First game of Guild Ball

My buddy, Chris, and I played our first game of Guild Ball this past weekend.  We are both happily impressed with the game!

An action-packed pitch.  Fishermen versus Masons.

We played the introductory version of the game, played on a 2'x2' pitch with 3 characters per side.  I played Fishermen's Guild, and Chris played the Mason's Guild.  The estimated play-duration for the introductory format is 30 minutes.  The first team to score 6 Victory Points wins the game.  Our game consumed an entire afternoon.  Even accounting for lots of rules lookups, we scoffed at the idea of the game requiring only 30 minutes.  Until we found the rule the next day that said each Goal was worth 4 Victory Points, and each Takedown was worth 2 Victory Points.  The way we had played, each Goal was worth 1 Victory Point, and each Takedown was just a punchy, satisfying means to an end!

"Hey, you!  Come pick on someone your own size!"

Despite our oversight, the rules are very well written.  They pretty much answered every question we had, minus a few ambiguities, which turned out to match our interpretation, once we found clarifications in the FAQs and Errata.

We both liked the pace of the game.  It flows very naturally, and the mechanics promise to fade to the background, directing our focus and attention on deciding on best field position and setting up synergistic plays.  The card profiles strike just the right balance, offering depth and personality without overburdening the character with a tome of special abilities (I'm looking at you, Malifaux!).  I can actually learn my characters within the first few goals and learn the key attributes of the opponent characters.

OK, I love the dynamic poses, but is this Guild Ball or a dance party?

We're looking forward to our next game!