Dreadball teams

[Malebolgia]

Some of you may have noticed in the Bazaar I currently have a Dreadball fever. It started back in January and still isn't over. It's weird how these projects come and go...I can't remember WHY I wanted to start with Dreadball . But I'm glad I jumped in!
Within two months I acquired 7 teams (mostly by trading), including a well painted team by Basement Dweller. But we all know how new projects go if you don't start painting...they quickly move to the cupboard and collect dust. And I really wanted to play Dreadball. So I took a scalpel and brass wire brush and spent some time cleaning several teams. By now I actually don't care that much about restic anymore...it cleans fast and the final look is cool (and more dynamic than with hard plastic in a lot of cases). Only downside is that the detail sometimes is a bit shallow.
So next was painting. I started with the human team. These were the guys that made me choose Dreadball, so I wanted to do them first. Before I started I made the decision to paint them fast and effectively. So no endless blends and a lot of fancypants techniques. Just effective painting to get them done in a way I like: lots of washes! That was the way to go.

Novadyne Demons

I started by blasting them with Skull White primer and then quickly basecoating them with Citadel Macharius Solar Orange. Next up were some yellow drybrushes and finally a red ink wash to make them pop more and bring out the detail. The blue was done with P3 Cygnar Base, which got some highlights with Citadel Electric Blue and finally a Citadel Asurmen Blue wash. The metal parts were done with Citadel Chainmail and received a P3 Armor Wash. All the grey parts were done with VMC German Grey and were washed with P3 Armor Wash. Finally the eyes. First P3 Skorne Red and then I added two dots; the first was P3 Skorne Red + white and the final dot was with white. Done!
After varnishing I added some 40K Ork decals to go with their team name Urgh, I hate doing decals...

Tengfei Locusts

Oh yes, bugs playing futuristic sports games. What's not to like . I went with the obvious colour: green! I wanted to do them like locusts, but with some contrasting colours to make them pop more. I started by spraying them black and wetbrushing them Citadel Orkhide Shade, then with Foundry Bright Green 25B and finally with Foundry Bright Green 25C. I then applied a P3 Green Ink wash to soften the green a bit. Next up some quick highlights with Foundry Bright Green 25C. Next the red. I first painted it with P3 Skorne Red and highlighted it with Italeri Flat Red and finally with VMC Bright Orange. Finally it was time for the black parts. I painted them with VMC Flat Black and gave them a highlight with VGC Sombre Grey and finally Foundry Arctic Grey 33B. I kept the eyes of all bugs black.
After matt varnishing them I painted the eyes with gloss varnish. And finally, I added numbers on the back with a Micro Pigment Pen.

The bases
In Dreadball there are three roles: Guards (the big stompy ones), Strikers (the flashy scoring ones) and the Jacks (jacks of all trades...they can do everything...to a certain degree). I wanted to make it clear what model has what role.  So I painted the front three hex facings (the threat zones) in colors to match their roles. Red = Guard, Yellow = Striker, Blue = Jack. Easy to recognise and you have no discussion on the front facing of the model. And of course I painted them in Tron-colors. The red was done with P3 Skorne Red, the yellow with Citadel Iyanden Darksun and the blue with P3 Cygnar Base. I then added white for a first highlight and finally I painted the corners with pure white.

Refbot and Dreadballs

The ref is important on the pitch as she has to make sure the teams play fair. She was painted superfast! I primed her with Skull White primer and washed the white with Secret Weapon Soft Body Black Wash (a perfect color to shade white). I then highlighted it again with Italeri Flat White. Easypeasy! Next up the metallics. I painted them with Citadel Chainmail and washed them with Citadel Badab Black Wash. Finally I painted the glowing bits with P3 Arcane Blue and added the hot spot by adding Italeri Flat White. Done! I think this paintjob took about half an hour. After varnishing them, I added gloss varnish to the white panels to make them look like glossy plastics.
The balls were even easier. I first basecoated them with Citadel Chainmail, washed them with Citadel Badab Black Wash and finally drybrushed them with VMC Metallic Medium. For the glowing parts, I painted them with P3 Blue Ink and added the glowing parts by adding Italeri Flat White (with a pure white dot in the centre of the "X"). Done!

So there you have it...two painted teams and ready to play! It took me 2-3 weeks to finish them and I am really happy with the final result. I used some fast techniques and not a lot of colours, but I like the final result. Bright, flashy and popping on the field.
Next Saturday will be the first match. My next team will be the Nameless, but first time to do some Cyberpunk again

[Gabbi]

Very nicely fone. Love how you did the Locusts
Also love your color coded front arcs. Subtle enough to not distract from the model, but easy to see if you're looking for it. Well done.

[Malebolgia]

Thanks! That was exactly my idea: subtle Tron-esque arcs to help the players during gameplay but not dominate the bases.
We played the first games last Saturday and we had a BLAST. After playing Dreadball, I don't see myself going back to Blood Bowl...ever. Love the speed of this game, the way the ball works after scoring, the way a turn ends. All a lot more fun IMO.
First game was humans vs insects and by the human's third rush, two (!) of their team members were dead...one was snipped in half by the scary guard and one hit by a new ball, which blew a big hole through his chest. Ouch. But the humans scored 3 and then 4 points and performed a superfast Landslide. Unexpected win, but really cool moves.
Next game the dwarves played against the humans. The score went both ways...2 points in his favour...3 in my favour...and then he managed to score a 3-pointer making the score 0 again. With only 2 rushes left, I tried to score a 2-pointer but failed the Skill roll on 2 dice. The ball then scattered all the way to his back field. But with some nifty moves and card use he managed to score 1 point with his last action and win the game. Epic.

So we loved it straight away! I'm now working on some more models.

[Sir_Theo]

Lovely stuff.  I went big on the first Dreadball KS. It's a great game, not without some balance issues with the later seasons but the game itself is solid and loads of fun.

[Commander Roj]

Lovely stuff.  I went big on the first Dreadball KS. It's a great game, not without some balance issues with the later seasons but the game itself is solid and loads of fun.

If I could do Dreadball in 15mm I would. I won't buy into a 28mm game. I would welcome 15mm proxy suggestions. A robot team might not be too hard to do, but finding other figures seems very tricky!

[Gibby]

Fantastic work! I really enjoyed playing this game when it was demoed to me, and I like the look of all the teams when they're painted. I have however owned and sold it twice now due to not being able to clean up Restic. I spent easily an hour on half a figure and it still looked like I hadn't achieved much! Why can't they have done it in metal?

[Malebolgia]

Cheers lads!

@Sir_Theo: I heard about the balance issues. For me, I'll stick with season 1-3...these seem the most balanced. The Forge Fathers will struggle now and then but I had real fun playing them. They are tough bastards, but their stunty legs makes it a real challenge to keep up. Challenging, but it didn't spoil the fun for me.

@Commander Roj: Sounds cool in that scale and excellent for travelling! And I guess it should be doable for the other teams:
http://khurasanminiatures.tripod.com/15mmscifi.html
Zzor: Space Demons or Vespulids
Coaches: 15mm Federal Police and Civilians
Teraton: 15mm Garn Alien Warriors
Forgefathers: The Thrainites
Female Corporation: Federal Army VITRO clone soldiers
Corporation: 15mm Terran Federal Army
Robots: 15mm Mekanoid War Robots

And on 15mm.co.uk there are also interesting sculpts for all kinds of teams. But some may take some modding work. But the end result would be cool.

@Gibby: I used to hate restic too...I loathed it. But now I can manage it quite well and clean models quite fast too. It's basically by doing two techniques:
1. Slicing the mould lines off with a supersharp knife. So no scraping (although on some surfaces you must), but slice/peel the mould line off. Goes quite easy. And if you have to scrape, use the non-sharp backside of the Exacto...that works way better.
2. Brush off the prepped model with a soft brass wire brush. This gets rid of the fluff and will smooth the surfaces even better. Easy to do (but thick rubber gloves can be handy) and the result is great.

[Commander Roj]

Cheers lads!

@Sir_Theo: I heard about the balance issues. For me, I'll stick with season 1-3...these seem the most balanced. The Forge Fathers will struggle now and then but I had real fun playing them. They are tough bastards, but their stunty legs makes it a real challenge to keep up. Challenging, but it didn't spoil the fun for me.

@Commander Roj: Sounds cool in that scale and excellent for travelling! And I guess it should be doable for the other teams:
http://khurasanminiatures.tripod.com/15mmscifi.html
Zzor: Space Demons or Vespulids
Coaches: 15mm Federal Police and Civilians
Teraton: 15mm Garn Alien Warriors
Forgefathers: The Thrainites
Female Corporation: Federal Army VITRO clone soldiers
Corporation: 15mm Terran Federal Army
Robots: 15mm Mekanoid War Robots

And on 15mm.co.uk there are also interesting sculpts for all kinds of teams. But some may take some modding work. But the end result would be cool.

Good thinking! I was wondering about some Critical Mass Games stuff. RAL robots, maybe Astagat too. I will have to look out for the game/pitch without the figures.

[Gabbi]

Greebo Games makes a fantasy football range in 15mm, called Tutatis. If you don't mind the cartoony style, maybe you can find some useful model in the line...
http://www.greebo-games.com/product-category/tutatis/

[Malebolgia]

Those Tartalar are perfect as Teratons!

[Commander Roj]

Greebo Games makes a fantasy football range in 15mm, called Tutatis. If you don't mind the cartoony style, maybe you can find some useful model in the line...
http://www.greebo-games.com/product-category/tutatis/

Never heard of these, but they do look good,and some would be adaptable for Dreadball. The price seems a bit excessive, but got only a handful of miniatures, that isn't a deal-breaker. Has anyone tried the Teratis game?