Pre-game build up commentary
Ever wondered what you would get if someone tried to mix Subuteo, with a more typical board game experience?
Well it feels like that is what the designers behind Footboard were going for. This game is football, but on the tabletop, using dice, counters to move around a board, and has all the action you come to expect in two halves of one of the most popular sports out there.
So let’s join the action and see how it matches up!
The Teams get into their kits and warm up…
So the content of the box is pretty basic. Like really basic. From this point of view it has a lot more in common with checkers than Subuteo.
Each team has a set of colour counters. These are made of wood, so feel reasonable quality to be fair, and shaped with an small recess on top, complete with numbers. The recess, smartly, is design to hold one of the wooden balls during play. The balls, yes plural, are also wooden, and look like balls with how they have been painted, but just cut in half, leaving one side flat to sit flush inside the player counters.
The board looks just like a football pitch. All the markings you expect, and even the stripey grass. However the simple stripes are slightly broken up to create lighter and darker parts, essentially creating a grid like pattern on the pitch, this does not ruin the effect though.
You get a quick start guide and full manual, which is great if you want to get up and running quickly, before diving into the deeper end of the rules.
You also get a score pad. However, as we found, the score pad is more than just a score pad……..
Time to kick off!
First of all, let’s address the yellow card foul of the game!
As mentioned, there is a quick start guide and a full rule book. So you would think using the quick start would be enough alone to get a game going. However, because of the way the guide was written, you still end up referring to the full rules for understanding how to tackle the different parts of the game.
Now the game continues…
Set up is fairly straightforward, each take turns to place your players (counters) in a formation on your side, as you desire. At this point, big footy fans will no doubt dive in deep with their formations of choice, they will probably also be more specific about where the numbered players go. Once set up, the player with kick off, moves one of their pieces into the centre piece, places the ball on it and takes an opening action of shooting or passing.
Actions like that a simple enough. Dice rolls are made, and assuming no doubles are rolled you are successful. Scoring a ball also a minimum roll required based on being in or out of the penalty box. If you roll a double, the ball goes long or short… the opponent chooses where it lands!
Once kick of is made, play starts. The halves of the a game a separated by turns, the number of turns in a half with of course impact the length of gameplay. We played the shorter version (blitz) which was 10 turns a half. The standard length is 10 turns a half, but realistically, there is nothing stopping you making that longer or shorter.
Each turn is built up of the following structure:
You start with the movement phase, each taking 3 sets of moves, moving up to 3 squares in any combination of player or players, alternating until every one has finished. Once this has completed, you enter the action phase, essentially following the same pattern, but rather than 3 a maximum of 2 per go. Actions can include an action move, shooting, passing, dribbling, and tackling, each dependent on who has the ball.
Most actions also involve dice rolls, as previously outlined, revolve around chucking dice, and hoping no doubles are rolled… doubles are always bad in this game. Get a double in a tackle? You fowl!! And yes, you even can land yourself yellow and red cards.
Shooting to score, allows the opponent to also roll, in fact to score you have to roll higher than them by a value determined by where you are shooting from, and if there are obstructing players, but roll the same, you get a corner. It is all very much a on theme.
As the turn of play is determined by whom has the ball, the change of possession can cause a double turn or the cutting short of your permitted actions.
As you would imagine, keeping track of this can be quite a task. To help, this is where the score pad comes in. It is not just a place to note down the scores, but also any yellow and red cards, and yes, each turn with every possible movement and action on it. This means you can tick off each move, each action and follow your game turn by turn, keeping track of just where you are.
As you would expect in football, you can get throw ins, corners, free kicks and penalties.
All of these come with their own set of nuances, of play, but all trigger something called free moves. These free moves essentially, using a similar structure to the above turn order sequence, but allow you to significantly reposition players much like you would expect in the real game.
The game continues until you have reached the final turn of your agreed length and as you would expect, the winner is who ever scored the highest.
Post game commentary
This game really does like to capture the game on a board. They really have thought of everything, but at the same time, somehow managed to miss some bits.
So, does it have all the elements of a game of football you would expect to experience? Yes
Does it manage to feel like you playing a game of football? Yes
Have they managed to keep the action flowing in a way that feels right for a game of football? Yes
So, from these points, they did a great job. The problem really starts and ends with the way the rules are written. There was a lot of consideration to how the keep the game flowing for both players, make it exciting, make it as close the game as a board game would permit, but in there, it meant some of the rules writing was a bit ‘muddy’ at best in places. No where does it make it clear if the free move actions triggered by a set piece are as well as, or instead of the normal turn order. We concluded it replaced it, ending the normal turn structure immediately if the set piece was triggered, and replacing the next turn with the tweaked structure for set pieces. Did we play that right? Not sure, but it helped the game keep flowing and felt fair when applied consistently.
Other things, which almost have to be taken as implied, are things like if you tackle or challenge someone with the ball, do you successfully get the ball and gain possession? We went with the assumption yes, as long as it was a successful action.
There was another crazy omission in the rule book – and yes football fans would probably argue well surely it’s obvious but let’s remember this is a board game and you must make sure the rules are clear to ensure players are doing things correctly. The thing that was missing? After scoring, do you start a new turn from a kick off at the centre spot? Well we went with, “Well that’s what would happen in the game so…”, but really that should be in the rules as it does have implications (such as the kick off free action).
To their credit, there was effort to include diagrams, which is a must in instructions as they help clarify the text visually. However, some of the examples, as helpful as they were, didn’t always help with the circumstances we encountered in the game, again leaving us to make judgement calls that we felt made the game fair.
But don’t let these issues put you off. If you enjoy both football and board games, this game is worth checking out, and most of the issues can be easily fixed by just agreeing with the person you are playing with how you will tackle them (no pun intended) and ultimately by using the logic of what would happen in the game.
The quick start guide is rendered quickly pointless when you need the main rule book to help clarify bits, but to its credit, it does work well as a quick reference guide once you are up and running. We just found that we were always using a combination of both. This did not dampen the enjoyment though, just an observation.
For those not into football? Is this game worth a try? Actually, yes. Even not being into the sport wouldn’t prevent you enjoying this game as an abstract strategy game.
As a game, it is not ground-breaking or innovative, nor will it likely be winning awards, but what it will do is provide a perfectly fun time at the table, with a bit of thinkyness, and for those sporty fans, a theme they can connect with.
About the authors:
We are Peaches and Meeples, busy professionals who love to chill out to fun table top games. We love board games, card games, miniatures games, competitive or co-operative. Put some dice in our hands and we are in our happy place.
We are also proud guinea pig parents to two lovely fluffballs of joy.
