Playing the 24 - ALL DONE!

[sann0638]

Khemri - Khroeso i Khymru - Welsh Open 2012

This was a crazy weekend's Blood Bowl. Spent Friday night at Canteloup's, and played a game of Fumbbl then tabletop with the Khemri to test out the build. Woke up at 5am to play Warpstone in the final of the Zlurpnation Fumbbl league, as he's in Canada. My Khemri were victorious! So far, so good. Off to Newport!

Game 1 v Hawk's Skaven
Received the ball, and managed to cage up and start to trundle up the pitch, but played the Rat Ogre badly. In the back of my mind I could hear my good self saying "feed him skeletons, feed him skeletons" but I paid no heed, and so he ended up standing next to my ball carrier in an annoying way. Hawk tied up the Tomb Guardians, so I ended up blocking him with the ball carrier. Successfully, but this left my cage open enough for a tackling stomrmvermin to one-dice my blodging thro-ra, with the inevitable result. 1-0. Then a bit of a rush of blood led to me trying a passing play to make it 1-1 at the half, but it ended up 2-0 instead. Oops. Kicked to him, 3-0, though not as straightforward as it could have been. Pulled it back to 3-1, but was scant consolation.

Game 2 v SFisher's Ogres
3 Ogres and Morg v 4 Tomb Guardians. RAAAAH! Received and trundled up the pitch, not killing as many snots as I would like despite blitzing one a turn with a tackling Blitz-Ra. C'est la vie. Straightforward first half, but then the second half was a bit too close for comfort with me having to make a few 4+ reroll dodges. They should work, but could easily fail! A close 1-0, and the closest game of the weekend as it turned out.

Game 3 v Eski's Humans
This game was all about the armour, really. I received again (good coin tosses for me!) and drove up the pitch, smashing humans before me. Sort of smashing, in that I broke armour about once out of 30 attempts. Scored as soon as I could, whereas the stall and more smashing would have been the tactically astute thing to do. He scored back before half time, and by that stage my players had started to leave the pitch and not regen. A Blitz result for me did not help, as I chased the ball instead of consolidating, but as I was chasing the win it seemed like a good idea at the time. Turned out not. Not a close second half. Lost 2-1.

Game 4 v Doomy's Undead
Has a Khemri team ever lost 7-0 in casualties before? Probably. Decent drive (though he chose to kick) but this time the stall wasn't on. Thought I had done enough to stop him scoring, but didn't think through his options enough. I thought he would go backwards and consolidate, but he went balls to the wall straight through my line and it paid off. Some fortunate dice, but not ridiculous. The armour dice were ridiculous, and there was quite a lot of grumbling on my part about the Welsh dice (though he's Scottish!). Lost 2-1.

Game 5 v Buggrit's Norse
Then the armour dice turned. I received (there's a trend here) and managed to smash his Snow Troll in turn 2. Happy days. Reasonably straightforward, powing regularly through the armour 7, with the only glitch being my beer-fuelled brain switching off and deciding his Impact Valks were Amazons instead of Norse, which led to me not taking 2-dice blocks that I should have as I did not want the push. Oops. Game ended 3-0 to me.

Game 6 v Canteloup's Skaven
The noisiest game of BB I have ever played, as we were downstairs (because of his wheelchair) in a Welsh pub while Wales were beating Ireland in the last 2 minutes of the game. Crazy. The one game where I kicked first, and almost managed to stop him scoring, but Gutter Runners can do anything! However, it just made the big guys cross, and in turn 8 of the second half I had a choice between fouling the last rat off the pitch or scoring. I'm afraid, BB fans, that I took the score. 2-1 win.

Finished 3-0-3. Bit disappointing, but an entertaining weekend all told. Thanks to all my opponents - hope i've been fair!

Now the advice. I've now got the last 6 teams unpainted, and am planning the campaign for them. I am hoping to do Saturday at the ARBBL, which is 1.15M, one skill per round from memory. Then a weekend at Cakebowl, which is a 1.1M skill-fest with 12 normals allowed, or trading in 2 normals for a double up to 6 doubles. No stacking. After that is the ACC in Southampton, a "league in a weekend" tournament (1M?). Not sure after that, that might be it for this year.

I have left: Woodies, Lizards, Skaven, Orcs, High Elves and Slann. Any bright ideas on which race suits which rule set? I'm looking forward to the next few tournaments - Tier 1 a-go-go!

[besters]

ARBBL is 1.15 this year. I did alright there with High Elves a couple of years ago and I think Skaven won it last year.

[sann0638]

ta. Edited.

[Don__Vito]

I'd say Cakebowl was suited down to the ground for Lizardmen. I'd imagine a lot of people will spam nonsense, so expect 6-10 Guard Dwarf teams, 12 man Blodging Amazons, etc... Lizards with a full repetoire of Block would play either fine, especially with a couple of doubles on Skinks, and 1.1m is enough to get a decent sized team.

Anything over 1.1m is good for High Elves, otherwise you start having to sacrifice what makes them good. I'd say ARBBL for them.

Rats and Woodies would be my choice for the ACC, either in progression would do fine as long as you start with an apo and be very selective in it's use!

Slann as a rule need skills from the start to do well. Tourneys that give you one per round (NAF Champs for example) would just end up being frustrating.

Orcs can do well anywhere, limited skills or maxed, 1m up to 1.2m. Keep them as the spare race to bring out when everything else isn't favourable.

Hope that helps, I'll get around to updating my thoughts on my 24 experience sometime if you'd be interested in reading it?

[Darkson]

ARBBL winners:
2008: Chaos Dwarfs
2008 2nd Coming: Necromantic
2009: Khemri
2010: Dark Elf
2011: Skaven

All have been at 1.15mill, but the skills have changed a little (more for the worse tourney teams).

[sann0638]

Well, High Elves turn out to be rubbish at ARBBL Well, rubbish might be a bit much.

High Elves - ARBBL Sannbreathers - ARBBL 2012



Game 1 v Deetee's Necro

Only one skill, had a dodging blitzer but rolled too many 1s for him to be any use, and Deetee capitalised well. Lost 2-0.

Game 2 v warpedmind's Pro Elves

Much nicer game, won 6-0! Not much more to say about this one, really.

Game 3 v nonumber's Dwarves

Much more interesting game, I took a dodging Catcher against a load of Tackle! Broke the line and headed for the endzone, but failed a one dice block with a reroll needing a push for the TD. Then did some ridiculous elven shenanigans to regain the ball and score in turn 6, and followed it up with some absolutely absurd shenanigans (to wit, a 3+, 2+ dodge, GFI, 5+ dodge, GFI and half-dice the ball carrier into touch. Lovely.

Solid drive in the second half from him to score, and the game finished 1-1.

Satisfied with a 1-1-1 from the Saturday, and to finish at more than 150. Love those ranking stats 19 races done!

[sann0638]

Slann - Slann0638 - Cakebowl 2012



Fantastic weekend at Triple Helix Wargames - finished 2nd to Mattwhile's CDs on bonus points, and got most TDs.

Game 1 v Buggrit's Humans - drew 1-1

Always entertaining to play Bert, who managed to avoid losing to me for the first time ever! Came very close to losing this one as well, with it coming down to a 3+ roll at the very end.



Game 2 v Pinback's CDs - won 2-0

Rich is a player from the Cakebowl league whose game is rapidly improving, and this was hard work! Received and did the predictable 2 turn score, or would have done if I hadn't rolled snake eyes. There then followed a melee in his half, after which I managed to retrieve the ball, and then turned him over in the second half. Good game!



Game 3 v Glowworm's Gobbos - won 5-0

Bit of a nasty one this, scoring quickly and then turning him during his drive - the wrestling catcher was in his element with a S2 ball carrier. This meant that the secret weapons were pretty quickly off the pitch, closely followed by their standard team-mates as I rolled 8 after 8 for armour!



Game 4 v IrishDave's Pro Elves - won 3-1

With 4 leaping catchers, Dave's elves were acting as wannabe slann, but they reckoned without my lovely dice. Didn't do anything ridiculous, but all my 2+ rolls and 2 dice blocks worked, and my first turnover came in T16.

Game 5 v Mattwhile's CDs - drew 1-1

A de facto final, whoever won this was likely to win the tournament, so the draw kept things exciting! He received and at turn 5 I started to think I'd slowed him down enough to win, but he got there in turn 8. In half 2 a snake eyes got me again, but it wasn't disastrous so I scored in turn 3. This time I just about did enough to keep him out, which was massively helped by having lots of frogs in the second half.

Game 6 v vmcat's Undead - won 3-2

This time I score in 2 turns, and then did an amazing kick into the corner. Val failed the pickup and the ball scattered nicely into my catcher's path, so I was 2-0 up in 4 turns. Should have just got in his way to stop him scoring at this point, but kept going for the turnover so he made it 2-1 at the half. Some rigorous defence wasn't enough to stop it going 2-2, and then I had to do an unprotected short pass and GFI for the win. Not enough casualties to win the tournament though!

In summary:
My armour was amazing this weekend - everyone is amazed that they are majority AV8, but even then I should have suffered a lot more cas than I did. Still, it's a dice game...
Very pleased with my skill choices - leader, kick, 3x block on the linemen, wrestle and guard blitzers, 1x wrestle and 3x dodge catchers.

Tier 1 here on in!

[sann0638]

I've been slacking on this, and the clamour for more has been conspicuous by its absence

Wood Elves - Timberline Express - Crumb-bowl 2012

Made up for only playing goblins in a one-dayer (so far) by taking the ultimate power-team to a one-dayer as well, some sort of balance there. Here's a wardancer - I've heard there are other players on the team, but they're mostly incidental.



Game 1 was v Warpwhisperer's High Elves, and he beat me last time we played in the local league, so was a bit concerned. Turned out okay with a 5-1 win though, nice first ever game with tabletop woodies!

Feeling confident, I ran into Besters with his Pro Elves, and this was a bit of a classic where the dice changed their favour at about half time, when he smashed my line of scrimmage and though I kept managing to do pretty lucky things, the result would always be snatched away (eg stripping the ball carrier, ball bounces to his NOS catcher). Them's the breaks. Lost 2-1.

At mid-table, I then got a favourable draw against Frank (Giraffe, Mr Thrud) with his halflings and Morg. Woodies v flings does run the risk of becoming a non-game due to the power imbalance, but it was played in a good spirit (and very quick!) and Morg managed to dodge away for a TD (ag3 ogre power!). Won 3-1.

So 9 TDs for the day, but not even in top 3 for most TDs after some power scoring by Hawk and others on a really good day. Will return to the woodies, not least because they are my league team for the next few months, but mostly because I'm a powergamer at heart.

Next up, skaven in Southampton, after a tied poll on here and a runaway result on fumbbl. 4 days to get them painted, should get on with it really.

[sann0638]

Skaven - Albion Coast Cup 2012 - Rat-a-tat-tat



Apart from the disappointing team name, this was a thoroughly enjoyable progression tournament, and not only because I was leading for most of it! Managed not to score any casualties until game 6, despite having a rat ogre and 2 blitzers for most of the tournament, and playing a goodly amount of elves and amazons.

Game 1 v Hawk's Woodies (won 2-1)

This game was a bit of a shambles for both players, lots of 1s and double both downs for both players on rookie teams making for turnover heaven, culminating in him tripping over the line with an unprotected GFI to make the draw. Always good fun playing Andy, and I think he was most disappointed that I was now beating him in the race for most TDs

Game 2 v Boldur's Amazons (won 4-1)

Boldur's first tournament, and he won his first v halflings, so quite a lucky draw for round 2 (it was on points, then randomised, so I could have got anyone who won their first). Quite a few turnovers from missed passes and fouls, so a nice win and lots of SPPs for the rats.

Game 3 v Venomous Breath's Undead (won 2-1)

My luck really started to kick in here, as Simon couldn't get the rats off the field, meaning I started the 2nd half with 11. I received and scored in two, but then he was very friendly and left the ball carrier completely open to be swarmed by gutter runners. An almighty scrum started in his half ended up with me being 2-0 up at the half. His players got cross about turn 14, and ended up with 4 cas, but too little too late.

Game 4 v Excitable Rob's Undead (won 3-1)

Top of the table clash against the slowest player in blood bowl. Again my armour held, and a solid drive by Rob in the first half came to an end came to an end when the wrestle strip GR managed a 1 dice against the ball carrier. Then the GR did their thing, and I was 1-0 up at the half. We made it to turn 12 before it was time for lunch, only pausing for him to kill my rat ogre. Apo fails.

Game 5 v Ceetee's Pro Elves (lost 2-0)

All good things come to an end, and my dice chose this moment. He scored in 2, and I tried to do the same with a hand-off quick pass chain, but a double both down at the beginning of the turn meant that it was unprotected, so I only took the hand-off, thinking that my blodge runner would be safe in a fairly solid cage. Sadly not - POW - bounce to the ball carrier! OK, because he's next to the star runner. Ball goes loose, bounces to a blitzer in 3TZ, catches on 6 . Ball progresses up the field slowly for elves, with the star continually getting the ball loose and it continuing to go to his players. Many sad times. Second half, and my drive comes unstuck again (can't remember how exactly, but it involved a POW), and despite having opportunities like a protected 3+, 2+ for the score, nothing works. Time to pick myself up and hope that Ceetee loses his next...

Game 6 v Driesfield's Undead (drew 1-1)

Didn't manage to get my head back in the game, as despite having 160k inducements I took Fezglitch instead of a wizard. Stupid, especially as it messed up my positioning for the set up leaving my wrestle strip exposed and thus KO'd in turn 1. Rubbish. Almost a perfect drive, but again I had too many rats and my blodge sidestep GR managed to get in the way enough to stop the score. I scored, and then my hopes were raised when he failed the pickup within sniping distance. Ball duly collected, feeling very happy, but the POW came (in 6-dice though, so no real complaints, should have protected better). Still no probs, lots of GR in the area, but it wasn't to be. Too many POWs. Came down to turn 8, I blitzed his ghoul needing a push to make a very difficult score. Got a both down, so he needed protected dodge and 2 GFI. Duly made, leaving me in 4th place.

Loved the progression, having stars by the end was ace. Very well run, with Robin being the perfect host and Peter being excellently efficient with the scoring. Will hope to be back, probably with a team that wasn't taken this time - lots of gaps like orcs and lizardmen. Now, which teams do I have left? Oh yes, those two...

[Darkson]

Good going Sann.
Only got 3 to go myself, but in theory, that's going to take me till Spiky next year.

Wish I'd never said that! With no Spiky I'm finished on 23 (just Vamps to go).

Might be a couple more, but according to DS's (new) site still only 16 have managed the "24".
http://naf.talkfantasyfootball.org/prolific.html

[sann0638]

Interesting list, though not sure how often it is updated, as I should be on 22 now!

[Darkson]

I think he does it 6 monthly.

[sann0638]

Took orcs to welsh open, leaving just the lizardmen on the Saturday of ARBBL. Terrible tournament for them with very few up front skills, but got to look at the bigger picture!

Now looking at future goals, get all the non-stunty teams above 150. Or win a stunty cup.

[Darkson]

Just vamps for me, which will be ARBBL, if I play.

[sann0638]

Just vamps for me, which will be ARBBL, if I play.

Cool. We should get t-shirts!