S#5 - Game Day #6

[Ulysees]

I'm UK based so GMT - think you are 2 hours ahead of me from what I recall, tomorrow night or Friday are both good for me so will look out for you on Steam.

[Ginaz]

So Strazos won't be play to play his match against me?  How will that work?

[Sjofn]

Lump Beefbroth finally, after all this time, has achieved blodge.    Smoke Manmuscle, on the other hand, longs to tackle you.

[IainC]

So Strazos won't be play to play his match against me?  How will that work?

You'll get a default 2-0 win with two sets of MVPs but no other SPPs and the cash for both teams.

I had two players level after the game with Sjofn. My other Wardancer now has Strip Ball and I put Dodge on my Line-elf with Leader. I also had enough cash finally to buy a second reroll. I thought about buying a spare thrower as Caractacus will miss his next game but decided to get the reroll instead.

[Kail]

Kailas:

Who are you on Steam, and what timezone are you in?

C'est moi.  I'm Kail on Steam, too.  Timezone is Central (GMT -6 I think).

Kinda busy here at the moment, though, I'm gonna need a few days at least to get stuff done.  If we can't work something out then, I'll concede the day, I'm just too swamped at the moment.

[lamaros]

My GR rolled yet another non double. Trying to work out if I should go with pass block, fend, leap or catch. Has block/ss/shadowing/tackle so far.

Megrim, I'm about tonight from around 10-10:30 if you want to try and play our game. Otherwise it'll be the weekend maybe?

[Ice Cream Emperor]

Pass block/shadowing/tackle could be a pretty frustrating combination for passing opposition, that's for sure -- but he already seems pretty anti-elf specialized. Leap doesn't make much sense compared to getting it on a blitzing GR, so Fend is probably the most generically-useful. Kind of underwhelming, though.

It's a conundrum. I would also think about Diving Tackle, even if it interacts a bit messily with Shadowing -- but as long as you can decipher the Ask prompt and use it wisely, it's kind of the final lethal touch on the ultra-marker you are developing.

[Llyse]

Oh dear god. So that's a 13 hour time difference? :D

And it's Thanksgiving week...

Let's give Friday morning a shake. Say... 9 my time? I'd go earlier but I may be hungover.

Llyse, this may be problematic. I got roped into cooking a seafood extravaganza on the day after Thanksgiving so I have to hit the stores early. Maybe, it's fluid but looking that way.

The only day I can say I will 100%, no doubt be free is Sunday but I think Saturday morning my time is good. Basically, page me on Steam any time you are free. Prod me. If I respond within ten minutes, I'm probably free. If not, I'm gone.

Saturday morning your time is Saturday night, Sounds good! No pressure on me now that Drogg beat Bann 

[Ruvaldt]

I am so sorry, Sir T, for not making our arranged time.  I was stuck in traffic for two hours and wasn't able to get home in time to make the game.  I blame it on Thanksgiving; the highways here have been horrendous for the past two days.

[Sir T]

Well i am going to be shattered tomorrow from staying up so late. so maybe fri... oh you have thanksgiving don't you. Lets try the weekend then.

[Ruvaldt]

Really sorry, Sir T.  Blame the pilgrims.

I'll play whatever time is convenient for you, regardless of your crazy time zone.  I'm perfectly fine staying up late/early, especially since you did tonight.  I have the next several days off and nothing to do but study for an upcoming licensing exam and play Blood Bowl.

[Sjofn]

Your course is clear, SirT. You must kill Millard Fillmore.

[Ruvaldt]

Don't listen to Sjofn.  Millard Fillmore only want hugs.  Angry, angry hugs.

You should forget about Millard Fillmore.  History has.

[Strazos]

On blackberry - no I am still unable to play games. No telling when I will be able 2, even with african dsl and a 6 hour time difference.

[lamaros]

Pass block/shadowing/tackle could be a pretty frustrating combination for passing opposition, that's for sure -- but he already seems pretty anti-elf specialized. Leap doesn't make much sense compared to getting it on a blitzing GR, so Fend is probably the most generically-useful. Kind of underwhelming, though.

It's a conundrum. I would also think about Diving Tackle, even if it interacts a bit messily with Shadowing -- but as long as you can decipher the Ask prompt and use it wisely, it's kind of the final lethal touch on the ultra-marker you are developing.

Leap is probably what I will go for. It's not super, but it can be used in a few spots to make stopping him scoring really hard to do, and it works much better if I'm lucky enough to get a final skill up and get a double or +AGI. Pass block is handy, but not many passing teams about, and fend I just dunno. With dodge and 4 AGI it's really only going to mean much if it stops people using frenzy.

[lamaros]

I went with pass block in the end. Didn't use much against the Vampires though, as they didn't throw the ball about.

Funny little game, never seemed to get going. Neither side was harmed much in the first half, one decided by some excellent use of hypnotic gaze by Megrim and a number of forgetful errors by me, failing to blitz with my GRs and moving instead. I tried to smash some thralls about to give myself an edge into the second, but nothing happened. 1-0 at the break.

Second didn't go that well, but with some GR speed and a timely turnover from Megrim (with a failed block IIRC) I scored reasonably easily.

It was tense for a bit, with some bullshit dodging from my 10MV rat knocking the ball free from Megrim's carrier, before it bashed about in the middle and settled in the hands of another GR of mine. I managed to break him out with some smashing power from the Rat Ogre, and then caged up pretty well. Megrim couldn't bust in, despite some more good gaze work, and I ran in the final score on the 16th turn.

Unfair to Megrim as I felt out of it for most of the game, I think he had my measure and if the dice were reversed I would have lost badly. Or that's how it felt. Admittedly I was forgetting to blitz too, so maybe I'm just coming down with something. BB Manager says the odds were pretty much even.

I lost yet another thrower, this time to -AGI. Probably because I keep using them like linerats...

[Ulysees]

The Minizilla's 2 - Silver Horde FC 1

I brought Slibli with my inducement money and he proved a wise investment and did a great job of standing firm for the first half. Match started with me receiving the kick off and picking up a short kick close to the LoS and forming a semi cage in midfield, I say semi because the last corner failed a re-rolled GFI and KO'd himself taking my mighty blow blitzer out for the first drive. After 3 turns of jostling for position Ramas got his sidestepping blitzer into the cage and managed to survive 5 2d hits only scoring pushes and including one re-rolled attempt to get him away from my carrier. On the next turn he pushed the safe hands skink out of the protection of the cage and he was duly blitzed popping the ball free and Ramas ran in his sure hands runner to pick up the ball in front of 3 tackle zones, however he couldn't move him away and I pop the ball loose and after some more jostling manage to get the ball up the field for a turn 8 touchdown and take the lead 1 - 0.

The ref turns the clock back after the Horde fans started a riot and having watched Ramas's game against Ginaz and seen how well he took out anything that was near a sideline I set a narrow defence that allows Ramas to run 3 players into scoring positions and with the extra turn it looks like he might be able to score a quick reply before the half ends. The ball is handed to his thrower and his runner makes his dodge away from my marking saurus however all Ramas's re-rolls have already been burned and the runner fails the GFI to end the half.

Second half and Ramas makes fast progress down the field and I was too agressive trying to pressure the ball after the kickoff, a quick turnover and a succesful block opens the field and the norse flood through. I do get 2 blocks on the ball carrier but can only score pushes and with all my Saurus's marked Ramas parks his thrower for a turn on my goal line and scores on turn 13.

I receive the kick and again look to try and force my way through the middle of the pitch and score 3 injuries in the next 2 turns which opens up a gap to move my ball carrying skink into scoring range, but the only way to safely do this is with a sideline cage so I sacrifice a saurus to the inevitable incoming frenzy blitz on the last turn and though that works for Ramas he has only been able to move 1 player across into a position to cover the path to the goal line and when he tries to dodge a norseman away the dodge fails giving me a simple job of blitzing with a re-roll to clear the werewolf marking my ball carrier, however I only get double both downs so have to burn the re-rioll which comes good but I now have to make a double GFI to take the match and secure my spot in the play-offs so with my eyes closed and my fingers crossed I double click the scoring square and for once my prayers are answered as I score a winning turn 16 touchdown.

First game where I actually caused a decent number of casualties and Ramas block dice where decent but he could only score a few KO's which mostly woke up at the start of the next drive. Was a good match though and since my next match is a bye due to Strazos being away I think that tie's me up for 4th spot at worst and the prospect of facing Andydavo for the second season running - I smell elf blood!

match is submitted on BBmanager

[Sir T]

Well, I'm 2 players down after turn 1 and my wizard just fizzled, and almost all my players are on their ass. MY heart just isn't in this tonight as well. The joy of being able to make 3 rolls a turn. The rest is just standing up and getting knocked down.

And I just saved a guy from death. Lovely.

[Sir T]

I abandoned the match. There was no point continuing and I would have just been miserable for half an hour. The end point was that I threw my first block, the only possible block I had of the turn, and it would up a skull reroll skulls.

Sorry all but it was just stupid.

[Ruvaldt]

No problem, Sir T.  At least you tried to stomp on Millard Fillmore once for the rest of the league.  It was always going to be a tough match given my two claw-beastmen, and with your chef only giving you one reroll and that wizard doing absolutely nothing, it was going to be even more uphill.

As it happens, I got really lucky and Millard/Truman got the mvps, both of whom are my claw-beastmen, and Millard will finally attain sixth level.

[Llyse]

No problem, Sir T.  At least you tried to stomp on Millard Fillmore once for the rest of the league.  It was always going to be a tough match given my two claw-beastmen, and with your chef only giving you one reroll and that wizard doing absolutely nothing, it was going to be even more uphill.

As it happens, I got really lucky and Millard/Truman got the mvps, both of whom are my claw-beastmen, and Millard will finally attain sixth level.

 

At least I don't have to meet up with you again until the finalé 

[Sir T]

Yeah, I know I gave him 2 MVP by abandoning, but I honestly could not face playing the rest of the match. I'm sorry again all.

[Ruvaldt]

At least I don't have to meet up with you again until the finalé 

It's a date!

[Scadente]

Kailas:

Who are you on Steam, and what timezone are you in?

C'est moi.  I'm Kail on Steam, too.  Timezone is Central (GMT -6 I think).

Kinda busy here at the moment, though, I'm gonna need a few days at least to get stuff done.  If we can't work something out then, I'll concede the day, I'm just too swamped at the moment.

Alright,

Added you on Steam, I'm availible almost all weekend (It's a big weekend in the States, I take it?).

I wil ping you when I see you online, and visa versa? You shouldn't concede, as I have a TERRIBLE trackrecord vs. Stunty teams!

[eldaec]

The Minizilla's 2 - Silver Horde FC 1

Couple of aspects you're underselling,

First half we were both a bit messy but ultimately you could control matters by having fewer stupid turnovers, and punishing me for bad turn planning by forcing dodges and similar. Turn 7 especially I could probably have stopped the TD if things had been better managed, and you hadn't forced the dodges.

Second half you had the pressure exactly right, you kept it purely on the ball - the room you left forced me to either stand and fight (I'd have lost) on run and score early, which gave you the opportunity for a 2-1 win.

Final drive, I needed to make a decision, go hell for leather after the ball and hope for some lucky rolls and a second TD, or purely maintain a disciplined line and go for a draw. I did neither, bunched around your cage but didn't commit to attacking it, that gave you an opening to run around the defence and score.


Sibil was annoying as hell in this game, shows the value of stand firm and similar skills.

Think I have four dudes out for the next match. Maybe that's a blessing against looneys, bombers, and fanatics!

[eldaec]

Also, looking pretty well placed to defend the Silver Horde's failoff title at this point, who does Stormbringer 5th play in the first round?

[Ulysees]

I am always wary of playing up my own ability at this game, especially when I think that our match was actually decided more by luck than skillful play on my part. You were more likely to do something than not to my skink ball carrier on turn 7 when you successfully blitzed him with your frenzy werewolf, but of all the times to get double skulls when you were out of re-rolls that was one of the harshest I have seen and luckiest for me and then you had the good fortune of the riot turning the clock back giving you the chance to score but failing the GFI when you tried to move your runner into the goal area.

Second half I think we both played soundly and the deciding factor in my opinion was the 2 injuries you sustained and thinking back I agree you probably should have then committed to sacking the cage or setting a better screen but things looked like being a repeat of the first half since I couldn't move the standard cage and had to change my plan if I wanted to make the score in time.

[HaemishM]

Holy shit, this fucking game. I want to stab me some Frenchy French Frenchies in the goddamn throat. I played both Ulysses and Falc today, and had the same problem come up in BOTH games, and both times it cost me the game. Instead of clicking on the guy I wanted to who was at the top of the screen, I hit the "End Turn" button instead. And of course, the French are so fucking perfect, they don't need a confirmation box for something that important. So I blow a turn that would have at least allowed me to blitz the ball carrier late in the game and the carrier scores.

The Bell Jar United 1 - Zellar Dwellarz 0

I barely managed to keep him from scoring 3rd turn with a wizard's lightning bolt. I kept him out all first half and was close to breaking through a number of times second half but the fucked up End Turn let him score on turn 14. Still on turn 15 I received the ball, send Gutter runners streaming down field and made a long throw with Blind Willie, my new thrower, to get the ball 3 squares from the end zone. Of course, the gutter runner got blitzed and dropped the ball, but I still had the chance on turn 16 to pick it up. Knocking the one player he had around the ball down, she sent the ball flying to land in front of 3 Amazons. I could just make a TD to tie the game with two dodges (needed a reroll for one of them) and one GFI roll. I made it through the gauntlet with the ball, step towards the end zone and...

FAILED. And Falc goes on to secure a spot in the playoffs.

[Ingmar]

I did the same thing in my game against Sjofn, it is pretty annoying. I might have a try at changing the orientation to left-right instead but I'm sure that would really mess with my ability to see moves for a while.

[avaia]

Hooray for a rat loss!

[IainC]

The interaction area for the end turn button is much larger than the actual button graphic as well so you can click well below where the button is and still trigger it. It doesn't need a confirmation dialogue, it just needs to be moved to somewhere you won't be clicking a lot like the top right corner above the turn counter or something.

I am ultra paranoid about selecting players or squares in the top 25% of the screen and generally scroll way down to make sure I'm not going to be near that goddam button.

[Falconeer]

Someone mentioned Cyanide working on a new version of Blood Bowl. Is it just a rumour?

[Ingmar]

They've hinted at it.

http://bbtactics.com/forums/cyanide-plans-2012-a-t1228/

[Megrim]

The interaction area for the end turn button is much larger than the actual button graphic as well so you can click well below where the button is and still trigger it. It doesn't need a confirmation dialogue, it just needs to be moved to somewhere you won't be clicking a lot like the top right corner above the turn counter or something.

I am ultra paranoid about selecting players or squares in the top 25% of the screen and generally scroll way down to make sure I'm not going to be near that goddam button.

You guys do know that you can just hold Ctrl and move the mouse around to pivot the point of view, right?

[HaemishM]

I can't deal with the camera viewpoint being anything but straight up and down with my team's end zone at the bottom of the screen. The board is confusing enough as it is. It's irritating as fuck that the interface fails on so many levels of usability, the confirmation dialog being one of them.