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[ndkid]

Morg's Meat Mashers vs. Skitterscamps

An introduction: MMM hasn't been seen since Season 1 of the Bay 12 league. They are led by an A4 thrower I will now designate "Hurler", a S5 Black Orc I now designate "Basher", and an A4, S4 Lineman I now designate "Upstart". I will give handy nicknames to other players as it becomes necessary.

Skitterscamps goes in for some Beer with their inducements. They also elect to kick. MMM sends Hurler deep to receive the kickoff.

M1: A gobbo on the line is injured by a rock. Another is knocked down on the line. The third manages to stay up. Due to a case of mistaken skill attribution, Upstart falls over trying to make a block.

S1: Skaven push down the side of the pitch with the ball.

M2: A couple of blocks along the midfield line. Then Hurler picks up the ball, only to fall over while trying to run with it.

S2: The ball is picked up and run downfield.

M3: Hurler tries and fails to get to the ball carrier.

S3: The ball fails on a pass.

M4: A blitzer gets beside the skaven beside the ball.

S4: One orc gets his ankle smashed. The apoc saves him, meaning the next block turns up death for another orc. Then a skaven fails to pick up the ball.

M5: With a helpful assist block, Hurler manages to stand up, pick up the ball, and toss it to a rookie blitzer back at midfield, who runs it forward with a black orc blocker.

S5: A goblin falls over trying to block the ball carrier.

M6: Lots of blocks, then the rookie runs in the score.

S6: MMM's two throwers are the deep safeties. They also get a perfect defense, allowing them to pull to the same strong side Kanil picks. A black orc and a blitzer get knocked down, but the troll goes dumb, saving the orcs from any more pain.

M7: Upstart breaks a Skaven's hip. The troll gets knocked down, as do some goblins.

S7: A skaven thrower picks the ball up and moves it forward. A skaven falls over trying to block.

M8: Some blocks.

S8: Some blocks.

Halftime Score: Morg's Meat Mashers 1 - 0 Skitterscamps

S9: A thrower picks up the kickoff and tosses it to a skaven who runs it downfield with one skaven blocker beside him. Two black orcs and a lineman are knocked over.

M9: The rookie thrower falls over trying to run fast.

S10: After some blocks, the skaven runs in the score.

M10: Skitterscamps gets a blitz, which allows it to knock over a blitzer on the edge and run some skaven past the line. Hurler picks up the ball and tosses it to Upstart, who runs it downfield with a thrower and black orc as company.

S11: Upstart gets knocked down by a skaven. The black orc fails to pick up the bouncing ball. The troll goes stupid.

M11: Lots of blocks. The rookie thrower picks up the ball and runs it forward.

S12: A blitz knocks over the rookie thrower. Lots of goblins stand up. An attempt to pick up the ball sends it into the hands of a black orc.

M12: The black orc runs the ball toward the end zone. Lots of goblins go down, but they continue to refuse to die.

S13: The troll tries to toss a goblin at the black orc with the ball. A skaven thrower knocks down the ball carrier and picks up the ball.

M13: A complicated series of blocks leaves the ball on the ground where a rookie blitzer picked it up and ran it in.

S14: MMM lines up in a prevent defense. Another rock knocks out another goblin. The troll goes stupid again. One skaven passer picks up the ball and tosses it to another skaven passer. A black orc gets knocked out.

M14: Upstart strains the groin of a random skaven. Another blitzer injures a goblin. The rest of MMM tries to make sure all gaps are filled.

S15: The troll stays stupid. The ball carrier loses the ball trying to dodge out of the mess at midfield.

M15: A blitzer fouls a down gobbo, injuring it. The rookie passer runs forward to pick up the ball. Deep players try to keep all the passing options shut down.

S16: The ball carrier gets knocked down, but it sends the ball among a mob of orcs. A skaven falls over trying to block some of that mob.

M16: A black orc falls over trying to block the troll.

Final Score: Morg's Meat Mashers 2 - 1 Skitterscamps

Thoughts: It was interesting experience, switching back to my orcs after so many seasons with the Chaos team. They may both be bashy teams that I manage to meld a passing game onto, but they *feel* very different. The lack of mutations leads to a more conventional upgrade path for the orcs, and the slower speeds mean that they have to box up more. On the other hand, four black orcs plus four blitzers makes for a really strong front line with a reasonable number of choices. Kanil got hit with good luck when he didn't really need it, and bad luck when he did, which left a lot of room for my strength advantage to be decisive. He never really got much opportunity to use his speed advantage on offense, and his decision to try to farm SPPs in the early going rather than taking the quick score may have been costly... it certainly changed the flow of the game.

[Kanil]

As ndkid notes, he accidentally gave himself a free turnover on a block in T1, then had bad luck in T2 that basically gave me a free 1-0 lead. But I elected to try to get a Linerat the TD, rather than the thrower -- I fired my injured wrackle linerat, so they're priority for now -- and he missed the catch, and my screen wasn't sufficient to hold the orcs off.

My defense was no match for the orc's onslaught, so I wasn't really able to prevent the slow orcs from scoring at will after that point.

@i2amroy: For some reason Cyanide likes to stick games against teams back to back when you go double round robin. I don't know why, and I don't have any control over it. I can't even reroll the schedule, if it throws up a stupid one. Sorry.

Training Tournament: Should start tomorrow. Everyone has their teams picked out, once they're applied I'll get it running. It'll also be double round robin, 6 teams. Still a chance for two more people to sign up, if they want.

[ndkid]

Training Tournament: Should start tomorrow. Everyone has their teams picked out, once they're applied I'll get it running. It'll also be double round robin, 6 teams. Still a chance for two more people to sign up, if they want.

If it was listed above, I keep missing it: what's the league name and password?

[monk12]

Training Tournament: Should start tomorrow. Everyone has their teams picked out, once they're applied I'll get it running. It'll also be double round robin, 6 teams. Still a chance for two more people to sign up, if they want.

If it was listed above, I keep missing it: what's the league name and password?

With 6+ish people more or less signed up, it seems the training tournament has enough people to make it worth hosting. So I've created the league, and we can also start applying teams to that! Yay, signups! Yay, applications! Yay, leagues!

"Bay12 Training Tournament" and "Bay12" as usual.

Still looking for a better name, though!

You can also search by commissioner in the League Finder, which is how I found it (because I am too lazy to remember 2 words.)

[monk12]

Monk's Marauders vs w00t w00t

Since the Humans were without two injured players this game, they actually received enough Inducements for an HMC this match. He only stole one RR in the first half, and ank didn't need it for his trickery.

Elves received, but Ethileni-ethlilin-ethl... E-dog the One Turn TD Wonder Elf dropped the catch, giving the humans the chance to swoop in. Helmut the Thrower brought E-dog down, and half the Marauder team gang fouled the bastard, but they only managed a KO, and E-dog would return to score another day. The Marauders stomped down the field, but didn't do more than stun any more elves on their way to a quick score, up 1-0

E-dog did not return for the next kickoff, and the humans lined up in an unbalanced formation, putting the majority of the team on the left and the high ST and Tackle bruisers on the right. After a bit of jockeying for position the Marauders failed to drop any elf, while the elves got in a position to make a pass. Eomund Tonkai made a heroic dodge to attempt an interception, but the coach failed to realize both that the Thrower's Safe Throw skill made the INT impossible, and that the Thrower was throwing to a completely different elf than expected! A quick sprint later and the elves are in to equalize, 1-1

The humans receive the kickoff and go balls out, sneaking Sigric the AG4 blitzer into scoring range and generally punching around some elves (I think at this point an elf got KO'd.) The elves took advantage of the shoddy cagework of the humans, knocking Eomund Tonkai the ST4 AG5 Thrower on his ass, but the ball bounced into Helmut the Thrower's hands, preventing the takeaway. One safety blitz and a handoff later, and the humans are once again up 2-1

E-dog comes back onto the pitch to much hooping and hollering, and this time he handles the reception with "consummate ease," as a certain commentator may have mentioned. Easily identifying the weak point in the Marauder line, he sprints the length of the field and leaps over the head of the befuddled Catcher Omo Thunderjaw before dancing into the endzone to tie the game up, 2-2.

Lacking a similar lightning scoring technique, the Marauders set out to brutalize the opposition, and end up BHing a line elf. Of more interest is the blizzard that sweeps over the stadium, freezing Marauder plans to continue their aggressive passing game and making the 3 GFIs needed for ank's E-dog scoring technique much more difficult. Halftime, 2-2

The Humans receive the kickoff to start the second half, and considering the weather they decide to take a more conventional anti-elf approach, grinding their way down the field. Only one elf suffered a serious injury (a niggler sustained on a crowd surf) though several others were KO'd. The strong Human line proved it's bash credentials once again, taking until the last turn to score, 3-2

Despite the prayers of the Wood Elves, the blizzard did not abate for the final play of the game as E-dog lined up to the right opposite ST4 Tackle Terror Grant Valdred the Blitzer. However, an enraged fan pegged Valdred in the back of the head with a rock, leaving w00t w00t just a pickup, handoff, pass, catch, and 3 icy GFIs away from the tying score.

They made it, of course. They're elves.

Final Score: Monk's Marauders 3 - 3 w00t w00t


A fine match between two former Bay12 Champions at the height of their power. Amusingly, we both lost Fan Factor for the draw, but I came out even on Spiralling Expenses while ank was down 10k, so there is that. A very fun game, and definitely looking forward to the week 10 rematch. I'd say that somebody should kill E-dog, but I'm sure ank will say something similar about Eomund Tonkai

[ank]

A fine game indeed! and a fine writeup as well!

Thanks for the game, it was a delight.

Tonkai is a beast! And without a single guard on my team, I have no way of getting just 1 die on him, if he has backup.

I imagine Tonkai to be a bit of a dick, he's a thrower that picks up the ball, then realizes that all the other guys are noobs, and he should just run the ball in himself.

[Kanil]

Amusingly, we both lost Fan Factor for the draw...

I'm not terribly surprised that both of you failed to roll a 12 with your 2d6. When your fan factor gets into double digits, your supporters tend to settle for nothing less than victory after victory.

As for the team's respective star players, I'm not sure. Neither really seems like a solid staple player of the team, they're more your plan B kind of guys. Useful, but not something you'd like to build a strategy around. They're both over 200 TV, too -- that seems like a lot to pay for a Plan B.

Still, I've lost to both teams in the finals, so perhaps you two know what you're doing.

[ank]

Are you calling my one turn td elf a plan B?
I try this play EVERY drive!

[Kanil]

Just because you use plan B as plan A doesn't automatically make it the best choice.

Going for a OTTD means you're taking a lot more risk than a "regular" two turn TD (which themselves are bad, in terms of ceding control of the game) and you're ensuring only one player gets the SPPs.

The only time the OTTD really makes sense is T8/T16, and to get there, you have to have either had that 200+ TV sitting on the bench all game, or having survived unfouled until then.

'course, if you go for the OTTD every time, and it works every time, then you basically can't actually lose a game, so that's pretty neat.

[monk12]

Amusingly, we both lost Fan Factor for the draw...

I'm not terribly surprised that both of you failed to roll a 12 with your 2d6. When your fan factor gets into double digits, your supporters tend to settle for nothing less than victory after victory.

As for the team's respective star players, I'm not sure. Neither really seems like a solid staple player of the team, they're more your plan B kind of guys. Useful, but not something you'd like to build a strategy around. They're both over 200 TV, too -- that seems like a lot to pay for a Plan B.

Still, I've lost to both teams in the finals, so perhaps you two know what you're doing.

As far as fan factor, the amusement stems from me comparing it to an analogous NFL game; if I saw two excellent teams put up a lot of points and take things down to the wire, I'd be saying "damn that was a good game." Of course, the situation is probably more analogous to soccer, since NFL games go to sudden death overtime before ending in a draw, and hell if I know what soccer fans think.

And really, I find it hard to call Tonkai a Plan B, since Humans don't exactly have a Plan A in the first place. He fits nicely into my standard gameplans for vs bash and vs elf, so he's never riding the bench. He's not the whole team himself, but he's a gamechanger no matter what the situation is, especially with all the role players he has supporting him. He usually spreads the ball around quite well; it didn't happen this last game since ank was literally incapable of getting a 1d block unless I was completely negligent (which I was, that one play, but serves me right.)

Besides, I'm a sucker for AG 5

[Jartol]

Boo humans, boo!

[Kanil]

... I find it hard to call Tonkai a Plan B, since Humans don't exactly have a Plan A...

Passing is three times more risky than picking up the ball and walking it to the endzone. Again, if passing is your plan A, then you might want to rethink your strategy. 'course, if plan A isn't working, there's nothing wrong with switching to plan B -- your AG4 NoS catcher should have no issues grabbing the ball, and AG5 should send it out just fine, but if you are passing, then something has gone wrong. 'course, it's Blood Bowl, something is always going wrong.

Perhaps somewhat obvious but also worth noting: passing only works when he has the ball. Tonkai doesn't have dodge, so that reduces the effectiveness of his ST4 and AG5. A couple of assists and you have a decent shot of knocking him down, and while he dodges into a TZ on a 2+, you still would like to have a reroll on hand for it.

So, yeah. Tonkai can get you out of a bind, but he's 20 more TV than one of your plus statted (and very annoying!) blitzers. He's certainly not a bad player, and he definitely can win you a game when you find yourself in one of the odd situations Blood Bowl regularly serves up, but he's definitely a Plan B kind of player.

[Nerjin]

If you're min-maxing everything then the tourney gets boring. Taking risks adds some excitement to it otherwise it's always going to be a 2-1 grind. At least that's how I look at it.

[monk12]

Passing is quite risky, yes, but humans are about adaptability; I need to play like an elf against bashy teams, and play like an orc against elfy teams. Not only does Tonkai give me some serious elfball cred (which keeps high strength teams from just dogpiling the cage,) but his high strength makes him a good roleplayer against the weaker teams (as evidenced against w00t w00t, who couldn't get any kind of good block against him even with all the Leap they've got.) Expensive player, yes, but worth the TV I think (unlike, say, the Ogre, who even with block is probably too expensive a luxury to be worth the opportunity cost of, say, another skilled Catcher.)

Don't get me wrong, if that had been playoffs I would have definitely tried a 2-1 grind after that first turn drop by the elves (and against w00t w00t, that's practically the only way the game will end in OT short of murdering all the elves.)

[Kanil]

In other news: Everyone has applied to the training tournament, and that is now underway.

Match ups for week one:
monk12 - Monk's Meanies vs THE_SLAYA - Slaya's Scrabblers
ndkid - Unstoppable Immovables vs Kanil - Players are Overrated
i2amroy - The Traveling Doctors vs Charmander - Light of Judgement

Due to this tournament being somewhat shorter than the main league, scheduling will be a bit more relaxed here, hopefully. Still, you can now start scheduling/playing.