Thursday 2 November 2017

Rumbleslam - a Review

The contents of the starter boxed set shown straight from the box.
Rumbleslam is the game of fantasy wrestling produced by TT Combat. I begin my review of the basic boxed set with the blurb about the basic starter set taken from the webstore -

Welcome to the ring! The spotlights are on, the confetti cannons are loaded, and the mages have had their staffs taken away. The world of Rumbleslam awaits!

The original game of fantasy wrestling is coming to a table top near you. Join in on fast paced high action gaming as goblins jump off the turnbuckles, dark elves bounce from the ropes, and dwarfs pick up werewolves to throw out of the ring!

This boxed game contains everything a budding sponsor needs to start their Rumbleslam career.

Two teams are included – the stalwart Heavy Pounders consist of a Halfling Brawler, Halfling Grappler, Human Brawler, Human Grappler, and a mighty Ogre. Meanwhile in the other corner are the unrelenting Green Bruisers – a Goblin Brawler, Goblin Grappler, Orc Brawler, Orc Grappler, and unshakable Troll. Each wrestler comes with its own character profile card. These cards show each wrestler's innate abilities, and moves they can perform, from basic clotheslines to the formidable Blue Thunder. All miniatures are supplied unpainted and unassembled with a clear acrylic base. Note that clear acrylic bases may have a coloured peelable protective film.

The box contains a 12”x12” soft mat ring with 104 squares for wreaking mayhem, ropes to bounce off and turnbuckles to leap from.

With 5 Copper dice, 5 Silver dice, and 4 Gold dice, wrestlers can brawl their way to victory, and 2 Crowd dice allow your wrestlers to rally the crowd behind them to perform mind-blowing special moves. Note that because the dice are screen printed the symbols may wear with frequent use. To protect against this, a light spray coat of varnish will stop any fading of the symbols.

The box also includes 40 acrylic counters for each special status in the game, as well as 16 acrylic Crowd Pleaser tokens to help keep track of your wrestlers' attempts at wooing the audience.

And of course the box includes the 64-page Rumbleslam rulebook. Containing all the information needed to play the game, including background information, team building rules, and a miniatures gallery.

What are you waiting for? There's no better time to jump in the ring and start your path to superstardom!
The box contents shown on my dining room table with the two teams fully painted.
I wasn't aware of this game until recently when I was browsing the TT Combat webstore but as soon as I saw it, I was intrigued by it. I was a big fan of what used to be the WWF (World Wrestling Federation), which later became the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment). I am not a sports fan at all, (some may argue that wrestling isn't a sport but show business) but I found this a whole load of cheesy fun and the idea of adopting the wrestling format so that fantasy races could take part was, I thought, inspired.

The rules are easy to learn and a game usually lasts for five turns that can take from 30 to 90 minutes depending on the number of fighters involved. In Rumbleslam, teams are owned by casinos, paid for with cold hard Dosh, paid for by you, the sponsor. When hiring your team, you and your opponent have to spend the same amount of Dosh. The casinos and their wrestling teams are -
  1. Kaiser's Palace. The Heavy Pounders (Humans, Halflings and Ogres) and Runic Thunder (Dwarves).
  2. Gomorrah. The Deadly Divas (Female Humans and Female Ogres) and the Twisted Shadows (Female Dark Elves, Shadowlings and Gorgons).
  3. Rolling Bones. The Cryptborn Nightmares (Undead) and the Green Bruisers (Orcs, Goblins and Trolls).
  4. The Forest Soul. The Cold Bloods (Lizardmen) and the Timber Fists (Amazonians, Sprites and Treemen).
  5. The Feral Den. The Furry Fury (Ratlings) and the Raging Beasts (Barbarians, Goatmen and Minotaurs).
In addition are the Free Agents, individual superstars who can be hired by any team, although they often favour one team over the others. Rather than explain how the rules work here I'll explain them when I run through a batrep between the two starter teams very soon.
 Here are the Green Bruisers ...
...and their opponents, the Heavy Pounders.
Please note that the figures are huge. A human stands roughly 40mm tall! Now this may be a problem to those of you who moan about scale-creep. But my argument is, if the figures are only ever going to be used in Rumbleslam, as mine most likely will, then does it matter how tall they are? I felt the same way about the figures for Rum and Bones. With the figures being so tall, the detail on them is exceptional. They are cast in resin and some come in multiple parts. They also come with clear plastic circular bases either 25mm or 50mm in diameter. I do not like these at all. I am not a fan of these transparent acrylic bases. I stuck my figures on MDF bases appropriate to the size of the figure. So the Goblins and Halflings are on 20mm diameter bases, the humans on 25mm diameter bases, the Orcs on 30mm diameter bases, the Ogre on a 40mm diameter base and the Troll on a 50mm diameter base.

The MDF ring in its unpainted form. Mine will be painted.
At present, I only have the two starter box teams but I have bought a couple of superstars for each of them, and I'll show them next time. The teams I am most interested in playing are the Cryptborn Nightmares, simply because of my love of all things undead, and the Twisted Shadows (sexy Dark Elves). I have placed an order for both teams, and I'll showcase them as soon as I paint them. They'll be going straight to the front of my painting queue. To be honest, I like all of the teams and the Free Agents. In time, I'd like to get all of the figures available for this game.
I have also ordered the Rumbleslam Deluxe Ring, which is a laser-cut MDF board of the ring and which looks most impressive. See the picture to the right.

I do realise that this is very much a niche game and it certainly won't appeal to those of you who don't like wrestling. But for me, it is a guilty pleasure and one I look forward to playing many times. The Rumbleslam starter boxed set costs £45.00 from the TT Combat webstore, see here - https://ttcombat.com/collections/rumbleslam/products/rumbleslam-starter-box
But if you shop around, you can find it cheaper on other webstores. For example, Element Games are only charging £40.50 for it. See here - http://elementgames.co.uk/wargames-and-miniatures/cult-steampunk-other-miniatures-games/rumbleslam/2-player-starter-box

22 comments:

  1. I have to admit that this game is looking rather interesting. Nice figures and cards too.

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    1. It is indeed, Roy. Well worth checking out, I'd say.

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  2. Great review, Bryan, of a great game. There's lots of corking minis out there for this rule-set, so hopefully you'll continue to give it plenty of publicity as your new teams arrive and get painted. I see a few more wrestling ring mats are now out too, along with the 3d wooden one.

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    1. Many thanks, Simon. I do plan on featuring this game a lot on my blog so keep watching. The idea of the different wrestling ring mats is a neat one but the 3D one is by far the most impressive.

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  3. My boat is not rocked but I'm glad you're enjoying the fun.

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    1. No problem whatsoever, Phil. I do understand.

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  4. Thanks for the review, Bryan. I was wondering about this game. I may add it to my list :)

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    1. Cheers, Roger. I'm glad my review was of some help to you.

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  5. This intriguing game has become a must have - is there a solo option?

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    1. Thanks, Andy. There is not a solo play option, but that hasn't stopped me from playing solo. As long as you remain unbiased and treat all sides equally, there is no reason not to play the game solo. I do it all the time.

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  6. That looks pretty cool Bryan. I may have to have a look. It would be fun to build a ring for a laugh too. I don't like acrylic bases either. I see a miniature as a sculpture, a piece of art. The base is a frame for a picture or plinth for the statue. I like miniatures that capture a moment in time with a striking pose or a dynamic gesture. The base is part of that moment on more involved figures and I wouldn't want to lose that.

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    1. Many thanks, HP. I agree with you 100% about the bases. Well said, my friend!

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  7. Thanks for the review Bryan. I've been a hug pro-wrestling fan for all my life and came across mention of this game a while back and was wondering how "wrestling" the combat was. From reviews and a few video playthroughs it struck me as the wrestling equivalent of Blood Bowl.

    If TTCombat would just publish a preview of the rules I'd be much more willing to jump in. As it is I'll try to use my Jedi powers to lean you toward a Vampi-quality (hopefully comic-strip styled) battle report. Please please please!

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    1. Good to hear from you again, Russ. If you want to see how the game plays, click on YouTube and you'll find loads of tutorial videos. I will be doing a batrep but it was going to be a straight-forward how to play tutorial... however, I like your idea of doing it comic style very much. Watch this space!

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  8. Hello Bryan,

    I've been looking into Rumbleslam and it says the miniatures are resin - is that right? And if so, what did you do to the figures before undercoating - did you have to wash them or anything?

    I've only ever attempted to paint one resin figure before, and it was a failure. The undercoat paint evaporating off the material, so I just gave up and have never tried another resin since.

    I've watched a Youtube video of the game, today, and its just the resin figure question that is stopping me from buying into the game - But since everyone else manages to paint resin figures, it must just be something I'm doing wrong.

    Cheers, Roy

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    1. Hi, Roy. The figures are made of resin. I have painted lots of resin figures and have never had any problems with any of them. I did give them a quick wash in warm soapy water. It is something I always do with resin figures and it's not that big a chore.

      It sounds like on your failure that there was still release oil on your resin figure, which will explain why the paint didn't adhere well. I know that some people don't like resin figures but I do like them a lot. If that is all that is holding you back I'd say give them a try. You may just well end up liking them. ;-)

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    2. Thanks Bryan. I did actually find a .pdf over on the companies website last night showing how they went about prep and painting, so I'll follow that and hope it works.

      The figure that I had a failure with was a funny type of resin that I'd not encountered before - a miniature from Black Scorpion - and I washed it in warm soapy water, cleaned it with an old toothbrush, and then gave it a coat of pva glue solution to seal the resin (as this is what I do with resin buildings). But in the case of the figure it failed to work. It might have been the pva glue on the resin (as it was a different type of resin to the stuff used by miniature buildings in the hobby), I just don't know. Any way, I'm 99% certain I'm going to buy Rumbleslam, this afternoon, so will just crack on with the figures when they arrive.

      Thanks again.

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    3. I am so pleased to hear that, Roy. I do hope you enjoy the game and the figures. It's rather odd that you had difficulties with the Black Scorpion figure. I've probably bought more resin figures from them than any other company and have never had any problem with them. I wonder if it was the PVA glue that caused your problem? I also saw that PDF you mentioned and it's a nice little tutorial.

      Best of luck from Bryan.

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  9. Thanks for a a very enthusiastic review Bryan and I'm looking forward to reading a game report :-)

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    1. Much appreciated, Greg. I'm hoping to post a batrep soon.

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  10. Nice review and highlight of this game Bryan, who doesn't like a bit of grapple action every now and then

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    1. Thanks, Dave. It would seem that "Rumbleslam" is proving very popular with gamers and I can certainly see why.

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