Playing with less than 11--Not as bad as I thought
Posted: Sat Dec 24, 2005 9:50 pm
I recently started playing blood bowl on FUMBBL, which is a change for me, both in squinting at animated sprites on a screen instead of moving miniatures, and in that I've been playing Dark Elves instead of my beloved Norse.
Now, as everyone knows, the Norse are a bully team--They win by kicking a team and keeping it down. If they get down, however, they're toast. Specifically, if someone starts breaking the AV 7 early and they get down players, they are completely screwed--They tend to get pulverized when they are down players.
With this experience in mind, I probably would have retired my team and tried from scratch after playing my second game with Dark Elves and having three players die. It seemed like an ugly road back with 8 players. However, the coach that killed those players was so obnoxious about it ("MISSION ACCOMPLISHED: TEAM DESTROYED" was his last chat message) that I vowed to perservere.
To add to the masochism, I played Ogres in my first "recovery game". When my only good player, my blitzer with three skills was killed early in the game, I was pretty sure retirement was about to happen...however, the remaining 7 linemen played on and won the game.
In all, I've played four straight games with 9 players or less and won three of them, and I've really enjoyed the challenge. I think it's made me a better elven coach--Having fewer players has made me spread the field more. With fewer players it feels like there's more room on the pitch to make plays. With a full 11 on the pitch, it sometimes felt like my elves were getting in each others way. I now have the full 11 back, and I'm almost disappointed. I'm clear that this is a function of playing elves--An agility 4 team is the only team that really can still compete minus significant players--But I've been very surprised nonetheless at how competitive they are, particularly offensively.
Now, as everyone knows, the Norse are a bully team--They win by kicking a team and keeping it down. If they get down, however, they're toast. Specifically, if someone starts breaking the AV 7 early and they get down players, they are completely screwed--They tend to get pulverized when they are down players.
With this experience in mind, I probably would have retired my team and tried from scratch after playing my second game with Dark Elves and having three players die. It seemed like an ugly road back with 8 players. However, the coach that killed those players was so obnoxious about it ("MISSION ACCOMPLISHED: TEAM DESTROYED" was his last chat message) that I vowed to perservere.
To add to the masochism, I played Ogres in my first "recovery game". When my only good player, my blitzer with three skills was killed early in the game, I was pretty sure retirement was about to happen...however, the remaining 7 linemen played on and won the game.
In all, I've played four straight games with 9 players or less and won three of them, and I've really enjoyed the challenge. I think it's made me a better elven coach--Having fewer players has made me spread the field more. With fewer players it feels like there's more room on the pitch to make plays. With a full 11 on the pitch, it sometimes felt like my elves were getting in each others way. I now have the full 11 back, and I'm almost disappointed. I'm clear that this is a function of playing elves--An agility 4 team is the only team that really can still compete minus significant players--But I've been very surprised nonetheless at how competitive they are, particularly offensively.