For those who don’t know, Blood Bowl is a game released by
Games Workshop ages ago. Blood Bowl was
a Fantasy (literally) Football game loosely based on North American
Football. The game became part of the “Specialist
Games” line. Blood Bowl still has a
large following, even though GW has dropped the entire Specialist Line.
So, this was the first game in the new WUBBLE League. Each team starts with 1 Million Gold Pieces
(gp) to form a Blood Bowl Team. Our House
Rules state everyone starts off with 5 Fan Factor that comes free. Otherwise, you buy players, Cheerleaders,
Assistant Coaches, team rerolls and other “fun stuff”.
For my Lizardmen team, 1 million coins allowed me to
purchase 4 Saurus Players, 8 Skinks and 3 Team Re-rolls, with a little left
over (20,000) in the treasury. Saurus
are the big, brutal lizards; strong, tough but not very agile. Skinks are the fast little guys that usually
make the touch downs, but are “Stunty”, meaning they’re weaker and tend to be
more easily injured.
My first Opponent, the Boulderfist Brawlers, had Ogres,
consisting of (you guessed it!) 5 Ogres; Big, mean, strong, tough monsters
(more so than my Suarus) and a bunch of little Snotlings (smaller members of
the Goblin Family, even smaller & weaker than my Skinks!). It “SHOULD” have been a close match…
We rolled to see how big the “Gate” was (22,000 fans) and
Weather (Sunny – a -1 Penalty for any Passes).
Lizards won the coin toss and chose to start the game kicking to the
other team. This would make the Serpents
receiving the ball in the second half.
And away we went…
After starting with Kicking Team deploying first with 3
Saurus in the line of Scrimmage and Skinks one space back, 2 on each Wing, 2
deep and 2 behind the Saurus, The Brawlers’
lineup had all 5 Ogres on the Line of Scrimage and 6 Snottlings scattered on
the wings and playing deep. On the
Kickoff, the Cheering fans went wild (After rolling and bonuses, Ogres got an
extra Team Re-Roll for this half). The
Ogres started attacking the Lizardmen’s Line of Scrimage and KILLED Player #1,
a Saurus named Krun Chee!!! OWWWW! The Snotlings managed to pick-up the ball after
one of the Lizards pushed a Snotling into the box the ball was sitting, causing
the ball to bounce into the arms of a 2nd Snotling! About this time, Lizards called “Illegal
Procedure”; the Ogres had forgotten to move their Turn Counter. They chose to give up a Team Re-Roll rather
than lose the rest of their Activation.
The Boulderfist Brawlers turn ended when a Snotling attempted to knock a
Skink off the table, but knocked himself out instead. The Lizardmen’s turn wasn’t very exciting. Skinks quickly discovered Snottlings bathe in
Axel Grease before a match and were slipperier than they were. The Lizardmen Turnover occurred when a Skink
got tackled trying to dodge out of a tackle-zone as he attempted to Blitz the
ball carrier.
Taking advantage of the situation, the Snotlings all
surrounded and kicked the prone Skink, stunning him (stunning means it would
take an extra activation before the player could stand and do something). Sadly, the Ref was looking at a particularly
ugly Ogre Cheerleader and missed the foul.
After more pushing and shoving from both teams, Sandhill Player 8, a Skink
called “Bo Ah” slipped and broke his neck, losing 1 point agility and the rest
of the game while attempting to Block an Ogre with 3 other Skinks
assisting! Sandhill Casualties are
piling up quickly!
Finally, in Turn 4, the Snotling ball carrier crossed the
line, getting the Boulderfist Brawlers their first Touchdown! As the fans cheered, the players from both
teams that had been knocked out got to their feet and headed out onto the turf for
the next kick-off.
Figlop the Indomitable goes for the Touch Down!
As the Boulderfist Brawlers kicked to the Sandhill Serpents,
once again the fan’s cheering was overwhelming, once more getting a Re-Roll for
the Boulderfist Brawlers. As the play continued,
there was a lot of pushing and shoving before finally Sandhill #12, a Skink called
“Co Bra” managed to pick-up the ball and successfully pass to Player 10, a Skink
named “Vip Er”, in spite of the -1 penalty for the Sun and an additional -1 for
being “Stunty”! After some more pushing
around the Line of Scrimage, “Vip Er” attempts to hand off the ball to Skink “Ma
Mba”, but Ma Mba fumbles and drops the ball!
Taking advantage of the confusion of the mishandled ball, the
Boulderfist Brawlers manage to knock out a Saurus and 2 Skinks, then killed
Sandhill Player 13, a Skink called “Rat Lar” in a furious scrimmage around the
ball! Sadly for the Boulderfist Brawlers,
the Sandhill Serpents managed to wind down the clock before the Ogres could get
a 2nd touchdown in the first half!!!
First Half Ends!
At half time, the score is 1/0 for the Boulderfist Brawlers and
everyone wakes up from being Knocked Out.
However, Sandhill was down 3 players out of the game! Starting with 12 players and normally
requiring 11 players on the field at a time, the Serpents will start off
short-handed with only 9 players walking!
Second Half starts with the Ogres kicking to the
Lizards. The weather changes to “Nice”
between the halves, meaning no penalties or advantages to the game. Serpent’s #14 “Vip Er” successfully picked up
the ball and held back towards his end zone; not seeing an opening through the
line of Scrimmage. Sadly, Serpents
Player #3, Saurus “Krum Ple” managed to knock himself out while attempting to block
another Ogre. As the action alternated,
the Serpents were unable to clear a path for the ball carrier, but Sandhill #10,
“Ma Mba” finally wiggled past the line of scrimmage and got about half way down
the field into Brawlers’ territory.
Seeing only one incredibly slim chance, Vip Er ran down towards the line
of scrimmage and made a Long Pass the ball to Ma Mba and overshot the
Skink! The Snotlings managed to get to Ma
Mba so he would need to dodge out of the Tackle Zone, but the Boulderfist
Brawlers couldn’t reach the ball. Ma Mba
managed to successfully dodge out of a Brawlers’ tackle zone, pick up the ball
and run into the End Zone: Touch Down!
The score was tied 1 All!
Ma Mba makes it a Tied Game!
As the Sandhill Serpents kicked to the Boulderfist Brawlers,
we rolled a Perfect Defence on the Kick-Off table. Unfortunately, the Lizardmen were down to 8
players and simply didn’t have enough players to take advantage of the
situation without leaving large holes in the defensive line.
The Boulderfist Brawlers formed a pocket in the middle of
the field, after a snotling successfully picked up the ball. As the drive continued, another Skink was
Shaken and carried off the field for the rest of the game and another Saurus
was knocked out! All the Sandhill
Serpents could do was fall back and try to defend as their numbers dropped
continuously. Finally, making a
desperate tackle for the Snotling carrying the ball, Sandhill player 7, “Ana
Con Da” was killed by an Ogre protecting the ball carrier. One last attempt to tackle the ball player
was made but the Snotling, Figlop the Indomitable successfully carried the ball into the end zone,
scoring a second and the the winning touchdown!
Boulderfist Brawlers Victory 2 / 1 over the Sandhill
Serpents!
========================================================
In reality, we had 2 turns left to go, but we ran out of
time. I had told my opponent I had to
leave by a certain time, but as we didn’t use the “Timed Turn” rules for this
game, the game dragged on over 3 hours when it normally wouldn’t have. The League Commissionaire ruled that it was a
complete game instead of a forfeit due to the amount of time we had played and
the fact the Serpents had been decimated (I believe I only had 5 players
standing and neither side had a chance for another touchdown in 2 turns).
========================================================
WOW! BRUTAL
game! I was worried having 4 Saurus on
the team would be nasty but that was nothing compared to 5 Ogres! OUCH!!!
Fortunately, he can only get 1 more Ogre. In theory, I could have 6 Saurus and a
Kroxigor!
Yes, the Serpents were decimated. Nothing I can do about that. Nor do I “fault” my opponent. It was a great game and I did enjoy it! It just means I’ll be in the basement for a
while in this league as I attempt to rebuild the team. I COULD retire the team and start over, but
part of the fun of Blood Bowl and the League rules is trying to continue to
build a successful team. I was just
proud of myself for scoring a touchdown in the second half with an under-sized
team.
So, out of 12 players, I had 3 dead:
- Player 1; Krun Chee (Kroxigor)
- Player 7; Ana Con Da (Skink)
- Player 13; Rat Lar (Skink)
And 1 of the 2 badly injured players: Player 8; Bo Ah
(Skink) will miss next game and lost an agility point, making him pretty much
useless as a player and a candidate to retire right away.
That means I will be short 4 players for next game – leaving
only 8 that can go onto the field. From
the Gate, the Serpents earned 50,000 Gold Pieces (gp). That won’t replace 1 Skink (60,000gp) or a
Saurus (80,000gp). I’ll be forced to get
some Journeymen (Temporary) players.
Fortunately, they’ll be free if I bring the team numbers up to 11
players at the start of the game. Sadly,
I can only get Skink Journeymen…
Anyway, Vip Er got “Most Valuable Player” for the team, not
enough points for a skill level increase.
Ma Mba & Co Bra also earned points for their Touch Down and
Completed Pass, so 3 players are on their way to earning more skills.
What would I have changed in my lineup? Tough call.
I would have liked a Kroxigor, but sadly they’re horribly expensive –
too expensive for a team starting out. I
could have dropped a Saurus and Re-Roll for extra Skinks, but I don’t think it
would have made a difference. Skinks are
too squishy on their own and re-rolls double in price after the league
starts. 3 Re-rolls is pretty much a
minimum for a Lizardman team. I find Apothecary
to be useless as well. At 50,000gp and
only 1 POSSIBLE save per turn, they’re usually not worth it. I always roll badly whenever I use one and
the patient dies anyway. I think I just
had a really tough game and no changes would have helped me in the long run.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this report. See you on the Grid Iron soon!
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