Let's Play Blood Bowl - Chaos Team

Sponsorship isn't available in classic mode, no?

Anyway

Match 5!

A rematch against the Mittledorf Smashers. I had little problems with them last time, so hey...



They get a bit of inducement due to being slightly weaker, and roll up a reroll.



This is one of the pre_snap events. The reason I like loading up on cheerleaders is to win out on as many as possible. Fan factor helps too, and ours is decent at this point. Anyway, we win this one, getting another reroll.



Looking good here. Destroying the center of their line, blitzing effectively on the left.



'course the bastards manage to box Biz up very fast, but we're not having any of that...



Blitzed in JimCojones, and very quickly all our troubles were over.



Here we see rabidredneck enjoying his block skill. I must've used it at least 3 times in just this one match. I love that skill.



Biz does a little dance as rabidredneck uses his block skill to down the human ogre.



Every now and again, the AI can't accept that it's beat. It moves its last sensible move, then just waits for about a minute or two with the camera focused on that dude. Doesn't happen often, but it is weird when it does.



Touchdown! Oh yeah, the fans go wild!



They anticipated my blitz well, but at least Vortexx downed the catcher trying to pass us by.



To no avail. Otto catches the ball, easily dodges Biz, and punches it in.



Huzzah



This is the end of the first half. I should be happy it didn't last one turn longer.

Halftime!



Ugh. Honestly, the humans are slaughtering me. They knocked out OldSkoolKamikaze earlier in the match, a normal KO but he never recovered (you have to dice for that), so I lost him for the match. Here I lose kingcomrade not just for the match but for the next match too, infirmary didn't help.

As I don't have any replacements, I'm basically fielding 9 players now. I KOd about 4 of them, but they all recovered, and they suffered no casualties. In other words: I'm fucked.



Though sometimes you luck out! Interception, awesome.

But now here's the problem: I have only a few players on the pitch against their full team. I can't properly protect Shuma. So instead I take a risk and blitz the thrower with him. Knocked the thrower over easily, but...



Doesn't take them long to knock Shuma down a peg.



They boxed up their thrower right quick. I moved in a few players, but too few by far to stop him from escaping.



Easy throw, easy catch. Stephan moves downfield, laterals it to another human, and...



*sigh*

With 2 turns left, that's another loss, there's no way I can score in 2 turns.



A goddamn embarrassment is what it is.



Now I know what it feels like to play with inferior numbers. No matter what I try I can't stop their blitz.



Forgot to screencap the statline. Shuma and his interception was MVP.

Here's the results. Suffered 3 KOs and a casualty. Amazing. Also lost a point of fan factor.



Shuma levels up and gets block.



And I lost kingcomrade for the next match, so I needed a player just to be able to field 11. I was planning to get a Chaos Warrior anyway but now my depth is still crap. Anyway, welcome Mantiis, I'll hope you'll enjoy your baptism by fire for our next match...A REMATCH WITH THE GRUDGE BEARERS. We'll see what kind of grudge they bear.

Match 6!



With two back-to-back matches lost against passing teams, I think I need to evaluate some of my strategies. I'm also really not causing enough damage for a chaos team. The 4th ranking is well-deserved, but honestly kind of meaningless since we'll all meet again in the playoffs anyway.

Also not sure why I'm ranked below dwarves because they actually had 4 TDs against from the Skaven team. Yeah, not looking forward to meeting those skaven.



Nice stadium.



Right. I get the ball and am employing my usual strategy, hold the line, blitz on one side.



Doing some major damage, which helps. No injuries, tho'.



I'm relying on my superior speed here, rather than having him boxed up. A bit risky, but you can usually pull a stunt like this against the dwarves.

He does manage to get on blitzer up in Biz' grill. I had hoped to blitz him away in one go, but it takes assistance from Biz to do so...



Not a huge problem tho', I have enough free guys left now to box him up.



And Biz is free to punch it in! Yadayadayada!



Here's why I love the kick skill. I pin the ball against their endzone, meaning it's impossible for them to score by definition (their short little legs can't cover the distance). The dwarves are nice enough to fumble the pickup, too.



And Ogg actually has a chance to pick up the ball and punch it in! Very low chance, but still. Go for it, Ogg!



No such luck. No worries.

Half time!



Those troll slayers are hard little buggers. They manage to down Cojones before one is finally taken down by a failed block on OldSkoolKamikaze.



They have the ball, but I got them boxed in nice and tight. Shuma actually ran in all the way from the left side of the pitch.



In a panic, they try to have their ball carrier (a blitzer, oddly enough) dodge out. He actually comes close to making it with a reroll, but fails his last test and goes down.



I'm being a bit overly cautious here, and completely boxing up the ball while running in Biz from the left side of the field (!)



Skragni knocks himself out on Hanover's fist. We have most of the dwarves down now, though they won't stay like that for long.



Moving in Biz paid off, as he has no problems picking up the ball. I'm not going to go for it, tho', no need, I just move him closer to the zone.



Cojones is shit out of luck here, trying to tackle a troll slayer.



Kamikaze's tentacles stop a would-be blitzing attempt on Biz's guards.



Technically I could take a moment to try some dwarf-stomping here, but they're coming in hard from the side on Biz & co, so...



BOOM, BABY



The crowd goes bananas!



Pinned them to their zone again. Poor lil' buggers.



Hardy, too. Rabidredneck goes down here, but nothing serious. For some reason I don't understand myself, I used apothecary on him, even though it would make no difference since this is the last drive.

No worries? 'fraid not, it turned out to be a huge mistake.



I have Ogg go for it to get in their runner's face next turn, and he...dies? That's right. A passionate player, known for his toughness and relentlessness, but he never knew when to quit. He never knew when to phone it in. He ran his heart out, literally, and died on the pitch. With no apothecary left, I could only gape at this bizarre event from the sidelines.

You will be remembered, Ogg.



F'in game couldn't help but kick me in the nuts, I s'pose, but at least it's a victory. I dedicate this victory to Ogg.

Look at those stats, 1 KO and 2 casualties sustained, and ZERO caused.



It's just kingcomrade and Biz calling the glory here, everyone else gets dick.



Rolled double for Biz and gave him dodge. In retrospect I probably shouldn't have, but I guess it'll come in handy a few times.



Block for the king.

EDIT: and I just realised, how was kingcomrade in the game? I did not use the infirmary result since it was a permanent injury, so why didn't he miss this game? I sometimes get the feeling infirmary is a bit bugger, to be honest.



And fresh blood! Had to spend the winnings on a beastman since my lack of depth is killing me. Luckily, Ogg's oldest son, Ogg Jr, was willing to uphold his family's honour, and joins us on a quest to avenge his fallen father.



Better. Humans are dominating.

After the next match, I should have enough money to buy either an extra beastman or extra apothecary, or save up for another reroll. I'm tending towards another beastman for depth. What is the Codex opinion?

Brother None said:

Rolled double for Biz and gave him dodge. In retrospect I probably shouldn't have, but I guess it'll come in handy a few times.

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Actually, since he already has Sure Hands, Dodge is a pretty good choice. Just try and make him your primary ball runner. I was able to give Dodge to both of my Dwarven runners and it's a life saver - not just because you can re-roll a dodge attempt, but also because it turns a "Defender Stumbles" into a "Defender Pushed" - great for ball carriers and in general. Give him block, and suddenly the only thing taking you down is a "Defender Down" roll - unless of course you're unlucky and facing someone with Tackle. Still, that's still a 3/5 shot against staying upright.

After the next match, I should have enough money to buy either an extra beastman or extra apothecary, or save up for another reroll. I'm tending towards another beastman for depth. What is the Codex opinion?

Click to expand...

I don't know, re-rolls can be nice (I just maxed mine out at 8), but added depth can't hurt. As far as I know, you can only have one apothecary, at least at this point. Also, more players = more potential for fouling, which is never a bad thing...

I just had my second loss against another Skaven team :evil: Their Gutterrunners are little bastards (and always my primary targets), but this team had really beefed theirs up with Block and shit, meaning what was usually an almost-sure knock-down wasn't as likely. My only real strategy with passing teams seams to be to try and keep enough of their receivers down long enough until eventually the ball carrier does something stupid. Skaven are particularly nasty, since most of them can cover more than half the field in a single run.

So far, I've been trying to make sure all my non-Runner Dwarves have (in order of importance):

Block (luckily, all Dwarven players come with this standard besides Runners)
Tackle (VITAL for bringing down enemy runners/receivers, who always seem to have Dodge)
Mighty Blow (receivers with a broken face can't catch anything)

Even still, the ability for a fast-moving passing team to quickly turn the tide on you can't be underestimated, and sometimes the dice will turn against the big-hitter teams and there's little you can do besides watch a perfect pass followed by a perfect run into your end zone.

Go for another beastman, we need some backup with our bad luck lately.

Good to see the codex back to winning ways. I would probably go for the extra man as well, so that you don't find yourself outnumbered again as in the game against the humans.

Didn't know you can have more than one apothecary. Does that mean you can get up to two injury re-rolls per game?

Now guys...

While we are all happy to have finally punched in a win again, let us not forget what we've lost.

Ogg was not just a player, he was a team player. He was not just a teammate, he was a friend.

I think we will remember Ogg best for two games, in our first competition.

The first was game 2, against the Grudge Bearers, when this promising young player truly showed off his potential. Even the commentators were impressed, noting "he made picking that ball up look easy", when Ogg looked like a pure All-Pro, picking that ball up. With the relentless abandon we all know of him, Ogg crossed the field, without consideration of the carnage about him, and ran it in for a touchdown.

Heh.

I thought he'd never stop running.

And of course, no one can forget game 3, against the Warfire Wanderers. Shuma and Ogg had covered one of their gutter runners, a fellow by the name of Ikutch, and covered him well. Ogg knocked down Ikutch so Shuma could pick up the ball and go for it, and even stayed behind to guard Ikutch, with no consideration of personal glory. And then it came, one of our greatest moments as a team. Ikutch was down, helpless, and Ogg saw his chance, quickly stepping forward, grabbing the dirty skunk's neck, and ripped his head off. Why the referee saw a foul in this I still don't understand, but Ogg never grumbled when he was sent off. He was happy he helped the team by taking out one of the Skaven's key players.

And that's Ogg for you. Never a moment's thought of himself, always ready to do his bit for the team. Both these actions were vital, easy enough to call game-changers and deciding factors in our victory. But both times, Ogg missed the MVP. Did he grumble? No. He congratulated his teammate and got back to work.

That was Ogg. A relentless worker, a dangerous player, an invaluable teammate.

He will be missed.

Yeah, another beastie seems like a good call. Besides, that also means one more codexer gets to be a furry, horned bastard, ramming in rat faces. :twisted:

You mean I died from...too much erh... running? What a pussy I am! Hope my son's genes will have mutated enough for him not to look like his dad.

Now THAT'S how you honor one of the fallen. Farewell Ogg, your hard-running ways will be missed. Now, be a good Beastie and don't muddy up the gene pool any further.

Also, on the Apothecary:

During a match, an Apothecary may attempt to cure a player
who has suffered a Casualty. An Apothecary can be used only
once per match. Immediately after the player suffers the
Casualty, you can use the Apothecary to make your opponent
roll again on the Casualty table (see page 25) and then you
choose which of the two results to apply. If the player is only
Badly Hurt after this roll (even if it was the original Casualty roll)
the Apothecary has managed to patch him up and pump him full
of painkillers so that the player may be moved into the Reserves
box.



So, if you use the APO on a dude who's Badly Hurt and roll another Badly Hurt, he won't be out for the game.

You can only have one Apothecary use, a second has to be bought with inducements. Do you just have the minimum eleven players? If so def get one or two more. I think in the third tourney (unless it's always random) you're facing orcs and dwarves and they can put major hurt on your team.

Thanks for the explanation, Shuma.

HanoverF said:

You can only have one Apothecary use, a second has to be bought with inducements. Do you just have the minimum eleven players? If so def get one or two more. I think in the third tourney (unless it's always random) you're facing orcs and dwarves and they can put major hurt on your team.

Click to expand...

12 now; 1 minotaur, 4 chaos warriors, 7 beastmen. 13 seems like a bare minimum later in, yeah, and everyone seems to agree.

Ogg said:

You mean I died from...too much erh... running? What a pussy I am! Hope my son's genes will have mutated enough for him not to look like his dad.

Click to expand...

Not the best way to die. Don't miss the tribute in your memory a few posts above yours, tho

Brother None said:

Not the best way to die. Don't miss the tribute in your memory a few posts above yours, tho

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Yes, I've seen. I'm very moved. It's even better than Michael Jackson's shiny singing funerals.

Ogg was an example to us all! Attain victory, OR DIE TRYING!!!

VICTORY OR DEATH!
VICTORY OR DEATH!

Now to see about getting the gods in our favor again, where did I put my EZ Sacrifice Kit......

I own the game and still check up on the LP before playing my own matches. Thanks for being an entertaining fucker.

Also, I have had a gobbo fanatic go from badly hurt to dead from the helping hands of an apothecary. Money well spent.

I think I'll have to wait until the price drops. Can't find a job now and I'm low on cash - and 50 euro is damn expensive.
Oh well, at least there are enjoyable LP's to watch

Mantiis joins the team and victory occurs. Coincidence? I THINK NOT!

Thinking of doing a goblin LP for the lulz - maybe vs others peeps, if nothing else it would be a laugh.

Monocause said:

I think I'll have to wait until the price drops. Can't find a job now and I'm low on cash - and 50 euro is damn expensive.
Oh well, at least there are enjoyable LP's to watch

Click to expand...

Pay $50 US instead....

Sovard said:

Also, I have had a gobbo fanatic go from badly hurt to dead from the helping hands of an apothecary. Money well spent.

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Yeah, shame about that money.

What? Show grief over a dead goblin? Are you high? Or are the painters in, perhaps? It's a goblin, nobody cares about them!

So, how do you cope against inducements on enemy teams? I've been playing on the second tourney with my Lizardmen team, after I completely beat up everyone but lost the finals, and now my team is at 1300 value with 11 players, 1 apothecary, 1 reroll and 2 cheerleaders. Just that puts me at about 300 more than every other team, which means they get huge inducements (dwarves bought a deathroller and a hero on top of a full team on my last match).

Just suck it up and play? It's hard with the ever-so-weak Skinks.

Wow, just finished my first-ever match against the Wood Elves. Was worried they'd be all fast and sneaky, but...it was a SLAUGHTER. First time I've literally knocked every opposing player off the pitch.

I can't imagine playing a long campaign with anything but a Smashy Smashy team. I noticed the Wood Elves ALL have AC's of 7 - even their "warriors" - that's just begging to have constant injuries.

I was going to do a lulz lp with a Goblin team named Dead Codexers, but they've been quite a disappointment and survived several close, but uninteresting and dead goblinless games.

SerratedBiz said:

So, how do you cope against inducements on enemy teams? I've been playing on the second tourney with my Lizardmen team, after I completely beat up everyone but lost the finals, and now my team is at 1300 value with 11 players, 1 apothecary, 1 reroll and 2 cheerleaders. Just that puts me at about 300 more than every other team, which means they get huge inducements (dwarves bought a deathroller and a hero on top of a full team on my last match).

Just suck it up and play? It's hard with the ever-so-weak Skinks.

Click to expand...

Ugh, I hear ya. The inducement "balancing" is a crock of shit. The stronger my team gets, the WORSE I'm doing, because at this point the AI is always able to hire a star player, attempt to pump up 3 or 4 of their players, and give a magical scroll to the crowd.

What the fuck is the point of letting us build a badass team if they just pull Oblivion-style level balancing on us? If the other team is outmatched, then they SHOULD be outmatched. Giving them a little inducement is fine...but 750k? Really? I'm not even sure I've made a TOTAL of 750k throughout the entire campaign, much less had all of that to spend on a single game's worth of inducements.

The game is quickly going from addictingly fun to ridiculously frustrating because of this factor.

I'm guessing that part of it is that in the TT, where all this balancing was derived, a player is likely to have a low quality team if they're a shit player, or are somewhat new to the game. Anyone with plenty of experience is likely to field a decent side and have the added bonus of knowing all the tricks. Therefore it makes sense to have the inducements weighted in favour of the lesser player, as they're not only going to have a worse team, but be less knowledgeable about the game's tactics.

When it's AI however, their skill is level and so playing a team with a lower value and loads of inducements tends to push them higher in difficulty than playing a team with value similar to your own.

That's the way I read it anyway, with my meagre experience with the TT.

Monocause said:

I think I'll have to wait until the price drops. Can't find a job now and I'm low on cash - and 50 euro is damn expensive.
Oh well, at least there are enjoyable LP's to watch

Click to expand...

You can get a key from G2 Play for 15 euro or $20, which I am REALLY FUCKING TEMPTED TO DO GOD DAMN THIS GAME. http://www.g2play.net/store/Blood-Bowl- ... D-Key.html

I'm mostly hesitant because I heard something about limited activations somewhere, which I avoid when I can, and because I'd much rather buy it on Steam. Still, $20 and it looks cool... Unngh.

Silellak said:

SerratedBiz said:

So, how do you cope against inducements on enemy teams? I've been playing on the second tourney with my Lizardmen team, after I completely beat up everyone but lost the finals, and now my team is at 1300 value with 11 players, 1 apothecary, 1 reroll and 2 cheerleaders. Just that puts me at about 300 more than every other team, which means they get huge inducements (dwarves bought a deathroller and a hero on top of a full team on my last match).

Just suck it up and play? It's hard with the ever-so-weak Skinks.

Click to expand...

Ugh, I hear ya. The inducement "balancing" is a crock of shit. The stronger my team gets, the WORSE I'm doing, because at this point the AI is always able to hire a star player, attempt to pump up 3 or 4 of their players, and give a magical scroll to the crowd.

.

Click to expand...

Thats why I play in the classic mode instead of the blitz mode. Classic mode has inducements but theres a lot less crazy shit in it. No scrolls or buff potion, bodyguards bribes of players, etc. Star players and secret weapons? Yeah but while they do make it a match instead of a push over, in general it doesnt make up the difference.

Multi-headed Cow said:

You can get a key from G2 Play for 15 euro or $20, which I am REALLY FUCKING TEMPTED TO DO GOD DAMN THIS GAME. http://www.g2play.net/store/Blood-Bowl- ... D-Key.html

I'm mostly hesitant because I heard something about limited activations somewhere, which I avoid when I can, and because I'd much rather buy it on Steam. Still, $20 and it looks cool... Unngh.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't it if I were you, they announced a while back that they're blacklisting keys bought from G2 Play. Read more here.

SerratedBiz said:

Just suck it up and play?

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Yes. Not looking forward to it either; on my last play with dwarves I was playing in easy, and the AI generally doesn't spend his full inducement when playing easy...

Heroes aren't that big a deal. They still go down if you punch them in the face.

Sovard said:

Also, I have had a gobbo fanatic go from badly hurt to dead from the helping hands of an apothecary. Money well spent.

Click to expand...

It happens. As Shuma said, it's a free reroll on the injury table, it can have the same result or a worse one.

You can opt not to pick the apothecary result, tho'. You did notice that, no?

Silellak said:

Wow, just finished my first-ever match against the Wood Elves. Was worried they'd be all fast and sneaky, but...it was a SLAUGHTER. First time I've literally knocked every opposing player off the pitch.

I can't imagine playing a long campaign with anything but a Smashy Smashy team. I noticed the Wood Elves ALL have AC's of 7 - even their "warriors" - that's just begging to have constant injuries.

Click to expand...

Yes and no. The skinks and gobbos have even lower armour, plus they have the stunty skill, meaning they go down harder, and skavens have 7 as well, except stormvermins.

I've had tough times against Wood Elves but they're not impossible to play. They tend to undercover their thrower and just hope for the long pass, which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't.