[Team Blog] CCIV - Badfellas II

[Barninho]

Point taken. It could be worse.

I think my best chance lies with good kick placement and the dwarves running out of time and maybe even resorting to a bit of a hero play, but I don't feel like the Dark Elves are so fast it will be easy to capitalize. Some nice dice like I got against the Norse would be helpful.

I have beaten Dwarves before on a few occasions but win or lose it normally hurts.

[Creamster]

Hi Barninho,

Just watched about 6 turns of your game vs orcs and a couple of points if you dont mind... (note - I am far from a good player so feel free to counter my points )

(1, Twice you choose a push over a both-down when you had block and they didn't (orcs even done this once as well ). Orcs do have high Av but reducing their move after they get up is always useful.

(2, After you collected with the witch a cheeky pass would have been good - it is 2+ and 2+ for 1 SPP. He had no way of getting near you for a couple of turns.

(3, Setting up 5 on the LOS was very risky vs S4 orcs, even though you did get the KO (even more so when you have to roll a 1 dice block for your first action). Also after you finished, all of the elves were on the line asking for 2 BO to mark all 5 of them.

(4, I think you rushed the first half too fast. You are a man up and its turn 3. Go hunt his AV8 thrower for a couple of turns You had a free foul use it on him

(5, Your defence was strange, no real attempt was made on the carrier and you seemed happy for him to push down in a line while you dodged back. I think turn 6 when he had a L shape of orcs and the carrier was naked. Your left most line elf could have gotten a 1 dice blitz on the carrier but you moved him back.

Let me finish watching the rest

[Barninho]

Actually it's a pretty big help Creamster. Dark Elves are a team I aim to master but I am definitely a good way away from that eventual goal.

As I said the last game was a match I would love to play again, mainly because my strategy went to shit the moment Fred chose to kick. The main thing I would definitely rectify is I'd be more aggressive on Fred's drives. The idea on defence was to stall obviously, but this became difficult to do once I ran out of re-rolls because Fred was bent on making me roll dice.

The push over both-downs were most likely due to me finding it difficult to distinguish between blitzer's and line-orcs though. I wanted to limit the chance of injuries and although I don't doubt I chose the push it would have been because I didn't realize I had the knockdown from it rather than because I thought the push was better.

With the short pass idea, this is really one for individual tastes. With 2 re-rolls that strikes me as a good way to waste a re-roll.

Definitely on my drive I felt I would be in a position where I might not score if I didn't strike quickly but it definitely put me under pressure and you're right, a man advantage is a man advantage.

But yeah, that game was definitely one I'm disappointed with. I basically got psyched out by receiving first and my moves were over-cautious from that point on. Next time I aim to be more pro-active, although the dwarves do worry me.

[Rusty]

Regarding the short pass, if Creamster is right and it would've taken 2 turns for the opponent to reach the ball (I haven't watched the replay so I wouldn't have a clue), if the pass/catch fails you don't need to use a reroll to correct it. Just make sure it's the last thing you do that turn and if it fails just pick the ball up next turn. I think with elves I'd risk doing this even with just 2 rerolls, although I'd want at least 3 if I didn't have AG 4 around. But yeah, like you said, individual tastes.

[Creamster]

Ok finished the rest - Your defence was a lot better and 2 failed blitzing dodges on the carrier mucked you The failed pickup on the orcs was a great example of being agressive when you rushed 5 players into his half . You had the speed and ag advantage to recover.

The first failed blitz dodge on the naked carrier should have been done with the blitzer with dodge who was next to the line-elf anyway (any thoughts why you didn't use him?). The second one was unlucky but I would always go for marking carriers with free players before you roll any dice (there was a blodger on your line I believe). Having players who can pickup the ball afterwards is a luxury you cannot afford when the ball is 4 spaces away from TD.

It was strange to see you put 5 on line and then dodge off LOS on your drive for a first action - This cost you a turn and I believe the match. With 2 to 3 turns you should have been looking to get men up there asap!

My last point is down to taste. With 3 MV7 blodgers you can tag players to spread him out and slow him down. You should be looking to tag players who are S3, with no tackle and mark them on a corner (so pushes move them towards corner edges of pitches rather then straight up or to the side). If they want to 2 dice block another player gets pulled in and chances of you going down are less then 25%. While you can easily dodge away to blitz/mark/annoy in your next turn. I would use the skill combo more aggressively to get cage corners and peel off players (you used a RR on a GFI to get a witch out of contact with a line orc after frenzy moved you there). Some players like to keep them free and loose and use line elfs instead.


For your questions -

1) Take your time and check the enemies skills before you do actions. Diving-tackles are my bane

2) You were clear so i wouldn't waste a RR on a failed catch/throw. Worst case you fail the catch and the ball is next to your player. The enemy then rushes through (which spreads him out). You then pickup here (here I would use a RR) and rush the ball upfield. This is risky with AG4 MV8ers around though so watch out!

Again I hope this helps.

[Narly Bird]

Originally Posted by Creamster

If they want to 2 dice block another player gets pulled in and chances of you going down are less then 25%.

Some great points from Creamster, but 1 correction. A 2-dice block on a blodger will take him down about 1/3 or approximately 33% of the time. Still, its a very valid tactic, especially if you have AV8.

I'm really enjoying this thread. Any writeup for your match day 3?

[Creamster]

Ah yes Narly, you are closer then my value. It should be 30.5% of taking an open star to the face. Still pretty good odds when you are going to fail to dodge into open 2.8% ( like I did twice in our Game Narly ).

[Etheric]

Originally Posted by Narly Bird

I'm really enjoying this thread. Any writeup for your match day 3?

He missed MD3. Had some problems orginising the match by the look of it so netsmurf gave it a 0-0.

MD4 is Seacra's Necros. The good news is they have not developed much in the first 3 games and he has both a wight AND a werewolf with MNG. Not sure what he would do with inducements but with 6 zombies, 1 wight, 1 ww and the 2 FG there will be a lack of speed and ball handling ability. There is a chance he will induce a 2nd WW though.

Anyway should be a good game. Watched a few dark purple necros vs black undead games and man is it hard ot see which side x zombie is on.

[Barninho]

Yeah as above. Basically I was hoping to get the game in on a week night and Sellsword was only free when I wasn't. Got a 0-0. MVP fell nowhere.

Next up I have to play Sceadeau and his Necros which should definitely be worth a match report. I've only played him once before and he destroyed me.

Having said that I am liking the decimated look of his roster.

[Barninho]

Sceadeau and I are playing tomorrow and I'm expecting a tough game based on past experience, both playing against him historically (got slaughtered) and playing against Flesh Golems (annoying). He's had horrible luck so far and a couple of MNG positional players mean all things are not equal, but I fully expect Sceadeau to dream up something dreadful with any inducements.

My strategy seems obvious. I have to tie up the slow players, and hammer his Wight and Werewolf at every opportunity.

The first flaw in the strategy is that Sceadeau will know this is my strategy, because he is much more Bloodbowl-savvy than me, and does things like set-up with little traps for me to fall into incorporated into his gameplan. The second flaw in the strategy is I am the kind of player who falls into traps.

One thing I know is that Sceadeau is going to make me roll a lot of dice and roll them early, and eat up those two re-rolls I can't conserve for the life of me.