Star Players in Leagues

wesleytj · Post by **wesleytj** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 4:48 pm

I didn't like the way stars worked in 3rd Ed, where essentially every team had 4 or they couldn't compete with the rest of the league. I'm glad we're not still there, and there's no going back. The Orc teams with 4 Morgs, the Humans with 2 Morgs/2 Luthors, the Wood Elves with 4 Deeproots, it all just got to be too much. The stars became the focal point and your players were the "background".

Having said that, I also didn't like early LRB versions in which the stars were absent (all but) completely. Stars do have a place in the game, and they are fun, as long as you keep it limited.

I think, honestly that LRB 5 strikes a good balance. The inducement system gets them back in as a good way of helping smaller teams compete against the bigger ones, but they're still one-off, so they don't "take over" a team like they did before. If I were to make one tweak, I would allow Halfling and Gobbo teams to keep one star on their roster permanently, purchased for base price +50k, and all others as normal.

But Jonny_P's idea is cool too. If the league wants to have everyone have access to a single star, and everyone is cool with it, then more power to them. As I see it, one of the great things about BB is that there's plenty of room for each commish to tweak his league's rules to suit their players' tastes. Some leagues ban stars entirely, others loosen the restrictions a bit. Everybody wins.

Jural · Post by **Jural** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 5:23 pm

I don;'t know. We had a team with 2 Strength 4 Pro Elf blitzers and they were nasty to deal with. Significant deviations from the norm for a team can make them extremely hard to beat.

My Dark Elves with Morg or Hubris permanently employed, or my Necors with either Ramtut or Wilhelm Chaney would be lethal.

I'm not sure all teams really get the same upgrade with a star though...

Let us know how it turns out.

Darkson · Post by **Darkson** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 5:40 pm

Luckily for me, Star Players (and other GW "special characters") are a dirty word here, so I got to house-rule them out of every BB season (and rules version) we've used.

Want a Star? Develop your own!

wesleytj · Post by **wesleytj** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 7:34 pm

Jural wrote: I'm not sure all teams really get the same upgrade with a star though...

They don't...trust me. It really sucked to be a Dark Elf player in 3rd Ed Blood Bowl, when the Orcs had 4 Morg n Thorgs, and all you could counter with was Horkon Heartripper.

That's been fixed to some degree, but not completely. Some teams clearly have better star options than others.

Jonny_P · Post by **Jonny_P** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 7:41 pm

In our league, I really don't think anyone is going to buy Morg. He's 430k....and rightfully so (Ogre with Block, No BH, and upgrades across the board), but he will probably just be an inducement.

I should also clarify our league is a reset league, so all teams start at 1000k.

WesleyTJ is right tho. The rules are there so Commish's can tweak to their league's liking. The core rules of the game can remain the same, but league specific rules can be altered to please the majority of coaches.

falconeyed · Post by **falconeyed** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 9:17 pm

Jural wrote:I don;'t know. We had a team with 2 Strength 4 Pro Elf blitzers and they were nasty to deal with. Significant deviations from the norm for a team can make them extremely hard to beat.

My Dark Elves with Morg or Hubris permanently employed, or my Necors with either Ramtut or Wilhelm Chaney would be lethal.

I'm not sure all teams really get the same upgrade with a star though...

Let us know how it turns out.

Any idiot can win with that.

Jural · Post by **Jural** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 7:14 am

falconeyed wrote:
Jural wrote:I don;'t know. We had a team with 2 Strength 4 Pro Elf blitzers and they were nasty to deal with. Significant deviations from the norm for a team can make them extremely hard to beat.

My Dark Elves with Morg or Hubris permanently employed, or my Necors with either Ramtut or Wilhelm Chaney would be lethal.

I'm not sure all teams really get the same upgrade with a star though...

Let us know how it turns out.

Any idiot can win with that.

Can and did

Patchwork · Post by **Patchwork** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 9:37 am

I don't care for starplayers as pernament additions to teams. As well as the balance trouble of how certain stars effect some rosters compared to others there is the fluff as well. If Varag or Grif or any of the others are happy to settle down with the one team pernamently why did they leave the Eye and Reavers? Hiring on for one game for a huge amount of gold suits a player that went freelance for the money so much better!