Vampire teams: too powerful?

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Mad Jackal
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Post by Mad Jackal »

Skummy wrote:I don't know about that... When the dice are kind, they're pretty much unstoppable. And they easily get a ST 4 Blodge player with a 4 AG. That's very difficult for a lot of teams to stop.

They're a lot weaker than I originally thought when I heard Cerdival's suggestion for 'em. One thing that's annoying about them is that you never acutally want to field 6 Vampires at once. They may be the one team in BB that you don't want to max your positionals on. Perhaps that's the one area they could use help?

"Master Vampire: The vampire on the roster with the most SPP's is considered the "Master Vampire" and loses the OFAB negatrait. Only one vampire can be a master per team at any given time. If two or more Vampires are tied, no Vampire is master."
I like that one. A diceless solution to a diced negetrait. It is fluffy and doesn't add too much power to them.

Of course when do we calcualte the one with most spp? Is it dynamic?
Or set at the start of the match? Can a Vamp be "promoted" when the Master is killed mid match?
Lots of FAQ.... But if we can head them off in the description (or agree in the first place) :D
:D

Of course then the Ogre's will want thier "Ogre Cheiftan" "the ogre with the mostt spp doesn't have loner... etc.) LOL But those are big guys and we can still screw (I mean exclude) them.

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Post by GalakStarscraper »

Ravage wrote:yes but galak there are what? 33 vamp teams *at* TR200 or higher? Is that really a fair sampling?
Stat sampling theory says that 30 is the point of valid sampling (its part of what I do for a living).

Also relative to the number of games played the number of teams is representitive.

My bottom line is this Ravage. A 3rd tier team is 3rd tier over the long haul ... Ogres/Halflings/Goblins start out bad and if you look at the TR 200 to 249 ... they STAY that way.

Vampires start out tough ... but with time and practice they have win % higher than Orcs and Humans at higher TRs ... that is not an indication of a tier 3 team at all. So yeah they start rough ... but there is potential there ... and 33 teams is enough to know that is a valid sample.
I just think they're right on the cusp of tier2/tier3 and could use a little something to really define them as something that is NOT a "joke team".
In order to win 46% at those TRs ... I doubt the opponent's playing them feel they are a joke team as they are winning more often than Orcs of the same levels. Just because a team starts rough is not a reason to improve a team if it has potential when developed.

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Post by GalakStarscraper »

2nd thought ... look at the players posting that they have winning records with the team in the early going.

IF you excluded the players who don't play the team right (starting with 5 Vampires and 1 reroll for example) ... I think you'd be quite surprised at the win rate at the early stages ... which if that went up ... then the overall win rate would skyrocket.

When my league playtested this team with 3 teams ... the team had a dead on 50% win rate over the first 6 games for all 3 teams. Note exactly tier 3 at all.

The Vampire team is a thinking man's team ... I think BB is better for having them.

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Post by gken1 »

GalakStarscraper wrote: The Vampire team is a thinking man's team ... I think BB is better for having them.

Galak
lol...i've seen two vampire coaches in my league want to pull their hair out playing them....

Maybe they were thinking...why the f*#k did I play this team :)

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Post by GalakStarscraper »

gken1 wrote:Maybe they were thinking...why the f*#k did I play this team :)
And as Mark Twain once said:
"Golf is a good walk spoiled."

That's how I see the Vampire team.

Galak

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Post by OverDose »

Darkson wrote:
Wightlord wrote:Played 8 games in total with vamps and have 5-1-3 record.
Impressive! Which special rule for Vamps have I missed? :wink: :lol:
If you're playing with a really bad team, you are not frowned upon even if you challenge weaker opponents.

This team has a cherry installed in it.

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Post by Darkson »

Talking more about how you get a 9 game record after playing 8 games. ;)

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Post by Cloggy »

I tried playing vamps for 16 games. I got a 13/2/1 record by making sure they stayed at low TR. This I did by only having 2 vampires, and buying wizziez every game. I played them in ranked on Fumbbl, so the record is unaccurate in principle because people kept coming after my team thinking they were an easy win :lol:

In the end I must say I got a little bored with my own way of playing them. I retired them instead of letting them grow to higher TR because I could not handle the prospect of playing with more vamps and the randomness that would bring.

In the end, they are NOT overpowered by any means IMO. I have played both with and against Vamps quite a bit and must say that higher ranked vamp teams generally do badly, at least on Fumbbl.

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Post by Wightlord »

Darkson wrote:Talking more about how you get a 9 game record after playing 8 games. ;)
Doh!! :oops:
Make it 5-1-2.

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Post by grotuk »

I got a new OFAB idea...makes the team more reliable on pitch but still unreliable on overall.

"At the begining of each drive, rolla a D6 for each vampire. With a 4+ the vampire can play normally, else he cant play this drive."

If you are lucky and your vampires play..you have an easy drive, but if not.. you are screwed.

Also...if this way we protect too much the thralls... i have think in 2 options:

- Disallow the apothecary

- If a vampire fails the OFAB roll, bite a random thrall...but.. (as this can make too much pain) first roll for armour.

What do you think?

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Post by plasmoid »

Hi Grotuk,
thats pretty much the old OFAB rule.

The problem with it was that games against vampires weren't really decided on the pitch.
On bad OFAB rolls, the vamp team was screwed.
On good ones, the vamps dominated the pitch.

Cheers
Martin

Personally, I'd rather have AG3 vampires than the current "crack wh*re" vampires.

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Post by Mootaz »

Problem with the "4+ and can play" is that with 5 Vampires 2-3 on average will play. And these Vampires can then roam the field at will, especially after 1 or 2 skills.

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Post by grotuk »

Sorry then :oops: I was out the first LRBs

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Post by juck101 »

GalakStarscraper wrote: The Vampire team is a thinking man's team ... I think BB is better for having them.

Galak
Also they are the most erratic team in the game. No other team can fall over and kill themselves - or maybe extract the ball from a 6man cage.

They are very much a higher skill level team. I do like the fact that they are crap but appear to be fantastic to a novice.

Agreed with Galak - BB is better for having them :)
One of the few 'new' ideas that adds something different tactically to the game.

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Post by Craigtw »

juck101 wrote:One of the few 'new' ideas that adds something different tactically to the game.
Yeah, they remind me a lot of the Warhammer orc army in the way that they will sometimes attack their own and in the way that then they do work the way that you want them to, they work brilliantly (but they never do for long, do they.....)

Personally, I played this team with my eyes open - fully aware of their drawbacks, but loving the opportunity for a challenge!



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