Three Wolf Moon - CCKUP Cup Season 4

[GuppyShark]

Team Profile

Three Wolf Moon
Norse Team



In the cold lands of Norsca, there is a prophet.

This madman took mud to rock and inscribed upon it an image of such awesome it caused the very valkyries to decend from Valhalla in search of it.

The prophet has told them that it was hidden in the legendary CCKUP cup. And so they have ridden to the City of Churches mounted upon their winged pegasi to partake of the CCKUP championship to find the truth.

Man, is that prophet in for a tough time if the Three Wolf Moon get their hands on it....



Key Players

Lord Makk, Norse Werewolf, #1
Rank: Rookie



Howlin' At The Moon: Member of the starting eleven

Makk likes to chase skinks. The smell of fresh lizard drives him crazy. He can often be found in the market spending his share of the winnings on imported delicacies from far off Lustria.

Karn Mithralia, Norse Werewolf, #2
Rank: Veteran
Injury Report: Smashed Ankle (-1 MA)



Howlin' At The Moon: Member of the starting eleven

2010 Season Casualties: 5
2010 Season Touchdowns: 2

"We come for our people," is what he would say if he was capable of human speech while metamorphised into an immense bundle of fur and fury. Victims of his savage Blocks often find themselves waking up in the dugout. The dual honours of the team's first casualty and second touchdown fell to him. Karn Mithralia is the offensive team captain, and is secretly happy his rage hasn't killed anyone yet.

Tragedy struck in Round 8 vs the Dragonspine Stompers, as he was forced to leave the pitch with an ankle injury. The apothecary was unable to prevent permanent loss of mobility in the joint.

He is definately slower now, but he is not giving up. He has accepted his new responsibilities as an Offensive Guard with dignity and no less dedication.

Smörhund, Norse Snow Troll, #4
Rank: Rookie



2010 Season Casualties: 1
2010 Season Interceptions: 1

Hitting the ground running in his first game as a rookie, Smörhund managed to catch a ball intended for his opponent. While he eventually got gang-tackled and injured, he impressed many fans with his surprising athletic ability. He will be back next game ready to cause more chaos on the pitch, sporting a scar across his chest from the talons of the Bromeliad Crusade player he fell upon.

Geirdriful Spear-Flinger, Norse Thrower, #5
Rank: Experienced



Howlin' At The Moon: Member of the starting eleven

2010 Season Casualties: 1
2010 Season Completions: 3
2010 Season Touchdowns: 2

Geirdriful ("G'dawful" to her coach) has had a terrible start to the season, fumbling two throws and failing to safely pick up several kick-offs.

It is hoped that eventually her nerves will settle and that, with experience, she may develop into a worthwhile quarterback. Until then, she is being carried by the rest of the team.

She is showing signs of improvement. She did not drop the ball once in Game 6 and she even threw a very very short pass successfully. We are all very proud of her.

Quarterback coach Förs Varsspelare believes she has identified the problem with Geirdriful's throwing motion and corrected it. It turns out Geirdriful has such a strong arm that she has been putting too much power into her throws, causing her to lose control of the ball. Now that this has been identified she has thrown much more Accurate passes in training.

Sigrún the Victor, Norse Runner, #6
Rank: Veteran



Howlin' At The Moon: One of the starting eleven

2010 Season Touchdowns: 6
2010 Season Interceptions: 1

Sigrún left her mark against the experienced Orc team "Green Skin Slackers". With two touchdowns, one of them while playing defence, she has truly lived up to her moniker of "the Victor". This performance made her a no-brainer choice for Game 2 MVP. Her ability to Dodge around defenders is considered a vital component of Three Wolf Moon's offensive playcalling.

An interception in game 3 has further cemented her reputation. Seeing an Amazon ball carrier running downfield with defenders swarming around her, Sigrún broke for the pass window. With a beautiful leap and tuck the ball was safely snagged in her Sure Hands, and then run back upfield for a game-winning touchdown.

Svipul the Flexible, Norse Runner, #7
Rank: Veteran



2010 Season Touchdowns: 4
2010 Season Casualties: 1
2010 Season Fatalities: 1

Elves Killed: 1

Svipul made an early impact in her first game of the season, scoring a touchdown and the game MVP. She credits this to her ability to predict where the opposition is going to be and Dodge somewhere else, often with a dramatic Side Step.

Hlaðguðr Swan-White, Norse Linewoman, #10
Rank: Experienced



Howlin' At The Moon: One of the starting eleven

2010 Season Casualties: 2
2010 Season Fatalities: 1
2010 Season Touchdowns: 1

Elves Killed: 1

Hlaðguðr Swan-White is one of the more brutal members of the team, she is popular among the fans because she loves to Kick opposing players while they are down - she was the first Three Wolf Moon player to be ejected for fouling.

Þögn the Silent, Norse Linewoman, #13
Rank: Veteran



Howlin' At The Moon: One of the starting eleven
Chosen for Valhalla: Slew Sr Mary Capricious, Amazon Blitzer
Warranty Voided: Slew Plate-face, Necromantic Ghoul

2010 Season Casualties: 3
2010 Season Fatalities: 2
2010 Season Touchdowns: 1

Þögn the Silent is, unsurprisingly, mute. This unassuming, often-overlooked Valkyrie is normally on the line of scrimmage when the team is on defence. The Three Wolf Moon head coach is keeping a close eye on her now, after she rewarded an Amazon's fighting spirit with an express trip to the halls of Valhalla.

Þögn scored a defensive touchdown against the Bromeliad Crusade when she broke through the offensive line and covered the ballcarrier. While she didn't get a sack, the Catcher dropped the ball when it attempted to leap over a Tackle, she recovered it and promptly broke for the endzone. She has proven to be an effective safety.

Her confident Agilityhas been noticed by the coaching staff and she is being changed from safety to 'Tight End' position.

Former Players

Brynhildr Bright-Battle, Norse Linewoman, #8
Rank: Veteran
Injury Report: Dead



2010 Season Casualties: 3
2010 Season Fatalities: 2

Howlin' At The Moon: One of the starting eleven
Elves Killed: 2

Brynhildr joined Three Wolf Moon for revenge after her parents were killed by elven stormtroopers. Her career as the team's starting Kick-off Returner was short-lived as her Sure Hands were unable to fend off a fatal tackle from the Dragonspine Stompers.

[GuppyShark]

I'll be editing the first post as games go by and players distinguish themselves.

The story thus far....

After becoming enamored with this game via running a Cyanide league for some RL friends, I decided to go the whole nine yards and start playing the tabletop game.

Resolving not to give GW a single dollar after their recent shenanigans that will not be mentioned again, I ordered the Valkyrie team from Impact! and hunted around for suitable replacements for other positionals. Not being a fan of the Valkryie Weremen or the Snow Troll, I settled on some Reaper "Lupine Rager" models and a Wargods model for the Troll (not yet pictured as he hasn't hit the roster yet).

"What do you mean Werewolf, they're Ulfwerener!"

Yeah, like, um, whatever. I prefer to say Werewolf, and Ulf means Wolf anyway. I am calling some positionals by LRB6 naming because I simply prefer the new terminology.

Hell, I am struggling to avoid referring to the werewolves by their player names.

I jumped onto the interwebs and picked up some historical valkyrie names and I've used them for the linemen, thrower, catcher and berserker. I then append the name with the English translation - for example, "Geirdriful Spear-Flinger". I think this blends authenticity without becoming meaningless.

I decided on the following starting roster:

2x Ulfwerener/Norse Werewolves (to get them into play and developing ASAP since they have the highest STR and AV on the roster, and will be the most improved by their first upgrade. They'll be my primary Guard pieces.)
1x Berserker/Blitzer (with an eye to developing her into a killer since she already starts with Jump Up.)
1x Thrower (For Leader, I suppose. Unless I'm lucky enough to get an agility increase.)
1x Runner/Catcher (For the speed and agility access, obviously.)
6 Linemen

Apothecary
3x Re-Rolls

My plan is then to get the second Runner/Catcher. Then either save for the Snow Troll or get the second Berserker.

It'll be a nice change of pace for me as I have been playing Humans in my Cyanide league and I feel like they're almost what I want they just don't have as much of a running game as I would like. And who can say no to 50k Blocking linemen.

The first game went as well as I could have dared hope. It was a similarly fresh Pro Elf team using the Shadowforge Bunny team miniatures.

Highlights include scoring a touchdown with a werewolf (getting the hand-off reception on a reroll) and one of my players failing a dodge onto the ball, causing it to bounce into an elf's hands who then lobbed it upfield for a touchdown. I received no casualties and inflicted only one Badly Hurt, so neither team is down players for their next games.

PC to Tabletop

I imagine most of this coaches on the forum started playing the tabletop game and then started playing on the PC.

My experience coming the other way has been interesting. I trained myself to remember to move my turn counter and only failed to do so once, at the start of turn three. I also played a practice half last week to teach myself all the little bits and pieces that the PC game automatically calculates for you. You get lazy just clicking on guys and moving the mouse over the opposing players and seeing how many dice a block will be. In practice the better PC players have at least a vague understanding of the assist rules and leverage them, but having to calculate it all myself can only make me a better Blood Bowl coach.

Dodging out of GW's tackle zones

This game is motivating me more to do my own modelling and terrain building than any game I have ever played. I have spent countless hours looking at models online trying to find my favorite fits for various players, trying to find model kits for a custom dugout, etc etc. I've also put more effort into painting my models for this than possibly even my favorite Warmachine models. I think the narrow focus on a handful of models helps instead of looking out at a sea of troops!

It's amazing how engaging it can be to told "You can use whatever models you like." I don't think there's any other popular game out there that does this. I stayed away from this game for a years because I thought I would have to buy an official GW team to play....

[SirShadowcat]

Great write up!

Looking forward to contunue reading this team blog.
And welcome to the real thing

Was it very different from playing the digital version???

[GuppyShark]

Definately.

There's a lot you take for granted in digital. Like having the coloured circles around your players so you can tell without having to really look if there are enemy pieces in range, or who has moved. It seems minor but it's all part of intepreting the information on the tabletop and converting it into a plan. At first I struggled with that a little. I would look at the table and without the visual cues I was accustomed to, I would just be staring blankly at the field trying to make sense of the scrum!

Thankfully I'm starting to become accustomed to that. After the first few turns I was playing hard and revelling in having Block everywhere!

When I gave the Werewolf the ball it was because I had a half-cage in my opponent's backfield and all of his players were near *my* backfield trying to flee my linegirls. Attrition really told and his poor pro elves were getting carted off the pitch all game.

Thanks for the feedback, there'll be more content after my next game but that won't be until the weekend.

[GuppyShark]

The team's second game was against Orcs, a returning team rated at 1420 TV. This team has a lot of impressive players on its roster, including an AG4 Thrower who is the league's leading passer.

As a starting team I received a lot of coin for inducements, which I spent on an extra apothecary, a Wizard, and an induced snow troll.

The game started well for me. He recovered my kick off with his thrower, threw it to his goblin who snagged it safely from midair, then rushed him up my right wing. I engaged and shoved one of his Guarding blitzers off the pitch, and the fans were kind enough to make sure he was out for the game.

I got a tackle zone on his goblin, who failed the dodge-reroll-dodge.

I surged up the wing and got my hands on the ball. I ran it downfield, but I overextended - he popped it out, got his thrower on it, and then bombed it back upfield to his goblin who ran it in for a touchdown on Turn 6 (or so).

The weather changed, and it was so sunny my Thrower failed to manage a quick pass on two turns, so the half ended with nothing on the board for Three Wolf Moon.

At the second half I did a fairly unimaginative quick drive up the flank. Classic half cage, handoff run. Got the ball into the endzone with no notable plays.

I kicked to the orcs.

With time running out, the orcs surged downfield. I managed to contain them and, with pressure in his backfield, he moved his goblin ballcarrier to his line. I got a player free to blitz his goblin, popped the ball out, the goblin was down for good.

In the scrum, possession changed hands a few times but I got the ball behind his line. He had one Orc with a tackle zone on my runner, the Wizard took care of him and Sigrund ran home for the victory.

The outcome was in doubt until the final moments. It was a great game and nobody lost players. I credit the victory to some unlucky dice rolls and some key injuries. What can I say, Nuffle loves painted models.

The MVP judges seemed to being paying attention this time - My Runner with two touchdowns also picked up the MVP, while my opponent's Guard player (who had spent the whole match being double-teamed) received their MVP.

With the winnings from the game I have recruited my second Runner, and the first has gained Dodge.

[SirShadowcat]

Grats on the win.

Did the Snowtroll do anything?

[GuppyShark]

He did... stuff. Nothing noteworthy, but he tied up a lot of the orc line and gave as good as he got.

Not like the stupid ogre on my human team.

[JaM]

Nice stuff. Funny about the pro-elves, I've also used my bunny-team as pro-elves in the past...

Go get them !

TT is sooo much better than PC.

[GuppyShark]

My next match is against an Amazon team, coached by a colleague (Adelaide is a small town).

They seemed to have gotten the worst of their games so far, they're under-strength and will be having to bring mercenary linewomen.

I expect playing them will be like playing a human team only they won't actually fall down when I hit them. Running plays with a throwing option as a backup. I'll still want to cover all the receivers, but they should not be able to stop me bashing my way to the ball carrier.

[GuppyShark]

That seemed to largely go according to plan, except that my first drive stalled completely thanks to my Thrower's inability to pick up the ball even with rerolls.

I felt a bit sorry for the Amazon team by the end of the match, I was rolling open stars on pretty much every 2DB and sending them off the pitch by the handful without really trying. To cap it off, at the end when I was about to win 2-1 with a few turns left I offered to run down the clock and move the turn markers. The Amazons respond by ganging up on my downfield players and throwing more blocks.

My Norse retaliate by throwing a block, and kill their only skilled-up player stone cold dead. No apothecaries left to save her.

[SirShadowcat]

Grats to another win

Tough game for the Amazonz

Any new skills?

[GuppyShark]

Three - Karn picks up Block after getting multiple casualties, first runner picks up Sure Hands, third runner to be determined as I need to make a witnessed skill roll.

Dodging out of GW's tackle zones

This is getting harder. I have a felt board but it's not rigid, and it doesn't have a scaled passing template.

I am feeling more and more inclined to pick up the GW set, but I don't want to give them more money.

[SirShadowcat]

Gratz on the skills also Nice to have block on Karn also

Dodging GW

Here you can find a passing template instead of using a normal one

http://zlurpeebowl.com/LRB5green.pdf

And if tou have access to an good printer you can always print your own pitch
http://lostinthewarp.com/wordpress/wp-c ... _large.jpg

[GuppyShark]

Thanks Shadowcat, that passing template will be useful for home games.

[GuppyShark]

WOW.

WHAT A CONTEST.

My round four opponent was "The Dark Lords", a veteran Dark Elf team. I knew I would need to bring it and, to credit, bring it I did!

I induced a berserker (with Tackle, of course), a Wizard, and a wandering apothecary. This was another game where I would induce a wandering apothecary and not end up needing it. But I'm getting ahead of myself....

The Dark Lords are a painted team (hooray!) with a custom board (double hooray!) that made a nice change from playing on the GW board.

He won the coin toss and his AG5 blitzer fumbled the ball deep in his backfield. Smelling blood Three Wolf Moon sent several players deep into his backfield. Unfortunately he recovered the ball and got it downfield because I'd overextended my team and scored.

I received, the ball scattered close to the line of scrimmage. My runner had to run forward to get hands on it. This drive stalled on me pretty badly because his Block/Dodge/Side Step pieces just would not get out of the way! My induced Tackle blitzer took herself out because I couldn't get a reroll.

I went into the second half down 0-1. My plan to play attrition had failed abysmally, he was knocking me around the pitch and going whereever he wanted.

I received to start the second half.

Things started to improve. I started landing solid hits on his players. His dodgers started to KO/injure themselves. I finally get his ST4 Blitzer off the pitch. His AG5 blitzer gets a boot from a Norse lineman and gets KOd.

Crunch. Every Dark Elf who leaves the field is irreplacable. I spend the half with players waiting on the sidelines between drives. The numbers advantage has begun to tell, and things start looking a lot more promising for the Norse.

I drive upfield and score mid-half. We're looking at a 1-1 tie, with plenty of time left on the clock.

On his drive he sets up his remaining players and I swarm them. At least two of my players are marking each of his.

He gets the ball in his backfield and throws it to his line. They dodge out of contact. One runs into the endzone. The ball carrier gets blitzed but dumps it off. The blitzer makes the catch in two tackle zones, dodges out, long-bombs it downfield to the guy in the end zone, who snags it out of midair and scores.

2-1 Dark Lords.

Two turns left on the clock.

A terrible, high kick from the battered Dark Elves sets it up. The ball is caught, and the Norse surge forward. Smash-mouth football. The Elves refuse to quit and swarm the ball carrier. A bestial roar, and the werewolves bash them aside on open stars. The runner sprints forward and crosses the line seconds before the final whistle blows.

2-2 tie, what a game, what a moment!