Side Step

McDeth · Post by **McDeth** » Sat Mar 09, 2002 3:00 am

With the PBEM Rulers for sidestep virtually turning Sidestep into Stand Firm, How about he following. If the attacking player,rolls a knockdown then he chooses which square the player is knocked down into. After all he has just been flattened, and should really have no right to say " Hey i want to fall down into that square". Also if the ending result is basically a pushback, then either make a random roll or the blocking coach place the player in the square which he believes is best advantageoud for the player.
i know this is a bit dubious, but we have to add an element of trust, due to the nature of the PBEM.

personally i like the random scatter roll for placing the sidestep. gives the impression that the defender is just trying to get out of the way

Deathwing · Post by **Deathwing** » Sat Mar 09, 2002 3:14 am

Don't like the random TBH, I can see how advantageous it is to a PBEM enviroment, but at the same time it's a fairly serious downgrading of the skill.
IMO the main strength of sidestep is the ability to protect the flanks without the risk of going off into the crowd.

Acerak · Post by **Acerak** » Sat Mar 09, 2002 4:07 am

McDeth - Your skill description would never make me consider taking the skill. It would practically lose all its value. I think Tom has a pretty good handle on an interrupt-free, useful way to implement Side Step.

-Chet

Longshot · Post by **Longshot** » Sat Mar 09, 2002 9:15 am

sidestep is usefull Because you can choose even if you are down.
without that, it is a useless skill...

Post by **GalakStarscraper** » Sat Mar 09, 2002 10:38 am

Why thank you Chet.

Chet went over all the PBeM changes to skills with me when he first started learning how to play with this method. We talked about possible issues with my rule changes. Altered Shadow from a 4+ D6 to a 7+ 2D6 to have the statistics work better.

I will tell you McDeth, that I used to run a smaller league the MBBL before the MBBL2 where Side Step was played that the opponent picked the square that they though the other player would have chosen. After a couple of cases where I had to settle arguments of: "I would NEVER have moved into that square he screwed my strategy. I want him to roll back and move my guy here which would have stopped his TD." After a few cases of this, I changed Side Step and all the other turn interrupting skills into non-interrupt version. The only skills that I left as interrupts where Pass Block and Dump Off, both of which you can leave pretty good explanations for so your opponent knows how to handle (especially with Dump Off).

I almost wrote a PBeM version of Dump Off to read:
"A player with this skill will always pass the ball to the player with the best chance of catching the ball in Quick Pass range when he will about to be hit with a 2 dice or 3 dice block UNLESS the player with Dump Off would also have a Jam, Avoid, or Foul Apperance roll that would require a 4+ to overcome before the block could be thrown."

I've REALLY been kicking this around, but cannot make up my mind if it can be abused by the opponent ... see the trick to rewriting Diving Tackle, Side Step, and Shadow was to come up with PBeM version that were non-interrupt but didn't allow the opponent to use the rule to their advantage.

Trust me McDeth, I've commished over 450+ PBeM matches to date ... the PBeM Side Step is fine .... especially now that Stand Firm is a trait.

Galak

McDeth · Post by **McDeth** » Sat Mar 09, 2002 11:50 am

All fair comments. All i was trying to find was a way of implemeting sidestep, closer to its original rules.

Post by **voyagers_uk** » Mon Mar 11, 2002 1:33 pm

it does get a bit confusing at times with this, but Norse and I are ironing out our problems in our current Dwarves versus Snotlings test game, although now that he only has his 4 trolls on the pitch I will have to wait until I score to see the effects again.

Norse · Post by **Norse** » Mon Mar 11, 2002 1:38 pm

Sod off!

I only need 4 trolls to beat up your stunties!!

Those really stupid rolls are killing me though.. Now I know the key to beating Snot teams.. Note to self, more snots, less trolls...

Post by **voyagers_uk** » Mon Mar 11, 2002 1:45 pm

bring it on, oh "short of personnel" one

Post by **GalakStarscraper** » Mon Mar 11, 2002 2:43 pm

Voyagers ... I'm confused ... why is Side Step confusing??? Just pretend the Snotlings have Stand Firm ... heck the game even warns you if you try to push one ... am I not understanding here. I thought I had made the new skill very straightforward.

Galak

Norse ... my secret to Snotling play ... Throw TeamMate ... big risk = big payoff .... however it should be noted that when I played Snotlings in my last BB2k1 league I went 0-9-3 .... so maybe I'm not a good one to ask for "winning" Snotling strategy.

Post by **GalakStarscraper** » Mon Mar 11, 2002 2:47 pm

Oh and Norse ... in 12 games I only made 2 Really Stupid rolls ... with 2+ Dodges everywhere with Dodge reroll backers you should never have a Troll make more than a Bonehead roll.

Also you are ending each turn with all the Snotlings having dodged away so your opponent only gets to blitz one a turn, right?

Anyway ... sorry for the questions, I'm sure you know how to play this team.... also I'm going to combine your results from the MBBL2 and mine from the MBBL3 to restage the "Bring back the Snotlings" campaign for October. If you win one match with the team during the league, you'll do better than I did. This is definitely not a broken team anymore ... let me know your thoughts.

Galak

Post by **voyagers_uk** » Mon Mar 11, 2002 2:57 pm

The confusing bit was trying to move players and then getting the pop up and moving them back and apologising in the log. Not to worry now as there are none on the pitch and only two trolls can move although both would need to blitz to hurt me this turn.

Post by **voyagers_uk** » Mon Mar 11, 2002 3:04 pm

Galak, don't forget this is my 2/3 game and I still get a little confused when I cannot see a mini.

Interface is working cool.

Deathwing · Post by **Deathwing** » Mon Mar 11, 2002 4:29 pm

Hey, sign me up for the Bring Back Snots Campaign! Started painted some when they were official, but by the time I'd finished them they weren't! Given that we like to keep things official in our league, they're sitting in the cabinet never having seen the field of play!
A tragic story!

Norse · Post by **Norse** » Mon Mar 11, 2002 5:21 pm

Galak, I have no snots left on the pitch. It makes really stupid rolls more difficult!!

To be honest, I'm still getting used to the buttons and the 'side-ways' pitch which disorientates me! OK, I'm doing crap, but I don't care, I'm only Snotlings after all...