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

[El Cubo]

Incidentally, I found much of what goes for Minotaurs to hold true for Yhetee as well. They look like they might be a better option on paper, since Norse aren't as high strength across the board, and having one more player with decent armor is always helpful. The built in Claws should also help in theory with cutting through more heavily armored opponents.

In practice, though, I felt like my team dropped in effectiveness the moment I hired one.

That's my experience so far, as well. I'm hoping that once he gets a couple of skills, he'll be more of an asset. Although I have to mention that the current division has been on with only low av teams.

I think a key thing to remember with all big guys, especially if they've got scary killing skills, is that even if they don't appear to do much during a match, they can deeply affect your opponent's game plan just by being there.

This is true, too. On one occasion an opponent was so intimidated by my str6 rat ogre Big Pussy that he didn't dare to tie him up with a player and left him free to do an important blitz.

[Screwie]

Admittedly I am an unapologetic blitzing Chaos minotaur user, but one thing I very much like about them compared to other mutating big guys (including other teams' minotaurs!) is they don't have to roll a double to pick up a Mutation. That is huge for a big guy, and worth exploiting.

The Underworld troll is the same. Can't wait to use that side.

[Alistair Hutton]

I think the 'deterrent' value is high, as cyberpunk says. They're not (that) easy to knock down, and whilst they can be tied up with one player, they still exert a tackle zone across 3 squares. My usual plan for my human ogre is 'don't move, stay still, hit someone (as the last option in a turn) if they come close and have checked there's no gap if you do fall over'. This works well when he has stand firm and guard. 'Course, because I'm slightly mad, he has break tackle as well, just in case I'm faced with a str4+ ball carrier and can blitz. This doesn't happen so often now that I have my str5 blitzer :-).

Human Ogres are great for touchbacks. Hand him the ball, blitz straight down the middle and then watch as the opposition crowd round him. Then you hand off to a catcher at the back of your cage and yell "So long suckers".

[Everblue]

Admittedly I am an unapologetic blitzing Chaos minotaur user, but one thing I very much like about them compared to other mutating big guys (including other teams' minotaurs!) is they don't have to roll a double to pick up a Mutation. That is huge for a big guy, and worth exploiting.

The chaos minotaur is just made for blitzing - frenzy and horns out of the box, with the ability to take juggernaut on a normal roll and no block skill (which is a waste if you are getting Jugg).

The Yhetee is almost as good, although lacking horns.

The Rat Ogre is a bit of a weird hybrid though, and I would actually rather the Rat Ogre didn't have frenzy and was a bit cheaper, since frenzy doesn't really fit with their roadblock role in the team.

[squirrelfanatic]

The chaos minotaur is just made for blitzing - frenzy and horns out of the box, with the ability to take juggernaut on a normal roll and no block skill (which is a waste if you are getting Jugg).

The Yhetee is almost as good, although lacking horns.

The Rat Ogre is a bit of a weird hybrid though, and I would actually rather the Rat Ogre didn't have frenzy and was a bit cheaper, since frenzy doesn't really fit with their roadblock role in the team.

The Snowtroll also lacks Mighty Blow. And blitzing Minotaurs are a trap.

[El Cubo]

The Rat Ogre is a bit of a weird hybrid though, and I would actually rather the Rat Ogre didn't have frenzy and was a bit cheaper, since frenzy doesn't really fit with their roadblock role in the team.

Rat ogre is perfectly fine bulldozer for the skavens. He punches holes in the defense for the runners to run through.

[Alistair Hutton]

EXTRA EXTRA READ ALL ABOUT IT!

Scandal rocked the world of Blood Bowl with star thrower Dietmar Frej no longer employed by the Altdorf Army. Reports are conflicting as to whether he walked or he was pushed. We will have more on this as the story develops.

[Kapouille]

EXTRA EXTRA READ ALL ABOUT IT!

Scandal rocked the world of Blood Bowl with star thrower Dietmar Frej no longer employed by the Altdorf Army. Reports are conflicting as to whether he walked or he was pushed. We will have more on this as the story develops.

If you're done with him... Can I have him?

[sketchseven]

Uh - has my Div H game not been adminned yet? Result is still showing as ?-? in the League in BBLE. Sorry to keep banging on about it.

Looking forward to the new div structure for next season, should make things interesting.

[smaug81]

I think the 'deterrent' value is high, as cyberpunk says. They're not (that) easy to knock down, and whilst they can be tied up with one player, they still exert a tackle zone across 3 squares. My usual plan for my human ogre is 'don't move, stay still, hit someone (as the last option in a turn) if they come close and have checked there's no gap if you do fall over'. This works well when he has stand firm and guard. 'Course, because I'm slightly mad, he has break tackle as well, just in case I'm faced with a str4+ ball carrier and can blitz. This doesn't happen so often now that I have my str5 blitzer :-).

Likewise, with a claw/mighty blow yhetee, he's an even bigger deterrent, particularly to bashy teams who will hate those claws. They can mark him with a lineman, but they're giving you a free AV6 effective hit that's not likely to trigger wild animal - that lineman might not last very long, and you don't lose the tackle zones even on a wild animal roll. So there's no downside to using him as a roadblock. If no-one's next to him, don't move (unless you want to - you don't lose the tackle zones either way). If there is, punch them. The biggest issue with my old yhetee was his AV8 causing him to get killed shortly after gaining mighty blow (and my norse had other issues - lets not go there, eh?).

All valid points, but I feel like that sort of highlights the problem in some ways. Big Guys are generally fine if you primarily use them as a big immovable hunk of meat that just stands there and provides assists and TZs (you'll notice I have few complaints about my Beast of Nurgle so far), but the Yhetee and the Minotaur feel like they're designed for a more active role than that. Unfortunately, their inherent drawbacks make it risky to use them in a more active capacity. And if you don't actually block with them, you're not really getting the benefit of the skills they come with, nor are you getting the SPPs needed to get them the passive skills that make them work (which, admittedly, can be said to some extent of all Big Guys). My opinion may well be colored to some extent by the fact that I didn't get my Yhetee until fairly late in my team's career, by which point I was already fairly high in the divisions, so he never had much of a chance to develop. Nevertheless, I still feel like he's a bit harder to justify than some of the more passive Big Guys like the Ogre or the Beast.

[cyberpunkdreams]

And if you don't actually block with them, you're not really getting the benefit of the skills they come with, nor are you getting the SPPs needed to get them the passive skills that make them work (which, admittedly, can be said to some extent of all Big Guys).

This is true, but the only real risk with them is blitzing, not blocking. If you can keep them in a scrum and keep pushing guys into their TZs, then all's fine and dandy... it's not going to work out that way in every match, but then nothing works out perfectly in every match.

I think the only real question is whether you want them in your line up vs another potentially useful player, and that's really just down to your own personal playbook.

[somanyrobots]

Uh - has my Div H game not been adminned yet? Result is still showing as ?-? in the League in BBLE. Sorry to keep banging on about it.

Same boat as sketchseven, down in Div E for my game against 2lab. No rush, but it'd be nice to get things squared away. (This is the first game I've had defaulted; IIRC Cyanide throws some SPPs around at random? I am eager to see if any of them stick to my almost-leveled flesh golem).

[Kapouille]

Crap, someone added Loner to treemen in the Halfling teams :( As if life wasn't difficult enough.

Edit : In the living rulebook.

[Heliocentric]

Crap, someone added Loner to treemen in the Halfling teams :( As if life wasn't difficult enough.

Edit : In the living rulebook.

That's older not newer, or was it put back?

[Alistair Hutton]

EXTRA EXTRA READ ALL ABOUT IT!

Scandal rocked the world of Blood Bowl with star thrower Dietmar Frej no longer employed by the Altdorf Army. Reports are conflicting as to whether he walked or he was pushed. We will have more on this as the story develops.

Sources close to Dietmar have revealed that he's be unhappy with how he is being used by the Army, often feeling marginalised by the newer thrower on the team. "Sure the new boy can toss a ball through goblin's anus from 30 yards" says Grimsmack Snotsmasher, Dietmar's agent, "but does he have the all round play of Dietmar? My boy can block with the best of them, put the ball anywhere on the field you want and he's so cool under pressure he needs to be checked for hypothermia". Sources within the Army camp paint a picture of a coach struggling to find a clear role of Frej and unhappy with how Frej has been focusing his training.

Rumour has it that the Army are scouting a 4th Catcher to add to their ranks with the money free'd up from Dietmar Frej's departure and that another player, possibly a Lineman, could be cut to make way for him.

[Zoraster]

That's older not newer, or was it put back?

Yup, Kapo was clearly looking at a pre-CRP ruleset. Wish they would put it back though. The impact of no Loner, the Stunty injury change and the addition of Willow, Zara and Bertha has combined to make 'flings way too good. When played seriously they are easily a lower-end tier 1 team now which takes most of the fun of playing them away.

[ntw]

We'll check up on the outstanding match results ASAP.

[drawlien]

Just a quick question to Groovy/ntw: How soon is the new season likely to kick off? I'm going to be away for a week from today so the earliest I'll be able to sign up will be Friday the 6th of July. I think I managed to avoid relegation/promotion so it might be simplest and quickest to leave ny team in Div A for next season...

[Kapouille]

Yup, Kapo was clearly looking at a pre-CRP ruleset. Wish they would put it back though. The impact of no Loner, the Stunty injury change and the addition of Willow, Zara and Bertha has combined to make 'flings way too good. When played seriously they are easily a lower-end tier 1 team now which takes most of the fun of playing them away.

So, that's old, there? http://www.bloodbowlonline.com/LivingRulebook5.pdf

Where's the new-new?

Also, define "easily" ;) Nothing is ever easy as Hal.

Edit: Think I found it : http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_...Rules_Pack.pdf

Edit2: Aaaah, that's better. Shame I don't get access to those decent stars.

[El Cubo]

So, that's old, there? http://www.bloodbowlonline.com/LivingRulebook5.pdf

Edit: Think I found it : http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_...Rules_Pack.pdf

You found it. LRB6 was named CRP.