Rolling Thunder BBL Season 7

[Gandalf]

Congrats again on the seasonal win, Gandalf! Even if (not saying I do) one buys into the argument that elves, skaven, etc. are cheating, you're still to be commended for not making mistakes and seeing the ship through. And the waters are made turbulent by Nuffle's Gaze, so to have a near perfect record is to be doubly commended. See you in the cup e_e well, probably not...

It's more the expectation of winning... I had a lot of that a few seasons ago which is partly why I would get so upset, now I'm trying to be more relaxed about things, and I read all this stuff on here putting a severe expectation of victory back on me... predict a victory, sure, but certain people predict every wood elf game to be an easy, boring, routine, no-chance-of-failure game.

Re: cup...

I will be taking my laptop to the in-laws But will mostly be at home anyway of Christmas. Dunno if we want to wait on the cup until we are all around, or play the first round piecemeal.

[lawastooshort]

I will also be at home at Christmas and have a Skaven team who have a friendly left to play

And possibly a brand new team to start on.

[Raveen]

It's more the expectation of winning... I had a lot of that a few seasons ago which is partly why I would get so upset, now I'm trying to be more relaxed about things, and I read all this stuff on here putting a severe expectation of victory back on me... predict a victory, sure, but certain people predict every wood elf game to be an easy, boring, routine, no-chance-of-failure game.

It should be noted that the higher TV team should be expected to win. Inducements, by design, are there to give the underdog maybe a 1/3 chance rather than the 1/2 that would make things even. That's why stars and mercs are overpriced (compared to skilling up a player). It's also the case that the larger the TV discrepancy, the more you expect the overdog to win. Add to that the fact that Wood Elves are one of, if not the best team in Blood Bowl and the fact that you are a good coach and I think that it's only rational for people to expect you to win.

Also add in that it's mostly people poking fun - I had a lot of it last season even though the Chorfs weren't all that until the Cup and I took it because I picked a top team and my cup draw was exceptionally well suited to me winning. When they come back I fully expect to get more grief for it because spammed Tackle is clearly cheating

Edited the quoted section to add the whole paragraph I was responding to for purposes of clarity.

[notjarvis]

What Rav said.

predict a victory, sure, but certain people predict every wood elf game to be an easy, boring, routine, no-chance-of-failure game.

Not no-chance of failure, but you would be far more likely to win in most games, as the TV is much higher, and this is by design.

I was never likely to win on Sunday without a pretty huge swing of the dice my way, so that I could clear off a fair part of your team, and do some solid caging/pressuring versus lower numbers. There were no other inducements I could of taken IMO that would have increased my chances of winning noticeably, and I actually struggled to spend 1000000 in inducements (I'd actually planned what I was buying beforehand, and none of the other options were particularly better, (e.g. running ST3 Frenzy witch elfs into all that block and guard would be suicide)

You play very well with an excellently skilled up team, so it's pretty much unbeatable for low TV teams without a huge (and I mean pretty huge) dollop of luck, in that you leave few holes, or make few mistakes - the expectation of Bore-wins is a complement to the fact you know what you are doing with your team.

With respect to the game we played on Sunday, with the dice as they were (a reasonably large swing against), I could have done nothing to win, which from my point of view was pretty boring.

So yes, at least in the case of the game on Sunday - it was a Bore-win for the wood elves from my point of view.

[Gandalf]

@Rav I'm not sure your comment adds much since by only addressing a small part of what I've said you've effectively misquoted me. I don't disagree with anything you say.

@notj those stabby elves were very annoying. Being 2-0 up after turn 3 ended it, sure, but the first TD was basically a blitz from kickoff / you rolling silly dice, and the second had a bit of luck about it too (though you perhaps could've caged the ball a bit better). The fact my players have tons of skills helped, but you can't predict the luck (and hence the supposedly boring nature of the game) beforehand.

I could go and quote probably 20+ comments in the predictions thread about how easy (almost?) every single match was going to be. Please remember this is the team that won 6 and lost 3 last time out, you'd never have guessed they lost that many from reading what was posted.

Not no-chance of failure, but you would be far more likely to win in most games, as the TV is much higher, and this is by design.

I don't dispute this, to a point... I think there's some TV bloat going on in my team for example. But if what you have typed is what people believe, then don't predict 17-0 wins, or the world' first boring 9-0 win etc. all the time, just say the wood elves going to win, or a realistic scoreline, or occasionally a silly one. It's quite belittling to hear "you have 10000% chance of winning" the whole season long, makes me feel like I'm a complete failure if I don't win. It's got worse as the season has gone on, so when I didn't win a game early in the season (vs Abom) I was able to take well & in fact it was probably my most enjoyable match of the season, and also Abom hasn't been one of the "17-0 to the elves" crowd. If I'd lost a match later on to another player I may not have taken it so well.

[Raveen]

@Rav I'm not sure your comment adds much since by only addressing a small part of what I've said you've effectively misquoted me. I don't disagree with anything you say.

Quote edited for purposes of clarity.

[DaigaroOgami]

Oh Gandalf, lighten up dude; everyone predicting you to win is a back-handed compliment, like the others said; One of the best races in the league + Excellently thought out skill selections + Favorable progression + a very good coach = a no-brainer that you were likely to do extremely well; hence the high expectation.

La had a mare of a season, RL is a (relatively) inexperienced coach albeit with a developing team, and all the other teams were new. Apart from me & ID, and ID had rotten luck with his wolves (otherwise he'd have challenged you more) and I'm not as good a coach. And my Black Orcs are made of glass. And PirlOrc was horribly, dishonourably, brutally, unfairly maimed.

The persistent '18-0' bore-wins were all said in complete jest; if I was reading this from outside I'd see it all as POSITIVES towards you; if everyone was expecting you to win then that means you must be bloody good. Think of the elves as Barcalona & Real Madrid combined... who would challenge them in La Liga? Who WOULDN'T predict them the win 18-0 every week?

Respond in the same jest! Get into character of some frolicking elf! OF COURSE you were going to win; tell us all that you're disappointed to only beat the orcs 6-0! it should've been 7! You were robbed! Be disgusted at the lack of competition you're facing!Tell us you'll play with only 5 elfs on the pitch and STILL win 3-0!! I'm pretty sure that no-one takes anything said in the fluff to heart; it's all part of the game!

If you cant handle the expectation then that's another thing entirely; and you need to remember it's only a silly game.

[lawastooshort]

I did not have a mare of a season you putrid hippy.

[DaigaroOgami]

Yeah you did bumberklaart; you were a defending champion, and you couldn't even finish above the Ducklingz.

I'd probably call that a complete failure of a season.

[Moose]

Change in perspective: Imagine how disheartening it is to hear your going to loose 17-0 (and then also to loose to halflings , which by the way was one of my favorate games to date rav beating up your team was great fun you to la. I was going for bashing over scoring this season as I had no chance.)

[DaigaroOgami]

In that case then only losing by anything less than 17-0 must've been motivating then surely Moose?

Imagine what it's like explaining to your wife that just because you lost 6-0 doesn't mean you suck at the game, and no, you shouldn't stop playing it because you're clearly not getting any better with all this 'practice', in fact it looks like you're getting worse.

Excellent work on the change of approach Moose, 2nd only to the mighty Gertrude no? And if you'd figure out what the block dice actually mean then you might've finished above Gerty... Bring on the Cup!!!!!

From which the most violent team will get eliminated in the first round because they're playing the el... oh wait, too soon?

[Abomination]

With predictions against Moose, predictions for Gandalf, Rav running out of quarters for the quarterlings a quarter through the season, and the Undercheesers underperforming, it sounds like half our league's coaches are only in it for the sadomasochism! Which, given that this is Blood Bowl, sits perfectly all right with me.

[Gandalf]

Respond in the same jest! Get into character of some frolicking elf! OF COURSE you were going to win; tell us all that you're disappointed to only beat the orcs 6-0! it should've been 7! You were robbed! Be disgusted at the lack of competition you're facing!Tell us you'll play with only 5 elfs on the pitch and STILL win 3-0!! I'm pretty sure that no-one takes anything said in the fluff to heart; it's all part of the game!

If you cant handle the expectation then that's another thing entirely; and you need to remember it's only a silly game.

Sorry, modesty is too important to me... I can do a certain amount of getting into character but the elves seem like a noble people. Perhaps if I was an orc coach or something I could sling mud around more :-) And as I said... you don't really want a repeat of my attitude from season 4, do you? And no, they are not of-course going to win every game 17-0, because

Please remember this is the team that won 6 and lost 3 last time out, you'd never have guessed they lost that many from reading what was posted.

These are the Everglade Wanderers, if you want a team that has an incredible winning record then it's Saur'd of Justice you're looking for I think!

Beating you was easy because, umm, me scoring lots was basically part of your gameplan :p I had fun close games with id3 and la & abom. Yup... no surprise really the closest games were with the higher TV teams.

Change in perspective: Imagine how disheartening it is to hear your going to loose 17-0

Well then losing 5-0 must feel like a victory! You exceeded expectations, congrats!

Anyhows I feel better for venting a bit. So feel free to move on to more interesting conversations. :p

Such as, I wonder how many elves will still be around after elf vs orc mark II, and how clever Alan was to miss this game due to injury (even though he is AV5 now ).

[id3nt1ty]

*phew*

Glad I didn't have to get my commission on there chaps. Well done.

[Abomination]

Actually, to toot my own horn, the 13th Doomwheel was a middling / bottom half TV team when we played early on in the season, Gandalf. It was only after a game with you, la, and the cheatery first half I had against Moose that the rats stole the secrets of combustion from across the pond and underwent an Industratial Ratvolution into high TV with about a billionty levelups.

A mixture of a devastating loss to the orcs and the upcoming game against your high-TV elves are what spurred on the creation of my team's playbook. So one could say Daigoro and Gandalf are joint fairy-godmother to the rats' success this season! Although I am not sure which of the two prefers wearing skirts. Both.


Starscream the II tests his reading comprehension for the first time using the Abominomicon the book is in fact upside down and actually a menu for an upscale McDonald's