AV 7 teams

[Smeborg]

...was when I played a Hobgoblin team. I did so at first as a stop-gap measure in a league where my main team (Undead) were playing too many matches relative to the others (there were no rules on this, but it was no fun being way out in front on TR and getting easy wins).

The Hobgoblin team, the Pink Panthers (well, I paint my Hobgoblins pink, opponents seem to hate them even more that way) did quite a bit better than I was expecting, under the watchful eye of their Chaos Dwarf coach, Thickskull Smallbrain. His name was given by one of my daughters, as were most of the player names (Swart, Pithrik, Pinksnot, Speedy, Mucusbrain, Nosewart the captain, Big Gitface, Little Gitface and Droopy).

Anyway, I digress. The team's record over 9 matches was Won 3, Lost 6 (we played with extra time). All the wins and 3 of the losses were by one TD, in other words two thirds of the games were close and exciting (that's also how I remember them). Two of the three wins were against good, experienced coaches. This was in 3rd Ed., so the side got a somewhat bigger handicap advantage than they would now.

What I found was that the team was able to compete. They suffered casualties, but at a rate they could afford (31 casualties in 9 games). They almost always got 11 players onto the pitch for the last drive of the game, as I remember. So the AV7 was not an overwhelming disadvantage.

One of the main lesson I learned was simply a confirmation of what happens in any BB match. If you focus all your energies on moving the football (or attacking the football), and force your opponent to do the same, the casualty rate goes down.

I would recommend to any coach to play a Hobgoblin side for a while, as a means to expand your playing knowledge. It's like raw BB - you just have 6337, no skills, but you do have plenty of re-rolls. With a side like this, you can't afford to make mistakes, even small positional ones, so it sharpens up your game nicely. And it's fun.

Cheers

[NightDragon]

Yo SmeBorg my fleshless friend, good to see you on this site. I agree with what you say, especially about making teams focus on the ball. I have played some really brutal teams but got away very lightly because of this. A good point. Laters DD.

[bj0rn]

i have a problem with the amazon team...

how come they get to start with a skill that they normally have to roll a double to get (except for catchers) and still cost the same as if it was a normal skill?

i would rather have a human blitzer start with dodge than block for the same price.

bj0rn - you see the problem, right?