RT BBL S6 - Week 10/9 6th September 2015

[Red Lion Three]

La, I'm afraid I won't be able to make our game on Sunday. Is it ok with you to leave it to catch-up week? (I could play it Thursday or Friday of this week, but I imagine that won't be any use.... ?)

Prediction-wise, the Red Lion stops worrying a piece of beef long enough to say:

Club 27 v E.L.O. - (Ye)S Club (27), gonna show you how-ow-ow ... to win 2-0.

It's a sign v Gojira's Army - even though Skinks are pesky, I think the Nurgle will nab this one.

Cheeseosophers v Brave Harts - Hard to see my Amazons winning against the experienced vampires. 2-0 Vampires?

Isa Black Stars v 13th Doomwheel - Hard to call. The Humans were hard to thin out last weekend. Bur then again the rats will be hard to knock over. But the humans have that enormous chap stood in the centre of the park. Good defence gives it to the humans 2-0?

[lawastooshort]

Okay, RL - it's possible I could play tomorrow instead – when’s the latest I would need to confirm with you?

[Red Lion Three]

I don't expect to go anywhere tomorrow evening, so anytime before 8 would be fine.

[lawastooshort]

Hi RL – update is that I’d really like to tonight, but I probably wouldn’t be free till 21.00, and then I can’t be 100% sure I’ll be finished in time.

Might be able to do one of the evenings that isn’t Monday or Saturday next week?

[Red Lion Three]

Hi La, thanks for the update. No worries about tonight, it was kinda optimistic on my part - I hope you have fun doing [whatever it is you're doing].

I'm afraid I can't do a time during next week (hence the original options of catch-up week or during this week). Will catch-up Sunday work for you?

[lawastooshort]

I will be spending a great deal of money and patience booking the family holiday online with my wife. I don't expect to have fun, but thank you nevertheless for the kind sentiment.

Yeah okay, catch up Sunday it is!

[id3nt1ty]

Spend the money on the tent, and then you can go on holiday anywhere!

[lawastooshort]

That would be an amazing tent.

[Gandalf]

I may be some up to 15 minutes late tonight.

[id3nt1ty]

Having both been smashed by the Nurgle, E.L.O and Club 27 decided it would be better for both of them to play each other. E.L.O chose to receive, gathered the ball and proceeded to cage up. A lot of smashing ensued as the Khorne engaged the Orcs in the center of the pitch. notjarvis probed the flanks, so I did my best to dissuade him of that. Turn three looked like it notjarvis would lose the ball as all but three of his players went down, but I was unable to make the most of it. notjarvis pushed further down the center, lamenting about his inability to score from three squares inside my half. The Khorne attempted to gather themselves from around the flanks of the Orc push, but were unable to do so fast enough and notjarvis made a very nice push diagonally away from my potential defenders. Shiney Demon attempted to blitz towards the ball carrier, but failed Wild Animal meaning the best I could do was to put a +ST tackle zone on the ball carrier. notjarvis easily cleared him away and scored in turn 8, text book grind.

After a quick attempt to hurt an Orc, the second half started with a very short kick from notjarvis to my left flank. I was forced to take the offensive down that side with Shiney Demon leading the charge. The rest of the Club gathered the ball and did their best to screen the ball carrier from the defenders. My three loners here did an excellent job tieing up the Black Orcs and the Troll, leaving everyone else to focus on scoring. As I slowly pushed up the field, notjarvis tried to distract the Shiney Demon with opportunities to push orcs off the pitch, but he did his best to stay part of the screen. A fireball knocked the ball carrier down, but E.L.O were unable to take advantage through the screen. In the end, the Club managed to push a path clear and touch down in their turn 12 or 13.

Shiney Demon attempted to do another short kick to allow the Club to try for possesion, but he kicked the ball off the pitch instead. notjarvis gave the ball to his Goblin for a Throw Team-mate attempt, but none of his blocks to clear the line of scrimmage worked out and he suffered a turn over. The Khorne swarmed in, smelling victory. Once again, notjarvis cleared some tackle zones and attempted to throw Qwagrib down the field, but dropped him on his head instead. Jimi Hendrix picked up the loose ball, dodged out of the claws of a defending orc and ran for it. The rest of the Club did their best to get in the way of any chasers. Elvis Grot-ello managed did his best to chase down Jimi, but tripped over just as he got in range allowing Jimi to ran the ball home.

There was just time for a final throw team mate attempt before the whilst blew, and although Tom Y-orc managed to throw the goblin, he failed to land.

The dice didn't play nice for Nuffle's favourite son this game. I guess Nuffle thought it best to throw a game in case anyone started to get suspicious. Of 40 D6, notjarvis rolled 11 ones, mostly on Goblin dodges I think, but there were a few cases where critical GFI's also failed. 2D6 were well in nj's favor, and I think that shows in the number of players I lost early in the first half. The block dice also weren't that kind to nj, as he rolled almost twice as many skulls as he did defender downs and the almost the opposite occurred for me. Crucially though, there were a couple of turn when he was defending that were particularly bad which hampered his effort significantly.

Still, I felt it was a challenging game. notjarvis made a couple of very good plays, forcing me to react to him when I was supposed to be just getting in his way defending. Had the dice been fairer there was a very good chance the score would have been opposite. Thanks for the game notjarvis, well played!

[DaigaroOgami]

HANG ON HANG ON.

There's a troll called Tom Y-orc?

We'll have to see what Percy say's about that...

[Gandalf]

Pre-game - The Lizards take a wizard and a bribe or two. The Nurgle do some PR work to try and sway the crowds. Lizards have 11 players available, It's A Sign! now have 13. Rainy weather afflicts the pitch for the whole match.

First half - The Nurgle's pre-game work pays off as the very first kick-off results in a thrown rock, which badly hurts a skink. Still, the skinks gather the ball and cage up in the middle. The nurgle smash a big hole, No Entry Badly Hurts a second skink, tentacles a few others, and the ball goes loose. A skink picks it up in 3 tackle zones but is unable to dodge away due to tentacles. Trudy Lies walks through the carnage, picks the loose ball up and makes for the line... shrugs off a lightening bolt and knocks over a skink who tries to stop him (1D block => red skull) and scores on turn 6.

The second kick-off results in more rocks thrown - the crowd got a little over-excited though and threw a rock at both teams, but the lizard hit is KO'ed (he sat out the next drive) and the Nurgle player only stunned. Not much else happened before half time.

Second half - 11 Nurgle receiving against 8 lizards. Moose cowered in fear at another rock, but none came and instead a Perfect Defence got rolled. With a Beast and 4 Warriors on the line of scrimmage this didn't help much. The Nurgle picked the ball up first time of asking, pushed a saurus off the pitch, knocked over a few other players and KO'ed a skink with a foul (though also got sent off for my troubles). This didn't leave the lizards with many players standing - he did manage a 2xGFI blitz on my ball carrier with a Blockasaurus but Now Wash Your Hands also had block so he stayed standing. I scored in turn 12.

Kick-off came and no rock was thrown - but there WAS a pitch invasion which was well-choreographed by the ringleaders in the crowd. 6 of the 8 lizardmen were stunned, and 3 of the 11 Nurgle players were stunned, collateral damage you understand. A skink picked the ball up and got chased down by a pestigor, but managed to survive a block attempt and dodge away the next turn. Slowly everyone else stood up after the invasion and some of them (mostly lizards) got knocked back down again. The lizards tried a break down one flank against superior numbers - it nearly worked but a failed GFI put paid to that, and to that skink's game (Badly Hurt). Nurgle set up a massively unlikely play to score a third, but failed the pickup. The lizards didn't have much to do on their last turn, and the game ended 2-0.

Post game - Nuffle smiled on me and my low-agility team got +AG on a rotter and a Dodge on a Pestigor (required a double). 8 of my 13 players are now 1 MVP away from a level-up next time round. Nuffle also took pity on moose, giving him enough cash for a Kroxigor, and the only injuries sustained had no long-term effects.

Analysis - the dice showed that we had pretty similar luck, apart from Moose's block dice being below average, but that doesn't really tell of the impact of the dice - Moose was always fighting an uphill battle because of the ridiculous kick-off rolls leaving him down in numbers. Spending 150k on a wizard who did nothing didn't help either.... coupled with his inexperience he hardly had a chance. I hope he learnt some things this game (such as when to use/not use team re-rolls - and he did learn that you can blitz with a player who is lying down) and hope he has better luck next time! He now has a 12 man roster, so that will help in attritional games like this. As for me, two wins after my initial defeat put It's A Sign! back in contention at the top of the league and they will enjoy their 2 week hiatus, planting random signs in humorous locations.

[DaigaroOgami]

... right after he finishes his match report using the latest P.E.R.V. technology.

Firstly, Percy would like you to know he's donned his best suit for his first write up, aspiring to one of his idols, just like this...



Look at that quiff. Wow. Anyway, in true Savage Style, he's about to talk gibberish.



Percy would first like to point out how stupid it is to have a kicker on your team and never use him. Something he recommends the Black Stars really try to use better next time - 5 kick-off's now and it hasn't been used once... idiots.

The rat's get the ball, and pirouette and skip and tippy-toe outrageously and get three gutter runners into receiver positions in the 'star's backfield. Percy firstly noted the terrible idea of trying to sack the ballcarrier with a blitzer with multiple dodges and a GFI, before changing his mind and calling it a stroke of genius when the blitzer gets up next turn (after falling over his shoelace) and blitz's the ballcarrier in the rear-end to free up the pig skin. Scrapping ensures, Nil Desperandum hurts off a rat, the humans get the ball free, screen for a turn and score.

Next kick off the rats don't quite get the dance moves right and Nuffle strikes their imperfection down and the star's manage to make it to half time 1-0.

2nd half and Percy notes that the Stars have an extra player, and Percy reckons there's every chance the Humans can count and notice it too.

They do, and begin a gentle push down the flank taking out rats as they go. Then Abradolf Lincler (not gonna lie, Percy spent a LONG time trying to say that) flaps in and gets an unlikely but wonderful block on Mount Olive freeing up the ball.

Not to worry though say's Percy, the stars have 5 players surrounding the ball on the rat's endzone, and more importantly only one rat around... Then for some idiotic reason Nuffle thinks the best way to blitz that rat is to take the route to the rat OVER the ball... and then fail to pick the bloody thing up (on a reroll in no tackle zones). Percy is flabbergasted. At this point PirlOrc shook his head in disgust and left the commentary box.

The rats gather up the lose ball, flap a pass upfield, then after eating Cheese blessed by NJ get some helpful dice and get the ball to an uncatchable linerat who scampers off to stall-score in turn 16.

Percy would like to state the obvious (in true Savage style-ee) and say that if it weren't for the misclick then things could've been very different.

PirlOrc would like to add that if you do idiotic things then you deserve to be punished. HARD.

[Gandalf]

Great reviews, thanks for posting Re: the orc/khorne game, do you think the Orcs could've played it safe after the Khorne equalizer and taken the draw? Totally legit to go for the win of course, but just wondering how sure a draw was if he had played for it. Was the a difference in the numbers of players each team had at kick-off after it went to 1-1?

"Moment of the match" segments seem to have gone missing recently. I think my favourite moment in my game was when a skink blocked the beast of nurgle with 3 dice against, and rolled three pushes Impressive stuff from a skink who showed no fear in the face of danger. I've got to get Stand Firm on that guy...

[DaigaroOgami]

I'll give a 'Moment of the Match" from the Black Stars - Doomwheel match...

The time the game thought the obvious thing the Convict's wanted to do is take the longer route to a blitz and pick up the ball in a tackle zone on the way too.

Percy's jaw almost hit the flaw. And he wasn't trying to Dodge at the time either.