Guild Ball

What is Guild Ball

Guild Ball is a two-player game of medieval mob football from Steamforged Games. It was designed and created by Mat Hart and Richard Loxam, and it was Steamforged’s first miniatures game.

It’s set in the Empire of the Free Cities, “a cutthroat land ruled by powerful mercantile guilds.” Mob football used to be a feast-day game between neighbouring towns. Then the Guilds stepped in, and now fates are decided on the kick of a ball. You win by scoring goals or by taking the other team’s players out, and most teams do some of both.

Each guild plays differently. Steamforged’s store lists the Alchemists, Blacksmiths, Brewers, Butchers, Cooks, Engineers, Falconers, Farmers, Fishermen, Hunters, Masons, Miners, Morticians, Navigators, Ratcatchers, Shepherds, The Order and The Union, plus the Lumberjacks, a newer Masons minor guild designed with the community.

Retired, then back

Steamforged retired Guild Ball in August 2020 and stopped making and selling it. A group of players set up the Guild Ball Community Project (GBCP) and kept the game going.

On 1 February 2024, for Steamforged’s 10th anniversary, the whole range came back as made-to-order resin, with a free 3D-printable starter set. Since then Steamforged and the GBCP have worked together on a new Game Plan Deck and the Lumberjacks, and by February 2026 the teams were up as STLs on MyMiniFactory. Balance update 4.8 landed in March 2026, worked out by the GBCP with Development Lead Jamie Perkins.

How it plays

First to 12 wins. A goal is worth 4 victory points. Taking out an enemy Captain or Squaddie is worth 2, and a Mascot is worth 1.
Six a side. A team is a Captain, who sets the guild, a Mascot and four Squaddies. The rules let you skip the Mascot for an introductory game.
Influence is your action economy. Each turn your team generates an influence pool, and you split it between your models. Moving, attacking, kicking and character plays all cost influence.
Alternating activations. Players take turns activating one model at a time until every model on both teams has gone.
Playbooks, not damage tables. Attacks roll a pool of d6 equal to the model’s TAC against the target’s defence, minus its armour. Each net hit unlocks another column of the model’s own playbook, where you pick a result: damage, a push, a knockdown, a tackle to steal the ball, or a character play.
Momentum. Scoring, completing a pass, taking a model out and picking certain playbook results earn momentum. You spend it to shoot at goal (every Shot costs 1 momentum), heal, counter-attack or take a defensive stance, and leftover momentum helps win the initiative next turn.
Game plans. Each player holds a hand of game plan cards and plays one face down each turn. They set initiative and tweak your influence for the turn.
Taken out isn’t gone. A model that’s taken out comes back at the start of the next turn from your own table edge, a little healed.

How to start

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Guild Ball Season 4 Rulebook (free PDF)

The core rules, straight from Steamforged Games.

Read the rules for free. The core rulebook is a free PDF. Current stat cards for every guild, the game plans and other resources are free in Steamforged’s Guild Ball resource vault. Print the cards you need.
Print the free starter set. The free starter set is a set of STL files: six Brewers, six Masons and Lucky, who can play for either, plus an eight-piece terrain set, tokens, templates, a ball and a goal marker. Steamforged says a printed version is also available to buy.
Or buy a resin team. Every official guild is sold made to order in grey resin that needs little or no assembly. A six-player guild box like The Brewers: Sing When You’re Winning is $39.99 on Steamforged’s store, and it comes with a goalpost and ball. Cards aren’t in the box, they’re the free downloads.
Grow your squad. Bench packs ($19.99) and crossover packs add more players. The teams are also on MyMiniFactory as STLs if you’d rather print them.

Community & reviews

The Guild Ball Community Project runs its own Discord, and Steamforged’s Discord has a place to test lists and talk about balance changes. Tournaments run on Longshanks, which was originally built for Guild Ball. Steamforged scheduled two Guild Ball Regional Cup events at AdeptiCon 2025.