Guildball: Engineers

I've recently started playing Guildball and I've chosen (for no particular reason) the Engineers team.

I'm no expert (yet?) but I thought I'd show you my team and have a bit of a chat about my early impressions of the various Engineers players. 

The crew

Ballista (Captain)

As captain, Ballista is a mandatory inclusion in the team.  Even if he weren't he'd make my cut.  this player is awesome!  OK, so his core stats won't win prizes, but hes tough, well armoured and can kick the ball fairly well, but that's not where he shines.  Ballista is the heart of the team in every sense.  His ability to generate Momentum (a key resource during the game turn that allows you to do cool stuff) from the actions of his fellow team mates nearby is crucial to your gameplan.  that's why he's the team heart, and also because those friends need to be close by, it also means on the battlefield you'll be fielding a tightknit center.  The ranged attacks with his crossbow also allow you to dominate the center ground, dealing out a flurry of damage and crucial knockdowns.  Ballista can also throw out a minefiled once per game, and if timed right, this can REALLY kick out some damage to the opposing players.

Velocity

She's a robot.  She's nimble, fast, hard (if not impossible) to hit and can kick a ball like Pele!  She is, however, useless at fighting, lacking any real combat skills and not being able to take much damage.  As a result, Velocity really is your top goal scorer option.  Her special ability can buff her to make her all but impossible to hit, but it does mean that when she's in the thick of it, you REALLY need to win initiative and activate her first.  Without these buffs she's a target for your opponent's combat monsters.  So far, I haven't manged to figure out how to use her correctly, that is to get her to the opponent's goal without having her isolated and exposed.  Oce I figure that out, I think she'll be a goal-scoring machine!

Ratchet

So far I consider Ratchet to be my star player.  He is essential!  Ratchet has so many cool things he can do, and so many options.  They only thing you'll regret is that you can only give him 4 Influence each turn.  I've found most turns he needs twice that!  Ratchet can heal your automatons (Velocity, Colossus, and Mainspring.  He can turn Mainspring into a once-per-turn suicide bomber.  He can 'long bomb' the ball twice the distance (plus scatter) of almost any other player, and he can lob grenades about to gouge craters in the pitch to injure and then slow down the opponents, or block off whole parts of the pitch with rough ground.  Ratchet is without doubt my favourite player so far.

Mainspring

Our mascot!  Awww...isn't he cute!  A little wooden insect hopping about.  No.  no, he's not cute, he's AWESOME.  OK, so, he's weedy, can't kick worth a damn, and doesn't really do much.  But...and here's the rub...when he dies he explodes in a ball of fire!  That's right.  You can bash him all you want, but it'll just end hurting you more than him.  Hehe...

This actually makes Mainspring a great blocker as its a risk to hit him.  Mainspring also works well with Ratchet, especially if your opponent is wise enough to ignore the little fellow as Ratchet can wind him up and make him explode...and then next turn bring him back to life to do it again.

Colossus

Colossus is our heavy hitter cyborg.  In fact I see him more as an allrounder.  He's highly mobile (able to walk through all those craters Ratchet makes without being slowed down), can make a path through opposing players by pushing them out of the way, is good at keeping the ball once he's got it, and can kick pretty well too.  I'm still trying to figure out how to fit him into the team's dynamic, but it think he and Velocity will evolve into my two flankers and goal scorers.  Time will tell.

Salvo

The last, and for me so far, the least.  Don't get me wrong, Salvo's a great player and essential with his various ranged attacks, but so far he's impressed me the least.  He's not much good at anything in particular, except kicking out crossbow bolts.  That's good enough for now.  If I decide to bring in a Union mercenary, or perhaps a new Season II player like Compound, Salvo's first on the cut list.  Sorry mate...

Team Colours

I chose the Engineers team colours based on the Steampunk palette.

I wanted a bare wood and brass sort of look, but that would be fairly dull without an accent colour.  Blue always sets off well with brown, but to be honest, I hate blue.  I considered red, but I'm not sure it goes well with brown particularly, and in any case, its not very 'Steampunk', so I pitched in with a dark green.  So basically; bare wood, dark green, brass.  Turned out pretty good I think; I'm happy with the result at least.

Yeah, so Guildball.  Well worth checking out.