[Team Blog] CCIV - Badfellas II

[Barninho]

OK been drafted into CCIV and I thought I would post my thoughts on how it goes.

Division 3 is crunch cup IV's bash group by the looks of it and all things considered I'd have been best trying to join in the bashy high-jinks I reckon, but the teams I run at the moment are Khemri, Undead and Ogres and I had my fill, so I went Dark Elves instead.

My hopes for this season are not high, in fact I'll go so far as to say this team will be ruined by the end of it. Dark Elves are a strong pick, don't get me wrong, but I have not come close to mastering them. They are however different from what I have been playing and also enjoyable to play with potential for the desperate hero move.

The group is as follows:

Bran's Beer Swillers (Sellsword) Dwarf
Rum Bums (Fredziffel) Orc
BADFELLAS II (ME!) Dark Elves
Galdriel Rapers (Viajero) Wood Elves
Hulks of Hogan (ill-Lich) Norse
Vulnerant Ones (Strobinator) Undead
Left Four Dead (Maxcarrion) Undead
Furry Lucky Indeed (Sceadeau) Necromantic

I can't stress highly enough how much that list of names makes me panic. After their first game we have a former champion and a former finalist with a defeat under their belts. Maxcarrion and Sceadeau are two coaches who I rate up there with the best of them. Sellsword and Fred beat them, so even though I don't know as much about them, I know they have to be feared. Viajero just beat me in the OCC and although the result was narrow, a 1-0 loss, it fails to do justice to the way he was in complete control throughout. That leaves Sceadeau's apprentice Strobinator, another quality player and ill-Lich, who is something of an unknown quantity and my first opponent.

Having said that, I am looking forward to playing them all immensely, particularly Viajero as the man is a pleasure to play. I am also hoping to learn a thing or two along the way and I don't think I could be in a better group with that being my ultimate goal.

It's not all doom and gloom though, I will be trying to win.

[Barninho]

OK. The team is Badfellas II. The players take their name from a collection of my favorite screen criminals.

Omar Little Blitzer
Kaiser Soze Blitzer
Anton Chigurgh Blitzer
Beatrix Kiddo Witch Elf
Donnie Brasco Lineman
Mr Pink Lineman
Nice-Guy Eddie Lineman
Marcellus Wallace Lineman
Nicky Santoro Lineman
Tony Montana Lineman
Leon Lineman

2 rerolls

Did this team in a bit of a rush last night so forgot to put in Don Corleone and Paulie Walnuts who stand by as additions/replacements.

My first game is against the Norsemen who, block skill aside, surely have as much to fear from this group as I do with all that AV7. Having said that I definitely don't want to get sucked into a brawl with them.

[Barninho]

Had a 'pre-season game with this roster against a Norse team played by my mate Cheetah, who is a pretty fucking good player.

A pitch invasion let me in to open the scoring and I won the ball against the odds on the next drive, but the next turn saw me lose the witch and the ball and ultimately I got dismantled despite some pretty nice disruptive play on my part. Sweltering heat took me down to six players for the final drive and there was a weakness through the middle I thought so I set up to power through with a McFood play and we got perfect defence. Final score 2-1 Norse.

Game could have gone either way. I was so close to going 2-0 up, but I am even less confident now than I was earlier.

[Rusty]

Your theme looks familiar somehow...

I read your group the same as you have, and I have to say I wouldn't look forward to playing in it (in terms of expecting good results, not in terms of learning and having fun games). Did being in that group affect your starting roster at all?

[Barninho]

No, but it probably should have done. I am silently cursing myself because I went with the Witch. It's a gamble and I would be extremely surprised if she makes it through the seven games, and if I could rejig it I'd have gone with all AV 8, and swapped her for the fourth blitzer. This would have freed up 10k which could get me my apothecary.

In the practice game the first hit my witch took retired her. I'm likely to be at a numbers disadvantage in a lot of the games I play, and protecting her adequately is going to be tough. I'll be facing tackle, mighty blow and a ton of cheap players who are built for fouling. I'm a silly boy. Feels like I just threw 110k away.

I'm liking the all av8 roster more and more, but nobody else got the chance to look at all the teams they'd be facing and build with that in mind, so I decided to go with the roster I wanted to try out in general.

Having said that, blitzers die too, and a witch can be a real asset, but I'm pessimistic.

[Creamster]

1 Orc, 1 Dwarf and 2 Undead. I would hardly name this the meat grinder that it was beforehand. As long as you stay away from the mummies, foul the wolf, unmark the dwarves, spreadout the orcs and block the norse, you will be fine!

[Barninho]

The best thing about pessimism is that you can't be disappointed but you can be pleasantly surprised. My game against Hulks Of Hogan (Norse) finished with a 4-0 victory to Badfellas II.

I elected to receive rather than take my medicine and the Norse left a gap on the sideline and left a Viking looking ripe for the crowdsurf. I got a instead and took the Witch Elf into the half and tried to tie up Norsemen who might hit her. You might call it the McFood special. Ill-Lich dodged a downed Ulfwerner off the LOS to hit her and he failed the gfi which let me in.

Next drive Ill-Lich goes straight for a pickup and it fails leaving me with a ball marked by a player I can't quite reach. I did however mark the ball. Ill-Lich pushes the blitzer and breaks into the middle - exactly what I feared. He also BH's a lineman but its difficult for him to protect the ball carrier. This lets me put a man on the ball carrier and then blitz with my witch elf and she injures the lineman. I pick the ball up with a blitzer but again I can't protect him from an inevitable blitz.

A few blocks allow his Ulf to power through and deck the blitzer. I respond my surrounding the ball with three players and dodging a lineman in to pick up. Ill-ich knocks one over with the Ulf marking the ball carrier and then 1 die blocks the lino into unconsciousness. 3 players round the ball but now they're Norse.

It takes a bit of shifting about but I manage to 2 db a viking (KO's) onto the ball and the ball bounces into a better position for me. With a few hairy dodges and blocks (no reroll) I manage to pick up the ball with my Witch and dodge past a Viking for the second.

Then comes the only bit of bad luck Ill-Lich deserved. With one turn left he goes out of his way to blitz that newly levelled Witch with his Ulf and chooses the both down. This injures his Ulfwerner and the Witch is fine. At that point I laughed my bollocks off, I'll admit it.

HALFTIME 2-0

[Barninho]

Second half Ill-Lich is receiving and fails a pickup with no protection again. My blitzer injures the Norsemen and I protect him as best I can, and the Norse look quite exposed. I also run a blitzer up on the opposite flank just in case.

Ill-Lich gets the players he can over, and decks my blitzer, but the ball drops between one of my players and the sideline. If I could have chosen it would have landed there.

I pick up with the Witch, handoff to a lineman behind her and then run across the pitch to pass short to the blitzer on the other side. I don't risk the gfi and end up stood one step away from a score.

He dodges out of two tackle zones and forgets to blitz, but marks the ball carrier. I blitz him away with a push and walk it in but the Ulf takes out another blitzer on the opposite flank.

3-0 and Ill-Lich cages round the ball before attempting the pickup. This not being his day he fails his third pickup of the game and it is caught by the player on the rear corner of the cage. I blitz the ball free again and when he tries to pick up the ball it bounces through several players before my blitzer grabs it. He is surrounded. but I get an assist on a marker and blitz away with the blitzer KO'ing the player in the process and break free and again stop before scoring.

He blitzes me getting a push to the sidelines and puts a few men between me and the ball. Instead I move laterally and a quick pass sets me up for the score.

Full time 4-0.

[EatThisShoe]

I think you should stick with the witch elf. I've played the four blitzer roster and it just felt very lacking early on, there was little the team could do with only 2 rerolls and a bit of block. The witch elf has a suite of three very useful skills that your team would otherwise lack entirely. Just having a piece with dodge to lend assists is really helpful.

[Barninho]

I feel quite bad about the scoreline and I'd never have dreamt things would go so smoothly. I got three cas, four touchdowns and a fair few passes along the way and only sustained badly hurts, so I'm in perfect shape for game two.

Ill-Ich is quite a new player and made some mistakes but he never got the rub of the green. Every mistake he made was punished and he was an absolute gentleman about it and a pleasure to play.

I think both rosters will be full strength for the next game and I'm happy about that. I even survived a good old fashioned Norse gangfoul right at the death, such was my luck. Going to wait and see how the spp and the mvp drops but I've got at least two players up, and potentially more. One of those is the witch, so I'm going to sigh contentedly and thank Nuffle once again for the nice dice.