Blood Bowl Blues

Cash Johnson once more with yet another gaming post, this time about the small Blood Bowl league we happen to be running amongst ourselves. As of this moment, we are five players, two of which have yet to actually play a game because they are lazy. The three active teams, however, are my Skaven, Jon's Khemri, and (another local from my end) Irvin's Ogres. We are still waiting on Drew's Chaos Dwarves and Hoj's Dwarves.

But I digress - it's time for the Skaven breakdown: 3 Gutter Runners, 1 Thrower, 2 Blitzers and 6 Linemen. I know I should have taken 13 players, but I'm holding out for either a 4th Gutter Runner or my 0-1 Rat Ogre (plus 3 re-rolls is always nice for a starting team). As it stands now, im 1 and 2 with Fan Factor 5, and 60,000 left in winnings (would have had more, but I had to replace a dead lineman in my first game).

So how does my team stack up? Well, outside of the league, I played two games before we started to get used to the rules (since I had never played before). Against Humans, I managed a 3-2 victory. Against Orcs, I got my ass pounded into the dirt by Black Orcs. In the league, however, I am actually a victim of luck more than poor coaching. The first win was against Ogres, my Team Captain able to break away with the ball to score the only point that game, and my linemen proceeded to injure Gnoblars simply as a matter of course. My first loss was to Khemri, as Tomb Guard are just mean and their Blitzers aren't any nicer - I did, however, break one Skeleton's ankle, so it wasn't a total loss. The second loss was today, victim of three lucky plays to my two normal plays - I stacked up a lot of Star Player Points all around, though.

Meet the team of Clan Xymox:

#1 - Squeak Twitchfoot, Team Captain, Gutter Runner: Dodge, Leap, 9 SPP (3 TDs)
#2 - Thrak the White, Thrower: Pass, Sure Hands, 0 SPP
#3 - Bulk Irontail, Blitzer: Block, 2 SPP (1 Casualty)
#4 - Queeg Blackfur, Blitzer: Block, 0 SPP
#5 - Shiv Sneakpaw, Gutter Runner: Dodge, 3 SPP (1 TD)
#6 - Titch Redeye, Gutter Runner: Dodge, Leap, 6 SPP (2 TDs)
#7 - Snag Longsnout, Lineman: Shadowing, 10 SPP (2 MVP)
#8 - Ignatz Vilepelt, Lineman: Tackle, 7 SPP (1 Casualty, 1 MVP)
#9 - Toerag Shorthair, Lineman: 0 SPP
#10 - Snog Gnawfang, Lineman: 2 SPP (1 Casualty)
#11 - Blag Warptail, Lineman: 0 SPP
#12 - Nitz Dwarfstab, Lineman: 4 SPP (2 Casualties)

Now, those of you who know how Skaven play in Blood Bowl are probably wondering how rats
managed to rack up five casualties against teams who are tougher than they are. Well, seeing how squishy Gnoblars are, my strategy is simple - the moment the rat with the ball gets further than they can catch in a single turn, I gang up on Gnoblars and roll my 3 Block Dice, occasionally getting the lucky 2 Dice Block against an Ogre to put him on his ass. I would have had two more casualties to my credit, but rocks thrown by my fans unfortunately don't count (2 in the same game, one Ogre suffering a Cracked Skull).

Right now I am saving up for a tasty Rat Ogre so I can concentrate more on moving the ball instead of minimizing damage done to me. Maybe if I could rack up some casualties with him, possibly take Piling On or Multiple Block - but I'm still 100k short and down my #4 Blitzer in my next game, which will cost me precious defense. Still, three Gutter Runners and a Thrower means I will always have someone on the ball after a kickoff, so I just need to concentrate on boxing out for the meanwhile.

Also thinking of putting a Chaos team together, just to have another fun team on the back burner for another league. Maybe the store league if they get that going this year. Who knows, they may be even better for me.

- Cash