My online team... what's wrong?

[Slim Shady]

Hey, as you may well know I am relatively new to this game. Anyway, shortly after coming here to chat about the Blood Bowl game I started playing over at FUMBBL and think it's great. Unfortunately my Skaven team doesn't seem to be doing very well, and I'm trying to figure out why. I started with:

5 LR
2 SV
3 GR
1 Thrower
3 RR
8 FF

As you may have heard, in my first game I scored once - then later the GR that scored was KILLED (so much for development). Another player was injured and had to miss the next game, and my FF went down 1, all for a meager 20K.

So, the next game I had 9 players. I didn't score at all (surprise) and another of my players was KILLED, a Line Rat this time. Fortunately nobody else was hurt badly enough to have to miss the next game, and I actually made 50K off the game.

After I got the 50k I decided to try a Rat Ogre freebooter since I felt I was in need of something beefy to keep a player from getting KILLED every game. Nobody was killed in this third game, but the Rat Ogre and a Lineman I think were Seriously Injured and are out. One of my GR's was also injured and will be out next game. I did make 60K off the game though, and picked up another LR.

I don't think I should be doing this badly, even the second and third games where I didn't have enough players I only lost 2-0. I just can't make enough money to keep my roster at 11 guys and every game only having 9 or 10 means at least one more will be eliminated leaving me in a continuous cycle of not having enough players. Here's what I'll have for my next game:

4 LR
2 SV
1 GR
1 Thrower
3 RR
7 FF

Should I even bother? I can't really afford to lose anyone else.

[Nighthawk]

Hi,

I usually start a Skaven team as such:
1 TR
2 GR
2 SV
7 LR
2 RR
7 FF
1 APO

Notable differences : I have 12 players on the starting roster AND an apo. Believe me, you will need this with such low AV players. For this I’m very willing to sacrifice a third GR and a RR.

I won’t say this is the ideal set-up but, till now, I haven’t been plagued with such shortage of players.

I’d say, keep rolling 6’s when cashing in ! Otherwise, stick to linerats while your team is restocking players, they’re cheap. Also, get yourself an apo !

Don’t bother with a rat ogre as long as your team can’t hold on to itself. A rat ogre is way to unreliable (wild animal) resulting in forced turn-stoppers (failed blocks, etc…) and therefor missed chances.

Hope it helps !

Another sneaky rat coach

[Valen]

Try and play a few recovery games on FUMBBL, if you go in chat and state your team is in a mess, you will get elven coashes, and stunty teams playing you, therefore you shouldnt get many more casualties and should be able too build up your team.

And I agree with Nighthawk forget the Rat Ogre until later.

[Cooper]

agreed mostly, stay off the RatOgre, in fact stay off anything you want to freeboot! (if you want to buy one that is something else...)
you need the money to build your team, not to win you upcoming game!
W

[Mirascael]

5 LR
2 SV
3 GR
1 Thrower
3 RR
8 FF

If you want a decent, competitive team which develops fast, try this line-up instead:

Code: Select all

7 Linerats
1 Storm Vermin
1 Thrower
2 Gutter Runners
4 RR (!)
9 FF (!)

Always try to maximise FF and RRs with a new team.
Here, you will want apoth, 2nd Stormvermin, 3rd and 4th Gutter Runner and 2nd Thrower in this particular order (unless Storm Vermins or Gutter Runners get hurt).

[McDeth]

Looks to me like you've reached the point of restarting at 1000000GP.

With only eight players its more than likely you'll now be on the vicious circle of receiving numerous injuries and being outmanned continually.

Best advise restart. Dont by a Rat Ogre, and certainly dont waste money freebooting. And start to build a roster which can survice a game.

First purchase needs to be an apothecary, if you cant get one into the starting line-up.

In long term league it doesn't matter if you take a few loses early on, but keeping your team in one piece is imperative

[Grumbledook]

man my skaven were down to 8 players a couple of times and i kept them rolling on!

[Valen]

Hes up too 10 players now, a nice recovery game against my HE's

[sean newboy]

Two things
1) Rat Ogres should be teammate purchase 13 or more.
2) Apothecaries really arent optional for skaven in a league setting.

[JJB]

Frankly, in spite of everything said in this thread, I don't think your starting roster was bad Slim Shady:
- you started with a reasonable amount of ff and rerolls, and many players start with as many positional players as you did, and usually do well.

I think you were just very unlucky: shit happens at times and there is little one can do about that.

The only clear mistake you made was to decide to freeboot a rat ogre. As others said in this thread, a rat ogre is more a source of trouble than anything else until you have at least 13-14 other players, and freebooting generally is usually a big waste of money as this is far too expensive for the little gained. The only case where I'd recommend freebooting is when you already have spare money (i.e. you are not deliberately saving for that freeboot purchase...), and when the guy you want to buy is a wizard or a star player (i.e. Griff Oberwald, Count Luthor von Drakenborg, Morg'n'Thorg...) for a crucial game, such as a semi-final...

In the end, I think you would be better off restarting your team. Remember to buy an apothecary as your first purchase, and to avoid all useless contact with opponents at the end of your turns - skavens are supposed to be agile, not a strength team...

[Slim Shady]

Thanks for all the great input guys, and the game Valen. Unfortunately my game after that was another death blow and I just started over. This time I took:

1 RO
1 TH
2 GR
8 LR
2 RR
7 FF

I've noticed that the RO is more often a liability than an asset, but with all the Minotaurs, giant Lizardmen thingies, and Ogres I've been playing against I couldn't resist. He does seem to absorb a lot of hits though, the first game I played my opponent kept knocking him down - which saved me from the Wild Animal thing and kept more players on the field. He did cause several turnovers though.

The Apothecary came in handy, once again on my first game w/this new team a player was Killed, but this time the APO saved him - yeah! Certainly worth the 50k. I don't even have any players missing the next game!

I've got three teams now too, my latest is a DE team. I noticed the DE Lineman had decent Armor and AG 4... so I started thinking. I put together a team of 12 DE Linemen, and one already earned a skill after the first game! I haven't won any games yet w/any of my teams, but I'm optomistic. I would've actually won the last one that my new Skaven played, but the RO caused a turnover in the 1st Half, and my opponent stalled for about 6 turns of the 2nd Half to keep me from winning. Oh well, I'm learning. You're advice has been great though, and thanks again for the game Valen.

[Valen]

No problem, we will have too try another one some time.

[Slim Shady]

Just as a update my ne Skaven team is doing well. Well, I didn't win any games or anything yet, but I did manage to get a tie the other day! Plus the team itself is strong, certainly not short on players. I think they might even have a future.

The DE one I really like too, but they aren't doing as well. The team itself is not too bad, but their FF is 2. I guess that's what happens when you lose all the time. Still, if I can keep from losing any players they have potential. I'm Slim-Shady on fumbbl in case you want to check out my teams or my horrible track record.

[Slim Shady]

Looks like your guys' great advice is paying off. My Skaven team is now 171/156 and would be higher, but I haven't bought another re-roll yet until I play one or two more games at strength 156 to make sure I have the money I need in case one of my players bites it in reserve.

I've actually managed to win at least one game w/each of my three teams, and have gotten a couple more draws as well. The DE are shaping up nicely, although they're already pretty badly niggled their FF is back up to 4. My Undead team would be doing better, but I seem to have a curse of failing Regeneration rolls only on Kills for some reason.

One quick question I had on the DE though. I gave one of my players Leap, and decided to try it out last game. Unfortunately after I did the Leap I couldn't get him to go back to normal movement. The Javabowl just kept saying: you have already used Leap this turn, or something like that. I tried clicking on the Leap skill, and the normal move button but nothing seemed to work. You can keep moving after a Leap right?

I'm still close to being the losingest coach in FUMBBL at like 984 or something, but I'm having fun now that my teams are developing instead of dying off, etc. A lot of players I've gone up against have helped me out by pointing out the mistakes I make in the game, which is cool (thanks if any of you are also on here ). So once again, thanks for the input.