Studio Filthy-Floor: Home of the P'Elvic Thrust

[Suido]

Studio Filthy-Floor*

 

Welcome to the home of the sexiest strutters to ever grace the bloodbowl pitch. Please listen to the following pubic service announcement:

 

 

Slip into something sexy, take your sensory enhancers of choice and prepare your body. P’Elvic Thrust are gonna rock your old world.

 

*I thought of this joke just now after starting to write this. So I logged in to BB2 to see if I could update whatever stupid stadium name I'd thought of a couple of weeks ago when I made the team. Turns out I'd called the stadium Studio 54. Two-weeks-ago-Suido and Now-Suido are nicely synced, but Now-Suido is funnier.

[Suido]

Placeholder post for contents, index, up-to-date information on the team, that sort of thing.

 

 

Updated at end of Season 16

 

Current Roster

Number	Position	Name	Version	Status	First	Last	Missed	Total	SPPs	Injuries	Skill 1	Skill 2	Skill 3	Skill 4	Skill 5	Skill 6
1	Blitzer	Freddie Mercury	2	Active	69	72	0	4	6		Dodge
4	Catcher	James Brown	1	Active	4	72	3	66	130		Wrestle	MA	Leap	Tackle	Strip
5	Catcher	Lenny Kravitz	2	Active	46	72	1	26	58	-AG	AG	Wrestle	Leap	Tackle
6	Catcher	Elvis Presley	2	Active	66	72	0	7	34		Dodge	Block	SS
7	Thrower	David Bowie	1	Active	8	72	1	64	116		Acc	Strong	SH	Dodge	Block
10	Lineman	Justin Timberlake	4	Active	60	72	0	13	17		Block	Dodge
12	Lineman	Ricky Martin	4	Active	50	72	2	21	17	-AV	Block	Dodge
14	Lineman	Usher	5	Active	61	72	0	12	11		Block
15	Lineman	Bill Bailey	5	Active	64	72	0	9	6		Block

 

The Superstar Hall of Fame

Number

Position

Name

Version

Status

First

Last

Missed

Total

SPPs

Injuries

Skill 1

Skill 2

Skill 3

Skill 4

Skill 5

Skill 6

2

Blitzer

Jimi Hendrix

2

Dead

10

68

2

57

77

N

Dodge

Tackle

AG

ST

Fend

4

Catcher

James Brown

1

Active

4

72

3

66

130

Wrestle

MA

Leap

Tackle

Strip

5

Catcher

Lenny Kravitz

1

Dead

5

45

41

103

Block

MB

Tackle

Dodge

AG

6

Catcher

Elvis Presley

1

Ret

14

45

32

78

MA

MA

Sprint

SureF

SideS

Dodge

7

Thrower

David Bowie

1

Active

8

72

1

64

116

Acc

Strong

SH

Dodge

Block

 

Key statistics:

Matches: 72

W/D/L: 27-16-29

 

Touchdowns: 124-107 (+17)

Casualties: 59-181 (-122)

Deaths: 9-27 (-18)

 

Rostered players used: 46

Journeymen used: 72

Mercs/Stars used: 16

 

[Suido]

Starting Roster

Roster - 11 Players   # Name Position Ma St Ag Av Value Spp Skills Injuries 1 Freddie Mercury Blitzer 7 3 4 8 110.000 0   2 Jimi Hendrix Blitzer 7 3 4 8 110.000 0   3 Mick Jagger Catcher 8 3 4 7 100.000 0   9 Pharrell Williams Lineman 6 3 4 7 60.000 0     10 Justin Timberlake Lineman 6 3 4 7 60.000 0     11 Bruno Mars Lineman 6 3 4 7 60.000 0     12 Ricky Martin Lineman 6 3 4 7 60.000 0     13 Michael Jackson Lineman 6 3 4 7 60.000 0     14 Usher Lineman 6 3 4 7 60.000 0     15 Bill Bailey Lineman 6 3 4 7 60.000 0     16 Rick Astley Lineman 6 3 4 7 60.000 0

 

No throwers? Only one catcher? Is this even an elf team, what gives?

 

I made this roster by starting with an apothecary and three rerolls.

• Positionals are expensive, flimsy and lacking skills. Need that apo from the start.
• No dodge, need rerolls.

 

11 linemen would cost 660K, plus apo and rerolls equals 860K. That leaves 140K to upgrade players:

• Blitzers @ 50K
• Catchers @ 40K
• Throwers @ 10K

 

Any elf can chuck a ball, so two blitzers and a catcher were upgraded.

 

Team Development

• Linemen to do passing duties until thrower is hired, help them get their first skills
• Catcher has priority for first two TDs
• Least skilled positional has priority thereafter

 

Linemen will not be replaced until there’s a strong core of positionals. Disregarding replacement of blitzers or 1st catcher, the following list is my purchasing priorities:

 

1. 2nd catcher
2. Thrower
3. 3rd catcher
4. Bulk linemen
5. 4th catcher
6. 2nd thrower

 

Party on.

[Suido]

Cross posted with the Division 6D smack talk. Check it.

 

For those playing at home, here are the teams, our heroes first, and then the rest in fixture order.

 

 

•  Suido - P'Elvic Thrust - Elven Union

 

•  Sampittu - Birra del Borgo - Dwarf

•  azhagmorglum - Zhiggurat Pipers - Chaos Dwarf

• Robin Claassen - The Hopeful Fools - Halfling  

•  AllyRdr - Oakglade Reavers - Wood Elf

•  Kjelstad - Bats are Back - Vampire

•  Gobas - Barbed Wire - Chaos Dwarf

•  Lord Hugo - Hipertrofied Goblins - Orc

•  Fengraf - Flying Cow - Chaos Dwarf

•  Docmarc - {occ] The Eye of Ra - Khemri

Diss track time. Introducing the P'Elvic Thrust's resident lizardman MC, Rhymenosaurus*

 

Welcome all to Season eight

now it’s time to prognosticate

about the fortunes of those in 6D

the div this pertains to, you see

are they gonna boom, are they gonna bust

when confronted by an emphatic P’Elvic Thrust?

 

[Call and Response Chorus]

In Thrust

We trust!

In Thrust

We trust!

 

It’s a hella bashy division

Takes no seer for that vision

Chorfs and dorfs and chorfs for days

Orcs and khemri and hypno gaze

Coupla elf teams and a fling flang flung

All battling it out for that highest rung

 

[Chorus]

 

A bunch of new teams, fresh and clean

It’s not just the orcs that are looking green

I’ll forgive you for thinking that’s just analogy

But count the number of trees, you’ll see three!

Enough scene setting, mispronounce quiche

Let’s get stuck in and be, like, super bitchy

 

[Chorus]

 

Birra del Borgo, dorfs named for a beer

Tackle is bloat without dodge, no fear

Use the sidelines, sidestep the slayers,

Outpace the rest of Sampittu’s players

 

Second team we face are the Zhiggurat Pipers

Untried, untested, may as well be in diapers

Hunt the hobbos, that’ll be our game

Thrust the glum into Azhagmorglum’s name

 

Mid-season interlude from all the bash

Hopeful Fools splashing inducement cash

Time for our blitzers to get some casualties

Scything Robin Claassen’s flings and trees

 

The Oakglade Reavers have pace

But that won’t stop a fist to the face

AV7 brawls are always a fun decider

And how we’ll get the best of AllyRdr

 

Kjelstadt’s vamps mid-season, Bats are Back

So smooth, so cool, looking good in black

They won’t be a problem for the P’Elvic Thrust,

As the name suggests, we aim to inflame lust

 

Gobas’ Barbed Wire the next obstacle

We’ll be underdogs, that’s just logical

Skilled chorfs reliably beat like a drum

But we’ll get our daily dose of potassium!

 

LordHugo lauds himself as king of the gym

Yeah, all bulked up, but his chances are slim

The Thrust’ll teach them to pump more than iron

Then give Hipertrofied Goblins a shoulder to cry on

 

Holy smokes it’s a Flying Cow

Put wings on a bull and take a bow

Alas, Fengraf will find things hard

Cos the team’s name is just a facade

 

Our final opponent is The Eye of Ra

Docmarc’s team will be well below par

Khemri may be old but age is just a number

If you spent those years in docile slumber

 

[Chorus repeated until bored]

 

That was fun, but it’s time to get real

How are elves supposed to win this deal?

Playing four ch/dorf teams, no mean feat

Can’t outrun forever, we’re not that fleet

 

But look a little closer at the schedule

It’s not all bad news, just play it cool

Broaden your vision, factor in casualties:

Crippled players and all the MNGs

 

If they played ch/dorfs the prior matchday

That’s when they’ll be the easiest to slay

It happens six times! That’s a solid gold reason

Why the Thrust will dominate the eighth season

 

Thrust!

 

*mic drop*

 

*crowd thrusts wildly*

 

 

*some species-dependent interval of time later, many offspring are produced*

 

*No relation to Rhymenoceros of the Flight of the Conchords. Totally different species and etymology. Exactly the same joke, though.

[C2MC]

This is rough... .

Do I support Suido, the former coach of one of my favorite teams to watch in the OCC2.

Or do I support Gobas, King of Fouls, Lord of Torment and Eater of Banans.

 

The Division looks like a lot of fun, though, even with the Double C-Dorfs.

 

Best of luck to you, sir. The only thing that disappoints me here is that none of your players' names are puns.

[Suido]

Gobas, obviously. His potassium thread is the best thing on this forum.

 

Triple Chorfs, actually.

 

The only thing that disappoints me is the sad lack of thrust in your comment.

 

THRUST!

 

[C2MC]

9 minutes ago, Suido said:

Triple Chorfs, actually.

 

Oh boy, I actually missed one.

I take it back, this Division is dreadful.

 

edit:

THRUST!

Edited August 16, 2018 by C2MC

[Suido]

S8 MD1 Match Report:

 

I held the ball twice:

• Once on turn 8 after they scored.
• Once on turn 9 after they kicked short, I snake-eyed the pick up, the ball bounced forwards to a covering lineman. He was sacked and the dwarfs recovered the ball.

 

I broke armour zero times.

 

My only catcher was given -MA after they scored and blitzed the turn 8 kick off. The apothecary fixed that so he could die in the second half. To add insult to injury, I thought I was blocking with a blitzer, and didn't reroll the skull/both down. 

 

The Ballad of Mick Jagger to follow.

[C2MC]

I can only guess at how Pro Elf early game is supposed to go against a hard-bashy team like Dwarfs, but I'm going to say that you either run around them and get a little lucky with the Blocks and AV Breaks or you get your team smashed to a pulp since they can just walk up to your players every turn and force a Dodge.

 

What's the acceptable level of face-breaks you can manage and still keep going (as a team, that is)?

Edited August 18, 2018 by C2MC

[Suido]

S8 MD1 vs Birra del Borgo @Sampittu

 

 

Game Result page

 

Subtitle: The Ballad of Mick Jagger

 

He had speed but no skills, a rookie elf catcher

A personal apothecary, the envy of any lineman

Only eleven on the team, nowhere to hide him

And so he died quickly, as any bloodbowl player can

 

We won the toss, and elected to kick

Need eleven to defend, so gave the ball away

The dwarves caged tight, no gaps to sneak through

A wizard’s fireball would’ve had a field day

 

Mick Jagger played it cool, stayed behind the line

Used speed to make a blitz, against a troll slayer

Alas just a push, this would become a pattern

Target AV8, but never hurt an opposing player

 

They scored eventually, it was inevitable

With only six players, we set up to receive

Two linemen down back, for junk time passes

Jagger assisting the scrimmage, on half-time’s eve

 

The dwarves were tricky, and up to no good,

Not done with the half, they blitzed as they kicked

Jagger was exposed, at the end of the line

The blitz was lined up, and yes, he got licked.

 

An elf’s ankle is trim, small and fragile

It bent the wrong way, never nice to see

The apothecary rushed on, eager to help

Patched Jagger up, ready for half B.

 

Just seven elves took the field to receive

The kick went sky high, but very short

Jacko stood under it, a missed the catch

His game was about to get worse, abort!

 

JT stood in front, protectively covering

But Jacko failed again, his fumbles were rife

He snake eyed the pick up, the ball went forwards

JT caught it, unprotected and in all sorts of strife

 

The dwarves made the sack, recovered the ball

And that ensured our first game was lost

But the game wasn’t over, still plenty of time

To add injury to insult, and increase the cost

 

In two turns of offense, we’d turned over the ball

And used two of three rerolls, rolling single spots

The dwarves marked up hard, offered us blocks

It’s bloodbowl. Of course we took offered shots

 

Jagger had two dice, up against a slayer

My dice luck continued, skull and both down,

Wanted to conserve the last reroll, what to do?

Assumed it was a blitzer, chose like a clown

 

Jagger didn’t have block, he got smashed in the face

His body was limp, long before he hit the ground

The apothecary was useless, nothing in the med-kit

To prevent Jagger’s journey to a burial ground

 

I spent the whole game targeting AV8

Eleven hits on troll slayers, one on a runner

Only four of those resulted in knock downs

And none broke armour, never a stunner

 

As opening games go, it was quite harsh

No catcher on roster, our speed took a hit

There are three chorf teams to face still

I’ll be honest, it bodes pretty fuckin shit.

 

RIP Mick.

[Suido]

In better news, my opponent for MD2 copped a battering. From chorfs, you would think, but no! Twas the sneaky little flings what done them in.

 

2 bulls, 3 chorfs and 6 hobos, including 3 loners, is a much more palatable prospect than I was expecting.

[Suido]

S8 MD2 vs Zhiggurat Pipers @azhagmorglum

 

Match Report:

 

They bought a fourth chorf, which reduced the advantage mentioned above. They opted to receive, but Freddie Mercury stole the ball twice for two defensive TDs in the first half. Along the way, my journeyman died, then Ricky Martin. In the second half, Bill Bailey completed to reach six SPPs, then ended up as the best placed receiver, so he got the ball back and was in range to score when a centaur killed him. Jimi recovered the ball but failed a GFI getting within sidestep range of end zone, and a bull centaur took the ball from end to end in the last four turns.

 

I broke armour six times, for six stuns. Improvement, I guess.

 

A win, but a painful one. Will have five journeymen in MD3. 

[Larkstar]

Ouch.  Negative 11 Cas differential after 2 matches.  =(

[Suido]

An answer to a question from my opponent, asked prior to MD3.

 

On 8/30/2018 at 6:16 AM, Robin Claassen said:

Do you think that it was worth it though, to get tackle just for your matches against AllyRdr and me though? If you keep that player around, it seems like there's a significant opportunity cost in that you probably won't get any benefit at all from that skill in 5 of the remaining 7 matches of the season, whereas dodge would be likely to be useful in 5 of the remaining 7 matches, and something like leap, sure hands, or strip ball could have been useful in all of them.

I get the impression that you're a much more experienced Blood Bowl coach than I (I stared playing in late June), so I am curious about your reasoning behind that the decision. Is the idea to just always prioritize maximizing your chances to win your immediate next match, even potentially at the expense of your chances to win following matches? Or is the idea that increasing the number of my players that you're likely to remove reduces the number of permanent injuries that I'm likely to inflict on yours, having the net impact of increasing the amount of inducement money available to you in future matches by reducing your need to hire journeymen? Or are you thinking more long-term, and thinking that that tackle may be important to have in future seasons, so you may as well get it at the first point when it would start to be useful?

1. Dodge would be the typical choice, and is generally better. However, dodge ain't as good as it could be because this division is rife with tackle. So much tackle. Assuming another normal skill roll, I will definitely take dodge next on that blitzer. I would never take leap, sure hands or strip ball on a pro elf blitzer for their first skill. 
   1. Leap is a reroll burner. Unless you can leap on 2+, there are better options. I wouldn't give leap to a player unless they already had Ag5 and sacking skills.
   2. Sure Hands is not a common skill to give elves. I might give it to a ball-retrieval catcher, not a blitzer.
   3. Strip ball is less useful than tackle.
2. Tackle is a core skill on a pro elf blitzer. Assuming no funky rolls, my blitzers get block/SS/dodge/tackle/diving tackle/jump up/fend. They're markers, and tackle is a marking skill. This skill is useful for the players' entire career, not just a couple of games in one season. In a long term league, teams with zero dodge skills are few and far between.
3. Yes, I was influenced by the fact I was going to play my next two games against flings and woodies. Block/tackle is just too useful against stunties. Sure, it would help me win, but more importantly, it would help the development of the rest of my team - while Freddie is blitzing every turn, the other players are handling the ball. The fact that my following game is against woodies is a bonus - one tackler is sufficient to threaten their two blodgers. While none of the remaining teams had dodge when I picked the skill, there's always a chance of a vampire reaching 16SPPs or an orc blitzer rolling a double. If that happens, I'm ready.
4. If I had got dodge, I may have been tempted to use Freddie to move the ball, but I wanted Jimi to get SPPs. So Freddie got tackle, became my main blitzer, and left the touchdowns for Jimi. When I play chorfs, I do the same. First bull to get a skill gets block, then the second one gets break tackle and then block. As soon as one has break tackle and the other doesn't, it's a disincentive to give the ball to the less mobile player, and that hurts long term development.

[Robin Claassen]

@Suido Yeah, in retrospect strip ball would make little sense to get this early when nobody has ball carriers with sure hands yet, and good points about leap and sure hands. 

Thank you for your thorough description of your rationale. It, coupled with my first hand experience of just how devastating you were able to be with Freddy Mercury, had led me to a place where I whole-heatedly agree with your decision. I believe that we would have had a closer match it you had chosen dodge instead. You probably got more SPP in this last match as a result of choosing tackle, and better protected your players by removing more of mine, and reduced the chance of me winning further than I think I think it would have been if you had chosen dodge. I think that it was worth it.

Edited September 5, 2018 by Robin Claassen

[Suido]

To clarify, strip ball is negated by sure hands so it's better to have it early, but there are better skills I'd prefer first.

 

Allyrdr's wardancer has opted for strip ball before tackle, for example, which I'm sure is a decision based on the lack of dodge in this division.

[Suido]

S8 MD3 vs The Hopeful Fools @Robin Claassen

 

Game Result Page (spoiler alert!)

 

Subtitle: Hey Jimi, how many TDs did you score?

 

 

Two games into a new team, and it’s like the classic days of the Bridgeburners all over again. Five journeymen is excessive for marking two trees and Zara. Then again, if all my rerolls are gonna be stolen by a chef, that’s a good time to have a whole bunch of players that can’t use them reliably, right? The chef took two rerolls in the first half, then one in the second. Reasonable.

 

The Fools received first and failed to do any damage. Even better, a tree snake-eyed its Take Root in turn one. Then the ball carrier took shelter by that tree, but the rest of his team were off stomping on a journeyman instead of providing cover. Freddie Mercury blitzed, injured the fling (MY FIRST CASUALTY WITH THIS TEAM!) and recovered the ball.

 

Good enough so far, but Freddie then fumbled the pass Usher. Usher picked it up on the next turn, but couldn’t reach the endzone. This allowed a couple of flings to get back (one via a not-landed throw) and badly hurt him with a 1D blitz. Two games in a row that a lineman in scoring range has been sacked and injured. After a bit more mucking around, Michael Jackson picked up the ball in the endzone for the first TD.

 

The Thrust kicked short, had a minor panic when Freddie was stunned by a rock,  but the Fools’ two-turn scoring chances ended with a both down on the LoS. Jacko got a completion and Jimi Hendrix fumbled a pass, end of half.

 

Jacko was now one SPP short of a skill, so was assigned to catching the high kick. No good, then he burned a reroll picking it up and retreated to safety. I put a lineman through into attacking territory, then targeted Zara with Freddie. A stunned slayer left a completely open middle of the field, Jacko passed to Jimi and the blitzer ran straight forwards. The Fools' break tackle tree had an opportunity to blitz Jimi, requiring four 2+ rolls prior to the 2D block. Rather than go straight for that option, the flings rolled a bunch of block dice to improve the tree's chances of success. A both down burned a reroll and got assists in for a 3D blitz, but then a block to reduce the trees rolls from four to three turned up double skulls. Jimi scored, 2-0.

 

The sunshine got brighter, but not the Fools dice. A tree again snake-eyed its take root, then opted for a skull on the block result to nullify the roots. The Thrust didn’t take full advantage immediately as Freddie’s blitz only gave a push, then he failed a gfi. The Fools gave another opportunity though, as one fling failed the pick up and the ball bounced forwards to another fling. One turn later the little fella was surrounded by elf blitzers, two turns later he was stunned, and three turns later Jimi had scored his second TD for the match.

 

With the score at 3-0 and only three flings on the field, all that was left to do was one foul each and split the gate money.

 

Freddie’s tackle was invaluable, it doubled his knock downs from 5 to 10, out of 12 hits. The other key player was Zara, who had little impact other than a few stuns with stabs and blitzes. Keeping her away from the main action was a huge part of my success in being able to steal the ball twice, and score comfortably on offense.

 

The Fools had some very ordinary dice - 65% Take Root success, 55% dodge success, 0% landed TTMs, but they also only have a single reroll on their roster - high risk strat, that.  On my side of the ledger, I failed every knockout wake up roll before the third touchdown and failed half my passing attempts - inconveniences rather than calamities, given the scoreline.

 

Jimi scored twice to reach 6 SPPs and has dodge. Jacko scored and completed twice to reach 6SPPs and got +AG. Exciting. New catcher hired, welcome James Brown. Hope he lasts longer than Mick Jagger did.

 

Woodies next, will be a fascinating match up between barely skilled AV7s.

[C2MC]

Seeing as you lost AV8 players at an alarming rate, the multitude of deaths for these Elves comes as no surprise to me.

I look forward to rooting for the 5-man team again! 

[Suido]

Look, I'm not the only AV7 team out there, but I'm still top of the table for deaths in Season 8, despite zero deaths in game 3. 

 

THRUST!

 

Team Statistics for Season 8 - SustainedDead

SustainedDead - Best Season # Team Race Coach Season GP SustainedDead 1 P'Elvic Thrust Elven Union Suido Season 8 3 4 2 Crooked Moonshiners Goblin Francach Season 8 3 4 3 black plastic figures Dark Elf Tribal Terror Season 8 3 4 4 Lordaeron's Soldiers Undead HLiNiC Season 8 3 3 5 OCC & ROLL Khemri Mongloom Season 8 3 3 6 Norfolk Hornets Elven Union GaryW Season 8 3 3 7 Radiant Souls Bretonnia Arlen Tektolnes Season 8 3 3 8 Full Moon Mafia Necromantic Axler Season 8 3 3 9 FIP (Flings in Pink) Halfling Darayawus Season 8 3 3 10 Warpstone Avengers Underworld Borke Season 8 3 3

SustainedDead - Best Game # Team Race Coach Season SustainedDead 1 P'Elvic Thrust Elven Union Suido Season 8 3 2 Crooked Moonshiners Goblin Francach Season 8 2 3 FIP (Flings in Pink) Halfling Darayawus Season 8 2 4 OCC & ROLL Khemri Mongloom Season 8 2 5 The Fun House Chaos Dwarf Pedro999 Season 8 2 6 black plastic figures Dark Elf Tribal Terror Season 8 2 7 Singing Cats Wood Elf Creatan Season 8 2 8 Full Moon Mafia Necromantic Axler Season 8 2 9 Lordaeron's Soldiers Undead HLiNiC Season 8 2 10 Blitzburgh' Steelers Dwarf BigAshW Season 8 2

[wismerhill]

Gratz!

[Robin Claassen]

On 9/2/2018 at 9:08 PM, Suido said:

To clarify, strip ball is negated by sure hands so it's better to have it early, but there are better skills I'd prefer first.

 

@Suido Oh right, of course. I have yet to use strip ball or have it used against me in any Blood Bowl match I've played so far, so it's all theoretical to me at this point, hence how I got that mixed up.

Edited September 5, 2018 by Robin Claassen

[Robin Claassen]

On 9/5/2018 at 3:30 AM, Suido said:

@Robin Claassen

Then the ball carrier took shelter by that tree, but the rest of his team were off stomping on a journeyman instead of providing cover.

 

@Suido The way in which you describe that feels perhaps a little demeaning, like you're looking down on my decision-making. So it's a little uncomfortable put myself in a position where I'm agreeing with your implicit statement that I made the wrong call there.

 

But yeah, moving away Hammond Redfield to foul, leaving my ball carrier open to being blitzed by Freddy Mercury, was clearly a big mistake. It would have been great to reduce the number of your players so early on if the foul had resulted in an injury, and part of what went into that decision was me thinking that even if you succeeded in knocking my ball carrier down, you'd be forced to base Zara and my treeman with an elf each, you'd exposing Freddy to risk, and the ball would land in a protected position that should be relatively easy for me to pick up again. But it was still too big of a risk.

 

It might have made sense (but still been quite risky) to go for the foul if I had positioned Zara one square to my right/your left, and my ball carrier one square to my left/your right, effectively preventing Freddy from getting to him, and forcing any other other elf who was going to blitz him to make at least two 3+ dodges in, but I didn't plan far enough ahead. I didn't decide whether or not to make the foul until I'd already moved all the rest of my players.

 

Even better would have probably been to content myself to bltz-stabbing that guy with Zara, instead of making a 3-die block on him, freeing up those three halflings I brought in to assist + Hammond to screen. I risked far too much for too little potential gain.

 

Quote

The Fools' break tackle tree had an opportunity to blitz Jimi, requiring four 2+ rolls prior to the 2D block. Rather than go straight for that option, the flings rolled a bunch of block dice to improve the tree's chances of success. A both down burned a reroll and got assists in for a 3D blitz, but then a block to reduce the trees rolls from four to three turned up double skulls. Jimi scored, 2-0.

 

Please correct me if I'm missing something, but it seems to me that I made the right call here and just got unlucky. If I had gone directly for the 2-die block on your ball carrier with my treeman I would have had to have made a 2+ take root roll, 2 2+ gfi's and a 2+ break tackle dodge roll. By making two 2-die blocks and a 3+ dodge with the dodge skill with my halflings first, I would have removed one action that had a 1-in-6 chance of failure by adding 3 actions that each had a 1-in-9 chance of failure, and raised the chance of succeeding at knocking down your ball carrier with the blitz from 5-in-9 to 6-in-9 (raising the chance of doing so without having to choose a both down from about 3-in-9 to about 4-in-9).

 

So the chance of failing to take down your ball carrier was definitely higher the way I did it, but not hugely so, considering that I had a reroll available. And it would have put my halflings in a much better position if I had to take a both down on the blitz, causing the ball to most likely land within 1-3 of my tackle zones. The way I did it also created the potential benefit of me being able to knock down and perhaps even break armor with one or both of the halfling blocks that I made prior to the treeman blitz. Also, a treeman going down is often a big deal, and I was going to really need him if I did recover control of the ball, so anything I could do to prevent having to take that both down seems to have been particularly important.

Edited September 6, 2018 by Robin Claassen

[Borke]

@Robin Claassen, I read the part about the possible sack with your Break Tackle Tree with interest as well, in @Suido's original report. My original thought was: "If the Flings had no team reroll at that point, the play was absolutely correct; if they had a team reroll, I'm not so sure".

 

So, now that you have provided further insight from your perspective, I took the time to calculate, using the Samba Action Calculator.

 

Simple sequence

 

- sequence: 2+ Take Root, 2+ Dodge, 2+ GFI, 2+ GFI, 2d block with two success options (pow or defender stumbles)

- success without team reroll: 26.8%

- success with team reroll: 56.6%

 

Elaborate sequence

 

- assumption: the additional 2d blocks with the Flings both had four success options each (push, pow or defender stumbles)

- sequence: 2d block with four success options, 3+ dodge with dodge skill, 2d block with four success options, 2+ Take Root, 2+ GFI, 2+ GFI, 3d block with two success options

- success without team reroll: 28.6%

- success with team reroll: 57.7%

 

So, based on my assumption (that on the additional Fling blocks, even pushes were good enough), your elaborate sequence was better, with or without the team reroll, but only very slightly so. If even one of the additional Fling blocks required a knockdown to make the elaborate play possible (either because a push would not have removed the tackle zone on the tree, or because a push would not have allowed putting an assist on the ball carrier), the elaborate play was definitely worse.

 

Of course my calculation does not take into account your other argument, that the elaborate sequence left you in a better position should the play fail (at a late stage).

[Suido]

I did the same calcs today, same results, but didn't have a chance to write up a proper reply.

 

There's one point that I want to check in the replay. My memory suggests that the second fling block needed to knock my player down - a push would have allowed the tree one fewer D6 roll, but may have cancelled the assist on the ball carrier, leaving the tree with 2d rather than 3d. Will check tomorrow.

 

I was wrong, but only marginally. 

 

Withoutdoing the calcs during a game, I generally err on the side of the fewest rolls, since you can only reroll once. In Borke's numbers, you can see the reroll has a slightly lower effect in the scenario with more dice rolls.

 

[Suido]

*Adjusts novelty glasses and clears throat*

 

Time to get some clarity. FWIW, this is my blog, about my team, all match reports are absolutely written with my biases loud and clear. I'm certainly not intending to demean anyone, but I do report on mistakes that are exploited, either by me or my opponent. They're kinda important in determining game results.

 

The Foul!

 

The three flings in a line were committed pre-blitz to give Zara 3D. That seems unnecessary to me, I'd let Zara blitz 2D and then size up the situation. As it was, it left one fling out of position for the foul. A fourth fling was then committed to inflict the foul. Given the situation (zero dice required prior to a 2D block/tackle blitz on rookie fling ball carrier), it wasn't even a question of whether I would go for the blitz, just a question of which lucky elves got to cancel the assists. 

Even if you'd positioned Zara one space left, I would have been very strongly tempted to dodge through a tacklezone to blitz. Either that or blitz Zara and heavily base the ball carrier and the tree, to put massive negative modifiers on a throw teammate roll. That ball carrier was in big trouble.

 

The Break Tackle Blitz!

This is just before the end of my turn, when I make a huge mistake. Not twigging (chortle) to the fact that the tree had break tackle and can get to the ball carrier, I am about to try dodging the elf away from it. Dodge fail, stunned. If I'd left him there, this conversation wouldn't be happening.

 

So, The Fools can engineer a 3D tree blitz by getting a fling free to mark the ball carrier. They can also reduce the tree's required rolls by pushing my player from the square directly between the tree and the ball carrier. Let's see what happened.

1. Tree arrives to support, 2D block, BD/BD, reroll, skull/push
2. Two flings arrive to support, 2D block, skull/skull

Using the Blood Bowl Probability App, I get the same numbers as Borke.

 

Alternate option, using the first block, then the red arrow, no second block or dodge:

2D block (push/DD/DS)

2+ Take Root

2+ dodge

2+ GFI

2+ GFI

3D block (DD/DS)

=30.2% (62.6% with team reroll).

 

That's the best option I can see with 20/20 hindsight and a handy calculator. Still, it's only a few percent in it.
 

 

In terms of positioning after the blitz is complete, I would suggest that blitzing earlier is better, since that allows more of your players to go where the ball bounces. My ball carrier did have sidestep, so I was going to have some control over that in the event of the tree successfully blitzing. Using Robin's selected strategy, all his players have already moved prior to the tree's blitz, and so none could have reacted afterwards to the ball's scatter.

 

Edited September 7, 2018 by Suido
Added final paragraph