Welcome back to the Azure Forest! Today we’re continuing our look at the new rules in the Azure Forest pack. If you didn’t read part one yesterday, it’s only a click away! Right, if everyone’s caught up, let’s get on with it! In Part 1 we looked at how the weather and the roaring crowd affects the game; now let’s see what else there is to see!

Stacking the Deck

The new cards in the Azure Forest pack serve to bring some added flavour to your games. Yesterday we mentioned the Change of Weather? and Enthusiastic Fans cards, but there’s a mix of new Event and Special cards to add to your deck. Before a game starts, you strip seven random Event cards out of your regular DreadBall deck and shuffle in all of the new ones. This makes sure that a decent chunk of your deck is new cards, and also adds a bit of mystery as to which original Events are left in play. Maybe the ball won’t shatter for once!

So what’s in the deck? In a nod to Deadzone’s card system, there are three new Special cards (like the existing Showboat card) which led you add additional dice to an action, sort of like limited-use Coaching Dice. I’m definitely looking forward to getting my hands on some in a game – those lovely blue dice are always hard to come by, so anything that gives you bonus dice is a welcome addition in my book! There are also several events that represent jungle-themed occurrences like swarms of insects, mysterious illnesses and strange creatures dropping into the arena! There’s even the terrifying Quake card, representing Azure IX’s slightly unstable nature; if it comes into play, every standing player has a small chance of being knocked off their feet!

Jungle Juice

The Yndij on Azure IX are experts in distilling the mysteries of their rainforest home into all manner of potions and remedies. Although they flat-out refuse to sell their secrets, there are those who have come to appreciate DreadBall as the intense test of skill and prowess that it is. These few willingly offer their “blessings” to players that they see as being in need of a helping hand. If your team loses a game, you just might be lucky enough to get some assistance from the local flora and fauna!

After a game, you receive a number of “Honours” depending on the outcome. These are then spent to give one or more of your players a small boost in your next game. They act like temporary Abilities, usually lasting for a single Rush when activated. They might give your player the ability to ignore enemy Threat Hexes, or make more powerful Slams. If you’re particularly honoured, you can grant a single player the Unstoppable blessing, which lets him make multiple Slams as part of the same action! The blessings certainly aren’t game-changers; they’re just a little something that add a little bit of extra flavour to your DreadBall experience.

So there we are! Our whistle-stop tour of the new rules in the Azure Forest pack is complete. I hope you’re as excited to get gaming in this new arena! I’m already planning an away strip for the Wranglers…