Pyramid Review
Battleball
Battleball/
Published by Milton Bradley/Hasbro
Two-player boardgame; $20.00
Battleball is a mass-market game that is billed as the future of football, with cybernetic players making carnage out of each other as they wrestle for the ball. It's a theme you've probably seen before, and it also has the trappings of a gamer's game: polyhedral dice in an assortment of sizes, a staggered-square game board that has the connection properties of a hex map, special powers for each of the teams, and sculpted miniatures. There are 22 plastic miniatures in all, and they look pretty nice -- comparable to HeroClix in quality and detail.
Each team consists of 11 players, each with a corresponding die type. The three running backs are played using the red d20s that come with the game. This is nicely represented by a red ring around the base of each running back figure. We found ourselves not thinking of them as "running backs" at all, but as "red" or "20" players. Two green-ringed players use the green d12s, two blue ones use d10s, two black ones use d8s, and two yellow ones use d6s. One of the yellow players on each team takes up two spaces on the map; you roll 2d6 for these big guys and pick between the two dice.
The game starts out with each team behind their 20 yard line and with the ball in the center of the field. (The future of football does not allow for subtleties like kick-offs.) Players then alternate turns: Moving one of their players and then either resolving a tackle . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: June 3, 2005
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