Newbie: Ogres on Human teams?

[Patriarch]

Hi...just started playing BB this weekend and have since then invested in my human team. Searching the net I found this place and saw alot of talk of Ogres on Human teams... How is this done? What rules are these?

AFAIK we downloaded the newest rules, and buying an Ogre was not one of my options.

Anyway here is what I settled on (from memory):

4 Blitzers
4 Catches
2 Throwers
1 Lineman

2 Apo's

2 Cheerladers
2 Asistant Coaches
6 Fan Factor

How is that? The others setups I have read so far seem to have far more linemen, and only 1 or two catches. How come? I really think the extra skills came in handy in the few games we played. Obviously the catchers are pretty vulnerable, but its not too bad since i'm playing vs. darkelves, wood elves and dwarves.

Anyway, glad I found this place so I can refine my skills.

Cheers

[Gorbad]

Hi...just started playing BB this weekend and have since then invested in my human team. Searching the net I found this place and saw alot of talk of Ogres on Human teams... How is this done? What rules are these?

AFAIK we downloaded the newest rules, and buying an Ogre was not one of my options.

In the Big Guys section it shows which teams can buy which Big Guys.

I will assume from now on that you are discussing the Living Rulebook 4.

Anyway here is what I settled on (from memory):

4 Blitzers
4 Catches
2 Throwers
1 Lineman

2 Apo's

2 Cheerladers
2 Asistant Coaches
6 Fan Factor

2 Apo's? I'd like that, but it's not allowed, 1 maximum.

Also cheerleaders and assistan coaches have been generally settled upon as being useless in all but a few cases (halflings mainly).

I haven't counted whether your team is 100k, but you should check out the "Starting Rosters" sections.

How is that? The others setups I have read so far seem to have far more linemen, and only 1 or two catches. How come? I really think the extra skills came in handy in the few games we played. Obviously the catchers are pretty vulnerable, but its not too bad since i'm playing vs. darkelves, wood elves and dwarves.

Most of the time people start with linemen to give them more chance to get MVP's and other star player points, otherwise the catchers tend to hog all the TD's.

Catchers are by the way anything but vulnerable, as they have dodge, and not many players start with tackle and block, so they are pretty hard to bring down.

[Patriarch]

Thanks... yes, I beleive the rulebook we are using is called Living Rulebook 4.

Thanks for the heads up on the Apo's, that will save be 50k

I dont think I'll be saving for starplayers or freebooters, so I might as well get extra Fan Factor then (or maybe a few RR's).

How bout getting an Ogre in the beginning?

[mrbrownesquire]

Hi...just started playing BB this weekend and have since then invested in my human team. Searching the net I found this place and saw alot of talk of Ogres on Human teams... How is this done? What rules are these?

AFAIK we downloaded the newest rules, and buying an Ogre was not one of my options.

Anyway here is what I settled on (from memory):

4 Blitzers
4 Catches
2 Throwers
1 Lineman

2 Apo's

2 Cheerladers
2 Asistant Coaches
6 Fan Factor

How is that? The others setups I have read so far seem to have far more linemen, and only 1 or two catches. How come? I really think the extra skills came in handy in the few games we played. Obviously the catchers are pretty vulnerable, but its not too bad since i'm playing vs. darkelves, wood elves and dwarves.

Anyway, glad I found this place so I can refine my skills.

Cheers

Hi Patriarch,
The rules for ogres is in the big guys section of the living rulebook, 120k I believe (without checking)

Catchers are very useful, but their low strength will not give you much support, 2 catchers is a good starting number.

You can also only have 1 apothecary on your team, not two. Again, most coaches prefer to not take an apothecary to begin with so they can buy more players. It is quite common to buy one after your first game.

Cheerleaders also are not overly useful in a game, only for some kick off results; it is better to buy some when you have some spare cash.

Most importantly, you have no rerolls, these are expensive to buy later and of great use, especially before you skill up. 3 is a good starting number.

There are many threads in this section which will give you some sample staring rosters, and also a playbook for humans in the downloads section of the specialist games blood bowl section.

Hope this helps.

[Darkson]

Plus the team you listed comes to 1,030,000gp, so you've cheated.

Welcome to TBB by the way.

Anyway, as the others said, look in the "Starting Rosters" section, you'll find a few different rosters in there.

Wheter to buy an Ogre at the beginning of a teams life is a tricky one. On one hand, he'll (hopefully) skill up quicker, on the other, he can make a new team vulnerable (especially if he fails his bonehead a lot). It's one of those questions that you'll find many coaches on one side, and probably as many on the other.

[Patriarch]

Plus the team you listed comes to 1,030,000gp, so you've cheated.

Welcome to TBB by the way.

Anyway, as the others said, look in the "Starting Rosters" section, you'll find a few different rosters in there.

Wheter to buy an Ogre at the beginning of a teams life is a tricky one. On one hand, he'll (hopefully) skill up quicker, on the other, he can make a new team vulnerable (especially if he fails his bonehead a lot). It's one of those questions that you'll find many coaches on one side, and probably as many on the other.

hehe... well.. my line up was from memory, so it should be 1.000.000 - if not dont tell anyone

Thanks for the welcome. Now I just need a colorscheme

[MattShepherd]

If you're new to the game, I'd recommend messing around WITHOUT the BG, to be honest. You'll have a finer sense of their strengths and weaknesses if you play without one for a while.

My first BB team ever had a Minotaur on it, and it added far more complexity to the game than I needed to deal with and I think hurt my learning curve in a way. I spent as much time learning "how to control a Wild Animal" as I did "how to play strategically under any circumstances."

As I'm fond of saying, learning to play BB is like learning to drive a car: you're trying to master a few basic concepts that can then be applied to any team/vehicle with success. Starting a first team with a Big Guy is, in my opinion, like learning to drive Formula 1 without ever having driven a car before -- there's a lot of additional stuff piled on top. I'd recommend starting with a nice sedan.

[Patriarch]

Right, I follow you... Is it commonly agreed that Ogres in tournament start ups is a bad idea?

The three other teams are a Woodelf, darkelf and Dwarf team. I'm thinking that even though the Ogre is expensive, it could be very costly to them if I destroy a few expensive players

[MattShepherd]

Well, the Ogre might apply some punishment to the elves...

When you're receiving and can actually set him up against some elves on the line of scrimmage.

And you don't roll double-skulls or skull/blocks, which happens more often than you think.

And he doesn't roll Bonehead.

And they don't have Dodge.

...in your first few games, he might actually wreak some havoc, IF YOU'RE LUCKY. But since you can't reroll Big Guys, they don't have Block, they Bonehead out on crucial plays, and everyone else will be getting block, dodge and (the Dwarves) guard lickety-split, his long-term usefulness will be limited.

After a kickoff, the Ogre basically has one move before the elves start dancing away from him every turn; after that, he has to blitz to make contact, soaking up your blitz and 1/6 of the time losing it to Bonehead.

Since he can't re-roll, and doesn't have Block, he's a pretty vulnerable target to any opposing blitzer that does.

The Dwarves have Trollslayers, who are Dauntless-anti-Ogre wrecking machines.

If you spent that money on re-rolls and human players, I think you'd become a much better HUMAN player and a much better BLOOD BOWL player, because you'd spend a lot more time playing your team and a lot less time micro-managing your Big Guy. In all honesty, not having him might hurt you a lot for the first two or three games, but in the long term they're not that great, and you'll learn to be a master tactician much faster without one.

[Patriarch]

Alright - I played with an Ogre last night. We were both equaly unexperienced, so that might be why - but it went rather well and I havent been put off on the idea about having an ogre once our league starts. He was rather intimitating - And later earning him the 'block' skill and maybe 'break tackle' would make him quite a force!

Thing is I'm not sure hes worth the cost - while he dident ruin the game for me in any way, i'm not sure he was a deciding factor to my win*

*Actually he was, but that was pure luck. Round 8, second half. I have a catcher in the end zone, and my Ogre has the ball at long bomb distance. I reckon that my chances were better to just let the Ogre throw the ball, rather than risk handing it to a thrower, who then also had to make a pretty hard pass. So I took my chances and failed the roll - used my team reroll (normally not smart since I needed a '6' to succeed). But what to you know - I roll a six, and catch the ball. That garanteed me a 2-1 victory!

[Redfang]

Ogres are not allowed to use rerolls; handing off to your thrower would have been a lot better

[Mootaz]

And the Ogre can only get Block on a double, so it is not that easy to give him block

[Patriarch]

Right thanks guys! Much appreciated