Talk Fantasy Football

Ok so a new league just started up here where I live and the commissioner was kind enough to invite me to join. I was torn between playing with my newly painted undead team and my Nurgle side. Eventually I decided to go with Nurgle - a decision I've come to regret already because it turns out this league is probably only going to be 9 matches long, maybe 11 to 12 if there is a cup play off. Nowhere near long enough to get my team decently skilled up. So I'm going to need to be very agressive and target gaining SPPS as much as possible.

Here's the initial Roster:
Explosive Lords
Rosco, Roscopp & Bodini - 3 Nurgle Warriors - 330K
Caza, Jams & Montez - 3 Pestigor - 240K
Colin, Justin, Arnold, Graham & Barry - 5 Rotters - 200K
3 Rerolls - 210K
20K banked

The rest of the league are Goblins, 2xSkaven, Human, Wood Elves, 2xOrcs and one other player who's not signed up yet.

My first match was the one I felt least confident about - Wood Elves. Easily the best team in the league and I had no skills to try and eliminate his Wardancer with.

Match 1: Wood Elves
We sit down and he rolls a 12 to my 4 for gate. +2 FAME to him then, good start there. The Weather turns out to be somewhat on my side, it's very Sunny which might scupper his scoring plans. The ball lands short AND I roll a Blitz. But a pair of failed catches results in a touchback. Which is quickly converted into "Catcher near my end zone with the ball, one pestigor down the other one marked." Sure enough my attempted Blitz on the Catcher fails and I'm 1-0 down. No real loss, I'll be recieving and don't plan to let go of the ball for the rest of the game.
It's clear very early on in my Offense that he hasn't played many matches, but he's also been coached well in how to play Wood Elves and has rolled a Perfect Defense. Very early in my drive he gets a lucky KO on a Rotter and starts to play a very defensive numbers game. No matter how aggressive I am all I can manage to get is a single Blitz per turn and march one square up the pitch. He's consistently knocking down my team - Foul Appearance does Jack all and as such my drive grinds to a halt after a couple of really poor rolls and I end up 9 squares short of the End zone in turn 8 with a double layer of elves in the way. I figure out a way to score but Quad skulls ends that attempt.

The second half doesn't start out well, he kicks the ball very deep. Something which is softened slightly by a High Kick result. By this time I realised that he's switched into a completely defensive mode of thinking. He's flat out refusing to use his Wardancer to leap/blitz my ball carrier. Additionally my zigzagging up the pitch has confused him and he's not sure where to commit his men. Again I end up a man down thanks to a lucky KO on a Rotter. While I'm rolling OK and playing well he's just crucifying me in the Blocking war.
Sadly he rallies and Jams the Pestigor is left 8 squares away from the TD line and he has a giant pile of Elves in the way. I look at the pitch for a good couple of minutes. I have basically one Blitz to get through as there is no-one relevant in range of a Block. Then I suddenly notice that he has this point in his formation (There are more elves either side of this.) I realise that I can mark the front two linemen in this formation, Horns Blitz the thrower, then follow up + dodge out to get through his line. I look at the rest of the pitch, the weather has made a pass almost impossible (damn you irony) so this is my best bet. It's a 2D Block needing a KD to allow for a 3+ Dodge and then 2GFIs - if I don't get the KD it'll be a 4+ Dodge. Jams proves more than up to the task, not even needing the reroll and KOing the Thrower just cause he can. Touchdown!

My opponent sets up and gets a COMP on a linemen, who promptly gets the MVP (Curse your pointy ears!) and takes Block. My MVP lands on Caza (#5 Pestigor, Damn you Nurgle! Pestigors don't need MVPs!). I gain 50K and 1FF while he gains 60K plus the 1FF. I'm halfway to my Beast, he's halfway to his 2nd Wardancer.

1-1 Draw, which I'm actually rather pleased with. Those Wood Elves were kicking my ass hard and he only made the one error that I could captialise on.

The team itself played very well. My opponent was breaking AV a lot more than I was and managed a total of 3 KOs to my 1. Still the squad held together well and having three Pestigors was massive. Without that many MA6 threats I wouldn't have managed to score the TD. They were just enough to force him to spread too thin.
But considering that first match I really should have gone with the Beast of Nurgle to start, Tentacles plus Mighty Blow would have utterly changed that match.

Next matches plan is to COMP with Caza and score with both Jams and Montez. Hopefully that results in an Extra Arms Pestigor and a Block Pestigor.

While it's unlikely my team will skill up much over this duration I am looking forward to playing next Tuesday's match. Even if I should have played Undead.

Agreed, the beast would have been a benefit! Especially with all those dodgy teams in the league - I might have chosen to start with the beast in such a league.

Great post Fen!

Keep us informed for all us other prospective Nurgle coaches

(And any pics too would be nicer than those diagrams! LOL!)

fen wrote:But considering that first match I really should have gone with the Beast of Nurgle to start, Tentacles plus Mighty Blow would have utterly changed that match.

Yep, as soon as I saw your opponents teams, I thought "should have gone with the BoN".

And you should skill up fine. I got 14 skill ups in 9 games. Just in the future, use those NW to stop that passing/handing off game. Disturbing Presence should win games for you in your league.

datalorex wrote:And you should skill up fine. I got 14 skill ups in 9 games. Just in the future, use those NW to stop that passing/handing off game. Disturbing Presence should win games for you in your league.

There wasn't a single pass or hand off in that match. Disturbing Presense, she does nothing!

fen wrote:

datalorex wrote:And you should skill up fine. I got 14 skill ups in 9 games. Just in the future, use those NW to stop that passing/handing off game. Disturbing Presence should win games for you in your league.

There wasn't a single pass or hand off in that match. Disturbing Presense, she does nothing!

Sure it does! It prevents your opponent from thinking about a pass or handoff as a realistic option thereby reducing his options (which is always a good thing).

fen wrote:

datalorex wrote:And you should skill up fine. I got 14 skill ups in 9 games. Just in the future, use those NW to stop that passing/handing off game. Disturbing Presence should win games for you in your league.

There wasn't a single pass or hand off in that match. Disturbing Presense, she does nothing!

EXACTLY!

No, by doing nothing I mean in that match there never was an opportunity to pass. The only time the High Elf team had the ball the player got his hands on it via a touchback and then ran deep into my own half (with support) before scoring. The Elf team had the ball for 2 turns, I had it for 14. It was never a consideration for my opponent. (He didn't really understand what it did anyway)

Both DistPres and Foul App were total non-entities in the match. My Nurgle Warriors were just expensive Black Orcs.

Edit: While this strictly should be in the Fantasy Football miniatures section I can't be bothered with setting up a thread for a single mini.

Here's the team Captain (Roscopp) almost completed and in team colours.

Ok. well it's Tuesday night sports fans so it's time to wheel out the Explosive Lords for another round of humiliation and pain!

I played against a very fast opponent tonight, so I ended up getting in two games instead of one.

Game 2: The Bad Rock Brawlers - Orcs
I know going into this that it's going to be a rough match. My opponent is one of the better players in the league and is sporting a team that utterly crushed it's first opponent (Skaven) both with TDs and Casualties. He's even sporting a BoB with Block and a MA7 Blitzer after one match!

Things start off well, I get +2 FAME, then it rapidly goes downhill. The weather turns out to be wet (What is it with my Nurgle team and bad weather?) and then I lose the flip. He chooses to recieve and in a hugely humiliating half my team spend their time face down on the pitch. The one bright moment in this half being Roscopp, who promptly injures the BoB with Block and gets himself his first Casualty.
After a long and depressing drive (which results in a KO on Caza the Pestigor) I manage to force the Orcs to score on their turn 8. Giving me 2 turns in which to attempt a score while I'm one man down (He had a reserve). I drive both of my remaining Pestigors 6 Squares into his half, support them with a Warrior and 2 Rotters, then cage up around Justin (rotter) holding the ball.
Naturally he Blitzes and knocks down one of the Pestigors, then marks the other one. With a bit of creative blocking I manage to get an assist on the Blitz and rocket Montez out of the tackle zones and into the end zone. Sadly my pass is not looking likely as I have no rerolls left plus it's raining. Justin throws a long pass, but he's inaccurate and the ball comes to rest just adjacent to Jams.

Caza still fails to return to the pitch at the start of the second half. So I'm still a man down. The ball is kicked ridiculously deep and I move Jams to mark the ball while Montez collects is. The Orcs bust deep into my half and while they can't mark Montez they do manage to mark Jams. My line is looking rather stunned... again. The one man overlap is killing me. Roscopp wanders off into the opposing half to menace a lineman and my rotters show their stuff by forming a decent cage and standing firm against the Orc Blitzers. As such my team rapidly cages up a few squares short of the LoS.
Which is where things grind to a halt, an unexpected turnover results in my cage being too loose and a couple of orcs blitz their way to standing next to Montez. I'm forced to spend the next few turns consolidating my position - Roscopp proves his worth by Cas-ing the lone lineman and then tying up both Blockers. But eventually my drive breaks down and I end up with Montez sat on the Sideline 8 squares away from the scoreline, protected by 2 Nurgle Warriors.

Sadly, this is the situation by the time my turn rolls around again. (N= Nurgle Warrior, O = BoB, B = Blitzer, L = Lineman, W = Prone Nurgle Warrior, P = Pestigor)

I look at this for a while and realise I have to push one of those two Blitzers out of the way and then get doding. The Block ends up burning my last reroll and the Pestigor then promptly falls over on the first dodge roll. Doesn't it feel so anticlimatic when your player fails on the first of his rolls? Laaaaaaaame!

Final Score 0-1 to the Orcs 2-0 on CAS to the Lords.
But I roll a 6 for winnings. Add that to the FAME and the 70K in the bank and you end up with 150K. Beast of Nurgle here I come! Additionally, the MVP Lands on Jams and he gains Extra Arms! Silver lining!

Game 3: The Three Foot Commandos - Goblins
The Three Footers are something of a worry, while they are a goblin team. They do have both a chainsaw and a fanatic. Also the team they played previously (Skaven) suffered 6 Casualties - including a dead Rat Ogre & Storm Vermin. So I know they can hit seriously hard. For once the weather seems ok.

I decide I need to hit first (and second, third etc). But I lose the flip and the goblin team recieves. With this in mind I set up three rotters on the LoS; Justin, Arnold and Barry. Justin promplty gets KO'd by a troll and I find myself thinking uh-oh. But amazingly the Chainsaw looney fails to break Barry's armour.
On my turn the newly purchased Beast of Nurgle ploughs straight into the middle of a pack of Goblins, getting next to the ball carrier and 4 other goblins. Mmm tentacles. The rest of the Goblins get surrounded by my team, Barry KOs the chainsaw and mayhem starts. I can't remember exactly what happens at this point, but initially 2 Goblins are KO'd. My BoN blocks the ball carrier 4 times and fails to knock him over each time. I find myself thinking, maybe there won't be any TDs this half. But Roscopp cracks a Goblins hip, gaining his third Casualty and from there things just devolve. By the end of the half there are are 4 Goblins and 2 Trolls left standing when Caza slots home his first TD. Both of the KO'd goblins return, but it's still 8 vs. 11 and I'm receiving.

The second half is pretty much a horror story of execution. It was an utter blur of 3 dice blocks and injury rolls. Caza scores a second TD and Montez gets one as well. Somewhere in amongst all this Graham (rotter) Casualties a goblin, as does Bodini (Warrior) while Justin gets himself CAS'd by a troll (BH + BH). My second TD occurs on my turn 8 and the goblins set up for a One turn TD attempt. Amazingly it all works and the goblins recover some dignity.

Final score 3-1 to the Lords. Casualties 5-1
The MVP lands on Graham (#11) and I have three rolls to make.
Roscopp gets Block, Caza gets Block and Graham, the plucky little soul rolls a 6+6. While I'm a bit sad the +ST has landed on a rotter I don't feel so hard done by as it's this rotter.

Doesn't he look like should be ST4?
So I decide to keep it and see how far he can go before decay tops him. Maybe he'll get lucky.
My FF goes up to 2 and I gain 60K winnings. So I'm 40K short of Warrior #4.

While the Lords are only 1-1-1, they've had two of the three hardest matches in the league already and are now sporting a Beast plus 3 skills and a stat increase. So I'm feeling pretty confident about the next match (most likely Humans or Skaven).

You are off to a good start in your team development. I also got a BON after the 2nd game. What a difference it makes! And I also have a ST4 rotter (mine has FA too). Never forget that Rotters die, so don't get too attached.

It's Tuesday night, so buckle up for another ride with the Lords sports fans!

Tonights match was against the lowest TV team in the league. While it was not my choice to play him at this stage he was exceedingly keen to "get it over with before I became more lethal). So I agreed.

Game 4: The Scarpeak Scabbers (Skaven)

His team is the exceedingly decimated and crazy Scarpeak Scabbers - a Skaven team currently carrying 4(!) Journeymen. The big scare was that I had 1,250K TV vs his 820K. Exactly 430K difference. I had a feeling I was facing Morg. But it turned out I was wrong. He plumped for Hackflem plus a babe and three 50K cards.

In traditional style the Lords marched onto the pitch in bright sunlight. What is it about my Nurgle team and bad weather? The Scabbers won the toss and they opted to recieve, then revealed their first card - one of them had spiked Bodini's Kroxade bottle and he was clearly feeling the effects - now I had two really stupid players and they were sat next to each other... The Skaven then opened with a cautious play (after the weather cleared up to nice), clearly opting to score as late as possible in the half. The Lords responded to this by upping the pressure with a KO on one journeyrat and Roscopp clocked his 4th Casualty on another one. By turn three the Lords were pressing in close and even threatening the ball carrier, and the Skaven didn't have anyone past the LoS.

Suddenly the Skaven revealed the insanity that the coach is renowned for. Truely wearing his pants on the outside and shouting "He who dares wins" one of the linerats dodged right through the Lords line and bolted a full nine squares downfield. The Scabber's thrower managed to connect the ball with him and he was sat downfield with only a lone lineback Pestigor in range. The resulting blitz pushed the rat right up against the sidelines but he managed to dodge free (again!) and sloted home a third turn touchdown.

The Lords were clearly not too impressed with this and the return salvo saw 2 of the three LoS Journeyrats removed from the pitch with KOs. The Lords caged up and prepared to grind down slowly. The Skaven responded with the cunning plan of isolating a player and fouling him until he got KO'd. While the Lords attempted to keep together they ended up losing Barry the Rotter and Rocco to 6 rat gang fouls. While there was no real opposition to the touchdown the rats recovered from being KO'd thanks to the cheering (and beer) of their babe while both of the Lords stayed unconcious.

Because of this, the Lords opened the second half a man down. This small drawback was turned into a whopping great big hole when a rock KO'd Roscopp before the drive started. Then too add insult to injury, Cooper the Beast of Nurgle triple skulled his block and failed his loner roll. The rats pounced with a 3 man foul and CAS'd the beast (the journeyrat being sent off in the process for such an obvious foul) - maybe that's adding injury to injury... The injury result was -1AG, but Cooper regenerated and shrugged it off. A small consolation prize for the Lords who were now 8 men vs 10 rats.

From here the drive became very difficult for the Lords, the Skaven continued to try and pick off lone players, while the Skaven's lone Blitzer revealed that he had Gikta's strength of the bear scroll - pushing him to ST4 and solidly putting the advantage into the hands of the Scabbers.
The remaing Lords bunched up as much as possible to avoid being singled out for fouling, things were looking ok but Hackflem bust right inside the Lord's maul and proceeded to injure the ball carrier (Jams the Pestigor) a lucky scatter and catch ment that Caza ended up holding the ball 8 squares away from the TD line and he was forced to score a turn 5 Touchdown involving 2 GFIs as the Lords were down to 7 men vs 10.

So the Scabbers set up with 4 turns to score and a full lineup, the Lords recovered enough players to field a full team, but Rocco remained unconcious from his first half fouling. Things weren't looking that hot for the Lords and true to form the Skaven pushed hard and deep into the half, caging up around the ball in a loose maul. A miss-position with a Pestigor ment that the Beast of Nurgle couldn't get next to Hackflem (who was holding the ball) and as such all that the Skaven needed to equalise was a few 3+ dodge rolls.
But the Scabbers decided that having the Star Player score was a waste of SPPs, and instead the (now ST2) Blitzer attempted to push through the line for a pass. This was one heroic attempt to many, and he fell down on the final dodge. Leaving Hackflem sat with the ball right next to the crowd. Montez obliged by sending the pest surfing and the ball shot off deep into the skavens half. The only players available to mark the ball were Cooper the Beast, who promptly did so and two Nurgle Warriors, who were both standing 12 squares away from the Scabbers TD line. Unfortunately it was not to be, as the attempted Blitz resulted in a both down. Knocking Bodini and the linerat onto their bums.

The skaven were left in their final with one Gutter Runner in a scoring position and the thrower backfield, able to collect the ball but it was marked by the beast in a square that was one further than the long bomb range on the ruler. The thrower managed to get in and scoop up the ball, with 4 squares of movement left he could get just close enough to try a desperate final pass. Cooper lashed out and stuck him fast with his tentacles. The equaliser was not to be!

The Lords squeaked (sorry) out a 2-1 victory over the severe underdogs. Superb tactical fouling, a lucky rock and Hakflem almost turned out to be enough to turn the tide. But in the end, the Beast of Nurgle proved why it's one of the best big guys in Blood Bowl.

Casualties were 2-2 in the end. The worst casualty result for the Lords so far. Honestly the whole match was embarrasing for the Lords, they were fortunate not to lose.

Montez had scored his second Touchdown so gained Block.
Bodini, despite falling on his arse in the penultimate turn of the Lords drive gained the MVP and also gained Block. A skaven journeyman gained the MVP for the Scabbers and was purchased.

The winnings were 40K, exactly enough for Nurgle Warrior #4! And the Lords fan factor went up to 3.

Which puts the Lords as follows:
2 Nurgle Warriors with Block (7 and 8 SPPs)
2 Nurgle Warriors (0 SPPS)
2 Pestigors with Block (14 and 6 SPPs)
1 Pestigor with Extra Arms (9 SPPS)
4 Rotters (0 SPPs)
1 Rotter with +ST (7 SPPs)
1 Beast of Nurgle (0 SPPs)
3 Rerolls
3 FF
0K in the bank
1.41 Million TV after 4 games...

And they're 2-1-1 which is looking to be second or third in the league. Behind at least the Bad Rock Brawlers, who haven't dropped a game yet.

The 14 SPPs Pestigor (Caza) seems like the best bet for the first TD next match, I could then drop Mighty Blow onto him and let him go kill things till he's a carbon copy of that legendaryPestigor Iron Swiftfoot. But I'm not sure who to score the second TD with. Probably Montez would be best as that would get him to 9.

Great post fen, your team is developing nicely.

Also, a huge plus for the LRB5 rules in which a depleted skaven team can still give a good game of it! Imagine the same game under LRB4! The rats down to 7 players, you would have smashed him even more and it would have been a one sided contest.

Interesting to see your using the Special Play cards... I like them myself but everyone I play with seems to think they're broken and / or unbalancing...

ClayInfinity wrote:Also, a huge plus for the LRB5 rules in which a depleted skaven team can still give a good game of it! Imagine the same game under LRB4! The rats down to 7 players, you would have smashed him even more and it would have been a one sided contest.

Seconded. I managed to win, scoring two TDs in the second half despite being 'reduced' to 7 rats through massive dice rolls and an uncooperative ref.

Mind you, having a one turner in the shape of a MA10 with sprint Gutter Runner does help.

ClayInfinity wrote:Great post fen, your team is developing nicely.

Also, a huge plus for the LRB5 rules in which a depleted skaven team can still give a good game of it! Imagine the same game under LRB4! The rats down to 7 players, you would have smashed him even more and it would have been a one sided contest.

Interesting to see your using the Special Play cards... I like them myself but everyone I play with seems to think they're broken and / or unbalancing...

I don't want this to highjack the thread, but random cards are not broken. I've never been beaten with cards, nor have I ever won a match because of the cards. Some are good and some are bad.

Back on topic, the Nurgle team is doing very well! A BoN and a NW in only 4 games?!?! That's great! In 2 more games you'll be able to get your fourth Pest. That's the one you give extra arms too. Then you'll have to make a decision as to whether or not to sack one of the rotters or keep 14 players. Chances are, one of them will die soon enough, but you don't want them sucking up a lot of the MvPs so I'd sack one most likely.

datalorex wrote: Then you'll have to make a decision as to whether or not to sack one of the rotters or keep 14 players. Chances are, one of them will die soon enough, but you don't want them sucking up a lot of the MvPs so I'd sack one most likely.

Why sack Rotters? Yes they die easily, but if one skills up (incl via MVPs)isnt that a good thing?

I agree with the principal of not buying Rotters, but do you really need to sack them??