Delicious Fireball - the return

[Fweddy]

I'm not one whose diction is as eloquent as my contemporaries.  My streams typically don't have that much commentary.  Perhaps its due to growing up more heavily in the poker world, where giving insight and "teaching your opponent how to beat you" are signs of arrogance and stuff.  But I love this community (back again, been with OCC since Dark Elf edition) and with a season or two before I have to worry about a newborn interrupting play, I think I want to try to take this "team blog" thing a bit seriously.

 

So to myself, and upwards of a dozen people who bother reading this, my Season 11 Div 1A predictions/observations.  First the opponents, will do a self criticism after (easier to do when not at the home PC).  As the schedule isn't posted yet, assumed results are more so "if I face them week 1-2"

 

 

•   Kia Sidhe - Cr@sh Test Dummies - Dark Elf -

No throw a rock or get the ref stadium, that helps me a bit as well.  14 man roster heading into the season with 20k, so replacements won't be happening early on.  1 cheer/assistant for the 6/8 buff.  A VERY intimidating blitzer with 8557 blodge, but - Armor.  If that goes away before I face him (or a MNG) its going to be a whole different match (as its 290 of the team).  At the end of the day its elves, I'll have to do better on injury dice and hope he doesn't do so hot on ball mechanics.  I'd predict this as a draw at best, possibly a 2-1 or 3-1 loss.

 

•   Alessus - Grand Templars - Bretonnian -

Squig stadium again, I might have to look into that.  More free cash, 13 man roster.  Lots of movement, but minimal guard.  Only agility buff is on a wrestle guy with no dodge, so more likely a "move the ball pass/handoff" than cage situation.  The 8 movement on THREE players is going to be some issue to me, but I have enough tackle to deal with the dodge (at the moment), and enough MB to deal with the armor.  Only counting 3 that hit hard back and no piling on.  Should manage this one, 2-1, due to attrition 

 

•   Vaehnin - Thieving Unfortunates - Human -

Astrogranite.  Had that myself before my MA injuries.  Rookie Ogre.  Standard blitzers, 5 guard on team.  Sidestep catcher, that's always something, both catchers with guard is definitely something to look at.  Nothing too terrifying, will come down to injury dice.  Doable match, no +Agi means nothing too shenanigans will likley be coming my way.  Expected win 1-0, 2-1

 

•   Jester77 - Chaotic Stormtroopers - Chaos -

Free wizard, that's... something.  10k in bank on 13 man roster.  Two clawbombs, but nothing else too bad.  Good coach from my recollections, havne't played his Chaos to my recollection.  Comes down to injury count I imagine, or when we face in the season.  Expected draw 1-1

 

 

•   GeneralMarauder - Naggaroth Blood Hands - Dark Elf -

Beer Stand, gotta make sure to watch that.  I can crowd with the best of them too.  3 skillups pending so hard to pre-plan.  Looks pretty standard Dark Elf Shenanigans, which means it could easily be a 2-0 loss or a 2-0 win depending on how the injury dice go.  The Beer Stand is very good for extra distraction to make you aware of the push coming  however.  Undecided on this match.

 

•   Dionysian - Team Wales - Chaos Dwarf -

No riot/pitch, so won't have to worry about extra turns or (non blitz) kick result things.  Cage breaker Hobgoblin, will be a major target i'm sure.  Only one claw and only 1 bomb (4 MB in total).  Giving some inducements, but doesn't look to be anything more scary than I am.  1-0 prediction win.

 

•   Zulu501 - Sugar_n_Spice - Amazon -

HEY AMAZONS, wtf!  Didn't expect that.  Agility blitzer to elf through things, +2 str catcher for cages if need be.  Will be getting inducements.  Not going to be able to hold out a score.  As much as this team won't like how their injuries look at the end of our match I imagine, I think at best a 1-1 draw is what i'm looking at, probably a 2-1 loss unless I roll really well early on.  

 

•   Borke - Warpstone Avengers - Underworld -

WHAT UNDERWORLD?  Am I being punked?  Cheaper star players, note for me to take advantage of that too.  So that means Skitter is likely on the roster.  About what I'd expect form an UW team, 2 murder blitzers, bunch of extra arms and 2 heads over the place.  TO WHOEVER PLAYS BORKE AFTER i DO, you're welcome.  Won't be able to keep him out of the endzone, and facing 16 players attrition will be more so "during drives' instead of between them.  Possibly 2-1 win, probably 1-1 draw. 

 

•   antman - Angry Tusks - Orc -

Not yet joined so can't see them (too busy before work).  But its Orcs.  Comes down to dice, but I'm kind of built to face Orcs/Dwarfs, so barring a 5 Str 4 agi MA 8 blitzer or three, optimistically I say 1-0 win.  Sorry for lack of commentary, join early next season

 

So preseason I'm looking at thinking I'll be 4 wins, 2 draws, 3 losses.  Not sure if 13 points would keep me in Div 1, but definitely not get to the Championship.  Will have to hope for a good bulldozer to follow through the season (Im' looking at you Jester).

[Fweddy]

Pre-season team snapshot.  Starting cash 160k, enhancement "no weather rolls".  

 

 

1	The Metal	Warrior	4	4	3	9	180.000	51
2	Jon Thompson	Warrior	5	4	3	9	170.000	33
3	Lektor Ripblue	Warrior	4	4	3	9	180.000	55
4	Tzaal Crushspider	Warrior	5	4	3	9	180.000	65
5	Sans Pants	Beastman	6	3	3	8	80.000	9
6	El Buttz	Minotaur	5	5	2	8	170.000	9
7	To'nogor	Beastman	6	3	4	8	160.000	71
8	Thor'nogors	Beastman	6	3	2	8	140.000	57
9	Matt Damon	Beastman	5	3	3	8	100.000	28
10	Gwar Car Superstar	Beastman	6	3	3	8	60.000	0
11	Wirnogors	Beastman	7	3	3	7	190.000	133
12	Guy with a name	Beastman	5	3	4	8	160.000	59
13	Peanut Butter	Beastman	6	4	3	8	110.000	11

 

 

Its always less impressive when I really look at it (that's also what she said).  Number 11 stayed on the team despite the -Agi (negating his +Agi making some bloat) due to the movement and tackle.  I think that armor got busted at the end of last season but for the last game he was better than a rookie.  Lots of dodge this season so will likely ride him out till he's done for.  

 

If Peanut Butter gets the MVP in game one and survives (BH or something), he's going to be a good player.  Otherwise reskilling players is so tough this late in the game, as you "want" to put your worst players on the line, and then dont want to use Apoths to save them.  But that's how the game goes sometimes.  

 

All in all I hate the movement injuries the most, but 3 of the 4 of them are likely going to be on the offensive line anyway so its not like they're journeying far.  About 5 players away from leveling up soon (not counting the rookie).  Unless my first three weeks are "Dark Elf, Amazon, Dark Elf" I think at least one will have to get some more tackle.  

[Borke]

2 hours ago, Fweddy said:

TO WHOEVER PLAYS BORKE AFTER i DO, you're welcome.

 

Hey, I plan on giving you the same treatment

 

I did a season preview as well, you can find it here. Interesting division, I'd say, looking forward to it!

[Jester77]

2 hours ago, Fweddy said:

So preseason I'm looking at thinking I'll be 4 wins, 2 draws, 3 losses.  Not sure if 13 points would keep me in Div 1, but definitely not get to the Championship.  Will have to hope for a good bulldozer to follow through the season (Im' looking at you Jester).

Yeah the draw will for sure have a great impact, but lets see. I predict a close season - were a lot can happen! 

[Fweddy]

Hey the Orc team joined, I can officially make a note of it:

 

  antman - Angry Tusks - Orc -

 

Its every Orc team ever.  No riot or pitch invasion, 190k so no trouble with players.  2 agi buffed linemen, one murder bomb, 3 stand firm and 5 guard.  Looks like some Chaos team already got to this one as 2 unskilled black orcs and no thrower.  Not bad by any means, but my team is constructed to deal with this kind of matchup.  How the dice roll of course is anyone's guess, but no MA 7 means I"m not too worried about a control game. 

[Fweddy]

•   Kia Sidhe - Cr@sh Test Dummies - Dark Elf -

WEEK 1

 

So I really was needing something that was not a blodge AG5 STR5 Blitzer in week one to face. For his credit, he didn't really use the AG5 at all, but I did know he could walk into any cage and 2D me on a 3+ with a reroll.

 

Minimal tackle at this point in the season, so the plan was the typical "wait until elves roll double 1s to win it".  I had this fortune in my offline league of my Skaven facing Elves this week, but while he did have a few "pointless end of turn ball is already safe" double skulls here and there, he didn't fail any ball handling events.

 

To my own credit, I did roll THRITEEN 1s out of 51 attempts (25.5%), and another 8 2s to boot (getting to 41.2% below 3).  To make it worse, most of these were on my own two Agi 4 players.  I elfed myself.

 

Nothing too serious, I predicted this would be a loss.  Didn't lose any players, and noticed the schedule has Humans and Underworld as the next two, so will have to use those games as a springboard back to the middle tables and to build some important stats (like tackle) for the later games this season.

 

Current record:  0 wins, 1 loss, 0 draws

[Fweddy]

WEEK 2:

 

  Vaehnin - Thieving Unfortunates - Human -

 

So Humans have this ability to hit way harder than they're supposed to.  I ended up having 6 casualities (2 dead,  one was apothed back, more on that later) to my causing only one (and the one I caused was by a rookie Beastman).

 

Giving up a bit of TV to him, he got Zug and a wizard.  The Wizard was a fireball used to try to stop my TD (and hit 2 other guys at the same time), which ended up hitting none of them.  Zug however, was a bit frustrating to be around.  But KOed him second half without too much of an issue.

 

Received ball and MAN can I KO him tho.  Got 6 players of his off the pitch first half (5 KOs and a sideline).  I think he removed about 3 of mine by the time said was done.  Used an overextension of his placement to go up the middle, he clogged the middle back up, but that left my right wing open for the pass (4 agi to 4 agi player).  Then came the failed delicious fireball, and I was in good shape.  Until I missed a 2+ dodge, and had to do a miracle scenario (3+ dodge, 3+ pickup, 3+ handoff, GFI, GFI) with one reroll to score on turn 8.  Managed, went up 1-0.

 

Kickoff to his turn 8, he kills "Guy with a name" (one of my 4 agi players) which got the Apoth back right away.

 

HALFTIME:  1-0

 

Second half most of his Kos were back and we both had full teams, but he didn't have his 120 point blitzer/killer.  I'll take it.  Things going well, trading back and forth a bit, and BAM, dead level 5 (or 6?) Chaos Warrior.  He had -MA so it wasn't something I lost a ton of sleep over, but he did have block,mb, claw, tackle (possibly Guard).  So replacing him is going to be a bit of a tourney, but lower my TV by about 200 for the future.  MORE upsetting is my level 2 (11 SPP) Beastman got a niggling.  Don't have to decide on him this week, but that's the one injury I usually get rid of (and -STR of course).  Also my Killer (clawbomb - Agi) guy got a -MA to boot, so he's 5328, but.. I think I ride that horse till its dead.

 

Anyway, back to the game.  On a really fortunate blitz (Dodge GFI GFI) I managed to pin his catcher (he only had one this match) against the sideline, and his first roll of the turn was double skullz on Zug (who failed the loner and got KOed here).  Lead to me knocking down the ball carrier, and while I did hold it again this game, the goal was to run out the clock.  On turn 16 he had a 4+ 3+ (with no rerolls, even his dodge was canceled by my tackle) to tie it, but failed the first 4+ and game ended.

 

FINAL 1-0

 

Record 1 win, 1 loss, 0 draws.

 

 

Notes:  While no game is easy (unless a team just had a reset button hit on them), this wasn't the worst match I'll have this season and it was in the hopeful win category.  Rookie CW, missing killer, but 2 levels ups going forward.  The Block, AGI, Tackle, kick Beastman, got +MA to make him 7348 (never bad), meaning I have 2 7MA players and 2 4AGI players on my team between 2 guys.  The other is MATT DAMON leveled up (5338 Beastman with Block and MB), so going to decide if need to give him tackle (only 1 on team now), or Piling  On (1 on team, who's missing next game).

 

Playing Underworld next week, so should be some nice SPPs (and/or injuries to me).  Again never the easiest, fielding 12 players especially, but if I ever needed a "recovery" week its after that one.  

[Fweddy]

•   Borke - Warpstone Avengers - Underworld -

Giving up about 400k to Underworld, very surprised I didn't see Skitter.  Luckily we were in my stadium so no cheaper star players.  Weather dome instead.

 

Kicked off, and decided to sit my Minotaur while on defense (the claw doesn't do that much anyway).  Very defensive first half, with a lot of positioning and me not giving him free blocks.  He managed to KO all of my Chaos Warriors (?!?) before things got too serious, but I removed some people as well.  His turn 8, it was about 6-6 players at the time, and he managed three 2+ rolls (needing a reroll on the GFI) to score.  About standard.

 

0-1 Underworld

 

Kickoff top of turn 8, I do recover a lot of my team, and manage to injure his troll (MNG, regen fail, apoth fail) and KO a lineman.  Completion by my rookie Chaos Warrior, so hoping for the MVP there.

 

HALFTIME 0-1 Underworld.

 

A lot happened in this half so I'll just give the meat and potatoes:

 

- Classic 2 turn score by Chaos (and people call me bashy)

- My entire team having recovered from KOs (even the bench), so 11-9 player advantage.

- Some keepaway from him while I had a receiver parked ready to score and a safety back ready to prevent any breakaway attempt.
- FINALLY he tripped up on a catch roll, and I got the ball and moved far off, but had blown a RR on the pickup so didn't GFI absolute safety.

- Crazy dodge blitz with GFIs to my guy about to score who suffers a MNG (my best player, the 7348 beastman, sigh)

- Not being able to make another play on the ball in time to score.

- Him finishing with 3-4 players on the field

 

FINAL SCORE:  1-1

 

About what I expected from the match, lots of dodge + 2 heads rolling around, like an elf but ignoring tackle zones, or a snotling but with better armor.  Went for it, got the draw. Puts me at 1-1-1 at the moment.  

 

NOTABLE INJURIES:
As stated, my beastman with Sure hands, block, tackle, MA, and AGI is missing the game, which will be tough, could use that speed vs the Orcs.  Also missing a rookie beastman, won't bother me much.  I can always add another with inducements, Orcs are next week.  12 players coming back, including super crippled CLAWBOMB guy, and a "apothecary is barred from being  used on you" level 2 Niggling injury Beastman.  Gonna have to replace him if he doesn't get to level 3 before another serious hit. 

 

LEVEL UPS:

Rookie Beastman rolls normal.  I know next week is the Orcs and while Mighty Blow never hurts (vs any team), it won't help as much as in the first few games here.  We're in the midst of a rebuild, with 2 level 2 Beastmen, a rookie beast, and a rookie Chaos Warrior.  Just having block might be the best ploy here, as I have to put SOMEONE on the defensive line.  I still need that Str 4 beastman to get some block too.

 

 

CLOSING THOUGHTS:  

For having never faced higher TV Underworld (anywhere, ever), the game went surprisingly exactly as I expected.  Only thing I can really think slowing the team down would be tentacles, and that's not something I'm willing to purchase in Division 1A

[Borke]

Thanks for the match, Fweddy. Quite a few ups and downs: First I remove all your warriors and the ST4 Goat KO, then they all come back; then you MNG my anchor Troll, I fail the handoff, but then my next turn I not only make the super long blitz, but also manage to secure the ball for the rest of the half with lots of dodging.

 

You're right that this is very typical for high level Underworld: very fluid play, and hilarious turns. And Tentacles as well as Diving Tackle are our cryptonite, really.

[Waleed]

Good to read your thread Fweddy :).,

[Fweddy]

Pre-MD4, gave the level 2 Beastman Wrestle.  Not sure why, maybe its a sign of old age.  What were we talking about again?

 

Oh yea, i'm through the "bulk" of punchy games (he says right before he plays Orcs, but we'll recap that tomorrow after the game).  Wrestle is poor man's tackle, and poor man's dodge.  Meaning its another way to stop a Blodger, and its another way to ensure not being knocked down (on a "Both down / Push" result).  With the added bonus of a "not paying attention" opponent thinking I have wrestle set to auto, and could choose to end his turn in a crazy situation.

 

[Fweddy]

Current RosterSeason StatsAll-Time Stats|Previous PlayersGraveyard|TV by Game

Roster - 14 Players

# Name Position Ma St Ag Av Value Spp Skills Injuries 1 The Metal Warrior 4 4 3 9 180.000 53 2 Jon Thompson Warrior 5 4 3 9 170.000 35   3 Johnny Foozeball Warrior 5 4 3 9 100.000 1     4 Tzaal Crushspider Warrior 5 4 3 9 180.000 69   5 Sans Pants Beastman 6 3 3 8 80.000 11 6 El Buttz Minotaur 5 5 2 8 170.000 9   7 To'nogor Beastman 7 3 4 8 190.000 76 8 Thor'nogors Beastman 5 3 2 8 140.000 57 9 Matt Damon Beastman 5 3 3 8 120.000 31 10 Gwar Car Superstar Beastman 6 3 3 8 60.000 7   11 Wirnogors Beastman 7 3 3 7 190.000 143 12 Guy with a name Beastman 5 3 4 8 160.000 63 13 Peanut Butter Beastman 6 4 3 8 110.000 11   14 Blooded Milksteak Beastman 6 3 3 8 60.000 0

[Fweddy]

WEEK 3:  

 

  antman - Angry Tusks - Orc -

 

So he takes a lineman to be at a full 14 players (and I assume to foul, as an extra player functions slightly better than a bribe).  We're in his stadium so no riot or pitch invasion (that's both a bonus and a hinderance to late game antics).  I'm at 12 due to 2 MNGs (including my awesome all star kicker +MA, tackle, +Agi guy).  

 

First half, couldn't have gone better if I were just picking the sides of the dice.  Before he gets a turn he's down to 8 players (2 injured 1 KOed).  Mostly rookies, he left a lot of  his points safely on the bench (both +Agi linemen).  I do fail an early hand off that would have persuaded me to score early, so maybe  that's for the best.  At one point I'm up 10 players to 5 (then he manages 2 KOs).  Even with his POWBOMB player, I'm doing more attrition than I'm taking.  Score on the top of turn 8 and brace for the bottom turn 8 that haunts everyone's dreams.

 

1-0

 

Turn 8, he doesn't recover any KOs, but does manage to foul my Minotaur into a BH, and my Guard+Blodge warrior (that I put on the line because I don't have dead meat to do so) gets a MNG.  He completes a random pass with a 0 SPP lineman to hope for the MVP, and half ends with the player fouling the minotaur being ejected.

 

HALFTIME:  1-0 Fireball

 

Second half starts at 9 on 9, and it got worse from there.  I popped the ball out a few times from him, but he kept getting it back.  That's the problem with playing non-elves at the top tiers, you can secure a draw pretty well but not a win.  And 9 draws doesn't get you to the championship.

 

Anyway, to make a long painful story short, by the time he scores at the top of turn 16 (which he did have to either dodge into a TZ, or GFI and blitz, so it wasn't a gimmie), we have a combined 8 players left on the field.  I'd have to watch the replay, I think 6 injured Orcs and an ejected one, and I know I had 3 injured and an ejected myself.

 

OH, and the feel good story, is that lineman who completed a pass in the first half, died. 

 

1-1 

 

Bottom of turn 16, is uneventful.  I went for (and completed) another pass with the rookie Warrior replacement instead of fouling.  

 

END:  1-1 draw

MVP goes to someone who doesn't really need it who has like 57 SPP or something.  Nobody leveled up.

 

 

Injuries of note:

The Blodge Guard Warrior that I hate having given him those skills (never take dodge on a warrior, its just not good enough) missing next game will be annoying.  The CLAWPOWBOMB guy (one of my original players) now has -MA, -AGI, and -AV.  He also has block, piling on, claw, and mighty blow, so he's STILL ON THE TEAM (he's responsible for at least 2 injuries this game, including the lineorc kill).  So he's out too. 

 

I'm getting back the all star (which should help with the not getting a draw thing), and the rookie beastman (HEY LINE DUTY FOR YOU).  12 players vs a "not as scary as I thought" Chaos Dwarf team.  I mean, everyone is scary, the blodge warrior got injured by a nobody with no mighty blow or tackle.  And his Dwarfs do have mighty blow (and I'm only bringing 2 CLAWPOWs to this game).  The super cagebreaker Hobgoblin is still alive, and playing Dark Elves  this week, so barring an unfortunate accident (or rock), he's likely to make it to my match.  

 

60k, will have to see how the Chaos Dwarfs look for if I want the 13th player (for more LINE DUTY) or to save it in case of an injury to a Warrior again.  That is the one thing with Chaos, you only have to think about having to replace one TYPE of player (Warriors), who are pretty durable.  Anyone else its "buying the beastman  now is replacing the guy who gets injured before the injury occurs."

 

Currently 1-1-2 (draws are 3rd right?), so 5 points.  I have this feeling anything less than 13 points isn't going to cut it, at least not for promotion.  

[Fweddy]

Small update, week was a concession victory as my opponent left the league by not showing up prior week.

 

2 wins, 2 draws, 1 loss.  Currently tied for 4th place.

 

Striking distance, especially as most of the teams ahead of me (save one) I still have to play.  Means they're good teams, but also means a win also counts as them getting a loss.

 

Have about 110k in the bank.  Concession win gave Peanut Butter a +AGI to go with his +STR.  6448 horns, but no block.  Wild ride but have to take it.  

 

Playing Amazons this week and almost guaranteed to face a wizard.  Considering buying another Beast.

[Fweddy]

So amazons.

 

That was THE most b******t sequence of dice I've ever seen in a game.  

Kudos to my opponent for realizing the "takes 28 things having to happen perfectly" sequences of events, but a game like that really makes me realize I do not like playing this game as much as I once did.