GMorts Chaotica: Dreadball Xtreme

Tuesday, 3 March 2015

Dreadball Xtreme - Unboxing and Review

Dreadball Xtreme is one of many products that found it's way to my home via a Kickstarter though it is available via normal retail channels such as local gaming stores and of course Mantic Games themselves by now should you be interested.

I keep being told how much fun it is and that the rule-set is simple and fairly well balanced so I thought it might be a good idea if I did something with it. Of course the first stage to playing the game is to actually take the pieces out of the box and assemble them and of course I'm now psychologically incapable of taking any hobby product out of a container without first turning the process into a blog article of some kind...

The Box.

It came in a box...here's a picture of it...

Instruction Booklet.

As you'd expect from Mantic Games the instruction booklet is well laid out and has plenty of diagrams showing how the game works as well as containing detailed information on the models, new features. Those of you familiar with Dreadball will have little trouble as the core mechanics are basically the same though there are some significant (and fun) differences.

Game Mat.

The mat is good quality material and should last even the most heavy handed game player through quite a significant amount of games.

Game Counters.

These are of the usual thick cardboard 'pop-out' variety and are double sided...so I've done pictures of both sides...

Other Bits and Pieces.

The game comes with some attractive coloured bases though I used some spare clear plastic ones to base mine as it seemed a waste to use the pretty ones on a model and base I was just going to undercoat. You also get some dice, transfers and the necessary game cards.

Here's some close-ups of those cards...

Terrain.

The terrain bits and pieces pretty much all consist of two parts and click together. I didn't even glue mine together and they held just fine. They start like the top picture and finish up like the bottom one...hopefully...

The Models.

We're not going to get very far without some models no are we...

Sponsors.

These guys effect how much certain player cost (amongst other things) so have a significant effect on your team roster. The Warden (for example) gets cons very cheaply whereas Blaine doesn't pay as much for Jetari Training Drones, etc...

The Kalyshi.

They're badass versions of the Asterians that you're probably more familiar with if you play other Mantic games such as Deadzone and Dreadball. They come as either Strikers or Jacks...you get some 'prone' ones as well. Front and rear views can be found below...

The Convicts.

Probably the only way to get out of a GCPS prison for those prisoners unable to afford bribes. They're fitted with explosive collars in order to deter any ideas of escape. They come as Runners (Strikers), Cons (Jacks) or Thugs (Guards) as well as a couple that have fallen over...

These are the only character models that require any kind of assembly and come with a choice of two heads and two right arm options. Pictures of both configurations are below...