Tenochtitlan's Glory - A Slann blog

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Mad Banker
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Tenochtitlan's Glory - A Slann blog

Post by Mad Banker »

I recently started a Slann team in my league to try something radically different than what I am used of playing (mainly bashy teams) and because I really liked the Gazpez Arts Slann minis with their Aztec look and was salivating to paint them.

Our league is open format: Coaches arrange season matches as they please, playing whoever they want (but not twice the same opponent in a row). We have an end of season tournament (quarter finals, semi finals and final) that decide who the champion is. Each coach can propose only one of his teams for appearance in the tournament and the 8 teams are chosen based on their win ratio this season (on a minimum of 5 matches played).

I started Tenochtitlan’s Glory with the following roster :

5 X Linemen
2 X Blitzers
4 X Catchers
3RR, FF0, 10K banked

My plan was to buy :

1.Apoth
2.Kroxigor
3. Blitzers 3 & 4

I know most people here don’t recommend the blitzers but… I just like the models I bought for them too much to not paint and field them ;o) And with their unusual starting skills and skill access, I really wanted to try them.

Initially, I planned to develop the team as follows, not taking stat upgrades or doubles into account (the numbers are the skill-up priorities) :

Linemen :

1. Kick, Tackle, Wrestle
2. Wrestle, Strip Ball, Tackle
3. Strip Ball, Wrestle, Tackle
4. Wrestle, Fend, Dauntless
5. Wrestle, Fend, Dauntless

Catchers :

1. Dodge, Block, Sidestep
2. Dodge, Sure Hands, Block
3. Dodge, Block, Sidestep
4. Dodge, Sure Hands, Block

Blitzers :

1. Block, Dodge, Guard
2. Block, Dodge, Guard
3. Block, Dodge, Sidestep
4. Block, Dodge, Sidestep

I know most people would recommend developing a MB/Pilling On killer and I reckon it’s a great build but I didn’t want to go that way as I built my main team (Norse) around this principle and didn't want to do more of the same.

Kroxigor :
Guard, Stand Firm, Grab

I'll come back later with how the team fared in his first game.

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Post by Mad Banker »

My first game was against one of the more experienced coaches of the league (we have about 70% vets and 30% beginners in the league).
I played against Ulthuan’s Sons, his High Elf team with two games under their belt. They consisted of 2 blitzers, 2 catchers, 1 thrower, 6 linemen, 1RR, FF1. The only skill up was a lineman with guard.
He won the toss and elected to receive. Four turns later, I had turned him over and scored on his drive. Appart from a CAS and 2 KO things were looking good.
But it went worse from this point on…
The KO refused to come back playing… And he began to pound me into the dust using his one guard linemen to engineer 2 dice blocks… I was myself out of rerolls and suffered turnovers on turnovers trying to get the ball loose.
Of course he scored just before half time.
For the second half, I had 6 players on the pitch (2 CAS, the rest KO) against his 11… Things weren’t looking that good.
It was a frantic affair: After a hard fought progression I nearly managed to score in the last turn, but he turned me over and threw a long bomb that was catched and of course he scored… 2-1
First loss, but luckily I suffered no long term injuries and got enough cash to buy the apoth.
Observations:
It seems to me that Slanns are at their best on defence, being able to put pressure on the ball carrier with ease (the catchers are particularly amazing for this).
His good use of his two players with block and his lone guard did me in. I was pounded into the dust. Slann badly need some basic skills and a guard or two.
AG4 is not easy to outmanoeuvre, he kept doing 2+ dodges to replace his players and blitz. I suspect elves aren’t the best match-up for Slanns… :wink:

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Post by Mad Banker »

My second game was against The Filthy Smashers, a fairly rookie Nurgle team (2 games played so far) coached by a fairly beginner coach (he has played about 10 games and is beginning to get the tricks of the trade but still lose more than he wins).

His team consisted of: 4 Nurgle Warriors, 4 Pestigors, 3 Rotters, 1RR, FF6, no progressions yet.

I elected to kick as I figured out last game that I am much more at ease defending than attacking with the Slanns.
He failed to pick up the ball and I scored on turn two.
I managed to get a second TD a few turns later but got reckless trying to grab a third one before half-time and left way too few players in my half to defend in case he managed to make a breakthrough. Of course this is what happened, he managed to throw a long bomb on a 6 (with no slann in the way to intercept), the ball was caught by a Nurgle Warrior and he went his way to the line, hoping to score next turn.
Luckily for me, I had a blitzer knocked down nearby that he had neglected to cover better because he forgot he had jump up… So he blitzed two dice against after dodging twice and got 2 “both downs”.
On his next turn, all he needed was a 3+ with no reroll to pick the ball up and score and he did it.

2-1 at half-time.

I started the second half with 9 players against his 11 (1 blitzer Badly Hurt and a KO’d lineman).
What happened next I had never experienced before… I scored 5 TD in the second half (1 offensive and 4 defensives)!
The fact that TWO Blitz results and one Riot result (setting the clock back one turn) were rolled on the kick off table helped a lot of course… The fact that I rarely failed dice in this half (I used my 3rd reroll only on the 8th turn) also helped…

End result: 7-1 and once again, no long term injuries.

My thoughts: I cannot wait to get a kicker, the skill is going to be invaluable for the Slanns. This is a great defensive team, possibly the best defensive team.

I had some skill ups: one catcher got +1ST and a normal skill, 1 catcher got a double skill.

The team looks like this now:

1.Nezahualpilli – Lineman – 5 SPPs
2.Huitzilli – Lineman – 0 SPPs
3.Tlazopilli – Lineman – 5 SPPs
4.Amoxtli – Lineman – 0 SPPs
5.Ahuiliztli – Lineman – 0 SPPs
7.Ocelotl – Blitzer – 0 SPPs
8.Cuauthli – Blitzer – 1 SPP
11.Tezcacoatl – Catcher – 6 SPPs – Guard
12.Tlacacoatl – Catcher – 16 SPPs - +1 ST, Wrestle
13.Xicohtencatl – Catcher – 3 SPPs
14.Ehecatl – Catcher – 0 SPPs

3RR, FF1, 1 Apoth, 50K banked, Team Value 115

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Post by Mad Banker »

My second game was against The Red Devils, a fairly rookie Chaos team (3 games played so far, 3 defeats) coached by a fairly beginner coach.
His team consisted of: 3 Chaos Warriors, 8 beastmen, 1RR, FF9, 1 apoth, no progressions yet. He took Max SpleenRipper and a B Babe as inducements.

I won the toss and again elected to kick as I am still much more at ease defending than attacking with the Slanns.
On his very first action of the turn, the chainsaw star killed himself on a touchback (very much to my relief I must say...).
And his luck was to continue like that all the game...
The first half was a very bloody affair, he managed to make 2 good passing plays that very nearly ended in TD while he managed to hold off my aggressive defense for most of the half.

2-0 for me at half-time. 3 casualties each.

The second half was a different affair, after a quick 2TTD on my offense I began a serie of 3 easy defensive TDs helped by good scatter on the kick-off and sloppy passing play on his part leading to 2 interceptions by my catchers (I wonder why he plays chaos rather than elves...)
End result: 6-0 and 4-3 for the casualties (luckily no long term injuries)

My thoughts: I was in control for most of the game which enabled me to get SPPs to the players I wanted (notably the blitzers). Once again, 5 of the 6 TDs where defensive.


The team looks like this now:

1.Nezahualpilli – Lineman - 6 SPPs --- normal skill, I'll take KICK
2.Huitzilli – Lineman – 0 SPPs
3.Tlazopilli – Lineman – 7 SPPs --- I got +AG
4.Amoxtli – Lineman – 0 SPPs
5.Ahuiliztli – Lineman – 0 SPPs
7.Ocelotl – Blitzer – 6 SPPs --- normal skill, I'll take BLOCK
8.Cuauthli – Blitzer – 8 SPP --- normal skill, I'll take BLOCK
11.Tezcacoatl – Catcher – 7 SPPs –-- Guard
12.Tlacacoatl – Catcher – 26 SPPs --- +1 ST, Wrestle
13.Xicohtencatl – Catcher – 8 SPPs --- normal skill, I'll take DODGE
14.Ehecatl – Catcher – 8 SPPs --- I got +AG

3RR, FF2, 1 Apoth, 110K banked, Team Value 132

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Post by Baduk »

nice rolls!

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Post by Mad Banker »

Baduk wrote:nice rolls!
Indeed... I'm on a streak of very good luck recently (in my other team, my norse runners both rolled +1 ST after the last game :o ).
And I roll consistently good during games too...
I guess I really need to check what my wife is doing when I'm off to the club :lol:

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Post by JaM »

I notice a lack of RR by your opposing coaches :o
Who gives those guys some pointers that you should at least take 2, but possibly 3 RRs for (almost) every team ? I mean come on..

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Post by Mad Banker »

JaM wrote:I notice a lack of RR by your opposing coaches :o
Who gives those guys some pointers that you should at least take 2, but possibly 3 RRs for (almost) every team ? I mean come on..

Most of our experienced coaches did provide tips and pointers (I even provided a beginner's guide for all the rookie coaches of our league) but hey... each to his own... some people just need to make the mistakes you've warned them against to realize they are wrong :roll:
On the other end, the High Elf coach is quite experienced but wanted to start with all the shiny stuff and consciously decided to be short on rerolls, planning to buy his second reroll asap (which he did after this game).
I myself would start elves with 2 rerolls and most other teams with 2 or 3.

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Post by mattgslater »

Mad Banker wrote:Most of our experienced coaches did provide tips and pointers (I even provided a beginner's guide for all the rookie coaches of our league) but hey... each to his own... some people just need to make the mistakes you've warned them against to realize they are wrong :roll:
Really. We had a guy who didn't stop taking gobs of ACs/CLs until his 4th team: he did it in his first game, and ended up winning 2 CF/BC rolls, and it took him the whole preseason running multiple teams to realize what everyone was telling him. But now the season has started, and his regular-season team is very sensibly-constructed.

1RR is forgivable on an elf team (small "e": the one exception is Elves). Nobody else, though.

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Post by Baduk »

especially if you're new(ish)
I need those rerolls to make up for stupid actions I didn't see (What dodge? oh that's a TZ... darn)

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Post by Mad Banker »

mattgslater wrote:1RR is forgivable on an elf team (small "e": the one exception is Elves). Nobody else, though.
Ah!, yes thank you... I thought it was like nationalities: e.g. Canadian team or American team...

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Post by mattgslater »

That would be cool. One team gets 12 men, but only 3 downs on offense, and has to play its defenders one yard off scrimmage. The other team plays with 11, 4 downs, and no restrictions on the DL. Otherwise same rules! 12 men is a big deal, but so is only having 3 downs.

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What is Nuffle's view? Through a window, two-by-three. He peers through snake eyes.
What is Nuffle's lawn? Inches, squares, and tackle zones: Reddened blades of grass.
What is Nuffle's tree? Risk its trunk, space the branches. Touchdowns are its fruit.
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Re: Tenochtitlan's Glory - A Slann blog

Post by Craigtw »

Any more word on your slann team? I am happy to hear that someone is faring better with them than I am! It gives me hope for the future of the team!

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