Bringin' It Back: Guild Ball in 2026
If you’re not familiar with Guild Ball, you probably should be. It’s a 28mm-scale skirmish game made by Steamforged, in which the various guilds of the Empire of the Free Cities settle their differences on the pitch through “games” of football (soccer).
Those of you with longer memories might recall the furor surrounding Steamforged’s late-2020 announcement that they would be discontinuing production of and support for Guild Ball. It turns out that rumors of the game’s demise were greatly exaggerated. Over the past several months, the company has released a new Game Plan deck and the first new models for the game since 2020.
Why should I play?
Readers of this blog may have noticed that I have a bit of a thing for skirmish games. If you do too, then I believe that Guild Ball merits serious consideration. It ticks almost all of my boxes: a small footprint, low model count, manageable rules complexity, and a steady stream of interesting, high-impact decisions.
An additional selling point for me is the variety of teams. There are 11 major and 7 minor guilds, allowing you to pick a team (or teams!) that match your playstyle with almost surgical precision. Field the Blacksmiths or Brewers if you want to roll over your opponent with tough models; the Butchers if you favor maximum violence as a tactic; the Fishermen if you love scoring goals; or the Ratcatchers if you prefer to have your opponent dancing to your tune.
How do I get started?
The very best way to get started is if you can find a copy of the Kick Off! starter set that Steamforged released a while back. It has a cardboard pitch, and all the tokens and templates that you need to get started, but it has been out of production for more than five years, so that can be a little difficult.
A second option is to comb through online retailers checking to see if they have any stock remaining. This can be a little hit or miss, but when Steamforged made the switch from metal to plastic they released two lovely boxes per faction, each having enough pre-assembled models to field a team. I started with my Blacksmiths specifically because I was able to find both boxes from the same retailer.
The final and easiest way is to print yourself a copy of the free starter available directly from Steamforged. You'll need to get them printed, but that's a solid start for either guild, and you absolutely can't beat the price!
Thanks so much if you have read this far, we really appreciate you sticking with us. Have you guys ever played Guild Ball? What are your favorite guilds?
