The Kick Off! starter set for Guild Ball is one of the best, if not the best tabletop gaming starter sets which we've got our hands on to date.

So let's take a closer look at what makes it so awesome…

Unboxing Kick Off!

Firstly let's do a quick recap of the contents of the Kick Off! box:

• Kick Off! Rulebook
• Guild Ball Core Rulebook
• Captain’s Handbook
• 3’x3’ Double-Sided Board of the Guild Ball Pitch
• 12 Colored Plastic Models (Pre-assembled)
• Player Character Cards
• 128 Game Tokens
• Measuring Tools and Templates
• Guild Ball Dice

So as you would expect it contains everything you need for two players to learn the rules and start playing Guild Ball. What makes it so special then? Well here's our Top 5 favourite things about Kick Off!

1. Awesome pre-assembled miniatures

A classic test for tabletop and miniature board games is the Christmas Day test, How fast can you open up the box, get excited and start playing? Having pre-assembled miniatures means you can start playing as soon as you unfold the board and punch out the tokens and since each team's miniatures are produced in themed coloured plastic you can easily see which miniatures belong to each player.

But speed isn't the only thing, you want to have diverse miniatures which reflect each character and the tem they belong to, high quality sculpts with plenty of detail and a minimal amount of clean up work for those who wish to paint up their teams. The models in Kick Off are amongst the best one piece or pre-assembled plastics we have seen to date.

There is a cohesive design style for each team, for instance the Brewers Guild miniatures each incorporate elements like armour made from wooden kegs, pint glasses & wooden steins. The mold lines are minimal and well positioned so that you can easily clean them off with a modelling knife without losing key details- it only took me around 15 minutes to clean up both teams prior to painting.

2. The Captain's Handbook

Starter sets typically come with a set of quick start rules and the main rulebook but one of the cool extras which Guild ball's has is The Captain's Han­dbook. This cool little book outlines what makes each of the included teams' unique, as well as a guide to each model's special abilities and the overall team strategies.

Knowing how and when to use your model's character plays, especially the captains, is the key to victory and the handbook is a brilliant starting point to help new players line up against more skilled veterans.

In also includes a guide to the additional models which you can add to the starting teams to expand out your roster, which is great for helping to choose what your next purchase will be, as well as an introduction to the other Guild Ball teams.

3. Great gaming aids & game board

Guild Ball does use quite a few tokens and templates, so it is great to get a full set of high quality tokens and wound dials for each of the teams in the box, along with the character cards for all the models. You also get a full set of measuring and scatter templates for each player, with the exception of the 8" measuring stick where there is only one included.

The 3'x3' game board is made of thick, durable cardboard, made up of a large 3'x3' section and a smaller 1'x3' section but what sets it apart is that it is double sided. One side has a green grass pitch while the other is a more ruined, urban theme and both are printed in high resolution, full colour.

Really the only thing missing with regards to the gaming aids are some card sleeves and a dry erase marker.

4. Design Space

Few things are more irritating than a board game box which struggles to hold all the game pieces and miniatures once you've used it and I'm happy to say that this definitely isn't an issue with Kick Off!.

Within the main box there is a smaller box for the miniatures, which sit in specifically designed plastic tray with slots to fit each model. Even better is that there is an insert behind which shows you which model goes in which slot so you don't have to struggle with which fits in where.

Thanks to cardboard inserts there is space on each side of the miniatures box for your templates and tokens, which can go into the provided clear plastic bags. There is even extra space for other Guild Ball gear you might like to pop in the box like Plot Card Decks or spare card sleeves.

5. Value for Money

Last but certainly not least, with is $99.99 price point Kick Off! offers outstanding value for money. In general Guild Ball is a relatively inexpensive game to play, thanks to a low model count, and a typical 6 player team will cost around $120 to $140 depending on your choice of models. In June there are new metal team boxes releasing for $99.99 each, which is even better.

But Kick Off! gives you two full 6 player teams, so that's a 50% saving over the cost of those new team boxes. And that's before you start thinking about the value of the tokens, templates and game board. Yes you are getting plastic miniatures instead of metal in the starter set, so the level of detail isn't quite as high as those sold seperately, but the quality is still great.

So there you have it, our top 5 favourite things about the Guild Ball Kick Off! starter set.

For an even more in depth look, check out the video below from Watch It Played.