El Dorado Tyrants, Lizardmen (TV 1530, 8-1-3)

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Re: El Dorado Tyrants, Lizardmen (TV 1130, 2-0-1)

Post by rolo »

Week 4, and Orcs again. The Orcitectz came into week 4 in first place, but with a win, El Dorado would at least temporarily claim the top of the table.

With over a hundred thousand gold coins to spend on this match, El Dorado briefly considered hiring a skink off the street, or perhaps beautiful beer-brewing babes, but instead invested in some extra team training for the week (figuring a third reroll would open up options throughout the game).

Although this was a home game, more Orc fans showed up to cheer their team, and the Orcitectz won the coin toss, choosing offense. El Dorado kicked off and enthusiastically blitzed! The good news is, the Blitz! collapsed the Orcitectz' left flank, and a skink even caught the kickoff.
The bad news is, right in front of Frank Lloyd Wright, the Orcitectz' star Blitzer (Tackle). It was a risk which I accepted, double push or something and it's an easy defensive TD.
Instead, I ended up with a stunned skink and a caged-up Orc offense for my trouble.

Dealing with cages isn't that bad, The Kroxigor #8 Helios was in top form and the Saurii simply stood in the way. After a few turns of making no progress at all, Orc Thrower Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (Block) channeled his inner Elf and ran out on his own. Where he was quickly swarmed by Skinks and brought down. Skink #10 Ziziane scooped up the ball and ran out to the left side. All that the Orcitectz could manage was to get a tackle zone on him (with Frank Lloyd Wright, but still).

Not wishing to dodge away from a Tackler, Saurus #3 Kratos ran out to try to blitz Ziziane free. Even a pushback would leave Ziziane with nothing but green grass between him and the opposing end zone, with a few helpful skinks to help screen him off. That's about as guaranteed a touchdown as you see in Blood Bowl. But Kratos was looking too hard at the end zone and not concentrating on his opponent. Double skulls. Using my last reroll for the half, Double skulls. And armor break. And casualty. Kratos is expected to make a full recovery by next game, but after a shameful showing like that I'm not sure I want him back.

To add insult (and more injury) to injury, Ziziane was promptly and unceremoniously sacked, and badly hurt to boot. Orcs recovered the ball and scored in their turn 8.

El Dorado's one-turn attempt wound up becoming a two-turn attempt when the crowd rioted in anger and/or celebration. But with no rerolls, a handoff failed and that was that. At least #5 Tlarek got some small amount of vengeance by seriously injuring the Orcitectz' intern (a journeyman) and ensuring that we would only be outnumbered 9 to 10 in the second half.

Halftime, 0:1

El Dorado on offense, and the Orcs didn't give an inch. Black Orcs pinned most of the Saurus, and both teams were having trouble getting better than 1d blocks. A few successful 1d blocks by the Orcs left my offensive line in shambles and the ball carrier (Skink #12 Niniaga) worrisomely threatened. The only solution was stunty magic, running right through the defense and sprinting toward the end zone. It cost me a reroll but it worked - and Skink #11 Rakatikou dodged through and pinned the only defender (an Orc Blitzer) who could reach Niniaga.

The Blitzer dodged free and sacked Niniaga with no trouble, knocking him down on the sideline and watching as the ball sailed into the public. Someone threw it out of the back of the end zone (at least the right end zone!) and it landed on the other side of the pitch ... out of easy reach of any orc defender but well within Skink range. With no thought to tactics or stalling, Rakatikou grabbed the ball and ran in the score!

El Dorado 1:1 Orcitectz!

Lizardmen set up a defense to defend against the Orcs' hurry-up 4-turn attempt. The kick is short, bouncing off of the Troll's head before landing on the line of scrimmage in many tackle zones. Not bad. Orcs try the time-tested "knocking players onto the ball" tactic, and sadly, after a bit of a scrum, get a good bounce. But the clock is ticking. Orc turn seven, they try to break the deadlock by starting their turn with a Troll block (which works), knocking a Saurus onto the ball. The bounce is good (for the Orcs), who pick it up (darn), hand off to a blitzer (damnation, a turnover means they can't score!), who blitzes a Saurus out of the way (needing a knockdown, but it's 2 dice and I have no Block), runs out, and promply burns his last reroll on a go for it.

I can get a Blitz on the ball carrier, but need a go for it (works but costs me my last reroll). Just a pushback. I can put skinks on the ball carrier and at least force him to dodge. With no reroll.

He rolled a 3.

El Dorado 1:2 Orcitectz.

Oh well, can't win 'em all. But there's good news. First of all, the whole game was fun and exciting, we both had chances to pull out a win and it came down to the last die roll. Second, we didn't take any lasting damage and we're at full strength again for week 5. Third, we made enough cash from this game to make that extra training permanent (bought that third reroll, with ten thousand gold coins left in the kitty). And fourth? We're DONE with Orcs now unless we make the playoffs! Week 5 is against a Necromantic team with some nasty ghouls but otherwise no real worrisome skills.

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"It's 2+ and I have a reroll. Chill out. I've got this!"
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Re: El Dorado Tyrants, Lizardmen (TV 1130, 2-0-1)

Post by Pedda »

Great post! Thanks for sharing.
Sounds like a fun and close game. I'm sure the ball will bounce your way in the next one.

May I suggest, that you post the team roster after every game?
Would be cool to see the progress of the team.

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Re: El Dorado Tyrants, Lizardmen (TV 1130, 2-0-1)

Post by rolo »

Good idea!

http://www.bomfur.de/obblm/index.php?se ... obj_id=220

(Some of the OBBLM stuff is in German, which won't be a problem for Pedda. But the Skills and such are in English)

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Re: El Dorado Tyrants, Lizardmen (TV 1130, 2-0-2)

Post by rolo »

Week Five (including my Bye week) was against Gylfaginning (TV 1240 Necromantic).

We were already holding up the week and the game was close to getting admin'ed (which probably would have gone my way, since my opponent had to postpone twice, due to stuff beyond his control). But I joined this league to play Blood Bowl, dammit, and so we played.

Necros offense, Pitch Invasion breaks my defense, rookie wolf stuns a Saurus, and I have six players standing on my first turn. There's a little bit of back and forth, eventually the Necros break through on my left side and start running toward the end zone. If two skinks dodge, I can get a 2d block on the ball carrier (Blodge+Sure Hands Ghoul), but the second skink fails his dodge and my defense is exposed. Skink gets surfed (reserves), Ghoul hands off to the rookie wolf. The handoff fails, but the ball bounces right back to him and he catches it. Whatever I tried that turn didn't work (I think it ended on double-both-down or something) and the wolf runs in the score on his turn 6.

Lizardmen 3-turn score works perfectly, despite a Blitz!. I juked to the right, the Necro defense overcommits, I go right up the middle, Blodge Ghoul kills himself trying to dodge next to my ball carrier. TD in turn 8 by #10 Ziziane (0 SPP).

Things are looking good in the second half for my offense, despite another Blitz!. I knock out a zombie. But then I realize I've left a Saurus too close to the sideline. My opponent notices too, and there he goes.
Then came the turning point; I moved the Kroxigor over to pin the Wolf and a Wight, knowing that he can't run enough assists in that turn to let the wolf block. And if he does run in three assists, that will leave the rest of his defense heavily outnumbered by the rest of my offense.
So what does he do? 2 dice against. Pow/Pow, of course. Kroxigor stays on the field, but is stupid the next two turns trying to stand up. Freeing the Wight to go help pin my cage. I suffer a turnover trying to block my cage free (the Wight, of course), leaving my ball carrier (Avodoatl the Swift, Sidestep Skink) exposed. He gets knocked down, I use sidestep to keep the ball away from the crowd, but it bounces to the sideline. I can reach the ball with a skink, but fail the pickup ... ball goes into the crowd ... gets thrown backwards ... right in front of the wolf.

Wolf picks up the ball with no trouble. The best I can do is blitz the Kroxigor (who'd finally stopped derping) next to the ball carrier.
Wolf then dodges away from Prehensile Tail and scores.

My 2-turn try to tie the game fails on a double-both-down. I still would have had two skink dodges and a handoff left to roll.

This is one of those games that left me shaking my head and wondering what I'm doing wrong. It was also one of those games which felt like nothing ever really went right. I blocked a lot, which cost me some rerolls, but never caused a CAS and never did more than one KO. I feel like more Skink dodges failed than maybe should have, ball handling was questionable (especially in clutch situations like picking it up on the sideline).
I'm sure it wasn't as bad as I think, but it kind of felt like unimportant rolls were going okay-but-not-great, and important rolls were going terrible.
Worse, my opponent (a genuinely nice guy when he's not playing Blood Bowl) kept being irritating when I was rolling dice. Like when I rolled armor, "ooh, 8! I don't think that's enough to hurt my zombie!", or when dodging with a skink, "a 2! Why, I think that fails! And if you roll another 2 now, he falls down, right??"
There was no meanness behind it, all's fair and all, but I think that contributed to my feeling that my dice were failing me ;)

Up next: SPECTRE Phantoms, a pretty standard 12-man Skaven team. Right now they have a Rat Ogre, 2 rookie and 2 skilled Gutter Runners (Block, Wrestle), ... and a game left to play against Ogres. Right now I'm getting 60k inducements, we'll see what's left when the Ogres are done.

Current Tyrants Roster:
http://www.bomfur.de/obblm/index.php?se ... obj_id=220

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Re: El Dorado Tyrants, Lizardmen (TV 1220, 3-0-2)

Post by rolo »

Week 6, played downtown in a beer hall against SPECTRE Phantoms (Skaven). The Skaven had more skills than I did (Wrestle GR, Block/Sidestep GR, Juggernaut Rat Ogre) but it was 11 on 11 players.

The game started off nearly as badly as it's possible for a game to start. A few blocks on the front line did nothing, the ball was more or less "safe", but then the pickup failed. Rat Ogre blitzes a hole, Block/SS Gutter Runner dodges through and picks up the ball in a tackle zone. I can't blitz him down with 3 dice. The gutter runner is surrounded, but he's a Gutter Runner and suddenly I'm down 0-1 on my turn 3.

Things started looking up after that; Helios the Kroxigor seriously injures a linerat, a Stormvermin gets KO, ball is protected. The Rat Ogre blitzes himself into contact with my ball carrying Skink (#12 Niniaga). It takes a reroll, but the Rat Ogre is knocked down (still next to Niniaga, but I intend to move him). He has an excellent path to safety just blocking a linerat out of the way ... Skull Both Down. It really would have been a thing of beauty if it had worked, oh well, got greedy.
And lucky. Rat Ogre announces a Blitz, NOPE! Wild Animal and Loner kick in. Better lucky than good. And so I can move into the Skaven backfield and start walling up. Skaven try some desperation blitzes, actually get a 1 die hit on Niniaga (push, reroll, push), but there really wasn't much of a threat. 1:1 at halftime.

Skaven one-turner fails when the Rat Ogre, trying to make up for his earlier choke, knocks out a Saurus instead of pushing him around.

Second Half, Skaven in offense but outnumbered 8 to 11 (the KO Saurus came back, two KO Skaven did not). The Rats fake to the left, shockingly I don't overcommit, try to the right, and eventually a runner thinks he sees a hole - he has to dodge into a tackle zone (no problem) and then free into the backfield (Snake eyes!!). Dead. Healed by the Apoth, but reserves are still off the field.

This was an amazingly brutal turnover for the Skaven, it left the ball unprotected, another GR pinned to the sideline (where he was immediately surfed), and plenty of Skaven in Tackle Zones. Which results in a Cas for #2 Zoatl and several KO rats. I recover the ball, and with no Gutter Runners left on the field, the ball safe in a cage, and all remaining rats getting pounded turn after turn, I even risk a handoff to #11 Rakatikou. Which works on the first try without a reroll, because when things are running smoothly, everything just WORKS.

By the time I run in the 2-1 on turn 16, #13 Avodoatl the Swift has caused the first Casualty by a Skink for the season, and there are only two linerats left on the field, both stunned. A one-sided end to a game which could have been a lot closer than it looked.

This was by far the best game of the season so far. 3 Casualties after causing one all season so far. 3 Skillups after getting one all season so far. (#5 Tlarek gets awarded the MVP and learns Block, #11 Rakatikou learned Sidestep, and #12 Niniaga got +AG! (!!!) (!!!!). All three will receive appropriate titles.

The only downside was the winnings, despite winning the game we only received 20k gold from the gate; This leaves the treasury at 50,000 gold coins, just short of a Skink for the bench. But all things considered I really can't complain.

Up Next in week 7: Bauchspeck Puchheim, TV 1160 Ogres. The team has four Ogres (1x Guard, 1x Break Tackle) and 10 Snotlings (3x Diving Tackle). They just finished this week with a 2-1 win over the other Lizardmen. Should be interesting, going into this with 11 players ... ...

SPECTRE has three players missing next game (including a Niggling Linerat) and have to face the Undead.

Current Roster: http://www.bomfur.de/obblm/index.php?se ... obj_id=220

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"It's 2+ and I have a reroll. Chill out. I've got this!"
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Re: El Dorado Tyrants, Lizardmen (TV 1310, 3-1-2)

Post by rolo »

Week Seven, El Dorado went on the road to Puchheim to play the Ogres. Bauchspeck Puchheim had just come off of an ugly victory over the other Lizardmen team (Itza Iguanas) in a game memorable more for Snotlings injuring Saurii on fouls than anything else.

Although this was nominally a road game, many more El Dorado fans bought tickets and greatly outnumbered the fans of Puchheim. Or maybe a bunch of snotlings snuck in and didn't pay for tickets.

Ogres won the coin toss and chose offense. First block knocks a Saurus out an I'm thinking it's "one of those games". But a couple other Ogres didn't hear the whistle and spent the turn looking to the sideline for instruction. Sadly the Lizards couldn't take advantage, Kroxigor Helios spent far too many turns comparing boogers with a nearby Ogre, and the Snotling Cage managed to slowly but surely run down into my half. With far too much Diving Tackle for the Skinks to use their usual Stunty tricks, and the Saurii pretty effectively pinned, there wasn't much to do. A late 1d Blitz on the snotling ball carrier resulted in push, reroll, push, and all that was left was for the Saurii to take out their frustration on the Ogres. BAM! Tlarek the Mighty punches E Norm (Guard Ogre) out of the game, badly hurt!

In the second half, down 0-1 but only facing three Ogres, things started looking up. The Saurii started rolling POW's on Snotlings, and the Ogres stopped knocking anybody down. The Amazing Niniaga (AG4 Skink) scoped up the ball and started looking for an opening. Tlarek the Mighty made great use of his Block skill, punching out Snotlings nearly every round, much to the visible frustration of the Ogre coach. Even a positioning error, which gave Weißbiertrinker the Break Tackle Ogre an opening and potential blitz on Niniaga, didn't hurt me - the Ogre rolled snake eyes dodging (he needed 3+) and stunned himself.

Time was ticking down, and Coach Rolo seemed to encourage his team to stall for a bit more, hunting Snotlings for SPP and accepting the tie. Perhaps we will regret this decision later, but who knows what would have happened with a more aggressive game plan? Niniaga ran in the 1:1, the Ogre one turn score attempt failed badly as the final whistle sounded, and El Dorado chalked up another point on the table.

All of those fans in the stands led to a fat payout after the game - more than enough to offer a contract to a new Skink (#14 Sokitiki). Saurus #6 Zorig has trained up his Blocking technique and started calling himself Zorig Scalefist. All in all, with 5 casualties caused, El Dorado is no longer the pushover we were at the start of the season (1 Casualty caused in the first 4 games). More importantly, the playoff picture is looking VERY tight - as of today, 10 points is enough to be part of a 5-way tie for second place in a league in which four teams make the playoffs. 3 Points would have been great, but a tie is a whole lot better than a loss.

Current Roster: http://www.bomfur.de/obblm/index.php?se ... detailed=0

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"It's 2+ and I have a reroll. Chill out. I've got this!"
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Re: El Dorado Tyrants, Lizardmen (TV 1360, 4-1-2)

Post by rolo »

Week 7, El Dorado traveled on the road again, this time to play against the Undead (Dead Connection).

The Bloodweiser brewery, always the champions of the Underdog, provided the Undead with a large barrel of beer and two attractive babes to serve it out. You'd think that this would go unappreciated by the walking dead, but at least the Ghouls made sure to frequently run in and out of the KO box where they were continually treated with beer.

Boosted by a significant fan following (+2 FAME), the Tyrants won the coin toss and decided to start off on offense. Several turns of actual tactical Blood Bowl ensued, with neither team managing a positioning advantage. However, at around turn 4, El Dorado started rolling POWs, ghouls went down (one into the KO box where he immediately revived enough to start drinking delicious Bloodweiser beer), and the Lizards managed to set up behind the defense. After that, the Undead could only manage to pressure the offense (the key play being a 2 dice against Block against Helios the Kroxigor, which knocked him down and out, and freed up several more Undead players to harass my offense) until El Dorado scored in turn 6. Slightly earlier than I'd have wanted but a TD is a TD.

Dead Connection's 3-turn offense went nowhere. All they managed was to get one Blodge ghoul in TD range. Although he refused to go down (even to a 3d Blitz with a reroll), he was walled in sufficiently that there was no chance of getting out. Instead, Dead Connection tossed a gratuitous pass and managed a blitz on Niniaga (the AG4 Skink), getting the most BS casualty ever (pow/pow on the block dice, break armor, 8+MB+Stunty = Badly Hurt).

Both teams had trouble in the second half, the Undead could not get around El Dorado's powerful defensive line, which was strong enough to avoid getting dominated and fast enough to counter Dead Connection's side-to-side movements. Two rapid turnovers in quick succession (Dead Connection needed to blitz a sidestep skink out of the way, Skull Push wasn't good enough and got rerolled to Double Skulls; This led to an El Dorado hit on the Ball Carrier, Quad Skulls). But the dual turnovers were a net win for the defense, because the clock continued to advance and Dead Connection was still unable to break through. A desperation pass failed on turn 8, El Dorado tried to capitalize but the ball scattered and a mummy caught it.

1:0 win is still a win, no lasting casualties, and a lucky roll for the winnings brought in a massive payout of 90,000 gold coins!
The team Treasury is now a hefty 140,000. Our General Manager is considering hiring a sixth Skink; holding extra training sessions to get a fourth reroll is probably just excessive luxury.

Helios the Kroxigor learned a new skill (Guard), and The Amazing Niniaga (AG4 Skink) did as well (regular skill selection, it's probably going to be Sidestep but Sure Feet is looking quite tempting). The El Dorado Tyrants are tied with the Orcitectz for third place in the table with 13 points each, which is quite a good position (especially as the Orcitectz have played more games already). Top four teams make the playoffs, and the top seed (Currently the Skaven SPECTRE Phantoms with 15 points) picks their first round opponent.

Current Roster: http://www.bomfur.de/obblm/index.php?se ... obj_id=220

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"It's 2+ and I have a reroll. Chill out. I've got this!"
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Re: El Dorado Tyrants, Lizardmen (TV 1360, 4-1-2)

Post by rolo »

Up next: Leichburg Leechers (Necromantic)

The Leechers had some tough luck early in the season, opening with a 0-5 stomping by the Skaven, although they've had a better time holding their own in the CAS game. At 2-1-4, they are all but eliminated from the playoffs, but their coach isn't the kind of guy who will give up on a season. And he's absolutely the kind of coach who is going to affect the season however he can, which means the wolves (one with MB) are likely to be all over my poor Saurus all game.

Currently, the two teams are rated nearly equal (El Dorado Tyrants will be 1360 when I take Niniaga's second skill, the Leechers are 1350). If our general manager hires an extra skink for the bench, it's fairly certain that the Bloodweiser brewery will be supporting Leichburg ...

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"It's 2+ and I have a reroll. Chill out. I've got this!"
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Re: El Dorado Tyrants, Lizardmen (TV 1370, 5-1-2)

Post by rolo »

Week 8: In a game which had been delayed a few times due to vacation and summer and such, we played outdoors at Leichburg's terrace stadium.

More El Dorado fans showed up even though this was a road game. The real-world weather was on the damp side, but in-game it was perfect. The Leechers won the toss and elected to receive.
They caged up behind their line of scrimmage, but were having trouble getting through the wall of Lizard defenders. A werewolf ran out to pretend to be a receiver, but got himself knocked out for his trouble. El Dorado started to pressure Leichburg's cage, the ball carrier (Nestore, Ghoul with Block, Dodge, Sure Hands) had to dodge but performed admirably under pressure (the next turn, he needed a -2d blitz and a dodge to get away from the Kroxigor. Another shot on Nestore required a go-for-it ... one snake eyes roll later, he was free to roll and and hustle to the end zone.

On turn 7, only three skinks could reach him, requiring multiple go-for-its for a 2d blitz. Fortunately, the snake eyes earlier seemed to have resolved any issues and everything worked out. The third Skink (I believe #14 Sokitiki, rookie) ran in for the Blitz. I had a reroll ready, but he rolled Pow/Push on the first try and the ball flew into the crowd. All three Skinks in the backfield had already moved, all I could do was block a Saurus free who could at least put a Tackle Zone on the ball. One Skink - #13 Avodoatl the Swift - stood in potential scoring range, but Coach Rolo yelled to him to play it safe. He covered the only remaining Leechers player who could reach the ball. Halftime score was 0:0. Both Leechers KOs (a rookie Ghoul and a rookie Werewolf) came back, enjoying the ministrations of a Bloodweiser Babe (and of course he rolled 4's anyway).

El Dorado's second half offense started off pretty shaky. The front line pushed the Necros back without doing any real damage, and Skink #12 The Amazing Niniaga (AG4, Sure Feet) rolled a one to pick up the ball. Coach Rolo thought that this wasn't worth a reroll so it bounced.
Leichburg responded by blitzing a hole in the offensive line, running a werewolf through, Badly Hurting a Saurus, and jogging a rookie werewolf through to attempt to pick up the ball. He failed as well, but the positioning was good - he was covering both Niniaga and the ball, and any pushback would leave at least one of them still covered.
It took a reroll (following a rude and uncalled-for jinx by Leichburg's coach of "I have Block, you do not"), but the front line managed to block Tlarek the Mighty (Block Saurus) free, who blitzed the wolf away. Badly Hurt, no regeneration. That's helpful. Niniaga scooped up the ball and positioned himself as safely as possible (not all that safely, because most of the team had already moved at that point). Sure enough, #6 Venazio (Wight with Guard) dodged and brought down Niniaga (fortunately not breaking armor). The ball landed in many tackle zones.
On my turn, many of those Tackle Zones could be blocked and blitzed away, but #8 Kroxigor Helios Rex couldn't figure out what he was supposed to do to block away the last one. (Just as well, it would have had to have been a 2d block, and I could just feel a Both Down/Skull turnover coming up). So Niniaga had to dodge through, pick up the ball in a tackle zone, dodge out again, and jet behind a screen. No problem for any of that; AG4 Skinks really are kind of unfair.

The screen moved up, but Coach Rolo underestimated how fast Werewolves can move - the utterly terrifying #4 Moreno (Wolf with Mighty Blow) managed two dodges to cut a corner around a Saurus, and two go for its, to get a 2d shot on Niniaga. The last go for it needed a reroll ... then came the Double Skulls. Just brutal. The Turnover also left the defense out of position, and El Dorado managed to get a proper cage set up deep in Leichburg's backfield. After that it was just stalling out for the win. 1-0 at Full Time.

I *think* that this guarantees a playoff slot for El Dorado with two games remaining, but I won't worry about that just yet. OBBLM is having some issues right now and our admin doesn't want us entering new games until he can figure it out. (The updated roster won't look much different anyway, no skill rolls, but FF went up and there's now 140k in the treasury. I could buy a 14th player or a 4th reroll, but I feel like six Skinks has been working out well so far.

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"It's 2+ and I have a reroll. Chill out. I've got this!"
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Re: El Dorado Tyrants, Lizardmen (TV 1370, 5-1-2)

Post by rolo »

Up Next: Rat'n Roll, an enigmatic Skaven team. They've had some highs (starting the season beating Leichburg Leechers 5-0, easily beating the probably playoff-bound Orcitectz 3-1), lows (tying two of the worst teams in the league, including 2-2 against the Ogres and 1-1 against the Hashut Gamblers, whose rookie coach had to leave the season later due to personal time issues). They are coming off of an exciting 3-4 shootout against the other Skaven team. While I don't think they've been eliminated from the playoffs yet, they need to not only win out but also have a lot of other games go their way.

Looking over their roster, it's obvious that attrition has been an issue for Rat'n Roll. 5 unskilled linemen. One Guard Stormvermin, one Frenzy. Three Gutter Runners (Sprint, Block/Sure Feet, and Sprint/Two Heads). And a rookie thrower to round it out.
Those aren't necessarily the skills which I would have chosen, but part of the fun of Blood Bowl is seeing different kinds of teams for different play styles.

And of course, there's one huge advantage for me - the Rat'n Roll coach is one of those guys who doesn't name his players. All of his players are named "Unnamed". Blood Bowl players hate that and always try to fail key roles until they get a name and a personality.

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"It's 2+ and I have a reroll. Chill out. I've got this!"
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Re: El Dorado Tyrants, Lizardmen (TV 1500, 6-1-2)

Post by rolo »

Rat'n roll entered the game with an outside chance at the playoffs. Although we were rated far higher than the Skaven (enough that they hired a wandering mercenary Rat Ogre, and signed a one-game sponsorship contract with Bloodweiser just to try to balance things out), with a bit of luck, they'd be able to pull off an upset and keep their playoff hopes alive for another week.

They didn't have a bit of luck.

It started before the game, it had looked stormy all morning and pouring rain soaked the field. Then, thousands more El Dorado fans showed up, more than double the amount of Skaven who braved the weather. Apparently wet fur is more irritating than convenient, waterproof scales.

Rat'n Roll won the coin toss and chose offense. They set up to one side, obviously hoping to put the defense under pressure from turn 1. Unfortunately (for them), the ball bounced quite poorly and landed near the sideline, on their weak side.
Fully knowing the risks, the Rat'n Roll's coach called for a pass in the rain. He had to burn a reroll picking it up (Rain!) and then the pass wasn't accurate. It ended up in the hands of a Gutter Runner who'd already moved, so no turnover, but that did stop the offense from moving forward.
On my turn, the first two actions (Blitz a Gutter Runner covering the ball carrier, block a linerat) led to two MNG rats. "Decent start". Then a stunned linerat, and I could position well for what turned out to be an ugly pigpile slightly behind the line of scrimmage. Eventually Rakatikou the Stealthy (Skink w Sidestep) ended up with the ball, got knocked down by a heroically dodging Gutter Runner, recovered the ball, and was nervous enough to run in the TD on turn 6. 1:0.
The Skaven 3-turn attempt failed due to rain and no rerolls. (Rat'n Roll had three, plus one for Brilliant Coaching. All four were used by turn 4. That kind of game).
1:0 at halftime.

Sometimes luck can turn a bit in the second half. And after the kick sailed out of bounds for a touchback (letting me give the ball to a rookie Skink in the rain), I immediately needed a reroll in the first turn (skull-both down from a Saurus without Block; I'd been careless and did this far earlier than I should have). But the Skaven turn was more of the same. Rat Ogre was supposed to blitz a cage corner. 1. Instead, they reposition for a turn.
More rats fly from the pitch, El Dorado bashes down field unhurriedly like the cold-blooded lizards they are. When suddenly a Gutter Runner puts on an insane dodging display, gets one die on the ball carrier. POW! Ball bounces and bounces ... it's raining. No problem, Kroxigor Helios Rex grabs it out of the air and rumbles downfield for a TD. I punch it in early, because a 2-0 lead is safe, and because I don't want to risk a handoff in the rain or an untimely bonehead roll.
2:0.

Kickoff to something like seven rats on the field. And here comes the Blitz!, because Rat'n Roll just hasn't had enough hard luck this game. Rookie Skink Sokitiki runs out under where the ball will land. He can't catch it in the rain, but it's in a Tackle Zone and the Skaven have to blitz backwards. Ball is recovered, in the hands of the Thrower. I'm looking at options; a 2d block would get the Kroxigor (Guard, Tail) next to the thrower, but I can't make it 3 dice and I can't see how I can do better than a skink blitzing ... but then I see that a Saurus on the line was freed by a linerat dodge; he can just run behind the Skaven offensive line and blitz the ball carrier with a single go for it. How did I not see that from the beginning??? (My guess is, drinking). Down goes the thrower, Sokitiki scoops up the ball and it's off to the races. Which Sokitiki wins, because I have rerolls and the rats do not.
3:0.

Skaven set up for a one-turner, but the scariest moment turns out to be when an irate Rat'n Roll fan (who looked suspiciously like their coach in a wig) threw a brick which would have killed #2 Saurus Zoatl. Fortunately, the team physician, who had spent the entire game mixing drinks out of rum and limes, was still sober enough to staple Zoatl's skull back together. The actual one-turner attempt, in the rain and with no team rerolls, fails on a catch roll. (Which would have passed in better weather).

So there you have it, one hardcore Nuffling. Which I have to say, I much prefer being on the good end than the bad. El Dorado rolls max winnings (90k), two Saurus learn Block and Wrestle, Helios is correctly awarded MVP after scoring a TD and causing a CAS, and learns Stand Firm. Rat'n Roll has 3 players missing next game, two with serious injuries. And have to face the Undead.
If nothing else, this is a pretty definitive proof of my theory from earlier:
Rolo wrote:the Rat'n Roll coach is one of those guys who doesn't name his players. All of his players are named "Unnamed". Blood Bowl players hate that and always try to fail key roles until they get a name and a personality.

Reason: ''
"It's 2+ and I have a reroll. Chill out. I've got this!"
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Re: El Dorado Tyrants, Lizardmen (TV 1500, 6-1-2)

Post by rolo »

Current El Dorado Tyrants roster:
http://www.bomfur.de/obblm/index.php?se ... obj_id=220

The Table looks like this:

Code: Select all

Name                   Games PTS  TV      TD   CAS+  CAS-  W    L    D
SPECTRE Phantoms        9    21   1500    7     3    16    7    2    0
Gylfaginning           10    21   1280    5    14    19    6    1    3
El Dorado Tyrants       9    19   1500    6    17     9    6    2    1
Itza Iguanas            9    15   1260    2    14     6    4    2    3
Orcitektz               9    13   1400    -2   18    11    4    4    1
SuperSexySwingin`Boyz   9    12   1330    2    13    10    3    3    3
Bauchspeck Puchheim     9    12   1420    -1   15    20    3    3    3
Rat'n Roll              9    9    1170    0     7    18    2    4    3
Dead Connection         8    7    1260    -2   10     5    2    5    1
Leichburg Leechers      8    7    1350    -7   10     6    2    5    1
Hashut Gamblers         9    1    1030    -10   0     1    0    8    1
The El Dorado Tyrants have clinched the playoffs and have a decent shot at the top seed. Our one remaining "Game" is against Hashut Gamblers, the Chaos Dwarves who quit the league months ago. That will count as a win on the table but no SPP or anything - so consider El Dorado to be in the lead now with 22 points.
The upcoming match between Itza Iguanas and SPECTRE Phantoms how becomes huge. If the Iguanas win or tie, they claim the last playoff seed and the Tyrants claim the top of the table. If the Iguanas lose, things become very interesting.
The top seed is important; the top four teams make the playoffs and #1 chooses their first-round opponent. (This is a house rule which we implemented a few years back, to address a situation when one underhanded coach shamefully lost intentionally in an attempt to get an easier first-round playoff opponent).

Reason: ''
"It's 2+ and I have a reroll. Chill out. I've got this!"
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Re: El Dorado Tyrants, Lizardmen (TV 1500, 7-1-2)

Post by rolo »

El Dorado Tyrants "Win" their Week 11 Gimme game (against a Chaos Dwarf team who lost the first few weeks of the season, then quit the league - everyone's been getting an admin win against them since to make the table work).

This, combined with a Week 11 tie between SPECTRE Phantoms and Itza Iguanas, puts the El Dorado Tyrants into the top seed of the regular season with 22 Points! (Thanks to a head-to-head tiebreaker against SPECTRE).

Here's the current Tyrants roster:
http://www.bomfur.de/obblm/index.php?se ... obj_id=220

Four teams make the playoffs, all four are now set. As top seed, I pick my round one opponent. My choices are:

2 Seed: SPECTRE Phantoms (TV 1340+ Skaven)
An 11 man Skaven team. Already down a Gutter Runner. I beat them in Week 6, but since then they've developed a one-turner Gutter Runner. Once he picks his skill on his Stormvermin, he'll be getting 140k inducement against me at most - no wizard to deal with!
If I pick SPECTRE as an opponent, I will have to do my best to win by attrition. I'll have to check what the overtime rules are. The rest of the team is no problem, I can dominate this game on Strength, but a one-turner is a game changer unless I can get to him fast.

3 Seed: Gylfaginning (TV 1280 Necromantic)
Another tempting pick. A 12-player Necro team. They were doing quite well until their skilled Werewolf died; now, they're looking a bit thin at skill positions outside of one scary Ghoul. I lost to Gylfaginning in week 4 but both teams are very different since.
If I pick Gylfaginning, they will be harder to outnumber than SPECTRE, and their star Ghoul will be hard to take down. They'd be getting 220k of inducement, which is guaranteed to be something nasty, Setekh or a Wizard+Babe or something.
BUT, they don't have a one-turner.

4 Seed: Itza Iguanas (TV 1410k Lizardmen)
I beat the Iguanas in week 1, when we both had identical rosters. Both of our teams have developed in similar ways (to be fair, there aren't really that many realistic choices). He has more Block on his Saurii, and a Wrestle skink. My Kroxigor is better and I have an AG4 skink. But in general, our teams are close enough that I don't want to pick the Iguanas.

Reason: ''
"It's 2+ and I have a reroll. Chill out. I've got this!"
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Re: El Dorado Tyrants, Lizardmen (TV 1530, 8-1-2)

Post by rolo »

Semifinals have been played! Spoiler alert, El Dorado is going to the Rookie Super Bowl!

I chose Gylfaginning as my opponent. The Skaven were tempting, and I was looking forward to beating up easily broken linerats ... but those Gutter Runners, including the one-turner, were just a bit too scary. And Necromantic with one rookie wolf can't be that bad, right? Right??

Gylfaginning shows up with an Igor and Hack Enslash. El Dorado wins the cointoss and chooses Defense.

... and it started to look like "one of those f*cking games". A skink gets knocked out. Two Saurus stunned. Rookie Ghoul smashes the Kroxigor (Niggling Injury, healed by Apoth), another Sidestep skink lands in the CAS box. Hack Enslash keeps standing next to multiple Saurii and not going down. Blitz the Ballcarrier (Ghoul with Blodge, Sidestep) Push/Stumbles rerolled to Double Skulls. By the time I manage to free up a few Saurus and at least start playing defense, I'm down to 6 players on the field. Gylfaginning hands off to the rookie Wolf in turn 7, TD. Because nothing says "Screw You" like farming SPP in the playoffs.
(In their coach's defense, this was their third Werewolf. Their first one died in game 1, the second died at the end of the regular season. So he was paranoid about skilling this guy up. Also I was whining like a six year old in a toy store).

But that left me with two turns to equalize before halftime. And the Amazing Niniaga, super-skink (+AG and Sure Feet). Between returning KOs and pulling players from the bench, I could field 10 players. I move into position, turn 7 pickup fails, but then on turn 8, everything works. Block Niniaga free, 3+ pickup, 2+ handoff, then dodge dodge gfi gfi. No problem, nobody can stop Niniaga. 1:1. And the rest of my KOs come back!

Second half was that rarest of Blood Bowl moments - a tactical chess match. Neither of us lost any players from the field, the game was 11 on 11 the whole half. Niniaga and some Skink friends recover the deep kick. And then it was the ball carrier in a loose cage, moving back and forth in my own backfield, looking for an opening.

Eventually, I got a break from the weak point of every Necromantic team - the Ghouls. One got knocked down, the other failed a dodge, and while neither left the field, the turnover did let me surge forward. On turn 16, Niniaga saw a break, dodge dodge dodge, gfi gfi. No problem! Nobody can stop Niniaga!!!

El Dorado wins 2:1 and heads to the finals. Don't know yet who my opponent will be (Either Itza Iguanas [Lizardmen] or SPECTRE Phantoms [Skaven]). This is my first playoff win, ever, in this league, and now I'm one W away from the awesome trophy!

I suppose the lesson that I should be taking from this is, "Quit whining in the first half when it can still get better". But my takeaway was, "Whining totally works and will change your luck!". Apologies to my future opponents.

Reason: ''
"It's 2+ and I have a reroll. Chill out. I've got this!"
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Re: El Dorado Tyrants, Lizardmen (TV 1530, 8-1-3)

Post by rolo »

Season's over! And while second place is just first loser, i've had a couple days to reflect on this game (always helps) and you know what? If you'd offered me second place of 11 coaches in this Rookie season, I'd have taken it. Season 1, my Pro Elves just barely missed the playoffs, so this is definitely an improvement.

Two lizardmen teams. Throughout the season, I'd had a significant development advantage over the Itza Iguanas, but in the last two games, he went crazy with the casualty rolls and farmed all kinds of SPP. Our teams had started out with the same roster, and we were looking pretty similar going into the finals.

- Iguanas had a slight edge in Saurus development (5x Block, I had 4x Block and 1 Wrestle).
- Identical Kroxigors (Guard, Stand Firm).
- El Dorado had a slight Skink advantage (3x Sidestep, 1x hero with +AG and Sure Feet, he had 2x Sidestep+Diving Tackle)
- El Dorado had 8 Fan Factor to the Iguana's 5.

To be fair, there isn't room for much variation in early-game Lizardman builds.

Things didn't start off too great. Despite my Fan Factor advantage, both teams had equal FAME. Iguanas won the toss and chose offense. A weather change gave them a cheap touchback - their one Blockless Saurus gets the ball.

And their offense was pretty hard to stop. It just felt like every one of my turns started with at least one Saurus stunned on the ground, often a skink as well. I'm not complaining about my players staying on the field, but every player I can't use that turn makes things harder. Eventually he kills one of my Saurus (apoth stapled him up fine) and things don't get any easier.

All I could do is get a sidestepper on his blockless Saurus ball carrier on his turn 7 and 8. Bwa ha ha ha. He can't knock down the sidestepper on a blitz, but he can hand off on his turn 8 to a skink in a tackle zone. Best I could do, his dice worked on that turn. 0:1 TD.

I set up for my one turn attempt. The first couple blocks are pushes (yay) but then the Krox has to block ... Skull/Both Down ... Loner eats the reroll ... and I don't have my Kroxigor for the second half.

This didn't make my offense any easier. I had skinks on the bench to bring me up to 11 players, but I definitely missed my Kroxigor. I lose another Saurus and suddenly I'm outnumbered and seriously outstrengthed. Niniaga had the ball (he really is a superhero) but the Iguanas did a great job of having their diving tacklers screen him off. Eventually, with most of my Saurus pinned, I have to make a break for the other side. I can free up one sidestep Skink and a Saurus to escort him, but with some dice, the Iguanas can get a 2d blitz on Niniaga before he scores. Nothing I can do about it, he's just going to have to take the hit.
He can't. Ball on the ground, and the Iguanas diving tackle skinks swarm in. Damn damn.
Recover the ball but can't really do anything about it. I have one chance in the seventh, if I can knock down a diving tackler with a 3d Blitz, I can score ... nope.
Turn 8 ends on a failed dodge away from the diving tackler to force OT. 0:1 and I lose the Rookie Super Bowl.

Rookie season 3 starts soon, I'm playing Valkirya Vinland, my new amazon team :-D

Reason: ''
"It's 2+ and I have a reroll. Chill out. I've got this!"
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