Dreadball Spring Clean Hobby Challenge 2022

The Premise

A long long time ago when I was still kinda new to the hobby and shiny syndrome was in full effect a friend pointed me towards Dreadball and expressed an interest so I bought in (2013).  There was more talk about it a while later, so I went all in on the Xtreme kickstarter when it came out (2014).  In all the years since then I’ve played Dreadball on maybe 3 occasions.  My group never got on board with it, although a few others picked up starter teams.  The earlier Mantic sculpts and resin were not the best to work with or paint so it’s all mostly sat on a shelf unpainted.  I’ve even tried selling it all off a few times.  Some parts of it were bought.

Over HERE I count down towards being 100% painted, but that total is a lie.  It ignores what I’ve been calling my Box of Undesirables.  The stuff I don’t particularly want and haven’t sold along.  Its mostly Dreadball in there.  My Spring Clean Hobby Challenge is to deal with this dirty little secret, and then see if I can tempt my group in to a (bi)monthly league day.

A dumb idea?

During lockdown I was also toying with the idea of a 1.5 player league hosted over the internet.  It’s probably a dumb idea, but it might work with a game like this.  Here’s my idea:

• Every player uploads their current team roster to a shared google spreadsheet, and keeps it updates across the season.  On your roster sheet you can include standard deployments, possibly even conditional based on what type of team you’re up against.
• The TO draws opponents for the round and everyone has 2 weeks to play their games and update the Google Sheet with the outcome and update their roster. Then the next round match ups are drawn
• No one actually plays against a live opponent.  You play the actual games running both sides in your own house, using the updated rosters and deployments from the Google Sheet.  You are expected to play fair.  If you cheat you’re only really cheating yourself.  There’s no real prizes.
• This means both opponents can report a win, so tiebreaks of some sort would also need to be tracked.  (I’m open to suggestions)
• If anyone drops out of the league their team can still be used and be managed by whoever they’re playing against that round.  The TO should feel free to remove unmanaged teams when they can do so without leaving someone opponentless.  Active players should be drawn against active players wherever possible.
• You don’t actually need the correct minis for your opponents faction.  Just make sure you can keep track of who is where, even if that’s by sticking labels on to coins.
• A 1.5 player league means that while you are playing against yourself, there are still consequences and you’re not in charge of who or what you’ll be facing next, hopefully adding a little of the challenge back, while allowing everyone to try different teams and experience other aspects of the game.  You’ll also clearly have the team you’re routing for.  Hopefully this will get around some of the “fun sinks” of solo play.

Is this a dumb idea?  I’m not sure I’d stay interested after the first couple of games.  If it works, it would allow us to have an OTT league without anyone leaving their houses and definitely removes the issue of finding a time when both players are free at the same time.

The Pile of Shame

So what do I have to contend with?  Here is a list of everything I think I have, and then just the stuff I think I have left to paint.  I was given a goody box by mantic a3-4 years back which I know contains a few more models.  I need to go through everything and confirm what I have and add the extras to this list.  It’s currently February 22 and I’m in the avoiding-work-by-planning stage so I’ll update this later at my convenience.  The header picture was taken a few years ago.  Some of it has been sold, but a few other bits have turned up since, although I haven’t bought any more in many years.

According to these charts I’ve 54 models to paint, along with Xtreme terrain pieces.  I know I’ve some more elsewhere to add still.

Prelude

According to google Spring is 20/3/22 through to 21/6/22 so I think I’ve 5.5 weeks until the Challenge starts.  I’ve painting my way through Kingdom Death right now.  I hope to have that done before this starts, with enough time to do a full inventory, wash clean up and prime everything that still needs it.  Most of it is built.  I cannot remember if I washed or cleaned it all up.  There’s no harm in washing everything again, just to be safe.  Dust may be an issue anyway.

Quick Questions

1. I haven’t played the game since Sponsors were added.  I’m pretty sure I don’t have enough bases to go around.  Do they need hex bases?  Can you see anything else on my list that doesn’t need a hex base?  If I can save a few that’d be great.
2. Is there a good app for Dreadball that’ll manage your team and handle rolling for new powers when you level up?  When I had a league day we had one set of books to fight over between games, and looking up all the different XP tables at once took multiple books.  It would be good if we could avoid this by doing it all with a few touches of our phone screens.  I own the 2nd ed rules, but I’ve not read them or looked at the current state of the game so I’ve no idea how many books have XP tables in them for the current edition of the game.

Back in the long lost Before Times I went to Chillcon in 2019 and they gave me a goody bag, and mantic added a box to it that was twice the size of the bag!  I’ve dealt with some of it, but there’s still plenty in there that wants attention.  Here’s pics of the Dreaball stuff from it which I need to identify, and two models that are free to a good home.

This plane is free to whoever wants it.  You pay postage though.

https://www.flyingmule.com/products/DA-DARA20

De Agostini Russian Aircraft DARA20
Yakovlev Yak-3 Display Model
Soviet Air Force, USSR

So who are these guys?  I’m going to label what I know and fill in the gaps with your help so please speak up if you can identify something I can’t.

I’ve already built and painted a load of Convicts.  possibly double what’s shown here.  If I have no use for what’s shown here, they’ll need a new home too.  I’ll need to check the books to see what the max allowance of each troop type is first though.

1. Bremlin Nebulas Kalyshi
2. Bremlin Nebulas Kalyshi
3. Bremlin Nebulas Kalyshi
4. Bremlin Nebulas Kalyshi
5. Bremlin Nebulas Kalyshi
6. Bremlin Nebulas Kalyshi
7. Bremlin Nebulas Kalyshi
8. Bremlin Nebulas Kalyshi
9. Bremlin Nebulas Kalyshi
10. Long Rock Lifers Convicts
11. Long Rock Lifers Convicts
12. Long Rock Lifers Convicts
13. Bremlin Nebulas Kalyshi
14. Long Rock Lifers Convicts
15. Long Rock Lifers Convicts
16. Long Rock Lifers Convicts
17. Long Rock Lifers Convicts
18. Long Rock Lifers Convicts
19. Long Rock Lifers Convicts
20. Long Rock Lifers Convicts
21. Coach Fergus from Dreadball Kickstarter 2
22. Refbot
23. Na’hautl, Night moon tree sharks Captain
24. Coach Tracer from KS 2
25. Weiss (Possibly my second)
26. New Eden Revenants Captain
27.  Neobot Captain
28. Frank Burke #2 New Eden Revenants Team Captain

I’ve just been to the mantic website to ID these models, and they only have 7 products listed under MVPs.  Is there another site I can go to to see every mini they’re released, even the discontinued and out of stock ones?

Update 18/2/22

I emailed mantic for some help and they gave em enough information to go away and ID the remaining models.  Thanks, Mantic.

I was waiting for some washes to dry on another project so I thought I’d use the time to wash and separate out all the DB models.  Here they all are in the pic below.  I’ve since bagged them up in to individuial projects, along with the required bases.  I’ve 15-20 more models than bases though, it appears, which leads me to my question:

Do any models other than players actually need a base?  Does anyone else have a facing that matters?  Refs, coaches, cheerleaders, medibots?  Do prone players have a facing or need a base?  Do you even need them, or are you better off laying down the model or using a token?  Anyone other than players?  I don’t want to spend £5 delivery on £3 of bases from Mantic and I don’t think my FLGS will have any.

Update: 2/3/22

A quick keyword search through the rulebook and the Mk1 XTreme book reveal:

• Coaches appear to actually be sponsors, even though they’re sold as coaches.  I might be wrong here?
• In the core rules the only Coaches are the guys rolling the dice (ie you and me)
• Sponsors are only used as tokens off the main board and as such have no facing, so bases do not matter
• The ref has no facing, so bases do not matter
• Prone models are considered to have 360 back arcs.  Models can choose a new facing when they stand up.  As such, facing and bases for prone models does not matter.
• Cheerleaders are just score trackers so don’t need a base
• Medi-bot isn’t even mentioned in the rules, so presumably doesn’t need a base

Please correct me if I’m wrong on any of this before I glue my limited supply of bases to the wrong models.

With the challenge about to start, and my desk covered in naked plastic minis that I need to decide how to base coat, I thought I should go through my old pics so I can try and colour match where applicable (ie I already have starter teams for the corporation and marauders so I plan on adding these extra Models to those teams).  I thought I may as well upload those pics here so everyone can see them, and so I can reference them easier as I work through the project.

These are all old pics taken when the models were first painted, 2+ years ago.  Much longer in some cases.

Gallery 1: 

Ada-Lorena Team

Convict Guards and Keeper

Convict Jacks

Convict Prone Markers

Convict Strikers

Corporation Team

Marauders Team

Zee Team

Z’zor Team

Gallery 2:

Rebs Team

Alpha Simian

A’teo Adysi

Brickbat Vognar

Deadman Davitz

Gabe

Galdo

Phantasm

Tycho

Gallery 3:

Wyn Greth’zki

Eye in the Sky turn tracker

Jetari GL14 Brawler SL22 Thrower

Medi-Bot

Refbot V1

Refbot V2

Trophy score tracker

These next few a reference pieces from Deadzone that I’ve previously painted.  They’re here as colour guides.

Gallery 4:

Chovar Psychic

Project Oberon

Reb Zees

The first weekend of the spring challenge is here and I wanted to get as much prep work done as I could.  I was out all day Sunday so I didn’t have as much time as I would have liked.  Friday after work I got all the priming done, and then Saturday I buckled down and got as much airbrush base coating done as I could.  Everything below was done as lazily and quickly as I could with an airbrush, unless I’ve said otherwise.  Maximum results for minimum time and effort is the guiding principal here.

All the airbrushing has had about 48 hours to dry, so I rushed home from work and applied washes over everything I could.  I filled up my work tray, otherwise I might have got more done.  This is 31 models all being worked on at the same time.  I’ll go in to more specifics on colours later on, when I focus on pieces a little more.

There is some more washing left to do, but next time I sit down to paint I can actually do some “real” painting if I wish.  I’m going to focus on units first to get me some quick wins and clear off my desk.  The Z’zor are almost done, and the Corporation colour scheme was chosen specifically to be quick and lazy.

I said I was out all of Sunday in my last entry.  I went to a Warmachine tournament.  The Sherwood Spring Steamroller.  Always a great day.  A relaxed tournament with an all day buffet (Or, lets be honest, an all day buffet with some games attached to it!).  I’ve barely had a game in 2 years, so it’s no surprise I came last of 14 in my group (there were 2 “pods”, each a tournament for up to 16.  There were some last minute cancellations due to plague).  I won a game though and I’m happy with that.  I had lots of fun and ate too much and won some prizes.

I’ve just clicked the link (https://www.beastsofwar.com/project-contest/spring-cleaning-hobby-challenge) to see what else is in the challenge and despite mine being the most recent update, I don’t appear to show up.  Anyone any ideas why?  Do I show up to you?  My previous years projects still show up, and I show up in the general project links.  Odd.

I got to do a little painting after work last night.  I sometimes get a couple of hours in on weekdays, so I try to use it wisely.  The nights goal was to get more washes in so they’d be dry before the weekend so I don’t waste any time waiting for stuff to dry.  As such, my steps for the night were:

1. Apply the second was on the undead flesh.  Its a 3 wash stage, so the sooner this wash is applied, the sooner I can get the next one on.
2. I dry brushed all the steel on the Corporation and the Refbot with P3 Cold Steel.  It’s quick and dirty, and what I assume I did last time so it should make it all more or less match
3. I applied some GW Nuln Oil in to the recesses on the RefBot.  The areas of pistons, and wiry mechanical “tendons” etc.  The goal was to make them more black and look separate to the shiny outer plating.  A quick and lazy way of breaking the model up and look like its made of multiple materials.
4. The tree man had been base coated with S75 Brown leather SC31 on Monday, so I applied a wash with slightly thinned S75 Inktense Chesnut SC81.  This will make for a good bark effect, which I learned from an Asset Drop guide, back when they were still active.
5. I base coated the blue areas on the corporation team.  Given the time I painted the last batch I’d most likely have followed the Privateer Press guide for Cygnar Blue from “Forces of Warmachine – Cygnar” (see below pic).  The codex for Cygnar from the previous edition, which is presumably out of print.  I’m pretty sure I skipped steps last time so I’ll be skipping some here.  I’ll likely skip step 2, wash step 3, drybrush step 4 carefully where I can , and maybe do a quick drybrush of 5 on the top of the helmet.  We will see.
6. With 3-4 coats of Step 1 down, I went for a shower to ensure it was fully dry before the next stage
7. With me and the base coat fully dry, it was that time in the evening where I usually down tools and read or watch TV to wind down.  However, if you have a wash to apply it should always be the last thing you do in a session, not the first thing you do, given the chance.  You don’t want to be sat around waiting for drying times.  As such, I got back to work for a while longer, and shaded the blue
8. The undead flesh was dry, so it seemed silly not to apply the third and final wash there too.

Tonight I likely finish of the blue, pick out some eyes and either do some bases, or move on to other minis and bulk base and varnish a bunch of stuff together later.  It’ll be more efficient to bulk base, but there’s something to be said for the motivation boost for getting stuff completely finished and off the table.  Progress breeds progress.