Brettonia for 12 game league + playoffs

[plasmoid]

Hey Smeborg,
you asked 2 questions a bit up the page:

1) For me, I went with Block, because I already have 4 wrestlers already, and sometimes too many of your own players going Down spells trouble. Mind you, the Brets can deal with that by investing in some dump-off - but that may not be worth the TV Investment. (Also, as my Knights don't have mighty blow, Peasants can often do the blocking on the LOS, leaving the knights to roam free).

2) I stay at 13 with enough Cash to buy up to 14 when I need it. If find 13 to be enough against softer teams, and I want to keep my TV trim. So I hire and fire #14 fairly frequently.

Cheers
Martin

[Smeborg]

Thanks, Martin -

With half my opponents being Orcs, I prefer to run with 14 men for now. In the first game against Gobbos, the Trolls did a lot of damage with their M-Blow.

You might enjoy my "LOPSIDED SPPs" post in the team blog.

[Smeborg]

Hi again Martin -

What teams did Noblesse Oblige face? I remember Nurgle, Pact, HE...? And what about Force Majeure?

While you seem to have creamed them all, lol, which team(s) did you find the most difficult to play against? And which were less difficult or easier to face? I ask partly because you said that Orcs are difficult opponents for Brets.

All the best.

[plasmoid]

Hi Smeborg,
just did a tally of the SPPs on my 2 Bret teams (excluding MVPs):
Blitzers (205), Yeomen (88), Linemen (63). Things get a bit muddled by a few player deaths, there being more peasants, and the fact that I got some bonus SPPs for winning the finals, which landed mainly on peasants. So I think the trend matches yours.

As for my games with Noblesse Oblige, they were (NTBB rosters):
Season 1 (GP Blitzers)
Gobbos+ 3-0 [lonerless trolls w. Foul appearance and thick skull]
Pact 3-0
Khorne+ 2-0 [10K off bloodletters]
Dark Elf 2-0
Wood Elfs- 2-0 [Wardancers with Fend rather than block]
Chaos+ (finals OT) 2-1 [Free leader on Minotard]

Season 2 (GAP Blitzers)
Nurgle 3-0
Ogres+ 2-0 [10K off ogres and rerolls. 6136 snots]
Undead- 1-0 [Mummys have Grab not MB]
Gobbos+ 2-0 [*]
Chaos+ 1-1 [*]
CDs (finals) 3-0

Force Majeure had I think 10-12 prior to this season. Those games I don't have stats on.
Season 3 (GP Blitzers)
Humans+ 2-0 [AV8 catchers]
High Elf+ 2-1 [Accurate Throwers]
Khorne+ 3-0 [*]
Vampire+ 2-1 [Thick skull Linos]
Amazon- 2-0 [+10K Linos]
Necro (finals) 1-2

I don't think I have a clear picture of which opponents are easy or hard.
I think that in early development, they have problems with teams that can reasonably reliably remove linemen or yeomen.
On late development they struggle against all flavours of elf (doesn't everybody) and teams with high damage output.

Cheers
Martin

[Smeborg]

Thanks, Martin. What your stats seem to say about "difficult" opponents"

Loss: Necro
Draw: Chaos
Narrow wins: Chaos, Undead, HE, Vamps

My experience so far, mostly playtesting, is that it is hard for Brets to get better than a draw against Chaos or Orcs (at low TV). In the league, I beat the only Orc team I have played so far, but it had an "unclean" roster, including 2 Gobbos (out of 12 players) that I was able to CAS, putting me up on numbers. Rookie Gobbos (vs. rookie Brets) did enough damage to get a draw.

On the Agility front, I struggled against DEs (a loss, but I made a mistake which may have cost me the draw). And while I beat Slann, they were quite feisty, even with no Block or Wrestle.

So I agree with your assessment. But it is early days yet.

[Smeborg]

Hi Martin and All -

I played a 5th match with my Brets and got a 2nd M-Blow on a Blitzer (4/4). So it looks like I will be playing the "old" roster that was considered a bit good (Blitzers cooking with GAS).

Time will tell.

[Smeborg]

I am considering "loading up" on M-Blow, now that I have 2 Blitzers with the skill. This would mean giving M-Blow to the Yeomen as second skill (after Guard). Why not compound one heresy (Wrestle+Guard) with another (Wrestle+M-Blow)?

See my team blog.

[Smeborg]

As far as I can see, the Brets behave like a bash team:

- They are really sensitive to numbers (almost every drive is won by the team with more players on the pitch)

- They do not like having to score in 2 or 3 turns

In other words just like Orcs or Dwarfs!

And they are in the top 4 starting rosters in terms of blocking skills (the other 3 being Norse, Dwarfs and Chaos Dwarfs).

The argument for skilling up like a bash team is compelling.

[plasmoid]

Hmmm... I see them somewhat differently:

I do agree that like most non-AG4 teams, they got in a lot of trouble when outnumbered.
And that it (always) helps to outnumber your opponent.

However:
1. They don't grind well. I rarely last all the way to turn 8.
2. While they don't exactly love it, I think they can run a 2 or 3 turn offense a fair bit better than Orcs or Dwarfs.

Cheers
Martin

[rolo]

I doubt this information is easily available, but it might be interested to see how many 2-turn score attempt succeed, across all races.

It "Feels like" Brettonians "Should" be above average at it - there are 4x MA7 guys who start with catch, 4 more AG3 players in a pinch. That "should" be enough to succeed more often than Undead (no Catch) or Amazons (no MA7), probably a little bit behind Humans, but far ahead of smashmouth teams like Dwarves or Khemri.
But I think 2-turn score attempts are in general pretty difficult. I think that the Bloodbowl-wide success rate is probably well under 50% on all 2-turn attempts.

[Smeborg]

rolo - the best sides (PE, HE, WE, Slann) approach 100% success rate in 2-turn drives. I am quite used to making 2-turn scoring attempts with the likes of Nurgle and Chaos, and expect to get a decent hit rate (say 1/3). But so far in my little league, I don't think the Brets have scored once in 3 turns or less.

Of course there are some skill paths that might improve the hit rate (e.g. a couple of Nerves of Steel), but I am reluctant to go down that route.

Martin - I too have not yet managed an 8-turn drive in the league. However, in a test game against Orcs I managed an 8-turn drive for the first time, not without risk. I could only do so because 3 Orcs retired to the dugout (2 of them on failed dodges, lol). This was before my last post.

Since my Blitzers have been blessed by Nuffle with 2 doubles already, at least I may get a chance to test out this new development plan. If I can get to (say) 4 x Guard and 4 x M-Blow, I think that would be a fair test. Next game up is against Orcs, let's see if M-Blow works at all (1 x M-Blow worked once in 2 games...).

All the best.

[Smeborg]

6TH MATCH vs. ORCS: LOSS 0-1 (CAS: 0-3)

I put this post here by mistake. I have moved it to the other thread (Team Blogs).

[El_Jairo]

@ Smeborg
I do find it odd that you won the toss but choice to receive.

As you said it yourself: Bret's are far better at defending.

I am having the same experience: Brets don't switch sides that easy on offense: you really need to break the hole and push through. Otherwise your peasants and Yeomen get stranded and your ball end up potato-ing and hoping for bad dice for your opponent.

Maybe it has to do with my love for Dark Elves, which are really good in elf screening and also excel at swinging around a defense if the opportunity is given.

It'll be just me not playing Bret's right because they do have a good roster, just those expensive TRR though, horrendous before you get any key skills: Sure Hands, Dodge and Tackle....

[Smeborg]

Thanks, El_Jairo, good suggestion, I'll think about it.

All the best.

[plasmoid]

Hi Smeborg,
attended a tournament with Brets this weekend. I hope you find my write-up an interesting read:
viewtopic.php?f=43&t=44622&p=793247#p793247

Cheers
Martin