With the lists in my
last post, it's on to the game!
Pre-match
I induced Szczepan (a.k.a. Fungus the Loon) for some added muscle and won +1 FAME, so clearly da fanz were excited about a home game :¬D The weather was good and we had no other special rules in effect, although my opponent said that as he was learning he wanted to use the Illegal Procedure rule. I'm not a fan of this as it's a bit harsh, but I relented and over the course of the game he lost maybe 3+ re-rolls due to it (out of 6) whilst I lost one. To his credit he said including the rule was the right thing to do, so he didn't begrudge losing so many re-rolls.
First half
I won the toss and elected to receive, in the hope that I could do enough damage with both special weapons on the pitch to make the second half easier.
My opponent deployed rather aggressively given he was kicking, whilst I spread out so that I could pick up the ball wherever it landed... unfortunately that was in my end zone, and after scattering it was on the edge of the pitch.
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| There was going to be a lot of punching from the start! |
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| The undead were staring at some scary players >:¬) |
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| Stupid ball! |
The half started with Szczepan going on his Fanatic rampage and in his first swing he KO'd the only Flesh Golem on the pitch! Then he stunned a line Zombie and the Looney did the same to another Zombie.
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| Two stunned and no more Flesh Golem. Yay for violence! |
And somehow my Gobbos managed to secure the ball!
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| That ball is almost as big as him! |
Over the next few turns my ball carrier moved across from my bottom right third to form a cage on the left of the line of scrimmage, hoping that Szczepan would smash apart the undead on that flank. But no luck: somehow even with MV4 he managed to dodge around the opposition without hitting them, sometimes making no blocks out of 4 attempts! He's a dancer, not a fighter. IIRC my carrier got marked at one point, so I handed it off and moved the ball centrally behind my lines in the hope of clearing space for a break.
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| How we ended up after a bit of back-and-forth |
A highlight for me during these turns was spotting the Werewolf on his own and sending my Looney at him like a squig-oil powered missile, KOing the ded 'un!
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| The Looney has a clear shot on (his version) of a goal: the Werewolf! |
After a few turns of this jostling the clock was ticking down and I was down a Goblin due to a Badly Hurt result (thank you, Stunty!) and another one due to a ref who clearly doesn't understand what the crowd at a Goblin home game want. I hadn't moved past the line of scrimmage so I decided I had to make a dash for it.
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| This is about the point that I made my run to score |
It involved a lot of Stunty-dodging, but with only one dodge needed for my ball carrier it was worth it. He ran through the gap, other unmarked players followed to screen, and the remainder dodged out and around to mark / screen the opposition as necessary. And then on my turn 8 Matt da Travella got it into touch!
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| A Both Down from The Infected gave me a Turnover and a clear run on goal |
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| A traditional turn 8 Goblin deployment ;¬) |
Second half
Things started badly for me this half. The KOd Werewolf and Flesh Golem had come back on turn 8 of the previous half, whilst only one of my two KOs came back even with the 're-roll' at the start of the second half. That meant it was 12 undead (one Zombie on the bench, obvs.) vs. 10 Goblins, with both Secret Weapons locked away in the stadium dungeons. I did at least win Cheering Fans again!
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| The thin green line |
Very quickly I got overrun on my right flank, with the Werewolf surfing a Gobbo to clear a path for the Ghoul to score, leaving it 1-1 and me worried I'd be losing 2-1 before long.
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| The Ghoul / Girl makes it past what constitutes a Goblin defence |
I set up to receive and was planning how to collect it and considering going for a throw teammate, even if that would just seal a draw. But then things went from bad to worse: a blitz on the kick-off table!
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| These Zombies were more 28 Days Later than Night of the Living Dead :¬( |
At this point I thought I'd lost it, having screwed up by not properly securing my flanks when deploying, so I moved back as much as I could to secure the ball (and managed to pick it up). After my opponent's turn my ball carrier was two squares from my endzone with a positional of some ilk basing him, and the other three non-Flesh Golem positionals nearby.
I figured I had one shot at this so I went for it: my carrier dodged out and, using two GFIs, managed to reposition to my left flank. Then my other Goblins, who were all marked, managed to dodge out and through multiple tackle zones to screen him. Sprokkit (the green Troll) and a final Gobbo then moved as far forward as possible from the carrier in order to be ready for a handoff and throw team mate the next turn.
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| This is what I'd managed after all those Stunty dodges |
This left his fast players on the other side of the pitch, and his Zombies with no easy way to get to my ball carrier. I can't remember how I got the turnover, but once I did my carrier ran forward, handed off to Bigmouf Brio, who in turn ran his little legs towards the endzone. I decided against the TTM as it just wasn't needed given how slow Zombies are.
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| Cheezit! |
Realising he'd lost, my opponent
finally decided to make a proppa game of it and resorted to fouling, so whilst my carrier stalled by the endzone the game devolved into two areas of action: 8 undead fouling Fish Stikz the Troll (nothing :¬) ), and a handful of Goblins trying to foul a Ghoul (KO!) and a Werewolf (nothing :¬( ).
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| Fouling time! |
And when turn 16 came around, Bigmouf Brio took one step forward and finished the match!
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| Touchdown! |
Post-match interview
That was such a good game, and so close! Until I managed to pull off my run from the right to the left flank in the second half it was almost certainly going to be 2-1 to my opponent, but Nuffle smiled on me and with the help of Stunty, Dodge, and a re-roll I made it by the skin of my teeth.
This was a match where I don't think the luck unduly favoured either of us: I got lucky taking out the Flesh Golem with the first action of the game, but I only got a KO on the opposition twice after that in the whole match (one of these was a T15 foul). And my Looney failed armour more times than is expected against AV8 models. We both had a lot of luck on dodging: he kept making 4+ dodge rolls with Zombies (not something I'd recommend trying), and I pushed Stunty-dodging to the extreme in a couple of turns which really mattered.
This is my opponent's first full game of Blood Bowl against another human, and he did very well. He over-committed his fast pieces at the end which let me slip away (one held back as a sweeper and I'd have had more trouble), but that's something we all do when we smell blood, and if that's the worst mistake in a match I think that's something to be proud of!
As for me:
- I stand by my decision to play both Special Weapons from the start, as delaying bringing one on would have risked losing it to a sending off after a turn or two.
- Bringing Bribes rather than the star player would have helped here, but buying a Bribe for one Looney seemed like overkill and I liked the extra strength Szczepan provided.
- I forgot about the blitz result and it nearly lost me the game. I won't forget again!
- I finished both halves with at least one re-roll left. Given I'd gained one in each half from kick-off results this seems OK, as whilst I could have started with only three there will be some games where I'll need to make more -2D blocks (which I avoided in this game).
Admin
Kutta
Monsta the Looney deservedly won my MVP, I gained one Fan Factor, and
pocketed 60k in winnings. The opposition awarded their MVP to the
Werewolf, lost one Fan Factor (rolling snake eyes to do so!), and gained 40k.
I now need to decide what to do with the 150k sitting in the bank. If I don't spend it there's a risk Da Kaptin (my head coach) will blow some of it on 'shrooms, but I like the free inducements as they give me some flexibility. Alternatively I could hire...
- A Fanatic of my own, who won't be as good as Szczepan but at least they don't have Loner and will skill up over time.
- A Bomma, which is basically a turnover generator but good against AG2 players.
- One of the other positionals, who all look fun and aren't reliant on Bribes.
Decisions, decisions...
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