Totalbiscuit plays Blood Bowl

[apricotsoup]

Oh dear god. OH DEAR GOD!

Dodger made common mistakes, but the biggest was having no strategy in place to counter the Chaos Dwarf team, and the thing is, I'm not even sure there is one for an early Amazon team. I guess she should have tried a passing game because it would have at least earned some skillpoints.

Nice to hear Biscuit explaining the intricacies of the rules as we go along.

Amazons against an unusual chaos dwarf setup like TBs are actually pretty decent but you need a firm grasp of defensive bashy positioning similar to usual elf team blocking tactics; luring the dwarfs towards you whilst you bashing them back so they only get the 1 blitz per turn block. This should mean that you're pushing their line back and not following up, thus avoiding using re-rolls on dodging and you can pick off their hobs.

But yeah, too much base contact marking from the amazons and things hurt to watch.

[Web Cole]

Game 4: Angry Joe vs The Completionist

[Web Cole]

Also Crendors round up vid:

[Drake Sigar]

Amazons against an unusual chaos dwarf setup like TBs are actually pretty decent but you need a firm grasp of defensive bashy positioning similar to usual elf team blocking tactics; luring the dwarfs towards you whilst you bashing them back so they only get the 1 blitz per turn block. This should mean that you're pushing their line back and not following up, thus avoiding using re-rolls on dodging and you can pick off their hobs.

That makes sense. Do you think The Completionist should've gone for the same tactic, being a team that can dish it out but can't really take it because of low armor values? Oh but the Berserkers and Werewolves have frenzy so they have to follow up their attacks... but he doesn't have any Werewolves, so maybe something could be worked out.

[sketchseven]

I think positioning is a problem for all the coaches at the moment apart from maybe Crendor and AngryJoe who seem to have played a lot more of the game than the others; not just defensively but also in terms of 'making moves to get assists' or 'blitzing so you can get in position to give an assist' type of thing.

Also clear opportunity for TB to push one of the Amazon players into the crowd which he seemed happy to ignore.

[Drake Sigar]

TB's weekly overview of all the matches:



Just played and won my first multiplayer game against a goblin team. My understanding of the rules pretty much came entirely from watching Total Biscuit. The gobbos threw all their secret weapons at me in the first half as I elected to receive. He was good at positional play and the time per turn must have been about 20-30 seconds so I usually ended up with a turnover by timeout. Still, I weathered the storm and got some lucky rolls. Once those secret weapons were gone, their line of 2 str gobbs simply couldn't do jack against my dwarf team. Lord knows why he didn't put that second troll on the field.

[Everblue]

Congratulations on that first win. Here's to many more!

[Drake Sigar]

Angry Joe just faced WowCrendor! Perhaps the most anticipated match of week 2 in terms of the Blood Bowl experience of both players.



Highlight the spoilers: Triple red skull of death followed by a double. The odds are staggering. There were some really crazy dice rolls in this one, but overall Joe just couldn't counter the might of all those 4str lizardmen. Maybe one of you veterans could bring up a strategy, because I can't think of much he could have done. I guess the big guys have a hard time moving out of tackle zones and are slow moving. Better positional tieups followed by flat out murdering the skinks, Crendor's only income of goals, might've brought home the bacon.

[Everblue]

Haven't watched it, but normally what you do as necro against rookie lizards is tie up some of the lizards with zombies. With AG1 the lizards can't get away, and without block and mighty blow they don't do too much damage to the zombies.

You then run the ball the other way...

Werewolves and wights are good against skinks.

[sketchseven]

Just played and won my first multiplayer game against a goblin team. My understanding of the rules pretty much came entirely from watching Total Biscuit.

Grats on the win - I always think that the best option you have against a goblin team is to attempt to score as quickly as possible. Get those secret weapons off the field, dance around the troll, you have a much much easier time of things.

[Skeletor68]

Been enjoying the tourney so far but it is killing me to watch players who haven't done any homework (Jesse you lunatic!). Bebopvox not knowing about GFI rules was horrible!

How does one handle an Amazon v Norse match? Try to out pass the Norsemen?

It's a pity no one went Skaven.

[NieA7]

Amazon vs. Norse would go pretty much the same way that any Amazon vs. game would go - the 'zons need to try to beat the snot out of the Norse while minimising their own casualties. They should have the upper hand too given they've four block/dodge blitzers vs. no dodge at all for the Norse, not to mention the Norse's low armour.

Passing is a bad plan, just ignore that they're thrower's and catchers. Think of them as "pick up the ball and run" and "access to more interesting skills than just linewomen" instead.

[Skeletor68]

Amazon vs. Norse would go pretty much the same way that any Amazon vs. game would go - the 'zons need to try to beat the snot out of the Norse while minimising their own casualties. They should have the upper hand too given they've four block/dodge blitzers vs. no dodge at all for the Norse, not to mention the Norse's low armour.

Passing is a bad plan, just ignore that they're thrower's and catchers. Think of them as "pick up the ball and run" and "access to more interesting skills than just linewomen" instead.

Cool, thanks. That's interesting. With the similar armour values and the Norse abundance of block I thought it would be the Amazon's best interest to just use more passing and stay out of tackle zones. I have very little experience and tend to only play AI with bashy teams like Orcs with a thrower though. It's been really interesting to watch all these head to heads.

[Everblue]

I don't take any throwers as amazon - I use catchers to move the ball and it's good to keep the TV down.

[NieA7]

That's the thing with 'zons - at agility 3 even with dodge they're not all that great at moving around the pitch (too slow). An Ag3 dodge into space with dodge is a reasonable bet (89%) but not something you want to be doing on a regular basis. However, what 'zons excel at is not falling over when punched, providing they've got block or wrestle and the opponent doesn't have tackle. This tends to put them in a good spot to punch back on the following turn, hence 'zons being considered a bash team.

The really important thing is to not go into base to base contact unless you absolutely have to mark something up close. Let the other team move on to you, then you've got the opportunity of punching them first. This is the thing most the TGS people seem to have overlooked: while it feels right to move all your team into base to base contact with the other side to mark them/set up a block next turn, all you're actually doing is handing the other team free hits on their turn. This is especially true of zon's and norse, who aren't bad at staying upright but at AV7 need to try to avoid being punched as much as possible (ideally limiting it to just the single blitz a turn). Zons do this better than norse though as block/wrestle is a general skill they can all take (as opposed to dodge which is agility and thus only available on doubles for norse), plus they can use dodge to reposition if necessary.

Throwing at agility 3 is a bit of a desperate move, even with pass and catch on the right players a quick pass will only work 79% of the time: given a failure at either end is a turnover and spills the ball it's a massive risk. Amazon's play best bashing their way down the pitch in a cage, their throwers are usually built to run with the ball (sure hands, block, fend etc) while the catchers are given marking/safety duty (block, tackle, diving tackle, sidestep etc). They can pass and catch relatively well if they get all the right skills for it (accurate, strong arm, safe throw, diving catch) but that's a lot of SPPs away, and given you won't be throwing all that much the skills are probably better spent elsewhere.

Of use:

• The Art of Blocking
• Blood Bowl Tactics, especially Cage Basics and Marking Players
• The Samba Action Calculator, for working out what the odds of any given action are

[Everblue]

Great post. Couldn't agree more about passing. Ag3 passing is a mug's game.

[Jiiiiim]

Pythagoras would like a word >_>

[NieA7]

Pythagoras has all the skills.

[Everblue]

He's what - AG3, accurate, strong arm?

Quick and short passes on a 2+, long on a 3+, long bombs on a 4+. And you have AG3 catchers without diving catch?

So your quick and short passes have a 14% fail rate, your long passes fail 21% of the time, and your long bombs 33% of the time? And that's ignoring interceptions where (if you have safe throw) you ignore them on a 4+.

He's fine in an option offence where you run the ball and offer the threat of a pass to open things up, which from memory is how you play your humans, but he's just not a reliable passer from deep. I guess he doesn't throw many long bombs though! I'd also be really worried about interceptions, even with safe throw, as that's a further 8.3% fail rate assuming interceptions on a 6 from your oppo and no catch skill.

[Jiiiiim]

:(

don't listen to them pythag