Players littering the field (in response to the challenge)

[lerchey]

Hi All,

In response to the challenge I'm offering up a change in part of the game play. It's not a huge change, but we've been (at least partially) doing this for as long as I can remember (though I've only been playing since LRB 5.0) and was kind of surprised when I started in a league with other players and realized that it wasn't in the rules.

Here's the nutshell version:

All prone players (knocked down, stunned, K.O.'d or casualties) remain on the pitch until the end of a drive, when sideline guys clear them from the field. We use markers to track the status of prone players as follows:

• Stunned - A Stunned Marker is placed under the prone model. This indicates that he's stunned (duh). At the end of the turn, the stunned marker is removed (equivalent to turning a player onto his back, but better in cases where models don't roll over so cleanly!).

• K.O. - A K.O. Marker is placed under the prone player. The player and the marker remain on the pitch until the end of the drive (or half time). K.O.'d players block spaces just as prone players do and do not exert Tackle Zones. They can be "chain pushed", and if a ball lands in a K.O.'d players space it bounces. K.O.'d players are checked for recovery at the end of the drive normally. If they recover, they are moved into the Reserves Box and can be used in the coming drive. If they do not recover, they are moved from the pitch to the K.O. box as is done in the normal rules.

• CAS - A CAS marker is placed under the player and both the player and the CAS marker remain until the end of the drive (or half time). At the end of the drive (or at halftime) CAS players are moved to the CAS box.

At the end of each drive, or at half time, a player with one or more CAS'd players that has an apothecary available may invoke the Apo to try to save one of his CAS'd players. As with normal Apo rules, he may only be used once. Unlike the normal Apo rules, the Apo is not used until the drives end and if the player has more than one CAS'd player, he may choose which to apply the Apo's attention.

Regeneration is also checked at the end of the drive or at half time, and works as listed except for timing.

Ok, so why do we play this? Glad you asked. As stated earlier, I'm not 100% certain as to where this originated. I recall, shortly after starting play BB (LRB 5.0) being asked to make markers. We have, since maybe my 3rd game, had Stunned, KO, and CAS markers. We only left the markers in place until the end of each TURN, then cleared them along with the bodies. Thinking more about it, if the side-line guys are going to clear bodies, they're either going to interfere with play (moving along with a stretcher annoying everyone and endangering themselves as irate players trying to dodge them, hit them, or just generally being in the way.

Since BB doesn't have "plays" like American Football, but rather has breaks built-in between drives, it seems that that's when the various clean-ups should occur.

Tactically, it makes things interesting in that spaces become blocked. Yes, there is some advantage to teams with lots of Leap, but that would also mean lots more die rolls.

There you go. New concept. And I have on my flame retardant suit!

[Darkson]

Do you allow fouling of KO'd/Cas players?

I like the idea, but I'd probably add a rule about being able to move through (but not end in) blocked squares (perhaps with an AG with a + modifier).

Hmmm, makes me want to bring back the old halfling/snotling medic rules...

[Ullis]

I like this and it would be fun to try it some time. Fouling KO'd and injured players should definitely be allowed.

But what about the new apo rule for KO'd players? The apo can now be used to change one KO'd player on the pitch into stunned.

[voyagers_uk]

This was mentioned in the Coaches Corner section of one the BBMags (not sure which one) in their version the players were allowed to crawl one square toward the sidelines to be rescued by team officials. they could still be fouled etc in the mean time.

I love the idea, it would just take a lot of memory so am not sure it would work in a brain as cluttered as mine...

[Joemanji]

Simplest method would be to replace KO/CAS'd players with a coin or counter. They block a space but can't be fouled etc.

[bjorn9486]

I like this, maybe have a friendly game and play with these rules.

[lerchey]

I think that I like Joe's suggestion. Since my group uses counters to indicate status - stunned, KO, CAS, we could leave KO and CAS counters in place, but pull the minis out into the box. The counters would block movement, but would prevent KO'd or CAS'd players from being fouled.

The APO would not be able to patch up a KO'd player to the reserves box using this system.

I don't usually play tourny style games - we mostly do league games, so I'm not sure how well or if this would translate into tournaments.

Thanks for the feedback!

[Darkson]

but would prevent KO'd or CAS'd players from being fouled.

Boooooooooooo!!!!! Not enough Blood in Blood Bowl!

Only problem with counters/coins is if you get a team with a lot of KOs/Cas, might be possible to forget which is which (if you allow fouling, as we would ), though that's easily solved with numbered tokens.