This game is bloody, and eventually everyone dies. The game plan card “never say die” doesn’t describe this format. Basically no one actually comes back onto the pitch here…
This is a league format to be played over a predetermined period or event.
The basic idea is simple, and there’s a quick summary at the bottom below. But before we get into the rules for the format, there are some diferent variants to go about it, which you need to decide before starting the league/event.
- Type 1 – All players draft from a shared pool of all available models, also maximum 1 of each model.
- Type 2 – All players use only their own models, maximum 1 of each model.
- You can also decide to make a deeper variant of either of these, by saying that all players may only use models from one selected Major Guild plus the attached Minor Guild, or only models from a certain Homeland nation.
Winning or losing is determined just like normal.
The casual crazy part is that broken combinations will arise, but that they can also be countered by killing off a key piece at the right time. Going for goals instead of fighting is still a very viable tactic, just make extra sure that you try to stay ahead of the murderous bastards that want to beat you into the ground 😉
Setup
A table of all available models is needed (either a shared table or one per player). Example:
| Model | Drafted | Player | Dead |
| Skatha | |||
| Seenah | X | Daniel | X |
| Thresher | X | Daniel | |
| and so on… |
Pregame draft:
At the first round all games are drafted using basically normal Snake Draft rules, back and forth until each player has a total of 12 models before the first match. If there are not enough models available to accomodate all players getting 12 each, use a lower number for this rule.
Additionally (and this is important!) whenever a player drafts a model they/someone must note that draftpick on the table of available models. Either their own table or the big shared table, depending on the type of Carnage Draft you play.
A drafted model may never be drafted again for the duration of this league or event. It remains with the player who first picked it, or until it is killed. If playing with shared pool, that means that no other player will get to play that model during the league/event, so make sure you get to the extra sweet ones quickly!
Gameplay
The actual game is played as normal, with the exception that a few special rules govern what happens when a model is taken out.
A model that is Taken Out by losing hp is actually dead for the purposes of the league/event. VP are awarded as normal, but the killed model may not jog back in during the next turn. Instead, the controlling player who lost a model selects another from his or her Team and performs a normal jog in at the beginning of next turn.
A new model that jogs in after previous one was killed enters with full health, and may act just like normal during the turn when it enters.
If a player somehow is out of models when another one of his or her models is killed, there is simply no new model to jog in during the next turn. Otherwise the match continues like normal. This is extra relevant if players have smaller teams than 12 models (see above).
A model that is ringed out from the pitch counts as a normal takeout in terms of points, but is not considered killed and remain in your team, and performs a normal jog in during the next turn.
Draft between games
Before each new match, a new draft must be made to refill each player’s team. Decide if players refill-draft their team when facing their next opponent or that everyone draft together before new pairings are made.
Refill-drafting is made by each player picking one available model, one by one until all players again have 12 models in their team. Remember to alway note draft picks on the table, so that a killed character doesn’t mysteriously return.
A model drafted to a team can not be removed from that team except when it is killed.
If playing a league over a longer period of time, make sure that the organizer keeps track of which models each player have in their team.
Carnage Draft FAQ
- Champ’s ability to return to the pitch at the same turn as taken out triggers normally, it’s just not her that comes back in.
- [ will enter more here as questions arise ]
🙂
Quick Summary:
- Any model can only be drafted once.
- Players draft a team of 12 models each.
- Drafted models remain in the player’s team between games
- Players field normal teams of 6 models (C+M+4)
- Models that die remain dead and are removed from the game.
- When a model dies its player jogs in another model next turn instead.
- Each player refills their team with new models between games
Personally I’ve played this format with 1 single opponent over many games during a period of time. We did it mainly to get to test many different models (ALL of them!) and to get a casual ever-changing Guild Ball experience.
Header art credit: https://img6.arthub.ai/64b2650a-f80f.webp
