Blood Bowl - for real

[Ironwood]

Ditto for me.  Be aware, though, that if you poke me for a game, it might get interrupted at some point.

I had to quit a game with Falc (why, yes, he was winning) due to Elena pressures.

[Falconeer]

Yes, the biggest problem of this game is that it is NOT noob friendly. Basically you have to know the rules that are explained in a 60 pages Games Workshop manual otherwise things will happen without you understanding why. The UI does a good job helping you to learn, after a few bashes, but nothing like having soemone explaining you in a single friendly match. Then it suddenly becomes easy and addictive. And Leagues, because of the persistence and leveling up, are where the fun is.

More, as much as the offline campaign can be fun, nothing tops playing against a human. Yes, please, sign up to our Steam group. I'd love to have a tutorial match with you.

Fake edit: waiting for their report, but seems like Modern Angel regulated Scadente and is now the only leader with 3 wins and 0 losses.

[Ironwood]

Incidentally, I only recently found out you can save a game in mid game on the single player campaign.

Is this an option online ?

[Hindenburg]

Where can you get it for $20? :(

Ni fucken hao.

Pick your poison. Bought conan from onlinekeystore, methinks.

[kaid]

A better format to see the rules and what all the abilities do is to download a copy of the bloodbowl living rule book. The video game is I believe using the 5th edition living ruleset and is pretty close to identical to it baring a few bugs.

http://www.bloodbowlonline.com/Rules.shtml

Its a lot easier to understand than the franglish manual.

[kaid]

Where can you get it for $20? :(

Ni fucken hao.

Pick your poison. Bought conan from onlinekeystore, methinks.

Before buying it from a place like that I would recommend reading the below warning from the official bloodbowl forums.

Re: Warning: illegal keys !

Postby JessicaFromFocus on Today, 11:17
Hello everyone,

After reading your different reactions concerning the non-legal keys, I wanted to state some things :

- all our partners are selling game AND codes. If a website sells serials and only serials, take care because Focus only provide game + serials.

- black listed keys were stolen. We know now that the stolen codes come from one of our publishers. Focus have never established any partnership with G2play or any other G2play-like websites. Furthermore, I read that these websites provided keys taken from retail versions of the game which is totally wrong: these codes come from the digital versions.

After many persons complained for being victim of swindle, it seems that G2play admitted that the keys were not legal… So they’re proposing either to reimburse the “victims” by Paypal or to give a different game or to provide new key.

I advise you NOT TO ACCEPT THESE NEW KEYS, you would take the risk of being blacklisted again!

We also know that a player who paid by Paypal has been reimbursed - by Paypal as well - while explaining the swindle.

Jessica

[Hindenburg]

G2play is reimbursing people. Also, credit card. Not that hard to cancel something. Would go with onlinekeystore due to precedent, if they still had the damn thing in stock.

But yes, there's a bit of risk associated with this method. Still, 20 bucks.

g2play posted:
Hello mate,
recently we have acquired Blood Bowl keys from a supplier who showed up to get them in unlegitimate way.
We had unfortunately no idea about this since the price offered to us was notcheap and the profit margin for us on these transactions is very low.

We may offer you 3 possible solutions for this issue:
1. Either we refund your payment via PayPal
2. We give you any other game in similar value
3. We will receive another pack of Blood Bowl keys from verified supplier today or tomorrow (48 hours max. from now). We cam then replace you your current key of course.

Best
David
G2PLAY.net Team

Also, that quote has been pulled from a forum post, so could be completely fake.

[Modern Angel]

You can also learn to play in the public, general league. There's always action and you can pick up some tips by watching.

[Typhon]

IainC
Scrubs Matchup!

Wednesday July 8th - got to help my sister-in-law this evening, not sure if/when I'll be online, but I'll look for you when I am.
Thusday - I'll be online after 7PM EST but usually I'm offline by 9:30 (up at 5AM)
Friday - I'll be online after 7PM EST
Sat/Sunday - if you want to play during the day, let me know

[IainC]

IainC
Scrubs Matchup!

Wednesday July 8th - got to help my sister-in-law this evening, not sure if/when I'll be online, but I'll look for you when I am.
Thusday - I'll be online after 7PM EST but usually I'm offline by 9:30 (up at 5AM)
Friday - I'll be online after 7PM EST
Sat/Sunday - if you want to play during the day, let me know

Tonight is good for me. PM me here when you have an idea of what time you'll be around (I'm in the Central Europe timezone for reference which would be 6 hours ahead of you).

Tomorrow is a bad day for me because I'll be flying to the UK and in a hotel with no laptop. Friday is an even worse day because I'll be flying to the US. Saturday and Sunday I may be around but it depends on my father-in-law's schedule. After that I'm in Vegas for four days so most of next week is lost to me too.

[Threash]

Whats the time commitment per game? this is the only thing keeping me away from buying this game, i can play long single player games just fine since i can always wander away from them and pick them up when i feel like it, or alt tab constantly during them, but if i have to sit there for three hours to play someone else i don't think my attention span can handle that.

[Modern Angel]

Anywhere from thirty minutes to one hour/

[Der Helm]

Anywhere from thirty minutes to one hour/

Anyone ever tried a game with 40 second turns ? Sounds hectic 

[kaid]

Damn a 40 second turn would be nasty. That would really favor teams like skaven or wood elves I would think. A whole lot of run and gun. With dwarves or a brawly team you need some time to setup your blocks and knock people around with a wood elf or skaven team if people don't have time to try to block down all your guys you are just mainly running one maybe two guys around the field at high speed.

[Modern Angel]

I don't know. I can get in under a minute with my dwarves if I'm not playing another bashy team. If it's against other dwarves or Chaos it takes a little longer.

[IainC]

I've had plenty of turns that only lasted until the first dice roll.

[NowhereMan]

 

Also I think I've improved somewhat. I can now beat the AI on easy more than 50% of the time! Though my last match left 6 Wood Elves injured, 1 dead and 2 spent most of the match unconscious. That one wasn't so good (who knew Skaven could be so lethal?) Kind of getting the hang of the whole thing of maximising the opponent's dice rolls, like IainC said turns might only last one of them. I'm enjoying the Wood Elves simply for the capacity for flashy play, grabbing the ball in my own half, running and throwing a long pass to someone who can run it into the end zone is fucking awesome. The AI seems to try to stick to forming up on the ball holder and pushing it to the end zone though.

I also got round to joining the Steam group.

[Hoax]

Bought it.  Played one one-off game on easy.  I know GW products fairly well though I never played any BB.

Stuff:
People who have never played or liked Table Top games aren't going to like this, everyone who wishes they would just put them online so people could actually play versus other humans?  Fucking love it.

I'm going to play another game or 3 and re-read the manual and lookup that post with the keyboard shortcuts to show more info then I'll post whatever nub questions I've got left.  I need to join the Steam group too, is it public?

[IainC]

The AI has two tactics that it knows. Usually it tries both of them at once.

Firstly it will insert catchers deep into your half so that if all of its defensive line are suddenly face down on the pitch there's a scoring opportunity still, also teams that don't completely suck at throwing will try and get the ball to them
Secondly it will form a cage around the ball carrier and tank all the way down to your touch line.

Kill all but one receiver and mark the remaining one with guys who can catch and there's a very good chance the AI will gift you an interception - that's a turnover, possession of the ball and 2 SPP all in one handy package.

Breaking up cages is trickier, especially if it's a tough team like Dwarfs or Chaos. Main thing is to make them take a lot of dodge rolls by putting your own cage around their cage but one square away so that they are surrounded by tackle zones and can't block their way out of them. Teams that can tank tend not to dodge too well.

Typhon and I tried to play our game tonight but we couldn't start the game despite several restarts. Apparently it's a big problem as a lot of people in chat were complaining about it. We'll hopefully get it done at the weekend.

[Cadaverine]

My match with Helm was a win for Helm, as my ISP decided to crap out on turn 2.   

[Falconeer]

Dammit, 2 matches botched by technicalities? This sucks!

[Cadaverine]

Yeah.  Like I said to Helm, it'd be nice if they at least gave you the chance to reconnect, and continue the game, rather than just quit, and eat a loss.  Maybe some day.

[Modern Angel]

Supposedly that's on their to do list. But I'd take a fucking new internet UI over that.

[Falconeer]

Someone in a League I am playing had his key banned. He bought it through G2play. So it wasn't an empty threat  

[Ironwood]

Good.

[kaid]

Yup their throwing and running teams try the first tactic all the time of trying to penetrate catchers deep. Most teams cannot pull it off correctly but you REALLY have to watch out for those damn elves and skaven. If they get people deep baring horrible luck they will score on you next turn guaranteed. The wood elves can make some truly sick and wrong pass plays and with their high agility they dance through tackle zones like they were not even there. For my lizard team the only way I have ever stopped the woodie team was to let them score fast off the opening kick off if they get the ball then grind it for the rest of the half and try to score on the last turn of the half if possible and for second half grind it the whole time trying to score only at the very end.

Skaven can pull something similar not as much of a passing threat but they will do the hand off train like crazy bastards and they can move it from their endzone to yours in a turn if they have gutter runners penetrated deep into your half and due to their agility they probably do.

Their caging tactics with their more bashy teams are pretty well done although once in a while the AI makes some WEIRD choices. In one game vs chaos the mino kept going deep to my endzone. The only thing I can figure is they were trying to use it as a receiver if they ever got an opening but why you would waste a mino by using it as a potential receiver is beyond me.

The AI has two tactics that it knows. Usually it tries both of them at once.

Firstly it will insert catchers deep into your half so that if all of its defensive line are suddenly face down on the pitch there's a scoring opportunity still, also teams that don't completely suck at throwing will try and get the ball to them
Secondly it will form a cage around the ball carrier and tank all the way down to your touch line.

Kill all but one receiver and mark the remaining one with guys who can catch and there's a very good chance the AI will gift you an interception - that's a turnover, possession of the ball and 2 SPP all in one handy package.

Breaking up cages is trickier, especially if it's a tough team like Dwarfs or Chaos. Main thing is to make them take a lot of dodge rolls by putting your own cage around their cage but one square away so that they are surrounded by tackle zones and can't block their way out of them. Teams that can tank tend not to dodge too well.

Typhon and I tried to play our game tonight but we couldn't start the game despite several restarts. Apparently it's a big problem as a lot of people in chat were complaining about it. We'll hopefully get it done at the weekend.

[Cadaverine]

I just keep the Skaven on their backs, and keep at least one person on them at all times, to knock them back down.  Granted, I play Dwarves, so that's about the only viable tactic, since if their thrower gets loose with a receiver in my half of the pitch, it's all over but the crying.

Also, I have learned just how useless the bloody Deathroller is.  Absolutely not worth the money.

[Falconeer]

Anyone tried the goblins? I had a lan fun match yesterday with a clueless friend and realized what a crazy, useless and hilarious team they are. Looneys with chainsaws, Fanatics with Ball & Chain and Pogoers with... pogos?  

Seriously, props for the mad mechanics. Love to chainsaw people to death or to ballandchain 3 players at once.

EDIT: Two trolls? Gimme!

[kaid]

The problem with the wood elves and skaven is when the computer is doing it right on offense there should be almost nobody for you to block aside from one blitz action. The computer at least so far has been pretty good at getting people down field then extracting most others from tackle zones on their turn. If you play yourself as a skaven or elf team it is a very good tactic once you have done all the actions you want to do get as many people out of tackle zones as possible the elves and skaven for the most part are not strong enough to brawl against the harder hitting teams but if you get everybody out of tackle zones they can at worst knock down one of your players per turn.

Where the elves and skaven get ground down though is when they are on defense. Breaking the cage for them can be VERY hard.

Honestly of all the teams so far the game is pretty good with the wood elves and skaven and dwarves and chaos. The teams at the far end of the spectrums can pull off best what the computer tries to do. The middle of the line ones like humans and orks tend to get mauled by me and the humans are not quite agile enough to do all the dodging he tries to do with them which leads to a lot of turn overs.

Goblins are a good team to play for fun. You are highly unlikely to win a lot but you can have fun killing the hell out of players people would really rather did not die horribly. Its a lot of fun and since your team value will be low so you can sometimes field the star player and having three trolls on the field at once is pretty funny.

You can make teams HATE playing you in tournies because while they will probably win you have a high chance of taking out and injuring some very high value opponents.

[Hoax]

I'm 2-0-2 after playing one practice game in my easy mode league.  I still make a retarded TD costing or giving mistake per game it feels like but I'm getting the hand of picking up the visual cues more.  Work in progress to be sure but I'm almost at the point that I want to get into a public league and start getting face stomped there.

[Modern Angel]

My main pub league team is goblins. I love them.

[Aez]

You use them for the "kill all their guys and then score" tactic?

[NowhereMan]

The AI, on easy () seems pretty well done and from Iain's post I'm guessing that the basic tactics don't change much. Getting your players out of tackle zones as a Wood Elf is an absolute must. I also think getting a catcher player is worth it for the extra movement points they get (I've got a lvl 3 one in my SP campaign with block, dodge and an extra movement point who can penetrate opposition lines like a motherfucker and survive if necessary). The only team I really don't like are Skaven since they manage to do as much running/distance play as me but their Stormvermin also give them the capacity to do a decent cage run. Combined, they can grind out a cage and manage a deep pass if I make a mistake. Playing against Dwarves often feels unfair since I basically just have to wait for them to make a mistake or get an unlucky roll and it's a semi-garuanteed TD.

I'm undecided on the big guy players, the Dwarf one is horrible as the best you can hope for is to kill or wound a couple of your opponent's scrimmage line before getting sent off. The elf treant frequently loses the ability to move, though at least he remains a slight danger wherever you left him (and in one game he managed to kill the opponent's star player on the first turn which was cool). Seems like they're more useful with weaker teams like Elves or Skaven as they give you a heavy hitter to keep your scrimmage line secure. They don't seem as worth it for Chaos or Orcs, though I'd be interested to see what others think.

[Modern Angel]

You use them for the "kill all their guys and then score" tactic?

Sort of. At this point I have a full slate of 16: one of each secret weapon, two trolls, the rest goblins. I basically double the trolls with one offensive secret weapon per half to clear the middle of the field and then stunty/dodge my way around the opponent. There's no middle ground to this; it's either devastating or I get my shit pushed in. But goblins are surprisingly maneuverable, maybe more than elves due to the entire team having dodge and stunty.

[kaid]

Yup like the skinks goblins even at agil 3 are a LOT more manuverable around opponents than you would expect. Unless the dice gods are angry you can dance through 3 or 4 tackle zones without much problem.  Goblin tactics are the big win or the crushing defeat. It really does go one way or the other if the moons align and your secret weapons and trolls act comptent you can do some amazing things. If the force is not with you it can be pretty embarassing but hell if you lose you are playing a GOBLIN team so its a phyrric victory for your opponent anyway so laugh and point!

Make sure you blitz with your chainsaw their most expensive player everybody loves a good chainsaw massacre and people start crying when you murder their pricey players and their tears taste sweet to goblins.

The ball and chain guy I try to save until I am on defense. If you are playing a team who forms a cage and the moons align that guy is a one goblin cage breaking machine. Also if you have inducements and as a goblin you damn well should buy bribe a ref things. Using a bribe a ref usage will keep one secret weapon from being ejected after a drive/half. So you can milk the death longer. Remember you are goblins Foul the hell out of people hack them up with chansaws smash them with your balls and pray you get enough of them down.