RPS Blood Bowl League - The RPS Open

[groovychainsaw]

Just lost to jolima's super-elves. Short version - they all have blodge, guard, sidestep and worse (as they should at 2100TV). I have block. On most of my team now. But not a good game to blood my new werewolf in (after my lvl5 one died last game). I hire a vampire to help. He's quite good (Str5, AG4, hypnotic gaze, block, sidestep).

I roll 101 block dice in my efforts to bash Jolima's elves into the pitch. I made 36 armour rolls. THEY WILL NOT DIE. The first half ended up a write-off as jolima knocked more of my my players out/off than he lost, ruining my 'grind up the pitch stamping on elves' plan. I never really came back from that, as i was kicking to him in the second half, and elves pretty much always score on receiving when the other team only has one player with tackle (hello, billy the tyrant!). I got 3 injuries eventually, but I received 2 for my troubles, on top of the ignominy of jolima KO'ing both my golems in the first half :-(.

I think my biggest problem i have is the inverse of most necro teams. Most necro teams have ALL their points in their wolves, so good are they at hurting folks, but end up under-equipped elsewhere. I've built my team carefully so points are spread out nicely, but the continued deaths of my wolves means they are woefully ill-equipped to play against the big guns now so end up being 'assists' for most of the game and i can't make them the scary scary threats they need to be. I need SPPs, but injury-less games against elves and continuous 2-0 losses are not doing my team any good for growth :-).

[grinn]

Hey Mr Tower - I m up for a game today (Wednesday) or tomorrow (Thursday) evening or night. The later the better - say 10pm CET (I m in Copenhagen) either day?

[Ian]

It should be pointed out that, while I can never remember the difference between what a player struck between two different types of wizard attacks are, I was VERY lucky when I used my wizard against Weasel. I think it took out four of the five players in the cage, including the ball-carrier? Or certainly 3/5.

The problem for me was that due to the hit-and-run nature of the move (and that all of my players exploded into a fine red paste if they were so much as nudged :-P) I wasn't able to get any sauri forward in support to try and stall a little.

[Screwie]

It should be pointed out that, while I can never remember the difference between what a player struck between two different types of wizard attacks are, I was VERY lucky when I used my wizard against Weasel. I think it took out four of the five players in the cage, including the ball-carrier? Or certainly 3/5.

It gets harder if you use Blitz Mode's racial spells. There appears to be NO documentation anywhere on what they all do. And they're not all equal, some teams get much nastier spells than others.

From my meanderings in single player, I've found a few:

Dark Elf - Kinda normal, an ice bolt that behaves like the Lightning Bolt spell with an added -1MA to all opposing player within 2 squares.
Vampire - Your whole team gets Frenzy and Mighty Blow for 2 turns. Jeez!
Amazon - Same as Vampire and even scarier.
Halfling - All opposing players get Bone-Head for a turn.
Chaos - One opposing player makes a block randomly against a team mate. If that wasn't lame enough, this one has a large fail rate too.
Skaven - A "ST6 bolt of warp lightning" (how does that even work??) strikes the targeted player, but also one randomly determined player on your team.

I understand some teams might need more help than others, but I don't see how anyone would choose to pay for the Chaos or Skaven spell.

[Ian]

I don't think I've ever even tried Blitz mode. D:

Having checked what is hopefully the right set of rules, and typing it down in the vain hope that it'll drive it into my mind a bit better:

Fireball you have to roll a four or higher for each player in the area to knock 'em down, and if you do it's as if they've been hit with mighty blow.

Lightning bolt targets one player but you just have to beat a 1 to knock them over. And again, it's as if they've been MB'd.

[Vexing Vision]

That might be tough for me to make as it's 2-3am for me :). It's probably easiest for me to make a afternoon or evening game UK time (I'm MDT / BST-7).

Alright. What about 22:30 your time tonight? I'll get up early and get the game in before work, then. :D

[Ian]

Vexing Vision shows the appropriate amount of dedication. *thumbs up*

[Screwie]

I don't think I've ever even tried Blitz mode. D:

I've recently been playing with (turn-based!) Blitz mode campaigns in single player. Fortunately you can individually enable/disable the extra features, because they are hit-and-miss...

The good:

Expanded inducements. The cheaper options let you get the most from uneven inducement totals:

• Potions of ST or AG - a % chance of +1 to the chosen stat for the game. ST potions are both more expensive and less likely to work.
• "Bad Habits" - reduces your opposition's TRR total by 1 for the same cost as an extra TRR.
• Bribes for opposing players (% chance of reducing a target's MA by 1 for the match).
• Bodyguards for your own players (to stop the above bribes).
• Cheering fans - boosts the cheerleader-related kick off results.
• Booing fans - counters the above.
• (All the normal inducements are there too.)

Equipment is a nice break from the norm. It gives you something to buy in a long-term campaign and a useful way to get more from your best players. Each piece of equipment comes with it a chance to add +1 to a single stat (helmets=AV, shoulders=ST,gloves=AG,boots=MA) each game until they expire (10 games).

The questionable:

Racial spells. Basically great for some teams, dreadful for others. They are very uneven, you have no way of knowing what it does without prior knowledge, and you don't get the option to just have a Fireball or Lightning Bolt instead. Why not have all three spells?

Player training. From the inducements page, you can submit a player for training with a chance of increasing a stat. Permanently?? I don't know. I've never seen it work and there is a chance that the training will cause your player to miss the game, so I tend to avoid it.

Aging. One the one hand, it's an interesting idea that all your players will be temporary and eventually retire. It keeps your team rotating instead of stagnating, and I would quite like to see it in a long term online league. On the other it dissuades you from using equipment, training, etc. How it works: The aging is a countdown timer that starts at 100 (iirc) and ticks once for each game the player participates in, and another for each time they make an injury roll.

Sponsorship. At the start of each season, you negotiate for more money from your sponsor. In reality you are making a bet against your performance for the coming season, with qualifiers such as "finished first in table" and "tema with most touchdowns". Except that against the AI you will always outperform expectations, so there's never a reason to go for less than the max. In an online league this might be more interesting (if the option is available).

The bad:

Player contracts. I don't like having to rehire the same guy every so few seasons. If there was a proper, sustained market of freelance players then I wouldn't mind the odd player getting lost in the pool for a while. As it is, I'm paranoid of losing anyone. The only positive, iirc, is that this option does create a pool of skilled journeymen to hire from. But overall it's one of those things that would be much better if Cyanide hadn't ballsed up the implementation and explained what was actually going on. This one bites you in the ass and is a huge money sink.

[President Weasel]

It should be pointed out that, while I can never remember the difference between what a player struck between two different types of wizard attacks are, I was VERY lucky when I used my wizard against Weasel. I think it took out four of the five players in the cage, including the ball-carrier? Or certainly 3/5.

The problem for me was that due to the hit-and-run nature of the move (and that all of my players exploded into a fine red paste if they were so much as nudged :-P) I wasn't able to get any sauri forward in support to try and stall a little.

Yeah I had a standard 4 man cage round the ball carrier, and after the fireball I had a prone ball carrier and the left of the cage was one prone, one stunned. Think another corner was prone too, but I am not sure. You used your skinks very well to scoop it up and run, but I was deliberately marking up the saurii and you had so few left that I could.

[drawlien]

Hey mrpier where are you? I've waited 29 minutes now after our agreed 6pm start time...

Edit: Waited 'til 8.30 and still no sign of you on steam. When do you want to re-arrange to?

[grinn]

Hugh, any chance you can play tonight or tomorrow night?

[laneford]

I squeaked a somewhat undeserved 2-1 victory over Jim. (The 500tv differential may help somewhat) Match report to follow...

Any thoughts on what skill to give a level 5 (!) lineman?

He currently has +MA, Dodge, and Wrestle.

I'm tempted by Leap, Fend, or Strip Ball...

[Jolima]

I think I would be most tempted by Strip Ball in that case. Edit: Some other good options to consider: Tackle and Sidestep.

I have much the same decision to make for a level 5 catcher with blodge and guard. I'm thinking of Leap for that one since I'd rather have strip ball on a wrestler and leap should combine well with guard.

[laneford]

Jim ordered me to do the match report, as he was too depressed.

Ultimate Maths Squad (Hum - Jiiiiiim) vs 3 Feet High and Rising (Helf - Laneford)

[Ian]

"Look over there, an equation!" :D

[President Weasel]

/applause!

[Jiiiiim]

From now on, laneford will do my reports.

[grinn]

Hahahaha fantastic

[Vexing Vision]

Ah well, no doughnut this morning. It was a bit short notice, I admit. Can you let me know if you can do tomorrow (Friday) afternoon/evening? I'm pretty liberal when it comes to anything past 21:00 UK time.

[grinn]

Earth calling Mr Tower, do you copy?
I can't make Friday through to Sunday - flexible with hours today. Please let me know.