Yes, I know, I have been really, really, really slack. It has been well over a month since I played at the Gathering of Might tournament at Chatswood. Honestly, it was another tournament I'd rather forget (result wise), and seeing there were some Feudball related dramas to go with it as well... (you'll have to read this post on my regular blog to see what the dramas were).
So, what have I been up to? A fair bit of traveling over the last month. Went up north for Xmas and spent a couple of days with my brother and his family, and currently, I'm house-sitting for my aunt in Sydney whilst she's off in Thailand. Then there was the unexpected Xmas present of a second-hand computer that had twice the power and three times the hard-disk space as my old machine. So there was a few days transferring material, installing programs and tweaking all the “new” machines problems. It ended with me having a machine that could play Blood Bowl – Legendary edition, which I have been doing a fair bit of lately. Oh, and there was also a half-day's work at a local comic book store and a few Mariners' matches as well for good measure.
Anyway, with GoM, race sixteen, the Underworld Creepers, was played. This leaves me (Pro) Elves, Chaos, Slann, Ogres, Halflings, Goblins, Nurgle and Lizardmen. The Elves will be next, at Can Con, after that, well, not too sure, maybe one of the stunty teams for Clash of the Titans. Thanks to the PC game, I have been able to practice with a few of these teams, especially with the Elves. The Leia's Metal Bikinis side (the name of the team I'll be taking to Can Con) have been run for 21 games, with a very impressive record of 16 wins, 4 draws and just 1 loss. Two players have been killed along the way (I expected more) and two have been retired due to losses in stats. I have found the race pretty easy to play, really liking the Catch & Nerves of Steel skills on the beginning catchers, and seeing how annoying Side-Step can be on the blitzers. (Well, it's an annoying skill full-stop.) The side has developed quickly, with the blitzers acquiring six skills between them, two blodging catchers, and even two linemen skilling up twice, with one of them taking the very useful Kick skill and the other one Guard.
Trialling them in this fashion gives me plenty of ideas as to what skills to select during the Can Con event. It has also given me the opportunity to try some of those other races, pleasantly discovering that some of them, such as the Ogres and Nurgle, aren't that bad to play. I have even started a Vampire side which is just starting to hit their straps. (An AG 5 vampire is just so very useful!!!)
A lot of the amusement though has been coming from the stunty teams. I have played 9 games with the 'lings and 10 with the Goblins, with the latter having more luck, and more wins. I even ran a Human team, filled with characters from the current Feudball book (and the upcoming one) to see how they would fare. In the 26 match league (including play-offs), I had three players killed, won 15, drew 4, lost 7, and was beaten in the final by High-Elves. There was a running contest as to see who could get the most casualties in the team. First was a blitzer with 12 (also finished on top with 51 SPPs), second was the ogre with 8, and third a lineman with 6. My two throwers managed 31 completions between them, and there was only three players on the final roster who didn't get touchdowns. It was a catcher who registered the most with 10. Their best win was a 5-1 thrashing of a Khemri side, whilst they saved their worst defeat for the final, going down 1-3.
My current campaign though is with my old favourite, the Undead. 22 matches into the campaign, and the boys are undefeated, with only three draws. They have been hard pressed at times. In one match, against humans, I had a mummy and a wight killed, with 49 SPPs between them, plus the second mummy was given a strength reduction. In a match played against an Elven team, I had a skeleton killed that was on 14 SPPs as well as the mummy who had replaced the one killed five games previously. The casualty count in that game was an embarrassing 0-5 against me. I won 4-2 though, scoring twice in the last three turns. The last game played was against the Nurgle's Rotters side. It was a hard fought win, and my ST 4 skeleton was killed. My best player is a ghoul, with 46 SPPs (including 11 touchdowns), with Block, Nerves of Steel and Sure Hands. He also has AV 6...
Anyway, enough of the computer game. The Gathering of Might tournament was played on the weekend of December 10 & 11, 2011. The first day it was at the Christian City Church in Chatswood, whilst on the second day we actually played it in the library at the St Pius XII school behind the church. I fielded the Spelunkers, an Underworld Creepers team. The team value was set at 1,150K, whilst various sets of skills could be taken. I settled for seven general, giving my blitzers Horns & Tackle, both Linerats Block, one Goblin (Microbod) Two Heads, my thrower Big Hand, and the troll Claw. For something different, I added Skitter Stab-Stab.
They won just one game, drew one, and lost the rest. I finished second last. Guess who was the only person I defeated? The total for & against was 6-12, with the casualties finishing a whopping 2-26 against me. (My injury rolls were that bad... ) I didn't do a casualty until the final match of the tournament. (It was just one. The other was from Skitter, who managed to finally injure someone with a Stab in the last match as well.) Skitter and one of my blitzers (Bolt) got two touchdowns each, and topped the SPPs. The other blitzer, Calcite, achieved the team's only casualty from a Block.
Words cannot describe how frustrated I was with the way the dice were rolling. I was cleared off the pitch in the very first match (by Wood Elves of all things), and beaten up by every team I played against, except the second Wood Elven side where the casualty count was drawn. Unlike my Wood Elves, who could've won all seven games at Bushranger Bowl, there were only two games I should've won, but could only manage one. Another one was a heart-breaking loss on the last turn of the match (to Khemri) but the rest were pretty one-sided.
It was a shame really. I felt I had taken a good roster into the event...
On with the reports.
Day One (Dec 10, 2011)
Game: 669
Round: 1
Opponent: Grumpsh
Team: Wood Elves
Result: Lost 1-3
Casualties: Lost 0-6
Toss: Won - received
Fame: Me+1
Initial weather roll: Fine
Kick-offs (in order): Brilliant Coaching (Spelunkers get a re-roll), High Kick, Quick Snap, Blitz.
The opposing Wood Elves in the opening fixture featured a treeman with Grab, a kicker, a thrower with Safe Throw, a wardancer with Tackle, and the other at ST 4. (Yes, one of the skill options included stat increases.)
The tournament did get off to a good start. A re-roll from the opening kick-off, Skitter stunning the opposing thrower with a stab, and the ball was retrieved without any dramas on the right flank sideline. The boys then went to work on the elves, pushing and thumping them about the pitch, clearing a nice path for Breccia (thrower) to get into position for a long pass to Bolt, who caught it and scored. [Turn 2]
It went downhill from there. The wardancer might have fumbled the catch off the kick-off, but it wasn't much of a setback. Gour (goblin), was blitzed and killed by the other wardancer, Prusik (linerat) was battered by the treeman – which needed the apothecary's attention and Belay (linerat) was knocked-out as the elves advanced. Calcite gets a chance to attack the ball carrier (the kicker), but trips over trying to get to him. Anchor (troll), was next to leave the pitch, knocked-out as he collided with the treeman, and just before the elves equalized, Abseil (goblin) was stretchered off as well to join the rest in the casualty ward. [Turn 5]
The Quick Snap off the next kick-off didn't help that much, as the next kick was deep. Breccia was able to retrieve the kick-off, then step in behind Microbod (goblin) for some protection. There was a scoring opportunity, but Prusik couldn't oblige and falls flat on his face trying to get clear to blitz the kicker. Breccia was knocked-out by a rampaging wardancer, then Calcite, in a vain attempt at a counter-attack, trips over trying to get at the kicker, and winds up in the casualty ward as well. With very little Spelunkers left on the field, the elves waltz through, recover the ball and take the lead.
With five players already receiving medical treatment, the second half wasn't going to be much of a contest. Skitter darted forward to have a slash at a wardancer, stunning him, and that was the extent of the Blitz action. Efflux (goblin) was knocked senseless, Skitter swings at the thrower and misses, and Karst (goblin) joins his goblin team-mate in the koed bin, after tripping over trying to get clear. Bolt is the next to go, knocked-out by a wardancer, Microbod gets the same treatment by a line elf, and another one decides to sink the boot in on Skitter, and gets sent off. Belay then trips over trying to escape the carnage and renders himself unconscious, then a line-elf succeeds in cracking some of Skitter's ribs with a good boot, but gets sent off as well. Prusik, the last Spelunker standing, isn't upright for long, as he throws a hopeless block at the thrower, and crashes to the turf in failure. For his efforts, another line elf sinks the boot in, and he's knocked-out. [Turn 4]
With no opposition left on the paddock, the elves let the clock tick on a bit before strolling in for the third to end the game.
Game: 670
Round: 2
Opponent: Redcard
Team: Chaos Dwarves
Result: Drew 1 all
Casualties: Lost 0-5
Toss: Won - received
Fame: Me+1
Initial weather roll: Fine
Kick-offs (in order): Weather – Fine, Blitz, Get the Ref.
Well, from woodies to CDs. Two blockers had Mighty Blow, two more had Guard, a bull centaur had Block, and there was a guest appearance from Hthark the Unstoppable.
It was an ugly start to the match, with Belay stunning himself after a spectacularly bad block [Yep, quad skulls – first block I threw in the game!] Breccia was then blitzed by a bull centaur and required the services of the apothecary. Abseil then makes a dash for the ball, but it's no surprise that he couldn't pick it up with two opponents standing nearby. With the ball rolling clear, a bull centaur gallops through, but he can't retrieve it either. Prusik flattens the BC, but can't get the ball either. Gour then has a go, but his dodge to get between four opponents fails miserably, and the ball rolls further away. A hobgoblin finally manages to grab it and advance down the pitch. Prusik tries to step clear to blitz him, but is tripped up. In desperation, Anchor picks up Microbod and flings him at the fleeing hobgoblin, and the two-headed greenskin manages to land properly and halt it's progress. Bolt then gets knocked out, Anchor forgets what it was he was meant to be doing, and a bull centaur arrives on the scene to trample Microbod, and he's stretchered off. Abseil has a last gasp dash at the ball carrier to try and bring him down, but falls short of the mark, and the hobgoblin walks in unopposed to break the deadlock right on half-time.
The Spelunkers start the second half more positively, with Bolt and Skitter weaving their way down the pitch to get to the ball. The star player managing to get past three opponents along the way. His game is ended prematurely though, as a blocker slams into him, and it's another player off to the casualty ward. Hthark decided that he wanted the ball, and goes to pick it up, but fails. Bolt sees an opportunity – he blitzes a hobgoblin, stunning him, then races through to scoop up the ball with a frustrated star player looking on. He stumbles past him, but somehow rights himself, then surges forward to get into the end zone and tie up the game. [Turn 1]
Off the next restart, Hthark becomes determined to get the ball once again, but, unsurprisingly, he fumbles the pick up. Bolt does exactly that, and is not that far away from the ball. Karst (goblin) tries to weave his way through to help, but trips over and lands face first on the pitch, knocking himself out. Hthark has another attempt to get the ball, and fails, and Bolt, after pushing aside a hobgoblin, is now right in front of the ball. Prusik stuns a bull centaur with a little bit of help, then goes after Hthark, and takes him down too. Breccia arrives to recover the ball, but Calcite can't get clear to assist. Hthark recovers, has a shot at Bolt, but it's the blitzer that puts him down instead. He then pushes aside a hobgoblin and races into the end zone, anticipating a pass. Karst can't get clear to offer some protection, and Gour is smacked about the head by a blocker and needs to be carted off the pitch. Bolt doesn't get the ball, but does get a bull centaur crashing into him, whilst Breccia is knocked over, the ball bouncing to, yes, you guessed it, Hthark. The star goes for a gallop down-field, but realizing he needs to stretch his legs a bit, he over extends himself and crashes to the turf. Belay goes after the ball, but can't retrieve it, and any chance of the Spelunkers pulling off a last minute win is thwarted when Breccia is injured in a heavy tackle from a blocker, with the game ending in a draw.
Game: 671
Round: 3
Opponent: Dan P
Team: Human
Result: Won 2-0
Casualties: Lost 0-4
Toss: Won - kicked
Fame: Me+1
Initial weather roll: Fine
Kick-offs (in order): Blitz, Throw a rock (Abseil Badly Hurt), Cheering Fans (Spelunkers get a re-roll).
It was the battle for the wooden spoon. The humans were fielding an ogre with Block, two Guard blitzers, two Mighty Blow blitzers, and Accurate thrower, plus an apothecary and a Bloodwesier Babe.
The change of tactics worked for the start of the game, with the Spelunkers Blitzing off the opening kick-off. Calcite charged through, flattened a catcher, then promptly trips over his own tail to get underneath the ball. The ogre swings and connects with a hay-maker to Anchor's head, knocking him out, whilst the human thrower retrieves the ball. A catcher then hunts down Skitter, and the pair both go down in a poor tackle. However, it had done it's work, with the star player having to be stretchered off to visit the apothecary. A blitzer clears Breccia off the thrower to give him some room to move, but then has to quickly prepare himself for an attack from Karst. He needn't worry though, as the little greenskin trips over an errant shoelace. The humes though soon suffer a setback, with the thrower's hand-off to the blitzer being fumbled. Bolt attacks him, but the pair just thump into each other, with neither giving an inch. The human thrower then launches himself at Belay, who neatly steps aside an lets him fall over. Bolt finally brings down the blitzer, with Belay head-butting a catcher, knocking him out. Efflux (goblin) who had been rather quiet in the first two matches, then darts through, picks up the ball, and runs away. His escape is short-lived, as a blitzer nails him, but in turn he's taken down by Belay. Abseil then retrieves the ball, but is flattened by another blitzer, whilst a third one knocks out Slack (goblin). Microbod, even with his second head, can't see everything, and trips over a large rock. Efflux's match is ended after getting thumped by a blitzer, and as he falls onto the ball, it bounces to a lineman, who grabs it. Karst has a go at a catcher, fails, which leaves Bolt to step away from his marker to attack the lineman. He succeeds. Belay anticipates a pass, and leaves his opponent behind and races for the end zone. Bolt then attacks the catcher standing over the ball, allowing Calcite to step clear of a marker, scoop up the ball, dodge away from another human, go an extra yard or two, then throw a perfect pass down-field to the waiting linerat, who makes no mistake with the catch, giving the Spelunkers the lead right on half-time.
The boys take to the pitch for the second half with ten players, but that is soon reduced by one when a random rock scons and injures Abseil. Gour, Belay and Skitter respond by weaving their ways through the human defenders as Breccia retrieves the ball. Bolt tries to step clear to go after a catcher, but again a rat goes crashing to the turf after being tripped up. Breccia throws a terrible pass to Karst, with the ball almost landing back at his feet. A human catcher hits out at Belay, but again the wily rat avoids the blow and the catcher hits the turf. Breccia retrieves the ball from the feet of a lineman, then dodges away, racing down-field into the open. His freedom doesn't last long, as a blitzer brings him down in a copybook ball and all tackle. Belay doesn't avoid the next attack, with the ogre smacking a large fist into his face and the rat needs an icepack on his noggin. A human lineman then surges forward to mark Calcite, but has over exerted himself and falls to the pitch, as does Karst as he tries to retrieve the ball, except the little greenskin knocks himself out for his trouble. A catcher then heads for the ball, but he fumbles it and it rolls away from him and off the pitch. It is thrown nicely back into the human's end of the pitch. Skitter hares after the dregs, but is tripped up, and Calcite can't help as the ogre knocks him out as well. The human thrower attacks Gour and the pair crash to the turf in a tangle of arms and legs. Skitter, being one of the few Spelunkers still upright, sees an opportunity to wrap the game up. He steps up to a lineman, then steps past him, then the ogre, grabs the ball, and races in to double the lead with very little time left on the clock. So little time in fact, there's only enough for the sides to line-up, the ogre to suddenly forget where he is, and Slack to get badly hurt in the last tackle of the match.
But it's a win, and the boys have done it with no troll for the entire second half. The result elevates the side up the ladder a little, which gave them some hope for a placing on Day Two.
Day Two (Dec 11, 2011)
Game: 672
Round: 4
Opponent: Sangraal
Team: Khemri
Result: Lost 1-2
Casualties: Lost 0-4
Toss: Won - received
Fame: Opp+1
Initial weather roll: Fine
Kick-offs (in order): Quick Snap, Weather – Fine, Perfect Defence,
The rivalry continues between Sangraal and myself, with him being one win ahead before this game kicked off. He was fielding two Block throw-ras, Guard and a Tackle on the blitz-ras, plus Block on two of the tomb guardians.
Abseil managed to get himself nicely positioned to catch the ball off the kick-off. He then handed it on to Skitter, who darted off down the right side-line. Skitter's run is brought to a halt by a blitz-ra, but the accompanying throw-ra can't pick up the ball. Anchor and Belay then combine to flatten a skeleton, pushing him away from the ball. Breccia races through, but his extra efforts to get closer to the ball comes to nought as he suddenly collapses in front of a tomb guardian, who then goes on to shove Belay away from the ball. A blitz-ra then strides over to retrieve the pigskin, but can't make the extra yard to get to it. Skitter finally gets back up, and dodges his way into the end zone. Breccia recovers, grabs the ball, dodges clear, goes the extra yards and throws a beautiful pass to the waiting star, who easily catches it and the Spelunkers take the lead. [Turn 3]
The Khemri respond with a tomb guardian flattening Anchor, with the other three viciously shoving their markers backwards. A throw-ra retrieves the ball, and is well guarded as they march down the pitch. Prusik manages to get around the Khemri's front line with Karst and Efflux in tow, however the latter's efforts to advance further sees him trip over an errant rock and he needs to be carted off the field to the casualty ward. As the Khemri cage advances, the rats and goblins fall back to form a defensive line a bit further down the pitch. When the cage gets a bit closer, Bolt darts out to attack one of the skeletons on the corner of the cage, but Abseil fails his dodge to assist him. Belay is roughed up badly enough by a blitz-ra to require medical attention, then Skitter is knocked-out by a throw-ra. Anchor goes to fling Karst at the cage, but then suddenly forgets what it is he has to do. Gour then bravely steps up to mark the throw-ra with the ball, but he suddenly lurches forward, stamping the goblin into the turf on his way to end zone to even up the score at half-time.
The Spelunkers are given an opportunity to reform their defence and do so. The kick though is very shallow, giving a skeleton a chance to catch the ball on halfway. He fumbles the catch across the line, giving his side a touchback. As one tomb guardian knocks over Anchor, another lashes out at Skitter, but over extends himself and falls over. The troll tries to get up to take a swing at another guardian, but stops mid-swing seeing he forgot what it was he had to do. Breccia though doesn't have that problem, and charges through to knock-out a skeleton in a good tackle. Bolt and Belay have somehow managed to work their way around the back of the cage, and the former strikes unsuccessfully at the skeleton guarding the ball carrier. He does get another go, and with Abseil's help, brings down the skeleton, allowing Breccia to charge through and attack the throw-ra, crashing into him and flooring him. Anchor still has no idea as to what's going on, but Skitter does, and he makes a mad dash for the ball, despite it resting between the boney feet of two opponents. His effort fails though, and he crashes to the ground , causing the ball to roll away. Breccia is smashed away from the second throw-ra, giving him a chance to stride through and pick the ball up. Calcite and Microbod move in to bring him down, but the latter has forgotten how to block and bounces off the throw-ra's knee. The cage then advances into the Spelunker's half, with the boys continuing to harass the cage. Prusik picks off one of the corners, Skitter steps up to mark the ball carrier, Anchor finally remembers where he is, and gets up to join in the fun, and finally Belay dodges clear of a marauding blitz-ra and heads towards the cage. A tomb guardian then strikes at Anchor, connecting with a powerful blow, and cracking his jaw. The big feller doesn't recover and his game comes to an end. Slack, Karst and Abseil then push aside a blitz-ra to give Bolt a chance at attacking the ball-carrier. His charge is successful, with the ball bouncing around a bit before being snatched by a tomb guardian. Breccia tries to get clear to assist, but his feet fail him and he falls face first into the turf, knocking himself out. Skitter soon joins him in the koed bin, and Bolt almost joins him as well, as he launches a futile assault on the tomb guardian with the ball, with some help from Microbod. Abseil is brutally flattened by a skeleton, and is the next to be stretchered off. Prusik desperately charges into the midst of the cage and does manage to push the tomb guardian with the ball backwards, whilst Karst and Microbod step in to support him. The latter has his lights punched out by a blitz-ra, and with time almost up, the tomb guardian lurches forward, pushing Prusik aside and breaks the deadlock, giving the sand dwellers the win.
It was a tough game to lose. The deciding moment was the ball bouncing to the tomb guardian, with the troll being taken out in the same turn [5].
Game: 673
Round: 5
Opponent: Thomsy
Team: Chaos Pact
Result: Lost 0-3
Casualties: Lost 0-5
Toss: Won - received
Fame: Me+1
Initial weather roll: Fine
Kick-offs (in order): Blitz, Weather – Fine, Weather – Fine, Perfect Defence, Riot (gained a turn).
Always fun to play against Thomsy. He is currently making his way through all 24 races again. His team had a Two-Headed goblin and skaven, Block on the ogre and troll, Tackle on one marauder, Block on another, and Guard on a third.
After the Blitz, Skitter decides to have a crack at the skaven in the opposition, and manages to stun him. The team takes to the air early, with Breccia retrieving a deep kick-off, then launching a long pass. It fails to find it's target. The minotaur responds by trampling Skitter, and the troll is knocked out by his fellow troll in the opposing team. Gour tries to take down a marauder, but fails, with Microbod then injured by a marauder, Breccia knocked-out and Skitter just surviving a gang foul. To really rub it in, the dark elf wanders through and retrieves the ball. Skitter gets up, and dodges through the opposition to have a slash at the elf, but misses. Prusik tries to dodge clear to offer some support, but is tripped up, and face plants onto the turf and knocks himself out. Whilst the ogre forgets why he was on the pitch, the minotaur has another go at Skitter, and knocks him out with a powerful blow to the head. The elf though, gets surrounded, with Belay taking it upon himself to launch a blitz at him. He only succeeds in pushing him back. Gour gets flattened by a blitzing elf, and the little greenskin needs to get stretchered off the pitch. Efflux is next to have a go at the ball carrier, but he just bounces off him and knocks himself out. When a marauder gets sent off for trying to kick the Belay, after he gets flattened in a two player hit, there's only three Spelunkers left on the pitch, and they're all lying down. With no one to oppose him, the elf takes his time and walks in for the opening point. [Turn 6]
With only one of the koed players returning to the field, things do not look too promising for the side. Breccia gets things started again by retrieving the ball from the kick-off, then launching it towards Belay. This time, there is no mistake with it's accuracy, and the linerat weaves his way down-field in a desperate attempt to square things up. Unfortunately, a pair of marauders come across and bring him down, but the ball stays on the turf. Abseil scrambles through the legs of three players, but with the ball agonizingly close to the line, he can't pick it up to register the point. The half promptly ends when the guardsman throws a clumsy block at the goblin, and falls flat on his face, knocking himself out.
It's not a good restart to the match, with the kick scattering off the pitch. The dark elf gets the ball, and the game re-commences, with the big guys getting heavily involved. First it's the ogre suddenly forgetting what to do, then it's Anchor thumping the opposing goblin hard enough to knock him out, and finally Bolt charges through and flattens the minotaur. Abseil is then collared by a marauder, and needs a neck-brace, Belay responds by taking a chance and surges forward to bowl over the dark elf, allowing Breccia the opportunity to run through and grab the ball. However, in trying to step clear from a marauder, he is tripped up and the chance to score goes begging. It's infectious, as Slack trips over as well trying to blitz the elf who has recovered the ball. Belay has his head re-arranged by the ogre, giving the elf plenty of room to move. With the defence in tatters, it's an easy point, and the lead is doubled. [Turn 5]
With three players returning to the field from the koed bin, the Spelunkers try to restore some pride, starting with Breccia racing over to the side-line to pick up the ball. An opportunity presents itself, with one of the goblins getting clear into the opposition's half. Breccia elects to hand it on to the little greenskin, but he too has caught the doging disease and falls flat on his face. As the minotaur beats up Efflux, the dark elf retrieves the dropped ball, flicks a quick pass to the skaven, and the rat scrambles in for the third point. [Turn 7]
With the Riot winding the clock back, the side is unenthusiastic of having to play extra time. The subsequent touchback sees Slack, who is standing behind the troll, given the ball. Bolt goes to clear one of the players standing in front of Anchor, but swings, misses, and falls over. The opposing skaven then darts around the line and flattens Slack, and Bolt's attempt to bring him down fails when he is tripped up after getting up. With the Pact looking likely to add a fourth, time runs out, much to the Spelunker's relief.
Game: 674
Round: 6
Opponent: Creature
Team: Wood Elves
Result: Lost 1-3
Casualties: 2 all
Toss: Won - kicked
Fame: Me+1
Initial weather roll: Fine
Kick-offs (in order): Weather – Very Sunny, Quick Snap, Blitz, Quick Snap.
With nothing but pride left to play for, the Spelunkers once again line up against the Wood Elves. The treeman had Block, there was a Tackle and a Frenzy wardancer, a thrower with Leader and a line elf with Kick.
The apothecary was soon in use, as Bolt was shoved off the pitch by a rampaging wardancer. With the kick going deep, there was nothing left to do but launch a goblin in a vain attempt to put some pressure on the thrower. Unfortunately, the troll misunderstood the instructions, and became totally confused. The elves didn't need any further encouragement, with the thrower running forward to throw a beautiful pass to the waiting catcher, who hands it off to a second catcher, who dodges clear of the defence to race in and score. [Turn 2]
It soon got worse. Anchor takes a swing at a line elf, but loses his balance and falls over, landing face first and predictably knocking himself out. Skitter is then suffers the same injury after being struck by another line elf, and Microbod's tournament is finished when a third line elf rattles both of his heads and he needs to be stretchered off. Breccia attempts to get something started, but momentarily loses his mind, remembering a past grievance and unable to throw the ball to Karst. The hesitation cost the side dearly. A wardancer skips through the line, smashes into him, recovers the ball, and goes the extra yards to double the lead. [Turn 4]
With a landslide eventuating, Calcite tries to lift the side, and belts a line elf, cracking his jaw. The apothecary does his job and somehow gets the player ready to retake the pitch. A desperate attempt to launch a goblin down-field fails after Abseil is dropped by Anchor. The little greenskin does land safely, and decides to hand the ball off to Skitter instead. The star is promptly smashed to the ground and knocked out by a line elf. A catcher darts through to retrieve the ball with two goblins looking on in amazement. The third point isn't scored though (just yet) as the catcher fumbles the pass, Breccia takes a chance and makes a dash for the ball, pretty much ignoring the two elves standing nearby. He manages to get away from them, and heads down-field with Slack and Efflux in support. A wardancer charges after him, but Breccia is prepared, and gives him a great don't argue. Prusik charges through, clearing a path for the thrower, but the second wardancer is more successful, and brings the thrower down. The ball bounces straight to a line elf, who catches it, then catches Prusik's fist and goes down. Anchor has also been busy, giving the treeman something to think about, raking him with his claws and knocking the wooden one out. Breccia recovers to see a slim chance for a point before the break, but his attempt to get to the ball fails, and as he falls on the pigskin, the half-time siren blows.
The second half sees the elves kick deep, then weaving their way through the line to get down-field. Skitter finally manages to score a hit, and brings down a line elf with a well placed thrust with his blade. Calcite arrives in time to shove a line elf who was threatening Breccia. The thrower retrieves the ball, then chucks the ball towards Bolt, who gratefully accepts it and rushes down-field. A roaming wardancer crashes into him, knocking him out, with a line elf following behind to pick up the ball. He continues to run towards the other wardancer, but the ball slips from the receivers' grasp. Calcite flattens him, allowing Karst to scamper through and grab the ball. The other wardancer then dodges clear of his marker, and flattens him, whilst a catcher moves in to pick-up the ball. Skitter then has a stab at the elven thrower, and the blade does enough damage to drop the elf, giving Belay and Calcite room to have a shot at the catcher. The dropped ball bounces to Breccia, who gleefully runs off with it. He is brought down by a pursuing wardancer, with the second one managing to scoop up the ball and hurl a long pass down-field. The pass is inaccurate though, but still manages to drop into the arms of a catcher. Calcite rumbles through, flattens him, allowing Belay a chance to grab the ball. Abseil tries to get clear to provide some support, but over exerts himself and falls over. Gour tries to provide some cover, but he too has over exerted himself trying to mark a line elf. Belay is dragged down, the elves get the ball, and the ball-carrier gets clear. Slack goes after him, and just manages to reach him, but he skips away, and darts in for the elves third point. [Turn 6]
With the coach imploring them to try and finish the tournament on a positive note, Breccia grabs the ball off the restart, and hands the ball on to Efflux. Anchor motions to throw him, but suddenly forgets to, and the goblin decides to weave his way past the elves and head down-field. Bolt charges through, shoving a wardancer away from the little greenskin, but he gets surrounded by at least three more elves. Undaunted, Efflux steps to his left, steps to his right, steps to his right again, then left and into the clear. With the line beckoning him, the little feller grits his teeth and stumbles into the end zone for a well deserved point. [Turn 8]
There is very little time left in the match, but there's enough for Karst to get flattened by a line elf, and knocked out, defeating the possibility of an unlikely second point. When Abseil is thumped to the ground, the elven thrower races in to lay the boot in, but the referee sees the foul, and gives him his marching orders, just moments before the full-time siren sounds.
And so ends GoM. The Underworld Creeper experiment, much like the Wood Elven one, fails badly, but at least they registered a win, unlike my woodies and my maligned Chaos Pact side from Euc Bowl all those years ago. I'll have to try the side in a league. I can see the potential in them.
Well, that's it. I'm finally up-to-date with my match reports. And just in time too, seeing I'll be heading off to Can Con next week. I hope my Pro-Elves do a lot better, and if Nuffle is listening, how about some more favourable rolls for the dice eh?
And on that note, I bid you all farewell. Ciao!
January 19, 2012
December 22, 2011
Last match for 2011?
Oh boy, I have been neglecting this again, haven't I? Naughty me!
I'm a few games behind again, not even having put up the reports from my rather disappointing tournament with the Spelunkers. (Least said about them the better probably. At least they weren't as bad as my Chaos Pact team from Euc Bowl 2009... )
And there is a good reason why I'm behind. Seeing that the end of the year is almost upon us, I have been quite busy with Xmas lunches, outings, appointments with case managers, and unexpected surprises. The unexpected surprise that arrived last Friday (16th Dec), was a relatively new Compaq Presario. After four days of labour, not only did I fix the machine's biggest problems (including connection problems to the internet and an errant driver for the video adapter), but I got Blood Bowl Legendary Edition working on my new baby as well, and, gees, it runs like a dream! To make sure I wasn't seeing things, I even gave Rome - Total War a quick spin, and was very chuffed to see it zooming along as well. (I really can't wait to have a crack at Medieval II – Total War now... )
Of course, this now means that I have been playing it madly since Monday evening when I finally got the baby working wonderfully well. As I fully intended to do, I'm going to have a campaign with all the available races and have started with the Amazons. Eighteen games into the campaign, the busty babes have won fifteen and drawn three, and have scored forty touchdowns. I have a full roster, everybody has star player points, and only one player has failed to get a skill up (so far). Losses? Well, I sacked a line-woman at the end of the first tournament who had lost a point of AV, but that's it. Sure, I have had players injured – I'm even carrying a blitzer with an AV of 6 (she also has 35 SPPs... ). However, the girls have survived quite well, despite the heavy hitting sides that they have come up against (necromantic, undead, khemri, norse, chaos just to name a few). In eighteen games, they have only been on the worst end of the casualty count four times.
Only a few of the games have been walk-overs. As demonstrated at tournaments, the same can be said for the PC version, with a lot of my good ideas are thwarted by just a single dice roll (the number of go-for-it rolls failed is really starting to get annoying... ) I have been tested a couple of times, by a dark elven team and a nurgle side which, thankfully, I've only had to play once. If the AI was a little smarter (I'm playing on the Hard level), then I would really be in trouble, considering the number of botched rolls that keep coming up. The computer has a standard policy of forming up cages whenever possible, and taking wizards for incentives at every opportunity. I've also noticed that rather than using big guys to smash apart my side, it's more prepared to run them down field and use them as part of the cage. Some games the big guy doesn't even get his hands dirty. (Watching the rat ogre and the minotaur making around 60% of their Wild Animal rolls when just moving surprises me.)
But every now and again, something unexpected happens. It does foul, and with the high AG players it will try it's arm for passes. Some of the players I've come up against though defy belief. One khemri throw-ra had a MA, AG and ST increase, plus Block and Mighty Blow. Playing against that team was relatively easy. I fouled him every time he went down, and I made sure he went down often. The khemri attack then just stalled.
Anyway, have a look for yourself at the progress of this team. I don't have that many TV 2000+ sides. I just wish I could use this one in a tournament or a league. Sigh.
The match reports for the Spelunkers will just have to wait. I really wanted to get something posted before I went away for Xmas, so I'll rattle off the OCF's last match for their season in SLOBB, seeing I really don't have the time to do all six of the Gathering of Might reports.
Game: 675
Opponent: Grod
Team: Big Bang Theory (Chaos Pact)
Venue: Good Games Central (Sydney)
Result: 1 all draw
Casualties: Won 4-2
Toss: Won - kicked
Fame: Me+1
Initial weather roll: Very Sunny
Kick-offs (in order): Cheering Fans (a re-roll each), Brilliant Coaching (opponent gains a re-roll), Change of Weather – Fine, Brilliant Coaching (a re-roll each).
Incentives: BBT had 250k to spend, and took Ugroth Bolgrot, and a wizard.
The divisional leaders had gained a skaven with +1 MA, a marauder with Leader, the minotaur had Juggernaut, the ogre Guard, and the dark elf Dodge.
The game didn't start that well for the Pact, despite the early acquisition of an extra re-roll. The troll was in no mood to do anything, the minotaur's charge down the pitch didn't achieve it's desired result, and the guest appearance of Ugroth was very short-lived, when his chainsaw kicked-back, cut deep, and he was carried unconscious from the pitch. Burr Reading (troll) gave a marauder a good whack across the noggin' knocking it out, whilst Ryan O'Reilly (blitzer), with a little bit of assistance, shoved the minotaur back. Vern Schillenger & Chris Keller (blitzers), seeing that the opposition hadn't retrieved the ball from the kick-off, hared after it. The minotaur didn't like the push, so he gave the senior O'Reilly brother something to go on with, belting him off the pitch, where he was savagely booted by some enthusiastic spectators. The medic, thankfully, was able to do a good job, and O'Reilly was able to make his own way back to the OCF dugout. Reading suddenly forgot what he was meant to be doing, distracted somewhat by what was going on off the pitch. Keller, too late to get the ball, went after the dark elf that had it, but tripped over an errant rock just in front of the pact player. The elf took advantage of this, and advanced towards halfway, but the assistance he was after from the team's ogre never came, seeing he too was distracted by something in the crowd. Reading suddenly realised why he was on the pitch, and whilst the ogre was looking into the stands, the troll head-butted him, dropping the unfortunate big guy like a stone. Keller had regained his footing, and went after the elf, just catching him. However, he stepped away from him, deftly handing the ball on to an idle marauder on the orcs' left hand flank. He was soon surrounded, and his attempts to get away from Schillenger failed dismally. The ball though, conveniently bounced to a team-mate. He pushed aside the OCF's leading player, and raced off down the pitch. Cyril O'Reilly (line orc), exerted himself to the fullest to drag him down, the ball rolling off the pitch. It was thrown straight back on, landing roughly in the middle of the orcs' half. Reading wasn't too fussed about it, preferring to look at the ogre still lying on the turf. The minotaur charged down the field, collecting Miguel Alvarez (blitzer) along the way, then dropping him on his head. With the orcs scattered all over the park, another marauder ambled over to the ball, easily scooping it up and continuing his run. Simon Adebisi (black orc) didn't like the looks of that, and with an almighty effort, stepped away from his marker, and crashes into the ball carrier, flooring him. The younger O'Reilly tried to get off the side-line to get to the ball, but was tripped up and he fell face first into the turf. The elf, realizing that he was going to have to do it all himself, eased his way past the troll, who had just flattened the ogre again, picked up the nearby ball, then continued his run down the pitch. Adebisi desperately charged past a marauder, then attacked the elf, but could only force him back. Schillenger though did better, picking off a marauder that was moving in to support the elf. He drove the unfortunate player hard into the turf, breaking a couple of ribs. Another marauder though appeared on the scene, king hit the black orc marking the elf, and with a little bit of extra effort, the elf breaks the dead-lock right on half-time.
The Pact though would have an anxious few moments before the siren sounded. Jaz Hoyt (black orc), standing right on halfway, plucked the ball out of the air from the kick-off, then promptly strolled over and gave the ball to Agamemnon Busmalis (goblin), who gave the the troll a swift kick, waking him up. The troll picked up the little runt, and pegged him nicely down the pitch after the front row cleared all the marauders off the front line. Busmalis however, came down too close to the elf, and hit the turf hard, spilling the ball.
The weather thankfully improved during the break, and despite dropping the ball off the kick-off, Alvarez recovered the spill, then lobbed a quick pass to Keller, who charged down field with a little bit of support. The troll though, was immobile, and despite the minotaur chucking a tantrum, the marauders managed to hem the blitzer in. It required some text-book blocking from Alvarez and Schillenger to allow Keller a chance to escape. He pushes aside the skaven player, stepped towards then away from a marauder, who almost succeeds in tripping him up, but the blitzer manages to stay on his feet, and stagger into the end zone for the equalizer. [Turn 2.]
The orcs', their tails up, elected to kick shallow, with the ball just landing inside the Pact's half. The elf scampered up the pitch to retrieve it, but the bull-dozer of a minotaur was having another one of his infamous tantrums, and couldn't oblige to creating a hole for him to run through. The Pact troll though took offence to his counterpart, and smacked him in the face. The troll fell on his arse, and was left rubbing his sore nose. The minotaur though suddenly finished his tantrum, and charged at the touchdown scorer. His horns gored the blitzer, and this time the medic could do nothing to save him. Hoyt was targeted by a clumsy shot from a marauder, which had both players hitting the turf. The black orc picked himself up just in time to be smacked by the ogre, who had over extended himself and reeled over. He had done enough though, and the big Hoyt needed four people to stretcher him off to the koed bin. With the minotaur barrelling over Tobias Beecher (thrower), the elf had plenty of room to move, and threw an uninterrupted pass to a waiting marauder. The Pact's goblin, who had hardly done a thing in the game so far, ended his match trying to slip past Kareem Said (black orc), tripping over the orc's big foot and cracking his skull when he smacked into the turf. Said then focussed his attention on the minotaur, and with a powerful left-right combo, the big guy crashed to the turf, with a similar injury to that of the goblin's. Adebisi demonstrates his fancy footwork once more and steps away from his marker, and manages to catch up to the marauder with the ball, as Reading recovers to floor his opponent with a hearty swipe. Schillenger was ready to charge across the pitch to smack the ball carrier, but a searing bolt of electricity crashed into the ground at his feet, knocking him over. He quickly recovered, then raced over to assist Adebisi in forcing the ogre back towards the side-line. However, Schillenger gets shunted across, giving the ogre a golden opportunity to clear the blitzer off the field. He swung wildly, damaging only the air, and as he swung again, the wily orc ducked under the blow, dropping his shoulder into the big guy, and driving him hard into the turf. [Note: It was two, three-dice blocks against Schillenger. Only needing a push-back to get him off the pitch, the first roll was skull-skull-both down, no good to the block-less ogre. The re-roll (after passing Loner), much to my relief, was triple both down... ] The fall doing some serious damage, leaving the ogre with a permanent reminder of the blitzer's powerful counter-blow. O'Reilly senior, inspired by the demise of the ogre, dodges clear of his marker, and with plenty of extra effort, charges at the unfortunate marauder with the ball, forcing him off the pitch. The crowd obliges by tossing the ball onto the pitch near half-way, where Beecher saunters across and retrieves it. In turn, an attacking marauder charges across and bowls him over, then picks up the pig-skin. Schillenger and Chucky Pancamo (black orc) keep him under guard, and distracted as Said belts him across the back of his head. Alvarez takes care of the rat, and Reading wins the battle with his fellow monstrosity, stunning him with a fierce back-hand swipe. With time fast running out, the marauder gets to his feet, knocks Said over, giving a marauder a chance to recover the ball unhindered. With the elf waiting in the end zone, the marauder cocks his arm back for the throw, but the ball slips out of his hand, right as the siren announces full-time.
Though both teams don't fair too well with the match takings (30k each) they both gain a point of fan factor for their efforts. The ogre, despite his costly error, got the MVP, with Beecher being the OCF's recipient. This was enough for a second roll for the thrower, and to add to his extra agility, he gains and extra point of movement as well.
If this turns out to be the last game I play for the year, then I am very pleased that it was such a fantastic game. It was a marvellous see-sawing encounter, with both sides just a pip on the dice away from snatching a victory at times. Despite the ogre giving himself a niggling injury, I honestly felt the Pact were going to pinch it at the death with the pass, and was mighty relieved when it was fumbled. Still, I wonder what would have happened had my thrown goblin had thrown a 5 instead of a 4 and landed, whether he would of managed to dodge clear and tie things up right on half-time. I guess we'll never know.
Well, though my record this year has more losses than wins, I am still pleased that I managed to get to six events this year, with the seventh place at MOAB (with Chaos Dwarves) clearly being my best effort. I can't complain, for that effort got me Blood Bowl Legendary Edition for a bargain price! It was sad to see the demise of the Central Coast league, but at the same time I am pleased to have gotten involved with the third season of the Newcastle (NOBBL) league, and SLOBB in Sydney. Both of them, despite the distance, have sated my hunger for a damn fine board game over the last three months.
All the best for the festive season, and here's to a good year of Blood-Bowling in 2012. Cheers!
I'm a few games behind again, not even having put up the reports from my rather disappointing tournament with the Spelunkers. (Least said about them the better probably. At least they weren't as bad as my Chaos Pact team from Euc Bowl 2009... )
And there is a good reason why I'm behind. Seeing that the end of the year is almost upon us, I have been quite busy with Xmas lunches, outings, appointments with case managers, and unexpected surprises. The unexpected surprise that arrived last Friday (16th Dec), was a relatively new Compaq Presario. After four days of labour, not only did I fix the machine's biggest problems (including connection problems to the internet and an errant driver for the video adapter), but I got Blood Bowl Legendary Edition working on my new baby as well, and, gees, it runs like a dream! To make sure I wasn't seeing things, I even gave Rome - Total War a quick spin, and was very chuffed to see it zooming along as well. (I really can't wait to have a crack at Medieval II – Total War now... )
Of course, this now means that I have been playing it madly since Monday evening when I finally got the baby working wonderfully well. As I fully intended to do, I'm going to have a campaign with all the available races and have started with the Amazons. Eighteen games into the campaign, the busty babes have won fifteen and drawn three, and have scored forty touchdowns. I have a full roster, everybody has star player points, and only one player has failed to get a skill up (so far). Losses? Well, I sacked a line-woman at the end of the first tournament who had lost a point of AV, but that's it. Sure, I have had players injured – I'm even carrying a blitzer with an AV of 6 (she also has 35 SPPs... ). However, the girls have survived quite well, despite the heavy hitting sides that they have come up against (necromantic, undead, khemri, norse, chaos just to name a few). In eighteen games, they have only been on the worst end of the casualty count four times.
Only a few of the games have been walk-overs. As demonstrated at tournaments, the same can be said for the PC version, with a lot of my good ideas are thwarted by just a single dice roll (the number of go-for-it rolls failed is really starting to get annoying... ) I have been tested a couple of times, by a dark elven team and a nurgle side which, thankfully, I've only had to play once. If the AI was a little smarter (I'm playing on the Hard level), then I would really be in trouble, considering the number of botched rolls that keep coming up. The computer has a standard policy of forming up cages whenever possible, and taking wizards for incentives at every opportunity. I've also noticed that rather than using big guys to smash apart my side, it's more prepared to run them down field and use them as part of the cage. Some games the big guy doesn't even get his hands dirty. (Watching the rat ogre and the minotaur making around 60% of their Wild Animal rolls when just moving surprises me.)
But every now and again, something unexpected happens. It does foul, and with the high AG players it will try it's arm for passes. Some of the players I've come up against though defy belief. One khemri throw-ra had a MA, AG and ST increase, plus Block and Mighty Blow. Playing against that team was relatively easy. I fouled him every time he went down, and I made sure he went down often. The khemri attack then just stalled.
Anyway, have a look for yourself at the progress of this team. I don't have that many TV 2000+ sides. I just wish I could use this one in a tournament or a league. Sigh.
The match reports for the Spelunkers will just have to wait. I really wanted to get something posted before I went away for Xmas, so I'll rattle off the OCF's last match for their season in SLOBB, seeing I really don't have the time to do all six of the Gathering of Might reports.
Game: 675
Opponent: Grod
Team: Big Bang Theory (Chaos Pact)
Venue: Good Games Central (Sydney)
Result: 1 all draw
Casualties: Won 4-2
Toss: Won - kicked
Fame: Me+1
Initial weather roll: Very Sunny
Kick-offs (in order): Cheering Fans (a re-roll each), Brilliant Coaching (opponent gains a re-roll), Change of Weather – Fine, Brilliant Coaching (a re-roll each).
Incentives: BBT had 250k to spend, and took Ugroth Bolgrot, and a wizard.
The divisional leaders had gained a skaven with +1 MA, a marauder with Leader, the minotaur had Juggernaut, the ogre Guard, and the dark elf Dodge.
The game didn't start that well for the Pact, despite the early acquisition of an extra re-roll. The troll was in no mood to do anything, the minotaur's charge down the pitch didn't achieve it's desired result, and the guest appearance of Ugroth was very short-lived, when his chainsaw kicked-back, cut deep, and he was carried unconscious from the pitch. Burr Reading (troll) gave a marauder a good whack across the noggin' knocking it out, whilst Ryan O'Reilly (blitzer), with a little bit of assistance, shoved the minotaur back. Vern Schillenger & Chris Keller (blitzers), seeing that the opposition hadn't retrieved the ball from the kick-off, hared after it. The minotaur didn't like the push, so he gave the senior O'Reilly brother something to go on with, belting him off the pitch, where he was savagely booted by some enthusiastic spectators. The medic, thankfully, was able to do a good job, and O'Reilly was able to make his own way back to the OCF dugout. Reading suddenly forgot what he was meant to be doing, distracted somewhat by what was going on off the pitch. Keller, too late to get the ball, went after the dark elf that had it, but tripped over an errant rock just in front of the pact player. The elf took advantage of this, and advanced towards halfway, but the assistance he was after from the team's ogre never came, seeing he too was distracted by something in the crowd. Reading suddenly realised why he was on the pitch, and whilst the ogre was looking into the stands, the troll head-butted him, dropping the unfortunate big guy like a stone. Keller had regained his footing, and went after the elf, just catching him. However, he stepped away from him, deftly handing the ball on to an idle marauder on the orcs' left hand flank. He was soon surrounded, and his attempts to get away from Schillenger failed dismally. The ball though, conveniently bounced to a team-mate. He pushed aside the OCF's leading player, and raced off down the pitch. Cyril O'Reilly (line orc), exerted himself to the fullest to drag him down, the ball rolling off the pitch. It was thrown straight back on, landing roughly in the middle of the orcs' half. Reading wasn't too fussed about it, preferring to look at the ogre still lying on the turf. The minotaur charged down the field, collecting Miguel Alvarez (blitzer) along the way, then dropping him on his head. With the orcs scattered all over the park, another marauder ambled over to the ball, easily scooping it up and continuing his run. Simon Adebisi (black orc) didn't like the looks of that, and with an almighty effort, stepped away from his marker, and crashes into the ball carrier, flooring him. The younger O'Reilly tried to get off the side-line to get to the ball, but was tripped up and he fell face first into the turf. The elf, realizing that he was going to have to do it all himself, eased his way past the troll, who had just flattened the ogre again, picked up the nearby ball, then continued his run down the pitch. Adebisi desperately charged past a marauder, then attacked the elf, but could only force him back. Schillenger though did better, picking off a marauder that was moving in to support the elf. He drove the unfortunate player hard into the turf, breaking a couple of ribs. Another marauder though appeared on the scene, king hit the black orc marking the elf, and with a little bit of extra effort, the elf breaks the dead-lock right on half-time.
The Pact though would have an anxious few moments before the siren sounded. Jaz Hoyt (black orc), standing right on halfway, plucked the ball out of the air from the kick-off, then promptly strolled over and gave the ball to Agamemnon Busmalis (goblin), who gave the the troll a swift kick, waking him up. The troll picked up the little runt, and pegged him nicely down the pitch after the front row cleared all the marauders off the front line. Busmalis however, came down too close to the elf, and hit the turf hard, spilling the ball.
The weather thankfully improved during the break, and despite dropping the ball off the kick-off, Alvarez recovered the spill, then lobbed a quick pass to Keller, who charged down field with a little bit of support. The troll though, was immobile, and despite the minotaur chucking a tantrum, the marauders managed to hem the blitzer in. It required some text-book blocking from Alvarez and Schillenger to allow Keller a chance to escape. He pushes aside the skaven player, stepped towards then away from a marauder, who almost succeeds in tripping him up, but the blitzer manages to stay on his feet, and stagger into the end zone for the equalizer. [Turn 2.]
The orcs', their tails up, elected to kick shallow, with the ball just landing inside the Pact's half. The elf scampered up the pitch to retrieve it, but the bull-dozer of a minotaur was having another one of his infamous tantrums, and couldn't oblige to creating a hole for him to run through. The Pact troll though took offence to his counterpart, and smacked him in the face. The troll fell on his arse, and was left rubbing his sore nose. The minotaur though suddenly finished his tantrum, and charged at the touchdown scorer. His horns gored the blitzer, and this time the medic could do nothing to save him. Hoyt was targeted by a clumsy shot from a marauder, which had both players hitting the turf. The black orc picked himself up just in time to be smacked by the ogre, who had over extended himself and reeled over. He had done enough though, and the big Hoyt needed four people to stretcher him off to the koed bin. With the minotaur barrelling over Tobias Beecher (thrower), the elf had plenty of room to move, and threw an uninterrupted pass to a waiting marauder. The Pact's goblin, who had hardly done a thing in the game so far, ended his match trying to slip past Kareem Said (black orc), tripping over the orc's big foot and cracking his skull when he smacked into the turf. Said then focussed his attention on the minotaur, and with a powerful left-right combo, the big guy crashed to the turf, with a similar injury to that of the goblin's. Adebisi demonstrates his fancy footwork once more and steps away from his marker, and manages to catch up to the marauder with the ball, as Reading recovers to floor his opponent with a hearty swipe. Schillenger was ready to charge across the pitch to smack the ball carrier, but a searing bolt of electricity crashed into the ground at his feet, knocking him over. He quickly recovered, then raced over to assist Adebisi in forcing the ogre back towards the side-line. However, Schillenger gets shunted across, giving the ogre a golden opportunity to clear the blitzer off the field. He swung wildly, damaging only the air, and as he swung again, the wily orc ducked under the blow, dropping his shoulder into the big guy, and driving him hard into the turf. [Note: It was two, three-dice blocks against Schillenger. Only needing a push-back to get him off the pitch, the first roll was skull-skull-both down, no good to the block-less ogre. The re-roll (after passing Loner), much to my relief, was triple both down... ] The fall doing some serious damage, leaving the ogre with a permanent reminder of the blitzer's powerful counter-blow. O'Reilly senior, inspired by the demise of the ogre, dodges clear of his marker, and with plenty of extra effort, charges at the unfortunate marauder with the ball, forcing him off the pitch. The crowd obliges by tossing the ball onto the pitch near half-way, where Beecher saunters across and retrieves it. In turn, an attacking marauder charges across and bowls him over, then picks up the pig-skin. Schillenger and Chucky Pancamo (black orc) keep him under guard, and distracted as Said belts him across the back of his head. Alvarez takes care of the rat, and Reading wins the battle with his fellow monstrosity, stunning him with a fierce back-hand swipe. With time fast running out, the marauder gets to his feet, knocks Said over, giving a marauder a chance to recover the ball unhindered. With the elf waiting in the end zone, the marauder cocks his arm back for the throw, but the ball slips out of his hand, right as the siren announces full-time.
Though both teams don't fair too well with the match takings (30k each) they both gain a point of fan factor for their efforts. The ogre, despite his costly error, got the MVP, with Beecher being the OCF's recipient. This was enough for a second roll for the thrower, and to add to his extra agility, he gains and extra point of movement as well.
If this turns out to be the last game I play for the year, then I am very pleased that it was such a fantastic game. It was a marvellous see-sawing encounter, with both sides just a pip on the dice away from snatching a victory at times. Despite the ogre giving himself a niggling injury, I honestly felt the Pact were going to pinch it at the death with the pass, and was mighty relieved when it was fumbled. Still, I wonder what would have happened had my thrown goblin had thrown a 5 instead of a 4 and landed, whether he would of managed to dodge clear and tie things up right on half-time. I guess we'll never know.
Well, though my record this year has more losses than wins, I am still pleased that I managed to get to six events this year, with the seventh place at MOAB (with Chaos Dwarves) clearly being my best effort. I can't complain, for that effort got me Blood Bowl Legendary Edition for a bargain price! It was sad to see the demise of the Central Coast league, but at the same time I am pleased to have gotten involved with the third season of the Newcastle (NOBBL) league, and SLOBB in Sydney. Both of them, despite the distance, have sated my hunger for a damn fine board game over the last three months.
All the best for the festive season, and here's to a good year of Blood-Bowling in 2012. Cheers!
December 11, 2011
Very brief Gathering of Might report - Day 2
I wish I could report good news, but I can't. Day two was a continuation of poor dice rolls, and seeing the team bashed all over the park. The end casualty count of 2-26 was, well, pathetic. Only one of those came as a result of a block. (Skitter Stab-Stab did the other.) I did the two in the last game, and nearly had a heart attack when one of my skaven blitzers badly hurt a line elf. The end record was 1 win, 1 draw, 4 losses. Another tournament I'd rather forget.
The for and against isn't pretty either - 6-12. The chaos pact side the Spelunkers played in game five rolled right over them, and I was lucky to have three players on the pitch at the finish. The wood elves in game six could hardly do anything wrong. (They did, but it didn't affect the scoreline much.) In return, my team managed to fail, at one time or another, every possible roll, except to be sent off for fouling. (I hardly got in a position really to at all to do any.)
The highlight? A belated touchdown at the end of game six, scored by a goblin. He made four successive dodge rolls through multiple tackle zones then a go-for-it to at least give me something to cheer about.
Oh well, sixteen down, eight to go...
The for and against isn't pretty either - 6-12. The chaos pact side the Spelunkers played in game five rolled right over them, and I was lucky to have three players on the pitch at the finish. The wood elves in game six could hardly do anything wrong. (They did, but it didn't affect the scoreline much.) In return, my team managed to fail, at one time or another, every possible roll, except to be sent off for fouling. (I hardly got in a position really to at all to do any.)
The highlight? A belated touchdown at the end of game six, scored by a goblin. He made four successive dodge rolls through multiple tackle zones then a go-for-it to at least give me something to cheer about.
Oh well, sixteen down, eight to go...
December 10, 2011
Very brief Gathering of Might report - Day 1
Oh boy. Man, the fun I'm having with the Underworld Creepers today. I have been absolutely reamed in the casualties a whopping 0-15 (the best I have done is two knock-outs... ), but, after three games, I'm 1-1-1, with the touchdowns even at 4-4.
Not a big turn-out, but a good turn-out of the regulars. Ten coaches overall, and an eleventh will play tomorrow. A fair few bashy teams (at least 2 dwarven teams, a chaos dwarf, a khemri and even a chaos pact side) but then, it's expected with these choices of skill sets. (I went for 7 20k skills, and seeing I can take mutations for 20k across the board... )
What can I say? The Spelunkers started well, scoring on turn two of the first game, then were wiped off the pitch mid-way in the second half. The rats just refused to dodge, and in game three, it was the goblins who were finding it hard to dodge clear of opponents. In all three games, the go-for-it rolls were driving me to tears...
Still, all is not lost. I gradually improved as the day wore on, and the casualty count lessened. Of course, tomorrow is another day. Ciao!
P.S: Finally got a game of the Blood Bowl team manager card game. Once you have a couple of goes at it, it's not too bad.
Not a big turn-out, but a good turn-out of the regulars. Ten coaches overall, and an eleventh will play tomorrow. A fair few bashy teams (at least 2 dwarven teams, a chaos dwarf, a khemri and even a chaos pact side) but then, it's expected with these choices of skill sets. (I went for 7 20k skills, and seeing I can take mutations for 20k across the board... )
What can I say? The Spelunkers started well, scoring on turn two of the first game, then were wiped off the pitch mid-way in the second half. The rats just refused to dodge, and in game three, it was the goblins who were finding it hard to dodge clear of opponents. In all three games, the go-for-it rolls were driving me to tears...
Still, all is not lost. I gradually improved as the day wore on, and the casualty count lessened. Of course, tomorrow is another day. Ciao!
P.S: Finally got a game of the Blood Bowl team manager card game. Once you have a couple of goes at it, it's not too bad.
December 07, 2011
Third match in NOBBL
Though it was hard, I have just managed to tear myself away from an entertaining game of Angband (http://rephial.org/). For those of you who don't know what that is, it is a PC game, put in the category of “Rogue”-like games. Basically, the Rogue-like games are low on graphics, yet high on playability. Graphics are generally replaced by letters or symbols (ASCII) as are items and characters. Angband though has a windows version, where the ASCII symbols are replaced by little sprites.
I'm just getting back into them, having downloaded a whole pile of them last month. The beautiful thing about these games are that they are free, and generated by a community of programmers. They're also quite enjoyable. Sure, there are a lot of commands to familiarize yourself with, but if you want to waste an afternoon wandering around dungeons and beating up monsters (like I very nearly did) and aren't too fussed about the quality of the graphics, then give it a try. A couple of sites you can learn more or download games like this from are Rogue Temple (http://www.roguetemple.com/) and Rogue Life (http://rogue-life.ourden.org/).
Okay, now having gotten that out of my system, time to move on to another match report. Last Saturday (December 3rd) myself and the Babster journeyed up to Wallsend again for the December meeting of the Every Games Guild. Like the first meet, there were six players in attendance again, but due to our late arrival (and the later arrival of player six), and another player playing something else, there was only time for us to play one full game each. (Myself and Babs did start a second each, but have to finish it off at a later date.)
For the second round match, I was paired up with the organizers son, who demonstrated a) that he had some ability with the game, b) wasn't afraid of being adventurous (like throwing long bombs with Ag 2 players), c) and fouled whenever he got the chance! He didn't have to do too much of the latter, seeing he was regularly breaking AV 7 and either knocking players out or injuring them often enough.
Game:668
Opponent: Elih C
Team: Small & Powerful (Dwarves)
Result: Won 3-1
Casualties: Lost 1-3
Toss: Lost - kicked
Fame: Me+1
Initial weather roll: Fine
Kick-offs (in order): Cheering Fans (I gained a re-roll), Quick Snap, Change of Weather (Fine), Change of weather (Fine), Throw a rock (Blocker stunned).
Incentives: Dwarves got 70k worth, took a Bloodweiser Babe.
The dwarven side needed the services of a journeyman blocker for this match, seeing he was seriously injured in the previous game. One player had gained a skill, that being a blitzer, who had taken Mighty Blow.
The ball landed nicely for the dwarves, practically on top of one of their runners, who didn't waste any time picking the ball up. The dwarves also didn't waste any time taking to the elves either, as Summer Clearance, then Helvetica Bold (line elves), were koed and stretchered off the pitch. Ariel Black (line elf) struck back, dodging through the line and going the extra yards to attack the runner with the ball, but could only force him back. She was soon flattened and stunned by the other runner, but the ball carrier didn't get much of a chance to advance when the journeyman swung wildly at Carrie Oakey (line elf) missed, fell badly, and was badly hurt for his troubles. This allowed Paige Turner (line elf) to charge through and have a shot at the runner, but again, could only force him back. Much to her surprise though, rather than dodge clear, he hurled the ball down-field, which went within a whisker of bouncing back to a blitzer way down the other end of the pitch. Ruby Tuesday and Dot Com (line elf) forced him away from the ball, allowing Catherine the Above Average to scoop it up, then fling a short pass to Amber Alert (blitzer), who took it cleanly and raced off down the left hand side of the field. The dwarves went after her, and also took the opportunity to take out Katherine Gorge (thrower) as well, knocking her out. (She would take some time to get back onto the pitch too... ) Amber, with the line in sight, charged at the troll slayer, pushing him back, then stepped clear of him. With the elven supporters cheering her on, she reached the end zone, but inconveniently got a bad case of leg cramp and went down in the end zone. The ball rolled into the bottom left hand corner of the pitch. A troll slayer came stomping in, fully intended to lay in the boot, but it only glanced off her armor. Amber got back up, and tried to grab the ball right next to her to score the point, but was tripped up by the slayer, and the ball rolled diagonally backwards. The troll slayer then focussed his attentions on Catherine, and hit her a couple of times, cracking a rib. A dwarven runner then ambled down the pitch to retrieve the ball, and elected to hurl it back down the pitch to a blocker, but fumbled the ball. Ariel was in a useful position to go after the ball, whilst Amber blitzed and pushed the unsuccessful runner off the pitch. The crowd was very lenient, and only repeatedly slapped his back until he made it into the dugout. He soon had company, as Amber targeted the troll slayer and forced him off the pitch, as a dwarven blitzer throws a clumsy block at Ariel, and falls flat on his face. The slayer though, despite the ministrations of the Bloodweiser Babe (well, maybe because of them) didn't want to come back onto the field just yet. Ariel took the opportunity to dash for the line, but suffered the same problem as Amber, falling down with the end zone right in front of her. The ball rolled in that direction. With time almost up, a longbeard gave Dawn Service (line elf) a good going over, finishing her match just before the main break. Ariel gingerly got back to her feet, stepped into the end zone, and with a huge sigh of relief from the coaching staff, managed to pick up the ball and register the first point of the game.
With only one elf managing to recover in time to return to the pitch, the Drag Queens were in a little trouble, starting the half with only eight players on the pitch and that was even with the reserve Bridgette of Madison County (catcher) starting the half. (Thankfully, the dwarves only had nine.) Whereas the first half was a rather tight arm-wrestle of a half, the second half was free-flowing. With the elves getting right into the dwarves faces at the restart, Amber and Summer were able to flatten the dwarves on the left flank, allowing Ariel a clear run down the pitch. Ruby tried to go with her, but was tripped up by a blocker, the same blocker in fact who charged after Ariel, and dragged her down. Bridgette then arrived on the scene, kicking the blocker away from the ball, allowing Ariel the chance to get back up, recover it, and charge for the line. However, the dwarves weren't going to allow the elves to score that easily, and a rampaging blitzer smacked into her, knocking her flat on her face. Amber replied with a backhand swipe at the dwarf, flattening him, and with no one else around, grabbed the ball and stepped into the end zone to score. [Turn 3]
With both sides getting a koed player back onto the pitch, the dwarves were hell bent on scoring quickly. The ball was kicked deep, much to the annoyance of the runner who had to dash back to get it. The other runner, was making his way towards half-way. Bridgette couldn't believe her luck that the runner was so close to the sideline, so she charged straight at him. He saw her coming, dropped the shoulder, and she went down like a sack of spuds. Paige was the next visitor to the casualty ward, after being thumped by a blocker. The runner down near his end zone had managed to retrieve the ball and head back up the other way, electing to hand the ball on to the troll slayer. The dwarven runner, with Bridgette on the turf in front of him, has a kick at her and misses. She gets back up and tries to push him off the pitch, but he grabs an arm and drags her down instead. The slayer decides to impress the Bloodweiser Babe, and goes for a little run, then lobs a short ball down the pitch to a blocker, who easily takes the catch. The elves are surprised, and try to stop the play, but Carrie gets knocked out by a blitzer, and Amber, after dodging her way through the dwarves, gets an elbow to her face for her troubles when she reaches the ball carrier. Ariel tries to halt the blocker, but he succeeds in stepping away from her, and with a concerted effort, steps into the end zone to lessen the gap. [Turn 6]
The elves are a little worried around about now, with seven players to start the next drive, and the dwarves on the rampage. However, the restart from the bearded ones was poor, and Amber was given the opportunity to put the game away. With the ball safely in her hands, she charges forward, pushing aside a blocker, then dodging away from another. Dot tries to cover her back, but is tripped up, and she knocks herself out in the process. The dwarves hare after the elven blitzer, but only succeed in forcing her closer closer to the line. In the end, the dwarves couldn't do nothing to stop her, and with time running out, Amber steps away from the dwarves for her second, and to put the game beyond doubt.
In the little time there was left, a representative from the rock sniper's guild made an appearance, stunning a blocker with a well thrown half-brick. Ruby was to finish the game nursing an ice-pack on her head, whilst Helvetica was quite relieved when the referee sent a blocker from the pitch from laying the boot in on her. He then looked at his watch, thought that was close enough, and signalled full-time. The elves are quite relieved, seeing they have finished the game with only six players on the pitch, and hardly any of them were standing.
It was a good game for the elves, the third game in a row where they have scored three touchdowns. The winnings were great, 80k, but not quite enough to replace the blitzer that they lost in the first match. They also gained a point of Fan Factor, and Amber picked up her second skill, Strip Ball, whilst Ariel got her first, Kick. Even better that there were no lasting injuries, so all twelve were ready to take to the pitch to take on the Underworld Creepers side in the next league match.
Well, the last tournament of the year (for me) takes place this weekend in Chatswood. I have already settled on taking an Underworld Creepers team to Gathering of Might, and look forward to marking them off my list as well. They will be number sixteen, with only eight more of the official sides to go after that.
Who knows, if I have a good run next year (finance wise), I might knock all eight of them off.
Cheers!
P.S: A quick mention, the second Feudball book has been well and truly started. I have completed the first drafts of chapters 1, 3, 4 and 5, and have started on chapter 6. I'm hoping to at least complete that chapter before heading away for xmas.
I'm just getting back into them, having downloaded a whole pile of them last month. The beautiful thing about these games are that they are free, and generated by a community of programmers. They're also quite enjoyable. Sure, there are a lot of commands to familiarize yourself with, but if you want to waste an afternoon wandering around dungeons and beating up monsters (like I very nearly did) and aren't too fussed about the quality of the graphics, then give it a try. A couple of sites you can learn more or download games like this from are Rogue Temple (http://www.roguetemple.com/) and Rogue Life (http://rogue-life.ourden.org/).
Okay, now having gotten that out of my system, time to move on to another match report. Last Saturday (December 3rd) myself and the Babster journeyed up to Wallsend again for the December meeting of the Every Games Guild. Like the first meet, there were six players in attendance again, but due to our late arrival (and the later arrival of player six), and another player playing something else, there was only time for us to play one full game each. (Myself and Babs did start a second each, but have to finish it off at a later date.)
For the second round match, I was paired up with the organizers son, who demonstrated a) that he had some ability with the game, b) wasn't afraid of being adventurous (like throwing long bombs with Ag 2 players), c) and fouled whenever he got the chance! He didn't have to do too much of the latter, seeing he was regularly breaking AV 7 and either knocking players out or injuring them often enough.
Game:668
Opponent: Elih C
Team: Small & Powerful (Dwarves)
Result: Won 3-1
Casualties: Lost 1-3
Toss: Lost - kicked
Fame: Me+1
Initial weather roll: Fine
Kick-offs (in order): Cheering Fans (I gained a re-roll), Quick Snap, Change of Weather (Fine), Change of weather (Fine), Throw a rock (Blocker stunned).
Incentives: Dwarves got 70k worth, took a Bloodweiser Babe.
The dwarven side needed the services of a journeyman blocker for this match, seeing he was seriously injured in the previous game. One player had gained a skill, that being a blitzer, who had taken Mighty Blow.
The ball landed nicely for the dwarves, practically on top of one of their runners, who didn't waste any time picking the ball up. The dwarves also didn't waste any time taking to the elves either, as Summer Clearance, then Helvetica Bold (line elves), were koed and stretchered off the pitch. Ariel Black (line elf) struck back, dodging through the line and going the extra yards to attack the runner with the ball, but could only force him back. She was soon flattened and stunned by the other runner, but the ball carrier didn't get much of a chance to advance when the journeyman swung wildly at Carrie Oakey (line elf) missed, fell badly, and was badly hurt for his troubles. This allowed Paige Turner (line elf) to charge through and have a shot at the runner, but again, could only force him back. Much to her surprise though, rather than dodge clear, he hurled the ball down-field, which went within a whisker of bouncing back to a blitzer way down the other end of the pitch. Ruby Tuesday and Dot Com (line elf) forced him away from the ball, allowing Catherine the Above Average to scoop it up, then fling a short pass to Amber Alert (blitzer), who took it cleanly and raced off down the left hand side of the field. The dwarves went after her, and also took the opportunity to take out Katherine Gorge (thrower) as well, knocking her out. (She would take some time to get back onto the pitch too... ) Amber, with the line in sight, charged at the troll slayer, pushing him back, then stepped clear of him. With the elven supporters cheering her on, she reached the end zone, but inconveniently got a bad case of leg cramp and went down in the end zone. The ball rolled into the bottom left hand corner of the pitch. A troll slayer came stomping in, fully intended to lay in the boot, but it only glanced off her armor. Amber got back up, and tried to grab the ball right next to her to score the point, but was tripped up by the slayer, and the ball rolled diagonally backwards. The troll slayer then focussed his attentions on Catherine, and hit her a couple of times, cracking a rib. A dwarven runner then ambled down the pitch to retrieve the ball, and elected to hurl it back down the pitch to a blocker, but fumbled the ball. Ariel was in a useful position to go after the ball, whilst Amber blitzed and pushed the unsuccessful runner off the pitch. The crowd was very lenient, and only repeatedly slapped his back until he made it into the dugout. He soon had company, as Amber targeted the troll slayer and forced him off the pitch, as a dwarven blitzer throws a clumsy block at Ariel, and falls flat on his face. The slayer though, despite the ministrations of the Bloodweiser Babe (well, maybe because of them) didn't want to come back onto the field just yet. Ariel took the opportunity to dash for the line, but suffered the same problem as Amber, falling down with the end zone right in front of her. The ball rolled in that direction. With time almost up, a longbeard gave Dawn Service (line elf) a good going over, finishing her match just before the main break. Ariel gingerly got back to her feet, stepped into the end zone, and with a huge sigh of relief from the coaching staff, managed to pick up the ball and register the first point of the game.
With only one elf managing to recover in time to return to the pitch, the Drag Queens were in a little trouble, starting the half with only eight players on the pitch and that was even with the reserve Bridgette of Madison County (catcher) starting the half. (Thankfully, the dwarves only had nine.) Whereas the first half was a rather tight arm-wrestle of a half, the second half was free-flowing. With the elves getting right into the dwarves faces at the restart, Amber and Summer were able to flatten the dwarves on the left flank, allowing Ariel a clear run down the pitch. Ruby tried to go with her, but was tripped up by a blocker, the same blocker in fact who charged after Ariel, and dragged her down. Bridgette then arrived on the scene, kicking the blocker away from the ball, allowing Ariel the chance to get back up, recover it, and charge for the line. However, the dwarves weren't going to allow the elves to score that easily, and a rampaging blitzer smacked into her, knocking her flat on her face. Amber replied with a backhand swipe at the dwarf, flattening him, and with no one else around, grabbed the ball and stepped into the end zone to score. [Turn 3]
With both sides getting a koed player back onto the pitch, the dwarves were hell bent on scoring quickly. The ball was kicked deep, much to the annoyance of the runner who had to dash back to get it. The other runner, was making his way towards half-way. Bridgette couldn't believe her luck that the runner was so close to the sideline, so she charged straight at him. He saw her coming, dropped the shoulder, and she went down like a sack of spuds. Paige was the next visitor to the casualty ward, after being thumped by a blocker. The runner down near his end zone had managed to retrieve the ball and head back up the other way, electing to hand the ball on to the troll slayer. The dwarven runner, with Bridgette on the turf in front of him, has a kick at her and misses. She gets back up and tries to push him off the pitch, but he grabs an arm and drags her down instead. The slayer decides to impress the Bloodweiser Babe, and goes for a little run, then lobs a short ball down the pitch to a blocker, who easily takes the catch. The elves are surprised, and try to stop the play, but Carrie gets knocked out by a blitzer, and Amber, after dodging her way through the dwarves, gets an elbow to her face for her troubles when she reaches the ball carrier. Ariel tries to halt the blocker, but he succeeds in stepping away from her, and with a concerted effort, steps into the end zone to lessen the gap. [Turn 6]
The elves are a little worried around about now, with seven players to start the next drive, and the dwarves on the rampage. However, the restart from the bearded ones was poor, and Amber was given the opportunity to put the game away. With the ball safely in her hands, she charges forward, pushing aside a blocker, then dodging away from another. Dot tries to cover her back, but is tripped up, and she knocks herself out in the process. The dwarves hare after the elven blitzer, but only succeed in forcing her closer closer to the line. In the end, the dwarves couldn't do nothing to stop her, and with time running out, Amber steps away from the dwarves for her second, and to put the game beyond doubt.
In the little time there was left, a representative from the rock sniper's guild made an appearance, stunning a blocker with a well thrown half-brick. Ruby was to finish the game nursing an ice-pack on her head, whilst Helvetica was quite relieved when the referee sent a blocker from the pitch from laying the boot in on her. He then looked at his watch, thought that was close enough, and signalled full-time. The elves are quite relieved, seeing they have finished the game with only six players on the pitch, and hardly any of them were standing.
It was a good game for the elves, the third game in a row where they have scored three touchdowns. The winnings were great, 80k, but not quite enough to replace the blitzer that they lost in the first match. They also gained a point of Fan Factor, and Amber picked up her second skill, Strip Ball, whilst Ariel got her first, Kick. Even better that there were no lasting injuries, so all twelve were ready to take to the pitch to take on the Underworld Creepers side in the next league match.
Well, the last tournament of the year (for me) takes place this weekend in Chatswood. I have already settled on taking an Underworld Creepers team to Gathering of Might, and look forward to marking them off my list as well. They will be number sixteen, with only eight more of the official sides to go after that.
Who knows, if I have a good run next year (finance wise), I might knock all eight of them off.
Cheers!
P.S: A quick mention, the second Feudball book has been well and truly started. I have completed the first drafts of chapters 1, 3, 4 and 5, and have started on chapter 6. I'm hoping to at least complete that chapter before heading away for xmas.
December 06, 2011
Penguin update
I do have another match report to post, but I'll have to save that for a little later. What I do want to post though, is the latest images of my "Ogre" team. And to think, I had originally intended to do an African critter related Ogre team with Meerkats...
I did have more, but for some reason Blogger is being a bit silly today and won't let me upload them. Ciao!
I did have more, but for some reason Blogger is being a bit silly today and won't let me upload them. Ciao!
November 21, 2011
OCF game six
Raining again here on the coast, which makes me wonder if we're heading into summer or back towards winter. Not that I mind, seeing it keeps the house nice and cool. (You don't want to be in my place when it's hot. Then again, I don't even want to be in my place when it's hot.)
Generalities aside, yes, I have another match report. Joining the SLOBB league was definitely a good idea, seeing I've now managed six games in just over a month. All I have to do now is find the eighth player in my division, and then the OCF have played everybody on the ladder.
Honestly, I didn't really expect to finish in the top half of the ladder when I first started. I just wanted to take a, well, “normal” team, one that I hadn't played in a while, and see how I go. This was sort of a test run, to gauge the level of the opposition. I'm happy to say that I have been competitive, and feel that with an ounce more luck in each game, I might have just won five out of the six games I played.
Before I get stuck into the report, I should pass my congratulations on to Team Anzac, that was placed tenth in the Blood Bowl World Cup in Amsterdam. I had sort of been keeping track of the efforts of the boys flying the Australian flag (mostly through Facebook) and was very pleased to see a post this morning with the news. Bravo!
I'll be interested to hear of some of their experiences at the upcoming Gathering of Might tournament (December 10 & 11) at Chatswood. (Mental note, must pay entry fee when I'm paid on Friday!)
Okay, onto the next game. Last Sunday I hopped on the train and headed down to Good Games Burwood for my sixth game in SLOBB.
Game #: 667
Date: 20 Nov 2011
Opponent: Virral
Team: Horrible Hybrids (Chaos Dwarves)
Result: Lost 1-2
Casualties: Won 3-1
Toss: Won - received
Fame: Me+2
Starting Weather: Fine
Kick-offs (in order): Brilliant Coaching (I gained a re-roll), Brilliant Coaching (I gained a re-roll), Throw a rock (Journeyman Hobgoblin stunned), Change of Weather – Fine.
From memory, this is fourth encounter with Virral. Our last meeting was in the last round at Eucalyptus Bowl, where my Count Luthor lead Vampire team went down 1-2 against his Necromantic. This time round, I was facing his Chaos Dwarves, who, like my side, were a bit slow off the mark in terms of gaining skills, and only playing in their third match. So there were no skills to worry about, but I did have to worry about the guest appearance of Hthark the Unstoppable, seeing I have given 430k in incentives away. A wandering apothecary was also hired, and a journeyman hobgoblin was brought into the side to make up the numbers.
The game started brightly enough with Chucky Pancamo (black orc) launching a savage blow that knocked out one of the CD's blockers. Tobias Beecher (thrower) scooped up the ball, then launched a good pass down field, which was caught on halfway by Vern Schillenger (blitzer) and he wasted no time and charged deep into the opponent's half down the left-hand side, with two of his fellow blitzers creating a diversion on the right. Schillenger's run was ended not that far from the line, by a blocker and a hobgoblin. The ball bounced off the pitch, and the crowd threw it straight back in, in a very handy position for the orcs. However, it was a hobgoblin who got to the ball first, and though Chris Keller (blitzer) was able to get clear and mark the ball carrier, Schillenger couldn't get away from his marker to carry out the blitz, and the hobgoblin was able to scamper clear when Keller was pushed aside by the cover defence. The plucky blitzer though did manage to escape the clutches of a blocker, and have a second go at the hobgoblin. This time, though he didn't push him down, he jarred the ball loose. It bounced straight to him, but he couldn't grab it and it bounced away. Ryan O'Reilly (blitzer) then tried to grab the pigskin, but there was a nasty pothole waiting for him, and he tripped over, with the ball just in front of his face. Hthark then decided to get involved in the game, and went after the ball, but it initially proved elusive for him too. Whilst Simon Adebisi (black orc) was giving a hobgoblin a free ride to the casualty ward, Keller tried to step clear of his marker and get to the ball, but didn't succeed. Hthark then had a second attempt at picking it up, and succeeded, and went for a gallop down field. Jaz Hoyt (black orc) collided with a hobgoblin, knocking him out when he fell on him, and it was left to Alvarez to make a desperate charge to try and halt the special guest star. He did succeed in hitting the bull, but couldn't stop him, and the star player trampled Alvarez into the turf, sprinted for the line, and right on half-time gave the Hybrids the first point of the game.
The CDs were reinforced at the start of the second half with all their knocked out players returning to the field. It was a poor kick-off to start the half, and the ball was promptly presented to a bull centaur to get things under way. The Hybrids pushed forward, knocking over the orcs centre three, but Schillenger struck back, getting behind the cage, and picking off a hobgoblin at the rear, ending his game considerably early. With Burr Reading (troll) unable to get up, the CDs pushed forward into the OCF's half. With some creative blocking, Cyril O'Reilly (line orc) was able to dodge clear and throw a hopeful hit at the ball carrier, which proved ineffectual. Cyril O'Reilly was then given a second chance, as the drive down field was temporarily stalled, (after a falling Beecher got in the road of the bull centaur) and with a little help from Keller, the stocky line orc dropped the bull, the ball fortuitously bouncing to a blocker, who, despite being covered by two players, caught the ball. It was the Hybrids turn to come up with some creative blocking, with one thing leading to another, with the blocker being pushed clear of the ruck, then managing to rumble in for what eventually becomes the match winning touchdown. [Turn 5]
With a rock sniper getting involved in the proceedings, the orcs were determined to hit back quickly. Beecher scooped up the ball, and after the black orcs flattened the CDs centre three, he hurried up the field to hand the ball off to Kenny Wangler (goblin). With three of the four blitzers getting in and behind the CDs' defence, the little green skin drops the ball cold, denying the side an instant reply. However, with Pancamo adding to his tally of injuries caused this season, Beecher decides on a second course of action. With the ball at the feet of two blockers, the thrower nips in, picks up the ball, darts away, then delivers a beautiful pass to Schillenger. The blitzer ignores the blocker marking him, takes the catch, then steps away from him and charges for the line. Despite a little stumble entering the end zone, he stays on his feet to get his side back in the match. [Turn 6]
Fortune though, was prepared to give the green ones a slim chance to save face, with a hobgoblin fumbling the ball to a team-mate off the kick-off. Two blitzers charged at the hobgoblin, with Keller crashing into the warty one shoulder first, knocking him out. The ball bounced teasingly towards the end zone, but there was no one left nearby to take advantage of it. Reading, who had spent most of the second half napping on the turf, woke up to the sound of Wangler's screeching, and to shut him up, pegged him down field. The throw was quite good, but Kenny landed right beside Hthark, and the big star player had a good laugh with the goblin landed poorly, stunning himself in the process. With time fast running out, Hoyt tried to clear some space for Alvarez to get to the ball, but he was upended by the blocker instead, and the boys from the OCF lose yet another heart-breaker.
Cyril O'Reilly was rewarded for his efforts on the pitch with the MVP, and the team did pick up 60k in winnings. With no one skilling up, and with only one match left for the team, Warden Glynn decided to add two extra players to the roster, second thrower Arnold “Poet” Jackson, and second goblin Agamemnon “The Mole” Busmalis.
Before I go, I should happily announce that I have completed the first draft of chapter one of the second Feudball book. With nothing better to do earlier today, I decided to take apart the few notes that I had typed up sometime last year, and constructed the new version. I have also fleshed out (in more detail) the synopsis, and created some notes about the new secondary characters that will be featured in the second instalment.
Cheers!
Generalities aside, yes, I have another match report. Joining the SLOBB league was definitely a good idea, seeing I've now managed six games in just over a month. All I have to do now is find the eighth player in my division, and then the OCF have played everybody on the ladder.
Honestly, I didn't really expect to finish in the top half of the ladder when I first started. I just wanted to take a, well, “normal” team, one that I hadn't played in a while, and see how I go. This was sort of a test run, to gauge the level of the opposition. I'm happy to say that I have been competitive, and feel that with an ounce more luck in each game, I might have just won five out of the six games I played.
Before I get stuck into the report, I should pass my congratulations on to Team Anzac, that was placed tenth in the Blood Bowl World Cup in Amsterdam. I had sort of been keeping track of the efforts of the boys flying the Australian flag (mostly through Facebook) and was very pleased to see a post this morning with the news. Bravo!
I'll be interested to hear of some of their experiences at the upcoming Gathering of Might tournament (December 10 & 11) at Chatswood. (Mental note, must pay entry fee when I'm paid on Friday!)
Okay, onto the next game. Last Sunday I hopped on the train and headed down to Good Games Burwood for my sixth game in SLOBB.
Game #: 667
Date: 20 Nov 2011
Opponent: Virral
Team: Horrible Hybrids (Chaos Dwarves)
Result: Lost 1-2
Casualties: Won 3-1
Toss: Won - received
Fame: Me+2
Starting Weather: Fine
Kick-offs (in order): Brilliant Coaching (I gained a re-roll), Brilliant Coaching (I gained a re-roll), Throw a rock (Journeyman Hobgoblin stunned), Change of Weather – Fine.
From memory, this is fourth encounter with Virral. Our last meeting was in the last round at Eucalyptus Bowl, where my Count Luthor lead Vampire team went down 1-2 against his Necromantic. This time round, I was facing his Chaos Dwarves, who, like my side, were a bit slow off the mark in terms of gaining skills, and only playing in their third match. So there were no skills to worry about, but I did have to worry about the guest appearance of Hthark the Unstoppable, seeing I have given 430k in incentives away. A wandering apothecary was also hired, and a journeyman hobgoblin was brought into the side to make up the numbers.
The game started brightly enough with Chucky Pancamo (black orc) launching a savage blow that knocked out one of the CD's blockers. Tobias Beecher (thrower) scooped up the ball, then launched a good pass down field, which was caught on halfway by Vern Schillenger (blitzer) and he wasted no time and charged deep into the opponent's half down the left-hand side, with two of his fellow blitzers creating a diversion on the right. Schillenger's run was ended not that far from the line, by a blocker and a hobgoblin. The ball bounced off the pitch, and the crowd threw it straight back in, in a very handy position for the orcs. However, it was a hobgoblin who got to the ball first, and though Chris Keller (blitzer) was able to get clear and mark the ball carrier, Schillenger couldn't get away from his marker to carry out the blitz, and the hobgoblin was able to scamper clear when Keller was pushed aside by the cover defence. The plucky blitzer though did manage to escape the clutches of a blocker, and have a second go at the hobgoblin. This time, though he didn't push him down, he jarred the ball loose. It bounced straight to him, but he couldn't grab it and it bounced away. Ryan O'Reilly (blitzer) then tried to grab the pigskin, but there was a nasty pothole waiting for him, and he tripped over, with the ball just in front of his face. Hthark then decided to get involved in the game, and went after the ball, but it initially proved elusive for him too. Whilst Simon Adebisi (black orc) was giving a hobgoblin a free ride to the casualty ward, Keller tried to step clear of his marker and get to the ball, but didn't succeed. Hthark then had a second attempt at picking it up, and succeeded, and went for a gallop down field. Jaz Hoyt (black orc) collided with a hobgoblin, knocking him out when he fell on him, and it was left to Alvarez to make a desperate charge to try and halt the special guest star. He did succeed in hitting the bull, but couldn't stop him, and the star player trampled Alvarez into the turf, sprinted for the line, and right on half-time gave the Hybrids the first point of the game.
The CDs were reinforced at the start of the second half with all their knocked out players returning to the field. It was a poor kick-off to start the half, and the ball was promptly presented to a bull centaur to get things under way. The Hybrids pushed forward, knocking over the orcs centre three, but Schillenger struck back, getting behind the cage, and picking off a hobgoblin at the rear, ending his game considerably early. With Burr Reading (troll) unable to get up, the CDs pushed forward into the OCF's half. With some creative blocking, Cyril O'Reilly (line orc) was able to dodge clear and throw a hopeful hit at the ball carrier, which proved ineffectual. Cyril O'Reilly was then given a second chance, as the drive down field was temporarily stalled, (after a falling Beecher got in the road of the bull centaur) and with a little help from Keller, the stocky line orc dropped the bull, the ball fortuitously bouncing to a blocker, who, despite being covered by two players, caught the ball. It was the Hybrids turn to come up with some creative blocking, with one thing leading to another, with the blocker being pushed clear of the ruck, then managing to rumble in for what eventually becomes the match winning touchdown. [Turn 5]
With a rock sniper getting involved in the proceedings, the orcs were determined to hit back quickly. Beecher scooped up the ball, and after the black orcs flattened the CDs centre three, he hurried up the field to hand the ball off to Kenny Wangler (goblin). With three of the four blitzers getting in and behind the CDs' defence, the little green skin drops the ball cold, denying the side an instant reply. However, with Pancamo adding to his tally of injuries caused this season, Beecher decides on a second course of action. With the ball at the feet of two blockers, the thrower nips in, picks up the ball, darts away, then delivers a beautiful pass to Schillenger. The blitzer ignores the blocker marking him, takes the catch, then steps away from him and charges for the line. Despite a little stumble entering the end zone, he stays on his feet to get his side back in the match. [Turn 6]
Fortune though, was prepared to give the green ones a slim chance to save face, with a hobgoblin fumbling the ball to a team-mate off the kick-off. Two blitzers charged at the hobgoblin, with Keller crashing into the warty one shoulder first, knocking him out. The ball bounced teasingly towards the end zone, but there was no one left nearby to take advantage of it. Reading, who had spent most of the second half napping on the turf, woke up to the sound of Wangler's screeching, and to shut him up, pegged him down field. The throw was quite good, but Kenny landed right beside Hthark, and the big star player had a good laugh with the goblin landed poorly, stunning himself in the process. With time fast running out, Hoyt tried to clear some space for Alvarez to get to the ball, but he was upended by the blocker instead, and the boys from the OCF lose yet another heart-breaker.
Cyril O'Reilly was rewarded for his efforts on the pitch with the MVP, and the team did pick up 60k in winnings. With no one skilling up, and with only one match left for the team, Warden Glynn decided to add two extra players to the roster, second thrower Arnold “Poet” Jackson, and second goblin Agamemnon “The Mole” Busmalis.
Before I go, I should happily announce that I have completed the first draft of chapter one of the second Feudball book. With nothing better to do earlier today, I decided to take apart the few notes that I had typed up sometime last year, and constructed the new version. I have also fleshed out (in more detail) the synopsis, and created some notes about the new secondary characters that will be featured in the second instalment.
Cheers!
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