Golden Boys Strikers, "Elves will die, glory will be mine."

[Half]

I’m Half Brambledon, a proud and agile halfling. A rich one too. After spending a few decades in the Empire running scams... no, business ventures of questionable profitability for my good investor peeps, I found myself some time ago at the head of a small fortune in Bloodcoins, the latest cryptocurrency in vogue in Altdorf. Confronted with the question of how to turn my bloodcoins into hard gold in anticipation of my future speculative activities, I turned to the business that attracts investment funds from all over the Old World and across the ocean: the Bloodbowl! With the idea of developing an embryonic professional team in 2-3 seasons and then selling it all to a sucker for 2-3 times the 1,000,000 it costs to register a franchise in the Orca-Cola League. Welcome to the Golden Boys Strikers.

 

But don't think I'm ignorant when it comes to sport. I was a fervent supporter of the Bluebay Crammers in my early youth, following them from fair to fair on their summer tours of Mootland. And not a soft one, right, a hardcore one: an Ultra! And the Bluebay Crammers have always deserved our full devotion, especially the few times they crushed those pretentious Greenfield Grasshuggers, oh yeah!

 

Make no mistake about it. I consider that it is the popularity of a team with the fans - and the number of Ultras ready to spend their meagre salary to come and see the players kill themselves on the pitch - that attracts media and investors. Any team must therefore ensure the show and for that, only one option has been imposed: recruiting elves who play under the banner of the Elven Union. The other elves are pretentious and don't like the game, only a professional elf knows what Bloodbowl means. The Elven Union knows when to foul, when to pass the ball and when to score. Above all, they know how to die on the pitch. None of them will ever disappoint the Ultra in the stands and it is this mindset that will bring me fame and fortune, Half's word.

 

So the game plan for our first season in 5C will be simple. Everything must be done to keep as many fans as possible: 1. kill opposing players, 2. take as few hits as possible and 3. score TDs, lots of TDs.

 

And the starting roster is as follows:

 

2 blitzers

2 receivers

1 thrower

6 lineman

2 rerolls

1 apothecary

TV1000

 

A choice had to be made between a re-roll and the apothecary. For the sake of my finances, I made the decision to go for the second over the third re-roll. Our players are lightly equipped and the longer they are on the field the better for the show.

 

Next time I will introduce you to the teams we will be playing this season.

 

P.S.: I only started playing online a month or two ago so it's safe to say I'm just starting out. Very happy to share with you my future bloodbowl lessons and good luck to my future opponents.

 

 

[Half]

Part 2, season 1.

 

Here we go with a presentation of the future opponents of the Golden Boys Strikers. Hot off the press, I'd say the team will have to survive the first three games against perhaps the three most experienced coaches in the 5C division. Obviously, if you know the weaknesses of the coaches listed below, GBS will reward you with bloodcoins. 100% safe economic investment (read the lines in very small print at the end of the contract you will sign).

 

Teams listed in order of our upcoming games.

 

MD 1 :  Delenda Corsairs from @Sampittu, Undeads.

A very good defensive team at TV1000 (I'm looking to the experienced coaches to see if this isn't the best?) led by a coach with an impressive win rate.

 

MD 2 : The Magsplask @Skuld, a team dedicated to the god Nurgle but without the Beast for their first few games. Nothing too scary about the team at the moment but again, the opposing coach is very experienced. So we'll have to see what we can do.

 

MD3:  SIX MERRY CLAWS, Chaos Dwarves of @frick you. With a classic roster: 2 bull-centaurs, 6 dwarves and three hobgoblins. No minotaur, a team that may lack some firepower in their first few games (before the dwarves get claw and/or MB). We'll have to hunt down the hobgoblins and stay away from those horrors that are the dwarves.

 

MD 4 : Skavens! The Skitterleaping Skourge ( @tbgergs) are one of the four agile teams in the pool and start the season without Rat-Ogre. I expect a very mobile game, with lots of movement and why not TDs. We will have to know how to close the game (or not) at the right moment. I hope to have a player with a tackle at this point of the season to settle their account with the gutter runners.

 

 

MD5:  Wood elves! Another game where no one should try to get their fist too deep into our teeth (or anywhere else), always nice. A Treeman and a Wardancer to start with the Llanowar Lords. Maybe the other will have been recruited by then, maybe the first will be dead, hard to predict that in advance. Good luck to them in any case. @Altashheth

 

MD6 : Bishop Orcland Blues, trollless Orcs to start. As with game 5, the difficulty of the opposition will depend on our respective starts to the season. @bobster

 

MD7: A game against the @WorldSitar Northmen : Tough of Civilization. Exception in the league, they start the season with their Big Guy and sacrifice a berseker to start. Blocking on just about every player, not ideal for my elf team. Hopefully the first few outs of the game will be in our favour, we will both have 7 armour after all.

 

MD8: The Dangerous Dancers, Dark Elves with a starting roster with no re-rolls (is this a Dark Elf way of starting? I confess I don't know). In exchange, all their positional players - except assassins - will be on the field from day one with 2 furies, 2 runners, 4 blitzers and 3 linemen. By the time we meet, they'll probably have bought some re-rolls which could make this a tough game to win. @Orangatuan

 

MD9:   Dead Monsters United, Necromantic Horrors and the only experienced team in the division. A wolf and a Wight with MB for now but the team will no doubt have evolved well by then. Perhaps the only game where the Golden Boys Strikers will have an important pre-match inducement. @Luke4444

 

________________________________________

 

So now, lets have a look on Match day 1 in Tier 5 Division C :

 

 

The GBS travel to the Delenda Corsairs (Undeads). With 2 mummies, 2 revenants, 2 ghouls, 4 zombies and a skeleton (the skeleton brings extra mobility and looks to me like a good player to foul, watch out for that). 3 rerolls for them, 2 for us. I hope to avoid a steamroller attack and will try to keep my players away from their mummies with MB. Instead, we'll try to give a friendly salute to the two opposing ghouls.

 

As for our offensive phases, it will be a matter of doing what the elves do best to impress the Ultras. PASSES! And we talk again after the game 

 

 

Edited July 5, 2022 by Half

[Half]

Match day 1 : Delenda Corsairs, Undeads 1 vs 0 Golden Boys Strikers, Elven Union

 

Tough first game, thought Half Brambledon. The Golden Boys Strikers left the dressing room and waved goodbye to Trader, a former comrade and new player of the Delenda Corsairs. Tonight was not the night the team would grace the graveyard next to their brand new training ground.

 

Tough game and not a lucrative one. The team treasurer had been conned by the secretary of the opposing stadium and had only 10,000 gold coins to put in the coffers. Supposedly, the destruction caused by the riot to open the game had resulted in unforeseen costs. Not enough to buy back the dead lineman, it didn't matter.

 

But what a riot, my friends! The Golden Boys Strikers drew a huge crowd for their first match, 7000 beer-fuelled men, women and beasts dressed in yellow STRI-KERS STRI-KERS STRI-KERS. The fences separating the pitch from the crowd gave way as soon as the Golden Boys Strikers kicked off. STRI-KERS STRI-KERS STRI-KERS Deep kick, five Delenda Corsaires players down, only two Golden Boys. Lots of space to exploit STRI-KERS STRI-KERS STRI-KERS. One of the ghouls picked up the ball but 5 elves came up the pitch from the wings to put the carrier under pressure STRI-KERS STRI-KERS STRI-KERS. Delenda Corsairs put an elf down but were one player short of finishing the cage and putting the ghoul away. The elf blitzer Incroyant dodged and hit the carrier STRI-KERS STRI-KERS STRI-KERS. The ball fell to the ground next to two Delenda Corsairs, our catcher Méridional could score with a pickup, a dodge and then a GFI (4+, 2+, 2+) STRI-KERS STRI-KERS STRI-KERS. The Golden Boys Strikers were rewarded by Nuffle for their aggressive rise with a scoring opportunity on their second turn. STRI-KERS STRI-KERS STRI-KERS.

 

And suddenly, Nuffle changed sides. The elves had to re-roll a block again and missed a 2+ dodge to secure a possible missed pickup. The decisive action was not even attempted. Silence fell in the visitors' bays and the Delenda Corsairs made a series of exits among the elves left behind (3 KOs, one dead and one wounded blitzer (MNG) in two turn) and secured the ball with a mummy who hand-off the ball to a ghoul. Escorted, it had to wait until turn 8 to score while the elves struggled to get out of the way of the zombies and survive.

 

 

The Delenda Corsairs led 1-0 at half time, and that was also the score at the end of the game. The Golden Boys Strikers tried to score in turn 11, with a 3+ pass from the Elven Union thrower. The aim was to force the Delenda Corsairs to rush for the 2-1 score and to take advantage of counter opportunities on defense. Double one, turnover. The ball was then recovered by the elves and brought within two squares of the TD but the ghouls defended bravely. The elves had opportunities to get the ball back but Nuffle was not in their favour, causing them to miss the two opportunities he gave them. The ghouls removed the ball on turn 15 by throwing the ball far back into the elves' camp. The first game is lost.

 

 

Post-match thoughts:

 

If the game was to be replayed, I don't think I would change my starting strategy. Engage, go up as hard as possible and put pressure on the carrier. Proof that it worked was that I had an opportunity to pick-up the ball and to score very early in the game. But instead of sticking with it, I made a few dispensable moves before attempting the pick-up which all failed. Take away the lesson for next time: when you take a chance, don't procrastinate and let it go. Especially as the backlash was severe, the elves who had base to reduce the carrier's support were hit very hard and didn't stay on the field for long.

 

In the second half, with 8 players against 8 players, there were other possibilities than scoring a TD after a pass. Waiting for another round or two. I was unlucky with the missed pass, but I was missing a player in the middle of the field to make a safer pass. The rest of my attacking drive was a long scrum close to the line to score but the blocking and dodging didn't work in my favour. Good news though, it was a receiver who was named MVP. Next game, if he doesn't die, he'll move up a level!

 

Well done @Sampittu and good luck for next games.

 

Edited July 12, 2022 by Half