Article: Screening

[mattgslater]

Covering Coverage, Part 1: Screening
By Matt Slater

Don't want your opponents to get through your guys? Put your guys two squares apart. This forms a "screen" of tackle zones, which can challenge or seal off an opponent. If you put them three squares apart, somebody will run right down the middle. Putting them one square apart reduces the amount of space you cover. But two exactly squares lets you cover the maximum width without gaps.

Really, the screen is a fundamental element of Blood Bowl. Even if you never put a name to it, you're probably screening all over the place, on offense and defense. The objective here isn't to tell an experienced coach anything he or she doesn't know, but rather to put the intuitive truths of Blood Bowl into language, so they can be evaluated in context.

This article, and all others in the series, will make extensive use of text diagrams. This will be my key for all diagrams on this thread and similar threads.

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. Uncovered square.
- Covered square (one or more TZs). 
+ Opponent's TZ (if relevant).
= Covered by both teams.
• Highlighted path.
A,B…K Player.
Z,Y…P Opponent.
Lowercase (a,z, etc.) Prone player.
1,2…9 Point of interest.
O Ball.
∑ Carrier.

A screen always has two or more players, who always have two empty squares between them along one axis of the board, and fewer than two along the other axis. There are three different kinds of screens: Oblique Screens, Edge Screens and Square Screens. Which is which is dependent on how far apart the two players are on the "short" axis of the screen. Also included in this diagram is the "broken" screen, which looks like a screen but is not.

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Screens  
Oblique Screen Edge Screen    Square Screen  Broken Screen
- A - . .      - A - . .      . - A - .      A - . . .      
- - - . .      - - - . .      . - - - .      - - . . .      
. . - - -      . - - - .      . - - - .      . . - - -      
. . - B -      . - B - .      . - B - .      . . - B -      

The fourth diagram is not a screen, because there is a way in without dodging.

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Walking Through a Broken Screen
- - - . . Z
- A - . • .
- - - • . .
. . • - - -
. • . - B -

That doesn't make a broken screen worthless, just less valuable. To follow that route, a player at Z in the diagram below must move horizontally one space, which costs 2MA if he's trying to go down the field.

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Broken Screen Costs Player Z 2MA.
- A - . • • Z
- - - • . . .
. . • - - - .
. . • - B - .

Unless supported, most screens are subject to being negated or curtailed by blocking. Do remember this: if a screen saves you, it's because it stopped your opponent from blitzing the right guy or redirected him into some other action. But this is hardly a marginal skill: proper use of screens and similar, tighter formations like fences and walls, is the bread-and-butter of pitch control, and key to winning games.

The weakest kind of screen is the Oblique Screen.

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Oblique Screen
- - - . .
- A - . .
- - - . .
. . - - -
. . - B -
. . - - -

This is good enough if the opponent has no players who would risk a dodge in the circumstances, but it's just one +1 dodge to go through the middle, not enough to deter a committed elf or ghoul.

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Beating the Oblique Screen
. - - - . .
. - A - . Z
. - - - • .
. . . • - -
. . 1 - B -  1: Dodge, no penalty.
. Z . - - -

Or, if the ball-carrier or other target ∑ is positioned to help cover, it's a dodge at -1.

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. - - - . .
. - A - . Z
. - - - • .
- - - • - -
- ∑ 1 - B -  1: Dodge into 1 TZ.
- - - - - -

That doesn't mean there's no use for oblique screens. Except against AG4 opponents with Dodge, you can really deter an opponent with an oblique screen, especially if the opponent is not much at dodging (AG3 unskilled, perhaps) or will also have to Go For It. You can use an oblique screen to encourage an opponent to take a longer route and cover less or less desirable ground. Oblique screens work well on the kicking setup to protect fragile players: it's silly to risk dodges to blitz a guy just 'cause he's easy to lump up on. And you can complement a stronger formation with an oblique screen to cover an undesirable "way out" or add an extra layer of challenge. But protecting the ball with an unsupported oblique screen is asking for trouble, even against an AG3 team.

Tougher than the oblique screen is the Edge Screen. In an edge screen, the two players aren't in the same line, but they're only one square off. An edge screen will hedge out AG3 players pretty readily, and is much easier to support as well.

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Edge Screen
. - - - . .
. - A - . .
. - - - . .
. . - - - .
. . - B - .
. . - - - .

The edge screen is a little tougher to crack: you can blitz a hole in it, sure, but to dodge in is two dodges, one of them at a penalty.

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Dodging Through the Edge Screen
. - - - . -
. - A - . Z
. - - - • .
. . - • - .
. . 1 B - .  1: Dodge at -1.
. 2 - - - .  2: Dodge, no penalty.

Edge screens are more challenging to dodge through than oblique screens, and can make a go-round harder on one side than on the other. This is very useful when the purpose of the screen is to direct traffic rather than to keep out a dedicated opponent.
Most of the time, the edge-screen is good enough, maybe with some support if you need it to protect the ball. When it's not, usually no screen would be sufficient. But against an elf with Dodge, a 3+/2+ with a re-roll is hardly a desperation play. Fret not: there is a way to make your screens stronger still!

The toughest kind of screen is the Square Screen. Square screens are formed when two players stand on the same level, two squares apart. Unless it's worth a blitz just to break the screen, a square screen forces the opponent to go round.

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Square Screen
. - - - . .
. - A - . -
. - - - . .
. - - - . .
. - B - . .
. - - - . .

The Square Screen can block off almost a full quarter of the board, and getting past it means either going all the way around, Leaping, or blitzing one of the screen players. Dodging through an unsupported square screen is two dodges at -1 and a third dodge at no penalty.

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Square Screen as Hedge
. . • •|• . .
. • 1 -|2 • .  1,2: player Z may dodge from these squares to save 1MA.
. • - A|- . Z  8 squares to blitz ball carrier without dodging.
- • - -|- . .  
- ∑ - -|- . .
- • - B|- . Y  7 squares; 
. • 4 -|3 • .  3: player Y may dodge to save one move; 4: same, at -1.
. . • •|• . .

It's never optimal to protect the ball with just two guys, but here you see how a slower team can be hedged out with just a couple of TZs. If player Z is a Wight and Y is a Zombie, the opponent will have to settle for blitzing A or B and putting a TZ on the ball. Note, "Sigma" could easily be the gatekeeper, rather than the ball-carrier.

A screen can have more than two players, and two screens can work together. Let's look at some popular defenses for how a screen can benefit a team on the initial kickoff.

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202 Arrowhead
. . . .|- E - N - E -|. . . .
. - - -|- - - - - - -|- - - .
- - F -|- - - M - - -|- F - -
- W - -|M - - - - - M|- - W -
- - - -|- - - S - - -|- - - -
. . . .|. . - - - . .|. . . .

The backbone of the "Arrowhead" is a series of screens. The winger and the midfielder form a square screen, so there's no positional benefit to blitzing a flanker. For this reason, flankers are often game-changer types: they're far enough up to break into the backfield, but knocking them down doesn't make a hole. The three midfielders collectively form a screen to protect the safety and centerfield, essentially partitioning the pitch in advance.

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101 Ziggurat
. . . .|. - E N E - .|. . . .
. - - -|- - - - - - -|- - - .
- - F -|- M - . - M -|- F - -
- W - -|S -  . . . - S|- - W -
- - - -|- - . . . - -|- - - -

In this defense, the safeties are protected by the midfielder-flanker screen, forcing the action into the midfielders or wings. As in the Arrowhead, knocking the flankers down fails to open a hole. If a player from the line is pushed standing into the square directly behind the noseguard (say, with Side Step), he then forms an oblique screen with the safeties, functioning essentially as a "centerfielder"-style midfielder.

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Deep defense against two-turn offenses.
. . . .|- E - N - E -|. . . .
. . . -|- - - - - - -|- . . .
. - - -|M - - M - - M|- - - .
. - F -|- - - - - - -|- F - .
. - - -|S - - - - - S|- - - .
. . . -|- - - S - - -|- . . .

Here, there are numerous deep screens to hold out elf-types. Note that the wide squares are exposed in this formation, but the deep safety is both shallow enough to pick up Leapers and deep enough to break to either side and front up on even the fastest player.

Screens aren't just for initial setup, either. You can protect an intended receiver, hedge an opponent off the ball-carrier to force a blitz, cover a player you wouldn't intend to mark, and so much more! I'll be going over other types of coverage, and the times and places to use them, and which players to put in given situations, in future articles.

Until then, happy hitting!

-- Matt Slater

[mattgslater]

Made significant updates. Changed title to "Screening" so as not to confuse AmF fans who thought I was talking about a short passing game with misdirection (though funny enough, screen passes in BB usually do make heavy use of screens, changed tildes to more visible periods, added diagram on "broken" screens, and fixed error in diagram on edge screens.

Next up: Screens on offense: screen cages, screen passes, screens for protection!

[s031720]

Interesting work, I will definately follow this thread.

One remark, placing a screen with the players onlye one square apart will help them preventing a blitz-through, especially against teams withouht guard. Or is this what you call "walls?" and if so, I hope you will make a write up about that aswell.

[/code]

[mattgslater]

Yeah. I'm going to go to "walls" pretty soon, where two friendly players put zones directly on each other. After that, I'll look at the half-measure, the "fence." But one thing at a time, no?

[voyagers_uk]

Thanks Matt, I have printed this to look at in more detail...

[Grumbledook]

finally had the time to read through this, good stuff

though what is a "gatekeeper"

[voyagers_uk]

surely the counterpart of "The Keymaster"

between them they open the portal to Zool

[Craigtw]

Thanks Matt, I have printed this to look at in more detail...

Ditto. Need some more time and lack of computer screen to get my head around this.

[Jural]

Key additions- how to deal with leap, stunty, dodge, and where to position diving tackle, and tackle players.

Also, One interesting use of Kick-Off return is to set up a screen with an already positioned player to stop a blitz or a full capitalization on an early turnover.