Let's Play Blood Bowl - Chaos Team

The statline:

By the way, someone help me figure out the statlines - number - Most Valuable Player - Touchdowns - Passes completed - Receptions - IT? (interception?) - Deaths caused - Casualties caused - KOs caused - TC? (turnover caused?) - Yards Passing - Yards Running - Injuries Taken - Knock Outs taken - IT? (intercepted passes?) - Tackles (taken?) - Star Player Points

Click to expand...

1st IT is interceptions.
1st TC is tackles.
2nd IT is interceptions thrown.
2nd TC is times that player has been tackled.


And Prehensile Tail is not crap. The CPU dodges nonstop. A few guys in the backfield with that skill will greatly increase turnovers caused. I wouldn't choose it over bread and butter skills like block, but for a 2nd skill for your defensive Beastmen, it is excellent. In fact, it's best against 2+ dodgers like Wood Elves, since you double the chance of failure.

Claw is also top notch. It makes any armor roll 7+. So if you block a Black Orc, it's like a +2 on your armor roll. Vs. a woodelf or goblin, claw has no effect. Regardless, more armor broken = more stunned / KO'd players and eventually you'll rack up more CAS. Claw's going to be perfect for your bashers up front, ie the Mino and CWs. I'ts also good for blitzer style Beasties as well, but I prefer to use them in more versatile roles and specialize each one according to their early skill ups. E.G., I get +1 AGI on a Beastie, he can go Sure Hands / Strong Arm to be a reliable passer, or Catch (on doubles) / Pass Block / Extra Arms / Very Long Legs for a nasty interceptor. +1 STR, and you'd go Claw / MB / Piling On or Frenzy for a mini-Mino. Chaos has a tremendous amount of possibilities for interesting player development.

I would only get Foul Appearance if you're afraid of being blocked. That shouldn't happen too often as Chaos. It's better for Skaven, Gutter Runners especially.

Big Hand / Extra Arms / Sure Hands will net you an extremely reliable ball hanlder, but be careful to spread around the SPPs.

Pick a flexible dev plan for each Beastie, and modify as you roll your skill ups. Sometimes, you'll get 3 +AGI players on the same team. Now all of a sudden, you can have an excellent passing game on top of your already formidable skills up front.

Nice. Thanks for the advice, dude. Stat bonuses aren't that common tho, aren't they? I think I went through a dozen level-ups with my dwarf team and only got two stat bonuses...

Shuma said:

Big Hand / Extra Arms / Sure Hands will net you an extremely reliable ball hanlder, but be careful to spread around the SPPs.

Click to expand...

How so? Dwarves can have two runners for this role, and while the SPP leader on my dwarf team was a runner, he was closely followed by a blitzer and a troll slayer, simply by injury count. It's only a point difference between a TD and a casualty, and if I have two runners I doubt they'll have much more than one TD a game average (in the dwarf team 1 out of every 3 TDs ended up being scored by a blitzer or blocker who was just in a good position)

I have tentacle on my Minotaur - not much gets past him.

Shuma said:

And Prehensile Tail is not crap. The CPU dodges nonstop. A few guys in the backfield with that skill will greatly increase turnovers caused... In fact, it's best against 2+ dodgers like Wood Elves, since you double the chance of failure.

Click to expand...

Except elves have two chances because of dodge, From my play it needs to be paired with Tackle to be effective, and I'd rather have picked 2 different skills.

Brother None said:

Nice. Thanks for the advice, dude. Stat bonuses aren't that common tho, aren't they? I think I went through a dozen level-ups with my dwarf team and only got two stat bonuses...

Shuma said:

Big Hand / Extra Arms / Sure Hands will net you an extremely reliable ball hanlder, but be careful to spread around the SPPs.

Click to expand...

How so? Dwarves can have two runners for this role, and while the SPP leader on my dwarf team was a runner, he was closely followed by a blitzer and a troll slayer, simply by injury count. It's only a point difference between a TD and a casualty, and if I have two runners I doubt they'll have much more than one TD a game average (in the dwarf team 1 out of every 3 TDs ended up being scored by a blitzer or blocker who was just in a good position)

Click to expand...

It's more to get SPPs for Beasties who dont get a lot of CAS. It's better to have 4 level 2 guys than one level 4, in general.

You have a 1 in 6 chance to get a stat bonus.

More specifically, 3 in 36 to get MA/AV, 2 in 36 to get AG, 1 in 36 to get ST. You also have a 1 in 6 to get doubles, but it's really 4 in 36 if you discount 5's and 6's. Doubles net you some potentially very useful skills and can change the way you develop a player. You could put an early double into Sneaky Git / and then DP on any other roll to have a nasty, low-risk fouler. Leader is nice also, and any double gets you a passer or catcher potentially, too.

Mino + tentacles is a perfect pairing.

I'm doubtful about willing to build a passer and catcher from scratch, but I love the leader skill, and I'm certainly nabbing it when I get the chance. Who will lead the Codex? Mystary!

I have tentacle on my Minotaur - not much gets past him.

Click to expand...

Ewwww. Dude, the less we know about the tentacle on your minotaur the better. Keep it in your pants, please.

Not too sure about Leader myself. A re-roll is nice, but you can always buy team re-rolls, expensive as they are.

Perhaps it's better to pick some other skills that complement each other for the player's role on the pitch.

Yeah well honestly I'd just take it for the fun of having one guy who deludes himself into thinking he's the leader? Leader? HAH. I AM YOUR LEADER AND YOU ARE MY PUPPETS.

I'm not really looking to mix-max anyway, so expect me to pick up some skills and mutations that are not ideal, but more fun.

Aww, c'mon...I knock a guy's head off his fucking body and no MVP? I hate that random crap.

Match 3

The last match before the playoffs is against the Skavens. They're slippery little bastards, but it should be my first chance to really flex some muscle.

They get 460000 GP in inducements, and spend it on...



Replacements. I'm thinking their matches against the dwarves and hummies didn't go to well on the injury front, so they're incapable of fielding a full team now without mercenaries. Good, because heroes can be damned tough.



They get the ball and I get ready to blitz. A foolish attempt to down NiM82 ends with the offending skaven on the ground.



Only a turn in and rabidredneck already injured one of the opposition's players.

Good going on those sacrifices, rabid, they really did the trick.



Made a bit of a foolish understaffed blitz here. The Skavens knock back kingcomrade easily, opening up a path for their thrower.



Ah shit. No doubts from the thrower, he just runs forward and passes it to their deep player. I'll let one of the beastmen covering their skaven attempt an interception, but honestly that's like a 6+ roll.



The pass was a 5+ roll as well, though, and the luck's not in it for the skavens. Failed pass, turnover!



Shuma picks it up and moves behind the center of the line, where I'm hard at work getting as many skavens down as I can.



Yup, like that, basically.



Not enough, sadly. They luck out on a blitz and knock down Shuma.



One of their gutter runners succeeds in dodging my blocks, attempts to pick up the ball and...fumbles it. They're going for some tough rolls (5+ one again), but I'm still lucking out nicely here.



OldSkoolKamikaze leads the way in bringing another Skaven down, also giving him a niggling injury (which will increase the chances of worse injury to that player in his career)



Meanwhile, I had Ogg by his lonesome guarding the would-be pass-catcher. The pass-catcher is prone, and I couldn't resists a good foul. Success! The foul kills the player. Failure! Ogg gets sent off by the referee. What are you, blind? That was perfectly legal!



Even Shuma got involved on the blocking, and finally the Skaven blitz is gone and Shuma free to run downfield.



And run he did.

Monocause managed to ring the bell of one of the few remaining skaven threats on the right side of your screen.



Here's a nice shot. I got him boxed up and one turn left to score, so I can safely spend the rest of my turn doling out punishment to the Skavens



Last move of the last turn of the first half. Smells like a touchdown!



Lookin' good, ladies.



I have 10 players on the pitch as one of mine was sent off, but no worries, the Skavens have only 7 and I'm getting the ball.



Owtch. They're doing surprising amounts of damage and do a good job bringing down the line.



Until Nibbler here tries to run away from HanoverF. Hanover's having none of that, and tears him a new one.



While SerratedBiz has the ball at the center of , I managed to destroy their undermanned left side blitz pretty. There goes the first skaven pushed off the pitch.



And there goes the second. Sucks to be you, guys.



Their skaven ogre shows off some muscle and actually manages to injure my minotaur, Cojones. I used the infirmary on him and he should be back for the next drive.



Used tentacles twice, success both times. I'm liking this skill.



Vortexx delivers the bill to Lhycut, to be paid IN BLOOD.



Bizz runs it in for the score!



Not bad. 4 injuries, 2 of which are major, and one death.



Nothing much happened on their last possession. They could field only 6 players. I managed to blitz their one receiver who got into my backfield, and here stripped the ball away from Nurgyk.



Another resounding victory. And a nasty one for them, too, just like at the states in their roster.

The red numbers indicate permanent injuries. One of their lineman has a broken collarbone and permanently loses a point of STR, and their thrower lost a point in armour value. Oh yeah, and a gutter runner is dead. Another gutter runner had an earlier injury, no doubt from the dwarves, and lost a point of AGI.



SerratedBiz got the MVP on top of his TD. Smells like a level-up.

Ogg didn't get any SPP. Because he was sent off?



Two, as Vortexx also levels up!

No luck on the rolls, just standard skills, no specials or stat increments.



Gave Biz sure hands. Looks like you've been promoted to running back, SerratedBiz.



Gave Vortexx kicker. Looks like you've been demoted to kicker, Vortexx.

No seriously, I know you guys will hate me for taking that skills, especially this early, and I should've taken block, but I like the skill. I'll start on building blocks next levelups.

Because the next match-up should be a breeze: it's against the same skaven team! We're now moving into playoffs, with the dwarves rematching against the humans and us against the skavens. I expect the dwarves to win so we should meet them in the finals.

But more importantly, the skaven team, already weakened, lost another player. Looks like they're going to need more mercenaries, and looks like we get to dole out some more punishment.

Weird, I thought I saw you get two touchdowns in the LP, but the final score was only 1-0? Also, a couple of your screenshots (including the tentacles one) look like they're from the Dwarf game. Since you mutated tentacles, are they actually visible at any point? Or does it just affect rolls?

Anyway, awesome LP! I just started the second season with my Dwarf team. So far, my only loss has been against that very same Skaven team, though I hesitate to call it a "loss" since so many of them were left bleeding on the pitch. Sometimes, winning just isn't worth the cost.

Silellak said:

Weird, I thought I saw you get two touchdowns in the LP, but the final score was only 1-0? Also, a couple of your screenshots (including the tentacles one) look like they're from the Dwarf game.

Click to expand...

Yip. Messed up a few screenshots. It should be ok now, though, I think I fixed 'em all.

Silellak said:

Since you mutated tentacles, are they actually visible at any point? Or does it just affect rolls?

Click to expand...

They're always visible. All players can have their own appearance, and mutations always show.




Is that a handsome devil or what?

You don't see the tentacle "in use" when making the holding move, but perhaps that's a good thing.

Brother None said:

They're always visible. All players can have their own appearance, and mutations always show.

...

You don't see the tentacle "in use" when making the holding move, but perhaps that's a good thing.

Click to expand...

Yeah, that's cool, I really like that mutations actually changes a player's appearance.

And you're probably right - I imagine it's best if we don't see the tentacles "in action".

One of these days I'll probably try a Chaos team, but the fact that almost all Dwarven players start with Block drove me to try them out first. I am having great fun slaughtering other teams while occasionally looking for that thing called the "ball". Dwarven runners are actually quite effective once you stick Dodge on them.

I think I'd find it hard to play a campaign with anything more fragile than humans. It seems like you'd be spending most of your money replacing your endlessly injured line of players.

Brother None said:

Ogg didn't get any SPP. Because he was sent off?

Click to expand...

Next time, I'll start by killing the referee.

Actually, SPP are only gain when blocking or being blocked. Aggressions and goblins' special attacks (like the chainsaw) won't earn you any SPP.

Ogg said:

Next time, I'll start by killing the referee.

Click to expand...

You can kill the referee? I thought only the fans could do that. Dang!

Anyway, highly embarrassing update coming.

No, actually, I don't think you can. Just kidding. Wanted to crack a joke and make people laugh. I need some kind of acceptance from anyone. I fail. Like always. I'm gonna die.

Ogg said:

No, actually, I don't think you can. Just kidding. Wanted to crack a joke and make people laugh. I need some kind of acceptance from anyone. I fail. Like always. I'm gonna die.

Click to expand...

Actually, I think I remember you could knock out the referee in the tabletop game. Though that might've been an added rule by the guys I've seen play this. 's why I asked. It would really fit this game if you could, y'know

Match 4! Went for 640x480, but I think it might be too small. You guys got any preference? Otherwise I'll probably go back to 800x600

Right, so we're in play-off mode now. We've dominated the campaign so far, and are up against the severely weakened Skaven team. They once again get a stack of inducement, and once again need it to fill gaps in their lineup.



Pussies. Should be a breeze.



Nothing much happened in the 1st turn. This one was amusing; the Skaven tried to blitz away from Kamikaze, who used his tentacles to hold him.

I'm severely fucking up my turn though. I tried to blitz the one receiver who pierced my lines but didn't manage to down him, and didn't get any players in the thrower's face. This can mean only one thing.



Couldn't rely on them failing their 5+ pass rolls indefinitely. Perfect launch, perfect catch. Can you smell it in the air tonight?



And this is why I find Skavens, humans and elves hard to play. They always position themselves to score in a single turn, if you let them.



My turn. I should be able to even the score before the half, in which case we should be doing fine since we're receiving the ball next half. I destroy their middle line (oh sweet, sweet rewenge), and Biz's sure hands make him a dead cert to pick up that ball.



Boxed up pretty well, but they're not doing a bad job off deconstructing my line.



And a turn later, they've downed Biz. Goddammit.



The best way to ensure your ball carrier's safety is to make sure no opposing team members are standing. And that's what we're doing here.



A Skaven misses his dodge roll, giving the turn back to us. Looking good.



I position Biz to pick up the ball again, while Jim Cojones is having some fun with the lone skavens standing. Sweet, this should be eas...



Oh God Fucking Dammit. You fast little fuckers.

And don't you know it? When the ball goes out of bounds, it means it's thrown back in, randomnly. And, of course, it's throw *right behind* a skaven gutter runner in my half. Oh, I'm sure he won't capitalize on that opportunity...



No fuck argh abort delete KILL THAT FUCKER SOMEONE KILL HIM





Still got two turns left. I doubt I can score, but I can at least reduce their numbers to make it easier next half.



Just eat it, eat it, eat it, eat it
No one wants to be defeated
Showin' how deadly and strong is your blitz
You know what's coming, it's ITZ



uh-huh. Well so far for my brilliant offensive plans.

Fuckers even manage to pick up the ball BEHIND MY FUCKING LINE. AAAARRRGH



KILL KILL KILL KILL



Sure hands. It's not a guarantee.



Another skaven picks up the ball, gets downed, and then the ball does this hot potato between about half a dozen players who all lack the agi to pick it up, before finally a chaosman manages to hold onto it.

Second half!



Booooooooooooo!



Oh Goddammit this pisses me off. Bizz was in the left side of the field, they pinned the ball right, and I can't even pick the fucker up in one turn. I'm getting seriously pissed off now.

And that can mean only one thing

METAL SOUNDTRACK SLAUGHTER
(soundtrack, lyrics in from 0:54)



More enemy forces leapt out of the hills
Overwhelming our flanks



But then our captain rose the banner and screamed
"You'll fight to the end, don't fear no defeat"



And now new strength was found, the turn in the fight
As a falcon shrieked and pierced the sky above



Into amazement the enemy fell
Our flanks reformed and we fiercely charged again.



Yes, once again a furious warcry filled the sky



The glorious falcon, our victory is near.



With our captain in the frontline



Holding the banner of the falcon up high



And so we charged on to fight!



Right, that took way too many turns and my chances of victory have been reduced to near-zero. Still, I can easily punch in a honerary TD, right? Got rerolls left, and it's just a go for it.



Ok. No worries. Reroll.



...Ok, no worries, I'm still in good position, so Biz can just scramble up, pick up the ball and punch it in for Great Honor next turn.



...

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU


You have got to be fucking shitting me. On 4 rolls, any one of which would have allowed me a touchdown, I roll a 1, a 1, a 2 and a 1?!?!?!?!



Fuckers even have the gall to pick up the ball.



He doesn't hold it long, and then their...rat ogre picks it up? 'k



Fuck you, you dodgy lil' bastard

So that was our first defeat, guys, and it wasn't even close. The second Skaven TD was a bit of luck, though I had no business playing so close to the sideline anyway, the first TD was them outplaying me.



Team stats. Less SPPs this time, but that makes sense.



And that's right. Despite dominating this entire competition, this one loss immediately dumps me to 3rd, and the Skavens take the cup. Fuck. But that's playoff formats for you.

Individually Jim Cojones had the most knock downs (5), SerratedBiz was the best runner with 94 yards, and OldSkoolKamikaze the most violent with 3 injured or dead. Nice one, guys, those scores are traditionally all dwarven scores.

According to the Hall of Fame rankings, the Slaanesh SeaSkuas lead the pack in occupation of opponent's half (60%), casualties with 12 injuries, and defence with only 2 TD against total. That's best overall, of all 57 active teams. You'd think with stats like those we'd get somewhere, but no...



This is the competition map. Early on you don't really have many options.

If a stadium has colour, it means it's been unlocked time-wise (you can see "unlocked in period 2" in the top right hand corner, it's now period 2, last competition was in period 1, logical no?)
The arrows indicate tournaments I have enough renown to take part in. Right now, that's only the 0-prestige tournaments.

On the right hand you can see our global rankings. With 0 prestige, we're left in dead last, 57th out of 57th.

Rabidredneck and Jim Cojones leveled up.



I give redneck the block skill. Should make him one of our toughest players.



And I give Jim Cojones claws. Damn, look at those babies, they'll rip open a can of soup in no time flat.

Notice I wanted block for Cojones, but Minotaurs level up really narrowly; only mutation and strength updates always unlock, if you want a general skill you need to roll double. I'm jumping on block as soon as I can, but no luck this time.

I joined the Aerial Cup shown in the map. The competing teams are once again humans, skaven and dwarves, which is a bit of a shame since I was hoping I'd be able to show more varied opponents. I'll do shorter summaries for the next few matches since you've seen the opponents now.

And I'll try not to shame the name of the Codex in this next competition. Sorry, guys

I was also planning to ask you guys what to spend my money on, assuming I win the competition. Arrogance comes before the fall, I guess. I'll ask you at the end of next competition.

Don't worry man, the Skaven are little bitches. So far my only defeat is to a Skaven team, and just now they ALMOST beat me again, but I managed to pull out a 3-2 victory.

I had a 2-1 advantage at the half, but they got one of their "2-turn-touchdowns" thanks to ridiculous passing rolls. Luckily that gave me enough time to form a decent wall around my Runner and gradually grind across the field, wearing them down until eventually there were enough unconscious rats that my Runner could safely make a break for it.

They even managed to injure one of my players and almost injure another. Playing as Dwarves, I almost NEVER get injured, especially by agile teams. Fucking rats are insane, man.

***BREAKING NEWS***

In a shocking turn of events, the Warfire Wanderers, a Skaven team that had just won the Clean Cup Tournament did not get to enjoy their victory long. Investigating a smell even worse that usually comes from a Skaven locker room, officials were shocked to discover the entire team dead.

All that could be inferred was somehow a Nurgle plague demon got loose in their locker room and infected everyone with an especially virulent form of Nurgle's Rot. So severe was the immediate health threat the locker room was burned to the ground, not allowing time for officials to do a proper investigation. Unfortunately, the cup itself won't be transferred to the second place team, and so will remain unclaimed until the next tournament"

If my chaos warrior manages to level up again, may I suggest the claws mutation to further improve his blocking/hurting ability?

Rabidredneck said:

If my chaos warrior manages to level up again, may I suggest the claws mutation to further improve his blocking/hurting ability?

Click to expand...

Sure.

I plan to have all the chaos men develop along similar lines, basically block/tackle/claws/prehensile tail (except for the one who already has tentacles). If you're trying to block someone with dodge, block and tackle together combine to turn a possible 1 in 5 results being positive to a possible 3 in 5 results being positive. I'm a big fan of tackle.

And actually, here's the weird thing: I put the coming game line-up for the next competition in the first post. As you can see I'll be having rematches with the hummies and dwarves first, but the skaven team is a new one. I just figured this skaven team moved on to better things, but being hit by Extract of Nurgle is also a good explanation.

S said:

Don't worry man, the Skaven are little bitches

Click to expand...

Don't worry? DON'T WORRY?! What about "COMMITMENT TO SLAUGHTER"? "PUMMEL AND PUNISH"? "JUST WIN, BRUTALLY"? Do these slogans mean nothing?!

If I ever meet this Skaven team again, you better damn well believe I'll leave not a one of them standing.

Anyway

INTERMISSION!

Blood Bowl provides some opening cinematics that can be nice mood-setters. All of 'em are violent and properly show off what teams are about. Here we see Chaos and Humans at their peak; one blitzing and winning, the other on the ground before using sneaky dirty manoeuvres















That's right, they friggin' threw a fireball on that poor, innocent Chaos Warrior.

Ah well. I've never unlocked spells in this game, it seems you can get them from random opening events, but I have yet to see them.

Team roster! Ranked by SPP.



I was starting to worry about NiM not getting any points but he got a casualty in the last match. You get your first level-up at 6 SPP, so any of the level 1 players getting an MVP would push 'em over, or a few casualties will do.

I'll probably do a dual-update for both the hummie and dwarven matches soon. Like I said, they're both rematches, so not overly interesting.

Brother None said:

I was starting to worry about NiM not getting any points

Click to expand...

Me too, useless bastard!

Spells are only in Blitz mode, I think.

How exactly does sponsorship work? And do we have any deals with anyone?

Wow, those rolls sure sucked. Now that I've bought the game I did try a Chaos team and actually went somewhere along the same lines: I have a Beastman with Sure Hands and Extra Arms (+1 to pickup roll), some other with Prehensile Tail for sneaky bastards, a Chaos Warrior with Claw and another with Block. Looking at the level ups, even with standard rolls you can get a lot of variety on your players thanks to Mutation - Strength being available to everyone, with Mutation being pretty close to a mix of STR/AGI/GEN skills. So that makes Chaos a pretty versatile team.

Still, I don't feel all that comfortable with the team, and I've been trying out Lizardmen. They're actually a lot like Chaos, with only two kinds of players plus the Big Guy, except that Slinks are about as agile but much better at dodging and running. So they're a pretty interesting team but I'm having a hard team managing the Slinks just right so they are useful but not injured (which they easily are, with 7 armour and a +1 to injury for being so puny). So I think I'll be developing them.

I also think we could start some sort of Codex league in the future. I think there might be at least eight codexers who bought the game so it might be good fun playing with people you know and can humilliate in the forum later.

Rabidredneck said:

How exactly does sponsorship work? And do we have any deals with anyone?

Click to expand...

Sponsorship contracts give you an opportunity to get some free gold once per period, I think. You can set up to three objectives: percentage of matches won, your ranking in the current tournament and for the third one you can choose from various goals like increasing your team points, finishing first in the tourney and some others. Setting higher goals increases the amount of gold you get, and reaching your goals increases the sponsor's trust in your team which in turn nets you more gold per objective.

NiM82 said:

Brother None said:

I was starting to worry about NiM not getting any points

Click to expand...

Me too, useless bastard!

Click to expand...

Not everyone can be as good as OldSkoolKamikaze.