Myyrä's suggestions (thanks again!), including the VP scoring rate (it should shift the focus of the game further away from senseless murder and provide a nice catch-up mechanic). I also changed some of the wording, added the model cap and changed the name to something a bit less cringy (other suggestions are welcome). The way I see it, this is now basically a Hardcore Henchmen variant (Hardcore Hooligans?) focused on mobility. I still have no idea how long the games can last, and I don't know when I will be able to test it, hence the 25 SS limit (feel free to toy around with this); the optional rule should also deal with potential game length issues. The original post remains in place for now, just to give possible players more options to consider.

So, here it is:

14 hours ago, L3gion said:

FAUX-BALL

SET-UP

The Encounter Size for this scenario is capped at 25 SS. No summoning is allowed.

This scenario uses Standard deployment.

Place a 30-mm Ball Marker in the center of the table.  Each player places a 50-mm Goal Marker in the middle of the longer deployment zone edge that is closer to the player. The Ball Marker and the Goal Markers count as Blocking, Impassable terrain.

SPECIAL RULES

This scenario does not use any Schemes; all VP are earned from this scenario alone.

There is no Turn limitation in this scenario; the game ends as soon as one of the crews scores 12 VP.

When a model is about to die, it performs the Drop It! action (if it has the Got It! condition), loses all conditions, heals all damage except for the amount dealt by the killing blow, gains the Paralyzed condition, and is placed in its respective deployment zone.

A model may perform a (1) Interact Action in base contact with the Ball Marker to discard it and gain the following condition:

Got It!: As long as this model has this condition:

-          when this model suffers Severe damage from any source, is moved by any effect not caused by its player, or is about to be removed from play (killed, sacrificed or buried), it first performs the Drop It! action;

-          when this model suffers damage from another model’s Rg (claws, meaning close) Attack Action, this model loses this condition, and the attacking model gains this condition. The attacking model may choose to not apply any damage dealt to this model;

-          this model gains the following Tactical Actions:

(1) Kick it! (Sh 5 / TN 9; Rg (Projectile) #): End the Got It! Condition on this model and place the Ball Marker in a base contact with this model. If this action was successful, push the Ball Marker up to # inches, where # is equal to the amount that this Action's final duel total exceeded the TN. If the Ball Marker comes into base contact with another model, the model gains the Got It! Condition and the Ball Marker is discarded (if the final duel total is 18 or more, the model also suffers 2 damage).

(0) Drop It!: Place the Ball Marker in base contact with this model (or, if impossible, as close as possible to it). Remove the Got It! condition from this model.

When the Ball Marker touches or overlaps the opponent’s Goal Marker, all effects that are supposed to take place during the currently acting model’s action take place, then the current Turn immediately ends, and the other crew Scores a Goal. All models are placed in their respective deployment zones, retaining all suffered damage and obtained conditions; the deployment order is determined as usual, by the players’ flips. The Ball Marker is placed in the center of the table, and the new Turn begins.

VICTORY CONDITIONS

A crew immediately earns 2 VP for any enemy models killed by actions of the crew’s models.

A crew immediately earns 4 VP when it Scores a Goal.

The first crew to earn 12 VP wins!

OPTIONAL RULE

If the game is still not nearly over after 1.5 - 2 hours of play, the players gain the following condition: "Screw It!: Players may collectively discard this condition to immediately end the game, reset the table and play normal "Malifaux" instead.".

 

[Myyrä]

6 hours ago, L3gion said:

Your wording for Kick It! certainly sounds better) And it is shorter, which is also a plus. The rules for collision with terrain and table edge can be put in the general rules section, that is for sure. I didn't really want to use a TN for this action (it's just kicking the ball, after all), but your variant is still very viable. A couple of things though:

Collision with impassable terrain and table is handled by the fact that it is a push. A push will end when it comes into base contact with one of those things. Also, feel free to modify that in any way you want, it was just a suggestion.

[LordZombie]

If you want to keep it more in line with Malifaux first, I would keep the turn limit of 6 and change it to first to 12 VP or most scored. Also, you need to make the ball marker and goal markets Impassible. Otherwise a 40mm base could stand on the ball marker and stop scoring in favor of kills and the same for the goal marker with a 50mm base. There should also be a cause in the conditions that they can not be removed by any means, or some models can use abilities to knock the ball marker off. 

[L3gion]

6 hours ago, Myyrä said:

Collision with impassable terrain and table is handled by the fact that it is a push. A push will end when it comes into base contact with one of those things. Also, feel free to modify that in any way you want, it was just a suggestion.

You are absolutely right about the push effect; removed the redundant collision rule.

I do like your wording on the Kick It! action better, simply because it is shorter) And also phrased in a more intuitive way.

6 hours ago, LordZombie said:

If you want to keep it more in line with Malifaux first, I would keep the turn limit of 6 and change it to first to 12 VP or most scored. Also, you need to make the ball marker and goal markets Impassible. Otherwise a 40mm base could stand on the ball marker and stop scoring in favor of kills and the same for the goal marker with a 50mm base. There should also be a cause in the conditions that they can not be removed by any means, or some models can use abilities to knock the ball marker off. 

I don't really see a lot of scoring happening within 5-6 turns - the pitch is quite big, models can prevent other models from moving... It would make killing enemies a more viable strategy, and I don't really want that - it is still football, after all, the ball is there for a reason) I think a bunch of short turns will work better, but it remains to be tested.

I did add the Blocking/Impassable rule for the markers. I don't think it matters for the Goal Markers, since you can still put the ball in base contact with them, even if large models are covering them; but I listed this rule for those markers as well simply to avoid confusing situations.

I am not sure about the condition part. It would make a nice risk-reward system to let your opponent throw conditions at you just so you could lead the ball. Also, it gives players another way to control the ball. I left it unchanged for now; if this mechanic is proven to be bad, I will change it.

Thank you for the suggestions!

[LordZombie]

Very true, what looks good on paper is not always great on table top. I will try it out and see how it goes.