It's almost that time. After the most brutal (and only) season the Blood SBowl league has ever seen, we're only two games away from the playoffs. I'll make a post detailing some league stats once the final week of the regular season has concluded, but for now congratulations to championship hopefuls THE DUNK SQUAD, Bone Again, The Lustful Lizards, and Yoloin Biatches! Team profiles follow:
THE DUNK SQUAD
The most feared team in the league, this slow-rolling dwarven deathsquad owes their playoff position almost entirely to two key players: runner Duerrim, a strong candidate for best rusher in the league, and the unstoppable killing machine Hagan Drek-Troll, who is likely to go home with the league MVP award even if he doesn't manage to capture the championship. Their "punch first, don't ask questions later because that's really time that you could be using to punch some more" style of Blood Bowl has proven to be very effective, clinching them the top position in the league's regular season. A brief interview with THE DUNK SQUAD's coaching staff revealed that only the runners have actually been taught the rules of the game; the rest of the team believes that this whole thing is some sort of elaborate fight club, and it is only the power of their racism that has ensured that they punch the opposing team instead of each other. An unusual strategy to be sure, but it's hard to argue with the results!
Bone Again
Laboring under not one, not two, but FOURTEEN ancient curses placed on various players and support staff by different priests, witches, and warlocks that they've managed to offend, this plucky necromantic squad has managed to limp into the playoffs despite a plague of injuries. Supporters of the club, colloquially known as Boners, say that the team's incredible resilience can be attributed to a pair of expert carpenters who spend hours before every game reinforcing their zombies with nails and random bits of wood that they've pried out of the stands. If true, one wonders why these carpenters can't be bothered to help the perpetually injured wights and flesh golems that (occasionally) form the backbone of the team's defense. Fortunately, fan (and manager) favorites Growl and Howl have managed to avoid the curses thus far, allowing them to carry their team kicking and screaming into competition for the cup.
The Lustful Lizards
Long regarded as the best way for at-risk skinks to escape their circumstances, the Lustful Lizards recruit almost entirely from poor, high-crime areas of Lustria. Their coaching staff assures us that these lizards are both more determined and better at taking a beating than their well-off counterparts from Tlaxtlan. The Lustrian coaching staff has managed to forge their offbeat recruits into arguably the best-balanced team in the league, capable of both figuratively stunning feats of agility and literally stunning feats of extreme violence. The Lizards boast both the best running game in the league and one of the highest rates of injuries dealt, with every single skink and saurus making significant contribution to the team's regular season run. Rookie kroxigor Chupacabra has yet to prove himself, but since all he has to do is be imposing and crack some skulls we're confident that he'll figure his role out.
Yoloin Biatches
This Amazon squad lives for risk, playing harder and less safely than anyone else both on and off the field. Rookie Biatches aren't even allowed onto the pitch until they've survived a dozen Yoloin halftime shows, which often include spectacles such death-defying leaps through rings of flame, gator baiting, and 12 or more rounds of bareknuckle boxing. Once she's made the team proper, each woman is expected to throw full-body blocks, dive desperately after fallen balls, leap dramatically over enemy defenders, and basically endanger her life at every available opportunity, often with little or no justification. As such, any Amazon worth her salt has suffered at least a dozen concussions and is constantly covered in bruises and contusions. Their tendency toward ridiculous stunts and outrageous upsets has not gone unnoticed by fans, earning them a tremendous and rabid following. This squad has a long-standing and mostly one-sided rivalry with the necromantic team Bone Again, whose very existence flies in the face of all that it is to only live once.
Good luck to everybody in the playoffs!
Friday, December 28, 2012
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Blood Bowl Basics: Apothecaries
When a player's blood splatters on the pitch, everyone in the stadium cheers. Fans, players, and coaches alike eagerly anticipate the echoing crunch of a good armor break, looking forward to an easier game for their team (or an excuse for bloodthirsty vengeance). The apothecaries at the sidelines get excited as well, but their joy is more about the gold falling into their pockets than the game.
Single-Player Healthcare
Apothecaries can fix the most grievous wounds or even bring the dead back to life, but other times they'll nearly kill a man when tending to his sprained ankle. Basically, these guys have no idea what they're doing; bring an injured player over to them and they'll go at him arbitrarily with saws and bandages until something happens. Despite their unreliability, apothecaries are tremendously useful. At a one-time cost of 50,000 gold, they pay for themselves (and then some) the first time they save a player's career, and it's likely they'll do that half a dozen times in a season.
An apothecary can only be used once each game, and performs one of the following functions.
Rerolling a Casualty
An apothecary can let you reroll a casualty roll and then select either result. This can let you turn a serious injury or even a death into something less permanent, which is obviously extremely valuable. Nobody likes losing a level 4 player with two stat gains, and the apothecary keeps that from happening (sometimes). It gets even better, though: selecting a Badly Hurt result when using an apothecary will result in your player not being injured at all. He still gets pulled off the field, but he'll be available again at the start of the next drive. You can even use your apothecary to reroll a Badly Hurt just so you can select it to keep your player in the game.
Preventing a KO
When one of your players gets KOed, the apothecary can change the result to a stun instead. This may seem weak, indeed almost wasteful, compared to the apothecary's other function, but we've all had players get KOed and then stubbornly refuse to get up. Preventing that guy from going to the KO box in the first place gives you an extra player all game, which works out the same as saving him from an injury (or better, if the drive lasts longer than his stun).
Primum Non Nocere
Apothecaries are very powerful and an extraordinary value, so every team should have one. However, you don't necessarily need one right away. Buying an extra discounted reroll instead of an apothecary during team creation will probably serve you better in both the short and long term. Also, when your team is just starting out and you haven't been able to afford all your positionals yet, you may get more value out of devoting your gold to picking up players. As soon as your blitzers and scorers start developing, though, an apothecary is the only thing that will keep your heart from stopping for a second every time an opponent rolls a pow.
Single-Player Healthcare
Apothecaries can fix the most grievous wounds or even bring the dead back to life, but other times they'll nearly kill a man when tending to his sprained ankle. Basically, these guys have no idea what they're doing; bring an injured player over to them and they'll go at him arbitrarily with saws and bandages until something happens. Despite their unreliability, apothecaries are tremendously useful. At a one-time cost of 50,000 gold, they pay for themselves (and then some) the first time they save a player's career, and it's likely they'll do that half a dozen times in a season.
An apothecary can only be used once each game, and performs one of the following functions.
Rerolling a Casualty
An apothecary can let you reroll a casualty roll and then select either result. This can let you turn a serious injury or even a death into something less permanent, which is obviously extremely valuable. Nobody likes losing a level 4 player with two stat gains, and the apothecary keeps that from happening (sometimes). It gets even better, though: selecting a Badly Hurt result when using an apothecary will result in your player not being injured at all. He still gets pulled off the field, but he'll be available again at the start of the next drive. You can even use your apothecary to reroll a Badly Hurt just so you can select it to keep your player in the game.
Preventing a KO
When one of your players gets KOed, the apothecary can change the result to a stun instead. This may seem weak, indeed almost wasteful, compared to the apothecary's other function, but we've all had players get KOed and then stubbornly refuse to get up. Preventing that guy from going to the KO box in the first place gives you an extra player all game, which works out the same as saving him from an injury (or better, if the drive lasts longer than his stun).
Primum Non Nocere
Apothecaries are very powerful and an extraordinary value, so every team should have one. However, you don't necessarily need one right away. Buying an extra discounted reroll instead of an apothecary during team creation will probably serve you better in both the short and long term. Also, when your team is just starting out and you haven't been able to afford all your positionals yet, you may get more value out of devoting your gold to picking up players. As soon as your blitzers and scorers start developing, though, an apothecary is the only thing that will keep your heart from stopping for a second every time an opponent rolls a pow.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Blood Bowl Basics: Inducements
Some games seem destined for a loss. League compositions can be unpredictable and sometimes your crew of fresh-faced rookies goes up against a brigade of psychopaths wearing shoulderpads and jockstraps made out of all the opponents they've killed. How can you beat that without cheating? Thanks to inducements, you won't have to!
Who Needs Skill?
In each game of Blood Bowl, the team with the lowest Team Value is awarded money equal to one thousand times the difference between the teams' TVs with which to buy inducements, which are basically league-sanctioned cheats intended to give the little guy a chance. These things are the reason that you need to watch your TV and make sure it doesn't spiral out of control. If you're not careful, here's what you might have to face:
$50,000 (50 TV difference)
Bloodweiser Babes: You can purchase up to two of these young ladies, each of whom will use a combination of magic beer and cleavage to give your team a +1 bonus on KO rolls. Normally, each of your KOed players makes a d6 roll at the beginning of each drive and wakes up on 4+, so one of these takes this to a 3+ and two take it to a 2+. A Bloodweiser Babe is (almost) the only thing that costs less than $100,000, so they're relatively common. It's rarely correct to take two Babes. though, as you'll usually get more use out of the team reroll or apothecary that you could get instead.
$100,000 (100 TV difference)
Team Reroll: You can get an extra team reroll per half for just $100K, which is a pretty fantastic deal. You should have some idea of exactly how good an extra reroll is for your team, and you'll probably find that this works quite well for you.
Wandering Apothecary: This functions exactly the same way as a normal apothecary, allowing you to reroll one casualty roll during the game (or turn one KO into a stun instead). This allows you to have two apothecaries for a game, but each casualty roll can only be rerolled once. If you're up against a team that you're afraid is going to punch your face in, this is probably a better way of keeping your team up and running than buying two Bloodweiser Babes.
Igor: Teams that can't buy apothecaries also can't buy wandering apothecaries, but they can recruit one of these surgeons of undead flesh instead. An Igor allows a reroll of one Regeneration roll during the game.
Bribe: A bribe allows you to attempt to change the ref's mind when he tries to eject one of your players for throwing a foul or wielding a secret weapon. You roll a d6 and on a 2+ your player doesn't get ejected. This can be a good buy if the opponent has a particularly useful player or two that will cramp your game plan, as it allows you to be a bit more liberal with your fouls on that guy. Bribes are super great for the Goblin team due to their extensive secret weapon use, and fortunately for them all Blood Bowl refs are both goblin and racist. Goblin teams pay only half price ($50K) for bribes.
$150,000 (150 TV difference)
Wizard: A hired wizard will sit on your sidelines booing loudly and incessantly pulling rabbits out of his hat to terrify the opposition. Additionally, the wizard will cast one spell for you during the game. At either the very beginning of your turn (before you have declared any actions) or at the very end (even if your turn ended with a turnover) the wizard can cast either a fireball or a lightning bolt, targeted at any square of your choice. The lightning bolt hits the player in the targeted square, knocking him down on a d6 roll of 2+. The fireball hits the targeted square and all adjacent squares, but only knocks down on a 4+. Lightning bolts can be powerful for giving a slow team a way of stopping an offensive breakaway of the kind that elves and gutter runners often make, while fireballs are a (somewhat unreliable) way of breaking down difficult cages.
$300,000 (300 TV difference)
Halfling Master Chef: Yes, that says $300,000. It might actually be worthwhile, though. A Halfling Master Chef steals rerolls from the opposing team and gives them to you, but the number is variable. At the beginning of each half you roll 3d6 for your Master Chef and on each 4+ you steal one reroll from the opposing team. The odds breakdown is pretty simple: 12.5% 0 steals, 37.5% 1 steal, 37.5% 2 steals, and 12.5% 3 steals. The Master Chef compares pretty positively with the same value worth of team rerolls; even if you only roll 1 steal, it's arguable that your opponent losing a reroll is actually better for you than getting two rerolls of your own would have been. Of course, there's always the chance that your Master Chef screws up, but if you don't like gambling you should probably take up a different game. Because Master Chefs are even more racist than referees, Halfling teams can hire a Chef at one-third of normal cost, making them as cheap as team rerolls.
Variable
Mercenaries ($50,000-$240,000): A mercenary can be hired to fill any position on your team that isn't already filled (for example, if you're allowed 2 blitzers but you only have 1, you could hire a mercenary blitzer). A mercenary costs $30,000 more than it would cost to hire a normal player for the position, and mercenaries carry the Loner skill because they're not used to playing with your team. That's obviously a pretty bad deal, but sometimes you can't afford to leave an important position vacant after an unfortunate injury or death. You can choose for the mercenary to come equipped with any one skill that his position could take on a normal improvement roll, but it adds $50,000 to his cost. (If your team is injured badly enough that you can't field 11 players at the beginning of a game, the empty slots will be filled with mercenaries of your team's 0-16 position and your TV will be adjusted up as though those players were normal members of your team.)
Star Players ($60,000-$430,000): Star Players are extraordinarily skilled free agents that command hefty appearance fees. Most of them are very selective about which races they'll play with, though, so most teams will only have access to a few Stars even if they have all the necessary cash. Learn which Star Players your team has access to and figure out the situations for which they'd be ideal. (I could also write an article about Star Players if people would like.)
Mo TV, Less Cheating (But Still Some Cheating)
The higher TV team can get access to inducements too, but it's going to cost them. A team can transfer any amount of money from their treasury to their inducement fund, but their TV increases by one thousandth of the money they transfer. This means that the higher team could buy (for example) a Bloodweiser Babe, but doing so would cost them $50,000 from their treasury AND increase their TV by 50 for the game, so the lower team would also get an extra $50,000.
The lower team can transfer money from their treasury the same way, but the fact that it increases their TV makes it self-defeating in most cases. If you don't have enough inducement money to afford an inducement that you desperately need, you can contribute enough money from your treasury to purchase it, but be aware of the TV change you're causing. For example, if a 1000 TV Human team decides that they need a wizard to fight their 1100 TV Elf opponents, they can get it by contributing $150,000 from their treasury. This temporarily increases their TV to 1150, meaning that the Elf team will actually receive $50,000 in free inducement money for the match. This is a high price to pay for an inducement, but it could be worthwhile for a gamesaver.
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Blood Bowl Basics: Formations
A lot happens in a Blood Bowl drive. Spines are shattered, curses are shouted, riots are incited, and occasionally somebody even picks up the ball. It's easy to get caught up in all the action and not notice the shaping effects that cause the scrum to occur in these squares and not those squares (or even those other squares over there). Some of that shaping comes from the coaches working hard, action by action, to drive the ball into the place best for them, but a surprisingly large part of it comes from the formations in which the players set up at the beginning of the drive.
Setting Up For Victory
There are a lot of things to consider when setting up. I'm going to show you some example formations, but always think about the relative speed and strength of the teams in your game before using any of these. Some formations work best against strong, slow lineups, while others are best for containing elf plays. The best lineup will change from play to play as well, depending on the number of turns left in the half, the number and composition of each team's injuries, and what you predict your opponent's strategy might be. Keep your eyes open and your brain working!
One common defense is known as the column defense or the 3-4-4, so called because it places three defenders on the front line, 4 defenders on a second line, and 4 defenders on a third line. A "collapsed" 3-4-4 might look like this (shown using Norse in blue):
Setting Up For Victory
There are a lot of things to consider when setting up. I'm going to show you some example formations, but always think about the relative speed and strength of the teams in your game before using any of these. Some formations work best against strong, slow lineups, while others are best for containing elf plays. The best lineup will change from play to play as well, depending on the number of turns left in the half, the number and composition of each team's injuries, and what you predict your opponent's strategy might be. Keep your eyes open and your brain working!
One common defense is known as the column defense or the 3-4-4, so called because it places three defenders on the front line, 4 defenders on a second line, and 4 defenders on a third line. A "collapsed" 3-4-4 might look like this (shown using Norse in blue):
Obvious strengths of the 3-4-4 are that it creates a strong band of tackle zones across the field and that it's resistant to enemy blitzes. There's no spot where a single blitz can open up a TZ-free path for a ball carrier. It's not impregnable, of course; any knockdown attained on the line of scrimmage can be accompanied with a push in the opposite direction to start forming a hole, like this:
It only takes one knockdown at the LoS for this to happen. Any more than that makes a more open and defensible path for the offense. Obviously, this is less of a concern if you can prevent the enemy players from having strong blocks at the line, either through skills (lots of Guard, perhaps) or a significant ST advantage. You can defend against this to some degree by running a staggered 3-4-4 that looks like this:
This reduces the opponent's ability to run up the middle by adding some tackle zones to the middle three squares at the cost of opening up the sidelines to blitzes a little. This defense is a little worse against a frenzy blitz (as assists from the end linemen in the back 4 can be denied easily, making the second frenzy block safer) but stronger against stunties and high AG dodgers who will potentially have to make an extra dodge to get through the formation. As you can see, there are a lot of ways to adjust any formation to make little tradeoffs like this. As always, keep your head in the game and figure out the variation that works best for your situation.
A defensive option that might be slightly more effective against dodgy teams (especially stunty dodgers) is the 5-5-1 (also known more verbosely as 3-2-3-2-1), shown here in both flattened and spread variants:
This formation has an obvious weakness to a block on a corner lineman followed by a blitz on the player behind him, so I really only recommend this if you're playing against a team where you have a significant ST advantage, which fortunately will usually be the case against many stunty teams. If the enemy team is ST-disadvantaged, they'll have to spend enough players performing the initial hit and blitz that they probably won't also be able to form a defense for their ball carrier. This formation includes a significant backfield presence, which can be useful against fast teams trying to sneak through.
Offensive setups are often a little more complex, because the offense has a lot more information to work with. When you set up your offense, you need to take note of both the general shape of the enemy formation and the position of important defensive players (unusually high-ST players, guys with Strip Ball, etc.). Unfortunately, the information you don't have is where the ball will land, so you need to keep a couple of guys in the backfield no matter your formation (and against fast defenses, you need to make sure to protect them!). You can easily line up symmetrical formations and position assists to enjoy your first turn advantage without any help from me, so let's talk about some more interesting strategies.
A strong side offense like this allows you to concentrate your offensive power on fighting a smaller portion of the enemy team for a couple of turns while the weak side players try to catch up to the action. This is a particularly useful strategy if your opponent has a few well-developed players grouped up on one side, as you can avoid them for a few turns (or more, if you can get them marked before they get to the fight). It's also great for capitalizing on injuries that leave the opposing defense uneven. Your battle plan might look something like this:
If you score any knockdowns at all with your blocks, this puts you in a pretty strong position for next turn with a number of enemy players hard-pressed to contribute at all (and probably your guys on your weak side will contribute by marking them or something). This is pretty optimistic, though. If the ball falls on the weak side, you might be in some trouble if you can't reliably make a lateral pass. For this reason, I'd be pretty leery of using this kind of offense against a team with Kick. A strong side offense also loses some utility against fast players who can contribute to defense anywhere on the field quickly and can really punish a weak side kick.
Who's On The Line?
One other important thing to consider is who goes on the line of scrimmage. Three players are required to stand right in the opponent's face, and it's important to know what that means. Against some teams the line will be a killing zone festooned with ST 4 claw-wielding psychopaths, while other teams might just put up three lackluster dead guys. (The kicking team may have to do some guessing here, unfortunately.) Think carefully about what you want your line to do. If you can't fight the enemy line (or if fighting it would take up too much of your bashing ability) it might be wise to place disposable linemen (or zombies or beastmen or whatever) there just to tie up the enemy fighters as long as possible while placing your own fighters where they can contribute to moving or stealing the ball. Each team has a limited amount of murdering power, so mete it out carefully; only use as much as is actually helpful on the line and get the rest of it out there intimidating the enemy playmakers.
Saturday, December 8, 2012
Blood Bowl Basics: Team Management
At the end of the player development post, I mentioned that player improvements bloat your Team Value, which can lead to your opponents entering the game with more cheaty wizards and chefs and star players. "That sounds dangerous!" I hear you cry. Well, good eye. That stuff will kill you. But it's okay, I'm here to teach you how to develop a devastating team without getting devastated in return.
Too Big To Succeed?
First, let's tackle the elephant in the room: Is it always good to improve a player? It's true that improving a player improves your game overall, which is to say that yes, it is always good to improve a player. But that's not really the question; the question is whether a given improvement helps your team more than it helps the opposing team.
Everything that helps your team, from rerolls to Fan Factor to the players themselves, has a Value. The Value of a team element is based on its initial cost and then, in the case of players, augmented by any improvements they may have. The Value of all of your team elements combined is your Team Value. At the beginning of each game, your Team Value will be compared to your opponent's Team Value, and the team with the lower Value will receive money equal to 1,000 times the difference with which to buy inducements (things like extra rerolls or the wizard I keep mentioning). The point here is that every time you increase your Team Value, you increase the the inducement money your opponents will receive (or decrease the money you will receive, if you're the lower team). This means that you want every improvement to your team to be better for you than the Value it adds is for your opponent. Let's talk about the non-player elements that inflate Team Value.
Managing the Bloat
Your TV is going to go up as your team improves. There's not a lot that can be done about it, and frankly most improvements are more than worth their TV cost. You want your team to get better, and that means a slow TV climb. There are things you can do, however, to maximize your increase in game-winning ability per point of TV.
First of all, pay attention to your injuries and fire players who are injured in a way that interferes with their job. -AG is a career-ending injury on a thrower or catcher, for example, while it means nothing to a minotaur or troll. Firing critically injured players serves your team development in another way as well: it prevents them from claiming the MVP from the bench and robbing your useful players of SPP. The value of keeping your roster trim is significant.
In the same vein (and as mentioned above), don't employ a half-dozen extra players who don't spend time on the field. If they're not out on the pitch shedding blood for you, they're only helping the opponent. It may be worthwhile to keep an extra man or two in reserve if you have an important strategic use for them, however. Examples include a backup player on a low-AV team as a replacement for KOs/injured players, replacement players for your Secret Weapon guys so that you're not playing short-handed after the first drive, and a second-stringer to replace called-out players if you like to rely on fouls (but make sure you know the math before you try this).
Finally, think hard about the climbing costs of your non-vital players. If a player like a skink or a zombie lineman gets a third or fourth skill without getting any extraordinary rolls, they may just not be worth the TV they're adding anymore. This obviously is a complex issue that there's no hard and fast rule for, but carefully consider whether a developed player on your team is worth the 60-100 TV they're costing you. Is that goblin worth an extra team reroll every game? Would you rather have a Bloodweiser babe than that lineman?
Travelling the Old World On 1000 TV A Day
Remember that the important thing is the difference between your TV and that of your opponent. A TV of 1400 has a very different meaning in a league that averages 1800 than it does in a league that averages 1100. Keep your eyes on the TVs around you and be prepared for the inducements that you'll have to face (or that you'll get to wield).
Too Big To Succeed?
First, let's tackle the elephant in the room: Is it always good to improve a player? It's true that improving a player improves your game overall, which is to say that yes, it is always good to improve a player. But that's not really the question; the question is whether a given improvement helps your team more than it helps the opposing team.
Everything that helps your team, from rerolls to Fan Factor to the players themselves, has a Value. The Value of a team element is based on its initial cost and then, in the case of players, augmented by any improvements they may have. The Value of all of your team elements combined is your Team Value. At the beginning of each game, your Team Value will be compared to your opponent's Team Value, and the team with the lower Value will receive money equal to 1,000 times the difference with which to buy inducements (things like extra rerolls or the wizard I keep mentioning). The point here is that every time you increase your Team Value, you increase the the inducement money your opponents will receive (or decrease the money you will receive, if you're the lower team). This means that you want every improvement to your team to be better for you than the Value it adds is for your opponent. Let's talk about the non-player elements that inflate Team Value.
- Team Rerolls increase your Team Value by a thousandth of their initial cost. This Value varies by team between 40 and 70 inclusive. The cost of Team Rerolls doubles after team creation, but their Value doesn't double. Team Rerolls are extremely powerful and are nearly always worth their Value increase. (For comparison, the inducement cost of an extra reroll is 100,000 gold, meaning a TV difference of 100.)
- Fan Factor increases your Team Value by 10 per point. You have a chance to gain Fan Factor every time you win a match and a chance to lose some every time you lose a match. You can also purchase Fan Factor for 10,000 gold per point, but Fan Factor improves your team by such a small amount that this is not a worthwhile purchase. Your Fan Factor is going to vary up and down almost in spite of you and it's really not even worth thinking about.
- An Apothecary increases your Team Value by 50. The Apothecary is invaluable and you obviously want one, but the cost and the TV increase may make it worth playing your first few games without one. You should get one as soon as you start developing valuable players, however.
- Cheerleaders increase your Team Value by 10 each. One kickoff event (with a ~14% chance of occurring) uses each team's number of cheerleaders along with a couple of random factors to determine which of the teams will receive an extra team reroll. This is not worth the TV increase in my opinion, but I suppose if you bought enough of them you could secure the reroll every time that kickoff event comes up.
- Assistant coaches are exactly the same as cheerleaders, except for a different kickoff event which also has a ~14% occurrence rate and functions exactly the same as the cheerleader event.
- 20 Value for each skill the player has gained from one of his Normal categories.
- 30 Value for each skill the player has gained from one of his Double categories.
- 30 Value for each point of MA or AV the player has gained.
- 40 Value for each point of AG the player has gained.
- 50 Value for each point of ST the player has gained.
Managing the Bloat
Your TV is going to go up as your team improves. There's not a lot that can be done about it, and frankly most improvements are more than worth their TV cost. You want your team to get better, and that means a slow TV climb. There are things you can do, however, to maximize your increase in game-winning ability per point of TV.
First of all, pay attention to your injuries and fire players who are injured in a way that interferes with their job. -AG is a career-ending injury on a thrower or catcher, for example, while it means nothing to a minotaur or troll. Firing critically injured players serves your team development in another way as well: it prevents them from claiming the MVP from the bench and robbing your useful players of SPP. The value of keeping your roster trim is significant.
In the same vein (and as mentioned above), don't employ a half-dozen extra players who don't spend time on the field. If they're not out on the pitch shedding blood for you, they're only helping the opponent. It may be worthwhile to keep an extra man or two in reserve if you have an important strategic use for them, however. Examples include a backup player on a low-AV team as a replacement for KOs/injured players, replacement players for your Secret Weapon guys so that you're not playing short-handed after the first drive, and a second-stringer to replace called-out players if you like to rely on fouls (but make sure you know the math before you try this).
Finally, think hard about the climbing costs of your non-vital players. If a player like a skink or a zombie lineman gets a third or fourth skill without getting any extraordinary rolls, they may just not be worth the TV they're adding anymore. This obviously is a complex issue that there's no hard and fast rule for, but carefully consider whether a developed player on your team is worth the 60-100 TV they're costing you. Is that goblin worth an extra team reroll every game? Would you rather have a Bloodweiser babe than that lineman?
Travelling the Old World On 1000 TV A Day
Remember that the important thing is the difference between your TV and that of your opponent. A TV of 1400 has a very different meaning in a league that averages 1800 than it does in a league that averages 1100. Keep your eyes on the TVs around you and be prepared for the inducements that you'll have to face (or that you'll get to wield).
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Match Report: Goatman's Revenge vs THE DUNK SQUAD (Week 2)
THE DUNK SQUAD had both a lot of successes and a lot of failures on the block dice against Goatman's Revenge's low-skull high-pow composition.
The Chaos team saw quite a bit of luck on the d6, but nobody from either team made a successful dodge at any point. It was a slow, foot-slogging game.
Goatman's Revenge 0 - 1 THE DUNK SQUAD
We've already seen a few brutal games this season, but the violence in this battle between furry animal men and dwarves who are somehow even hairier was characterized by a certain cruelty uncommon to the field of competition. Most Blood Bowlers kill because they love to kill, but one had the sense that these players were killing because they actually wanted their opponents to die.
This game started much more calmly than THE DUNK SQUAD's last outing; this time it wasn't until turn 2 that Hagan Drek-Troll mangled someone so badly that they had to be rolled off the pitch in a wheelbarrow. The dwarves received and attempted to run the ball up the sideline but found their progress halted by one group of beastmen while another, led by the minotaur Atrophinius, tussled with the dwarf offensive line. As previously noted, Hagan Drek-Troll drew first blood by sending goatfellow Mashlow Tail to the uncontrollable hemorrhaging tent while his teammate Kazain collapsed the helmet of lone Chaos warrior Dhaos Fangepile. The Chaos team's equipment manager would spend most of the match with a mallet trying to creatively remangle the helm enough for Dhaos to be able to see out of it again. Beastman Thishgy Antler struck back immediately, managing to ram Drok Dreng-Troll off the pitch and into the waiting arms of the fans. The violence on the field may have just started, but the spectators had been rioting for hours and were working at a fevered pitch of bloodlust. (THE DUNK SQUAD's apothecaries managed to fish most of Drok out of the crowd during halftime.) Enraged by the loss of his kin, Hagan Drek-Troll led the dwarven line on a rampage, headbutting Atrophinius in his massive cowgroin and then stomping on his head when he collapsed. The foul was called, but when Hagan turned his baleful crazyeyes on the ref the official pretended that the call was about something else and sent Thor off instead. Hagan turned his attention back to the business at hand and spent the rest of the half alternately knocking down and being knocked down by the minotaur. Brashfy Claw took an opportunity during the struggle to put a hoof to Hagan while he was down and, seeing the look still in Hagan's eyes, the referee pulled the goatman out of the game for his own protection. The ball, meanwhile, was knocked free of dwarven hands when the beastman Cra-tigor hurled himself into a flying cross body block to bowl over dwarf runner Duerrim. Neither Dunker nor Revenger made any headway with it before the half was called.
The second half started much the same but running in the other direction. The Chaos line went man-to-man, surprising and briefly scattering the dwarven line with their ferocity. Hagan Drek-Troll was unfazed and continued to bust heads, seemingly stunning a different Chaos player each turn. Beastman Thishgy Antler recovered the kickoff and attempted to find a hole in the melee by running up the same sideline against which the ball had been trapped in the first half with much the same result. After a few turns of back-and-forth struggling over the fallen ball, dwarf blocker Kazain saw an opening and went for it, only to bobble the pickup and knock the ball into the fans. After a brief scuffle, the ball was hurled back onto the field significantly closer to the dwarven scoring zone. Unfortunately, the churning of the midfield carnage left most of the Revengers in very poor position to attempt a recovery. Goatbro Cry-mulgors got control of the ball for a moment but was completely isolated from his team, and the dwarves predictably carried the ball into the endzone with pieces of him still clinging to it. The touchdown seemed to improve Hagan Drek-Troll's mood a bit, although his celebratory headbutt hospitalized Chaos lineman Slouk-mulgor.
The final drive began on turn 15, leaving Goatman's Revenge with very little chance of an answering point. The dwarven kick flew out of bounds, however, and the Chaos coach took the risky move of giving the touchback to unprotected lineman Tralow Tail. Tralow's teammates cleared him a path, however, and he made a wild dash for the endzone, landing a brutal hornbutt on the only dwarven defender in the backfield. Hagan Drek-Troll, lynchpin of the dwarven defense (and, indeed, entire team), gave desperate chase, but failed for the first time in the game to inflict any violence at all as the goatman eluded his grasp. Dhaos Fangepile, now sighted thanks to the intervention of a crowbar and a can opener but still quite wobbly, trundled after in an attempt to rescue his teammate, but he succeeded only in tripping, falling on his face, and distracting Tralow with his shouts. Unfortunately, the goatman's momentary hesitation saw the clock run out before he could make it to the endzone.
Hagan Drek-Troll threw one last gut shot in the final moment to punish Thishgy Antler for touching and thereby besmirching the ball, which he described as "a relic of dwarven history, you hooved arsehole". The beastman lay unconscious on the field until long after the dwarven team had been dispatched to the now-empty stands to look for the rest of Drok Dreng-Troll's arm.
This game started much more calmly than THE DUNK SQUAD's last outing; this time it wasn't until turn 2 that Hagan Drek-Troll mangled someone so badly that they had to be rolled off the pitch in a wheelbarrow. The dwarves received and attempted to run the ball up the sideline but found their progress halted by one group of beastmen while another, led by the minotaur Atrophinius, tussled with the dwarf offensive line. As previously noted, Hagan Drek-Troll drew first blood by sending goatfellow Mashlow Tail to the uncontrollable hemorrhaging tent while his teammate Kazain collapsed the helmet of lone Chaos warrior Dhaos Fangepile. The Chaos team's equipment manager would spend most of the match with a mallet trying to creatively remangle the helm enough for Dhaos to be able to see out of it again. Beastman Thishgy Antler struck back immediately, managing to ram Drok Dreng-Troll off the pitch and into the waiting arms of the fans. The violence on the field may have just started, but the spectators had been rioting for hours and were working at a fevered pitch of bloodlust. (THE DUNK SQUAD's apothecaries managed to fish most of Drok out of the crowd during halftime.) Enraged by the loss of his kin, Hagan Drek-Troll led the dwarven line on a rampage, headbutting Atrophinius in his massive cowgroin and then stomping on his head when he collapsed. The foul was called, but when Hagan turned his baleful crazyeyes on the ref the official pretended that the call was about something else and sent Thor off instead. Hagan turned his attention back to the business at hand and spent the rest of the half alternately knocking down and being knocked down by the minotaur. Brashfy Claw took an opportunity during the struggle to put a hoof to Hagan while he was down and, seeing the look still in Hagan's eyes, the referee pulled the goatman out of the game for his own protection. The ball, meanwhile, was knocked free of dwarven hands when the beastman Cra-tigor hurled himself into a flying cross body block to bowl over dwarf runner Duerrim. Neither Dunker nor Revenger made any headway with it before the half was called.
The second half started much the same but running in the other direction. The Chaos line went man-to-man, surprising and briefly scattering the dwarven line with their ferocity. Hagan Drek-Troll was unfazed and continued to bust heads, seemingly stunning a different Chaos player each turn. Beastman Thishgy Antler recovered the kickoff and attempted to find a hole in the melee by running up the same sideline against which the ball had been trapped in the first half with much the same result. After a few turns of back-and-forth struggling over the fallen ball, dwarf blocker Kazain saw an opening and went for it, only to bobble the pickup and knock the ball into the fans. After a brief scuffle, the ball was hurled back onto the field significantly closer to the dwarven scoring zone. Unfortunately, the churning of the midfield carnage left most of the Revengers in very poor position to attempt a recovery. Goatbro Cry-mulgors got control of the ball for a moment but was completely isolated from his team, and the dwarves predictably carried the ball into the endzone with pieces of him still clinging to it. The touchdown seemed to improve Hagan Drek-Troll's mood a bit, although his celebratory headbutt hospitalized Chaos lineman Slouk-mulgor.
The final drive began on turn 15, leaving Goatman's Revenge with very little chance of an answering point. The dwarven kick flew out of bounds, however, and the Chaos coach took the risky move of giving the touchback to unprotected lineman Tralow Tail. Tralow's teammates cleared him a path, however, and he made a wild dash for the endzone, landing a brutal hornbutt on the only dwarven defender in the backfield. Hagan Drek-Troll, lynchpin of the dwarven defense (and, indeed, entire team), gave desperate chase, but failed for the first time in the game to inflict any violence at all as the goatman eluded his grasp. Dhaos Fangepile, now sighted thanks to the intervention of a crowbar and a can opener but still quite wobbly, trundled after in an attempt to rescue his teammate, but he succeeded only in tripping, falling on his face, and distracting Tralow with his shouts. Unfortunately, the goatman's momentary hesitation saw the clock run out before he could make it to the endzone.
Hagan Drek-Troll threw one last gut shot in the final moment to punish Thishgy Antler for touching and thereby besmirching the ball, which he described as "a relic of dwarven history, you hooved arsehole". The beastman lay unconscious on the field until long after the dwarven team had been dispatched to the now-empty stands to look for the rest of Drok Dreng-Troll's arm.
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Blood Bowl Basics: Player Development
There's more to winning a league or tournament than just winning a game. While in the early games play skill (and Nuffle's blessing) may be enough to pick up wins, later on when opponents are making passing plays with AG 5 catchers and everybody has Block and Dodge you'll get stomped if your players aren't similarly impressive. So how does one get from this
Players improve by gaining levels, and players gain levels by gaining Star Player Points. There are five ways that a player can pick up SPPs:
In addition, if the roll is 10 or higher, the player can forgo taking a skill entirely to gain a stat point instead. On a 10 the player can take a point of AV or MA, on an 11 he can take a point of AG, and on a 12 he can take a point of ST. Obviously, it's almost always correct to take a stat over a skill if you have the option because of how powerful the stats are, but there are exceptions when the stat isn't useful (such as +AG on a 1 AG big guy, for example).
Building the Perfect Murderer
Playing for the win is important in any game, but it's also important to think long-term. Part of this is funneling SPP to players that desperately need improvements and protecting valuable improved players. The latter is self-explanatory, but let's talk about the former a bit.
One of the most common sources of SPP is inflicting casualties. A player receives these points when involved in a block that injures an opponent, regardless of whether he was the attacker or defender. Unfortunately you don't have a huge amount of control over this due to the randomness of the armor and injury rolls, but there are still ways to increase the likelihood of scoring a casualty (see the "Fighters" section below).
Another common (and far more controllable) method of getting SPP is scoring touchdowns. It's difficult to get a big guy like a troll or ogre to pick up the ball and run with it, but it's not unreasonable with most other players, meaning that touchdowns are a reliable way of directing SPP to the players that need them (contingent on your ability to score, obviously).
The other big source of SPP is the MVP award. Every game, a random player on your team will receive 5 SPP for being the MVP. This could be any player that was on your team during the game, even one who died or a temporary one like a mercenary or star player. The MVP award can be a big boost if it lands on a player who normally has trouble gaining SPP (like the aforementioned troll or ogre).
Finally, while passing is risky for most teams, high-AG teams like elves can use easy short passes as a constant drip of controllable SPP to level up their important players. Of course, the penalty for failing a pass is pretty severe, so it's important to be careful with this strategy.
Playing to Your ST
So what do you do with all the SPP once you have it? There's no simple answer. The best skill choice for a player depends on his position and role on the team, the rest of the team's makeup, and your plans for the team's future. That said, here are some common choices for improving your positionals:
Fighters
Many players on your team contribute primarily by knocking opponents over. As previously discussed, Block is a very powerful skill for this sort of player, boosting their knockdown odds and reducing their odds of getting knocked down in return. Big guys want this more than anyone since their obvious fighting role on the team is hampered by Loner often preventing block dice rerolls, but unfortunately they usually only have access to it on doubles. If you roll doubles on a big guy, Block is almost certainly the right pick.
Another big concern on bashy players is SPP generation. These players often make good cage corners and ball carrier defenders, meaning that they don't get to score a lot of touchdowns themselves. Fortunately, there are a few skills you can take to improve your chances of inflicting a casualty. Mighty Blow is one of the best of these, allowing you to add a +1 to either the armor break roll or the injury roll. Let's take a brief look at how that affects the injury math that we did in a previous post:
to this?
- 1 SPP for throwing a completed accurate pass
- 2 SPP for an intercepting a pass
- 2 SPP for inflicting a casualty in a block
- 3 SPP for scoring a touchdown
- 5 SPP for winning the MVP award (more on this in a moment)
Underworld throwers can take a skill from the Passing, Mutation, or General categories on any roll, or from the Strength or Agility categories if they roll double on the improvement roll.
Treemen, meanwhile, can only take Strength skills on a normal roll, but have access to most others on doubles. However, they can never get a skill from the Mutation category.
In addition, if the roll is 10 or higher, the player can forgo taking a skill entirely to gain a stat point instead. On a 10 the player can take a point of AV or MA, on an 11 he can take a point of AG, and on a 12 he can take a point of ST. Obviously, it's almost always correct to take a stat over a skill if you have the option because of how powerful the stats are, but there are exceptions when the stat isn't useful (such as +AG on a 1 AG big guy, for example).
Building the Perfect Murderer
Playing for the win is important in any game, but it's also important to think long-term. Part of this is funneling SPP to players that desperately need improvements and protecting valuable improved players. The latter is self-explanatory, but let's talk about the former a bit.
One of the most common sources of SPP is inflicting casualties. A player receives these points when involved in a block that injures an opponent, regardless of whether he was the attacker or defender. Unfortunately you don't have a huge amount of control over this due to the randomness of the armor and injury rolls, but there are still ways to increase the likelihood of scoring a casualty (see the "Fighters" section below).
Another common (and far more controllable) method of getting SPP is scoring touchdowns. It's difficult to get a big guy like a troll or ogre to pick up the ball and run with it, but it's not unreasonable with most other players, meaning that touchdowns are a reliable way of directing SPP to the players that need them (contingent on your ability to score, obviously).
The other big source of SPP is the MVP award. Every game, a random player on your team will receive 5 SPP for being the MVP. This could be any player that was on your team during the game, even one who died or a temporary one like a mercenary or star player. The MVP award can be a big boost if it lands on a player who normally has trouble gaining SPP (like the aforementioned troll or ogre).
Finally, while passing is risky for most teams, high-AG teams like elves can use easy short passes as a constant drip of controllable SPP to level up their important players. Of course, the penalty for failing a pass is pretty severe, so it's important to be careful with this strategy.
Playing to Your ST
So what do you do with all the SPP once you have it? There's no simple answer. The best skill choice for a player depends on his position and role on the team, the rest of the team's makeup, and your plans for the team's future. That said, here are some common choices for improving your positionals:
Fighters
Many players on your team contribute primarily by knocking opponents over. As previously discussed, Block is a very powerful skill for this sort of player, boosting their knockdown odds and reducing their odds of getting knocked down in return. Big guys want this more than anyone since their obvious fighting role on the team is hampered by Loner often preventing block dice rerolls, but unfortunately they usually only have access to it on doubles. If you roll doubles on a big guy, Block is almost certainly the right pick.
Another big concern on bashy players is SPP generation. These players often make good cage corners and ball carrier defenders, meaning that they don't get to score a lot of touchdowns themselves. Fortunately, there are a few skills you can take to improve your chances of inflicting a casualty. Mighty Blow is one of the best of these, allowing you to add a +1 to either the armor break roll or the injury roll. Let's take a brief look at how that affects the injury math that we did in a previous post:
The Claw skill also significantly increases a player's lethality. Claw causes armor break results of 8 or higher to be treated as a success, meaning that even your toughest opponents effectively have AV 7 during your blocks. Obviously, it combines favorably with Mighty Blow: every time a player with Mighty Blow and Claw knocks an opponent down, he has at least a ~14.35% chance to inflict a casualty and, in doing so, gain 2 SPP.
If you find your fighters frequently going up against enemies with Dodge, Tackle can be invaluable. A player being blocked by an opponent with Tackle cannot use the Dodge skill to turn Defender Stumbles into Defender Pushed. As a nice side effect, a player with Tackle prevents adjacent enemies from using their Dodge skill to get a free reroll on dodge rolls. In short, Tackle is as effective as Block for increasing your knockdown chances against Dodgers, but it comes with an extra little bit to make their lives even harder.
The Jump Up skill can also be quite valuable. Jump Up allows the player to stand up without losing movement and, more importantly, stand up and throw a block with a single action by passing an AG roll with a +2 bonus. If the player has AG 3 or higher, he passes this check on a 2+. Jump Up is in the Agility category, though, so most bashy players will only be able to take it on doubles.
Cagebreakers
Some players specialize in knocking the ball loose from opposing cages. The most obvious example of this is the Wood Elf Wardancer, but many teams can reasonably construct one.
Leap is a classic cagebreaking skill as it allows the player to leap into a space adjacent to a ball carrier without having to make any difficult dodges. Of course, once you've leapt into the cage, you're generally looking at a single die block against the ball carrier. To make this block as effective as possible, cagebreakers usually get Strip Ball, which knocks the ball out of the carrier's hands if you hit him with a Push or a Stumble, and either Block or Wrestle to down him on Both Down. This makes for an ~83% chance of knocking the ball free on the single die.
Cagebreaking is a dangerous job, and Block/Wrestle and Dodge are very useful on a cagebreaker to help him survive the enemy turn.
Ball Handlers
Players who intend to handle the ball have a lot of great skill choices. Dodge and Block are great for keeping you standing if you intend to hold the ball in enemy territory and reroll skills (Sure Hands, Pass, Catch, etc.) contribute tremendously to your chance of success at their related tasks.
Accurate adds 1 to all pass rolls, which is the same as having an extra point of AG for throwing purposes. If you remember the math from our passing post, that's a pretty nice boost to completion %.
The Strong Arm skill allows a player to add 1 to any pass roll they make outside of Quick Pass range, making it almost as good as Accurate. The interesting thing about Strong Arm is that it's in the Strength category, which many passers can only access on doubles. This skill is a valuable pick if you want to run a passing game on a team with lots of Strength access.
The value of Diving Catch and Hail Mary Pass is discussed here.
Nerves of Steel is a great skill for players who often find themselves attempting to pass or catch while surrounded by enemies, as it negates all the tackle zone penalties for those actions.
Foul Appearance is an interesting skill. When a player wants to block an opponent with Foul Appearance, he must first roll 2+ on a d6; if he fails, his action is still used up but he doesn't throw the block. This skill has some obvious utility on ball carriers, although it's a Mutation skill so most teams won't have access to it.
Linemen and Weak Offense
A large portion of your team (at least at first) is going to be composed of a lineman-type position. These players will usually be involved in a lot of violence without being particularly well-equipped for it (average ST, no Block, etc.). There are a few skills that these players may find very useful.
Wrestle occupies an interesting space. Wrestle modifies the Both Down event so that it brings both attacker and defender down without causing any armor rolls and without ending the current turn (unless the ball carrier initiated the block). This works even if the one or both players have Block. While this result is obviously less fun than Both Downing a guy who doesn't have Block and watching him crack in half, it's also more reliable because an opponent with Block doesn't deny it. There's significant value in disabling tackle zones, especially at the line of scrimmage or in a cage. Wrestle also protects you against Block and makes opposing Blockers less eager to attack you (since you'll get up from a Both Down on the opponent's turn before they will).
Guard is also quite strong on linemen, for a lot of same reasons. In all the places where Wrestle is good because it lets you turn off opposing tackle zones, Guard is good because it lets you provide assists despite those tackle zones. Linemen spend a lot of time either struggling on the line of scrimmage or making paths for more specialized players, and Guard is extremely useful for both. It's a Strength skill, though, so many linemen can't get it on normals.
Too Much Of A Good Thing
There's more to team improvement than just getting as many levels as possible. Every time one of your players levels up, your Team Value bloats a little bit, and if you get enough of that going on you'll find your enemies coming into games with ringers and wizards and extra rerolls and all kinds of unfair things. Next time, we'll talk about managing your Team Value to provide the maximum awesome to you and the minimum to your opponent.
If you find your fighters frequently going up against enemies with Dodge, Tackle can be invaluable. A player being blocked by an opponent with Tackle cannot use the Dodge skill to turn Defender Stumbles into Defender Pushed. As a nice side effect, a player with Tackle prevents adjacent enemies from using their Dodge skill to get a free reroll on dodge rolls. In short, Tackle is as effective as Block for increasing your knockdown chances against Dodgers, but it comes with an extra little bit to make their lives even harder.
The Jump Up skill can also be quite valuable. Jump Up allows the player to stand up without losing movement and, more importantly, stand up and throw a block with a single action by passing an AG roll with a +2 bonus. If the player has AG 3 or higher, he passes this check on a 2+. Jump Up is in the Agility category, though, so most bashy players will only be able to take it on doubles.
Cagebreakers
Some players specialize in knocking the ball loose from opposing cages. The most obvious example of this is the Wood Elf Wardancer, but many teams can reasonably construct one.
Leap is a classic cagebreaking skill as it allows the player to leap into a space adjacent to a ball carrier without having to make any difficult dodges. Of course, once you've leapt into the cage, you're generally looking at a single die block against the ball carrier. To make this block as effective as possible, cagebreakers usually get Strip Ball, which knocks the ball out of the carrier's hands if you hit him with a Push or a Stumble, and either Block or Wrestle to down him on Both Down. This makes for an ~83% chance of knocking the ball free on the single die.
Cagebreaking is a dangerous job, and Block/Wrestle and Dodge are very useful on a cagebreaker to help him survive the enemy turn.
Ball Handlers
Players who intend to handle the ball have a lot of great skill choices. Dodge and Block are great for keeping you standing if you intend to hold the ball in enemy territory and reroll skills (Sure Hands, Pass, Catch, etc.) contribute tremendously to your chance of success at their related tasks.
Accurate adds 1 to all pass rolls, which is the same as having an extra point of AG for throwing purposes. If you remember the math from our passing post, that's a pretty nice boost to completion %.
The Strong Arm skill allows a player to add 1 to any pass roll they make outside of Quick Pass range, making it almost as good as Accurate. The interesting thing about Strong Arm is that it's in the Strength category, which many passers can only access on doubles. This skill is a valuable pick if you want to run a passing game on a team with lots of Strength access.
The value of Diving Catch and Hail Mary Pass is discussed here.
Nerves of Steel is a great skill for players who often find themselves attempting to pass or catch while surrounded by enemies, as it negates all the tackle zone penalties for those actions.
Foul Appearance is an interesting skill. When a player wants to block an opponent with Foul Appearance, he must first roll 2+ on a d6; if he fails, his action is still used up but he doesn't throw the block. This skill has some obvious utility on ball carriers, although it's a Mutation skill so most teams won't have access to it.
Linemen and Weak Offense
A large portion of your team (at least at first) is going to be composed of a lineman-type position. These players will usually be involved in a lot of violence without being particularly well-equipped for it (average ST, no Block, etc.). There are a few skills that these players may find very useful.
Wrestle occupies an interesting space. Wrestle modifies the Both Down event so that it brings both attacker and defender down without causing any armor rolls and without ending the current turn (unless the ball carrier initiated the block). This works even if the one or both players have Block. While this result is obviously less fun than Both Downing a guy who doesn't have Block and watching him crack in half, it's also more reliable because an opponent with Block doesn't deny it. There's significant value in disabling tackle zones, especially at the line of scrimmage or in a cage. Wrestle also protects you against Block and makes opposing Blockers less eager to attack you (since you'll get up from a Both Down on the opponent's turn before they will).
Guard is also quite strong on linemen, for a lot of same reasons. In all the places where Wrestle is good because it lets you turn off opposing tackle zones, Guard is good because it lets you provide assists despite those tackle zones. Linemen spend a lot of time either struggling on the line of scrimmage or making paths for more specialized players, and Guard is extremely useful for both. It's a Strength skill, though, so many linemen can't get it on normals.
Too Much Of A Good Thing
There's more to team improvement than just getting as many levels as possible. Every time one of your players levels up, your Team Value bloats a little bit, and if you get enough of that going on you'll find your enemies coming into games with ringers and wizards and extra rerolls and all kinds of unfair things. Next time, we'll talk about managing your Team Value to provide the maximum awesome to you and the minimum to your opponent.
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Match Report: The Lustful Lizards vs. THE DUNK SQUAD (Week 1)
The Lustful Lizards 0 - 2 THE DUNK SQUAD
The game opened with a picture perfect dwarven defense, a strategy known by many other teams as "offense". The dwarves were in motion as soon as the ball was in the air, and dwarf enforcer Hagan Drek-Troll cracked the first skink skull of the game before it hit the ground. The dwarves maintained the assault, decimating the Lizards' line and sending a second skink off the field during the first turn (although the Lustful apothecary managed to hold him together well enough to play). The dwarf Turil prevented the Lizards from approaching the ball with a well-timed tackle and proceeded to run it in himself to put the Dunk Squad up 1-0 on only the second turn of the game.
The aggression continued with the Saurus lineman Tualtutah reducing Tebar the longbeard to a loose sack of bone shards and organs during the kickoff, but the dwarves repaid the debt double on the following turn by sending two skinks to the casualty box with snapped necks and mangled limbs. Skink runner Iztwaq was so distracted by the sounds of his kin being splattered that he failed to notice the dwarven tackle zones ahead. His flattening came as a surprise to no one but him. The fevered pitch of violence broke for a moment as the dwarves scrambled to recover the ball, but in the confusion Hagan Drek-Troll was able to blindside and KO the Saurus Goquitz. The dwarves managed to emerge with the ball but lost it immediately during a handoff attempt as Hagan proved that his impressive offensive abilities do not extend to actually playing Blood Bowl. A few more fumbled attempts at ball handling (including a desperate two-TZ pickup attempt by Iztwaq) closed out the half.
The Lustful Lizards set up for the second half with only 8 healthy players to the Dunk Squad's 10. The teams continued to display nearly superhuman animosity, but the violence of the preceding half made the rest of the game look like a polite and well-organized tea party. The dwarves ran an uneventful four-turn touchdown drive highlighted by Iztwaq being punished for making foolish negative two-die blocks and Hagan Drek-Troll laying out the Saurus Goquitz once again, this time for the rest of the game.
The final drive of the game opened with little Iztwaq spitefouling the dwarven runner Dinaz to no effect. A brief struggle over the ball ended with the Dunk Squad's Thor clumsily tripping over it, sending it rolling into a thick huddle of dwarven defenders. Iztwaq dove after it and, true to his idiom, found himself sprawled out on the ground in a daze. It looked for a moment as though the dwarves might score a third unanswered point when the Lizard defense suddenly came together, flattening the dwarven runner and allowing skink rookie Gor of Itza to make an impressive series of dodges and GFIs to regain possession. He charged through a hole in the Dunk Squad's line and reluctantly handed off the ball to perpetual failure Iztwaq. Seeing his moment at last, Iztwaq sprinted all-out toward the dwarven end zone in the final seconds... only to trip over his own damn feet as he crossed the goal line, somehow tumbling head over heels into his own spine and nearly tearing himself in half.
Hagan Drek-Troll received hard-earned MVP points for his role in the slaughter. Meanwhile, in a final grand act of betrayal, Iztwaq took the Lizards' MVP award with him to the grave. Lustful Lizards coaching staff was heard to remark "The little bastard died exactly as he lived: spitefully."
The aggression continued with the Saurus lineman Tualtutah reducing Tebar the longbeard to a loose sack of bone shards and organs during the kickoff, but the dwarves repaid the debt double on the following turn by sending two skinks to the casualty box with snapped necks and mangled limbs. Skink runner Iztwaq was so distracted by the sounds of his kin being splattered that he failed to notice the dwarven tackle zones ahead. His flattening came as a surprise to no one but him. The fevered pitch of violence broke for a moment as the dwarves scrambled to recover the ball, but in the confusion Hagan Drek-Troll was able to blindside and KO the Saurus Goquitz. The dwarves managed to emerge with the ball but lost it immediately during a handoff attempt as Hagan proved that his impressive offensive abilities do not extend to actually playing Blood Bowl. A few more fumbled attempts at ball handling (including a desperate two-TZ pickup attempt by Iztwaq) closed out the half.
The Lustful Lizards set up for the second half with only 8 healthy players to the Dunk Squad's 10. The teams continued to display nearly superhuman animosity, but the violence of the preceding half made the rest of the game look like a polite and well-organized tea party. The dwarves ran an uneventful four-turn touchdown drive highlighted by Iztwaq being punished for making foolish negative two-die blocks and Hagan Drek-Troll laying out the Saurus Goquitz once again, this time for the rest of the game.
The final drive of the game opened with little Iztwaq spitefouling the dwarven runner Dinaz to no effect. A brief struggle over the ball ended with the Dunk Squad's Thor clumsily tripping over it, sending it rolling into a thick huddle of dwarven defenders. Iztwaq dove after it and, true to his idiom, found himself sprawled out on the ground in a daze. It looked for a moment as though the dwarves might score a third unanswered point when the Lizard defense suddenly came together, flattening the dwarven runner and allowing skink rookie Gor of Itza to make an impressive series of dodges and GFIs to regain possession. He charged through a hole in the Dunk Squad's line and reluctantly handed off the ball to perpetual failure Iztwaq. Seeing his moment at last, Iztwaq sprinted all-out toward the dwarven end zone in the final seconds... only to trip over his own damn feet as he crossed the goal line, somehow tumbling head over heels into his own spine and nearly tearing himself in half.
Hagan Drek-Troll received hard-earned MVP points for his role in the slaughter. Meanwhile, in a final grand act of betrayal, Iztwaq took the Lizards' MVP award with him to the grave. Lustful Lizards coaching staff was heard to remark "The little bastard died exactly as he lived: spitefully."
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Match Report: Transexual Transylvania vs. Bone Again (Week 1)
Transexual Transylvania 1 - 1 Bone Again
That summary doesn't tell the story quite as well as this one, though:
Unfortunately, the Necromantic players were still pretty fresh from the ground and hadn't quite worked the kinks out of their muscles. The Transylvanian elf Kordar managed to nearly kick a poorly-assembled flesh golem in half during the opening seconds of the game, which proved a fitting opening to a half dominated by a massive riot in the center of the field. Zombie tackler Kevin of Glendalough suffered a similar fate a short time later, but he dragged his shattered spine off the field and spent the rest of the half putting himself back together with wood nails and duct tape. What a trooper!
The mute werewolf player Growl managed to break free of the scrum with ball in claw, but a group of Dark Elves followed close behind. The wight known only as John the Baptist attempted to slow their pursuit, but the elf enforcer Magenta hit him so hard that the echoes were felt up in the announcer's booth. John hit the ground crying out about a pinched nerve and refused to change his story even when the Necromantic coach pointed out that he doesn't have any nerves in the first place. (John is currently recovering in the "Big Whiny Crybaby" ward.) At almost the same time, the elven player Rynnear attempted to break free and assist his teammates only to have his pelvis shattered by a well-placed shamble from veteran dead guy Maximus of Turin. The elves surrounded Growl and knocked him to the ground, but he scooped up the ball as he got up and managed to break free and run it in during the closing seconds of the half.
Entering the second half tremendously weakened, the Necromantic team found themselves unable stop the elven offense from punching through. It looked like the luck of the undead might be turning around when wight Juan Diego cornered the Dark Elf ball carrier Brad Majors at the ten yard line with an assist from Growl. Diego quickly showed his true colors, though, failing a series of block attempts that ended with Majors tossing the ball aside and flattening him single-handedly. Growl managed to incapacitate himself attempting to fend off Majors' reinforcements, and the Dark Elf team was able to casually walk the tying point in over the unconscious Necromantic defenders.
It was a back-breaking season opener for Bone Again, who will limp into their next game without two of their important defensive playmakers. The Transylvanians fared significantly better, but still were only able to manage a tie. Both teams will just have to hope that this game wasn't an omen presaging a season full of fumbled passes, failed dodges, and shattered armor.
League Update!
The league has officially started! Hooray!
The league format is a round robin regular season followed by a four-team playoff for the cup. The window for each round is a week, but I can advance the round manually as soon as everybody wraps up their games. The league is mostly for bragging rights, but there are also gold prizes: the winning team receives 100,000 gold and the runner-up gets 60,000. Also, maybe I'll make a little paper trophy or something.
The first game has already been played (congratulations Keglugadins!) so get out there and spill some blood!
FAKE EDIT: If you have any topics that you'd like to see covered in strategy articles, drop a line in the comments here or in the Skype chat and I'll see what I can do.
ACTUAL EDIT: Also, if you want to write up a match report for one of your games, talk to me and we'll figure out how to get it up here!
The league format is a round robin regular season followed by a four-team playoff for the cup. The window for each round is a week, but I can advance the round manually as soon as everybody wraps up their games. The league is mostly for bragging rights, but there are also gold prizes: the winning team receives 100,000 gold and the runner-up gets 60,000. Also, maybe I'll make a little paper trophy or something.
The first game has already been played (congratulations Keglugadins!) so get out there and spill some blood!
FAKE EDIT: If you have any topics that you'd like to see covered in strategy articles, drop a line in the comments here or in the Skype chat and I'll see what I can do.
ACTUAL EDIT: Also, if you want to write up a match report for one of your games, talk to me and we'll figure out how to get it up here!
Friday, November 30, 2012
Advanced Tactics: Scatter Launches And You
The last passing post ended with a bit about how scatter launches can be made to work in your favor. Let's talk a little bit more about that.
How Scatter Works
Scatter occurs in a number of situations. A scatter launch is an obvious one, but the ball also scatters once whenever a player fails a pickup, fails to catch a pass or kickoff, or fumbles on a throw attempt. When a ball scatters, it moves one space in a random direction (all directions are equally likely).
On a scatter launch, the ball scatters away from the intended square three times. This does not mean that it will land three squares away, however. By way of example, here are some possible scatter patterns:
Pass and Catch improve your passing game immensely. The effect is nearly as dramatic on higher AG players (they improve slightly less with rerolls, but given their much higher initial values they obviously end up with very high improved values). It's obvious that players with passing skills should be better at passing than players without, but the point I wanted to underline here is that the difference is really large. You can achieve this same level of improvement with just one of these skills and a willingness to use a team reroll as well.
How Scatter Works
Scatter occurs in a number of situations. A scatter launch is an obvious one, but the ball also scatters once whenever a player fails a pickup, fails to catch a pass or kickoff, or fumbles on a throw attempt. When a ball scatters, it moves one space in a random direction (all directions are equally likely).
On a scatter launch, the ball scatters away from the intended square three times. This does not mean that it will land three squares away, however. By way of example, here are some possible scatter patterns:
As you can see, every space within three of the intended target (including the intended target itself!) is a possible landing square for a scatter launch. And I'm sure you've already noticed that not all of these squares are equally likely landing squares; for example, only one scatter sequence leads to this square:
While this square has three sequences, making the ball three times as likely to land here:
And here's how the squares all work out percentage-wise (as always, with some rounding):
First observation: 4.69% of the time, a scatter launch will land where you intended. The receiver will have a chance to catch it, but he won't get the +1 bonus for catching an accurate pass.
Second observation: The way scatter works means that you can make relatively "safe" throws even if your AG is low enough that you're unlikely to get an accurate pass. For example:
While this pass is obviously pretty unlikely to work, the potential scatter has a pretty good chance (~72.42%) to either land on or adjacent to one of our players. A pass like this is dangerous, of course, but sometimes it's preferable to the alternatives. For example, if your thrower is in that position and being harassed by enemy blitzers, a long bomb into the other half of the field can prevent an easy opposing touchdown. It's also a way for slower teams to move the ball more quickly, particularly if they feel like their men downfield are tough enough to withstand the opposing player's attempts to knock them clear of the ball.
Third observation: There's a ~46.85% chance for the ball to land either on the receiver or within one square of him. Why is this important?
Throwing The Game
The Diving Catch skill allows a player to attempt to catch a ball that lands in one of his empty tackle zones, and it can be an important part of a low AG passing game. A player with Diving Catch has a chance to catch both accurate passes and nearly half of scatter launches. If you can remember the math from the previous passing post and combine it with this fascinating new information, then you might be almost as much of a nerd as I am. In any case, Diving Catch raises the catch chance of an AG 3 catcher by like 8% in the simplest case, and more for higher AG players. But there's a much more entertaining use for it!
The Hail Mary Pass skill allows your passer to throw the ball to any space on the field, even beyond normal long bomb range. A Hail Mary can't be intercepted and has a greatly simplified pass roll: on a 1 the pass fumbles, and on a 2-6 it scatter launches. Because these passes aren't affected by AG, it's a passing plan even a Khemri can get behind (although even with Diving Catch, he might have a hard time catching the ball). Of course, hurling the ball off wildly into the distance is still risky, but used sparingly a Hail Mary strategy can give even slow, low-AG teams a shot of offensive mobility.
Final Notes
One other thing I mentioned briefly last time is the number of skills that exist to improve your passing game. Most of them are incremental increases and the improvements are easy enough to calculate in your head, but I think it will be valuable to show the math on an example of the reroll skills:
The Hail Mary Pass skill allows your passer to throw the ball to any space on the field, even beyond normal long bomb range. A Hail Mary can't be intercepted and has a greatly simplified pass roll: on a 1 the pass fumbles, and on a 2-6 it scatter launches. Because these passes aren't affected by AG, it's a passing plan even a Khemri can get behind (although even with Diving Catch, he might have a hard time catching the ball). Of course, hurling the ball off wildly into the distance is still risky, but used sparingly a Hail Mary strategy can give even slow, low-AG teams a shot of offensive mobility.
Final Notes
One other thing I mentioned briefly last time is the number of skills that exist to improve your passing game. Most of them are incremental increases and the improvements are easy enough to calculate in your head, but I think it will be valuable to show the math on an example of the reroll skills:
AG 3 Thrower, AG 3 Catcher
| Range | Fumble Throw % | Scatter Launch % | Fumble Catch % | Accurate Catch % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quick Pass (+1) | 17 | 17 | 22 | 44 |
| Short Pass (+0) | 17 | 33 | 17 | 33 |
| Long Pass (-1) | 33 | 33 | 11 | 23 |
| Long Bomb (-2) | 50 | 33 | 6 | 11 |
AG 3 Thrower with Pass, AG 3 Catcher with Catch
| Range | Fumble Throw % | Scatter Launch % | Fumble Catch % | Accurate Catch % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quick Pass (+1) | 6 | 6 | 10 | 78 |
| Short Pass (+0) | 8 | 17 | 8 | 67 |
| Long Pass (-1) | 22 | 22 | 6 | 50 |
| Long Bomb (-2) | 42 | 28 | 3 | 27 |
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Blood Bowl Basics: Passing
Passing is one of the most powerful and locally underutilized strategies for scoring points. A competent passing game is difficult to defend against, and a surprise pass from a normally non-passing team can slip past almost any opponent. Passing is not without risk, however; an interception sucks more than almost anything else in the game and your team has to make roughly a million AG rolls to complete a pass. So when is it safe to throw the ball?
Putting Up Numbers: The Short Version (No, Seriously)
First, the simple rules regarding passing: Passing is done as part of a move action. You only get to make one pass check each turn, so make it count. If your pass fails in such a way that the ball hits the ground or ends up in an opponent's hands, your turn ends.
A million might have been a slight exaggeration, but passing does still require a lot of AG checks. First is the passing roll, which is a normal AG roll with a few unique modifiers. For one thing, each enemy tackle zone on the passer inflicts a -1 penalty on the roll. For another:
The range of the pass modifies the passing roll. The value shown in the ring that your receiver is in gets added to the pass roll, so very short passes get a +1 modifier while long bomb passes get a -1 or -2. Once you've eyeballed the range and you're comfortable going for the pass, just right-click again to make the pass roll... sometimes!
Why sometimes? Because interceptions are by far the least intuitive part of Blood Bowl. If there is an enemy player who is awake enough to have tackle zones in the intended path of the pass, he makes an interception roll after you decide to pass but before you make the pass roll. The interception roll is an AG roll with a -2 modifier and an additional -1 modifier for each of your player's tackle zones on him. If he succeeds at this roll, you don't even roll the pass and he grabs the ball (and 2 SPP!) out of the air. If there are multiple potential interceptors, the opposing coach chooses just one to make the interception attempt.
Assuming no interception occurs, you make your pass roll. You've successfully gotten the ball out of the passer's hands, and the rest is up to Nuffle. If you succeed on the passing roll, you've made an accurate pass and the ball will land on the intended receiver. If you failed the passing roll, the ball will scatter randomly to a square up to three spaces away from the receiver. If you failed the passing roll and the result of the roll is 1 or less before and/or after modifiers, the passer will just fumble the ball into an adjacent space instead of throwing it. Remember that passing range is a modifier, which means that you're more likely to fumble a very long pass than a very short one. That's Blood Bowl!
So now you've fought to get your passer clear of opposing tackle zones, weathered an enemy interception roll, and succeeded on your passing roll. Surely the ordeal is over... except this is Blood Bowl, the only game that actively hates you while you play. Even if you manage to get the pass into the receiver's square, he still has to catch the damn thing. The catch roll is another AG check, suffering a -1 penalty for each enemy tackle zone on the catcher as well as getting a +1 bonus because of your passer's accurate pass. If you make the catch roll then Nuffle has smiled upon you and everything is sunshine and rainbows... for now. Fail the catch roll and ball will bounce out to a random square adjacent to the catcher.
That's the brief overview. Now let's get into some detail.
Putting Up Numbers: The Rest Of The Information
First, let's talk odds. You've seen all the AG rolls now, so you know that high AG players like elves or Gutter Runners are better at this stuff than the average mook or troll. But exactly how much better? That requires a bit of math. A bit of math that I've already done for you, in fact. Aren't you lucky to have me?
Putting Up Numbers: The Short Version (No, Seriously)
First, the simple rules regarding passing: Passing is done as part of a move action. You only get to make one pass check each turn, so make it count. If your pass fails in such a way that the ball hits the ground or ends up in an opponent's hands, your turn ends.
A million might have been a slight exaggeration, but passing does still require a lot of AG checks. First is the passing roll, which is a normal AG roll with a few unique modifiers. For one thing, each enemy tackle zone on the passer inflicts a -1 penalty on the roll. For another:
Why sometimes? Because interceptions are by far the least intuitive part of Blood Bowl. If there is an enemy player who is awake enough to have tackle zones in the intended path of the pass, he makes an interception roll after you decide to pass but before you make the pass roll. The interception roll is an AG roll with a -2 modifier and an additional -1 modifier for each of your player's tackle zones on him. If he succeeds at this roll, you don't even roll the pass and he grabs the ball (and 2 SPP!) out of the air. If there are multiple potential interceptors, the opposing coach chooses just one to make the interception attempt.
Assuming no interception occurs, you make your pass roll. You've successfully gotten the ball out of the passer's hands, and the rest is up to Nuffle. If you succeed on the passing roll, you've made an accurate pass and the ball will land on the intended receiver. If you failed the passing roll, the ball will scatter randomly to a square up to three spaces away from the receiver. If you failed the passing roll and the result of the roll is 1 or less before and/or after modifiers, the passer will just fumble the ball into an adjacent space instead of throwing it. Remember that passing range is a modifier, which means that you're more likely to fumble a very long pass than a very short one. That's Blood Bowl!
So now you've fought to get your passer clear of opposing tackle zones, weathered an enemy interception roll, and succeeded on your passing roll. Surely the ordeal is over... except this is Blood Bowl, the only game that actively hates you while you play. Even if you manage to get the pass into the receiver's square, he still has to catch the damn thing. The catch roll is another AG check, suffering a -1 penalty for each enemy tackle zone on the catcher as well as getting a +1 bonus because of your passer's accurate pass. If you make the catch roll then Nuffle has smiled upon you and everything is sunshine and rainbows... for now. Fail the catch roll and ball will bounce out to a random square adjacent to the catcher.
That's the brief overview. Now let's get into some detail.
Putting Up Numbers: The Rest Of The Information
First, let's talk odds. You've seen all the AG rolls now, so you know that high AG players like elves or Gutter Runners are better at this stuff than the average mook or troll. But exactly how much better? That requires a bit of math. A bit of math that I've already done for you, in fact. Aren't you lucky to have me?
AG 3 Thrower, AG 3 Catcher, No Tackle Zones Or Interceptions
| Range | Fumble Throw % | Scatter Launch % | Fumble Catch % | Accurate Catch % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quick Pass (+1) | 17 | 17 | 22 | 44 |
| Short Pass (+0) | 17 | 33 | 17 | 33 |
| Long Pass (-1) | 33 | 33 | 11 | 23 |
| Long Bomb (-2) | 50 | 33 | 6 | 11 |
AG 4 Thrower, AG 4 Catcher, No Tackle Zones Or Interceptions
| Range | Fumble Throw % | Scatter Launch % | Fumble Catch % | Accurate Catch % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quick Pass (+1) | 17 | 0 | 14 | 69 |
| Short Pass (+0) | 17 | 17 | 11 | 55 |
| Long Pass (-1) | 33 | 17 | 8 | 42 |
| Long Bomb (-2) | 50 | 17 | 6 | 27 |
Obviously these are simplest-case examples, but they show very clearly the difference between the average team's AG 3 passing game and an elfy AG 4 passing game. One more valuable note here is that an AG 3 team with no rerolls is more likely to drop even the shortest possible pass than they are to complete it. Of course, I would never recommend that you pass without rerolls, and fortunately there are several skills available to augment your passes without wasting precious team rerolls.
- Accurate adds +1 to all of the player's passing rolls.
- Pass allows your thrower to reroll the passing roll once.
- Catch allows your catcher to reroll the catching roll once.
- Strong Arm gives a +1 bonus to passes outside of Quick Pass range. (This is a Strength skill, so it's pretty unusual for a dedicated passer to have it. It stacks with Accurate.)
- Nerves of Steel cancels out all tackle zone modifiers for passing, catching, and intercepting.
- Extra Arms adds +1 to all catch and intercept rolls. (This is a Mutation skill, so very few teams will have access to it.)
- Safe Throw reduces the chance of your passes being intercepted.
- Diving Catch increases your odds of catching scatter launches.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Blood Bowl Basics: Blocking
The most common event in any Blood Bowl game is one bloodthirsty psychopath hurling himself bodily at another in an attempt to rend him asunder. You could just issue attack commands willy-nilly, but then you'd be the kind of asshole that makes me say things like "willy-nilly". Come on, you're better than that.
The Gentleman's Guide To Violence By The Numbers
The block die is pretty simple.
A block thrown by a completely unskilled player against a completely unskilled player has a 1/2 (50%) chance to knock down the defender and a 1/3 (~33%) chance to knock down the attacker. The Block skill decreases your chance of being knocked down by 1/6 on both attack and defense, while the Dodge skill reduces your chance of being knocked down by 1/6 on defense and allows you to reroll one dodge roll each turn. The number of dice rolled also has a large effect on knock down chances.
Avoiding An "Own Goal"
The lesson here is that Block is good and single-die blocks are dangerous (less so with Block).
The Gentleman's Guide To Violence By The Numbers
The block die is pretty simple.
% Chance Of Knocking Down Skilled Defenders
| # Of Dice | No Block, No Dodge | Block Or Dodge | Block And Dodge |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 50 | 33 | 17 |
| 1 + Reroll | 75 | 56 | 31 |
| 2 | 75 | 56 | 31 |
| 2 + Reroll | 94 | 80 | 52 |
| 3 | 87 | 70 | 42 |
| 3 + Reroll | 98 | 91 | 67 |
Avoiding An "Own Goal"
% Chance of Knocking Yourself Down Like An Idiot
| # Of Dice | No Block | Block |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 33 | 17 |
| 1 + Reroll | 11 | 3 |
| 2 | 11 | 3 |
| 2 + Reroll | 1 | <1 |
| 3 | 4 | <1 |
| 3 + Reroll | <1 | <1 |
DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU!
Do You Even Lift?
Number of dice is obviously a tremendous predictor of success, and the number of dice you roll in a block is based on your ST.
- If the attacker and defender have equal ST, 1 die is rolled.
- If the attacker and defender do not have equal ST, 2 dice are rolled instead and the higher strength player selects the result.
- If the attacker and defender do not have equal ST and the stronger player has more than twice the weaker player's ST, 3 dice are rolled instead and the higher strength player selects the result.
It's not terribly likely that you have players on your team with twice your opponent's ST, so how can you get those sweet, sweet 3-die blocks?
With A Little Help From Your Friends
Assists are the most common way of performing multi-die blocks. When you throw a block, you get a +1 ST bonus for each allied player projecting a tackle zone on the enemy you're blocking as long as they're not in any other enemy player's tackle zones. Confused? It's okay! I made pictures for all the dumb people:
All players in this example have ST 3. However, the teal lineman will still get a 2-die block against the red lineman because the assist from his teammate gives him +1 ST for this block.
If the teal lineman throws a block against the red lineman here, he'll only get 1 die because his teamate's assist is now being denied by the red blocker.
Pretty simple, right? I hope you just said "yes", because it gets more complicated. The enemy you're throwing the block against can also get assists from his teammates in the same way you can!
If the teal lineman throws the block in this situation, he'll get a "negative" 2-die block; two dice will be rolled and his opponent will choose the result, as the red blocker is providing an assist to the red lineman.
Defensive assists get denied in the same way as offensive assists. Everybody here is only making 1-die blocks, because all assists are being denied.
Of course, real game situations will be more complicated than that. The most difficult part of a turn is often figuring out the series of actions that gives you the best sequence of multi-die blocks. For example:
This situation occurred in a game I played yesterday as Halflings vs. Goblins. Without going back in time and picking a competent team, what is the correct sequence of plays here?
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