6-Drive BB

[Azurus]

While reading one of the less-relevant threads in the Vault section I had a thought. The thought was 'what if teams had different lineups for offence & defence?'. So, of course, I went off and (quickly) made up some rules.

Please note, this is not a suggestion for actual BB, just a diversion I thought might be interesting. It also makes BB slightly more complicated, so if that scares you, look away now!

6-Drive BB
So called because there are (wait for it) 6 drives per game! Each side takes it's turn to receive. The drive then lasts until one side scores a TD, or until 6 turns have passed. Note that this means that a team which scores on defense will recieve the next kick, and that each team will always recieve 3 times each game regardless of the scoreline.

The Teams
A couple of changes are needed to the rosters here, but they're pretty simple.
Positional allowances
All 0-2 positions become 0-3
All 0-4 positions become 0-6
All 0-6 positions become 0-9
Linemen
The position with the highest allowance (before the above changes) on each roster gain the new skill 'Iron Man' for free.
Gold
Teams start with 1,300,000 Gold to start (will likely need tweaking later). A team must be able to field 11 players on both offence and defence. (So effectively each positional counts as half a player for purposes of team creation, while a lineman counts fully).
EDIT: (knew I'd forget something important)
Team Size
Teams may be up to 20 players in total.

Offence & Defence
As a result of the rules above, each team will alternate between the two. There is only one important rule here, but it's a biggie.
Any given player may not play in two consecutive drives unless they have the 'Iron Man' skill.
So, if a player plays on offence, he must miss the next defence. Since linemen all have 'Iron Man', they may play the entire game (unless injured). Note that a team may commit all it's positionals to the first drive even if it means they will not be able to field 11 players in the second, or vice versa. However, in this second case, a team must field as many players as it can without reducing the second drive's numbers. (So you aren't allowed to 'hide' players you don't intend to use on either drive unless you can field enough players for both without him)

NB: This is why the position limits are increased, because a player will only play half the time. The fact that they aren't doubled means choices on the lineup need to be made each game.

Little Things
A few things need to be cleaned up for this to work.
Rerolls
Each Team Reroll may be used once per game on offence, and once on defence, rather than once each half. Leader Rerolls may be used once per game, assuming the Leader is on-pitch.
KOs
A KO is now 'the injured player must miss the rest of the drive'. He'll miss the next one anyway if he's a positional, and it's easier if things are kept in step.
Iron Man
This skill cannot be gained. Also, I've used the name of a handicap, I know. I'm sure people can cope with it. If not, change the handicap to 'One player of your choice gains the Iron Man skill for this game only', which actually makes for a decent handicap in this format.
'This half' effects
Effects which last as half now last a drive. The exception to this is RRs gained from the kickoff table, which increases the number of rerolls available in this direction by 1. (So if it was rolled while setting up on offence, you gain 1 offensive reroll, which can be used during any of the team's 3 offensive drives).

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Well, that's it (for the basic idea anyway). Obviously, since I only thought it up today, none of this has been playtested, and comments are welcome. Of course, there are lots of other things I could do with it (like changing rosters to include offensive and defensive specialists), but I figured I should keep it (comparatively) simple at first.

So, what do you guys think?

Anything I've changed since the first post in in blue.

[Gus]

i say why not. not BB obviously, but a different approach, and the basis sounds solid.

[DoubleSkulls]

What about Chaos or Lizardmen?

[Azurus]

What about Chaos or Lizardmen?

Beastmen/Skinks would be able to play every drive. CWs you have up to 6 to split, 9 for Sauri. Plus the big guy. A slight hampering perhaps, but not really much more than any other team.

Besides, it's just a first draft, I'm not really concerned with balancing rosters just yet.

[dendron]

I like the idea. But there is still some work to do. But I think you get the chaos or Lizzies "problem" fixed as well.

Dendron

[DesTroy]

My question is, what happens if your team gets devastated and must put offensive specialists (term borrowed from arena football) on defence, or vice versa? If a player cannot play both ways but is forced to due to injuries, what penalties might there be?

[Azurus]

My question is, what happens if your team gets devastated and must put offensive specialists (term borrowed from arena football) on defence, or vice versa? If a player cannot play both ways but is forced to due to injuries, what penalties might there be?

A good question, I hadn't thought of 'penalties' as such, but it's worth considering.

As for the original intent, your question could mean two things, so I'll try to answer both.

In game injuries
The intent was that a positional cannot play in back-to-back drives even if that means you must start a drive with less than 11 players. (I'm considering putting in some kind of 'minimum' level which would allow limited switching of positionals - although if a team has sufficient 'Iron Man' players then it wouldn't be a big problem).

You could 'hold back' a player from their usual drive to get the numbers right next time round though (and of course, you may have a reserve to cover the possibility). I think this is best illustrated by an example, so here goes-

The Crash Test Dummies play the Guinea Pigs, and the Dummies win the toss and choose to get the first turn on offence. During the drive, their star player Morden Vagrant in BH'd, which would leave them a man down on their second offense. Not willing to risk it, coach Kal Surplus of the Dummies hold back a player from the next drive, meaning they defend with only 10 players. Since the 'held back' player has now missed a drive, he'll be available to play in the next offense (making a full 11 players), though the Dummies will likely stay with a 10-man defence for the rest of the game as a result.

This is the area that will need the most fine-tuning, but I think it's a reasonable start. Another option would be to give access to unlimited 'muppets' (5 2 2 7 Bonehead) to make up the numbers before each drive.

Roster-affecting injuries
If a team no longer has enough players to field full offensive & defensive teams, but has played a game, then - tough. They'll have to start with less (just like LRB rules in fact). The coach can of course choose not to field a full 11 players on his first drive to even up numbers on the second.

(See also the 'muppets' option above)

Seems I'll have to write some version of a 'rule of 11' to cover things like this.

Anyway, I'll have another think about this stuff, please ask more questions, it's quite interesting thinking through the possibilities.

[Azurus]

If a player cannot play both ways but is forced to due to injuries

Oops, think i misenterpreted this bit slightly.

A player CAN play both ways, just not in back-to-back drives. (Although player who are simply not allowed to play in a certain direction is something I'm thinking about)