What about having a playaction skill?

[Manic D]

This is copied from the New Concepts section (http://www.talkbloodbowl.com/phpBB2/vie ... highlight=). Thought some more people might see it here.

Okay. In American football a good part of the game are ball fakes. A skilled QB can fake a handoff to a running back and fool the defense to create room to throw a pass. I would love to see a skill reflect this in Blood Bowl. Here's my proposal for a rough "ball fake" skill:

Ball Fake, passing skill (perhaps a trait?)

Once per turn a player with ball fake skill may attempt a "ball fake handoff" to any player on his team in an adjacent square. The handoff is worked out as normal. A successful handoff places a second ball into play. Place the second ball onto the base of the player who the ball was haned off to. At the same time write on a scrap of paper which player has received the "real ball". Both balls remain in play until a throw or handoff is attempted by the player holding the real ball (a player holding the fake ball cannot pass or handoff) or until an opposing player moves withing 3 spaces of either ball carrier (representing the opponent's spotting the fake ball). When either one of these circumstances occurs the offensive coach must show the paper he wrote on to the defensive coach to prove which player has the real ball, at which point the fake ball is removed from play.

What do you guys think? I mean my write up is real roguh but I think the skill itself is a great idea.

[gken1]

i like the idea!

definitely would be fun to play against. I would put a one turn limit on it though. after that everyone knows who has the ball instead of the 3 square rule.

[Duke Jan]

At the same time write on a scrap of paper which player has received the "real ball".

OK, I got confused by this sentence. So the ball is either with the original ball carrier or the guy making the catch roll, right?

I like the idea

[Gorbad]

Right.

And as a 'novelty' skill, I like it, not sure if it should always be there, as that one blitz on the carrier is so crucial and game turning, but for fun value it could add something.

Heck, put it on the High Elf star player, and he might even be useful for a change...

[voyagers_uk]

so would this draw the pass blockers only for them to have to go prone...?

is that not a little too good for an almost no risk skill

[Gorbad]

Pass Block doesn't work on a Hand Off anyway, so no worries there.

[Pitch Dark]

This skills is very reminscant of that card where you create a second ball, know wich one I mean? And then you keep playing until one of the balls is in the endzone. (or the half ends).

I dont like the idea of writing anything down, Id like the gamemecanics for this (and any skill) to be on the board and nowhere else. Maybe there is another way to do it?

Possible alternatives:
The opponents team is so confused by the fake that they dont get to block or blitz that player next turn.
or
The player that receives the ball gets to an extra move action
or
The opponents are so blinded by the fake that the react to slow, thus the player that receives the ball gets to move x- extra steps. (or maybe a d6 extra steps, event though I personally dont like that, the less randomisation the better)

I dunno, theres gotta be tons of ways to act out this thoght, I just dont like it to be on a piece of paper next to the board.

[Manic D]

Yeah not to be critical but I don't really like any of those suggestions Pitch. The point of the fake is to cause defensive confusion not give extra movement or hinder blocking. What if you used the numbered tokens to keep track of who has the ball instead of writing it down?

[stormmaster1]

There would have to be a chance of dropping the ball, otherwise it would be a risk-free hand-off, with an extra benifit too. With no drops, you could always hand it over to the second player, but never drop the ball. I'd try it as is, but either make a failed roll result in a drop ball, or a 1 result fail in a dropped ball.

[Gorbad]

He posted that it would be 'a regular' handoff, so rolling as normal, i.e. with risk of not catching it.

You could argue for an extra roll, but one could also argue that 'losing' a skillslot is penalty enough.

And it's easily countered by moving a guy into the thrower/receiver TZ for the assist anyway.

I can see Skaven and Wood Elves getting some mileage out of it, but they should score easily anyway.

[girbaudattire]

i actually tried something like that with my house rules a long while ago.
I had something a little more simpler though.

A player with this skill makes a ball fake hand off. Work out hand off rolls as normal to emulate the fake being successful or unsuccesful. On a successful ball fake, any player with the pass block skill is considered to be fooled by the ball fake and may be moved by the coach 3 squares in a random direction by the scatter template on a D6 roll of 1-2 when a pass action is made. Pass action must be made in the same turn as the ball fake.

I actually had it at first so that opposing players with the pass block skill would be moved 3 squares in the desired direction of the coach with the player that has the ball fake skill.

[bloodnutt]

wot about at the start of the defending coachs' turn you roll a d6.... on a roll of 5 - 6, someone on the team realises who has the ball and alarms the team etc.... then who ever has the "real" ball gets a bonus action of moving half there normal movement and

1. if are on their half of the field they must attemp to PASS the ball showing that they are absolutely packing themselves....

2. on the oppisitions half they still move half movement but must move closer to the nearest widezone showing that they are trying to make a break for it (sorta thing)

i dunno just a thought....

[Fronko]

This is all way to complicated, I like the original idea, plain and simple (almost).

The player with "ball fake" skill (the "faker") can attempt a hand-off to another player (the "receiver"). This counts as the hand-off action for the turn and the coach of the moving team must declare he is attempting a fake action or the hand-off is resolved as a regular hand-off.

If the hand-off agility roll fails, the ball scatters as usual from the receivers square, turn-over, if no player of the moving team ends up with the ball.

If the agility roll succeeds, the coach can decide, which player keeps the ball and places the appropriate number token ... um .. somwhere, where the opposing coach cant see it.

If any opposing player gets into the tackle zone of either player (faker or receiver), the faking coach must reveal the number token and play continues as normal. It doesnt matter, whether the faking coach moves either of his players into an enemy tackle zone or if the opponent coach moves a player into either fakers tackle zone. As soon, as the players are adjacent, the fake is revealed.

This seems a quite "natural" ruling to me.

Well, the wording might need some more work, but the mechanics seem to be solid (IMHO).

[MusedFable]

Why even right down who has the ball. As soon as a player moves within 3 spaces just make the offensive coach choose which player has it. Likewise, on his turn he can just use his pass/handoff action with whichever player he wants.

In real life neither coach knows where the ball is untill a player gets close to one of the two ball carriers, or the coach desides to throw it with one of the two players.

[mattgslater]

Too complicated. How about this?

Play Action (Passing)
A player with this skill is expert at pretending to hand off the ball, but keeping it for a turn instead. The player takes a hand-off attempt as normal, but if successful the player using Play Action keeps a hold on the ball rather than handing it off. Until the beginning of your next team turn, the opposing team cannot use a blitz action to block the player.