OverDrive Locker Room – Introducing Gnaw

Welcome Coaches to the OverDrive Locker Room! This is the place to come for exclusive sneak peeks at the players you’ll be battling it out with in the arena when OverDrive launches this September. In each blog we’ll be taking a closer look at the background, stats and tactics for each player. Today we're having a sneak peek at the newest Rivals Pack - Gnaw versus Alpha Simian, which will take the available roster up to 10 players!

Check out the tips and tactics for the other Players in the core game: Brank Reborn, Skarathron, Karadon, The Spawn and Dozer. Plus, don’t forget our first Rivals Pack Tigrax versus Shadow.

If you want to learn a bit more about how the game plays, before reading about each character, check out this video from Blackjack Legacy, which explains the basics.

BACKGROUND

Although it's likely that the Veer-myn encountered in DreadBall are somehow domesticated or cloned varieties of the insidious rats encountered in the far reaches of space, there's still no denying their imposing presence on the pitch. Gnaw may not be the strongest, but she's one of the fastest and her tail is just as capable of causing damage as her claws. Don’t believe us? Just ask The Viking why he walks with a slight limp.

STATS AND TACTICS

On the surface, Gnaw may look very similar to a player like Alpha Simian. After all, she's got a movement of 6 and Agility of 3... so it means she's fast and can Dodge pretty easily. However, whereas Alpha Simian excels in keeping away from the opposition, Gnaw really wants to get up close and personal with the rival team.

"Hang on," you may be thinking, "Gnaw's Strength stat is terrible, there's no way I'm getting her into combat." Yes, that's correct but we're not talking about Slamming here, we're focusing on her ability: Strong Tail. Not only does Strong Tail mean your opponent will suffer a -1 modifier when targeting the rear of Gnaw, but if she rolls two or more successes on an Evade, Gnaw will push a player back one hex. So, let's say you need to move someone out of the Active Scoring Zone. Instead of Slamming the irritating player, you can run Gnaw in and then purposely try and Evade out of the opposing Threat Hex. Roll two hexes and you'll push the opponent back and potentially out of the Active Scoring Zone. Nice!

Even better, Gnaw has a +1 modifier when it comes to Evading, thanks to her Slippery ability - which means you're even more likely to score two or more successes... particularly on the first test. Oh, and you can potentially boost Gnaw even further with the 'Run for It' Coaching Ability, which grants all Players with the Alien keyword a +1 modifier on Evade tests. Now Gnaw is rolling four dice on an Evade as standard (remember, you always suffer a -1 on Evades due to the Threat Hexes of your opponent).

Now, let's get to the really juicy bit: Gnaw's Overdrive ability, Tail Whip. Basically, you can trigger this to turn Gnaw's Evade into an attack... an attack that your opponent can do nothing about because it isn't an opposed roll. "The first time Gnaw successfully passes an Evade roll choose one opposing Player she was Evade from. The opposing Player is pushed directly away two hexes and gains a Damage counter for each success rolled."

Suddenly Gnaw is potentially rolling a three-dice (or four, if you've got 'Run For It'), 3+ 'attack' that your opponent can do absolutely nothing about. Plus, because an Evade isn't an action that 'targets' an opposing player, it's a great way to avoid things like Dozer's hard shell. As a result, Gnaw is a agile character that can quickly become a real threat for opposing players that only have a few health points left.

THE GNAW VERSUS ALPHA SIMIAN RIVALS PACK IS AVAILABLE TO PRE-ORDER NOW FROM THE MANTIC WEBSITE OR YOUR LOCAL GAME STORE. IT'S DUE FOR RELEASE IN DECEMBER.