Bloodbowl - The Carnage Continues (Human, Norse & Underworld)

So the carnage continues, and I have definitely regained my Bloodbowl bug :)

Above is a pic of s sneek peak of the upcoming Skaven pitch that I will definitely be keeping an eye out for as the the bloodbowl stuff seems to get sold out extremely quickly.

Last time I was wondering how to get a starting human that works, after a nasty game against goblins where 2 blitzers and another player died.  Bad luck a side the team a built had two few rerolls and too many positionals (including 3 catchers reducing the overall strength of the team) meaning I only had 11 players.

A revised starting team of the following:
1 Ogre
3 Blitzers
1 Thrower
2 Catchers
5 Linemen
(12 Players)
3 Rerolls

For my 1st game with this new team I was up against Slann.  They play completely different, and I few things I took out of the game were:

For a starting team its appeared even harder to stop them doing a two turn touchdown.  Marking their catchers with 1 tackle zone meant that they still caught the ball on a 2+ (AG4 plus Diving Catch giving an extra +1 to catch accurate passes).  However they are still suceptable to a Bashy team 2-1 gringe tactic* with a lack of block or dodge anywhere in the team and AV7/8.  Secondly because some of the players can leap into a cage on a 2+ for a 1-dice block (once the other assists are taken out) makes it harder to have a safe cage until you get Guard, also knowing this tactic made the catchers useless for holding the ball inside a cage because the Slann would leap in and get a 2-dice block :(

[eriochrome has correctly pointed out that only the Slann Catcher leaps on 2+ and he is Str2, the rest leap on 3+, still nasty but not quite as good as I wrote]

Overall I liked the new team set-up and think it's a good one, once you want to start with the Ogre, which I think is the right way to go to give the team some hitting power particularly against the more agile teams.

My Norse are assembled (apart from 2 extra linemen).  I've used a Dark Eldar Clawed Fiend as the Yhette, the Kairic Acolytes from Silver tower for the Berserkers, Runners & Lineman, and finally the Darkoath Chieftain (also from Silver Tower) for the Ulfwereners.  So far I've got a starting team of 11 (sitting on the laptop) and then a second Runner and Ulfwereners for when the team expands.  I just need to build the last two Linemen.  I may put a ball in hand of the limemen with an outstretched hand to represent a thrower.  I really don't rate the thrower and so have much prefered a linemen to take Sure Hands, as I much prefer Block and Sure Hands over Block and Pass.  As the team develops I may pick a Thrower to diversify the team tactics with a mild passing game.

The Norse have so far only played the aforementioned Slann, and went one better than the Humans (1-1 draw) winning 2-1 helped by the Casualty score being 4-0, mostly in the second half meaning the Norse could control the field.

To get practice with the Norse in advance of playing them on the tabletop I installed Bloodbowl 1 on my laptop (it was only £2.67), however I have to put out a warning: playing against the AI can make you a worse coach if you are not vigilant !!  You can get sloppy because you are playing against the easy AI, you have to force yourself to still play like its a close game and the opponent will play well.

Later I also installed Bloodbowl (its was on sale on Steam at 75% off).  I was a bit worried that my laptop (not bought for gaming) wouldn't be able to play it, but it plays it fine.  Between the two Bloodbowl games I have got in 40 games over the last month.  Which has really helped me get used to the new teams I'm playing (Norse and Underworld).

I researching leagues, and depending on the time commitment I may join one, but as a father of two kids with a busy job I'm wary about committing to too much.

As I decided not to use my favorite team and the one I'm most experianced with, progress on the Skaven has slowed due to work on other teams.  Here's a pic of the team half built.  Since them I'm assembled a second Stormvermin (Blitzer) and to my surprise I assembled a second thrower which is normally one of the last models that gets added to the team.  The reason for that was that I've decided to start an Underworld team.

At first glance they seem like a bad half of the skaven team (no Rat Ogre or Gutter Runners) with Goblins without their perks of secret weapons or cheap bribes and two big guys.  Unfortunately as a starting team that a very good assessment.  However where there is a glimmer of hope is that once a team starts developing they have access to Mutation skills on a normal skill role.  This gives Mighty Blow and Claw on normal skill rolls to the Troll and 2 Stormvermin, Extra Hands on the Throwers for great ball handlers, and Two Heads on the Goblins to dodge in any number of tackle zones on 2+ followed by Horns for Str3 Blitzes.

They also lead to fun game with Carnage on both sides !!  For their first game (I proxied some models for the goblins) I played a Goblin team, they would have won 2-0 if it wasn't for laser guided Goblin Ball & Chain which started 4 squares diagonally from a thrower guarding the other thrower with the ball 2 squares from the touchdown zone,  It went 5 squares (2 Go For Its) directly in the right path to knock over both throwers (seriously injuring one) allowing a Poggo Stick Goblin to move over pick up the ball, throw a long bomb, and it to be caught all without any rerolls !!

The Underworld went in half time 1-0 down, but came out (without both Throwers, the second being injured by the same Poggo Stick Goblin) and made short work on turn 1 of the Chainsword Goblin, and even fouling the second Troll of the pitch mid half to at one point leave on 5 goblins face down on the pitch at one point to equalise at the end of the second half.

One the Goblin's Trolls woke up for the final turn, put the one turn touchturn failed when an Ag4 Goblin failed to land after being thrown to give the Underworld a very deserved 1-1 draw (They were robbed!!).

I've waiting on some Silver Tower Grot Scuttlings which will be the Goblins for my Underworld team:

Discussing our teams with my mate who was playing the Goblins he said as Goblins die, and both Goblins and Underworld aren't the most prolific scorers their team rating tends to stay low compared to other teams.  This will be especially true of my Underworld team as I'm starting a bit late in the league, so next job will be convert up some Star Players to spend my inducement money on.

When you compare the cost of mercenaries as inducements (70k for a goblin, 100k for a skaven thrower) the Secret Weapon Star Players seem like a worthwhile alternative.


So far I'm really enjoying playing and modelling Bloodbowl.  I'm sure they'll be more Bloodbowl posts to come.

Rathstar



* A favorite tactic of Bashy teams which involves kicking to the opposition, then bashy up their team and threatening the ball carrier to hopefully force them to score as early as possible.  Doing a slow grind up the pitch smashing up their team to equalise at the end of the 1st half, and then doing the same thing for the whole of the 2nd half to win 2-1.  Learning how to stall against a Bashy team, defending against them to stop the 1st half equaliser, and learning how to breakdown a strong cage is a key skill of top (agility and balanced team) players.