Need help vs Elves! [Gobbos]

[Wee Gobbo]

Hey all.

Blood Bowl, my all time favourite tabletop game GW has ever produced. I was introduced through it from the Cyanide game and have plenty of games under my belt alongside many Tabletop matches. I was immediately attracted to the Goblins for their underdog status mixed with a good sense of humour and character through their unreliable and wacky cheaters. I have gained quite a reasonable experience where I can put up a good fight against the likes of Orcs, Norse, Chaos, heck even Dwarfs! [Kill the SLAYERS!]

But the number one and only matchup I find unenjoyable and kind of pointless, are the Elves. Elves of all kind, Dark, Wood or Pro, I simply CANNOT beat them, and after losing a horrifying 4-0 recently, I give up. Perhaps if I am the receiver, I feel I can stand a half "decent" chance. Unfortunately I do not know of any programs to display my deployment [Though if someone could point me how to make something like this http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f160/ ... neup01.jpg id be most grateful, would help me to show fellows how I set up etc] I can pretty much tell you that the Elves just run rings around me. By the second turn [where the Elf has the ball] he has a touchdown and my initial deployment of the fanatic is put to waste and then my line of scrum is open to mass dodging and leaping [And bashing for the one Goblin unfortunate enough to be dumped up there].

Is there any advice? I have been told to foul, but there is only so much fouling a Goblin can do :S.

[SunDevil]

It's always great to hear from a fellow Goblin enthusiast!

As for your Elf problem, I'd choose to play defense first when you can. If they win the toss, they'll usually elect to receive. If you win, kick it away.

Do not play any Secret Weapons. That will just encourage the Elves to, well, Elf you and score in 1 or 2 turns to get your Secrets thrown out of the game.

Play strong to one side and concentrate on hurting whoever is over there - LineElves, Blitzers, whatever. If you're lucky, maybe a Wardancer or Thrower. Ignore the ballcarrier and his protecting Elves. Hit with the Trolls and any Goblin that can get a 2-die Block with assists then foul, foul, foul!

The Elves will score easily. But, hopefully, you have injured some of them with your Trolls, lucky Blocks or Fouls before they go up 1-0. This will encourage them to score quickly but without getting your Secrets tossed.

The Elves kick to you. This is when you play your weapons - Baller, Chainsaw, maybe even the Bomber (depending on your bribes) though I prefer him on defense. Make sure both Trolls and all Secrets are hitting/swinging/sawing/bombing every turn or at least trying to. PROTECT your CHAINSAW! If played right (and luckily) he should be terrorizing the closest Elf every turn.

Play strong to one side so the Elves have to bust through Trolls and, hopefully, the Fanatic to get to the caged Goblin ballcarrier (probably the Pogoer). Space out your cage slightly if the Elves have Leapers.

Drag out the drive as long as you can but be prepared to break away with your ballcarrier when you need to. Obviously, Elves are way faster so 'break away' means score not run away from your coverage and stand in the open while the Elves chase you down.

Be prepared, of course, for the Goblins to fail in a variety of colorful and spectacular ways! Worst case scenario - the Fanatic will Ball & Chain himself in the face, the Bomber will blow himself up, the Trolls will decide Goblins are too tasty to throw away, the Chainsaw will fall over and cut his leg off and your regular Gobbos wil be left running for their lives - both from the Elves and their own team!

However, best case scenario is you go into the half tied 1-1 with the Elves nursing 3 or 4 casualties and you get the ball first in the second half!

Good luck and let us know how your next Elf game turns out!

[Smurf]

I play elves and have to say... Gobbos! No chance... possibly the 3rd worst team.

Don't get me wrong 2 Trolls, nice. What do you MB, always the Armour, why well many elves have 7 or 8 armour, beating it means they are chewing grass or worse. This means you can mob your opponent.

Any spare gobbos? Now and then, if elves are gathered together, get a troll to lob a gobbo at a group of elves, hopefully you'll hit one (ball carrier is the best target) and with that you know the ball away and or injure an elf.

Deny them the wings. Your gobbos... how do you do that? Set up really deep in the wings, really deep, at least their full move + gfi.

Nothing to lose? You ignore TZ, wander through their TZ, especially the ball carrier and lamp it, even if it is a 2 die against.

Assign targets. Get their throwers, if they have frenzied players try and lead them to the side of the pitch and punch them off. Foul wardancers (it would be impolite not to), but when blocking a blodger try and get a 3die on them.

Now I think the elves would be better than you. Hire a wizard and blow up tricky players.
If you got the money (inducements) go for Ripper or Morg or Bomber dribble snot. Pack in the bribes too.

Trash their linemen. The way you want to defeat them is to slow them down, they hate it and pumell as many line into the dugout. Take 5 line away and they may have 3 left for the scrimmage, otherwise it's position players getting a duffing.

Weigh up fouling, off set it against your atttrition. If gobbos are not being sent to the dugout in their droves, try a foul, but save it for those position players rather than just the line.

[Wee Gobbo]

I never considered pulling back on the wings with my two Gobbos. Thats a pretty sound strategy. However, a few notes on what has been said.

1. The Elf player [Or players in this case], generally chooses to be receiver, simply so they can get the ball. I have tried to stall by keeping my special weapons in reserve however i encountered a slight problem. I will use an example of myself fighting a dark elf team. As soon as he saw my special weapons team in reserve, he started SLAUGHTERING my goblins, although I suppose the fact the single Blitz actions every turn kept killing the gobbos may have been to bad luck, its still possible.. A few K.O's and injuries later, he scores on turn 7, forcing my secret weapon teams to be fully deployed, dashing my hopes for a second half round of anarchy and eliminating my main advantage.

2. The Elf was quite a fresh team and managed to kick my butt simply because I have no Anti Elf doctrine I have against Gobbos, and although he managed to levle up two players in the one match, he is still getting inducements in our next match, coming tomorrow . So no Star players or extras, but Il try the above strategy once again.

On a slightly unrelated note, I am a tad bit concerned about a little conundrum. The Elf player had started the league with just ten players and he was a player down, and because I couldnt just say "Go back home and remake/print your list!" I just said he could have a journeyman. I re read the rules just in case and it seemed he had to start with 11. The game has been registered in our league, but do you think it is anything to be concerned about if the league managers would find it an illegit match? Im not to sure if to bring it up to them or not under the risk they may declare the game not counting and the Elf may lose his points, which I dont want but I would also prefer all of my games to be 100% legit.

[Smurf]

Another idea:

You have 2 trolls... in defence do not put them on the LOS. Put one on each wing really deep. But this time set them make only their 2nd fastest moving players distance.

This means you can blitz with a troll and throw gobbo with a troll.

All set up troll assists, ie do not let them get a 1 die block against them.

Note when you get your offence, keep the secret weapon gobbos in reserve, work those trolls to mash. When the second half comes up then you begin another offence, then bring them out and really try and drag out the play.

Many elves can function on 7 players, just about. But they will be throwing long balls to win, otherwise they may get mobbed. The bonus out numbering them on the pitch, if this is the case try and and crush them.

Remember, you have one of the crappiest teams in the book, scoring against the elves should be enough reward.

[Pagan]

Not much you can do. Dodge away from them on defense. Minimize the number of blocks they can throw, and pray the ones they do don't result in casualties. But yes, scoring on turn 7 to force goblin SW onto the field is a favorite tactic I would employ if I wasn't the only goblin player in the league.

On offense, I'd say forget a cage. Overload one side, tie up 2 elves with 1 gobbo everywhere else, that's 1 elf not moving on turn 1. Let the big hitters keep the side of the field covered, and run your little gobbo legs upfield. If an elf dodges through your line and steals your ball, then chainsaw his buddy in the face as he runs to the end zone:)

The team is a blast and if you wanted you win all the time you'd have picked someone else. But do remember, he may kill 4 of your Goblins, but they're a hell of a lot easier to replace than that 200k Blodging Leaping damned annoying Wardancer who met his end thanks you your Looney.

[Oxynot]

On a slightly unrelated note, I am a tad bit concerned about a little conundrum. The Elf player had started the league with just ten players and he was a player down, and because I couldnt just say "Go back home and remake/print your list!" I just said he could have a journeyman. I re read the rules just in case and it seemed he had to start with 11. The game has been registered in our league, but do you think it is anything to be concerned about if the league managers would find it an illegit match? Im not to sure if to bring it up to them or not under the risk they may declare the game not counting and the Elf may lose his points, which I dont want but I would also prefer all of my games to be 100% legit.

It is indeed illegal to start a team with less than 11 players. And you ought to bring it up, just to make sure it does not happen again with some other team. And as I assume this is a honest mistake I doubt the league commissioner will null your game. Then again I don't know how harsh he is

After all, limited resources is a part of initial team building, with balancing the amount of rerolls and positionals and all

[Ullis]

It is indeed illegal to start a team with less than 11 players. And you ought to bring it up, just to make sure it does not happen again with some other team. And as I assume this is a honest mistake I doubt the league commissioner will null your game. Then again I don't know how harsh he is

After all, limited resources is a part of initial team building, with balancing the amount of rerolls and positionals and all

This is right. I could imagine starting quite a few teams with only 9 or 10 players if that was possible. One or even two journeymen can be made up for with getting a lot more positionals at the start.

[Lord FlashHeart]

"Unfortunately I do not know of any programs to display my deployment [Though if someone could point me how to make something like this http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f160/ ... neup01.jpg id be most grateful, would help me to show fellows how I set up etc] "

-> You can try below link/program to visualise your deployment:

http://www.play-creator.com/

Rgrds,
Lord FlashHeart

[Wee Gobbo]

http://www.play-creator.com/viewplay.asp?viewplay=4553

This would be my deployment for if I were the kicker. The Fanatic is deployed for intimidation factor with two trolls to hold the centre, forcing the Elf to go around without heavy risk of getting a massive clonking. Two Goblins down the middle in order to be able to back up the two Goblins on both wings, making three on each side. As an alternative however, I was thinking of switching the Fanatic with a cannon fodder Goblin, but then he could simply blitz the middle Goblin down the middle and just leg it down field.

The suggestion for keeping two trolls down the field seems to be risky, kind of negates their role as a road block for the middle, it would leave the centre field, in my view, too exposed and ready to be exploited. On a related note: Yeah I have no intention of winning, just being a pain in the Elves backside, which so far has not happened . Thats what I love about Goblins, losing but being a right el pain in the ass. But when I am playing a game where I know i am going to lose AND Cannot do anything about it, thats a slight problem for me. Of course i chose Goblins because I wanted to lose and have fun, but not to be danced around and not leaving a scratch on the enemy :S

[Smurf]

I would try this (if you're playing a slower elf team move the wings down the pitch a square):

[Wee Gobbo]

Well just for a little update, I actually managed to get a touchdown today but the score was 5-1 :S. I attempted to follow some general advice here like pulling back on the wings and try to bash up his elves and reserve the Secret weapons. The plan kind of went off without a hitch until I failed my two attempts to grab the ball -.-. Kind of shot me in the leg. However I did notice a significantly better flow of the game, despite what the score may imply.

Thanks for the formation Smurf, my only regret was that I didnt see your post until I came back from the match after a terrible terrible defeat.

EDIT: Whoops! I rechecked your formation just now, and I see that there are three rookie Goblins up front with the Fanatic held back in the middle and Trolls set on the wings? It is certainly a very new defensive formation, but how would you personally utilise this formation? I really cannot see how having my two big guys split on both wings could stop any pesky elves getting past me. Could you elaborate on this?

PS: Hey Oxynot, cheers for the reply. I brought it up to the admins who run the league, but by his nature he took it easy and said since it was a genuine mistake on the other guys part and mine, he said it was 100% fine as it wasnt cheating and just a minor error. Cheers though.

[Smurf]

It's based on the other teams movement to engage and blitz.

So slower teams (orcs, chaos, dwarves etc) Move the wings up a bit.

Why are the Trolls held back?

If you are defending there is no point of in allowing your trolls to get knocked down. If they go down they move a full square to an opponent.

Blocking the wings means the teams will have to use the middle, where the trolls can move in and blitz stuff or chuck gobbo at stuff.

The gobbos have dodge, so that's a bit of defence. BTW if you get a general, go for wrestle, not block. Keep pulling players down and mobbing what is left.

[Wee Gobbo]

Cheers for the advice Smurf, I will definitely try it in my next game. I went up against a Dwarf team today and I felt pretty luck considering only one Goblin got a perminant injury. After using my usual formation and having the stunties smash through it like a bunch of sticks, I will give your formation a go . While I can understand the value of placing the two trolls on the wings, placing the fanatic back...could it not prove to be a tad bit unreliable? The Fanatic already has a scatter in whichever direction he chooses to go but when not placed anywhere near the opponent surely most of his intimidation goes out the window as the opposition can just run around him?

[Carnis]

Against elves why would you not go something like this?

Code: Select all

-- -- -- -- | -- -- Ff Tt Tt -- -- | -- -- -- --
-- -- Gg -- | -- Gg -- -- -- Gg -- | -- Gg -- --
-- Gg -- -- | Gg -- -- -- -- -- Gg | -- -- Gg --

Most elves won't be able to find a big guy + 2 guards for knocking out your LOS, so they'll have to go down the side, and on the first turn they won't get far. Esp, if your sides have SS.