Introducing Rolo's Teams

Every team has a story. If you want to tell the BB world yours, then this is the place to do it.

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rolo
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Introducing Rolo's Teams

Post by rolo »

This isn't really a blog about any specific team, just for me to write up a little blurb about some of the teams I play.

I expect that this will interest nobody but me, which is fine. If you have a comment, go ahead and tell me. But if you want to introduce your teams, make your own thread ;)

Reason: ''
"It's 2+ and I have a reroll. Chill out. I've got this!"
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Re: Introducing Rolo's Teams

Post by rolo »

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The Ungrateful Undead are by far my most-played team, and (by now) one of the most iconic teams of the Munich RumBBL league. Although note that the long playing history does not seem to translate to much actual success on the field.

With 47 games played, the Ungrateful Undead are second only to the Horny Gors chaos team (59) in the RumBBL. Although they are also 6th all-time for Wins, this masks the fact that their win percentage is decidedly middle of the pack (17 wins, 12 ties, 18 losses). Known for hard but fair play*, a clock-dominating ground game**, and above all hard, uncompromising defense***, the Ungrateful Undead will continue to make their mark on the RumBBL!

* - "Fair play" being highly questionable. Most of the players are thousands of years old, and started playing in the original Nehekaran league, back in the good old days when referees didn't interrupt play by worrying about trifles like whether a player was standing or not when getting blocked.
** - Not that they can't wing it out for a lightning-fast 4 or so turn passing score when needed! Although a forward pass was considered a penalty in ancient Nehekara, our Thro-Ras have mostly adjusted to this newfangled passing game and have combined for 8 completions.
*** - The defense is actually terrible; although on average the team concedes under one TD per match, this is mostly due to the fact that our ball-possession offense often limits opponents to one offensive drive per game.

Strengths:
Hard, honest Blood Bowl! The Ungrateful Undead rank first all-time in casualties dealt and it's not particularly close.

Weaknesses:
Tomb Guardians die all the damn time. Just look at those numbers next to the players. Sure, decay sucks. But you'd think with ST5, AV9, and Regeneration, they'd be mostly solid. You'd think wrong.
Also, having rolled 11 skills on various Tomb Guardians, not one was a double. And they always seem to die on one-die or two-dice-against blocks that have a both down result.

Iconic Player:
Vanilla Isis. He's not the fastest player, or the best, and he doesn't have the most Star Player Points.
But since being hired for game 2 (and then promptly getting injured and awarded MVP), he has been nothing but clutch. As team Captain, he plays fearlessly on both Offense and Defense. Rumors that the coach has been trying to get him killed for over a year, because he's TV bloat but I don't have the heart to fire him, are of course totally false.

Did you know?
Ungrateful Undead players are actually immortal. Player's souls are kept in a baseline state in canopic jars, and if their body is placed in a magic sarcophagus in their home stadium with some expensive parts and reagents, they can be cured of any injury. An unfortunate side effect of this process also wipes their memories of any recent experiences (and skills), but surely the Coach is mature enough to not abuse this for shenanigans at the annual holiday party.

Reason: ''
"It's 2+ and I have a reroll. Chill out. I've got this!"
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Re: Introducing Rolo's Teams

Post by rolo »

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Apologies to our Scottish readers. (I think this team is funny and good-natured, but if anyone finds it offensive, message me and I'll take this down).

The Halflings. I don't even have figures for these guys yet (they'll eventually be Impact's Scotlings when I finally get around to ordering them. So how do they already have two games under their belts? Play By Email!
(Don't get too excited about that one win or the .500 record. The win was against a Goblin team with no luck).

Strengths:
Halfling players can eat their weight in french fries in six hours.

Weaknesses:
Any non-french-fry related tasks, such as ball handling, blocking, tackling.

Iconic Player:
The most effective player so far has been Willow Rosebark. But #3 Otto McAnnic scored a touchdown once!

Did you know?
A Halfling Master Chef can actually steal four rerolls if he stews up a pot of baked beans. But Coach has to ride in the same bus with the rest of the team on the way back, so that's off the menu.

Reason: ''
"It's 2+ and I have a reroll. Chill out. I've got this!"
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Re: Introducing Rolo's Teams

Post by rolo »

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Rookie League season 2 runners-up. This team has a lot of potential. At the end of every Rookie League season, all of the (no longer) rookie teams play in our Open League (meaning they play whoever they like, whenever they want). These guys might get promoted to the Premier league at some point (where the Ungrateful Undead currently play), but they need a few more games to really build up.

El Dorado really dominated Season 2, with the most wins, best defense (per game), a respectable offense (1.33 TDs per game) before choking in the finals 0-1. We'll see how they do in the Open League.

Strengths:
Like all Lizardman teams, the front line is terrifyingly intimidating. Most of the Saurii have Block now, the remaining two have an MVP each, it's only a matter of time. Once they get a few Guards and some MB, they'll be able to stand up to anybody.

Weaknesses:
The Saurii are great as long as the AV9 holds up; if that fails, it gets ugly fast.

Iconic Player:
Niniaga the Swift, AG4 Skink. AG4 is kind of broken on Stunties and once he has the ball, basically the only way to stop him is to hope I roll snake eyes.

Did you know?
Even after losing in the finals to another Lizardman team, El Dorado Tyrants have still won more games (8) than any other Lizardman team in the league (The Itza Iguanas, who won that game, are in second with 6).

Reason: ''
"It's 2+ and I have a reroll. Chill out. I've got this!"
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Re: Introducing Rolo's Teams

Post by rolo »

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The Burning Eye were my first team in the Munich RumBBL. They are not my most successful team. They are best known for ripping off long and painful losing streaks, choking away leads, and failing important die rolls at the worst possible time. While most Chaos teams are known for their terrifying bloodlust and blood-soaked violence, the tragedy of the Burning Eye is that they're actually trying to win games. This makes them worse at the blocking game without actually improving anything about the W/L ratio.

Strengths:
Ragnaark the Minotaur is actually pretty good at rolling 4+ on his Wild Animal roll to perform move actions (usually standing up after being blocked by an opponent's star player). Blitzing, on the other hand, is a crapshoot on the 2+ roll. I assume he's bad at Blocking as well, but I can't recall him ever actually getting to block.

Weaknesses:
Freakin' elves. Doesn't matter what kind. The Burning Eye has 0 wins, 1 tie, and 4 losses against Elves. (4-5-3 against everyone else). And not just the kind of losses you expect against Elves, where you beat them up for a while but a turnover lets them recover the ball or something. The Burning Eye regularly get beat up by elves too. The worst game was a 0:4 embarrassment against Wood Elves ... with 1:4 casualties. That's the kind of game that makes you want to quit Blood Bowl.
Secondary weaknesses include go-for-its for a touchdown, dodges for a touchdown, blitzes and blocks which are needed for a touchdown, and picking up the ball.
And I should also mention Wardancers. Everything they do just seems to work perfectly against this team.

Iconic Player:
Beastman #10 Juktor (RIP). It tells you basically all you need to know about this team that a player who's been dead for three years is mentioned here.
Juktor scored the team's first two touchdowns, gaining a level in game 2. He rolled +Movement, and his career seemed promising. Chaos really can develop some solid ball carriers, and +MA is a great start. He quickly got to 13 SPP ... and ... stopped scoring touchdowns. He'd fail to pick up the ball and see it bounce to another player. Or get crushed by a wardancer and miss the rest of a game. Or fail that all-important go for it to score. This nonsense continued until week 9 (with The Burning Eye winning just one of those). Then, he finally scored against the Black Chasm Plaguebearers. Would he take Block? Sure Hands? Extra Arms? Two Heads? Doubles for Dodge? Perhaps Agility, or even more Movement?
We'll never know, because a few turns later, he was killed by one of the Plaguebearers' Stormvermin. Apothecary offered Death instead.

Did you know?
In spite of massive evidence to the contrary, Coach Rolo seems to think that this is a pretty solid team with lots of potential, but which always seems to get screwed by the dice. The alternative is admitting that he just isn't very good at coaching Chaos.

Reason: ''
"It's 2+ and I have a reroll. Chill out. I've got this!"
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Re: Introducing Rolo's Teams

Post by rolo »

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The Ice Dragons are probably my most long-term successful team. They took the league by storm as soon as they were established, winning or tying their first seven games, before losing 2-3 to the premier-bound SpVgg Dead Can Dance. (It wasn't actually that close, but DCD is pretty good). They've had some highs and lows since then, including a 1-3 thrashing by Imperium Romanum (Vampires) which we simply do not talk about.

Strengths:
Lucking their way into undeserved wins or ties in games that I think are lost by halftime. It just seems that whenever they need a break (and I'm talking stuff like, "Ok I can get a 1d block here, but it needs to be a knockdown" or "Ball carrier is just going to have to take a hit here, nothing I can do about it" or "Either that ball pickup or the handoff has to fail, then I can grab it and score" or "Here goes nothing, 5+ dodge into the cage for the 1 die on your ball carrier" or whatever) ... it seems that it works more often than not. And stuff like that is just what makes Blood Bowl worth playing!

Weaknesses:
Unskilled 1d blocks on skilled Witch Elves. I already know it's going to be a pow and an armor break. Just roll to see if she's dead or just MNG.
Also, vampires. No more to say on that subject really.

Iconic Player:
So many to choose from! Runner #15 Augrín leads the team in touchdowns (6), completions (9), and Star Player Points (38). But Witch Elf #12 Karákia de Sæis has impressed scouts and her teammates. A young recruit fresh out of the minors, she was barely 190 years old when she was hastily signed to a rookie contract to replace the recently deceased Ardhílÿa. In only five games played, she has already scored twice, injured four opponents, and received an MVP award. She has learned Wrestle and Tackle, and is expected to have a glorious career (until some Hobgoblin or something decides to take a 1d block on her for no good reason at all)

Did you know?
The Naggaroth Tax Code allows team owners to write off Spiraling Expenses as a business cost.

Reason: ''
"It's 2+ and I have a reroll. Chill out. I've got this!"
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Re: Introducing Rolo's Teams

Post by rolo »

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What's this? Vinland hasn't even played any games yet!
These girls are my newest team, an Amazon team for the Rookie league season 3. They are looking at 8 games, starting next week with the season opener against an as-yet nameless Necromantic team.
(Dwarves are week 2, Chaos Dwarves week 7. :puke: It's going to be an adventurous season).

Strengths:
Having dodge on every player should offset their low armor value somewhat. Oh, who am I kidding. But at least they're inexpensive to replace.

Weaknesses:
Tackle! So of course a quarter of their schedule is Dwarves of some flavor or other.

Iconic Player:
None yet! But I'll update this as they develop.

Did you know?
Since passing Title IX sports regulations, Vinland has made some progress in fielding male Blood Bowl teams (including backing a "Male Humans" team on kickstarter). These gentlemen are of course not up to the level of real pros, but they play enthusiastically, bless their hearts, and the Vinland Blood Bowl League is trying to drum up interest in a Men's World Cup.

Reason: ''
"It's 2+ and I have a reroll. Chill out. I've got this!"
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Re: Introducing Rolo's Teams

Post by rolo »

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The Corsairs (Pro Elves) were my season 1 Rookie League team. They won with finesse (4-0 to open the season against the Dark Elves, 3-0 in week 4 against the Slann), they won ugly (a 1-0 migraine of a game against Chaos Dwarves in which that one TD was the only SPP earned by either team), sometimes they lost (including a soul-crushing 1-2 loss vs the Humans, in which both human TDs were a direct consequence of awful turnovers, the one-turner attempt to tie the game on turn 16 failed on the last dodge, and the Corsairs suffered three deaths (the first on turn 1, which the Apothecary uselessly offered to change to a death).
In the end, they entered the last week of the season needing a win (vs an absolutely murderous Daemons of Khorne team which had already clinched top seed) and couldn't pull off more than a 1-1 tie. (Even that was the result of some fantastic "Elf Nonsense").

After the end of Rookie Season 1, the Corsairs cut bait (like a ST4, AG3 lineman and another rookie lineman with a niggling injury) and started looking for opponents in the Open League.

Strengths:
Finesse stuff. The Corsairs' hurry-up offense is among the best in the league, and even on defense the Corsairs have the talent to play both an aggressive take-away style or a more conservative standing-in-the-way game.

Weaknesses:
Sadly, not every team wants to challenge the Corsairs to a shootout. (And wouldn't Blood Bowl be so much better if they did??). Opponents often try to bump our receivers on the line, and while I don't want to name-and-shame, I suspect some of our opponents have even attempted to deliberately injure our players! I suppose you can't expect uncouth humans or dwarves to respect the finer points of the game.

Iconic Player:
Blitzer #24 Lingwë "The Law" (7/4/4/8, Block/Sidestep/Dodge) is a one-elf force of nature on defense, frequently sacking opposing ball carriers and forcing offenses to double or triple team him, leading to mismatches elsewhere.

Did you know?
The first Rock Island player to earn Star Player Points was catcher #87 El Grande, who scored twice in the first half of game 1 vs the Dark Elves, then was killed in the second half by a completely gratuitous 1d block.

Reason: ''
"It's 2+ and I have a reroll. Chill out. I've got this!"
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Re: Introducing Rolo's Teams

Post by Axtklinge »

Love the banners.
Oh, and nice touch on the - Did you know's -.

Cheers,
A.

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