Help me bring my game up to tier 1 standard

[crimsonsun]

I finished my match day 10 in ukbbl last night against the divisional winning Skaven side in a match I had to win to avoid relegation, now I feel I was playing well at least towards the upper end of my ability, though I did forget to turn grab off on a single block 3d block on turn 12/13 but otherwise I did not feel I did anything that was 'wrong', yet I was beaten fairly by a more skilled opponent 2-1 despite playing as well as I am able.

So I want to know what should I be doing differently? How can I upgrade my performance to that extra level? This team has hit tier 2 twice only to be sent straight back down, so I must be doing something wrong at the higher tiers of play? I think the latter part is what I really want to know, what do I have to do to bring my game up to standard where I can compete in the top Divisions of a Ongoing League?

The replay file is below, and I will post the Teams below as well. Many Thanks for your input! Crimsonsun

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/214 ... 20Add.aspx
against... No3 took block btw...

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/214 ... hSuck.aspx
The Match repoort
[url]https://dl.dropboxus...4%207-54-13%20PM.db[/url]

[Jimmy Fantastic]

I recommend playing on FUMBBL.

[sann0638]

What Jimmy said, basically. Generally the standard at Fumbbl is pretty high, and it's also very quick to watch replays and the community are keen to give feedback. Don't think people will take the time to load up a Cyanide game and give tips, though I could be wrong.

[besters]

I would just recommend playing more, thinking about your game and learning from your opponents.

I have been playing 15 + years and still got caught by one move by Don_Vito at the NAFC last week.

But generally the more you play the better you get.

[Digger Goreman]

Mattgslater is the man to see about the nuances of blood bowl tactics....

[mattgslater]

Mattgslater would like a bit of context. How do things tend to go wrong for you? Offense? Do you get sacked or fail to get downfield? Defense? Do you get corralled and redirected on? Do you get stalled on, or are you forcing / stopping TDs okay?

[Ullis]

Fummbl also allows for a better overview of the whole board and the positioning of both teams (though this could just be down to my relative inexperience in Cyanide's client). That allows you to reflect on what your opponent is doing and how your own team is positioned, both in game and after the game. I'm struggling with positioning in Cyanide (I just started in a league there and have so far played two games) myself.

Also, for Cyanide, the turn length is a big factor. Are you playing 2 minute turns or the full 4 minute? Having more time when you really do need has a clear impact on your game. With more experience you can do with less time.

[crimsonsun]

I would just recommend playing more, thinking about your game and learning from your opponents.

I have been playing 15 + years and still got caught by one move by Don_Vito at the NAFC last week.

But generally the more you play the better you get.

I've been playing Bloodbowl for 20years myself though only started with Khemri when they were released in 4th edition rules (With fantastic Tomb Guardians) and I have nearly a 1000 games on record with each edition of cyanides bloodbowl of which there has been 4, so playing more games with no knowledge of how to improve or what I am doing wrong is not the solution sadly.

[sann0638]

OK - so you are playing Khemri? Obviously a hard team to perform at Tier 1 with! Is there somewhere where people are happy to view games on Cyanide and feed back on them? BBtactics might help?

[crimsonsun]

Mattgslater would like a bit of context. How do things tend to go wrong for you? Offense? Do you get sacked or fail to get downfield? Defense? Do you get corralled and redirected on? Do you get stalled on, or are you forcing / stopping TDs okay?

Its actually why I uploaded the replay as its not so much I have difficultly in any particular area its more my difficulty too have no come back with Khemri if I make a mistake or if the dice screw me for a turn, when using other teams I do not have this issue but after twenty years of playing Bloodbowl and 1000's of games behind me I want to be able to compete at the top with Khemri.

As a rule (unless I am playing like a moron - as I do from time to time) its high elves and Skaven I struggle with at 2kish TV, Dark Elves are also a 50/50 but I am a lot more successful against them than the above. Oddly though Pro's normally do not give me any issues.

I play slow and patient, using a column based defence against quick sides and a slowly tightening net against slow slides, I will force my opponent to engage me on defence, just making sniping attacks with a killer against any weak or dangerous targets that stroll too far from the safety of his team mates. On offence it varies depending on how my Guardians are developed, in the above side with 3 highly skilled guardians (used to be four but I lost my best a blodge sidestep frenzy tackle tomb guardain 5 games previously) I am happier to venture down a wing if need be but no matter the opposition the offence is the same a rolling cage using grab to make sure I maintain a Strength and positional advantage by maximising my Guards/tackles. Where I have a corner of the cage that has standfirm and strength 4+ with Guard I am happy to place it close in support, while a strength three corner will normally be diagonally out with another player in support.

If my opponent has a Wizard I make sure he cannot hit both Throw Ra's or more than 3 critical players including the ball carrier with a fireball to maximise my odds of recovery. If I can when I defend I do not allow my opponent any blocks only his blitz, though when on offence I will often use a wrestle skeleton to tie up a Ag1 big hitter on the opposite side to which I am pushing. I only position more than 6 players on the LOS for a drive if its turn 7/8 and I need a 1ttd or it looks like I can get one. (I have never managed it with Khemri though I have had a lot of success with Norse, Undead, Necromantic teams, though I had one fail on a gfi on the endzone before).

I have overcome my lust for blood on the field and so I will always punish those that leave themselves exposed I will not risk position on the pitch to do so for fouls or blocks, unless I have lost too many players to mount a successful defence/offence at which point I will try to concentrate my remaining players to seriously harm one or two opponents to not only even the numbers up but to force my opponent not to stall.

The strongest aspect of my game is Chain blocks/pushes I can if I have the right skills work out some tremendous chains to either advance the ball carrier clear of tackle zones or to set up future blocks, as I hinted at earlier though I tend to avoid the edges of the pitch with Khemri unless I have standfirm as with Decay, Tomb Guardians are utterly arse f-cked by being surfed, though with stand firm, grab and a frenzy+Juggernaut player (I only take one frenzy guy and he needs str4+) you can really dominate the side lines at higher TV and make your opponent regret going near to them, as I did in the previous match to the above against a Norse side who looked to set up some surfs but instead lost 5 players over 3 turns to the sidelines.

Anyway I hope this gives you some ideas on where I am coming from, if you have read the Khemri tactics thread on here I have a ton of posts in there which may also give you an idea to how I play, though if I was to sum it up in one bloodbowl term I would say Pitch Control.

Thanks Crimsonsun

Finally I looked at the Fumble client before cyanide was released but just did not get along with it, I could not tell at a glance what player was what. Also for those suggesting about 2/4min turns Leagues like UKBBL, OCC, OWL and most bbattl tournaments or bbtactics ones are all 4mins.

[crimsonsun]

OK - so you are playing Khemri? Obviously a hard team to perform at Tier 1 with! Is there somewhere where people are happy to view games on Cyanide and feed back on them? BBtactics might help?

I have had some feedback on bbtactics ( I posted in three places, as too be honest its a specialist question for a team like Khemri) I have more than 500 games with them on cyanide chaos edition alone, so I do know what I am doing I just want to be better at the top level...

[Jimmy Fantastic]

Well if you want to get next level good FUMBBL is definitely the place to be.
Skill level is much higher than Cyanide and you can watch replays of the best players in the world easily.
Give it another go!

[sann0638]

Jimmy - best khemri player do you know?

[babass]

Jimmy - best khemri player do you know?

Karaak is pretty good with Khemri. He will even play khemri at the incoming Eurobowl for France.

[mattgslater]

best khemri player do you know?

FUMBBL can help you with that.

@ OP, I'm not really a Khemri coach to speak of. My Khemri record is decent for a small sample, and I've played against them a lot. My main takeaway from my games against Khemri is that they're dicey. If the opponent is getting his hits and/or your ball rolls aren't going off, well, I don't want to say there's not much you can do, but ultimately it lies in Nuffle's hands. And ditto, if he can't make the magic happen and your hits and pickups go okay, your strength will make the game easy.

Winning the numbers game is a big deal, as is forcing the opponent to expose good players so you can hit them. These go hand in hand, so run extra bodies so you can foul in the first half and take MB first on all Blitz-Ras and TGs, even if this costs you games in the short run. Given a pair of Tackle-POMB Blitz-Ras, three MB TGs at any time, and a couple Dirty Player Skels, you should be able to win the numbers war more often than not. Remember, you are AV7 around the joints so you will lose guys too: doing some damage is essential, 'cause you're not mobile enough to play while you're down bodies, and when your damage dice don't go off, you will simply have to play better or hope for luck.

Kick first against lightweight teams, so you can gangfoul when positioning is less critical. IMO, the worst outcome on defense is to stall them out and give up a late score; if you can't turn it over or stop the TD it's critical to get pressure, and you do that by getting into contact with the Guardians, blitzing and fouling the best players, and maintaining lateral pitch control as much as vertical control.

On offense, maintaining a tight cage is critical, and against teams that can Leap or whatnot you need to guarantee that any hits on your Thro-Ra are half-die jobs. (Obviously, that's not enough, but it is what it is.) The real answer to Leaping Wrestlers is to consistently drop the hammer, so they don't have the manpower to capitalize on a loose ball.

Setekh and Sinnedbad are great values, as are Bribes. Ramtut's no slouch, either. Fireballs hurt Khemri more than anybody. For cheap stuff, a Dirty Trick over a Magic Item or a Bloodweiser Babe. I'd go Babe vs heavy and Magic vs light if Dirty Tricks are unavailable (like on FUMBBL).