Squids In: the Team with No Name.

Hiya, I'm Will from the Outpost in Sheffield. I've played in every league run by the redoubtable Chris and irrepressible Jimmi, mostly with Humans, and mostly getting second place in the league and judging by the numbers of cheers, every fans' favourite second team. This season, I've challenged myself with the Nameless (The Osaka Squids) – having played John Doe in the league and season-closing tournament I think I've got a handle on Gotcha! This is an occasional blog on my team's progress and what I've learned so far...

Playing with a Nameless team is very much like a Marathon. By that I mean the chocolate not-so-recently replaced by Snickers – let me explain by introducing the players. There are two distinct types of guard (a first for Dreadball) and also strikers:

Sticky Guard
These start with a basic human guard chassis (that is to say every stat is 4+) although it is slower with a movement of 4. They also have Gotcha!, which increases their threat hex modifiers and also allows access to a whopping -3 overall modifier, enough to stop opposition Jacks from rolling any dice. They play a dual role of Guard and Jack by marking players. They're the sticky nougat at the heart of the team, holding everything together, and I have three playing in my team already.

Hitty Guard
Just like a Forgefather Guard, crunchy yet brittle, these are the peanuts with which to smash your opponent's players. With a movement of 5 they can cover a fairly broad section of the board, which is good because they'll probably do much of the legwork in clearing the board.#

Striker
Don't be fooled by these crazy shrimps, they are just human strikers in disguise! They have two ways to move the ball around - Safe Pair of Hands makes long ball (9 hex) throws fairly reliable, at least for catching; Movement 6, however, favours a running game – they should be able to get into strike zones with one sprint. Seemingly one of the most versatile strikers in the game, they are the sweet chocolate surrounding your beat sticks.

The team starts off with two each of both Guards, and it is likely that these players will stay on the pitch throughout the league (unless they are knocked off it). Whilst two hitty guards is more than enough to squish Jacks foolish enough to embrace their tentacled cousins, the two sticky guards are likely to find themselves stretched thin, as their low move. The remainder of the team is stocked up with strikers, which despite their high points cost are somewhat disposable, given their relatively squishy nature, and two will more than likely suffice on the pitch.

That's the team introduced - next time I'll go through my thoughts on the next steps in a league, ideal advancements and who to recruit next...