I have two sets of an old battleball board game and I think that Blood Bowl is cool, so this is my attempt at creating a sport-themed scenario minigame for minis. I'd like some feedback on how it sounds so far.
Rules for Star Wars Miniatures Bolo-Ball/Limmie/Meshgeroya
The official Wookieepedia page describes this as basically soccer, that’s a little hard to represent with figures designed for a combat skirmish, and is also at odds with the description of the violent version in the Republic Commando books, so I blended a little rugby and Blood Bowl-style football in to make it more combat oriented.
• Faction Rules still apply. Alternatively, you could play by species or subfaction rules. It would be a little hard to make clear-cut rules but something could probably be done.
• (Optional) Each squad must have exactly 11 activations at the start of the skirmish (no reserves or reinforcements, things like Rakghouls or characters switching sides is okay). This is for faction teams, for species or subfaction teams you might need varied numbers.
• A map that is at least roughly symmetrical and offers minimal advantages to one side or the other is used (e.g. Rattatak Arena, War Academy, Grand Plaza). At half-time the map side switches so some imbalances are fine.
• All doors are always open.
• The players roll off to determine who sets up first. The winning player can choose to set up first or second. The player who sets up second chooses which side of the map they want.
• A token representing the ball is given to the player who set up first, which is placed next to any one of his characters, but still in that players starting zone. The ball moves like a holocron, moving a space as its controlling character moves a space, but does not need to choose a character; any character that starts its turn adjacent to the ball may control it. The ball is not a character and does not have a turn, does not provide cover or block movement. While the ball moves (either with a player or as a result of a pass, see below) it can be stolen by characters which are opposed to the controlling player when it would move out of an adjacent space (AoO situation). To steal, the stealing character attempts a save of 11, if successful the carrying player must attempt a save of 16. If that fails the ball must stop moving. If a character was controlling the ball, it may continue with its move as normal.
• All characters gain the following abilities:
o Pass: Replaces turn, usable only while this character has the ball. Make a fake attack roll targeting a friendly character within 12 squares. If you hit, don’t deal damage and instead move the ball towards that character until it is adjacent to the friendly character, that character now controls the ball. For this fake attack, treat the friendly character as enemy for targeting purposes (the character gets cover bonuses, stealth and cloaked apply, if it has cover has to be the closest enemy character, etc.).
o Tackle: Replaces attacks, usable only while this character does not have the ball. Make a fake attack against an adjacent enemy character. This counts as a melee attack and can be blocked or prevented as normal. If the attack would deal damage, instead knock back the enemy character 2 spaces, that character is activated, save 11.
• All commander effects, special abilities, and force powers are still in effect. Characters can still attack and damage characters as normal. The same activation order still is in effect.
• If a character’s hitpoints would be reduced to zero, it is knocked out. Mark it (or put it on its side or whatever), but leave it in its current space with zero hitpoints. While knocked out it’s basically a piece of low cover that provides cover for both sides’ characters and isn't a full character. At the start of each round remove 40 damage from it. It becomes a full character with all its abilities and such when it starts a round (before removing damage) at full hitpoints.
• A goal is scored by the ball entering the opponents starting zone.
• A character controlling the ball gets Speed 4 and doesn't get to attack on its turn.
• Halftime is determined by an actual timer (finish the current round when time expires), by a certain number of rounds, or by a team actually scoring a goal. Switch starting players for the second half, the player who set up first for the first half now sets up second.