RPS Blood Bowl League - The many, many Divisions of Death!

[Rakysh]

I drew with Deekyfun 2-2, meaning that the second place in division E goes down to TD difference, I believe. It was definitely a game of two halves, with two blitz events for me in the first and then four consecutive sure-hands failures in the second. I've done the spreadsheet. Deekyfun was excellent to play against, a true gentleman and a scholar.

[Zoraster]

Gutter Runners are awesome but they ain't stunty.

Very true... but we are talking about a Skink :D

[Dentharial]

Thanks for the write-up, I have to disagree with that last sentence though. Still, I am unsure why the game went as badly as it did. My positioning surely needs some work but that alone wouldn't be enough to explain the sucky result.

While I'm far from the most experienced coach here, IMO this could be exactly the problem. Elves (and especially Wood Elves) don't need to be given much of an advantage in order to score. If you leave them an opening, even if it's small, and even if it's for a short time, they will immediately score.

This is why the optimal strategy is to murderkill them. The less of them on the pitch, the less chance there'll be a couple standing nearby to take advantage of any mistake you give them.

[President Weasel]

Stunteeeeeeeeeeee

OMG that player is SUPER AWESOME!
Somehow you must give it block and dauntless!

[El Cubo]

Very true... but we are talking about a Skink :D

I didn't read past the gutter. Holy crap, that player's even more awesome.

[Jiiiiim]

I have narrowed it down to block, strip ball, pass block and accurate. Each of those allows me to do something that I can't currently do very well. This is surprisingly difficult.

[squirrelfanatic]

While I'm far from the most experienced coach here, IMO this could be exactly the problem. Elves (and especially Wood Elves) don't need to be given much of an advantage in order to score. If you leave them an opening, even if it's small, and even if it's for a short time, they will immediately score.

This is why the optimal strategy is to murderkill them. The less of them on the pitch, the less chance there'll be a couple standing nearby to take advantage of any mistake you give them.

Of course this is sound advise. BUT. You can't always achieve a perfect defense, because 1. Welfs are faster than you, 2. Welfs have AG4, 3. (a combination of 1.&2.) Welfs can pick their fights. Throw in a few Dodges on the positional players and then the Wardancers and you've got a very potent mix of a team which doesn't have to be afraid of many opponents below ~1600TV.

But yes, the positional game probably was the biggest issue after all.

[NieA7]

I have narrowed it down to block, strip ball, pass block and accurate. Each of those allows me to do something that I can't currently do very well. This is surprisingly difficult.

Shadowing might be quite fun with Mv9 and diving tackle (sidestep to follow).

[potatoedoughnut]

I have narrowed it down to block, strip ball, pass block and accurate. Each of those allows me to do something that I can't currently do very well. This is surprisingly difficult.

I'd look at what skills you want to give him next.

I'd probably give him block as it's all around good and makes him more annoying with his DT. You can give him SS next and he'll be super annoying/mobile and hard to knock down. And if he gets another double you can give him strip ball and he can deball the opposition easily. However, this does not take advantage of his +agi.

Another option would be to give him pass block and then jump up to make him super extra mobile. I don't have much experience with pass block, but it seems good. Sprint may also be worthwhile with this build.

A more TD focused option would be accurate and diving catch to make him an excellent middleman for going the length of the pitch in 1 turn.

I think shadowing is another good option to go with the Diving Tackle, but again it doesn't take advantage of his +agi, and you'd probably want block over this anyway.

[Vexing Vision]

So my Sirens just happened to Alethron's Lembas-eaters in the Champs Division.

Not only have I scored my first ever interception against a safe-throwing High Elf team, I also consistently outbashed the elves into the ground and beyond. Although most injuries and KOs (on both sides) came from failed dodges, which resulted in at least three of the six injuried high elves.

It was that kind of game.

I didn't even get to use my Wizard. There wasn't a single opportunity to do so.


So while I'm still waving my goodbyes to the Championship this season (I think), at least I managed to get a wincingly satisfying 3-0 under the glaring sun against Alethron.

[potatoedoughnut]

So while I'm still waving my goodbyes to the Championship this season (I think), at least I managed to get a wincingly satisfying 3-0 under the glaring sun against Alethron.

I'm still waiting for a chunk of time for a writeup but Jiiiiim and I played our match yesterday to a 3-3 draw. It was a pretty fantastic game, so I'll save the details for the full report.

Glad you were able to maim some elves VV :)

[Heliocentric]

I didn't even get to use my Wizard. There wasn't a single opportunity to do so.

Poppycock!
See an elf? Burn him with fire! (lightning might be more practical, but BBQ elf is tastier)

[DeekyFun]

Dandy-Lions vs The Phantom Menace

The Dandy's last game of the season was every bit as inconsistent as could be expected. Consistent in its inconsistency, even. We approached the field tired and battered, having faced two Khemri Sides, and now faced an unknown quantity in a Necromantic Team. Half of the Dandy-Lions had never even heard of a necromantic team, and the other half had lied about knowing them.

The Dandy-Lions lined up, ready to face their opponents. Ah. Werewolves, eh? And a couple of guys that look like Sloth from the Goonies. Right. More bashing then.

We won the toss and elected to receive, hoping to rely on our standard tactic of scoring first and thinking about everything else later. This didn't exactly play out as expected as my team was catch napping on the kick off, and the Rakysh charged first, blitzing my surprised thrower before the ball had even landed. His (apparently quite speedy) Werewolf was able to effortlessly pick up the ball and casually stroll over the touchline for a very quick Touchdown.

Lesson 1: Werewolves are speedy.

Okay, second time lucky. The Lions set up again, and this time we were able to begin play without half the team being asleep. Unfortunately the other half appeared to have dozed off in the meantime , as Rakysh's team again caught my thrower before he could make that killer pass he was searching for, his Wolf again knocking him off his feet. The Lions attempted a half-hearted defence which failed and the Phantom Menace found themselves two up and looking comfortable.

Lesson 2: Werewolves are really speedy.

It wasn't looking good - My third attempt at a drive went a little better, in that it didn't end in a touchdown against, but the Lions were unable to make anything of it bar some successful blocking and the half ended 2 - 0 to Rakysh.

I will freely admit this was starting to look like it might end very badly. Consigned to defeat, and starting the half on the defence, the Lions thoughts were primarily of trying to stop any further scoring. Then it began to rain, and our luck changed. The Lions kicked off and Rakysh failed to pick up the ball, giving me the momentum. Our line kept steady, keeping the Menace off balance and letting the slippery ball do it's work. Eventually we managed the ball popped out of the developing ruck and into the path of my Elven Blitzer, who scooped it up and ran it into touch. 2 -1. Oh, this seems good, I thought to myself. If it keeps raining, perhaps I can make something of this.

I kick-off. It immediately stops raining. I must stop thinking to myself.

Some more luck gives the Dandy-Lions the edge in defence again. The scrum line, who's work was largely excellent all match, kept the slow moving zombies tied up, and two players are given man-marking duties on the Werewolf, to keep him out of mischief. My Elves slowly move to surround the cage Rakysh has built, and makes him make a risky run on the wing, the ball carrier tripping up and the ball landing in the hands of a surprised Elf. With a lot of their players tied up with markers, The Phantom Menace are unable to stop the ball carrier handing off one of the linesmen, who pegs it upfield and away from any would-be assailants. Almost no time left in the half, and the Lions make it 2-2, which is the final score.

The game was very enjoyable. I thought we were done at half-time, looking pretty damn awful, but we had a bit of good luck on the counter attack, which I can't say happens very often for my team. I normally can't get the ball off the opponents, which is presumably the first step of any good counter attack strategy.

[Vexing Vision]

Poppycock!
See an elf? Burn him with fire! (lightning might be more practical, but BBQ elf is tastier)

My 'zones were particularly bloodthirsty that day. There just weren't enough elves left standing, and he did get the last turn from my kick-off, which meant I couldn't random-fry something.

Also, I felt a bit sorry.

[potatoedoughnut]

Monopole Magnates (Liz, Jiiiiim) 3 - 3 Clone High (Nec, potatoedoughnut)

Jim and I played a pretty awesome match for the final day in the Championship division. This is the 1st match I've played which received the (completely arbitrary) 20/20 match rating in game, so yeah, that's a thing.

A play by play then my thoughts follow:

To start I induce a wizard and a bribe and set up to kick. The first kickoff event is a pitch invasion which stuns a wight and a skink. The lizards then set about using their freak strength to bash up some zombies, KOing one. My game starts off with a flop as one of my first actions, a 3+ dodge w/ skill reroll, fails and I'm in a pretty bad position.

The lizards keep punching things and are clear to score by turn 3. They injure a zombie and run in the first TD without delay.

1 - 0 Lizards turn 3

I set up to try and punch the 3 str 5 bastards Jiiiiim has, but a perfect defense on the kick makes it a bit harder. A wolf blitzes a skink near the side and injures it (BH). The lizards press in and I just can't get anything done with all the strength he has, so I dodge the wolf away from his marker and into the endzone, blitz a hole, and make a pass to tie things up.

1 - 1 Necro turn 4

The lizards are not impressed with the elfball from the necros and KO two zombies and easily punch through the necros. They set up a wolf proof screen (trying to brute force dodge through it fails miserably) and score again in pretty short order.

2 - 1 Lizards turn 7

After setting up a wolf blitzes up the side again and KOs a new skink in the same spot as the old skink. I misremember how many turns I have left and am not able to score after the Lizards trounce the wolf. I am, however, able to BH gutterskink with a foul, but it apo'd and he gets back up for the 2nd half.

I set up again after halftime and am hoping to make a hole in the lizards again. The saurus pile into the middle and I'm quickly in a bad position. I use my wizard to make a hole and run the ball carrying ghoul forward with a golem, 2 wolves, and 2 wights. I think I'm in a pretty ok position with most of the lizard players screened behind me.

The lizards disagree however and punch a hole in the screen managing to stun a wight and wolf and put several TZ on the ballcarrier. I immediately fail a 3+ dodge (w/ skill reroll) for the second time this game and the lizards easily clean up my players then make the pickup, a pass, and score again.

3 - 1 Lizards turn 12

Disheartened I set up and my wolf again blitzes a skink in the same position on the side and again gets a KO. The lizards swarm the necros around midfield and KO another zombie. I'm again in a bad position with not much I can do to clear the lizards so I again go for elfball and repeat the earlier play: dodge away the wolf, run up w/ ghoul, pass, score.

3 - 2 Necro turn 14

With three turns to go nuffle decided to have a bit of a laugh. The kick lands in the lizard endzone, another pitch invasion downs the krox and a saurus, and the sure hands skinks fails the pickup. The ball is tossed back in in the middle of the lizard half of the pitch. I run back my wolves and do my best to mark up the rest of the lizards. Jiiiiim manages to get a tackle saurus on one wolf and the krox (w/ tail) on the other before messing with the ball. This time he makes the pickup, but then fails a GFI with reroll.

The ball is now sitting next to gutterskink (with diving tackle). The sequence of events is as follows: dodge away from krox (4+), blitz the skink (frenzy pushes, then knocks down), pick up the ball, and then make two GFIs into the endzone to tie the game with one turn left. All without a reroll (none left).

3 - 3 Necro turn 16

Jiiiiim sets up for a one turn TD and manages to get the required pushes to push his skink forward (I should learn how to do this someday), but the kickoff event changed the weather to very sunny (-1 passing) and this combined with stunty fumbles the pass to end the game.

-----------------

This was a pretty amazing game. Going into it I was quite intimidated by the crazy amounts of Str and skills on the Saurus and the annoying skills on the skinks. With lots of block, tackle, and diving tackle Jiiiiim's team pretty well countered how I had built my necros (with lots of blodge and sidestep) and I didn't have nearly enough str and guard to compete with 4 Str 4 players and 3 Str 5 players.

The dice were weird for both of us. Both our rolls were above average, but we both had strings of failures at critical points in the game. Also Jiiiiim's armour die were amazing. He managed to break armour on 49% of his knockdowns, and while no one was permenantly injured I was a couple players down early in each drive and constantly had players stunned, which further amplified my str deficit. I did manage to keep injuring skinks, but there were plenty of subs.

I had pretty much given up after I used up my wizard and Jiiiiim was able to score a defensive TD, but some crazy elfball and then some back luck for the lizards let me equalize the scores.

It was a crazy game, I look forward to playing again next season :)

[squirrelfanatic]

Sounds like a really amazing game. Any chance one of you guys putting up the replay file?

[Screwie]

Sounds an awesome match. This part intrigues me:

Jiiiiim sets up for a one turn TD and manages to get the required pushes to push his skink forward (I should learn how to do this someday), but the kickoff event changed the weather to very sunny (-1 passing) and this combined with stunty fumbles the pass to end the game.

What kind of pushing formation is this? All I can imagine is Blitzing the LoS from the side, pushing an enemy onto your side of the LoS, then pushing him again from the side chain-pushing down the line until the Skink on the end gets the option to move diagonally into the opposing half. Something like that?

[ChainsawHands]

Yeah, that's it. It's easiest with MV10 / MV9+sprint:

*
abc
123
45

where abc's the enemy LOS, 12345 are your players, and you're blitzing c diagonally from the *. Push c back onto 2, then 2 onto 1, and push1 diagonally up into the enemy half. Doing it with lower MV is similar, but you then need to push c about some more (and have more guys in place to allow more chainpushing.

You can do it with MV6, but sadly the diagrams on that page are broken so it's not easy to see how. ;-)

[potatoedoughnut]

Sounds like a really amazing game. Any chance one of you guys putting up the replay file?

Replay is up on BBmanager.

Also, CH your formatting is a bit off. I think the forum ignores leading whitespace. The * should be up and to the right of 'c'.

[ChainsawHands]

Indeed it should. And was when I wrote it...

...*
abc
123
45

Where the dots are empty squares.