[UKBBL] King Arthurs Court

[20phoenix]

The Court returned with a 1-1 draw. Felt like I could have got better as I gained a numbers advantage early on, killing two beasts in the first five turns. However the players I didnt kill were too strong and I really struggled to break through his lines eventually managing to sneak the backup thrower through but having to use the wizard to get him off the sidelines.

Second half I smashed the hand of his claw warrior on a foul but again couldnt get enough firepower to stop him. I was presented with a sniff of a chance in turn 15 - a 2+ dodge and two GFIs for a 1d hit on the carrier with a wrestle rat but he failed the first GFI, RR saved him only to fail the second as well.

La Cote Male Taile levelled and rolled a double so I took dodge. Team is intact except for a MNG on the horns/wrestle gobbo (apo'd from dead)

 

[20phoenix]

MD7 was a Nurgle outfit coached by Mr Lewis with a 340TV advantage. The Court never really got into it and slumped to a 2-0 loss. A fireball opened up a shot at the carrier in turn 3 but King Arthur failed his block that would open up the 2d blitz. Had another shot at the carrier in turn 6 but failed the ag3 dodge (with dodge) to get there. Despite messing up the defensive setup for the one turner the kick was good enough to shoot that possibility down.

Second half the Court drove into Nurgle territory rapidly but were forced to leave an AG3 dodge and GFI to get a blitz on the carrier. Merlin went down and the ball scattered into a pests hand and despite a couple of uphill blitzes on the carrier the ball stayed where it was and the Nurglites ran in a second.

A riot gave the Court another shot but a 5+ pass was needed but the scatter launch ended up scattering onto the recipient anyway. Unfortunately he failed the catch and next turn was wrestled to the ground. I tried a pick up and handoff to a marked blitzer but it ended up in the hands of the marking Nurgle warrior who neglected the chance of showing off his passing game by handing off to a rotter who passed it to a waiting pest who failed the catch.

A bloodthirsty game as both sides took two deaths a piece - rookie warrior and rotter for the Nurglites, Mordred the wrackle linerat and a two heads goblin for the Court.

Mordred is a big loss as he was my only tackle piece. My next opponent? Amazons! Two heads appears to be something of a curse too as every goblin that has had it dies shortly after. Voruk, the blitzer who slipped through the naming process levelled and is now MA8.

Also following a death and a couple of stuns from fouls I have now taken the lead of the golden boot competition - UKBBLs equivalent of the dirty git

 

[20phoenix]

Can't remember the last time i've been this gutted after losing. Lost by the finest of fine margins - last GFI failed an equaliser last turn of first half. Second half failed the final handoff before equalising on last turn also.

One of the most nerve jangling BB games i've ever had and definitely worth a watch on replay. I'll write a full report once i've recovered.

On a side note 2 more dead Court members - at least these were only goblins but dropping like flies.

 

[20phoenix]

Sadly The Courts relegation has now been confirmed after a 1-1 MD10 draw with Waldorf's Chaos Dwarves. We had our chance to win as did he but in the end we both had chances in the final turn to pinch the win and both failed. I predicted a tough fight against relegation at the beginning of the season due to overpromotion and so it panned out so not overly gutted. Will be nice to be able to win a few games next season - fingers crossed!

I've managed to rack up a rather impressive run of 4 games where i've suffered 2 deaths in each and for the second game running the star player has made off with the MVP so team development is really beginning to suffer. However Merlin scored our TD to take him to 31SPP where he has now picked up block and King Arthur is edging oh so close to 31 himself where guard awaits.

Final game of the season is against some rats and my main aim is to protect my squad ready for a fresh crack at tier 4 again next season.

 

[20phoenix]

MD11 was a bizarre game. Underworld tore through the skaven first taking half the team off the pitch and removing the strip ball/wrestle gutter before fireballing a 6 man cage to pry the ball loose and eventually scuttling over in turn 8 with a goblin.

Second half was all going so well until the rat ogre got involved. Kal got him next to the ball carrier a couple of times before he took down Merlin then injured himself and my backup thrower in a both down both down roll. A succession of failed pickups meant I couldnt get the ball clear until Merlin woke up secured the ball and failed a 3+ pass to take a 2-0 lead. Rats went and picked up the scattered ball and long passed it down field to a gutter who stalled out a turn for the tying score.

Voruk racked up three casualties and La Cote Maile Taile two as a long awaited SPP splurge arrived.

Team end a tough season in 11th with a 2-3-6 record. They head back to tier 4 in fairly good shape though and a players beginning to queue up for their next level. I will post an up to date roster once the game has been validated

 

[20phoenix]

So at the end of their second season this is how the Court shape up:

I honestly don't know what possessed me when I chose +MV on the blitzer but that aside i'm happy with the skill choices so far. I'd just like a goblin to survive for longer than 2 games!! Priority next season is to really shape up these blitzers into killers and get some two heads gobbos on the field. Will hope a lot with my mobility

 

[crimsonsun]

I dont think the Ma is a bad choice, but I would not turn him into a outright killer now, instead I would turn him into a sweeper, while making the other one an outright killer.

With strip ball, tackle, juggernaut, two heads, mb he will be a massive threat to any defence, and also can be used to push for extra touchdowns (though in doing so he will start to hog spp) saying that I am not expert on underworld at all and there killer blitzers have caused me major headaches the last few times we have met.

Your heading westside now though, so I will have to stop commenting in your thread because I cannot in good concious support a westsider, nor been seen to now I am in tier 2 on the eastside.

crimsonsun

 

[20phoenix]

Yeah, i'm disappointed i'm leaving behind some people i've had great games with - Waldorf, Conflict, Kal Skirata especially.

I took a look at LFW which according to the chart is where i'm going to end up and there is a horrendous chaos dwarf team in there i'm praying gets a bonus promotion!

Having had a read around this evening i'm leaning towards making the MA blitzer a utility piece with MB next (speed up levelling) then guard and two heads.

 

[20phoenix]

The S14 divisions are up and as expected the Court find themselves in Laurelorn Forest West.

Their opponents:

Zarkons Hippies - PDarby - Wood Elf

A 1420 (1640 with MNG) wood elf team featuring an AG5 wardancer and AG5 catcher. Other players of note are an AV6 MB lino (no other skills) and a blodge/strip ball lino. The thrower has strong arm but no accurate.

Return of the Minions - Fatboy - Chaos

Played this team last season and drew. Got the distinct impression the coach assumed our game was going to be an autowin so i'll be up for this one. He fields a battered looking 1930TV side (2 skillups pending). Notable players include a lvl 4 mino, An AG4 AV8 warrior, a lvl 6 warrior and three level 5 beasts, two with AV7 including a ST4 one.

Krench - RTSD - Norse

A coach who has managed to piece together a 1640 TV (skillup pending) Norse side with only 2 MB. Yhetee is clawpomb/guard but has a niggle and one of the zerkers is MB/PO. Other than that theres a smattering of skills over the rest of the team. Coaches win % is 32%

The Dirty Bin Men - rogerdodge - Chaos Dwarf

A 1350 TV Chorf team with minotaur. Highest level on the team is 2 and guard has been the priority. One bull has dodge and team still only has 2 rerolls.

Scalehide Scavengers - Kharny - Lizardmen

A 1200TV side with 4 levels - a guard krox, 2 block saurus and a block skink. Coaches win % is a whopping 73% but little private league experience

Skullthrone Harbinger - Mad Max Marauder - Khorne Daemons

1140TV (1240 with MNG) side with 4 levelled players - a break tackle thirster, ST4 pit fighter, AV7 block fighter and a block/sure hands fighter who is currently MNG. Only 1 reroll which is pretty ballsy!

The Klondike Moonshiners - Krall - Human

890 TV (1070 with MNG) with only 2 levels - a MNG accurate thrower and a block lino. Standard human build.

The Gutter Strutters - Sprockzilla - Skaven (surprisingly!)

1030 TV (1130 with MNG) with only one skilled player, a MB vermin. Players has played 5 games on Cyanide with a 0-1-4 record

Coldark - TBC

No teams, no games, no comment?

Cheesy - TBC

Apparently a reroll but can't find the coach

The Agency - Marvin the Arvn - Dark Elf

Fresh 1000 TV side with dual assassins, 3 bitzers and no runner. Will be interesting to see how this build fares. Coach has rerolled from higher tiers and has a 63% win %. Plays TT too from what I can gather.

Looks like a division I should be competitive in and hopefully allow me to get some skills on some of these poor goblins before they all die off again!

 

[20phoenix]

Unsurprisingly the coach who had no team or history has withdrawn from the league meaning one of the conference teams is graduating to the big league. Sadly he's bringing dwarves

No surprises in the lineup and one skill on the team - a runner with block. The coac is fairly new to Cyanide and seems to play exclusively dwarfs. Unsurprisingly the most common result on his match record? Draws.

I've also managed to locate the coach I couldn't find - Cheesey McStabbins. No indication as to what team he's bringing yet but his match history is quite similar to mine.

 

[20phoenix]

All the teams have now been signed up and there was another late change. Sprockzilla's Skaven withdrew but were replaced with something just as squishy - Wood Elves!

The team is down to 9 players with a guard tree, a rookie thrower and 7 linemen, 2 with block nd one with kick. 2 rerolls, apo and a CL round out the roster.

Cheesey mcStabbins has opted for a goblin team - currently 790k and 11 men with no bomber or pogo but I expect that roster to change once the schedule is out.

 

[20phoenix]

MD1 is the Scalehide Scavengers coached by Kharny.

Their roster:

Guard Krox
2 Block Saurii
4 Rookie Saurii
1 DT Skink
1 Block Skink
3 Rookie Skinks

3 Rerolls, Apo, 30k treasury

TV 1280

They'll be receiving 160k in inducements which probably equals wizard. I played a similar lizard team in my first season and did well marking up rookie saurii with the gobbos. Voruk and King Arthur will be key here. Given the choice do you receive first so Arthur gets a crack at some of the Saurii or make him go first?

 

[20phoenix]

Not a great start to the season as the Court fell to a 2-1 loss. I fired a gobbo to avoid the wizard but it wasn't enough. I elected to receive to allow King Arthur first shot at the Saurii but a perfect defence and going stupid the first two turns meant this this shot was wasted. While Arthur was going stupid the rest of the team was struggling to deal with the rest of the lizards and were eventually forced to score in turn 4 as Sir Ector De Maris double GFI'd over to score.

The lizards got the ball in the backfield but left the carrier behind a single screen. I couldnt get to him but an Arthur blitz opened it up and I was able to double mark the ball. Kharny seemed content to blitz further downfield and trust in the skink dodge which succeeded and that was pretty much the last I saw of the skink although oddly he chose to score on turn 7 with the ball under no threat and he had no KOs. The kick was too deep to attempt a one turner so we went in at the half at 1-1.

A blitz off kick off saw Voruk injure off a skink but the kick was deep. Despite kicking dead centre the ball still scattered off and was handed to a Saurus with half the Court already behind him. I managed to double mark the Saurus but it was fairly simple for him to blitz down one and GFI for the score.

I set up for a push down the left but quickly had to switch right but was swamped with lizards. Merlin was able to dodge away but a slight positional mistake while handing off to a marked Sir Gawain meant that the screen Gawain hid behind was easily compromised. The rest of the half was spent scrapping over the ball. I did have a sniff off a chance when Gawain picked up in 2 TZ's eating my last reroll while simultaneously surfing the DT skink off but with just a 2+ dodge and GFI to score he failed the GFI.

Arthur had a horrendous game, failing to break armour on skinks or saurii the entire game. Conversely he was injured off with a niggle first half (apo'd) and stunned the second!

A casualty for Sir Lancelot III got him to 16 SPP and adds claw to his mighty blow while Sir Ector De Maris first half TD got him two heads. However Sir Safer has had to be released after having his collarbone smashed.

Next game is 1130 humans with a guard blitzer, accurate thrower, block lino and wrestle lino on an 11 man roster. The loss of Sir Safer drops my TV to 1390 and my roster to 12. Considering whether to buy in an additional goblin or two though. The question is if I give him 340k inducements will he be tempted by Griff. If he does how much of a game changer is he? I don't have a good counter to blodge at the moment especially ST4. However a 14 man roster opens up the fouling game for me which along with the twin threats of Arthur and Lancelot could help me win the numbers game.

 

[Everblue]

Sir Lancelot is turning into a bit of a beast. Nice to have someone like that on the team...!

 

[20phoenix]

Sir Lancelot is turning into a bit of a beast. Nice to have someone like that on the team...!

Yeah just kinda sad that its taken 23 games to get a Blitzer to level 3!

 

[Spartakus]

Yeah just kinda sad that its taken 23 games to get a Blitzer to level 3!

His name is Sir Lancelot III right ? That should tells us something about your luck with blitzers...

Your team is shapping up quite nicely tho. Merlin and Sir Gawain are very good players. And you have a nice sneaky hitter gob. I hope you can keep them healthy a bit.

About your last game, receiving was a bit of a gamble. I never trust my troll to do anythin. I always kick with my Uw's, i find it more effective as you can hit and hide with your killer when you have still gobs to screen your best players. I'm more comfortable with fouling in defense too.
And you have better odds to stop them when you are at "full" strengh.

Good luck with your next game. Remove the guard blitzer and then you'll have a decent shot at his BC even if he cage.
About the inducments, having 2 other gobs could be very handy. But in the other hand, Griff Oberwald can be a pain if he use it as ballcarrier...

 

[20phoenix]

I just can't figure out which is the lesser of two evils - wizard, babe and bribe/apo facing 13 Court or Griff facing 14 Court. One things for sure - if he takes Griff and he hits the deck - i'm fouling that sonofa....

 

[20phoenix]

I decided on the two extra gobbos in the end as i couldnt see Griff making a huge difference when he was defending unlike a wizard which can change everything. As expected Griff turned up to the show.

Despite the addition of an additional MB/Claw piece I couldn't get a numerical advantage in the first half and with Sir Gawain injured early on I lost a lot of my mobility. I managed 5 fouls with no sendoffs! However I got 4 stuns from it so it wasn't particularly productive. Unfortunately every half opportunity I spotted I was stymied by some very pushy block dice and smart positioning from Krall so went in at half time with no score. Krall got all 3 KOs back while I only got 1/3 meaning I was down by a player. Some probing in the first half of the half was pushed back and when the humans retreated i saw a chance. I needed one knock down from either of two blocks to get a 2d on the carrier with a wrestle but we got all pushy again and I had to settle for a 1d which also came up pushes. This left a chance for Krall to handoff to Griff who blitzed through the goblin lines into relative safety. Except for King Arthur......who was in double GFI range. A goblin cleared off the marker from him, he passes RS, passes the first GFI and fails the second. Loner also failed and the Courts last hope was gone. So how did it end 0-0? By Nuffle taking a dump on Krall as he attempted to handoff to his own player for SPP. It made no difference to the end score anyway as I would have scored from the TTM of course

One casualty for Lancelot III was the only SPP from the game. A little galled that despite all that fouling and mb/claw hits I only got 1 casualty to show for it. MVP went to Merlin (again!) who is also MNG after picking up a smashed hand from Griffs blitz through the lines with the ball in turn 15. The apo offered me a niggle instead which I politely declined. Sir Ector De Maris is also MNG which is going to really put me up against it next week. A 12 man roster against dual assassin dark elves while also conceding an estimated 260 in inducements is probably not going to be fun.

 

[20phoenix]

MD3 was some rookieish dark elves with dual assassins and a wizard coached by Marvin, a previous UKBBL champion, I believe.

I went for containment in the first half, happy to throw Arthur into the thick of things while tryin to get surgical blitzes with Lancelot. However Lancelot got KO'd (after notching a KO) and Arthur was badly hurt after claiming a casualty on one of the assassins. I gambled and apo'd it to ensure I had Arthur for the TTM and the second half. The elves were still facing a wall of underworld by turn 6 but a slight positioning error with a goblin prised open the defence and a hero blitz from Bedivere failed on the second dodge. The TTM attempt failed at the animosity roll for he handoff,

Second half the rats scooted through an opening through the middle after a couple of turns before stalling out a few turns to beat up some elves eventually running in once the elves were out of rerolls and had a casualty and 4 KO's in the box. Four turns for the elves to score back didnt stat well with a blitz but the kick was next to the LOS and La Cote Male Taile missed the catch which scattered to a LOS elf who was surrounded. A skulled block ended the elf turn early and the thrower took down the carrier for Gawain to pick up the loose ball. Gawain ran into clear air on turn 15 but was taken down by a bolt from the blue but the ball luckily scattered to the only goblin next him, Sir Dagonet. an attempted hero blitz failed and Dagonet ran in the winner on turn 16. There was still time for an elf to end Morganna's fledgling career with a smashed collar bone. All in all a satisfactory 2-1 win with two levels for the Court, La Cote Male Taile and Sir Lamorak. Normal rolls will be block and two heads respectively.

 

[20phoenix]

Normal rolls is what I got so stuck to the plan. Next opponent is this friendly looking bunch:

Two really nasty players - the Yhetee and the Zerker, a large bench and a DP and universal block. I get probably 170 in inducements so either bomber and babes or wizard.

I can honestly say I have no idea what my gameplan is here! I'm not going to get numbers on him so fouling would be a waste of time. My initial thought was hope to choose, receive first score quickly and use the wizard to try and pick up a second score in the first half. Use the tattered remnants of my team to try and stop him scoring twice in the second half.

However I am open to suggestions!