Meditations on the Cult of Position: Med IV up Groundhog Day

[mattgslater]

Meditation III: Geography Lesson

Warning: this is the most complex meditation so far, by quite a lot. Personally, I also think it's the most powerful. I fully expect it to open up a big can of worms, and some of y'all to go flying with pieces of it in directions I never anticipated.

Up, Down, Left and Right

For future diagrams, it will be very helpful to have a set geography for the pitch. This geography has to have some kind of perspective. Such a perspective exists very loosely in American football, as "up" and "down" the field. This is very convenient in BB, because setup is disproportionately subject to diagramming and offensive setup is keyed off of defensive setup.

Upfield is the offense's half of the field. Moving upfield is moving toward the offense's end zone, and a score for the kicking team. Offensive players are set up in the upfield half. Each row upfield from the line of scrimmage is noted as +X, where X is the number of squares it takes to move to the line. The row bordering on the line of scrimmage, where the receiving line sets up, is +0.

Downfield is the defense's half of the field. Moving downfield is moving toward the defense's end zone, and a score for the offense. Similar to upfield movement, players placed downfield have their row indicated as –X, and the defensive line is –0. The end zone is –12, by the way.

Because diagramming the defense at the bottom puts the defense's left on the reader's left, left and right are read from the defense's perspective when talking about the field. Because the pitch is symmetrical, and again borrowing (with some modification) a term from American football defense, the column in the middle of the pitch is called the 0 column. Moving to the left X columns from the 0 column puts a player in column LX; the wide zone markers are between L4 and L3, and between R3 and R4. The sideline is just past L7 and R7. Note that for the offense, there's a "left is right" thing going on; this is fine in my book. I don't think it's too odd to say a player "veers left into deep right field" or whatever. Left field is from L2 to L7, and right field is from R2 to R7.

Adding these two together and putting the columns first, one gets a notation that reads, for instance, R6-3, for three squares behind scrimmage (on the defense's side), in the wing position on the right.

Receiving Team's half
Left Field ******** Right Field
7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – • +12 End Zone
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – • +11
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – • +10
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – • +9 U
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – • +8 P
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – • +7 F
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – • +6 I
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – • +5 E
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – • +4 L
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – • +3 D
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – • +2
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – • +1
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – • +0 Offensive Line
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – • –0 Defensive Line
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – • –1
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – • –2 D
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – • –3 O
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – • –4 W
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – • –5 N
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – • –6 F
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – • –7 I
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – • –8 E
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – • –9 L
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – • –10 D
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – • –11
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – • –12 End Zone
7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Left Field ******** Right Field
Kicking team's half

Horizontal Diagrams
If you use play-creator or some other format that has the field placed horizontally, upfield is to the right and downfield to the left, unless you're taking a screenshot of an online game and it happens to be going the other way. Then don't sweat it, but still, left and right field are treated from the defense's perspective.

Places to Go
Now that we have our orientation, let's talk about places on the pitch that have recurrent significance in the game.

Three lines, offensive, defensive and scrimmage, refer to action in squares bordering the halfway line. The OL and DL for our purposes mean the +0 and –0 rows. They are distinct from the Line of Scrimmage, which includes both +0 and –0, from L3 to R3. A player at R4+0 is on the OL, but not on the DL or LOS. A player at R3+0 is on the OL and on the LOS.

The box is the space (field) from L3 to R3 on the defense's half of the pitch; that is, below the scrimmage lines and between the hashmarks. It extends as far downfield as the offense is credibly able to go. This could be just down to -2 if there's no way in, but it could be as deep as the opponent's best MA score, or even two deeper, depending on the likely play. Yes, that's kind of amorphous, but this isn't a bad thing.

The wings are the 6 and 7 columns on either side of the pitch. In the wing columns, the sideline comes into play. By contrast, the flanks are places where players protecting the outside of a formation can be found if not in the 6 or 7 column. For instance, if a structure wraps around the opponent, but not around the pitch (obviously, not on T1), there may be wing and/or flank players on one side, but only flank players on the other side. Likewise, a defense that doesn't cover the sidelines can be said to have flanks but no wings.

Centerfield is the 0 and 1 columns. Center back is (L1-R1)+6, the middle square of the offense's side. Kicks to center back almost never touch back. A MA6 player at center back can get to the LOS or to the end zone, without GFI'ing.

Midfield is the space in the center of the pitch, from the 3-5 column (depending on the flow of the game) inside on both sides, and up or down the pitch about 3 or 4 rows. "Midfield" is an amorphous thing, not always quite centered on the centerfield column or the LOS, but always including it, with a "center of gravity" that tracks the action and/or the ball. Faster teams yield larger midfields. The important thing is that center back is not in or near midfield, and midfield does not include the wings.

EDIT: Diagrams added
7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – • +12 End Zone
Left– –|– – – – – – –|– Right • +11
Wing –|– – – – – – –|– Wing • +10
– – – –|– –Center– –|– – – – • +9 U
– – – –|– – Field – –|– – – – • +8 P
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – • +7 F
– – – –|– – c c c – –|– – – – • +6 I
– – Left Field – – – –|– – – – • +5 E
– – – –|– – – – –Right Field– • +4 L
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – • +3 D
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – • +2
– – – –|– Midfield– –|– – – – • +1
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – • +0 Offensive Line
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – • –0 Defensive Line
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – • –1
– – – –|The Box/ – –|– – – – • –2 D
– – – –|– Midfield– –|– – – – • –3 O
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – • –4 W
– – – –|– –Center– –|– – – – • –5 N
– – – –|– – Field – –|– – – – • –6 F
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – • –7 I
– – Left Field – –Right Field– • –8 E
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – • –9 L
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – • –10 D
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – • –11
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – • –12 End Zone
7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
c= Center Back

Lines, Points and Fields
The terms line and point here are two sides of the same coin. In some places, there are two or more squares that behave similarly with respect to a player's maximum movement towards a point. In some places, there is only one square that matters, or one square bears extra significance over the others (say, a gap or soft point in a formation or only one place to lend or prevent an assist). Lines and points exist as a relationship between any given two objects, such as a player on your team, the ball, an end zone, the sideline, or an enemy tackle zone. The lines, points and fields

A field is a space within a boundary defined by two or more lines. A field includes the spaces shy of a line. If you're trying to get you MA6 player into scoring position from four squares into the opponent's half, there are a lot of places you could go, a field defined by the movement line, the [/i]scoring line[/i], and opponents' marking and/or blitzing lines. I'll talk a lot about "points" but I mean lines, points and fields when I do. I suspect points and lines will get more use than fields, but I wouldn't be surprised if I'm wrong.

All lines, points and fields exist only or primarily in teleological terms, that is, in terms of utility. There is always an infinite multitude of overlapping theoretical lines, points and fields, but any time a player makes an action only so many will be salient. Obviously, there are no fields relevant to block actions, but a block action may relate to a field (say, when following up into or out of coverage), and a line or point may relate to a block. So there are assisting points blitzing points, coverage points, marking points, hedge points, caging lines, and others. I think this kind of terminology can remain amorphous: if two coaches use different reasonable terms for different kinds of fields, it shouldn't be a major problem.

Lines, points and fields may contain modifiers based on difficulty. Again, use whatever difficulty terminology you like, so long as it makes sense. If you keep your ball-carrier behind the reasonable blitzing point or are waiting on a move because you'd gain a big edge by GFI'ing twice into an impractical coverage line, your opponent might keep his carrier in the field of free movement or wait on a move because the line he needs to get to involves a risky pair of GFIs. You'd still be talking about the same things.

So, the key terms:
Point: a place on the pitch that bears some relevance.
Line: a series of points in a row with the same functional meaning.
Field: A portion of the pitch defined by two or more lines, involving squares with the same functional meaning.

The linguistic anatomy of a point/line/field: (difficulty) (purpose) (point/line/field).

[Anglakhel]

A lot to think about so far. I need some time to digest it.

Id like to reemphasize thought the importance of consistent and clear diagrams. Use Play Creator, or something else, just be consistent and give the readers lots of clear images and diagrams to illustrate your points. It will boost clarity and reader comprehension immensely.

I'm really like the discussion thus far though.

[mattgslater]

I'm with you on the diagrams. The top part I diagrammed okay, but the rest are kind of difficult without going into InDesign or something of the sort. I can do that, but it's not going to be easy. I guess I can diagram points and lines in text or playcreator, but I'm not sure how to do it with fields.

Some questions:

1) Is this too hard to remember?

Up = offense
Down = defense
Left/Right = defensive perspective when talking about the pitch.

2) Which of these two is easier to remember?

A) With regard to all actions, left and right are from the defensive perspective; the offensive coach is working backwards, as if he were playing in a mirror. This is how it's done in a theater: stage right is to the audience's left. In that case, it's done from the actor's perspective because the audience's "actions" (watching the show) are keyed off the actor's geography. That is, the actor needs to know which way he's supposed to go, and the viewer's eyeballs follow his lead. It's also the way one plays guitar: up on the fretboard or strings is down on the tonal vibrations and sheet music.

B) When talking about players on a team, use left and right to refer to the direction the player goes. When talking about the pitch, use left and right from the defensive perspective. This is how it's done in American Football: the RDE in a 4-3 defense lines up against the LT, for example. This is because in American Football, the RDE and LT are real people who are supposed to be working in sync with other real people facing the same direction as them, and confusing one half of the team by telling them all that left is right doesn't do anybody any good (except the opponent).

[mattgslater]

Example of a situational line: the Blitz Line

It's Turn 1 of the half. You and your opponent have all your TRRs. Your non-SH team is up against High Elves with a scary Leap/Strip/Wrestle Catcher and a defense that can protect him (let's assume he has enough SS to probably prevent you from blitzing the guy). You're trying to figure out where to go with the ball so he can't hit you. The asterisks mark the "Blitz Line" at +6, beyond which the elf can't blitz.

7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – End Zone
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – –
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – –
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – –
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – +8 Freedom Line
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – +7 Marking Line
* * * *|* * * * * * *|* * * * +6 Blitz Line
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – –
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – –
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – –
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – –
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – –
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – +0 Offensive Line
– – – –|– – x x x – –|– – – – –0 Defensive Line
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – –
– – x –|– x – – – x –|– x – –
– x – –|c – – – – – x|– – x –
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – –
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – –
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – –
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – –
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – –
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – –
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – –
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – –
– – – –|– – – – – – –|– – – – End Zone
7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

The opponent won't blitz you at -7, but he might mark you. So if you're handling the ball with AG3, you should protect the player if you put him at +7. You could call that a "Marking Line" just as easily. You could also refer to +8 to +12 as a "field of freedom" or +7 to +12 as a "field of safety" or somesuch.

Once you set up, the Blitz line may change. Say the kick goes wide and you move up a double screen to hedge that player out. In that case, the Blitz line will shorten considerably. Risk tolerance may also come into play. A willingness to dodge, leap or GFI may change the player's path. An important thing to note is that lines and fields tend to be applied negatively, in terms of what the opponent can do. Points, not so much. That's not necessarily the way it goes, but more often than not.

I edited Med III by including a second diagram, showing some important "fixed" points/lines/fields on the pitch.

[mattgslater]

Oh, dear. I left out a concept with regard to the width of the pitch.

The Spine
The spine is the width of the pitch, from L7 to R7, that can be covered with players. This is largely a concept for use in hedging the width of the pitch, preventing the opponent from getting around you (no matter what side of the ball).

There are many different ways to cover the spine, but the two most basic are the seven-man "spine fence" and the five-man "spine screen".

Spine fence: players at 6, 4, 2 on each side, as well as 0. This is usually seen as a partial screen only, or as a 1TTD deep defense.
– x – x|– x – x – x –|x – x –

Spine screen: players at 6, 3 on each side, as well as 0. Full spine screens are fairly common, of course: for instance, the Arrowhead is based entirely on such a formation. Partial spine screens are even more common, such as when fronting on sideline cages.
– x – –|x – – x – – x|– – x –

These two concepts are not in any way exclusive or exhaustive. There are many ways to refer to a spine, and we'll have to figure out and explore them. For instance, this might be a partial spine zig-screen (zig-zag screen?)
– – x –|– x – – x – –|x – – –
– x – –|x – – x – – x|– – – –

while this is perhaps an "interior stack spine screen" or whatever.
– – – –|x – – x – – x|– – – –
– – – –|x – – x – – x|– – – –

I don't think we need to get too far into the vocabulary of specific variants yet. That will come with time, if it's important enough.

[Smurf]

Seriously, so far nothing new. You're just transposing American Football talk on to the BB pitch.

What about offside 'L' drives or the centre smash cage dash.

[dines]

Seriously, so far nothing new. You're just transposing American Football talk on to the BB pitch.

What about offside 'L' drives or the centre smash cage dash.

I guess that's somewhat the point. Getting a common vocabulary to easen discussions of positioning and setups. It's really hard to discuss how to place your players relative to each other unless you make a lot of diagrams OR you have some words for it.

[mattgslater]

Seriously, so far nothing new. You're just transposing American Football talk on to the BB pitch.

WTF? No. There's like, maaaaybe one true American football term in all of that. Actually, thinking about it, I'm not seeing any at all (at least not in these meditations so far). There are a couple American terms I've co-opted and twisted about, and a couple times my perspective has been informed by the way it's done in American football.

What about offside 'L' drives or the centre smash cage dash.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves. if we're methodical and patient, we'll get there. The game goeth nowhere.

[stick_with_poo_on_the_end]

Good Lord!

[Joemanji]

This has just become a massive circlejerk. Let me know when someone shows how this terminology has a useful application.

[mattgslater]

Let me know when someone shows how this terminology has a useful application.

Don't worry, Joe. It's not that far off. We've got most of the basics defined, so the applications will start to flow soon enough.

Part of what you're seeing is that I'm not entirely sure where all of this is going. I was actually kind of hoping that the community would take it farther than I can take it myself. That seems to be happening already, but it's still a young process.

If you're looking for bang-for-buck, a lot of the little concepts already covered will be good (used selectively) to help newbies understand the important patterns and tactics of the game. Examples are "screen" (new coaches tend not to see the distance between players in TZ terms until some time into their development) and "center back" as the default spot to kick to when you have no kicker. As we go along, there will be more such stuff, as well as terms and concepts to define advanced play, both describing what you're already doing, and providing a groundwork to make it easier to describe (and thus identify) new techniques.

[nick_nameless]

I think it's great stuff. Not what I had been hoping for (yet), but great for defining a context within which a discussion can be had.

Looking forward to the beginning of the discussion on tactics!

[mattgslater]

Next up, I'll put the opponent in the action. That might not be today or tomorrow, FYI. I'll talk about multiplayer structures in Med V. After that point, we'll be ready to go into more advanced discussions, which will also help us build familiarity with the spatial terminology. At that point, we'll be ready to move beyond this thread. I'll create a Cult of Position glossary for stickying when that happens.

FWIW, I think we've covered most of the more important terminology. Not saying there won't be more, but the larger your structures, the less typical they are (on the whole), and the less valuable specific terms for each structure become. Once we've got space and 2-3 player relationships down pat, we'll have our ingredients. Then we can look into specific applications, which can come along with wacky, unique terms (like playcalls in real-world sports, where each team uses the same set of tactics in its own rather unique strategy). From this, identifiable (but still not concrete) coaching styles and the accompanying lingoes will eventually develop.

Bear with. Baking bread sounds fun, but we've just about finished grinding the flour, gathering the eggs, and churning the butter.

[mattgslater]

Sorry for the delay. I hope you agree that it was worth it. This meditation is the one where I finally take the first steps going from description to prescription. Warning: tons of new terms and/or new spins on existing terms.

Meditation the Fourth

Blocking, Marking, and Coverage

Before we go any farther, I want to describe three terms that are already in the common Blood Bowl parlance. One of them has a "formal" meaning that I will stretch slightly in discussion of structural terminology. All three are things that can be done, but are discussed here in structural terms and don't necessarily imply a particular action type. For instance, blocking a player, knocking him down and following so as to keep him from moving freely is a Block action, but in this context is really a marking maneuver.

Blocking, for these purposes, is being in position to take a Block action or a replacement Block action (such as Chainsaw, Stab or Multiple Block). In structural terms, a player who is in position to retaliate with a block of his own is part of a blocking structure. Of course, the line of scrimmage at kickoff is a blocking structure, as is the act of marking a prone "immobile" player like a Zombie or Saurus, who will just stand up and get hit again next turn.

Marking is the act of hindering a player's movement by putting a Tackle Zone on him. Some marking is done against standing players, to force the player to block or dodge, while other marking is done against prone players to force them to do nothing or dodge. Some marking is intended to waste an action, while other marking is intended to force die rolls and possible reprioritization. Some formations are both blocking and marking formations; for instance, pinning a prone player down so he has to stand and be done, and so you can hit him on the next turn.

Sometimes the line between a blocking formation and a marking formation is unclear. For instance, this could be either formation.
– a 1 –

If "a" is a High Elf Lineman with Dodge and "1" is an Ogre, this is a marking formation, because the elf will not block the Ogre, instead preventing him from doing anything more valuable than blocking the poor target in front of him. If "a" is a Black Orc Blocker and "1" is a prone Zombie, it's a blocking formation, because "1" will just stand up and get ready to take another hit.

Coverage is the act of hindering a player's movement by interposing a Tackle Zone in his path. Coverage is generally a means of frustrating standing players who would be able to block a marking player and thereby open a hole and/or potentially injure or frustrate your own man. Coverage never wastes enemy actions, but it can interfere with opposing strategies and/or force dodges or blitzes. Unlike marking formations, coverage formations are never used as blocking formations in and of themselves, though it is possible to combine marking or blocking positions with coverage, pushing the opponent into the covering player and dropping a "secondary" block in the event of a pushback. Coverage is only used against prone players either in conjunction with a marker, or in the event that your player is not sufficiently mobile to mark the prone player (or the prone player is not sufficiently mobile to blitz the covering player, as is the case sometimes with Mummies or Treemen).

An example of a coverage formation:
– 1 –
– – –
– a –

"1" cannot move straight downfield, or even diagonally, without dodging, and will have to "waste" a square of movement going around "a" or risk an AG roll.


Hedging, Caging, and Fronting

Coverage, marking and blocking are tactical terms to describe interactions between two or more players on different teams. Hedging, the use of a structure to inhibit movement, is a broad term of the same sort, including caging and fronting, terms to describe the relationship between structures and strategic objectives. As with the above terms, these are purely teleological in nature.Caging is the use of a hedging structure of any sort to protect the ball. Fronting is the use of a hedging structure to prevent the opponent from advancing the ball, without attacking it directly. Hedging may involve blocking, coverage, or marking formations, and may even involve multiple formations of different sorts.

An example of a hedge:
– 1 – – –
– – – – –
– a – – b

I don't think I need to post examples of cages or fronts: if I'm wrong, let me know.

Locks, Traps, and Partitions

There are many different kinds of coverage/marking/blocking structures. Here are three different ways to use these structures.

Locks are marking and coverage formations that force the defender to dodge into coverage (or away from the action) or not move at all. Locks may also be used as blocking formations: if the marking player pushes the opponent, the other player (marking or covering) is free to lay a hit.

Fence lock
– a 1 b –
Here, "b" is free to assist "a" in the block, but "1" can blitz his way free by blocking in either direction.

Screen lock
– a 1 – b –
Here, 1 can only blitz to the left, but "b" cannot lend an assist in the event of a block. Generally, it's better to use fence locks on prone players and screen locks on standing players, but there are many exceptions to this. Generally, it is better in the case of a screen lock to have the marking player on the backside of the play, again with plenty of exceptions.

Edge lock
– a 1 – –
– – – b –
In this case, the opponent is free to dodge upfield into the clear. On the other hand, a pair of blocks can force the defender upfield, which may be situationally valuable.

Traps are structures (usually blocking structures, but not always) intended to discourage or punish follow-ups. A trap consists of a tight formation like a zig, zag or stack, where one player is exposed and the other protected. Blocking the front player doesn't open a hole, and blocking and following exposes the opponent to a block on your turn.

Example of a trap
– 1 a b –

FWIW, "trap" is the second American football term that I use here to provide a meaning similar to its AmF meaning. The first was "stack".

Partitions are structures (usually coverage structures) intended to prevent opponents from leaving a particular quadrant of the field. Partitions tend to be large, multiplayer structures, and are primarily a tool used by bash teams to stop breakaways and to increase the number of available blocks. In a way, a partition is the opposite of a cage: a cage keeps defenders out of a formation, while a partition keeps the opponent inside the formation. I could diagram partitions on request, but such a diagram would be larger, and I feel lazy. Besides, the term rightly belongs in Meditation the Fifth, which will be about multiplayer formations.

There are many other kinds of formation. Can you think of some? Remember to express these formations in teleological terms; that is, to talk of them in the sense of what they're used for.

[mattgslater]

Hmmm... needs a little cleanup, perhaps. I can see how hedging, caging, fronting and partitioning properly belong in the next meditation. But no matter, the concepts of blocking/marking/coverage formations should bring some clarity to existing terminology, while locks and traps are both basic and underexplored.

After MedV, I think I'll be ready to put together a glossary.