Discuss Fantasy football-style board games - GW's Blood Bowl, Impact!'s Elfball, Privateer Press' Grind, Heresy's Deathball, etc. THIS IS NOT AN NFL FANTASY FOOTBALL SITE!
Just played my first game since coming back against a Slann team coached by Ikterus. Was a great game, and I did receive something of a kicking as expected, but learnt a lot
My major concern from this match is how to deal with a particular offence he used on me. It basically involves the ball carrier leaping the line and nestling against the sideline, with 2 other players also leaping over and forming a cage with him, like so:
---------
B
G G
With humans, it's extremely hard to stop. The ballcarrier at this point is only 6 squares from a TD. With agility 3 all round and no skills that really help here, it's a 6+ to doge in and blitz the carrier into the crowd, or 5+ if you go to the front or back. Can't just pressure him with TZ's due to the amsses of leap and long legs.
Any ideas on how a starting human team can counter this attack? I really was left stumped!
Just setup a few players much further back than you normally would, or perhaps just field a few catchers in defence (catchers can still sack a slann ballcarrier). Based on the diagram you've got all you really need to do is to push the guy into the crowd, just blocking them from the right angle and getting a push will do that.
Once the slann realise you can do that they will start building a wider net around the ballcarrier... something which should bring the ballcarrier further from the endzone and give you a slightly better dodge chance if you do want to go straight for the ball. Also if you setup a little further back (or with faster players) then you should be able to get two lines of players in the way, remember that they can only leap once.
It should go without saying that the other way to do it is to accept that they're likely to score and just go for the 2-1 win.
Reason:''
Victim of the Colonel's car boot smash. First person to use Glynn's bath. Update: the Hartlepool family Glynn now has a virgin bath.
Sorry, the diagram gets broken by the post format, which is annoying.
The ballcarrier is against the sideline, with the 2 guards on each corner, not one right next to him as it appears there, so the only way to crowd push hin is to go between the two guards....no other angle works.
I might have to try a line in the middle of my half, and one just ahead of the endzone then, see if that works. Tricky buggers these.
You need to blitz on of them, knock him down and end you move next to the ball carrier. Hopefullt, your guy has stand firm and tackle. You should be able to get a couple of players down there to prevent a leap. But you need 3-4 players and some skills. On the other hand, he has to roll dice and if he fails its a turnover.
But, leap is a bitch, but its a 3+, right? Some of the frogs will come crashing down hard.
I'm not sure, but what about moving a player to assist on the left side of the Op's diagram, then Blitzing the player in front of the Ball Carrier, pushing him straight into the ball carrier, would that send him to the Crowd? I agree with PubBowler, bashy seems the way to go, but my experience with Humans is small.
Reason:''
I hate Wood Elves.
[b]Galak 3:16 says "There is a point in time that a player really should read the rulebook."[/b]
[quote="SillySod"](the other times are when I have norse... norse are suprisingly similar to chainsaws).[/quote]
TeamTræls wrote:I'm not sure, but what about moving a player to assist on the left side of the Op's diagram, then Blitzing the player in front of the Ball Carrier, pushing him straight into the ball carrier, would that send him to the Crowd?
If I understand the diagram correctly, you would require three players (two to control the player being Blitzed push back, the third to ensure the ball carrier goes into the crowd) dodging into tackle zones (in one case the same as to Blitz the ball carrier) to set that up.
This is less likely to succeed than the single dodge into three tacklezones to Blitz the ball carrier himself.
Early on, you don't really get to tell Slann that they can't score: you just get to tell them that it potentially costs a lot of re-rolls and they have to do it quickly to avoid getting beat up. Eventually you'll develop the gimmicks you need to actually pull off reliable takeaways, but right out the gate you're the bash against these guys and can't really game for much else. Make it hard, hope for a lucky break, and if none comes, hope they burned too many TRRs too fast to play those crazy leaping games on your drive.
Man, I hate recommending the 2-1 strategy, especially with a fast team like Humans, but this is what it's made for.
Reason:''
What is Nuffle's view? Through a window, two-by-three. He peers through snake eyes.
What is Nuffle's lawn? Inches, squares, and tackle zones: Reddened blades of grass.
What is Nuffle's tree? Risk its trunk, space the branches. Touchdowns are its fruit.
TeamTræls wrote:I'm not sure, but what about moving a player to assist on the left side of the Op's diagram, then Blitzing the player in front of the Ball Carrier, pushing him straight into the ball carrier, would that send him to the Crowd?
If I understand the diagram correctly, you would require three players (two to control the player being Blitzed push back, the third to ensure the ball carrier goes into the crowd) dodging into tackle zones (in one case the same as to Blitz the ball carrier) to set that up.
This is less likely to succeed than the single dodge into three tacklezones to Blitz the ball carrier himself.
This does not have a high probability of success.
I don't think any of the two possibilities have much chance succes : /
Would the Blitzing player not have to only dodge once? One square for entering, one dodge, or what don't I get here? He could approach from the right of the OP's diagram and run alongside the sideline. An AG3 player would require 6+ to do that dodge... I wouldn't count on it, but I would try it.
Reason:''
I hate Wood Elves.
[b]Galak 3:16 says "There is a point in time that a player really should read the rulebook."[/b]
[quote="SillySod"](the other times are when I have norse... norse are suprisingly similar to chainsaws).[/quote]
I think PubBowler has the right idea. The human team is a much 'harder' roster than the slann team, so grind him and go for the 2-1 win. You can pressure those catchers with a blitz in that marks him and a looser net of players around that, but it'll be tough to make it too difficult for the slann catcher to score.
Thanks for the advice guys...bashy was the way i went in the end. Got him down to 7 players on the pitch, but was too late to really take advantage by that point.
This move also caught me totally offguard, so he scored very early haha. I was fine on the offence...he couldn't really stop me grinding forward. Slow 2-1 game it is next time I think.
Still a great game and reintroduction into Blood Bowl
TeamTræls wrote:I'm not sure, but what about moving a player to assist on the left side of the Op's diagram, then Blitzing the player in front of the Ball Carrier, pushing him straight into the ball carrier, would that send him to the Crowd?
If I understand the diagram correctly, you would require three players (two to control the player being Blitzed push back, the third to ensure the ball carrier goes into the crowd) dodging into tackle zones (in one case the same as to Blitz the ball carrier) to set that up.
This is less likely to succeed than the single dodge into three tacklezones to Blitz the ball carrier himself.
This does not have a high probability of success.
I don't think any of the two possibilities have much chance succes : /
Would the Blitzing player not have to only dodge once? One square for entering, one dodge, or what don't I get here? He could approach from the right of the OP's diagram and run alongside the sideline. An AG3 player would require 6+ to do that dodge... I wouldn't count on it, but I would try it.
You also need to insert a "plug" to get the Leaper into the crowd. s a minimum of 2 players dodging into 2 TZ, or 1 player dodging into 3.
The way I would deal with this would be to make the Leap dangerous in the first place. You do this by staggering a zig-zag line followed by a loose screen so that anywhere you leap into will require a dodge into 1-3 tackle zones to go anywhere. Since he's only going to get one Blitz move, the odds of getting all of the players setup as described gets more and more difficult.
What you can't do is just line up across the LOS. You have to get creative.
Think "Charley Brown", as in a formation that generally takes the shape of a big wavey "W" like on Charley Brown's shirt.
Might look at a zone defense in a 3-5-4 pattern and a loose weave that puts everyone at 2-square distance from each other. Means your 3 on the line are all spread out unsupported, but anywhere he tries to leap will be unhappy hopping.
Or maybe:
_________________
oooo|LooLooL|oooo
oBoo|ooooooo|ooBo
oLoo|BoooooB|ooLo
oooo|oCoooCo|oooo
oooo|ooooooo|oooo
For the purpose of this diagram, a rookie Lineman and a rookie Thrower are interchangable. No relevant difference.
The anti-WE (leaping Wardancer) defense my DEs use looks something more like this:
_________________
oooo|LooAooL|oooo
oBoo|oBoooBo|ooBo
oRoo|LooWooL|ooRo
oooo|ooooooo|oooo
oooo|ooooooo|oooo
Always the basic idea is that since I can only put two guys in each wide zone, I can't STOP them from leaping me and I can't STOP them from blitzing out a guy and then leaping past but I can make this dangerous. At the same time I want a punch close enough to the LOS that if my opponent errs I'm ready to take advantage.
Experiment with some lineups and see what looks good to you. Fill the following with your favorite players and jazz on the riff.
