Talk Fantasy Football

This is just an idea and has not been at all playtested by the small face-to-face blood bowl league that I play in. That being said, what feedback do you have about the following concept:

Suppose that the kickoff procedure was altered such that the kick doesn't actually fall from the sky until the receiving team experiences a turnover. In other words, on the opening kick, the kick isn't taken until after the first team has moved. A player moving into the space with the ball is getting in position to take the kick, and will have an opportunity to make a catch roll at the end of the turn.

First of all, this totally eliminates one-turn scoring unless the kicking team kicks off out of bounds. It also takes a little of the sting out of the 'blitz' kickoff result, giving the recieving team a chance to react before the ball is in play. On the other hand, it will create a number of loose balls early in the drive (and could be very tough on teams without catchers or access to agility skills).

What does anyone think of this as a variant rule?

Bookman

It sounds fun! But obviously none of the serious players would ever accept it.

It would change the way BB is played quite a lot. If the ball was kicked short, teams would have to form a cage around the ball, rather than moving ball to cage.

Worth playtesting. I'm intrigued.

Would make Kick a very good skill indeed!

Intersting idea.

It would change the strategy around initial turns quite a lot. Kicking long against slow teams would be even more advantageous than it is now.

2 turn scores would be much harder, and it would emphase catch over sure hands.

If you wanted to do it I might suggest lengthening the halves too (9 or 10 turns) so compensate for the loss of time in possession.

Normally I don't like any drastic changes, but this is interesting.

Maybe it could be one of the more common kick-off results?

Micke

YES.... like a Kick Off result it sound interesting....
Even if sometimes it can be deceiving for a OTS team... in the last turn of second half....

I really deslike the KO table having a so huge impact on games, and in our league we only use it in the begging of each half.... but this would be an interesting result...

wow, a revolutionary suggestion and you not even being German.

I like it, is it too late to suggest it to the BBRC?

someone nudge Neo

I agree - as one of the more common kick-off results it's a nice idea.

It also lessens the impact of who kicks first I think.

Thanks for your positive feedback! Despite being a Yank, I'm no rules lawyer and don't know if I can write it up in an unambigous way; however, here's an attempt to write it up as a kickoff result:

High Kick
The kick sails extraordinarily high, and doesn't come down in time for the offence to start their drive. Scatter the kick as usual. If the kick is not a touchback, place the ball marker but do not attempt a catch roll or bounce the kick. No player may attempt to pick up the ball until after the receiving team's turn following the kickoff. At the end of that turn, a standing player in the same square with the ball may attempt a catch; otherwise bounce the ball as usual.

A bit wordy for the kickoff table perhaps. Any obvious flaws? On a revised kickoff table this might make a good companion with "bad kick" in the 6 and 8 slots on the table, perhaps pairing up 'quick snap' with 'perfect defense' at 5 and 10 and moving blitz to a less likely number than 10.

Bookman

--edited the wording slightly for clarity

As an overall kickoff change I don't really like it but it would be a great replacement to "Weather seems to be changing". the most common rolled kickoff result. Definatly a fun Kickoff result advantagous to the defense.

Either it could be a Kick-Off Table result or, as in 2nd Edition, perhaps it could become a skill! Imagine a player being able to choose it as a skill, then be able to use it on any kickoff he makes. Like Kick skill, except with the effect that the ball falls to earth after the receiving team's first turn, with scatter as normal (unless it's windy...our league will be using John Lewis' Stadiums & Weather rules from BBMag 9 in our next season, and that promises some interesting action).

I like this idea.
Great as a kick-off result.
As a skill..... I don't know.

One thing though: Perhaps sure hands should give a reroll on catching a kick-off. Otherwize a lot of teams will basically have a straight 4+ at the end of their turn, meaning that a kicking team would have a very good chance of being first on the ball.
I don't like that so much.
Martin

Plasmoid, I had the same thought. That's something that playtesting would help to show, but it seems to me that an equitable solution would be to allow Sure Hands or Catch to allow a skill re-roll on taking the kick.

Bookman

I Think if this was used every kick off then it would slow the game down too much. I use a similar up and under result on my Kick off result table, but definitely not every time. I think this may possibly favour Bashy/Running teams even more

plasmoid wrote:I like this idea.
Great as a kick-off result.
As a skill..... I don't know.

One thing though: Perhaps sure hands should give a reroll on catching a kick-off. Otherwize a lot of teams will basically have a straight 4+ at the end of their turn, meaning that a kicking team would have a very good chance of being first on the ball.
I don't like that so much.
Martin

Sure Hands wouldn't be necessary, just use the Catch skill (that's what it's there for, no?) Catch is for catching (or rerolling) balls caught out of the air, while Sure Hands is for picking the ball up off the ground or preventing Strip Ball from working.

As far as an Up and Under skill (I was wracking my brain trying to remember the name it had, until I saw it in a previous message on this thread), the rule could be that one cannot use it in tandem with the Kick skill. That'd be too easy. As for the idea that a receiving player could just camp out under the target square, the kick would still scatter as normal (maybe Diving Catch skill could be handy there), so there would not be the certainty of catching the pigskin once it came back down. If the scatter were delayed until the ball actually came down, there'd be some added uncertainty/chaos mixed in.

Play it right, and any team could benefit, not just the thug teams, especially if an Up & Under is called and a Blitz! result comes up on the Kick-Off Table...

DesTroy wrote: Sure Hands wouldn't be necessary, just use the Catch skill (that's what it's there for, no?) Catch is for catching (or rerolling) balls caught out of the air, while Sure Hands is for picking the ball up off the ground or preventing Strip Ball from working.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure we all understand the stated descriptions of the skills in the LRB. But if this process were in place for all kickoffs and if it could be used in conjunction with the kick skill then its pretty clear that something would need to be done for teams without access to agility skills.

DesTroy wrote:Play it right, and any team could benefit, not just the thug teams, especially if an Up & Under is called and a Blitz! result comes up on the Kick-Off Table...

I agree. That's one of the things that I find appealing about this idea...it doesn't seem obvious to me that it will aid either bashy teams or speedy teams. Obviously, it can affect the OTS (but that's a good thing, right?), but it could create vulnerable balls (helps speedy teams when defending) and can force teams to take the ball closer to the LOS (which should help bashy teams when defending).

That's just an impression. Testing would definately be needed.

Bookman