There is no included timer for match length but its pretty simple nowadays to use a phone or connected device to time 90 minutes and once you have something set up you begin by drafting your team. Take your spot in Season 4 by expressing interest in the #0-s4-general channel of our Discord Server. The immediate 6 hexes are their danger zone where rolling a 6 sees them steal the ball. There may only be a 16.5% (yes I know the actual odds are 16.66667% but it’s close enough) chance of this happening but it genuinely feels like it’s 50/50.

Any player who suffers a second injury cannot continue and play must be stopped for a set piece so they can be substituted. A second yellow card gives a player a red card and they will then be sent off and the counter removed from the board for the rest of the game. A tie results in a loose ball as normal, however you still need to roll for it as normal even if the direction is behind the goalkeeper, the ball may still go out of play but there is a chance it could result in a goal!Snapshot only - Declare your snapshot action, the defending team may move any one player 2 hexes, even if they have already moved in the phase. Throw-in - Choose a player to take the throw and place them on the edge hex where the ball went out of play. Take a movement phase, then you may take a second movement phase if you want. The throw in has a range of a header, it can either be thrown to a player’s head, where a header must follow, or it can be thrown to feet or an empty hex, treat it as a standard pass with the reduced range for interceptions and follow up actions. Whilst there isn’t a great deal of weight to the player counters and balls they are very good quality with high-quality printing. This is important as you will be relying on the numbers printed on each counter to link to your drafted team. Player Cards Further movement phase situations explained later are dribbling around the goalkeeper, and nutmegs on the defender. Although the action on the board is very fluid, the pace of play itself is slower and deliberate as players consider all their options. The game includes sand timers you can use to limit the amount of time spent on each decision, and I think it’ll take players a little while to become comfortable enough with the game and their decisions before fitting into the stated 90-minute runtime – the length of a normal football match.

In Season 3, 27% of Cup matches saw teams of lower divisions advancing over stronger opponents. The final featured a team from the 5th league!! Now that you've got enough down to play the game lets add all the little gritty bits that cover specific situations or rules that don't come up much. That felt like a bad way to solve the issue and that a better way should be implemented however, when a similar situation happened in reverse I do remember thinking it was a good and just system. The managerial part is perfect, drafting your own team is fun and challenging, and when you score with a tactic you build for, is amazing!

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Now you need to assign your players to their position. This can take some time and is also an excellent part of the game which, when I read the rules, felt could be frustrating however, I am yet to be in a position where I cannot put together a team with players in appropriate positions. There are also two sand timers, four red card and yellow card tokens, injury tokens for an advanced rule used in tournaments and two card tokens that match each team and two card tokens for the ball. I have no idea what these are for and can only assume they are to replace your tokens if you lose them. We also tried to secure and play players with pace, pace was king, but have found that whilst it’s important for movement, especially on the wing, accurate passing is the true ruler. A good High Pass will get the ball where you want it avoiding other players’ zones of influence. This is an area around each player.

This is the most strategic part of the game, can you get a player within shooting distance and then get him away from a defender so that you get a clear shot on goal whilst making your opponent think you are going to strike with another player altogether? for a defending save if the goalkeeper moved during Step 1 of the snapshot and the saving hex is still 2 or 3 spaces away. Before we begin talking about the game I want to talk about the components. Colin Webster, the designer of the game, was kind enough to send a copy of the game for us to review and with the standard copy he also sent another team. Goalkeepers - The goalkeepers can be moved during a movement phase or any final third actions just like any outfield players. The goalkeeper also gets some free movements, if the ball enters the penalty area from an opposing player's action, such as a high pass which has a destination in the box, or a player dribbling into the area, then you may move 1 space, this move happens as soon as the ball enters the box, so if it is due to an opponent dribbling you move 1 space as soon as they move onto a hex for the penalty area, then they finish their move. If your opponent dribbles in and out from the box several times during one move you get to move one hex every time they do. There is a free move of your PACE any time after your opponent has played a long pass action. There is also a free move of one space if your opponent shoots from outside the penalty area. If a high pass into the box will be within range for your goalkeeper to challenge in the air, and the goalkeeper has not already had the 3-hex move, you may take a free move of 3 hexes for your goalkeeper but he must then challenge for the ball, with a -1 penalty if it is two hexes away as usual. After an aerial challenge your goalkeeper cannot move in the following movement phase, but he can still take any free movements for the ball entering the penalty area of for snapshots. Then we divide this ranked list of players to divisions. Each team plays all teams in the same division.

When defending your mind races “is he trying to make me think he is going to strike from there or is he actually going to strike from here and make me think he is trying to strike from there or is it a bluff and really he is….. “ If you feel you will be overpowered by more experienced players you can keep an eye for the next Beginners Cup which is a preparation competition for players with no official league experience. P.s: the game is for 2 players, but is great also in more, everyone will have fun, because everyone has a football coach inside his soul! A big thank you to Matthew Kato for stepping up to bring his sports expertise to this week's column. You will need a printer, laminator and a corner clipper but if you get those things you will be able to play YOUR team, you could choose players from all over the world because board gamers are something special.

When you link passes and moves together and outwit an opponent to get a shot off you do want to jump up and shout and I find my heart rate rising as I am about to pull off a ruse, casually chatting about nothing in particular when my mind is screaming “PLEASE DON’T NOTICE, PLEASE DON’T NOTICE”. Longevity

What we liked about the matches and set-up was the way we both used our teams. I would often play someone in defence who had great pace because I would be thinking about putting them in the way of passes whereas my son wanted to put the same player in midfield to bring the ball forward. Even though he considers Caledonian Thistle a football team, Colin has managed to take a football match and break it down into its fundamental parts and put it on the table. Tactical Highs It’s such a great feeling, trying to work out what your opponent is planning whilst you are trying to get a defender in position to steal a ball and have to second guess what may happen all while keeping your goal protected. Set Pieces - Whenever a set piece occurs and the teams are repositioned you may pause the game timer. For a throw-in a movement action is used rather than player repositioning so the timer will keep running.