Fresh meat for the Grinder!

[spoonlamp]

Hi all!

You lot must be getting sick of these by now! Caught this on the Steam sale after it brought back memories of a wasted youth spent surrounded by lead miniatures and tiny paint pots! Played more 40k than BB, but remember enjoying the 1 or 2 games of this I managed to finish.
I've been shocking myself with how bad I am playing an AI tournament (orcs getting beat by halflings??!!), and after gifting the game (ain't steam grand...) to a mate he promptly handed my skaven teams tails to them on a norse platter!

I'm up for online games when I get the chance (wife and 3yr old daughter allowing) and I currently have 2 teams in the Auld er... League ...thingy... lol. How do I find the League most commonly used here??

Looking forward to going beyond losses

[Etheric]

Hi,

It is always nice to see new players, it does look like the steam sale brought a lot of new people onboard, which is a good thing. It does show why steam has the sales .

Anyway most people here play either in the Nagaroth open Cyanide league or in the Crunch them all league (which is just people from this forum).

If the AI beats you though i would suggest trying to get some more experience playing the AI first, the AI is generally regarded as being pretty bad at bloodbowl, so if you can't beat them then playing players might get a bit painful.

Orcs are a good starting team though, I would go with the "classic" orc roster

4 black orcs
4 blitzers
2 linemen
1 thrower
3 rerolls

then get an apothocary when you get 50k winnings.

[spoonlamp]

Thanks Etheric! If I wanted to just use one server which would you recommend? I'm tempted to just go with the Crunch Them All League so I don't end up spreading myself all over the place, plus it'll be easier to get feedback. Unless there are weirdy-beardy rules on that League I'm not aware of?

Anyhoo, while my lack of experience is obvious and an Orc team seems one of the 'normal', or best bets for beginners, I've always loved the concept and feel of Skaven so I think I'll make a Skaven team, or maybe this new one (to me), the lizardy race - Khemri, which seem like a more extreme mix of hard hitters and fast movers...lol, so much to choose from! I'll probably end up with 5 teams which never lvls it's players!

Considering how old this now it's great to see Blood Bowl still kicking about, especially when it seems so true to the original boardgame.

[Etheric]

It can be difficult to get games on CTA as there not *that* many coaches on. I would be tempted to go with 2 leagues, the Naggaroth open when there is noone around on CTA and CTA if there is.

It is good to start with to try a few teams, just to get a feel for what you like, to be honest I much prefer the game at low team value/experience it feels more balanced to me, and it is easier to remember what skills your players have if you just have the starting ones. Lizards are good fun and as you say have a good mix of power and speed on different players. They can be a bit frustrating though as without many starting skills it can be a bit bad. Had a tough game yesterday vs a nurgle team (I was playing lizards) and I got a load of I thought I was pretty high and getting minor nuffled, but it was actually quite close to what would be expected (I won 1:0, but with a bit more luck could have got 2:0 or more).

Khemri are actually an undead style team and not one for beginners. With no ball handling skills really they can be quite frustrating if you don't know the rules. Having said that they can be a good practace team. They are all about not taking any risks and careful positioning, both of which are important skills to learn (one of the biggest mistakes made by starting players is rolling too many dice, and taking too many risks. Even if you have a 5/6 chance of making a roll you should be careful and bear in mind what you could lose if the roll goes wrong. A 1/6 chance of costing you the game is not something you should risk too often. There are times when you do have to just go for it, I lost my last game in Crunch Cup IV after my opponent pulled off some really unlikely moves TWICE. But he had nothing to lose, so it was the right call.

Dark elves are also a good team, with a potent mix of hitting power, speed and durability. Dwarves are also a good starting team, they are very slow so you have to be very careful about positioning, but they are a very strong team at TV 1000.

But as you say a good way to learn is to play some of the people here in a friendly game so they can point out what you are doing wrong. As a first step you should go read the TV1000 starting rosters for various races to make sure you start with a strong team. The general rule is buy 11 players and rerolls only to start with. You want normally 3 rerolls or so with most teams. Don't get more than 11 players or you will not have enough rerolls, and be very careful if you get less than 3 rerolls. There are a few exceptions to that, but those are discussed in the various articles.

The teams vary from the very bashy (i.e. the opponents can't score or stop you scoring if they are all injured) to the more agile (i.e. why bash them when you can just dodge and go around them easily), with a few in the middle. I think the bashy teams are easier for the beginner as they are more forgiving. Make a mistake as orcs and your opponent will score. Make a mistake as woodelves and you could lose your whole team, as they get smacked into the ground HARD.

The other advice is get BBmanager. This allows you to see the stats on the dice rolls you have been having. it is hard sometimes to seperate good strategy from good luck. Also you can download a load of replays (there is a huge replay archive there).

[Coach]

Hey spoonlamp, we will never tire of seeing more Blood Bowlers!

[spoonlamp]

Yeah, fair point!

Just going through the BBmanager options now and trying to figure out how to make it look at the right files...then at some point over the next couple of days I'll make a team for both of those leagues.

[Narly Bird]

Hi Spooner. Here is the CTA thread - Crunch them all - open cyanide league You need to look at this first (at least the first post) as there is a password that is required to enter the league.

Im on GMT+9 so often find it hard getting a game in CTA. Therefore I agree with Etherics comments about joining both CTA and Nag with a few teams. The good thing about CTA is that all the coaches are good blokes that are fun to have a chat with and i am sure would be happy to help you out with tips, tactics, etc. rather than just trying to ground your Skaven into mush. Nag on the other hand is a bit of a lucky dip as to the sort of opponent you will get (but much more likely to get a match anytime you want).

[spoonlamp]

Thanks for the input Narly - sound advice.

I may be a little while getting round to sorting out those teams though - I played a single player on my Orc campaign last night and again this morning, both infuriating losses. This morning was versus an Undead game, who's ghouls were dodging out of my tackle zones, zombies were tying up all my muscle (troll, BOs) and generally being a pain! I even alt-F4'd it and restarted thinking to go for the 2-1 grind, however even leaving my left flank open and just trying to damage his team on the centre and right, he took 5 turns to run the ball in, then got a blitz action on kicking back to me, tying me up again straight away! I know some of this will always be Nuffle's hate, but I also realise I'm making crucial, basic errors and just can't see what they are. So more time is needed with the basics. I'll even go back to story mode (which I quit after the second game!) in the hopes of finding what it is I've missed and I see there's a thread which has matches I can download and then read the critique of the game in the thread, which is just an awesome idea. I've so far found only one playthrough/talkthrough on youtube - by a guy with a Skaven team...maybe I should Fraps a game and post it up for everyone to destroy...

[Etheric]

Undead are a tough matchup for orcs, as they are a team that it is hard to outmuscle.

The 2-1 grind is more for agility teams, where it is almost impossible to stop them scoring, against another bash team then you should go for a 1-0.

Score in turn 8 on your drive and stop them scoring in theirs.

On defense you need to get your linemen to mark up the mummies as needed, and keep your blitzers back to deal with any one who breaks through the line. Even as orcs you can do the "collumn" defense if you want to. This is where you have 2 deep columns one square infrount of his cage and with 2 squares between them. This is hard to penetrate.

I guess you do need to play some people, as it is hard to see what you are doing wrong without someone pointing it out. Been playing a lot of orcs badly recently so can give you some help. The key with orcs (which i have been forgetting recently) is patience, you have 8 turns to score and you don't want to score much before t7.

Orcs are very slow and easy to drag out of positoin. You need to be very careful putting extra players into assist blocks (something I was also very guilty of yesterday ).

As I said the goal vs undead is to win 1-0. They don't score you do.

And having been nasty about the single player it is a lot harder than it was as your opponent will have a lot more TV than you these days. Vs undead I would be tempted to take a troll journeyman (160k in inducements) and just use him to mark up the mummies. He does not have to dish out much, just take a beating for the whole game.

Undead are also a nice starting team as well, they have a good mix of bashyness with the 2 mummies and the 2 wights. Then you have 2-3 ghouls for the speed (but keep them safe).

If you are around tonight latish (9.30pm UK time probably or so) can give you a game orcs vs undead (decide which one you want) and I can see I can give you some pointers.

Need to work the frustration of yesterdays game out of my system anyway (not that I played well), make a few bad mistakes.

[spoonlamp]

Thanks for the tips - have to say this site has great reading material for when the boss isn't around the office Yes, their TV is slightly higher than mine, they also seemed to have more money for inducements which I found a little...aggravating...

Can't make a game tonight, may well be the weekend before I get a chance, although if I'm lucky wifey will go next door to watch some big wedding on the telly on Friday...if I get a suprise green light I'll drop a note on here or maybe just chuck you a challenge on ... CTA League?