S#4 - Game Day #4

[Strazos]

Two of those games have 8-hour timezone differences, so that should be fun. 

[Sir T]

At least I have always gotten up in the middle of the night to accommodate my opponent and lose horribly.

[Ice Cream Emperor]

Eh, I have a now-level 4 runner who has -1AV (so 6 armor  ) that hasn't been too much of a problem yet, though I'm sure one or two people have made a good attempt at putting the hurt on him. You can certainly work around it, but you might have to get creative at times.

If he's a ball carrier it's not really comparable. Werewolves -- especially strength 4 werewolves -- are for blitzing and hitting, and Frenzy practically guarantees that you will leave him open to counter-hits even if you are relatively careful. In any case, only time will tell how well it works out.

[Ingmar]

What are the odds you're even going to keep the same team next season? Dropping a str 4 wolf on the theory that you could start leveling his replacement sooner is a long-term play but will probably hurt you overall in the short term, and our seasons aren't really all that long.

Yeah it does slightly increase the odds that he'll go out of any given game, but not by a *huge* amount and that str 4 will be mighty useful while he's still on the field.

[Strazos]

And really, what offers more protection - that  1 AV, or 4 STR? I'd think that's a wash, at worse - harder to hit, but easier to hurt when you get a hit in.

[drogg]

Chemical Elvers 2-2 Huhnqua Huhnqua Burninluv

It was a satisfying and yet frustrating draw for the elves this week, as it felt like the game was nearly in hand but the coach got a little too aggressive and left an opening for skinks to slither away.  The elf scoring was catassery of the highest order (my second TD in particular was hilariously unfair), and the lizard possessions consisted of parking on the goal line and waiting out the half.

Lizards received and immediately tried to take out my 5 AG lineelf with a Krox blitz (including risking a loner reroll).  This resulted in a push, and my elf immediately responded by dodging away from his prehensile tail, knocking over the ball-carrying skink, taking 2 GFIs and picking up the ball in a TZ.  Sadly, there was nowhere for him to dump it to and he was promptly mauled.  The lizards recovered but suffered a turnover after a Wrestle elf decided to Both Down instead.  The elves popped the ball out again and managed to use every square of movement out of the +MV thrower to recover the ball and pass (in a TZ) to an uncovered Catcher and the elves were up 1-0 after 2 turns.  The 5 AG elf was moved back a bit for more protection, but he was still blitzed immediately, and this time KOed for the rest of the half; my kicker was Badly Hurt soon after.  This opened up a hole to plop his skink on the goal line and cage up.  I inexplicably blitzed an unrelated lizard and gave them plenty of time to form a lovely cage and run out the half (a saurus intercepted an elf bomb to make it official).

For the second half kickoff, the elves decided to send 2 groups of receivers (including the awakened 5AG) to the sidelines and plop the only Blitzer in the center of the field, and held the ball on the right side of the field.  Lizards committed right and actually got the Krox to park next to the thrower!  No matter, he just ignored the tail and dodged away, pulling a quick pass to a middle-man on the far left.  There was a saurus-on-catcher matchup there, but before the handoff my Blitzer dodged away and pulled a 1d block on the coverage.  That made it 2-1 with another quick score.  More block dice magic (thanks to Guard) gave the elves the ball after the kickoff, but a tactical mistake resulted in a failed GFI and the ball carrier was swarmed and injured.  A skink skittered to the goal line and was promptly ZOTTED by the wizard, but ANOTHER tactical mistake and another failed GFI trying to reach the ball wasted the opportunity.  Lizards opted to turtle for the tie, no doubt fearing the elf catassery.

The elves were 6/11 on GFIs (lizards being 15/16), but were pretty lucky in almost every other regard.  Attacking block dice were particularly kind, as skinks were eating turf without Block/Tackle, and at one point a 1d non-Block blitz injured a Saurus.  But those GFIs (admittedly many of them being tactical mistakes) proved to be the real undoing for the elves.  Both teams will be fully healthy for their next matches, with a couple of skillups each as well.  The Elvers are still in the hunt, but only barely...

great writeup, celer.  the only details i would add is that a lot of my GFIs were on skinks with sure feet and sprint, so it was perhaps not as risky as the dice would indicate.  my trusty krox namesake also boneheaded like, three times, but that's probably just the bell curve evening out since i'm pretty sure i went two or three games without seeing those lovely gears overhead.

i was super proud of myself for remembering to smartly position my diving tacklers around celer's most likely recievers, only to learn that celer is way smarter than me and never even once tried to dodge away from one

if drogg ever manages to roll doubles i'm totally taking shadowing.

[Strazos]

Think of it this way - with the placement of your diving tacklers, you denied him a potentially easy move, as evidenced by the hesitance to dodge away from them. They did their job, and actually getting to USE DT would perhaps be a bonus...though it's very satisfying when you have a chance to punish a dodger with it.

[Teleku]

I think Ironwoods and my own schedule just don't match up at all for weekdays, so we'll probably get this by Friday or Saturday I'm sure.

[Celer]

Those totals include rerolls/Sure Feet btw... you didn't even need to use Sure Feet once! 

I did indeed hesitate dodging away from the DT skinks, so they were a factor.  The Krox's tail, not so much... then again, anyone standing next to the Krox was going to be eating dirt next turn anyway, might as well give the boys a chance!

[Sir T]

One of the problems using the beast as a roadblock I find is that it really depends on its tentacles... but if it fails a stupidity check when I tell it to throw a block (50/50 chance at best) it loses its tackle zones and so its tentacles are gone. And not throwing a block results in 4 or 5 opposition players piling on top of it.

[Ice Cream Emperor]

It's a 1/6 chance if there's another player standing next to the Beast. Which is a good idea anyways, since that also requires the other team to commit more resources if they want to try and get enough assists to block the Beast away. But yeah, often you don't want to risk a block, if you're tying up a bunch of dudes.

[Ruvaldt]

Ex-Presidents 0 - 2 Ogres

The Chaos team proved it was quite chaotic today by failing at everything important while Reborne played a good Ogre game and took fine advantage of Nuffle reaming me over and over again.  I only managed to wound one snotling, if you can believe that.  Not even any touchdowns, though I came within one square of one when I failed a GFI in the endzone.  Also, at one point, sweltering weather took out one of my ball handlers and also two of my chaos warriors while the crowd threw a rock at my other ball handler while I was receiving a kick off.

I don't want to take anything away from Reborne though, he played a fine game and I didn't.  Still, I feel as if this game needs to be drunk away so that's as good a write-up as anyone is getting out of me.  I am now actively trying to forget the last hour and a half.

[Ice Cream Emperor]

And really, what offers more protection - that  1 AV, or 4 STR? I'd think that's a wash, at worse - harder to hit, but easier to hurt when you get a hit in.

Kind of a moot point, since he now has STR 5. 

[Reborne]

Ok, I'm going to get this out of my system first, because this is the first time in 2 seasons that I WON!!! 

Wrestlers 2 - 0 Ex-Presidents

Ruvaldt has been great.
We have a 16 hour time gap that he was very accommodating with, was gracious in defeat and played a good game even when he couldn't catch a break.

Nuffle must have been building up to this point and had a bunch of money on the Ogres now that the odds were so stacked against them.
Blocks were sending goats and warriors flying, snotlings had free reign and I think there was at most 2 bone heads at any given time.

I made a silly mistake at the end of the first half in that I always forget when the half ends, so positioned a snotling, with the ball, just outside of the endzone instead of going for it.
This is just after the ball that was well into my side of the field got sent out only to land right next to the snotling half way into Ruvaldt's half.

The pitch invasion was hilarious in that most of both of our teams were stunned.

Over all I was glad to hear that my opponent still had fun and I wish them well in drinking themselves into a pleasant oblivion 

Match uploaded

[Ruvaldt]

Oh, I had a good time.  I love Blood Bowl, and always will; it's just one of those days in which it feels like I'm loving an abusive spouse.

Also, it's nice to see Reborne get a win even if it was at my expense.  He's been such a great sport for so long, and really did play a good game.  Honestly, the game could have even been 3 - 0 if Reborne had seen that it was his last turn and also gotten lucky on two GFIs.  The only aggravating thing about the game, really, was a lack of SPPs for the Presidents.  I leveled Richard Nixon, but Pierce and Coolidge both were within 4 and 1 SPPs, respectively, of achieving the next level.  Hopefully IainC's Dark Elves prove tender and malleable enough to provide a few well-needed bumps of experience for the leaders of the free world  .

Congrats, Reborne, you deserve a win, if for nothing other than playing Ogres.  I intend to destroy you next time, however.  Abraham Lincoln doesn't take kindly to being knocked out.

[Celer]

I came within one square of one when I failed a GFI in the endzone.

GFIs are statistically more likely to fail in the endzone.  It is known.

[proudft]

It is known.

[Sky]

Except for in single player, where nuffle lures you into range of his legs, so he may kick you in the balls in multi-player.

[Modern Angel]

Get the fuck out

[AndyDavo]

And really, what offers more protection - that  1 AV, or 4 STR? I'd think that's a wash, at worse - harder to hit, but easier to hurt when you get a hit in.

Kind of a moot point, since he now has STR 5. 

Your kidding me? a str5 wolf?? WOW, like major WOW!!! what were u  saying about no/bad skill up's?

I'm really pleased for you!

[Strazos]

Undead Wolves start at 3 STR, yes?

Geez, that means I cannot simply blitz him solo with my own 5 STR Wolfrunner. 

[Teleku]

Wait, how the fuck is that possible?  You can only skill up each attribute once.  So +4 should be his max...

[Megrim]

Wait, how the fuck is that possible?  You can only skill up each attribute once.  So +4 should be his max...

er, no.

[Teleku]

Hrm, I just looked it up, and it says 2 in the living rule book.  I really could have sworn in the DE version of Blood Bowl, you could only do it once.  I recall reading it on the forums, and even saw it when i didn't have the option to improve the AGI on one of my players for a 2nd time.  So either they changed it, or alcohol has been taking a far greater toll on my memory than I thought!

[Modern Angel]

DE edition and Legendary edition are actually two different BB rules editions. That may account for it.

[Ice Cream Emperor]

Your kidding me? a str5 wolf?? WOW, like major WOW!!! what were u  saying about no/bad skill up's?

It's more like 'all the skill ups are on this one guy, who btw now has AV 7, doh!'

But yeah, I ain't complaining no more.

[Gruntle]

Your kidding me? a str5 wolf?? WOW, like major WOW!!! what were u  saying about no/bad skill up's?

It's more like 'all the skill ups are on this one guy, who btw now has AV 7, doh!'

But yeah, I ain't complaining no more.

Dammit, I forgot whatever doesn't kill him, only makes him stronger.

[Paelos]

ZZZZZzzzzzz

[Comstar]

So next match I've facing a Move 8 Strength 5 Agility 3 Armor 7 Werewolf with Frenzy/Block/Dodge?  Yeikes.

[Ice Cream Emperor]

He doesn't have dodge yet.

[Teleku]

Well, I'm free for tonight now.  If Ironwood is up and about at 8 or 9 AM his time, we can play a game at 12 or 1 AM my time.  However, he hasn't posted on the forum since last Sunday, and I haven't really heard anything from him (though I haven't really tried to contact him either), so not sure if he's away or something.

[Strazos]

He's on Steam at the moment, so you might try him there.

[Teleku]

Well, right now, and the last few times I've tried to message him, hes been playing Plants vs. Zombies, and hasn't responded.  I'm terribly afraid its his daughter playing, and I'm spamming her with requests to kill each other in a violent game.   

[Teleku]

Ironwood and I finally played last night!  Itchers 1 - 5 Hippies.

Ironwood put up a good fight, but alas, he wasn't able to stop my passing game (especially since I got nerves of steel on one of my catchers due to a doubles roll from the last game).  The game was filled with some hilarious plays though, in no small part because on the 2nd kick off, it started raining, so we kept failing to pickup the damn ball.  His one TD came from him charging a Wardancer and pushing her.  She had sidestep, and thinking I'd be clever, I had her sidestep right onto the ball which was laying on the ground nearby.  She failed to pick it up, fumbled it to a rat, who also failed, who fumbled it to a gutter runner, who picked the damn thing up.  The gutter runner then proceeded to dodge into and out of double tackle zones to score.  It was pretty epic.

Most all my TD's came from my usual "Nealtor throws the ball a long way down the field, somebody catches it, then scores."  Though I did have a pretty nice TD where I got a free turn after kicking off.  While the ball was still in the air, I ran one of my catchers (through 3 GFI's!) right to where the ball would land, who promptly caught it once I ended the turn.  I also moved a Wardancer next to him.  Ironwood tried to get him, but could only push.  So he of course, blocked both of them in with a solid wall of rats on all 4 sides.  However, the catcher handed the ball off to the wardancer (which luckily ignores tackle zones, unlike catch), who then leaped over them all and ran in for a TD.

No deaths or major injuries this match.  Ironwood injured 2 of my players (including my Treeman!) but only badly hurts, so everybody will be back next game.  Also, with another 70k gold won from that match, I should finally be able to buy an 11th player.  So for the first time since I think season 2, I'll actually have a full roster on the field!  I'm sure it will last approximately 2 turns into my next game.

[Ulysees]

Having 11 players on the rosta for more than 2 turns may well depend on me winning the toss and electing to receive first methinks Teleku