Fury Hardball “Managers and Mercenaries” Draft Tips, Freebie Alert!
Inspired by Fury Football's "Recharged" package released earlier this year, a similar update for Fury Hardball is coming soon! Our goal for Fury Hardball "Managers and Mercenaries" is to add even more depth, more possibilities and more fun to the Fury Hardball universe!
The Managers and Mercenaries package includes 72 new Fury hardball players in a new "free-agent" card format. These are all new players, there are are no duplicates of previously carded players in this set. So you can use them to upgrade any team from also-ran to contender, or use them to create entirely NEW teams. Mix and match with your existing hardball clubs, or create an entirely new league of up to 8 teams--it's totally up to you!
You also get a collection of 48 Fury Hardball managers, which can be used with your established teams or for calling the shots of the new clubs. How do the manager cards work? Well, there are two facets of managerial influence: strategy calls and Furious Action...
The strategy component allows many managers to alter or enhance certain batting results, once per game. For example, a manager might be allowed to change the fury symbol (after it's been rolled) on his batter's card for the current at-bat. Or, he might be given the ability to prevent his players from throwing punches after a winger. A few managers get the opportunity to confront the Ump Cam (think Billy Martin!) and potentially change a call to their favor.
Not every manager gets a strategy move. This makes some managers clearly better than others.
The "Furious Action" component adds a twist to certain Furious Action results for many managers, changing one or more of the standard Furious Action outcomes to boutique outcomes, unique to the manager. For example, a furious die roll of "5" or "6" might result in the manager's batter hitting a DINGER, instead of using the standard home team benefit results from the Furious Action boards. OR, it might allow the manager to watch as a string of pingers are sprayed across the infield on consecutive at-bats. Or, it might allow his batter to automatically take the bonus base after hitting a pinger.
Not every manager has a furious action modifier, and--more importantly--not every furious action modifier is beneficial! Some managers, who are more lax in their training methods, can see players come up limping after an at-bat on certain furious rolls. Less disciplined managers will see their clubs throw punches more often. Others will watch as their batters get zinged instead of knocking out hits.
One of our goals in creating this set (as it was with the Fury Football "Recharged" set) was to create a multi-player mode for the game. We envision a four-player game that begins with a player draft and moves through a three-game mini-season where everyone plays everyone else once, and the team with the most victories wins the game. This campaign mode can work with two, three, five or six players as well. The whole thing can be completed in a couple hours, from start to finish, a fun way to spend time with board game pals in a sports-themed context.
For our football draft league, we let the coaches create their OWN coaching cards, which didn't count against the salary cap. With the hardball package, though, you'll have to recruit (and pay for!) your managers. The better managers cost more money. It presents an interesting challenge: do you draft a team with as much star-power as possible and hire an inexpensive manager who will mostly just stay out of the way? Or, do you hire a high-profile manager and surround him with serviceable, though not spectacular players?
So, how do you go about assembling your Fury Hardball team? Here are some thoughts...
• Decide first on your overall strategy. DO you want to focus on one aspect of the game and make your team dominate in that area? Maybe with awesome pitching or powerful hitting? A team can also be dominant in the field, or on the base path. Pitching is usually the first plank in a solid hardball team. However, you'll need to keep in mind the campaign mode rules you're going to use for pitching. If you're going to require a three-man slinger rotation, you'll have a different draft strategy than if you're going to allow the same slinger to start every game. In the former, you'll need three slingers (obviously!); in the latter, though, you should be able to get away with two, or (with the right manager card) maybe even just one.
• Think "Value." Each hardball mercenary is given a dollar value figure, printed on the card, from $0 to $9. That value is (usually) based on all facets of a player's game. There are players like Blalock, who's a good batter and fielder and an excellent base runner. There are better batters and fielders for less money, though. Fennell is a comparable batter and an even better fielder, for $1. He's a poor base runner, true. But if you use him in the field, his base running won't hurt you. (Remember, everyone is a specialist in Fury hardball!) The strength of a player like Blaylock is his versatility. You can choose him early, and then go for whatever value picks are available, knowing you can plug Blaylock in anywhere and he'll do well.
• Good-batting slingers have extra value. This is especially true when a three-man rotation rule is in effect. Each Fury Hardball team consists of seven starters and two reserves. With the threat of injuries and ejections ever looming, the optimal bench will consist of a slinger/batter and batter/fielder. That way, you've always got a substitute available. If you put two slinger/batters on your bench, there are two problems. Number one, you've got no depth if a fielder goes down. Number two, many slingers are poor batters.
• There are some bargains. Usually, these will be players who are good at ONE thing, and mediocre (or worse) at everything else. For example, Womack is a very good slinger, but awful at batting and base-running. Still, at $0, he could occupy a position in your rotation and perform very well. Eldridge, another $0 player, is a solid fielder. Gaspar bats for average not power, and has decent base-running speed but has poor fielding skills. At $0, he's a great value--as long as he doesn't have to play in the field. (Indeed, you'd be as well-served leaving a fielding position open as to put Gaspar out there!) Note that sometimes the bargains are the best picks. Similarly, sometimes higher-value players aren't necessarily good choices. A player who costs four or five (million) dollars, but is only average at a number of things could be considered a poor value.
• Hire a manager that complements your team. We put a lot of thought into creating manager cards with different abilities. We wanted to have a few Hue Jackless types (the lovable loser coach from Fury Football), but mainly we wanted managers to offer something unique. There are fewer "bargains" in the manager pool. Basically, you get what you pay for. However, it's smart to take into consideration your team strengths when choosing a manager. For example, you could add some base running pizazz to an otherwise slow-footed team by hiring Boggs as your manager. A team with good Baserunning speed would benefit at least once a game with Crow as its manager. A team with Grace as its manager can structure its bench a little differently, given that they will be restrained from throwing punches. Each of these managers costs a few bucks, though. Alternatively, you could hire a manager like Dubois or Mobley--who won't contribute much but generally won't hurt you either--for $0 and spend the extra money on better players.
Our thinking is, it's fun to draft and assemble. Why not make it part of the game?
Watch for our YouTube channel Mangers and Mercenaries feature project, coming Thursday 09.23.21 (6pm MDT, 8pm EDT)! We'll draft our own team, with the standard $25 million salary cap, and then play a three-game series against some of the established Fury League teams. If we win all three, we'll make the Print and Play version of Fury Hardball available as a FREE download for 24 hours!!