Plasmoid's Narrow Tier Blood Bowl

[Avatar111x]

Hadn't seen any discussion about this on the website and I was wondering whether people had checked it out and what they though about it, especially since he's rethought some of his nerf/boosts (thank God those Dryads have gone from the Halfling teams - I really wasn't keen on them).

If anyone in uncertain about what I am talking, it is a set of house rules to try and rebalance the rules a bit. It is not an intention to bring tier 3 up to competative standards, but to try and bring everything a little closer together (and depower things like the Clawbomb).

The link to the page is below.

Blood Bowl: Narrowing the tiers

I'd just be really interested to see what people make of it and hear some comments

[Netsmurf]

It is not so much the clawpomb as it is just PO he wants to change. So far they are only halfway through the gametests, but once they are finished and my guys give me feedback, then I will consider if we will run a league in my club with those rules and the bank rule.

I like some of his initiatives but I still think that giving a generic +1 to fouling will bite the weak AV teams harder than the PO teams. But that remains to be seen

[Gallows Bait]

Originally Posted by Netsmurf

It is not so much the clawpomb as it is just PO he wants to change. So far they are only halfway through the gametests, but once they are finished and my guys give me feedback, then I will consider if we will run a league in my club with those rules and the bank rule.

I like some of his initiatives but I still think that giving a generic +1 to fouling will bite the weak AV teams harder than the PO teams. But that remains to be seen

Weak AV teams generally succeed with fewer players on the pitch, so any of their useful positionals that go down you want out, not just down. A slower high AV team can't run away so easily, so that positional knocked down is less likely to be an immediate scoring threat, so you concentrate on more knockdowns and keeping the numbers advantage by not losing players sent off.

At least that's how I view it, so yeah, I think the low AV teams will get hurt most.

[Jasper]

I like the team specific changes, which seem across the board pretty solid to me.

I like what he's trying to do with the more general changes, but think they feel rough around the edges.

[Narly Bird]

Did one of the previous versions of BB used to have automatic +1 to fouling? I seem to remember always adding +1 to fouls back in the day.

[John McGuirk]

I read these last night. Not sure what to say, other than that I agree with the problems, but perhaps not the solutions.

Block Mummies sound very scary. I agree with the people above me that improving fouling helps fouling teams, not low-AV teams. And when he says that Humans would become the best all round team, that'd be true - if he'd actually had the guts to nix Goblins or Throwers from the Orc roster.

Still, as I'm sure he'd point out, he's the one with the playtesting data behind him, whereas we're just playing 'Theory Bowl' (I only came across that term a few days ago, and it made me literally laugh very hard. I think I must play more Theory Bowl than I do Blood Bowl )

[Jasper]

General skills on Mummies was the one team change that I'm skeptical of, despite them having to take the second tier skill Grab instead of Mighty Blow. Makes more sense to me to just trade skills and still leave them with only strength access.

[Avatar111x]

I can see his logic to stop them being considered big guys with no nega-traits. And the addition of grab means the Block Frenzy monster is now a thing of the past. It does give the coach more options with the Mummy. Do I go the conservative route with block or the destructive route. If they just had strength access first skill will always be Mighty Blow.

My dislike is about the Amazons. Giving them all AG access pushes them too much into Elf territory for my personal liking. I like the Wrestle Blitzers.

My other worry is about Right Stuff. I'd prefer to see only Titchy ignoring tackle. You will normally be chucking 3 dice at them anyway and I think that makes up for it. I think with the AV boost Goblins and Halflings can do without

[Jasper]

Definitely agree that Stunty shouldn't cancel Tackle. Goblins and Halflings are plenty annoying enough as it stands! I'm fine with the effect on Snotlings though. Halflings in particular I think are underrated, assuming they setup their team to always induce Deeproot and get the Chef; giving them AV 7 is plenty of improvement.

As for Amazons, I like the changes. Less brutal Blodging early on, but better long run. Even with Agility access I don't see them as particularly elfy as they lack AG 4 and are only average speed. I like the idea of a bashy team that relies upon things like Jump Up and SideStep.

[Rusty]

One thing I'm unsure about is G access being given to Mummies but not Tomb Guardians. I'm happy for Undead to be given a long-term boost like that, and obviously there is a balance issue if Tomb Guardians were to have it too as four ST5 Blockers would be pretty damn hefty, but I don't like that the Mummies-aren't-big-guys line is used when Tomb Guardians aren't big guys either. It doesn't sit right, somehow, and I think either both or neither should have it. If both then Tomb Guardians would obviously need a nerf, if neither then Undead would need a different boost - maybe for Wights or Ghouls instead though.

But other than that, and maybe the Right Stuff change (I agree it should probably be Titchy), I'd definitely like to have a few games with these rules.