Team Talk- Pelgar Mystics
Season Two - Judwan
Peacekeepers
Introduction
The Pelgar Mystics are a team of peaceful pacifists, and you
would rightly ask “What are they doing on the Dreadball pitch?”; indeed, some
coaches are surprised to find out this is a ball game, despite it being in the
name. The aliens known as Judwan were
removed from their holy land by ruthless corporations, and have resolved to
beat the humans at their own game, but on Judwanese terms. Using their prowess and skill, they outwit
and outplay their opponents with the intention of earning enough money to buy
back their home.
Player Breakdown
A basic Judwan team consists of six
players, all of which are Strikers. They
have a nominal Strength of 5+, but this will very rarely come into play. Being Strikers, they have the standard Armour
value of 5+, which means these aliens are liable to snap when slammed. They have a decent Skill of 4+, but their
most controversial stat is their Speed.
Originally printed as 3+ in the Season two rulebook, the Speed was amended
to 4+ in Season three, on the flavour premise that the Judwan had been using
performance enhancing stimulants as part of their religious practices, to the
disappointment of beardy Judwan coaches everywhere and great relief to those
who hadn’t even taken rush two yet. More
on this later…
The Judwan have three abilities
that contribute to their unique style of play: Long Arms, Pacifist, and Misdirect. Pacifist
might initially seem a bit of a strange idea –Strikers can’t slam anyway – but
this rule stops the Judwan from lobbing the ball at the back of the opponent’s
head (also the front). Long Arms extends the range at which the
Judwan can throw; the range bands become 1-4 hexes at three dice, 5-8 hexes at
two dice, and 9-12 with one die. This
allows the Judwan to pass long distance accurately, but also prevents them from
being able to score bonus points. The
final ability, Misdirect, gives the
Judwan a unique action called Feint. A Feint
action allows the Judwan to shift their enemy without having to resort to
violence, as they use their fancy dancing to confuse and distract the enemy;
very useful for breaking up walls, clearing paths, and prodding players into
the ball launch hexes.
Team Assets
The Judwan don’t have much to speak of by way of assets
(ahem), with only a Dreadball card on their starting roster. This card isn’t as helpful to the Mystics as
it is to more varied teams; being solely strikers, many cards will not be
useful as they specify guards or jacks, however it is still worth rummaging
through the deck for a ‘Any Player, Any Action’ (or ‘The Ball Shatters’ ;) ) if
you’ve got the spare action.
Team Tactics
The Pelgar Mystics are not a flexible team, how to play them
will not vary wildly from game to game as it might do with a human team. Your
objective is to win by landslide as soon as possible, and take as few
casualties as you can along the way. To
do this, minimize the scoring ability of your opponent by blocking up your rear
strike zone with 3 players, disallowing them from scoring 3 or 4 point
strikes. Strikers are pretty nifty at
dodging, so it can be hard to shift a Judwan wall, but when they do watch out,
as you are liable to lose a player for a couple of rushes at the very
least. As you cannot score 4 point
strikes, you should be aiming to score 3 points every turn (unless less is
needed to win the game and it’s an easier shot; 3 points give you experience
points and fan checks which can be important in leagues and tournaments
respectively). Ideally, one Judwan
should be loitering behind the opponent’s far strike zone, misdirecting the
opposing players to open up a path for another Judwan to score. This leaves one spare player, who will be
needed when one of your noble pacifists is crippled under a pile of Orx (or
Teratons, or humans, or a stiff breeze).
Against a hitty team, they are unlikely to be making big strikes and
hopefully you will be able to landslide before you lose too many players and
they level the field. Alternately,
against a strikey team, you can worry less about losing players, but expect the
game to go longer.
League Play
In league play, I would advocate using your first winnings
to buy a defensive coach. The extra
defensive dice that the coach generates are actually very useful in keeping
your Judwan alive – prevention is better (and a lot cheaper) than cure! You can also use the coach to make an
offensive play if and when it is necessary. A Judwan team also benefits from buying extra players, as many an
opposing coach will try to permanently decimate your team to get experience for
their players. If you can keep a small
band of extras on your bench, you will find it easier to finish games sooner
rather than later.
Other than Skill and Speed boosts, I would recommend trying
to get abilities on your Judwan that increase their survivability, such as Duck & Weave for an extra dodge
dice, or Grizzled to soften the blow
that comes your way.
It is also worth noting that if a Judwan dies, he can be
sent to the ‘back-street doctor’ to be revived on the cheap. There is a possibility that a Judwan revived
in this manner can come back having lost one of his abilities. If this ability is Misdirect, I would consider dropping him from your roster, or at
least relegating him to the wall, but if they lose one of the other abilities,
it can be very advantageous. Losing Long Arms means you have a player able
to score bonus points, whereas losing Pacist
gives a fiendish, bloodthirsty alien who loves to throw balls at the back of
the heads of Nameless Crabs.
Tournament Play
In tournament play, you can relax somewhat about the
survivability of your players, as whatever happens, they’ll be back in the next
game. For this reason, I would recommend
an Offensive Coach (for 8mc) over a Defensive Coach, for the added certainty of
getting an extra action where it is needed to strike hard and win the game. With the other 12mc, I would suggest
investing in two Coaching Dice, again for surety of purpose. As the Judwan cannot score four point
strikes, any failed strike attempt is a chance for your opponent to overtake
you on points, and it can be very hard for Judwan to catch up if they lose the
momentum – the two coaching dice will aid in making sure you keep up the pace,
and you will swiftly earn the dice back with doubled three-pointers!
Conclusion
The Judwan are a glass cannon, able to score quickly and
effectively, but the longer the game goes, the more vulnerable they are, both
to losing the game and to losing players.
This means that they can be a good choice for using in a tournament, but
a tricky choice for league play where survival is given increased
importance. As a one-trick pony, they
can get tiresome to play in the long term, and in a league it can become
frustrating when other players relentlessly try and kill any players that even
sniff Rank two. However, they are a
flavourful team and good at what they do.
Addendum
It is interesting to note that the Judwan were changed in
Season three to have Speed 4+ instead of Speed 3+. During the Season two period, many teams were
taking advantage of the way the ball entered play to win the game before the
opponent even had spent an action; the Judwan were particularly good at this,
being all Strikers and having the Long
Arms special ability. It was
therefore determined that the Judwan would be amended, and the ball entry rules
would be changed. However, I believe
that the change to the Judwan was unnecessary, that the problem was solved with
the changes to ball entry. Having played
with both Speed 4+ and Speed 3+ in the current metagame, I believe that the
Judwan are currently a little underpowered compared to the other teams
available. Reverting to Speed 3+ would
make them a little more exciting to play - at Speed 4+, Misdirect can be rather hit and miss, and as it is one of the
Judwan’s big sells it would be nice to see it be used more frequently. Alternately, I would recommend the cost per
player be reduced from 15mc to 13mc, and the 12mc spare be converted into a
permanent two Coaching Dice, although my preference would be for the more
flavourful Speed 3+.
