Discuss Fantasy football-style board games - GW's Blood Bowl, Impact!'s Elfball, Privateer Press' Grind, Heresy's Deathball, etc. THIS IS NOT AN NFL FANTASY FOOTBALL SITE!
I just got back from Worcester where I had a fantastic day with 15 other coaches for the second Spike tournament, run by Andy at Worcester War Games. Although the venue today was round the corner at St. Swithen’s Church Hall, a lovely light airy venue with a proper kitchen, and new toilets, where I have wasted many of my past Sundays playing 40k tournaments. The rules pack was a simple affair: 1m gp, no stars or inducements. All the usual League SPP’s accumulated. An unusual Casualty Roll table and bizarre use for Apoths (the latter of which no one seemed to adhere to)
I took 1 Thrower, 1 Catcher, 4 Blitzers, 6 Linewoemen, apoth and 3 RR
My first match was against Hyatt and his Nurgle hoard. He had 4 of the ST4 guys, one of the fast guys and a big rotter guy. My opponent was a little nervous. We’ve played a couple of times before I believe, with 2 wins to me and a draw. I think.
I won the toss in all three matches and elected to receive each time.
Match 1: vs Andrew Hyatt, Nurgle.
Against the Pox bringers I tried to not worry about tentacles, to make sure I always marked the big guys with 2 nuns, to keep my eye on their general position on the pitch looking for areas to scamper to where they couldn’t reach, but most of all to pick on the Linemen and Pestigor and chip away at numbers. In the first quarter I managed to Cas a Lineman and KO another and the Pestigor, who both stayed on the side lines for the second and third quarters, which was a massive advantage to me. The bloaters were a bit scared of hitting my Blitzers as they had no Block so I did my best to keep the 1D block pressure on. I didn’t panic in the first quarter, by trying to advance too far up the pitch. I switched direction, tied up the bloaters and did a great job of screening off my ball carrier as she stomped up the pitch and stalled out for a 1-0 half time score line. It did take a bit of cunning to get enough pressure on the depleted team to cough up the ball but I managed it, while my opponent missed a golden crowd surfing opportunity. Final score: 2-0, 1-0 on Cas.
That put me on the top table a little sooner than I would have liked. Cornish, with Skaven, got a win in Round 1 too, gearing up to defend his title… or was it Maverick who won Spike last time? Shaun had his Lizards out for the day and despite scoring 3 TD’s and 4 cas, lost to some sort of Elf team, against a guy I never seen before and who I didn’t get to meet.
Match 2: Vs Chris Whitefoot’s Orcs.
A deep kick and me desperate to get a hit or two on the orcs without any passing or handing off on the first turn left Chris with an easy task of shoe horning a couple of BOB’s and Blitzers between Ball carrier and the nuns who were hoping to make a cage around her. I Lost one nun per turn for the first three turns. Then started getting desperate and trying crazy, Dodging , 1D blocking antics. For a couple of turns they worked even though I was still going backwards and couldn’t ever create any space to move into. It was a replay of my SBBL match against Plum. Then the dice turned on me. Faced with the option of Uphill Blocks or re roll doges I went for the latter. Six of them failed between Tuns 5 and 12. At the start of the second half I had 6 KO rolls to make, bringing 2 of them back on. To my credit I played the under dog like an absolute daemon. If I could have played the first half like that I would have got a win! I suddenly could see where all his weakest points were and how to make a right pain of myself. I spent so long road-blocking the orc BOBs protecting the ball carrier that we both realised he was going to have to get a blitzer cage on the move and head for the line before running out of time. I had also managed to snipe out his lineman and was always (a couple of times) picking on the blitzer corner of the cage and getting a nun in the TZ of the carrier. I was giving him right headaches and strife, but the numbers advantage kept growing and eventually he made it over the line for a 0-2 victory that wasn’t quite undeserved but didn’t convey the fortitude with which the teams battled.
Chris W was the only coach with 2 wins going into round 3. He was up against a guy with a beautifully painted chaos team, who obvs was good with it to get a win and a draw with a naked chaos 1m gp!
Match 3: vs Shaun King’s Lizardmen
Shaun is an excellent coach, he’s been in the hobby for years but family life and running his own barber’s shop means he’s not “on the NAF circuit.” As mentioned before, Ive played him a hand full of times. He is always the consummate gentleman, he gave me loads of advice when I was starting out, he is always patient and good natured. Oh, and he always beats me. Soundly.
We both sat down with a win and a loss behind us. I was incredibly relaxed about the match ahead. I was preparing for a loss but had a great coach to play, I was here for the social let’s have a chat and some banter…. Oh, except Andy uses chess clocks at his tournaments (Because I used to always be the last to finish) so there was a little bit of background panic. But I also knew that a few failed dodges and my average turn time would drop dramatically!
We were using SPP’s and skill ups so I had a blitzer with Guard and a line woman with wrestle. Shaun had two Sauri with Block.
My girls travelled in pairs, like they were off to the loo! (unless there was a skink within range, then it got blitzed) this made a great difference to my play. Well, to my opponents play. Even ST4 players do not want to take a 1D block against a player with Block.) Shaun also showed me a lesson in patience by not making 1D Blocks in his first turn. I remembered that you don’t HAVE to action every player. Sometimes sitting and waiting will cause more of a headache than anything else. Again and again I say you make your own luck in BB. But honestly, shaun suffered at the hands of the dice. I rolled a blitz, the last drive started with the one where you roll a D6 for everyone on the pitch – I lost two players, Shaun had one saurus and three skinks standing and a shallow ball to protect. He, and Hyatt, found it almost impossible to break the AV7 and when they did a stun was more often the result than anything else. Both times it felt like a fluke, but It was obviously the result of some subconscious positioning, that twice I managed to sack his ball carrying skink with my wrestler. Obvs it was the luck of the dice that both times I rolled a Both Down! At Turn 14 Shaun announced: well that’s it, you’ve beaten me. And the enormity of the occasion hit me. But I didn’t feel like a nasty bully or a devious sneak, it was more like when you beat your older brother in a arm wrestle. (I guess, as I am a “lonely child!”)
When I was 8 or 9 and people just started to tease (/ bully) me about my name I fell out with my mum about giving me such a ridiculous moniker. She said all the other boys in the ward were being called Christopher and the girls were being called Carol (guess what time of year it was!?) I spent about 3 months of my life really wanting to be called Christopher, I promised that when I was 18 I would change my name. How this desire ended is another story for another time. If I had changed my name then three of the top four today would have been called Chris, and Maverick would have been the trend bucker.
As andy don’t do a Glowworm award I went home with nothing for my efforts, Bron got the exquisitely painted Marshia Spoon (I already have two of those) I also feel like I took some valuable lessons home with me about Zons… but I’m not sure I know what they are yet. Possibly that zons are great at amplifying the luck of your opponent? Defo that they should go everywhere in pairs, and Probably also, as Liam Johnson says: In Dodge We Trust.
You’ll be pleased to know I’m away for a few days now so you probs wont get a ton load more words from me for a week or more now, when I’ve got my match with Luke….
Wow Bym, you have been busy! Good to hear you're getting to grips with the Blue Nuns. I played Amazons a bit many years ago. Main thing I remember is that Dodge is both the great strength of Amazons and their curse. Failed dodge re-rolled to failed dodge is the curse. Hopefully that doesn't happen too early in a turn too many times in the season! Amazons need to bash where they can. For example, a 2 dice block when you don't have the block skill (1 in 9 chance of failure) is typically better than a dodge away (1 in 9 chance of failure) unless you really need the player in a different position i.e the block gives you the chance to hurt your opponent whereas the dodge can't hurt your opponent but can lead to your own player getting hurt. And that, I'm afraid, is about the sum total of my knowledge about Amazon play. Best of luck with the Blue Nuns.
Plum, thank you so much for your comments. I've only just seen them as life has been getting in the way and I've been using my limited hoby time for painting during a hiatus from SBBL.
I was back in the thick of it with Match 2 of Season 7 a couple of evenings ago, and tonight Match 3 against the Mighty Speedingbulet himself...
I've nearly finished the write up for the Drunken Dross match. However, time is pushing in on me and I can feel my reports growing more brief. The inevitable bloggers shrinkage!?! (probs not a bad thing, unless I'm omitting useful knowege / data for all you sports girl wannabes.)
speedingbullet wrote:Wow Bym, you have been busy! Good to hear you're getting to grips with the Blue Nuns. I played Amazons a bit many years ago. Main thing I remember is that Dodge is both the great strength of Amazons and their curse. Failed dodge re-rolled to failed dodge is the curse. Hopefully that doesn't happen too early in a turn too many times in the season! Amazons need to bash where they can. For example, a 2 dice block when you don't have the block skill (1 in 9 chance of failure) is typically better than a dodge away (1 in 9 chance of failure) unless you really need the player in a different position i.e the block gives you the chance to hurt your opponent whereas the dodge can't hurt your opponent but can lead to your own player getting hurt. And that, I'm afraid, is about the sum total of my knowledge about Amazon play. Best of luck with the Blue Nuns.
Thanks SB!
I'll take that advise into my next match!!!
Against YOU!!!!
Eventually The Nuns got their chance to “convert” some poor lost souls, who’s rank included the lowest of the low. Little Fud, who often didn’t know why he was there or what was his purpose, but who, previously, could always turn to violence as his guiding light was shown the true light. It shone on the path of abstinence which we know leads to salvation.
The Drunken Dross are the only returning team of my conference in SBBL VII. And potentially the most bashy) The same team my Norse battled hard to earn their place in the SBBL VI Play offs. So beefed up are these veterans that the organisers gave The Nuns some cash to spend on levelling the playing field. With the Humans on a TV of 1,470,000 I had a round 400,000 to play with. So out came Karla von Kill and Willow Rosebark, leaving 10k change after a temp cheer leader was put on the side lines.
I won the fans, the weather was very sunny (-1 to all passes, so The Girls suddenly didn’t feel like even a bit of ball handling for the SSP,) Luke won The Toss and elected to receive so that he could concentrate on duffing up a few girls and get the advantage. Unfortunately, with his very first action of the match, Fud, the Ogre, Bone-Headed. Some girls got pushed around on the Line of Scrimmage. The ball did get picked up and quickly hustled into a tight cage, out of harm’s way.
I took the chance to test play a couple of defensive drives with Karla and Willow in an attempt to get used to them, discover some of their strengths and weaknesses. Boyo-boy am I glad I did. It’s very comforting to have two ST4 players on an Amazon team, but I also was very conscious that every player for the Humans had Block. I wanted to activate Willow and point her at those pesky linemen as my first action but at the last second I refrained and did some jigging around, sent Karla for a Blitz, started setting up a road block ahead of the cage and threatening to pressure one side of it. THEN I rolled for Willow’s first block: Skull and Both Down. She managed to roll three of these during the match so I was very relieved at her tough armour and thick skull.
The First quarter of the match definitely belonged to me. Karla got a Cas. Mother Brühwurst passed every dauntless roll and with her second one floored the Ogre and then KO’d him. I was very pleasantly shocked. Later I managed to clear three humans from the pitch in one turn, the dice were on fire for me! The Dross, however, were struggling to get a Pow, or even a Both Down, unless it was a Donk, against a Blitzer.
Karla just slotted in like one of the girls! She was dodging from one player to go and blitz another and then give an assist for another. She was the spearhead of every push and got 3 Cas overall. With Fud on the bench for most of the first half Karla became the most deadly player on the pitch and had free reign (rein?) to pick on whoever needed a good slap.
In that first half the Guard twins were adept at positioning to maximise their skills; always looking for where they could inflict their sphere of influence upon at least two opponents, preferably ones who were waiting to be blocked by a team mate. As human numbers thinned pressure increased on the cage and the ball within until eventually, in T7, a desperate human made a solo dash for the line, ball under his arm, ears pinned back. Two problems with that: 1, he was all alone. 2, he didn’t have the legs to make it to the end zone unless he got pushed in the right direction! It did, however, induce the first of my two positional errors (howlers!) with two turns left, to Luke’s one, I figured I may actually be able to go for a score, or at least look like I intended to. I chose this option over grabbing the ball (or ignoring it) and continuing with the Cas Hunt. It meant that my players were strung out along the pitch. My catcher was nobbled by a Drunken Blitzer, the ball carrier was tagged and possibly even a couple of other smack downs were conceded. So I ended up neither scoring nor utilizing the numbers advantage on the pitch. Still it was 0-0, my drive and I still had 11 players to put out. Luke, on the other hand, did not get his ogre off the stretcher, and started his kicking drive with, I think, 9 players. Maybe 10?
My recall for details of the second half is somewhat sketchy but in a nut shell it went a bit like this:
I received, after a rock cas’d a Human Lineman. I caged. I trogged up the board, von Killing as I went. I stalled for a turn or two. The Girls were experiencing a bit of a drought on armour breaks, The Dross used up all their re-rolls, there were only a few Drunkards on the pitch, plenty in the KO box and many in the Cas box, so I decided to score and see If It couldn’t rob the ball back and score again in the remaining time, confident that I could at least stop The Dross from scoring in 3 turns.
Fud Came back on, so did someone else. Swelling human numbers, but nothing to get unsettled about. The second High Kick for Luke. Then came my second positional howler. I sent one Blitzer wide to tag a Drunken Blitzer who was lurking in the wings. I sent A gang of girls to put Fud back in his crib and the rest of the team were involved in a fracas that was developing on the other side of the LoS. Then out of the deep the Human Thrower passed to someone, who handed off to his Blitzer buddy and the two of them stood unhindered in the middle of my half with no one near them. Very suddenly I abandoned the plan to bring Fud to his knees at the Alter! I did some re jigging and some dodging away to get as much support as I could around the offending attackers, both within scoring distance this time. However, In a sudden fear of rolling dice, (and lapse of concentration,) I put four players around the ball carrier in a cross formation, rather than GFI to build a wall between him and the End Zone. I passed at least 4 dodge rolls to get numbers back, which was a great relief until I saw that the formation was rubbish. If I did get a block on him it was a push, anyway; All he had to do was a 4+ dodge, a 3+ dodge and he would have equalised. Furthermore, If he had brought the thrower, who handed off the ball last turn, into tag one of my defenders with 2 GFI, and strolled one of the line men I dodged away from up in support he would have got a 2D block on my Girl on the right of “the cross” which would have pushed his ball carrier into a square that he just needed to 3+ out of.
At this tense moment, While Luke was having a brain fart, I decided I had been gentlemanly enough in the match I didn’t need to point out this option until after the play was made. Poor Luke did have other issues on his mind: His very pregnant partner had locked herself out of their flat, some 35 miles away for starters! After a couple of: “What if he goes here, he goes here and he goes here? No wait… He goes HERE, he goes here and… No…” The Ball carrier ended up in a position, Following a 1D block that he now had to make a 4+, 3+, 3+ to dodge out and score… he didn’t make it I am VERY relieved to say….
W1 D0 L1: 4th in the Auld World Conference
Sister Cambazola, the thrower with Sure Hands scored; not risking a pass in sunny weather.
Sister Chablis, the catcher with Tackle, 1Cas and 1 MVP, got her second MVP so gaining her second skill: A Choice made tough only by the fact that I gave her tackle to start with. I should have given it to a Lino and left the Agility skills for Chablis. I won enough gate money to buy another catcher, so she can become the all singing all dodging Sister Act, while Chablis continues to be safety / ball hunter. As this result puts me in conference 4th place I will be against another (The other?) returning team in the cross-conference Week 3 match; Speedingbullet with his Elven Union. With that in mind I may hold out my purchase of a second catcher until funds reach goblin eye level. This in an attempt to keep my inducements high and helpful. The star players have defo been the best thing about this team so far! I will also have a slightly injured (-1AG) Lino returning for this match and at this early stage of the league I don’t want to sack her for a catcher and then be tight on funds following week 4, when I will face The Auld World Orc team, Orcward. It could turn out that I need to buy some players after that one.
Karla Was invaluable, I love her stats as much as my model for her.
Willow WAS useful but only at tying up oppo players. I actually used my Appo to bring her back at one point. I’m glad I lived to not regret that, but only because Luke couldn’t get any other Cas. If he did I would have really been fuming with myself. A couple of times her Side Step made a big difference, but only once did I use it to its full potential; blocking an oppo route and shifting the assist to the next player to activate and block. Once I got it wrong and chose to move her right out of the way of Luke’s big move.
As Plum pointed out before, Dauntless can be very useful. It also has the potential to be fickle, but in this match was such a help. The ogre off the pitch made such a difference to the human team.
The guard twins, Mothers Knip and Pinkle, were worth their weight in gold.
Stand firm was just annoying to the oppo. That’s enough.
theBymster wrote:Willow WAS useful but only at tying up oppo players. I actually used my Appo to bring her back at one point.
Can't use an apothecary on a Star Player, dude.
Loving these write-ups though, I'm a big match report fan and will keep an eye out for the next one!
Jip!
thanks for exposing the error of my ways. we shall pray. the nuns and I shall take penance. I will ask the commish and my oppo (who told me it was possible) for forgiveness.
I DID think it was too god to be true!
THe Nun's third SBBL VII match was last night. there are some results to tell you about and a new love in my life... But I gott go to work today and 2moz and its super saturday and life and stuff.... Like the nun in the cucumber field, It WILL come!
I’m In Love….
Of all the dressing rooms in all the world she walked into mine. MV8, AG5, she had a body to die for and the stats to match: no one without Dodge would be admitted to our grounds, but she had Frenzy too and Juggernaut to back it up, she was vicious and quick, AND agile too; Jump Up and Leap rounding off the whole package. Sure she was a Loner, but I could see she was misunderstood. She lived in the shadows, I could see that she could strike quick and deadly and still have the legs to make it back into cover.
She said I could call her Roxanna, and I said She could call me any time. I knew she would bleed me and my funds dry and leave without a backwards glance, but I knew it was worth it; A coach like me don’t get to see a deadly grace like that too often. Like a solar eclipse; once in a life time, something special, something disturbing, something fleeting that you know will change you forever!
SBBL VII Match 3: The First Cross-Conference Round “The Greek shall inherit the Earth. “
Blue Nuns vs Greece Lightning
Amazons vs Elven Union
theBymster vs Speedingbullet
For those of you who don’t know Speedingbullet (not many of you within the midlands, I bet) he has been a coach for years and has a broad and deep experience of races and rules, of star players and other coaches. He does a lot of good work for NAF and The Community, often behind the scenes. Oh, and he is a really tough opponent. He is an opponent who considers every move and possible move, who can open up gaps and thread through them, who can make traps you don’t see and wreck the ones you lay for him. He can use his only three players to stop your full team from scoring in T8, when you’ve been stalling on the TD line for 3 turns. AND he is the consummate gentleman who will let you re roll the slightly wonky diced Skull and accept the almost sheer diced Pow. But this also I know about him – he hates rolling dice.
Elven Union, or whatever you veterans still call * them; 4 x MV8 catchers with Nerves of Steel, Blitzers with Side Step. I know it’s all relative, but could anyone invent a more annoying team and not be laughed out of the NAF? So, pre game my defensive plan was basically to try and hold a line, to send my newly promoted Block & Tackle Catcher to wallop any elven catchers that might look like making a dash for the end zone and to slay the smarty pants elves (with their smarty pants Greek Myth names) with good old Karla von Kill. Then I actually read what Juggernaut does and I realised that Roxanna Darknail was not going to die if she rolled a Both Down, she was going to get another block. Furthermore, she’d have enough distance in her legs to jump back (literally Leap if need be) behind some blitzer Mummas.
*BTW, I baggsie the Team Name “Eleven Onions” for mine, soon as I get them painted; a project I started a year ago when Ireland won the Six Nations. Back then I was gonna call them The O’Driscal Brothers, but that could be a whole blog on it’s own…
Speedingbullet won the Fans and The Toss and elected to receive with +1 FAME, in perfect Bloodbowl weather. He knocked over the three Linos on LoS, one of them Stunned, and then put the blitz on Roxanna. She dodged his attack (well, survived it anyway) and the offending Blitzer then shrank back to the shadows. A rookie error to leave Roxy even available for a hit – Goldengate was playing TheFear on another table this same evening, and later informed me that he once took Roxanna against Speedingbullet and she never got to even move, she was removed from the pitch as a casualty in the opening turn!!! So yeah, The first turn was a Close Shave for me.
Again, the stats and match event specifics are a little hazy to me now, as it is more than 15 minutes since they happened, but I recall it went something like this:
SB picked up the ball, caged behind the centre line and kept his 3 catchers behind it for a couple or more turns. He sent one player up his right wing quite early who I tagged while I sent Roxanna on assassination missions in front of a line of Nuns. I was being disciplined with myself not to get too ambitious too early. So, for example, I could have sent her quite a way forward to leap in and get one dice on the ball carrier, but I couldn’t guarantee she would make it back behind the safety of the Blue Habits, so I sent her after a cage corner or a journey man or some lowly outrider. The Thin Blue Line looked quite weak quite early, even with Guard in it I could never get that Guard in the right place to eliminate a 2D block somewhere. So I switched to columns. I only got one Cas all match and that was in a super turn around the end of the third quarter, I’ll come to that later. But having two or three stuns at a time was definitely enough to make the Grecian 2000 (ask your Grandad what that is) start rolling those feared dice. I think there were a KO’d Elf or two around the cusp of the first to second quarter. I even think SB got the first one and I got the second in the next turn (3ish?) the big, Game changing event of the first half was an elf failing a 2+ re-rollable Dodge early in their turn (about T5?) before securing a cage or screen. Talk about shit luck….
It wasn’t straight forward for the girls, (there were some helluva curves – fnar fnar) The deadly Darknail used all the distance that her long legs had in them to get to the ball carrier and drop him like a stone. The Ball popped out to an empty square and was quickly surrounded by cassocks. I can’t remember exactly what Speedingbullet did in his next turn, but it was a struggle, he was low on numbers, he had to roll dice and there weren’t any healthy options available. There was a bit of barging and pushing around the ball and an unprotected Elven Lino ended up with the ball after some scattering. So a bit of Elf bashing and I properly got the ball in my next turn and got it screened. Then panicked cos there were 2 turns left for me and the ball was on the half way line. I knew The Greeks would not bear gifts and true to form they pressured the close screen and the left side and occupied the space down the right side of the pitch.
I’d already counted that if she was going to score, the ball carrier, a Blitzer who was hungry for SPP’s, would need a GFI on each of her two remaining turns, even if she was unhindered. But boy she was hindered. There weren’t many of those Greecey boys, but they suddenly seemed to be everywhere. So Roxanna had to carry the team. She Leapt out from cover (needing a re roll – passing loner on a 6, like she was one of the girls, yet also apart and slightly above them.) She blitzed one of the safeties and those long legs carried her up field, one square from the side line, eight squares from the end zone. Then there were a few Guard assists around the ball carrier allowing her to selflessly hoik it up the pitch, a single GFI and a hand off to the Star Player. A couple more GFI’s and Madam Darknail had the ball and a screen on one side, the side line on the other…. 1-0.
Speedingbulet had a chance to push some nuns around in his T8, so he did.**
Nine (or perhaps it was ten?) Heroic Greek Elves kicked off the second half. 10 nuns and Roxy received. Cambazola got the ball and kept hold of it all the way to the end zone, but took all 8 turns to get there. I didn’t take many pics to jog my memory, but the couple I did take show that it took 5 turns to get over the half way line, and that I hadn’t had my “Brutal” turn by then. So, the Brutal Turn; you know those turns when you just keep rolling 4’s, 5’s, and 6’s. Well, that. It must have been my T6. 3 KO’s and 1 Cas. The Cas was Roxanna’s.
The response was a lot of huffing and sighing, obvs. Then (I think it was then) an Elf waltzed into three tackle zones and got a 1D block on the ball carrier. I think The Right Honourable Gentleman Opposite was more stunned than me when he rolled a straight 5 for the dodge. He was already reaching for the re roll counter before even working out what he needed to pass. And twitched towards it again when that 1D was a Push.
I was inclined towards the Left wing this time, trying to make a tunnel along which Cambazola could safely scram, one square away from the side line – in a previous encounter with these elves I snuggled up against the side line with the ball and SB sent an elf to surf me, only just failing the dodge, but boy did I sweat. I aimed to avoid a repeat of the effect on my blood pressure. I also avoided the Stone Castle defence which proved so useless against Plum last season; I had wanted to plug up the gaps next to the ball carrier where a side stepper could choose to get pushed if I didn’t Pow him. But then some outrider got pushed, who pushed someone else etc, etc, until the ball carrier was now ready to receive a 2D block from a nasty man with a big spikey glove. The “(Anti-Elven) Onion” plan seemed to work. I don’t remember stalling and I don’t remember defending against a one or two turn TD attempt, so It must have been that all the dancing around and evading blocks took 8 turns to score….. ** NO! it MUST have been that I did that “W” formation to stop the 1TTD for the LAST turn of the match not the last turn of the First half. I’ll get the hang of this reportage by the end of the season, perhaps.
I don’t like beating SB, he gets as frustrated as I do. That’s probably because the only way to beat him is to completely take him apart. If you don’t he will resurrect and salvage something from very little. You HAVE to leave him with nothing to work with or you will regret it!
An exhausting match of wits where good luck did seem to side with The Girls and bad luck with The Greeks. Who, it turned out, inherited not the Earth but a single normal skill up. As did Sister Chablis, with her second TD and her first MVP earned this match. So probs Accurate.
I re rolled my winnings and still got 20k, and also an addition to FF. to keep the Goblin’s eyes in their sockets, and to get all my painted models on the pitch, I bought a second catcher. I have hopes of building her up with the skills she has access to that make her a right pain in the ass. Side Step and block, defo. Possibly Diving Tackle or Jump Up if we get that far. I just hope I haven’t blown it by building the first one as I could have built any lino, time will tell. I do expect nuns to start dying at any moment, esp with two or even three skills. Oh yeah, Orcs next. That could do it!
Oof that sounds like a brutal game and you did amazingly well! I've found that Jim very rarely makes tactical mistakes or bad decisions, so as soon as he gets a bad roll (and as you say, he's very good at avoiding any rolls that could go sour) you absolutely have to pour everything into taking advantage while you can. It sounds like that's exactly what you did and it paid off beautifully Even better, Jim had to watch his own elf roll a snake-eyes and then Roxanna taunts him with a 1, before passing her loner roll - I can picture that little moment of hope followed by a groan perfectly!
Very well played - sounds like the perfect mix of careful defence and bold attacking!
It was quite telling when, having started early and then the other match reached half time, we were on , like,T5 and He said: we're really going to have to pick the tempo up or we'll never finish... Then sat there scratching his head!! OBVS we were both scratching our heads, and I know I'm slower than anyone else! I always feel like it's a personal triumph if my opponent sits there looking at the board for more than a full minute before declaring an action.
Great write up Bym. Roxanna was definitely the stand out player. The key moment was that first sack attempt on Apollo. Things looked good for me when Roxanna failed the leap but when you passed the loner test, rerolled it successfully and took my blodging ball carrier down with a 1 dice pow it was the start of a long line of sighs, for which I can only apologise!
You played it well, placing me under lots of pressure after that which I just couldn’t cope with and the ko’s mounted. I think I had 5 attempts on your ball carrier over the course of the game. 1 dice blocks all though and nothing better than a push when a both down would have done. But even if I had sprung the ball I may not have recovered it.
I’ve made plenty of shocking positional mistakes over the years. Don’t think I made any obvious blunders here but there are always the little things that could have been done better. A few years ago I didn’t lose matches in the SBBL. Now I do. I don’t think I’m playing any worse, rather it is a reflection that you and others have caught me up at the very least! Well played and good luck to the Nuns for the rest of the season.
Our games are ALWAYS a work out for the grey cells and I love them (even if it might not seem so at the time!) I'm sure the Heros of the Old World still have a ;lot to teach the New World and The Auld World. It would be cool if we met again in the Play offs... I wish you all the luck you need!
After that monumental Match with Speedingbullet I decided to give Sister Cambazola, the Sure Hands thrower who skilled up, Block. It’s a boring choice, but It’s an effort to keep her alive long enough to get Accurate and start making her into in actual quarterback. The other option was to give her accurate so she could earn her points from passing, so that then she could get Block. But, honestly… She’s on 17 SPP so needs ….errrrrr…. 14 more to next skill up? That’s A LOT of passes. And there’s not even anyone who’s a natural born receiver yet. Ok There are “Catchers” with Dodge and Catch but they’re still only AG3 and MV6… The Bonus is, while Cambazola is earning her next skill up the new Catcher, Sister Chardonnay can hopefully get a few in and start becoming a decent enough receiver – or at least enough of an option to keep opponents worried. My worry is that at this rate it’s gonna take me 20 matches to get the SPP needed to get this team into unstoppable form!
The Blitzers really aren’t earning any points atm. They’re probably going to start hogging the MVP, especially if I don’t get brave enough to start handing them the ball to score with. I really would not dream of belittling or underestimating any opponent, but my next match could prove to be a double-edged sword. A young, rookie coach with Orcs. He’s got 3 losses so far, but 4 Cas in his first two games alone. If I get the chance I’m hoping I can rack up some SPP’s, but I’m really expecting casualties to be high for the poorly armoured nuns. The righteous armour from heaven can only protect you against some of the Big Spikey Gauntlets from the Orcadia Toadstool fields!
The Team Sheet at the end of the first third of the league:
1, Sister Cambazola, Thrower: Blodge, Sure Hands. 17
2, Mother Knip, Blitzer: Blodge, Guard. 6
3, Mother Frankfurter, Blitzer: Blodge, Stand Firm. 6
4, Mother Pinkle, Blitzer: Blodge, Guard. 6
5, Mother Brúhworst, Blitzer: Blodge, Dauntless 6
6, Sister Chablis, Catcher: Dodge, Catch, Tackle 18
7, Sister Chardonnay, Catcher: Dodge, Catch. 0
8 – 13, Line Woemen, One with 2 SPP. One with 2 AG
3 x RR. 2 x FF.
Apoth
50,000 in the kitty.
TV: 1,250,000
TD:3 Cas:5 League Points:7
1TD and 3Cas from Star Players, that's the bit that really hurts. without the stars either the girls will step up to the plate and prove their worth, or they'll crash and burn!
Even better, Jim had to watch his own elf roll a snake-eyes and then Roxanna taunts him with a 1, before passing her loner roll - I can picture that little moment of hope followed by a groan perfectly!