1st game vs Skaven

Paul enjoying a pre-game slice of melon...

Woo!  It's Blood Bowl time baby yeah!

As you can tell, I've been looking forward to the start of the league - and the first game was scheduled against my old mate Paul who was playing Skaven.

The key thing for me in this game was the weather - it was raining.  I won the kick-off and Paul was expecting the punishment to start - but my team just didn't seem up to it.  They knocked players over but just couldn't do enough to hurt them.  I did manage to thin out their numbers though.  That being said, I made the mistake of stalling before scoring which was, in hindsight, a terrible idea.  Paul got one of his gutter runners to do some amazing dodges and hit the ball carrier - and even though I got to choose the result, they both meant my player would be down.  Top work from Paul indeed!

In the second half, I was kicking but it was still raining.  Paul only had six players against my eleven so I thought I might be okay - but Paul played really well and my players kept fumbling the pick up.

In the end, the game finished a nil-nil draw and with two casualties each.  A moral victory for Paul I think but at least I didn't lose!

Score - 0-0 draw.

My team : 2 x bull centaurs, 6 x chaos dwarfs, 3 x hobgoblins, 2 x rerolls, apothecary

Paul's team : 1 x rat ogre, 2 x blitzers, 3 x gutter runners, 5 x linemen, 3 x rerolls

Final warm up game vs Wood Elves part II

Tonight's game was my final warm up session before the league starts properly on 30th October.  In my excitement, it seems I totally forgot about taking a team photo before the game.  The game was against Wood Elves again, this time coached by Andrew, someone I've only known a short time but seems to be exactly the kind of guy I'm going to get on really well with.  He's a great guy and he loves Blood Bowl!

The game itself was very interesting - Andrew was cagey and careful with his players positioning while I did my best to thin out their numbers with continued blocking.  Eventually it paid off and I managed to blitz the ball carrier, grab the ball and stall long enough to get a touchdown as the half ended.

In the second half, Andrew only had six players on the pitch and three of those were ST2 catchers.  I must admit, I got a bit complacent as I had a full team of eleven - but fate conspired against me with some double-skull results that meant I'd burnt both rerolls by the 2nd turn.  Although I was moving up the field and keeping his remaining players prone, one of Andrew's catchers managed a stunning combination of dodges and hit my hobgoblin ball carrier with a "two dice I choose".  They were both down or defender stumbles!  Both players went down and the ball landed right next to the sideline.  In my turn, I had another hobgoblin try to pick it up - and failed.  The ball scattered off the field and the crowd threw it back on deep in my half and right in front of one of his linemen.  The lineman scored in no time - curses!

With three turns to go, Andrew managed to get seven players back on the field and I had to set up to try to score if I wanted to win.  Andrew kicked the ball deep - right in my endzone!  I moved my bull centaurs up field, punched and put tackle zones on the elves on the line of scrimmage and then tried to pick up the ball - which worked!  I then did a hand-off to another hobgoblin which again worked.  It was looking good...  Andrew moved some of his catchers to cover my centaurs and it was time for my last turn.  I had to put a dwarf blocker against my centaur to help with the coming blitz - I had to ask another dwarf blocker to go for it twice to blitz a Wood Elf catcher, thankfully knocking him down and pushing another catcher out of the way into the bargain.  All I needed to do now was have the hobgoblin do a 4+ handoff to the now free bull centaur and then have the centaur make a go for it.  The dice rolled beautifully.  2-1 to me.  Andrew had so few players left he opted to skip his last go so the game ended.

So, in summary, I've had seven warm up games, won four, drawn one and lost two.  Not too shabby for a team I'm not confident about!  I'm really looking forward to the start of the new season now - I'm totally fired up for the league!

Score - 2-1 win.

My team : 2 x bull centaurs, 6 x chaos dwarfs, 3 x hobgoblins, 2 x rerolls, apothecary

Andrew's team : 2 x wardancer, 4 x catchers, 5 x linemen, 1 x reroll

Warm up game vs Wood Elves

I had yet another warm up game last night - I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the best ways of using this Chaos Dwarf team.  This time is was against my friend Darren and his Wood Elf team.  Darren won CBBBL IV with this team, albeit mainly due to the phenomenal luck of rolling stat increases on a Wardancer to make it a ST4 AG5 pointy-eared aberration.  There was just no stopping it - and combined with his skilful playing, there was no stopping him either.  Hopefully this league he will not be quite so lucky!

The game started fairly well for me - I won the FAME roll and the dice-off to see who kicked or received.  When the Wood Elves kicked off the ball scattered off the field and I got a touchback and gave it straight to a bull centaur - just trying to give the ball to a centaur normally burns my rerolls!  I slowly moved up the field, doing my best to keep my ball carrier free from any chance of being blitzed whilst doing my best to smash the elves.  I did manage to punch a few unconscious but not enough to stop Darren blocking my path.  Around turn six I tried to break free and left a small chink in my defence - and Darren immediately got to work.  He had a catcher put a tackle zone on my bull centaur, then did some crazy dodges and a leap with his Wardancer to one dice block my centaur - and smashed him to the floor.  The ball scattered and he got a nearby elf to grab it and lob it downfield!  Disaster!  All Darren needed to do to score in the last turn of the game was to make a go-for-it - and the elf slipped over whilst doing so.  Lucky escape there...

In the second half, the Wood Elves only had eight players so he tried a refused flank setup - my kick went very deep to the other side of the field which was excellent for me.  Then his treeman took a swipe at my dwarf blocker and rolled a skull and a both down.  Darren elected to take the result rather than use his only reroll.  I sent my players downfield towards the ball carrier and started punching the rest of his players.  With yet more elf razzle dazzle, Darren's wardancer blitzed one of my players, leapt over my defensive line and sprinted off into my back field - then his thrower grabbed the ball, threw it over the heads of my chaos dwarfs and the wardancer caught it perfectly - another big gameplay switch!  I pulled back some of my players and did the only thing I could - I blitzed with a bull centaur and managed to knock the wardancer over, stunning her.  In my next turn, I needed my players to do what they have the most trouble with - picking up the ball!  One of my hobgoblins managed to do just that and, to cap it off nicely, he even managed to hand it off to a bull centaur!  The centaur charged down field again, this time with a few nearby players to support him.  I'd continued to keep punching Darren's other players and it was taking it's toll on them, with them being knocked out and pushed off field.  With so few players left, Darren couldn't really do much to stop my bull centaur but he did his best, sending that wardancer after him and getting her to leap into my cage to blitz him, with a two dice block my choice - which luckily for me had come up with a skull.  She was becoming very annoying so I had a few players surround her and then had a hobgoblin foul her - which resulted in a -1 AG stat decrease on her.  The dirty little swine wasn't even sent off.  Darren was very, very pleased that this was just a warm up game...

I scored in my last turn leaving Darren with just a prone treeman on the field.  It was a tough match indeed but it's always a good test to play against Darren.

I've got one more warm up game scheduled before the start of the league proper - I think I'm just about ready for it now.

Score - 1-0 win.

My team : 2 x bull centaurs, 6 x chaos dwarfs, 3 x hobgoblins, 2 x rerolls, apothecary

Darren's team : 1 x wardancer, 1 x thrower, 2 x catchers, 6 x linemen, 1 x treeman, 1 x reroll

Warm up game vs Dark Elves part II

It's been a few weeks since my last warm up game but I managed to get to the club last night to play - with the start of CBBBL looming, my fellow coaches have started to get back into the swing of Blood Bowl so, hopefully, I'll get a couple more warm ups in before the league starts on 30th October.

This game was against Graeme who was using his new Dark Elf team.  Graeme had been intending to use his Vampire team; a team he's not had a lot of luck with in previous leagues as they're just so unforgiving in a league format.  He had a recent practice game against Rodders and took a heavy drubbing - so he's switched teams to Dark Elves which will hopefully allow him a much more enjoyable season.

Graeme received the kick and got to work quickly, pushing through my defences thanks to the nimbleness of his AG4 players and he scored in his turn two.  I was a bit flummoxed by this as I thought I'd done a decent set up - but with seven turns left I thought I'd be able to score this half and then try to dominate the second half to allow me a win.  That plan was all well and good apart from the uncooperative hobgoblins who absolutely refused to pick up a ball.  I burned through both my rerolls on them - any by the time they did get hold of the ball, it was too late to score.  Curses.  Additionally, the best I'd done to injure any of his players was to knock them out so at the second half we both still had full team rosters to field.

Things went a little better for me in the second half - my hobgoblin actually managed to pick the ball up at the first attempt for one. I managed to hurt one of his linemen and, thanks to some poor positioning, I had an easy task of crowd-surfing his witch elf - and the fans killed her for it!  Graeme was very thankful that this was just a warm-up game and won't make that mistake again, I'm sure!  I scored around turn five to equalise and, hopefully, give me a chance to turn him over and try to get a win.  Even with just nine players on his side, Graeme pushed forward and got very close to scoring - I had to blitz his ball carrying blitzer to try to stop him and, thankfully, it worked.  I recovered the ball but there was no time left to do anything other than ensure he couldn't score and the game ended 1-1.

So - a better result than I had last time against Dark Elves but, from the practice games I've had so far, I suspect my league chances will be slim.

Score - 1-1 draw.

My team : 2 x bull centaurs, 6 x chaos dwarfs, 3 x hobgoblins, 2 x rerolls, apothecary

Graeme's team : 3 x blitzers, 1 x witch elf, 7 x linemen, 2 x rerolls