S#5 - Game Day #7 (of 7)

[Ice Cream Emperor]

EDIT: If the games can't be played I do think you have to give the win to Ulysses though. Everyone else Strazos wasn't able to play got the win against him, and that impacted the final standings just as much.

That only happened last week, as far as I am aware, and Ginaz is not in playoff contention, so 'everyone else' is not really much of a precedent.

[lamaros]

EDIT: If the games can't be played I do think you have to give the win to Ulysses though. Everyone else Strazos wasn't able to play got the win against him, and that impacted the final standings just as much.

That only happened last week, as far as I am aware, and Ginaz is not in playoff contention, so 'everyone else' is not really much of a precedent.

Oh, was Strazos beaten? I thought he hadn't lost a game he played. Serves me right for not checking.

[IainC]

EDIT: If the games can't be played I do think you have to give the win to Ulysses though. Everyone else Strazos wasn't able to play got the win against him, and that impacted the final standings just as much.

That only happened last week, as far as I am aware, and Ginaz is not in playoff contention, so 'everyone else' is not really much of a precedent.

Oh, was Strazos beaten? I thought he hadn't lost a game he played. Serves me right for not checking.

Strazos played Teleku in day 5 just before he left and lost 2-1, Ginaz was the day 6 opponent and that was the only default result so far.

[HaemishM]

I have no problems whatsoever with extending the time. After all, it's the holidays and EVERYBODY has shit to do that isn't Blood Bowl. We're running a global operation here on what... 4 continents? Should be a little lee way in play times among friends, especially on the last day of the season when playoff matchups can be affected (or failoffs).

[Ingmar]

I think it is 5 continents, the only one we're missing is South America AFAIK.

[Teleku]

I think it is 5 continents, the only one we're missing is South America AFAIK.

...so, who's playing from Antarctica?

Oh, was Strazos beaten? I thought he hadn't lost a game he played. Serves me right for not checking.

Yeah, I had the joy of beating him, while he broke three of my elves scrawny necks.  So I definitely didn't get a walk on by for that one.

[Strazos]

Appreciate the understanding. My air baggage just arrived today, so once I get it cracked open tomorrow I'll be able to give it a shot.

Ulysees - I have a short day friday, and as I'm now gmt +1 (actually ahead of paris, which makes no sense) we might actually be ok assuming everything gets up and running ok. Have a whole new vpn/router to contend with, so I'll do my best to get it sorted thursday for attempts on friday. Saturday is going to likely be completely undoable for me as I have a work trip. Sunday before the evening should be doable.

[Ulysees]

Let's aim for Friday at some point then, Sunday might be dodgy since I have a football match in the morning and then going out for a team christmas drink which will likely end in carnage and me being in no fit state to play Sunday night.

[Strazos]

Sounds good. Of course, if I'm not able to make things work I am prepared to eat the loss.

[Paelos]

I should be solid to play IainC at 7EST tonight. I'm sure since it doesn't affect the playoffs at all, nobody cares except us. 

[Ingmar]

I think it is 5 continents, the only one we're missing is South America AFAIK.

...so, who's playing from Antarctica?

 

[Strazos]

Oh HAI.

Online. Still plenty of things to fix (maintenance needs to fix this damn DSL line and increase speed) but I'll be trying my damnedest to play.

[Strazos]

Decided to try to launch the game for shits and giggles...

Any idea why Steam would tell me the game is not available? The error message isn't terribly helpful or specific. Could it be a speed thing? I'm hoping it's not a geo-lock issue.

[eldaec]

It isn't a location issue, it is just shit that happens.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=4595-wexn-6831

Most common fix is deleting/renaming the .blob file and downloading it again (the blob file, not all of steam).

[Strazos]

Found that earlier, seems to have worked.

Going to do some testing via feeder league tonight.

[Strazos]

So....it's not particularly fast, but African Internetz actually work for this. Ulysees and I played a full feeder match with no problems.

 

[Teleku]

So, you guys played a mess around game, but didn't actually play your pending match?   

[Strazos]

It was for testing purposes. Also didn't think we'd have time - thought my turns would take ages due to lag, but... 

[IainC]

Paelos and I played our game just now. Final score was 3-2 to me.

I was 2-0 up by turn 6 thanks to some Elven bullshit going my way for once. I scored my first after blitzing a goat that was in scoring range, pushed him to the sidelines and the ball bounced out and was then thrown back in to a clear square. A nearby Elf grabbed it and threw it down-pitch to a waiting line-elf who ran in the first on turn 4. The second was me blitzing the ball carrier after a short kick and knocking the ball free again, it bounced through the line of scrimmage and was picked up by an Elf who passed it backwards out of the reach of the Chaos team. I then pushed some receivers downfield and the next turn was as inevitable as an inevitable thing.

The Smackdown bounced back however and made a risky pass to a goat who ran unsupported into my half of the pitch. I put a marker on him and then went for a blitz but failed a dodge into a clear square leaving the way clear for a last-turn score by the Chaos team. For good measure, they also injured one of my wardancers - she had a smashed hand (MNG) so I apothed it but the apoth couldn't fix the hand without killing her so she was out. A line-Elf also suffered a -1 str injury too.

Second half opened with one player from each team succumbing to sweltering heat. I scored a standard 2 turn TD and the next drive saw 3 of the Chaos team decide to stay in the dugout due to the heat while all of the Elves that weren't injured took to the pitch. Again I kicked short and managed to blitz down the ball carrier quickly to put the Chaos team on the back foot. The Smackdown landed hard on my remaining wardancer who was carrying the ball, she was KOd but the Sure Hands goat was unable to get the loose ball out of the Elven tacklezones. I put my catcher in the endzone (burning a reroll to Leap him out of the Chaos team that had him surrounded), picked up the ball and needed a 3+ pass to make it 4-1 but fumbled it.

The ball was grabbed by a nearby goat and a cage was formed. The Chaos team were loath to risk dropping the ball with so many Elves in their backfield so they played very cautiously which suited me fine. If the Chaos team wanted to keep the ball in a stationary cage while I was 3-1 up, that was cool with me. There was one goat in scoring range who was double marked him, I threw a block with each of the markers against him but only managed to get pushes. The next turn, the goat with the ball broke free, threw the ball down the field and the marked goat caught it, dodged clear, made 2 GFIs and scored.

With two turns left I decided to see if a fourth TD could be had. I kept the ball back and pushed a lot of receivers forwards. I was heartened to see all the Chaos team run backwards to mark the Elves meaning that no matter what happened they would have no-one in range to score if I messed up and lost the ball. On my last turn I ran forwards and took two GFIs to make a 4+ throw into a 3+ throw. I failed the first and rerolled it then failed the second. The Chaos team bashed everything they could reach to no significant effect and then that was the game.

I have two players missing the next game but my catcher reached level 5 and a line-Elf levelled to 2. Paelos took no injuries and levelled a Warrior and a Beastman.

[Paelos]

It was a fun game where I took a lot of risks to counter some of the elven bullshit. It worked to a degree, but I just couldn't press hard enough and fast enough to catch back up with only 2 turns left.

So I tried to murder the other wardancer with surrounded dirty player fouls, but she escaped twice. 

[Ulysees]

The Minizilla's 2 - Diplomatic immunity 1

Me and Strazos just got our game played and I book my place in this season's playoff with a hard fought win.

Strazos gave away 260k in inducements so I took Slibli the Saurus star player.  Straz won the toss, electing to receive and formed a sideline cage however I quickly got that bogged down and with some scuffling I pin the carrier against the sideline, however I couldn't find the bash and with sidestep his carrier moved away from the sideline and on the 3rd turn he managed to get free and made a dash for the goal line, needing 2 GFi's for the first touchdown, of course Nuffle hates GFI's so he falls on his ass spilling the ball on the second GFI. I picked up the ball but I could not get myself safe and have to leave my skink fairly open 5 squares from the endzone. Straz blitzes me but comes up dodge on a non tackle blitzer and moves another marker onto my skink but now I have a path to safety, I just need to dodge away and run up a sideline to the waiting escort of Saurus' however I fail to check the skills of the player marking my skink and he goes down to a dive tackle that I could have prevented had I blitzed him clear. Kicking myself Straz picks up the ball and scores with a handoff on his turn 6 giving me 3 turns to score which is reasonable until the kick-off event putting the clock forward a turn.

I setup for a sideline cage of my own but Straz has kick and launches it deep forcing me to pickup and hand-off with no re-rolls but for once my skink handling was fine today and I make the catch and move the skink into position on the sideline. I bash and mark but Straz still gets 2 players back to block the path to the goal line, one being the damn dive tackler, however I blitz him and score the required pow so now all I need is 2 dodges and 2 GFI's with no re-rolls to tie the score but today is the day of the skink and I make all the required rolls to equalise on the half.

By this time I have killed 1 player though Straz's KO's both wake up for the second half, Straz in return has hurt 2 of my skinks but I have a full lineup due to my bench. I receive the kickoff and form my cage which over the course of the half I shuffle up the pitch putting my skink in scoring range while gradually taking more and more of the Norse off the field of play with injuries and KO's and Straz has to try and break my cage before he is too outnumbered so blitzs in with his Str 5 wolf but can't get any more support in without opening a hole for me to score so I knock the wolf down and then gang foul him breaking his neck which makes the cage now pretty safe until in turn 15 I screw up and while trying to manouver myself into a position to score I force a Saurus to attempt a dodge which he fails leaving my ball carrier open! Straz accepts the gift but nuffle is smiling on me tonight as he scores a stumble again with no tackle so my skink doesn't go down and on the final turn I clear a path and run in the score to make it 2-1.

On the final turn I leave 3 players for Straz to bash and finally his injury dice wake up as he KO's one and injures another Saurus, unfortunately it is far too late to matter and the match ends with the Minizilla's picking up the required win to book their place in the playoffs.

Was a good match though Straz came off the worse on the injury front with 1 dead, the str 5 wolf with a broken neck and a BH runner, I had 3 injuries as well but all were only BH's so will be back for the next match. Bring on some tasty rat flesh!

Match is uploaded.

[IainC]

What's going on with the Ramas v Kailas game? It's the only one still outstanding and, while it's not so vital now that Ramas is out of playoff contention, a win for either player will change the failoff rankings.

[Ulysees]

In the process of moving back to the UK and increasingly difficult to see me being able to play my game before the deadline. Will be online late UK on monday, but not sure what TZ Kailas is?

I'm in central, so GMT-6, I think.  If we can't make it work, no worries, you'd probably win anyway so it's no problem for me to concede again.

Since the match wasn't played I assume it isn't going to be?

*edit* scrolled through and there are no further posts regarding the match between Eldaec and Kailias

[Teleku]

Yeah, that match seems to have fallen off the radar and not brought up at all.  Given how long we've already extended this, unless they play very very soon, I say just have Falc decide the game and advance the day.

[Strazos]

Ulysees' summary is a fair assessment. The first half went well enough for me (a bit short on KOs/BHs), though I probably could have prevented his TD if I had switched some of my runner positions on the scoring turn.

By the time we were deep in the second half, Ulysees significant MB was taking a toll and I just didn't have the power to both cover against skinkly nonsense and attempt cage busting. This one was also probably preventable if I hadn't made a senseless -2d block with my wolf that was occupying his big guy, which unsurprisingly failed and allowed the big lizard to waltz over and spoil whatever pressure I was looking to put on.

By the time next season rolls around, I may have to seriously consider switching squads, as the diminishing returns on Norse at higher TVs is starting to be painfully clear as I have very few tricks to play.

[Ulysees]

To be honest the thing that did you was the lack of a bench - if you had 13 players not 11 the second half would likely have been different since you only had 9 to face my 11 after your first score and 10 for the second half. Also checking the stats I was twice the average for number of POW's that would be expected so you got a bit of a nuffling there too.

I suspect you might have to do some thinking about TV management and sack off some of your more skilled linemen so you can field a bench and focus on only really building up a few key positionals so you don't have a run away TV in future matchs, least that's where I think I am headed. I will aim for 4 saurus with just block and guard then build 2 that have MB, block, tackle, frenzy and break tackle plus 2 super skinks with the rest just having side step and diving tackle. If you have a full team of level 3 and 4's then you are just heading for inducement hell in this league with the way that we are allowed to enter new teams and with others joining in the fun. Least that's how it looks to me, having said that I'd rather face the inducements with a well developed team against a newbie one personally.

[Strazos]

Precisely the reason I let a level 3 lineman die off. It's getting to the point where if I don't roll good doubles by level 3 I'll have to sack them - block + tackle should mostly do it for a Norse lineman it's looking like.

[Teleku]

Bah, screw the TV values!  I'm going to level up every elf I have as much as possible, and get a bench!

Of course, I've been trying to do that for 4 seasons now, but the amount of elves that die on me has left me still hanging on to several level 1's and no bench still after all this time.  But someday!

[Ulysees]

Ah but that's Darwin taking care of your TV for you Teleku - Survival of the fittest! 

[Kail]

In the process of moving back to the UK and increasingly difficult to see me being able to play my game before the deadline. Will be online late UK on monday, but not sure what TZ Kailas is?

I'm in central, so GMT-6, I think.  If we can't make it work, no worries, you'd probably win anyway so it's no problem for me to concede again.

Since the match wasn't played I assume it isn't going to be?

*edit* scrolled through and there are no further posts regarding the match between Eldaec and Kailias

Yeah, seems unlikely.  I'm not running in to him online.

[Ice Cream Emperor]

I will aim for 4 saurus with just block and guard then build 2 that have MB, block, tackle, frenzy and break tackle plus 2 super skinks with the rest just having side step and diving tackle. If you have a full team of level 3 and 4's then you are just heading for inducement hell in this league with the way that we are allowed to enter new teams and with others joining in the fun. Least that's how it looks to me, having said that I'd rather face the inducements with a well developed team against a newbie one personally.

Good advice in general but I have to point out that "just having side step and diving tackle" on all your skinks is in fact "a full team of level 3 and 4's". Skinks tend to sort themselves out, of course, but I'm skeptical that the fifth/sixth sidestep/diving tackle Skink on a lizard team is really worth 110 TV.

[Ice Cream Emperor]

Also, does this really mean that I somehow won my division? 

[Teleku]

Ah but that's Darwin taking care of your TV for you Teleku - Survival of the fittest! 

Someday I'm going to get a wardancer with +str, and you will all rue the day!  RUE IT!

[Ingmar]

I will aim for 4 saurus with just block and guard then build 2 that have MB, block, tackle, frenzy and break tackle plus 2 super skinks with the rest just having side step and diving tackle. If you have a full team of level 3 and 4's then you are just heading for inducement hell in this league with the way that we are allowed to enter new teams and with others joining in the fun. Least that's how it looks to me, having said that I'd rather face the inducements with a well developed team against a newbie one personally.

Good advice in general but I have to point out that "just having side step and diving tackle" on all your skinks is in fact "a full team of level 3 and 4's". Skinks tend to sort themselves out, of course, but I'm skeptical that the fifth/sixth sidestep/diving tackle Skink on a lizard team is really worth 110 TV.

See you in the semis? 

[AndyDavo]

Yeah, that match seems to have fallen off the radar and not brought up at all.  Given how long we've already extended this, unless they play very very soon, I say just have Falc decide the game and advance the day.

Yes, This. or we're going to find Christmas getting rather in the way. If we can get the rounds of 16 set up and played we may just get this season done by the first 2 weeks of Jan.