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!
Matt, your set up strategy is always very interesting to read, even if I often find myself confused about the difference between a nose and a tight end etc...
This said, IMO the initial defensive set up is not always as crucial as it can be in American Football. What you do in the 8 turns of your drive are generally a lot more important.
Often a quick score can be to the advantage of the defender. Also, against some races / in some circumstances it may be wiser to protect your key players - even if this means leaving the wide zones free.
So while I find analysing different set-ups intriguing, I don't believe the initial formation constitutes more than about 5-10% of what it takes to succesfully defend.
I'd be interested to read some of your ideas about defending once the ball is in play, from turn 1 onwards.
Depends on the team. With Dwarfs or Orcs, my philosophy is: "If you can't score by turn four, give 'em hate until turn eight." With elves, it's "score any chance you get."
Pro Elves are AV7 and somewhat expensive-ish, and have a hard time winning once the Catchers start to get hurt, so they're super-sensitive to the grind. If I'm up against a similar team, then we're both best off trying to pull quick scores and quick takeaways, but if I'm up against bash,then my objective becomes to stop the cage at midfield so I can turn any takeaway into a TD on the same turn, stop the carnage, roll for my KOs and get my Catchers back into the safety of, well, the safety position.
Either way, I want to score all I can. I'm not above holding off for one turn to deny an opponent an opportunity, say scoring in turn 8 instead of turn 7. But on the opening drive, I need to build a lead and force some desperation, and nothing does that like a defensive two-turner. If you can do it twice, you can be sitting on a 2-0 lead a quarter-way into the game. Bash teams have just about zero capacity to come back from a 2-point deficit, and speed coaches will have to make a gut check to avoid giving up the farm. Not that it always works this way... but two consecutive two-turners, when it happens, is a sure sign of impending victory.
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.
mattgslater wrote:but two consecutive two-turners, when it happens, is a sure sign of impending victory.
I once causes a Wood Elf coach to forfeit the game on turn 4 after I'd scored TWICE on kickoffs. He setup for the 3rd attempt, picked up the ball, and his Wardancer promptly double-skulled his blitz. That was enough.
A couple fast TDs and 3-0 by halftime can be a tough deficit to come back from AND totally demoralizing.
On the other hand, I've had my Dark Elves come back from 0-2 halftime deficits to win. Against Orcs, for the first half I couldn't get a decent dieroll for any amount of money and I couldn't keep the Orcs out of my backfield. They were scoring like Pro Elves, only much slower. Took them the whole half to score twice. Second half? Not so bad. Game ended 3-2 my favor, with all my points coming in the second half.
Bash teams can make up a 2-0 deficit with some luck but typically won't do better than a tie. Fast teams can make up a 2-0 deficit and still bring home a win if the coach doesn't get demoralized.
I have found Pro Elves to have the most rapid and surgical defense of any team (in a league, at least).
The gamebreaker so often is the NOS on the Catchers. These guys seem to catch every bouncing ball going. That's why I find them to make near-perfect Blitzers.
PEs love Babes more than any team.
With a few Guard (4 is nice...) the PEs are close to unstoppable.
PubBowler wrote:
Only rarely do you want to break through in the manner you describe.
Most teams in most circumstances are not in a rush to score.
Yes, of course, but the topic is an elven unbreakable defence.
However, in my experience Blood Bowl is about dictating your opponents terms of play. If he plays the way I want him to, Ill win, and for me, a part of that is making sure no one breaks through while I make sure thers no cage forming. And to do that, I need to control the game during turn 1-2 (and hopefully score in turn 2-3).
Last season I had a guy with +AG, Leap and Safe Throw. That was pretty sick, too.
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.
My DE Runners are all Dodge & NOS (plus Dump Off). One has Pass. The other will get Leap. Safe Throw would be awesome, and then Accurate on the guy with Pass. One guy for glamorous trick shots, and the other a long range sniper who tags Bombs with p=0.75. But AG5 would be awesome.
I have a Blitzer with AG5 & Leap. Safe Throw would be cool on him, but thats a doubles roll so I can just keep dreaming.
