Warpstone Avengers

[Borke]

Continuing with the heavyweights, we get:

 

Renis - Särimner Feast - Norse

 

Right, this is what I've been afraid of. Or not? There are certainly a lot of stat increases on the team, let's start with: A Blodge/SS/+ST/+AG Runner. Ok, that's definitely a problem. A JU/Block/MB/+AG ... Ulfwerener? Man, you have to be some sort of clairvoyant to take the JU at the start there. He's a pretty useful player now, but damn expensive, too. A Blodge/SS/Diving Catch/NOS Runner. So that's the plan for winning matches, definitely a priority to take out. And then we have +AV, on three (!!!) players: The Yhetee, as well as both Berserkers. One of the Berserkers is going to be annoying with Tackle and Pro, but the other and the Yhetee are rookies apart from the +AV. And finally, the team features two Throwers, both without skills. Overall, you get 1890 TV in this monster of a team, but only very few threats - so all their power might be gone quickly. Whether or not we can beat them very much depends on the health of those Runners and the Ulfwerener at the time. If we can't take them out, it might be difficult, but otherwise I see this as a possible win.

[C2MC]

I'm pretty sure Pidpad intentionally put you in a Division with two Halfling teams.

[Borke]

29 minutes ago, C2MC said:

I'm pretty sure Pidpad intentionally put you in a Division with two Halfling teams.

 

Yes, that is my suspicion as well!

[Borke]

Continuing on with the high TV teams, we have:

 

DakaMan - DakaMancers 2.0 - Necromantic

 

This team is a strong candidate for the division title, even though at 1910 TV they will be giving away inducements in almost every match. They've got two AG4 players: A Blodge/SS/Fend/+AG Ghoul and a MB/Guard/+AG Wight. The other Wight has +ST/MB/Leader, which brings the team to 3 rerolls (so he's a high value target, if we can get him alone early on). One of the Wolves is a simple Blodger, the other is a killer with Blodge/SS/Tackle/MB (but a movement bust). Both of the Golems have Dodge, one is coupled with Block, the other with MB. The team has enough agility to outplay the bash teams, and more than enough muscle to bash down all the other AG3 teams. I predict a loss for our Avengers, but we'll fight for it, of course!

[Larkstar]

Hmm, can anyone do this?

 

Larkstar - Dirty Fockers - Halfling

 

This team is coached by an amazing guy!  He's handsome, which doesn't really matter for Blood Bowl purposes, but certainly helps out in everyday life!  Oh, and he's smart.  No, he's smarter than smart!  Since the Dirty Fockers beat the Warpstone Avengers in their inaugural match, there's probably no real reason to play this?  Right?  So let's just give Larkstar the win and move on!

 

As for the team.  Meh.  They should be taken for granted.  Why on earth would anyone take Jump Up on a Treeman?  Can Trees even jump?  And since the other Treeman hasn't rolled a double you can safely ignore them both.  That ST 3 Halfling cage diver?  Sounds like someone has "Puggy-envy!"  Total bloat if you ask me.  The Dirty Player Fling is probably just there for theme.  Honestly, I doubt he even sees the pitch.  Then there's that Halfling with a couple Green things by his stats.  Hardly worth anyone's time to see what they are.  Most likely just a couple of leaves fell off the trees.  

 

In summary:  Larkstar = Cool; Dirty Fockers = Not Worth Your Time; solution is to not show up for the match and everything will work out fine!

[Borke]

You think you can come here and start spreading fake news, @Larkstar? Oh no, not on my blog!

 

Larkstar - Dirty Fockers - Halfling 

 

These gits are evil, cheating killers! Larkstar plays a mean Fling game, as evidenced by his success in the OCB and the CCL. He will get the maximum out of the weak, frail underdogs, even without cheating and giving them every double or stat you can name. But in the case of the Dirty Fockers, he has done just that: We've got a +ST/Sure Feet Fling (for cage diving), a Block Fling (decent all-rounder), a Block/+AG/+MA Fling (basically a demi-god among Flings, who can carry, fly and even pass, if necessary), a Dirty Player Fling (almost as important to a good Fling team as the +AG Fling), a Jump Up/BT Tree (for the other kind of cage dive, or just general blitzing), and a Guard/Grab Tree (which I'm pretty sure Larkstar will mostly use to set up better fouls).

 

The one silver lining, at least for the Avengers, is that all these stats and doubles mean that Larkstar is sitting at 1130 TV, so he might be getting only 500k against us, which is a pittance for Flings. Against Tys, Larkstar is even giving away inducements, around 300k, and against Zulu's Zons he's barely getting 150k. So it all depends on whether the elite players on Larkstar's team will have enough opportunity to pull their weight against many teams. Against the Avengers, I'm sure they will - I think this is a very hard matchup for us. But overall, I don't think Larkstar will rise above the mid-field of the division.

[Borke]

Let's see, three teams left? Might as well cover them all in one go!

 

Tys123 - Fling the F'ing 'Fling - Halfling

 

There's number 2 of the dreaded Halfling teams. Tys is a very experienced coach as well, but his team is quite a bit less developed than Larkstar's. That doesn't mean he didn't also cheat with his level up rolls, as he's fielding a Block/Jump Up Tree, and a +MA Tree. Those are invaluable, making any attempt at knocking over the Trees rather futile. In the Fling department, on the other hand, Tys has been less fortunate. Only two of his current Flings have a skill, Diving Tackle. It's always good to have a few of those around, but they aren't going to be big play makers. So Tys' plan is going to be fairly straight-forward: Slowly advance the cage, while smashing in some heads and hoping not to roll too many 1s on "Take Root". If that fails, Fling a Fling and pray. I'm not looking forward to this match, either, though I think our chances of winning are better. But it's going to be painful... It'll be interesting to see whether Tys' traditional low TV team will achieve better results, or whether Larkstar's "Flings on Steroids" will prevail.

 

3rkons - Kernkraftwerk BB - Lizardman

 

Man, I hate going up against Lizardman teams. It always seems like they are simply better at everything, compared to Underworld. More strength, better movement, better big guy... But on the other hand, their team is expensive, and the Saurii are very afraid of Claw. Let's see what they bring to the table for 1810 TV: The first, obvious item on the list is certainly Hg-Atom, the +AG/Blodge/SS/Sure Feet Skink. He can score safely from quite far away, and that's going to be the real threat. I've got the perfect counters in my Wrestle/Tackle Linemen, but they'll have a hard time getting to this slippery bastard before it's too late. The rest of the Skink lineup is more mundane: Two Dodge/SS Skinks, and one +MA/Diving Tackle - annoying, but I can handle that. As for the Saurii, 5 of them have Block, but only one Tackle, and one Frenzy/MB. Two Guard, one of which is on the Krox. Winning this match is going to be an uphill battle, 3rkons' score sheet so far is impressive. But perhaps I can kill that little Skink git, that would make me forget the pain...

 

Zulu501 - Sugar n Spice - Amazon

 

And finally we have Zulu and his Zons. 1280 TV only, so almost everyone will be giving away at least a Wizard and a Bribe against them. They've got three Blodge/Guard players so far (though one just received a Niggle, so not sure if she stays on). One Blitzer with Blodge/Tackle/MB. The Thrower has Blodge/Leader/SH. One Linewoman with +AG. And there's the obligatory Dirty Player. Zulu can certainly cause some mayhem with that squad and inducements, but I'm wondering if he's particularly happy to have been promoted. He's lost two developed players recently, the extreme TV efficiency of his squad was not completely by design. I think the Avengers can win this matchup - but then, I've been wrong before, and Zulu is a great coach

[C2MC]

12 minutes ago, Borke said:

3rkons - Kernkraftwerk BB - Lizardman

 

3rkons' a pretty swell coach. I bet he's not looking forward to getting Clawed, though.

Better protect those Blitzers with all you've got.

[Borke]

First match of the season is tonight, against MaidenManiac's Nurgle team. I think it'll be tough to win (unless his Beast rolls lots of 1s), but I have hopes of getting out relatively unscathed, due to the lack of MB on the team.

 

Kickoff is 19:00 UTC!

[C2MC]

13 hours ago, Borke said:

First match of the season is tonight, against MaidenManiac's Nurgle team. I think it'll be tough to win (unless his Beast rolls lots of 1s), but I have hopes of getting out relatively unscathed, due to the lack of MB on the team.

 

Glart Smashrip Jr. tried his best to carry you, but his shoulders weren't broad enough.

[Borke]

35 minutes ago, C2MC said:

 

Glart Smashrip Jr. tried his best to carry you, but his shoulders weren't broad enough.

 

Indeed, he was amazing, I'm happy with the investment. However, the attrition in the first half meant that I was never going to stop the Nurgle from scoring on turn 8, let alone steal the ball. The one-turner didn't work, and I can't really stall very well, so in the end we lost 1-2. Not even the 5 double skulls by MaidenManiac were able to salvage the match for me (though it got a little close in the end, as he ran out of rerolls for the final push, a failed 3+ or 2+ without any reroll could have saved the 1-1 for me).

 

The worst part is that 2 out of my 3 Tackle pieces are MNG for next week. And guess what we are playing? Zons ...

[Alessus]

2 hours ago, Borke said:

The worst part is that 2 out of my 3 Tackle pieces are MNG for next week. And guess what we are playing? Zons ...

Zulu has to be happy about that.

[Bantha]

8 hours ago, Alessus said:

Zulu has to be happy about that.

He Iz, Zuper Zappy!.. (you pronounce it as you have a clod.)

[Borke]

The match against Zulu's Zons went exactly as well as expected, which is to say: Not at all well. We induced Skitter Stab Stab, which meant that we had exactly two tools to deal with all those Blodgers: One Wrestle/Tackle Linerat, and one Stabby Stabber. The Linerat was KOed early and I believe never woke up. The Stabby Stabber was injured at the end of the first half, but not before he heroically took out a Blodger BH. That didn't prevent Zulu from scoring, of course, it just inconvenienced him a bit.

 

I don't have the dice stats, but I don't think Zulu failed any dodges (granted, he didn't have to make that many, either, but still). Add to that our inability to take anyone down, and you've got the exercise in futility that this match was for us.

 

Anyway, onwards and upwards, this week's opponent is the Wyld Green Stompas coached by Mash (an Orc team, of course). They've got three Tackle Blitzers, but only one with MB (and PO of course, for good measure). Only one Guard on his team, and an extra strong Thrower to carry the ball. Everyone has Block, more or less, and two of the Blorcs also have MB. We get 90k in inducements, and we play at home. I'm thinking replace the injured Gobbo from last match and get a babe.

 

Overall, we have the mobility to win this one, and the Claw/MB to inflict some pain along the way, but we're also going to feel the pain ourselves. Should be interesting!

[C2MC]

11 minutes ago, Borke said:

The match against Zulu's Zons went exactly as well as expected, which is to say: Not at all well. We induced Skitter Stab Stab, which meant that we had exactly two tools to deal with all those Blodgers: One Wrestle/Tackle Linerat, and one Stabby Stabber. The Linerat was KOed early and I believe never woke up. The Stabby Stabber was injured at the end of the first half, but not before he heroically took out a Blodger BH. That didn't prevent Zulu from scoring, of course, it just inconvenienced him a bit.

 

I don't have the dice stats, but I don't think Zulu failed any dodges (granted, he didn't have to make that many, either, but still). Add to that our inability to take anyone down, and you've got the exercise in futility that this match was for us.

 

I'm not the most experienced coach, but I feel like every game against Amazons just "feels" awful.

Even if you have a few pieces to deal with the Dodge, there's never enough (unless you're playing Dwarfs/Chorfs).

[Alessus]

1 hour ago, C2MC said:

 

I'm not the most experienced coach, but I feel like every game against Amazons just "feels" awful.

Even if you have a few pieces to deal with the Dodge, there's never enough (unless you're playing Dwarfs/Chorfs).

And then when you are the Amazon coach and the opponent just keeps on rolling those pows, the dodge matter very little., personally just experienced this on Ukbbl league as I played 6 games, 4 of which were good and where I was either slightly lucky or average and then the 2 last games I just couldn't keep my players on the pitch or at least standing as my opponents rolled above average number of pows and the av7 didn't hold up especially in the last match that basically cost me half the development I had had with the team up until that point with deaths and career ending injuries.

 

So I think in the end, just as with a lot of teams it does come down to the dice on which coach might feel frustrated, but the further up the TV we go, the more likely it is going to be the Amazon coach, as people get more tackle and since Amazons are the exact same statline all around, unless they get stat ups they start to feel really stymied at higher TVs even more than other somewhat similar teams like Humans, Bretonnians and Norse I'd say.

Edited March 26, 2018 by Alessus

[Borke]

I don't mind going up against developed Zons with a developed Underworld team. It's not the best of matchups, because my Claw will do nothing, and they will probably have several MB/Tackle themselves, which destroys my Gobbos, but I feel I can fight back. This particular match, though, was frustrating, because my Tackle didn't have MB, and the Stabber was very vulnerable to the counter-blitz - and I knew that I had the right player for the job, he was just MNG.

[Borke]

MD3 the Avengers finally get on the score board, with a 2-1 over Mash's Wyld Green Stompas. And it was Professor Pesticide who made it possible, more or less. He got 4 casualties, 2 of which were kills, and a KO. And he also scored one of the touchdowns.

 

Tiny got the MVP and now sits at 13 SPP, and Dr. Weevil leveled again. It's a normal roll, and so far he's got +AG/MB/Claw. I can see several different ways he could go - Two Heads for even more mobility, Horns to become a one rat hunting team, or another Tackle, so he can hunter Blodgers finally. I'm leaning towards the latter.

 

Next up are Alessus' Brets - a match that I feel is winnable, but it's hard work, and we will be up against a Wizard + Bribe, I'm going to guess.

[C2MC]

2 minutes ago, Borke said:

MD3 the Avengers finally get on the score board, with a 2-1 over Mash's Wyld Green Stompas. And it was Professor Pesticide who made it possible, more or less. He got 4 casualties, 2 of which were kills, and a KO.

 

Mash seemed keen on Blitzing/Blocking everything except for your Blitzers and he got punished hard for it. Even after two of his Orc Blitzers rolled a Death, he didn't shy away from basing up your Stormvermin and then just leaving his players there for you to get Blocks off. I'm very curious if there was any specific game-plan or strategy he had in mind.

[Alessus]

On ‎30‎.‎3‎.‎2018 at 12:07 AM, Borke said:

Next up are Alessus' Brets - a match that I feel is winnable, but it's hard work, and we will be up against a Wizard + Bribe, I'm going to guess.

 

Depending on how badly the Nurgle decide to paste my Brets, we might be getting a lot more inducements.

 

Edit: Matter of fact the Nurgles only gave me a very light pasting so only my DP peasant is out for our match.

Edited April 2, 2018 by Alessus

[Borke]

Time for an update!

 

The match against Alessus' Brets has been played. They came in with 160k lower TV, so since it was a home game, I decided to throw in an extra 10k to get the Bomber. Alessus induced a Wizard to go with his Journeyman, and we proceeded to the pitch.

 

Alessus decided to receive first, perhaps in an effort to try and reduce our Goblin numbers a bit to the point where we'd have to expose the more dangerous players. I decided to put the Bomber on the field right away and use him as a distraction. My plan payed off (not that Bomber did anything remarkable, but he was a perfect 10k distraction until he got injured around turn 4 or 5), while Alessus' plan didn't as much. The first few removals were KOs inflicted by our lovely duo Dr. Weevil and Professor Pesticide. We weren't able to keep Alessus from scoring, ultimately, but we were able to put up enough pressure that he had to score early, leaving us 3 turns to equalize. Those 3 turns turned out to be tense, but in the end a pass action to a Goblin secured the 1-1 at half time.

 

For the second half, Alessus started out outnumbered (as he had only brought 11 players to begin with, and I think one or two were already out at this point), but he still had the Wizard in hand. We moved up cautiously, trying to keep up a solid screen to protect the ball. I believe it was turn 9 or 10 when Alessus decided that it wouldn't get any better and pulled the trigger with a Fireball. This took down 2 players (one leaving the field BH) and allowed him to aggressively base our team, including the ball carrier. The following two turns were tense, as I tried to extricate Claw Finger from the surrounding Bretonnians. First we moved him left with minimal support, but far enough that if Alessus didn't go after him, he'd be off and away. When Alessus did follow and base him again, I swung him back to the center, into a makeshift cage. Alessus made a final attempt, but this time I was able to break away clean, and take out more players in the process, including one of the star Blitzers for the Grand Templars with a -ST - ouch! This sealed the deal, and while I moved the cage into a safe position, Alessus hit and fouled my Troll and some Goblin a few times. 2-1 at the whistle!

 

So we've got back into shape, now on a 2-0-2 record, after that bad start into the season. I have to say I love my +MA/Extra Arm Thrower. His superior movement allowed me to do some extreme plays in this match.

 

We got 3 levels in total from it as well. Firstly The Splash, our rookie Thrower leveled - I think I'll give him Block to start with, he usually takes on a supporting role and gets put in the line of fire occasionally, so that should help. Eventually he's going to get some mutations as well, unless he rolls +AG. Claw Finger also leveled, and even though he doesn't have Block yet and could probably use it, I think I will give him Two Heads first. Many opponents manage to hit my cage corners occasionally, and I like having the option of just dodging away on a 2+ if he's based. Finally Professor Pesticide leveled. With Claw/MB/Tackle, one could be tempted to go for Piling On to increase the removal rate, but I'm not sure I'm comfortable going that way. Underworld have a hard time keeping a strong line, and in the past I've found that once a Skaven Blitzer goes down, especially on my drive, I have to abandon him or try some 3+ or even 4+ dodges, cause the opponent will easily isolate him. Therefore I'm rather looking at Horns, Juggernaut, possibly Frenzy, Guard or Stand Firm, maybe even Two Heads, and go for the hit and run aprroach.

 

Next up is the first of the dreaded Fling matches against Larkstar!

[C2MC]

2 Fling matches later.

 

[Borke]

Well, a bit, yes @C2MC

 

For everyone else: I lost 0-2 to @Tys123 and his Flings. It wasn't even close. It was helped by the fact that the Trees never rooted and the ref was particularly blind to all the fouls Tys threw at me, but of course Tys also played well.

 

And additionally, I maintain that Flings are a very difficult matchup for Underworld. It's all but impossible for me to get a good shot at the Trees, Zara is usually easy to hide, and with one blitz on a Fling per turn, unless every single one of them results in a removal, I'm not going to put pressure on them.

 

I could have put Tys under a bit more pressure, sure, and if you watched the match, you might wonder why I didn't. I had my Two Heads/Horns Gobbo sitting there the whole time, and there were several opportunities when I could have gone for a 2d blitz on his ball carrier. But the thing is: I can probably do that only once, and afterwards I get punished hard, because I had to base his Trees, and now my poor sacker Gobbo is going to get blocked down and fouled. In this match, preservation of the team was much more important to me than a good result.

 

We still lost The Splash, who just got Block, and we will be missing Professor Pesticide and the Two Heads/Horns Gobbo next match, the Apo was gone, and so yeah, I didn't feel like risking more players on the off chance of stealing a draw.

 

And here's the thing: In any other matchup, I'll be cheering for the Flings, cause they will be the underdogs. But when it's Underworld vs. Flings, I know that the Flings are the bullies. I'm glad those matches are behind me now.

[C2MC]

1 hour ago, Borke said:

We still lost The Splash, who just got Block, and we will be missing Professor Pesticide and the Two Heads/Horns Gobbo next match, the Apo was gone, and so yeah, I didn't feel like risking more players on the off chance of stealing a draw.

 

When you finally went in for the Blitz on the Tree and missed, even with a reroll, my heart broke a little.

Especially because there was no way in hell the retaliation from the Tree wouldn't crunch Professor Pesticide's skull, hard.

[Larkstar]

You know what they say.  If you can't beat em, join em!