Talk Fantasy Football

Following the interest on rescuing my Human team after a dire season start to the 2010 Christchurch Blood Bowl League (New Zealand) I submit the BLOG for everyone's amusment/comment. I shall re-submit the initial four game's results to recap.

Starting Roster:
1x Ogre
4x Blitzers
1x Catcher
1x Thrower
4x Linemen
3x RR
10k in the bank.

First Game:
After my first game (vs Rookie Orc side) the TD's were 3-0 against and CAS 3-2 against. The major flaw was that my lone catcher was killed, on the plus side the Ogre killed an Orc.

The game wasn't such a white-wash as the TD's suggest, I had a resonable shot at a first (my) half TD at about T6 but with the preassure mounting the Ogre went stupid and I had to 'go around' him. The resultant, still reasonable dodge rolls meant a spilled ball, turn-over and 3-turn stomp up the pitch to finish the first half.

With the Orcs starting their half fully catered for with most of my team in the KO bin PLUS a dead catcher there wasn't much I could do to stop their 2nd. Their 3rd was a cocky/desparate play by me that I could/should have guarded against, but with so few players couldn't keep my TD hopes alive without some risks... that blew-up in my face. To add insult to injury I also only won 10k...

I always knew that this roster would be 'risky' i.e. 11 players including a 'stupid' loner, however I must admit to being a bit be-fuddled. I'll be starting my second game with my 10man roster plus journeyman and still no Apothecary. I'm still happy to play on and assume that this is meagrely part of such a risky roster and it'll come right in a while.

Second game:
Well, what to say... I ended up playing another Orc side (TV118 versus my TV97) for my second game and come out second best again. 2-0TD Loss and 7-0 CAS loss! My TV after Journeymen is now 84. *GULP*

The Cas break-down was 3x Dead (Thrower and 2x Blitzers), 1x Miss Next Game (Ogre) and 3x Badly hurt. I'll be fielding 5 Journeymen for the next game, making a total of 9 Linemen and 2 Blitzers... not much fun! I am convinced this result was down to more bad-luck than bad play (available players considering) as the the CAS rate alone indicates close to 20 knockdowns per turn on average... obviously well in excess of what is physically possible!

I'm prepared to soldier on with this team and if nothing else squeeze every learning angle I can out of this badly beat-up bunch of noble (read: foolish) warriors. The main learning point form this game is that Catchers are a potent score threat and the combined DODGE/CATCH skills make them something to be feared. This scoring threat gives the humans a 'distraction' type of play fitting in with my earlier "Play the off-side" ethos. It's not taht you can't do this with other playes (Blitzers being an obvious choice) but you'll be burning RR's a-plenty with-out the specialist skills.

I had tried this approach with the blitzers in the above game and it was looking good until a bodged 93% 'certanty' of a block led to an early T4 turn-over and spilled ball. This was all the Orcs needed to bring their full numbers to bare and crush my AV8 'sheild' on the ball and grind it in for a T8 score. Starting with only 7players in the second half (and kicking) meant that the result was already a for-gone conclusion.

I am also considering that the Ogre should be used more a as a Blitzer type than Blocker and start the drive off the LOS as he is often isolated and flattened once his flanking linemen are pushed/knocked away from the LOS. By using him more as a 'threat' and 'wedge' for what I am considering to be the typical half-way human "chuck or run" gambit would be a better use of his S5 bulk rather than committing him to a rough (and probably short) life on the LOS.

Any further thought to my musing is, as always, welcome.

Third Game:
The on going (mis)fortunes of the Middenheim Municipals: 1-2TD Loss (0-5 CAS) against. 4CAS were in the last four turns!

Generally a positive result even if it doesn’t look like it on paper. With a TV difference of 16 (my 84 verses the 'new' 100) I induced a Thrower with LEADER. This thrower was central to my plans!

Electing to receive in the first half saw me ‘store’ the ball deep and knock holes in the Amazon line and pull them out of shape. A few linewomen made a lunge for the Thrower (more than far enough away, even with GFI’s). This was my cue to clear some space around a Blitzer before creating a shield for the Thrower and chucking it down field. The pass succeeded burning the LEADER re-roll for the catch and the Blitzer zoomed off out of harm’s way down the field. A sack attempt was manufactured but several GFI’s burned the TRR and also resulted in a turn-over before the Blitz could be brought home. 1-0 to MM’s on Turn 4.

The next drive saw the Amazon’s dodging their way down field and putting the ball across the line on T8. By this point it was clear that a man (or woman) marking scheme was not going to work. A lack of TACKLE also saw the Amazon’s survive most of the blocking on their feet.

With this lesson under my belt most of the next half saw me deploy a two-deep screen of players across the width of the pitch until a gap opened up in the ‘cage’. This attack on the ball spilt it only to bounce deeper into a group of Amazons. With only 4turns of the game left a second blitz attempt saw my single remaining Blitzer CAS’d with many more Humans thrown onto the cage to pressure the ball. Only too late it showed that this approach failed and exposed gaps in the line and allowed the girls to exploit it. A series of dramatic blocks saw the CAS count soar from 1 to 5 by the end of the game. A bitter blow was an ‘actual’ lineman killed only to be pronounced dead by the Apoth.

Reflecting on this game leaves me with mainly positives. My T4 score shows that Human’s can still score with Blitzers, even with-out catchers. With an induced mercenary Thrower, therefore 12th man) it is looking like the Municipal’s may just have a glimmer of hope. The 60k winnings from this game allowed me to buy a third Blitzer and my Ogre returns for the next game!

I have now conceeded 17CAS in three games (!?!?!) of which 5 are deaths. My luck must surely change before long!

Fourth Game:
The Municipal's have now had their fourth game and first win (2-0 TD's 2-2 CAS)! Using an induced Thrower (with-out LEADER this time) this team of mainly Journeymen performed rather well... considering.

Using the Journeymen as fodder and assists, the linemen and blitzers have become my main scoring threats. The induced Thrower is not only the 12th man, but his skill based re-rolls are a god-send and of course, not affected by loner!

Lessons learned: Keeping in mind that I was at one point down to TWO blitzers (from four) and FOUR linemen I'm glad I've precevered. I've learned a great deal about ST3, AG3 team play as I've had to get real creative with this limping bunch of Heroes (read: Fools). These guys are still in it and I'm definately keeping them going as a first lineman has skilled up with GUARD on a double 4 and I'm very impressed with the versitility of the humans even in the most dire of situations. They may not be fully in the clear yet (TV still 92 with blitzer and GUARD lineman missing the next game) but at least there's a light at the end of the tunnel.

Over-all, Game 5 - WIN:
Verus a 1-game-old Chaos side. 1-0TD to me and 1-1Cas. I recieved a Niggle on a lineman (I didn’t apoth it on T2 of first half) and his was only a BH on a Beastman. The TV difference (150k) was enough for me to induce a Merc Thower with LEADER again.

First Half:
With-out BLOCK skill the opponent's excessive 2Dblocks burnt his re-rolls by T4 and allowed early turn-overs and allowed me to get a sack attempt on his ball carrier. This two’d and for’d for a turn or two before my blitzer stole the ball away and used his MA7 to get far enough away to stall until the end of the half for a T8 TD.

Second Half:
After weathering a BLITZ I finally received the ball and buried it deep in my half, my opponent shut down all receiver positions and camped on the half-way line. I only managed to manufacture one receiver per turn, so it wasn’t too hard for him to shut-down my options and my T7 TD attempt further shut-down to end a rather boring bash-heavy half.

Full time:
My 'man of the match' was the Ogre (Norm’n Thorg) who took all the abuse my opponent could throw at him and tied down two Warriors and a beastman or two. A worthy investment for me as it equates to my 140k versus his 260k+, Norm also survived a foul attempt (with +3) only to have his assailant sent off!

MVP to a blitzer who has rolled a normal skill. Not sure what to give him, perhaps Mighty Blow (nice and general), Tackle (Stunty hunter) or Guard (reasonably general).

60k winnings, so not sure whether to buy a ‘proper’ lineman in the form of the Journeyman who got the CAS (+2SPP's) or save for a Blitzer or possibly thrower.

Roster currently stands as:
Ogre
3x Blitzers (+1 skill as above)
4x Linemen (1xGUARD & 1xMNG)

Comments and advice welcome.

Overall: 1-0TD (0-0CAS)
With only a TV difference of 40K I wasn’t able to get any inducements and so was highly nervous about lacking the skills.. and a twelfth man!

First half:
Nathan won the roll-off but allowed me to receive. The ball went for a touchback so didn’t need surehands in the end. After seeing which way Nathan loaded the wings I switched to the other wing and made a drive up the side of the pitch. After a bit of bashing on the centreline my original lineman made a dash for the line well in the clear. An honourable mention should once more go to Norm’n Thorg who soaked up the blocks of 3-4 players each turn and ended up being fouled. Not only did he survive unscathed but his assailant was sent off. There’s a good Ogre!

Second Half:
With Nathan receiving the ball landed just behind the LOS. After punching a hole for his catchers a botched ball pick-up resulted in a turn-over and I made every effort to croud-out the ball. A scramble ensued and my lack of sure-hands played against me as repeated fails to pick-up cost me an early TD only for Nathan to pick it up and whisk it away with a blitzer. With no rerolls his first of two GFI’s to score failed and I managed to crowd out the ball for a close 1-0 win.

Full time & Learnings:
While not having a surehands player didn’t pose any problems initially the scramble for the ball early in the second half burnt team rerolls and ultimately opened the door for Nathan to steal the ball from me.

While this game’s MVP went to a Journey man I will resist the temptation to purchase him with my winnings as I’m convinced that I need a full-time Surehands player on the roster. With my winnings of 60k plus 10k in bank I’ll be purchasing a full-time Thrower.

With no skill-ups this game I am also concerned by the lack of use-fullness from my two existing skilled players, namely the Mighty blow Blitzer and GUARD lineman. Mightyblow didn’t give me much in the way of an advantage this game, but considering that most of the armour rolls were very low and most injuries were stuns I will flag this to bad luck for now. I am concerned by the lack of use from my GUARD lineman however. On several occasions he was by himself well away from the ruck effectively neutralising his skill, this is something that will need to be addressed if I am to make much (any) headway on the LOS.

Game 7 vs Thursday Night Delight, [Necro] – 1-2TD (0-1CAS) loss.
With 450k inducements to spend I changed my option at the last minute to Zara, 2x Babes and a Rookie Mercenary Lineman. Initially a frustrating game, but in hind site it was a fair and balanced result. I’m not convinced that my last minute change to Zara was the right call as my inability to play the ‘agile’ game against Damon’s BLOCK heavy Necro’s seriously restricted my options. The Babes however were a god send and only one of nine KO rolls failed.

First half: After electing to receive Zara went on a three turn stabbing ‘rampage’ penetrating the armour each time only to cause stuns. Damon however managed to place 6 of my players in the KO bin making it all too easy to turn me over and score against me on turn 4. Receiving the ball for the second time I was able to screen the ball and get some receivers down pitch. While the pass wasn’t complete, the resulting scramble saw a turn-over and my Blitzer dodged for a pick-up and 2x GFI’s to score.

Second half: With Damon receiving another convincing bash and screen was set-up allowing Damon another three KO’s to run in his second TD by turn 12. Morg went stupid at the wrong time and stopped me having a 1die block against the ball carrier, after this Damons was able to select the side line to push on and the rest was a fore-gone conclusion. With all KO’s returned to the pitch a four turn drive saw a T15 pass go wrong only for the Necro’s to pass it back down the pitch. A failed catch by the Necro’s saw the last turns second half disappear in a haze of scrambling for the ball and a series of failed dodges or pick-ups on both sides.

Full time leanings: To start with the inducements I’m not convinced my last minute change to Zara was the right call, the Babes however more than paid for themselves. By taking Zara I was without a scoring threat I was unable to ‘play the off side’ of the bashy BLOCK heavy side. With 450k I could have got two catchers with a skill a piece (300K) and still afforded the Wizard who, against a Necro team that screens the ball, would have been quite effective.

Picking up another Niggle on a lineman, and no skills-ups, the only consolation is that both my scoring Blitzer and the lineman that got the MVP almost all of my team is on the verge of their first skill. Another few games and I’m hoping that I can get the BLOCK, GUARD and other skills my team needs to start to compete. This game also proves that without the potent scoring threat of catchers against a ‘grind side’ I’m neither mobile nor strong enough to take advantage when I need to.