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Re: Knights of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Commune (Brets)

Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2018 3:18 am
by Smeborg
SHORT FORM DEVELOPMENT PLAN

In case the above plans are over-complicated or confusing.

NORMAL SKILLS
---------------------------
Blitzers: Dodge, [Specialist], Sidestep, [Specialist]
Yeomen: Guard, [Undecided] (probably S-Firm, but Tackle and M-Blow are under consideration)
Peasants: [Undecided] (probably Wrestle, but Block is still under consideration, 1 will get D-Player), [Undecided]

DOUBLES SKILLS
----------------------------
Blitzers: M-Blow
Yeomen: Dodge
Peasants: [Undecided] (likely Guard, but other skills will be considered, especially if the lucky Peasant has a skill already)

STAT INCREASES:
-----------------------------
+ST: All players
+AG: Blitzers, Yeomen
+MA: Blitzers (only on a 6,4)
+AV: Peasants (only on a 6,4 and if they have Wrestle or Block already)

For the Peasants' skills, and the 2nd skill on Yeomen, I am waiting for more league experience before I decide. The essential character of these players (how they like to behave on the pitch) is not quite clear yet. I'm not holding my breath while I wait for the first skill-up on a Peasant.

Of 7 likely opponents, only 1 has not declared his team, and so far there are no Dwarfs or Chaos Dwarfs. This increases the attractiveness of early Dodge (1st normal skill on Blitzers, 1st doubles skill on Yeomen). Working rather well so far.

Next game is in a week's time, likely against Orcs.

Re: Knights of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Commune (Brets)

Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2018 9:48 pm
by Smeborg
OPPONENTS

Another opponent has declared, making it:

3 x Orcs
1 x Gobbo
1 x Slann
1 x DE
1 x PE
+ of course my Brets

So, a rather weird bi-polar split between 3 Orcs and 3 AG teams, with 1 Stunty team as the joker. No Dwarfs or CDs as yet, presumably this is good news for the AG teams and the Gobbos (but also perhaps for the Brets). We are expecting 1 other coach to join the league - he usually likes to play Dwarfs, but IIRC, he last talked about Orcs (!).

A slightly odd test-bed, but at least it is an equal mixture of AG and bash.

Re: Knights of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Commune (Brets)

Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2018 1:41 am
by Smeborg
DECISIONS, DECISIONS

Since I have a full roster, and the princely sum of 20,000 gold pieces in my treasury, I think I will go on a wild spending spree and buy 1 Assistant Coach and 1 Cheerleader.

Heady stuff.

Re: Knights of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Commune (Brets)

Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2018 7:28 pm
by Smeborg
CHANGES, CHANGES

There is a new entrant to the league, Undead. Good, though it means more dreaded M-Blow to hurt my gallant little chappies.

My upcoming game against Orcs has been postponed a week, and instead I am unexpectedly up against the league-leading Dark Elves for a grudge match. They have won 4/4 so far, including beating me 2-1. An aggregate Agility deficit of 15 is always an interesting starting point!

My opponent is a strong coach, though lacking somewhat in tabletop experience. He has learnt much of his BB on the net, and as a result, when not thinking for himself, he can be a bit of a Montgomery (i.e. "cautious, habit-ridden and systematic"). I suspect online influences in his roster and skill choices. He is, I think, new to DEs, at least in tabletop. I am expecting to concede modest inducements.

He started his roster with 3 Blitzers and a Witch Elf (I consider 4 Blitzers and a Runner to be stronger, for the 4th Block and early Leader). He has given the WE Block (I prefer Wrestle). He also has an AG5 Blitzer. I do not know what other skills he now has (there will doubtless be several more). He is suffering "Journeymen'R'Us" syndrome (very typical of DEs early in their first season), so I know I have an advantage in numbers (14 to 11 presumably). So already the match is likely to have a different feel.

I will have to see how I can hammer home the numbers advantage. I also doubtless have an advantage in Guard, what with 3 of them. I may even deploy all 3 Guarders on the defensive LoS, if it takes my fancy (not least because the Fend of the Peasants is of more use in the Wide Zone against Frenzy).

Re: Knights of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Commune (Brets)

Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2018 11:31 am
by Smeborg
5th MATCH vs. DARK ELVES = WIN 2-1 (CAS 1-2). HALF-TIME SCORE: 0-1.

A superb win on "pure skill" against the league leader (read on...).

My opponent had been having money problems (e.g. twice re-rolled a 2 to get a 1) and had spent his money on a 3rd Team Re-roll (with DEs, I prefer to take a Runner for early Leader). Consequently he had the same positional players as before, albeit with more skills: Witch Elf with Block/M-Blow, 3 Blitzers (1 with +AG, 1 with Dodge), and the rest Linos (1 with Wrestle, 2 of them Journeywomen). Perfect TV differential, 40,000 in my opponent's favour, no inducements. The lack of Dodge worked in my favour, as I was able to mark up his players when appropriate.

I won the kick-off roll, and chose to receive, hoping to capitalise on my numbers advantage (albeit the extra numbers were in the dugout). The DEs got a Blitz!, luckily for me the kick was deep, my opponent did not pressure the ball (IMO he should have). However, disaster struck in the form of a KO'd Yeoman on turn 1 (thanks to the M-Blow of the Witch Elf) and a CAS'd Yeoman with Guard (Badly Hurt) on turn 2. The KO'd Yeoman did not return, failing all 4 aubsequent KO recovery rolls.

Being down on numbers (9 vs. 11) after just 2 turns, I had little choice but to run the ball as fast as I could (down the sideline as it turned out). My opponent perhaps did not block this manoeuvre as well as he might, but to be fair, nearly all his dodge rolls were 1s. Things went pretty well, but on my 5th or 6th turn I attempted a naked go-for-it (no Re-roll) to the End Zone and fell over, stunning the Blitzer who was carrying the ball, and scattering it off the pitch then into the arms of my opponent. Disaster! (Perhaps I could havs stalled, but I did not fancy it, as I had only a half-cage, and the ball carrier would have been on the sideline, faing a Witch Elf and an AG 5 Blitzer in his vicinity.) My opponent scored on his turn 7, as I had few players in my backfield (though I managed a 1-die Blitz action with Re-roll on the Blodge ball-carrier - it failed).

The turn 8 "1-turn mash" turned comical, with my first roll being a double skull, my opponent returning the favour with a 1,1 dodge. So, 0-1 down at half time and kicking! Still, a not unfamiliar experience, especially in tournament games, "true grit" is required (and especially the mindset that you can still win).

2nd half: I needed all 3 of my reserves from now on (a Peasant was CASd late in the 1st half). Immediate good fortune, with my lone M-Blow working for the first time in the tournament, to get a CAS (Death) on a Journeywoman. Being 1-up on numbers allowed me to pressure the ball and mark-up opposing players, setting in train the first "pure skill" sequence. First I sacked the various ball carriers 3 times (4+ dodge, 4+dodge, 3+dodge, 2xGFI, 1 die Blitz needing a 4+, no Re-roll required, followed by 4+dodge, 4+dodge, 3+dodge, 2xGFI, 1-die Blitz needing 5+, no Re-roll required, followed by 3+dodge, 3+dodge, 1xGFI, Blitz against Blodge ball-carrier at 6+, re-rolled, succeeded). My only scoring player in the tournament, Blitzer no.4 (Muscat de Beaumes de Venise) caught the bouncing ball after he had made the 3rd sack, held onto it (despite 6 dice of Blocks against him), and dodged away to score on my turn 5 or 6. (Nominal odds of success: 1 in 400.)

Receiving again, I got "lucky" with a Blitz!, broke through the line, and positioned the very same player, Blitzer no.4, next to the ball. It scattered to him, and he again indulged in a sequence of pure skill, this time surviving 9 dice of Blocks, ending the turn surrounded by some 5 enemy players. However, I found a chain-push, getting him nearer the End Zone, and a mere 4+dodge followed by a 3+dodge saw him score the winning TD (as was becoming customary, no form of Re-roll required). (Nominal odds of success: 1 in 1,000.)

There then followed a slightly mad scramble, in which I got another Blitz!, my (perhaps disheartened) opponent did not seriously attempt to score, I got the ball again (Blitzer no.4, of course), but finally got sacked, leaving the final score at 2-1 to me. One of the jammier wins of my my brief but ilustrious BB career (and I have had a few).

Re: Knights of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Commune (Brets)

Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2018 10:02 pm
by Smeborg
LESSONS FROM MATCH 5

DARK ELVES: For any Dark Elf coaches out there, there are many lessons from this match. My opponent Blitzed systematically for CAS, rather than for position. This favoured the Brets, as it meant more space, and less pressure on the ball. The DEs failed to get a Receiver upfield when they were in possession, but down on numbers. My opponent did not systematically give the ball to Blodgers, making my ball-sacks slightly less ludicrous. To be only fair to him, the Brets were truly blessed by Nuffle (the neighbours are starting to complain to the Council about the burnt offerings in the garden).

Block/M-Blow on the Witch Elf worked rather well for 1 drive, but failed utterly on 2 others (Wrestle would have brought down the Bret ball carrier, likely saving 2 TDs, each worth 2, making Wrestle on the Witch Elf worth up to 4 TDs in this match). O all ye Dark Elf coaches, hearken unto me! Hard to tell whether the 3rd Re-roll on the DE roster was worthwhile, they certainly needed and used it in this match (but I suspect I would have found a 5th positional player - Witch Elf or Blitzer - more intimidating). My opponent has played DEs a little online - I suspect his "bad habits" derive from that environment (which for sure is different and more brutal, but also more "cautious, habit-ridden and systematic").

MOBILITY: Aggregate movement of the teams was exactly matched. In the 2nd half I had to play with 5 rookie Peasants (6327 Fend). Although this meant that I was at an aggregate Agility disadvantage of 17 (i.e. more than 1.5 per player!), I found that the Peasants could easily hold their own against rookie DE Linos (plus I got lucky of course). I used them to mark up a lot. Fend worked well enough, for example by denying assists in the blockchain. Had my opponent had a more developed roster with plentiful Dodge, I suspect I would have found life more difficult (because the DEs would have been much more mobile).

NUMBERS: The lesson continues, in that every scoring drive was won by the team that was up on numbers. Even being 1 player up was a significant advantage for the Brets, it meant greater pressure on the ball, and the DEs were always 1 player short of being able to screen the ball carrier properly. At the other end of the park, establishing a Receiver became more difficult for them. M-Blow worked for the first time in the tournament for Brets (a fitting and spectacular kill).

BRETS: Guard was very good, even 1 of them (the other was CASd on turn 1 or 2). Dodge was simply outstanding, both in holding the ball (against 15 dice of Blocks), and in sacking the ball-carrier 3 times (however ludicrously). The 14-man roster was just enough, I played with the bare 11 for the last 3 drives. Having 8 x Block/Wrestle against 5 was only a slight advantage, as 2 of my Yeomen flew into the dugout early (making it 6:5 for 90% of the match). Practically every turn was quite tense for both players - Brets would not appear to be a team for the faint-hearted.

Re: Knights of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Commune (Brets)

Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2018 4:02 am
by Smeborg
TEAM ROSTER AFTER 5 GAMES

Blitzer: - (2 SPPs - CAS)
Blitzer: M-Blow (7 SPPs - CAS, MVP)
Blitzer: Dodge (6 SPPs - 3xCAS)
Blitzer: Dodge, M-Blow (26 SPPs - 8xTDs, CAS)
Yeoman: Guard (10 SPPs - 2xMVPs)
Yeoman: - (5 SPPs - MVP)
Yeoman: Guard (9 SPPs - 2xCAS, MVP)
Yeoman: - (0 SPPs)
6 x Rookie Peasants with no SPPs
2xRRs, 1AC, 1CL, Apoth, 4xFF, TV135

SPPs: The team is earning just 8 SPPs per game (plus the MVP), meaning 1 skill per game at the moment. This is a relatively slow and plodding rate, almost reminiscent of early Nurgle. Excluding MVPs, a single Blitzer has earned 65% of the teams SPPs. The Blitzers have earned 90% of the SPPs, the Yeomen 10%, and the Peasants 0%, zero, zilch, nada. I think this is what the statisticians politely call a "skewed" distribution. Blitzer no.4 (Muscat de Beaumes de Venise) is zooming inexorably towards his 3rd skill.

SKILL-UP: Just the one this time, another Blitzer gets M-Blow (4,4). It seems my team is determined to play a previous version of the Bret roster, when the Blitzers were cooking with GAS. Let's see if the 2 x M-Blow has any impact against the Orcs next week.

MISSING IN ACTION: Still a long way from Leader and S-Hands. I expect this will bite me at some stage.

Re: Knights of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Commune (Brets)

Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2018 8:18 am
by Smeborg
THE CHARACTER OF TEAMS

It seems to me that in Blood Bowl, each team (race) has a character defined, not so much as what it can do, but by what it is forced to do. For example, Dwarfs are forced to inflict CAS (and to grind for 8 turns), because they have no other way to win. With this in mind, I am still trying to establish the essential character of Bretonnians. So far this is some of what I see:

- They play badly when down on numbers (some teams don't care so much),

- They play well when up on numbers (even when this advantage is slight, e.g. +1),

- They have difficulty stalling (delaying the time they take to score). I have not managed an 8-turn grind in the first 5 games.

- They struggle to score on short drives (e.g. 2 or even 3 turns).

- They are very sensitive to drive length (they like to extend their own drives, and to shorten the opponent's).

- They are a "pure" running team (hand-offs are rare, and in 5 games I have made perhaps 2 pass attempts, failing both).

- The behaviour of the 3 different player-types is markedly different. These differences increase further with development (at least in the cases of Blitzers and Yeomen).

Interesting stuff, I hope you will agree. The main development lesson I take is that the team has a need to inflict at least some damage (which goes somewhat against the grain of normal skill access). Also a need for skills that help them stay on the pitch. Other weaknesses are perhaps not so easily remedied.

Re: Knights of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Commune (Brets)

Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2018 10:50 pm
by Smeborg
ADDITIONS: I should add the following to perceived Bret team characteristics:

- They look quite good on defense (4 TDs conceded, 4 scored when kicking). On offense, far from special (4 TDs scored, 2 conceded when receiving). I suspect the better than average defense is part of the natural character of the team (plasmoid's stats would appear to support this view). Twice in 5 games the Brets have come from behind to win.

- So far, they have been reasonably resilient. My team has (surprisingly to me) one of the best CAS ratios in the (very young) league (CAS inflicted, CAS received, net CAS per game). Only the Gobbos (with their 2 x M-Blow + Secret Weapons) are doing better. Perhaps this is attributable to the healthy quantum of starting Block/Wrestle. Of 7 CAS received, 3 were Permaent Injuries (2 were saved by the Apoth, 1 was a retirement offence - Peasant, Apoth not used). I am not confident these healthy CAS ratios will be maintained once other teams skill up.
**************************************
Not unrelated: I am considering "loading up" on M-Blow. I have 2 already on the Blitzers - if I give it as second skill to the Yeomen (after Guard), I could get 6 or more. This would make the 3 key acquired skills of the team to be: Dodge, Guard, M-Blow. Starting with Wrestle does have the estimable advantage that Tackle can be delayed. Even 4 x Dodge, 4 x Guard, 4 x M-Blow, 1 x D-Player sounds pleasing. Nibbling away at the opponent's numbers would seem to fit the playstyle of the team (I don't envisage taking P-On or more than one D-Player - but neither do I rule these out yet).

Re: Knights of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Commune (Brets)

Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2018 5:01 am
by Smeborg
ARE BRETS A "BASH" TEAM?

I have reached the provisional conclusion that Brets are a bash team. Sure, they are ST3 (so were old Norse), and sure their AV is relatively low (but higher than current Norse). In 2 important respects, they behave just like Orcs or Dwarfs or Nurgle:

- They are very sensitive to the numbers game (the team with superior numbers will win the drive). Other teams care less about this.

- They hate being given a short time to score (e.g. 2 or 3 turns).

And they share 1 important characteristic with Norse, Dwarfs and CDs:

- Lots of blocking skills in the starting roster.

This perception inclines me more to a bashy/hurty development plan (especially Guard+M-Blow on the Yeomen). I find the double heresy curiously pleasing (Wrestle+Guard and Wrestle+M-Blow). The former I have tried and found good (e.g. on Slann Linos), the latter is yet to be tested.

Re: Knights of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Commune (Brets)

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2018 5:27 pm
by speedingbullet
I’ve now played my first game with Brets, a 2-0 win. Difficult to draw conclusions so early in the season though and particularly as my opponent (coaching humans) was a little ring rusty having not played tabletop for years.

I was happy during the game with the 3 blitzer starting roster, with the deeper bench this allows and the apoth. However, only rolling a 2 for winnings (re-rolled to a 2), it may take me while to raise the cash for the 4th blitzer. In the meantime, due to a MNG peasant, my deeper roster is a little depleted.

One blitzer managed a skill up and I went for Sure Hands based on experience from the game. In Turn 1, receiving, I failed to pick up the ball. In Turn 2 the same thing happened and to avoid significant pressure on my cage I elected to use a reroll which fortunately was successful. Early in Turn 3 I rolled a double skull and that was both my rerolls used with 5 turns still to go and half the field to travel to score a touchdown. This influenced me to choose Sure Hands rather than Dodge as the first skill on a blitzer.

Interesting that you haven’t used hand off actions. I plan to pick up the ball with my Sure Hands blitzer and then, at carefully chosen moments, use hand off actions to spread touchdown SPPs to the other blitzers. Without Sure Hands, I assume you are spreading the SPPs simply by choosing different blitzers to pick up the ball.

Hopefully I’ll play a second game with Brets later this week.

Re: Knights of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Commune (Brets)

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2018 9:59 pm
by Smeborg
Hi Jim -

I have used hand-offs quite rarely. The only one in the league (in 5 games) that I remember was a turn 8 hand-off to an unmarked Blitzer within range of scoring - it failed, costing me the win (1st game). I think I have occasionally planned hand-offs to Yeomen (e.g. on turns 8 and 16), but the moves have failed before getting that far (e.g. failed pick-up). To be fair, there have been a number of occasions where I have contemplated hand-offs.

I have used hand-offs much more in test games (against myself). But I think in a match with a live opponent, hand-off attempts to upfield Blitzers are telegraphed and thus easy to stop. It seeems to me that mid-pitch hand-offs are more likely to succeed, and can wrong-foot the opposition (ball can be moved 15 squares with no GFIs).

I don't particularly like the odds of (say) a 3+ dodge, followed by a 3+ hand-off (unless forced). Chance of failure: 21%. Even worse for a 4+ hand-off to a marked Blitzer, followed by a 3+ dodge (chance of failure: 33%). NoS would be a good skill on a Blitzer, making hand-off moves hard to defend against. But there are so many good skills to choose from (and 2 out of 4 skill-ups on my Blitzers have been doubles = M-Blow, lol).

My skill choices are driven partly by my environment (3/7 of my opponents are Orcs, and we have no Dwarfs or Chaos Dwarfs). Thus I am going with Dodge as first normal skill on the Blitzers, and first doubles skill on the Yeomen (none such yet). For both protection and mobility. I like that I can use the Dodge RRs every turn as needed. And it allows me to pull off ludicrous ball sacks. Blitzers with M-Blow will likely take Tackle rather than Leader or S-Hands (for the same reasons as given, Dodge is a popular skill pick on other teams in the league - e.g. there is at least 1 Orc Thrower with Dodge). I will consider Frenzy after that.

I have been running the ball as follows: (1st) with the same Blitzer until he got 2 TDs and a skill-up (Dodge). (2nd) with him again, being the best ball-carrier (because: Dodge - it paid off). No opportunities arose to hand-off to other Blitzers for SPP spreading. (3rd) with the second Blitzer to get Dodge. He has failed to make it to the End Zone every time - the original Blitzer has been scooping up the spilt ball and scoring instead. Thus one Blitzer has 8/8 TDs - certainly not by my choice, but you have at least to admire him. The same Blitzer has been scoring on Blitz! results - a factor of which side of the pitch the ball was kicked to, rather than coach choice.

I have been "lucky" so far on the damage front. Starting with an Apoth worked very well (otherwise I would have 2 crippled positional players from the first 2 games).

Let us know how you get on. I face Orcs tomorrow.

Re: Knights of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Commune (Brets)

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2018 10:34 pm
by speedingbullet
Alas this evenings game was cancelled due to the weather (snow and strong winds) we are having at the moment. With a little luck it can be rearranged for next week.

Re: Knights of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Commune (Brets)

Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2018 5:28 pm
by speedingbullet
My second league game was against Chaos last night. It started well enough with a solid drive for 1-0. However, despite my opponent being relatively inexperienced I was pressured sufficiently to feel like I had to score after 5 turns which tends to support your view that Brets find it difficult to stall, at least against bash teams.

In fact, the first half was very one sided in favour of my Brets as we both rolled lots of 2 dice blocks with Skull and Both Down being the result. This clearly demonstrated the obvious advantage of the Bret roster (7 x Block or Wrestle) in comparison to the Chaos roster (0 x Block or Wrestle). However, the end result was only 2 x KOs (a Beastman and a Warrior) and by the time we started the second half both had recovered consciousness. Oh, for some Mighty Blow!

The second half was very one sided in favour of Chaos. I suffered a KO and a cas on the LOS and a 2nd cas in turn 2. My opponent caged and advanced steadily and my players kept disappearing to the dugout. The last quarter was played with only 6 Brets on the pitch and I was completely outmatched. My opponent’s 2 dice block luck was good throughout the second half i.e. he always seemed to get a Pow or a Defender Stumbles on at least one of the 2 dice and there were no Skull and Both Down combinations.

Final score 1-1 (0-3 cas). No serious injuries fortunately (thanks to a successful apoth) but 2 Yeoman are missing the next game which is a blow. I gained 70k in winnings which leaves me frustratingly 10k short of the 4th Blitzer. C’est la vie!

With regard to starting roster, I was very happy in game 1 to have only 3 Blitzers but 12 players and an apoth. In game 2, I only had 11 starting players due to a MNG. In game 3 I will only have 11 starting players courtesy of a Journeyman (thanks to the 2 MNG Yeoman) and I still won’t have the 4th Blitzer. I’m now thinking that a 4 Blitzer and 4 Yeoman starting roster would have been the better way to start.

Re: Knights of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Commune (Brets)

Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2018 9:21 pm
by plasmoid
I know some people find blitzers a touch overpriced, but really - who else is going to win the game?
I’m fond of starting with 4 blitzers, 2 Yeomen, 7 linemen, 2 rerolls
Cheers
Martin