FLATBRUTAL

Nine a side. One steel ball. Zero mercy.

Speedball had a steel arena, a chrome ball and a crowd roaring out of one small speaker. FLATBRUTAL is louder: nine a side in a sealed steel cage, a three-kilo chrome ball called the Slug, and no fouls. Throw it, bank it off the walls, light the lamps, and if a man is in your way, there's always the slide.

1–2 playersFuture sportCareerFace to face

Pre-order FlatboyTwo coaches, one at each end, each defending their own goal and their own pride.

Light the lamps.

A throw banked off the cage wall, a lamp lit, a slide that sends a man spinning, and the Slug into the goal. Then the action replay, so nobody at the other end can pretend they didn't see it.

Bank itoff the cage walls

Lighta whole wall of lamps for ten

Replaythe goal, slowly, for the other end's benefit

Real gameplay, straight off the table's screen.

New Hallstad, 2097. The worst team in the league.

The mills are cold. The city's one fire is BRUTAL, played in a sealed steel cage with a three-kilo chrome ball, the Slug. The Gilded have won the Foundry League nine years running. The Scraphounds of Dock Nine have finished last for eleven, until Old Magda buys them for one credit and a crate of rivets.

Take them from the rust of Dock Nine to the Crucible. Between matches is the locker: train in the gym, buy helmets and plate in the armoury, sign stars at the market, patch up the broken at the medic, and hear what Magda thinks of it all. Three failed seasons and you're sacked.

Three ways to settle it.

The long one

Season

The Scraphounds, Old Magda's money and a career: Division II, promotion, Division I, and the Crucible Final against the Gilded. The locker between every match: gym, armoury, a market of eight stars, the medic. Three failed seasons and you're sacked. Saved after every match, so you can carry on tomorrow.

Knockout

Cup

Pick any of the nine teams; pick the Scraphounds and every point counts half as much again. Eight teams, the Pit, the Kiln, the Crucible Dome, and one loss ends it. Win it and the Gilded are yours to play in Versus.

Face to face

Versus

Two players, one at each end, each picking a team on its own half of the screen. Choose the half length, capsules on or off, and a handicap for the weaker team. Rematch when both ends press.

9a side

9teams in the Foundry League

3kilos of chrome ball

3arenas, the Pit to the Crucible

8stars on the market

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