Season 4 - League Champions - The Mighty Undercheesers

[DaigaroOgami]

Black Country Derby!!!

I'm actually only posting to see if my new signature works... and to say it say '1st' for probably the only time this season

[Gandalf]

Really liked the fixture announcements this week Rav

Looking forwards to the weekend. I think I've decided not to get a 14th elf and go in with 12 fit ones to avoid giving >= 100k in inducements. So I need to hope I don't get many injuries.

[Gandalf]

Now on BBBBBC, a special Saturday episode of Smash Of The Day, with TV's top (only?) elf-orc team.

***************************************************

GL : Hello and welcome, on today's special episode we have an elfball match between the Everglade Wanderers and Cangerus. They didn't let us down, scoring many touchdowns, so we'll have to go quite fast, so lets go!
AH : Dem Cagerusss got a couple of da bloodweiser babes at da start, and caught da ball to start wiv.
GL : They sure did. All 4 catchers made it past the Wood Elf front lines, and the front line elfs managed to dodge away from the scary-looking Treeman-led front line of the Wanderers. A good start turned into a great start when the wood elf's first action was to fall over Ed - double 1 on a dodge.
AH : Yup, and dem pansy elvesies quickly scored, and kicked off again.
GL : The surprisingly sturdy wood elf front line knocked over their 3 opposite numbers, and ran 4 players through the gap. Cangerus didn't manage to mark those players properly, so the Wanderers quickly threw the ball forwards and ran it in for a touchdown, to make it 1-1 halfway through the half.
AH : And at diz point, da crowd got angry at da lack of hittin', so dey threw rocks at da players! Dere waz only 11 left standing after dat! Haha!
GL : Cangerus picked the ball up, but clearly thought there were more players down than there actually were, and left the ball carrier exposed. The ball carrier was a blodger, but this meant nothing against Ernie, who thrives in such situations. With the ball clear an Everglade blodger got hold of the ball.
AH: Cangerus piled on to da ball carrier, but dat slimy wanderer ignored dem all, dodged past dem and scored to take da lead.
GL : Cangerus recieved again, and tried to run da catchers through as always, but it was more diffik... duffeck... diff.
AH : I believe the word you're looking for Gary is difficult?
GL : Yeah! I knew dat! Dey had Wrestle and tackle, so dey only got 1 through, and dey did not keep da ball supa-safe.
AH : Indeed. Again the expert disrupters burst forward and got the ball loose, but were unable to get their own hands on it. Then a comedy of errors followed, as Cangerus failed an easy pass, dropping the ball into clear space, but the Wanderers failed to pick it up.
GL : As da half drew to a close, da pro elvesies fell over trying to run, haha! Den dem woodies got da ball and scored at da very end to make it 3-1.
AH : Yes it was 3-1 at the second half, with the disrupting power of the Wood Elves proving vital, as well as some unfortunate incidents by Cangerus. So on we go to the second half, the Wood Elves receiving.
GL : Ah yes dis half woz much betta! More hittin'!
AH : Yes indeed there was, no-one like to see such violence...
GL : I does!
AH : Well OK, no-one civil likes to see that much violence, but ultimately with the aid of apothecaries, no long-lasting injures were sustained. However the Pro Elves were 2 players down early on in the second half.
GL : Yeah. Dey also tried sneaky short kick, but da extra wind made it fail. Da Woodie ponces passed it forwards, but dis time da pro elves got da ball loose.
AH : The Wanderes tried to recover it but failed - the strip ball wardancer thought he had it clear but didn't realise the ball carrier had sure hands. A 10-elf brawl got going in the corner where all this was happening, and the Pro elves got the ball free and tried getting it down the opposite flank. However a 1-dice blitz on the carrier succeeded, and after some more larking around the ball was back in the nads of the Wood Elf Thrower.
GL : Den he threw it to da Treeman! Umm no. wait... he threw it near to da treeman. Yeah.
AH : It was none other than perennial non-leveller-up Eleri, who caught it despite being marked, and ran to score, after being well protected by the rest of the team. 4-1 with 2 turns left.
GL : Da wood elvesies tried to hit lots of other poncy elvies on da last turn, but it didn't really happen.
AH : Yes, the kick-off roll put paid to that. As the wood elves lined up so aggressively, it looked like an easy consolation touchdown for the Pro Elves, but instead a fumbled pass ended the game. A 4-1 win that is sure to have a large bearing on the championship. Now over to the Count.

CB: I can see 3 main reasons for vis match turning out ve way it did. One was ve Wood Elves' greater ball disruption and anti-elf-ball skills. Wrestle and Tackle really showed veir worth, and Ernie veally is a pain to play against. Secondly, post-match ve Cangerus head coach indicated ve had vade some tactical errors at some points, and also mentioned something about hitting a button incorrectly. Finally, although ve luck was fairly even, Cangerus' luck let vem down at a few crucial moments.

Post-match, Cagerus upgraded a blodger to have extra strength. The Everglade wanderers gained 27 XP, including a possibly record 6 passes, however the only level-up they had was for Eleri -finally making it to level 2 after 12 or 13 games. Her extra skill has yet to be chosen.

No turn was ended by a failed block roll, despite 50 block rolls happening, and though a few injuries happened, none vill affect the teams for the next match. Shame, I vas looking forward to drinking some vlood.... I mean, consoling injured elves.

GL : We've had word from WelshGandalf that he is very pleased with his team's improved passing performance, after last week's rather limited passing game. We'll be back in just over a week to see natural life take on un-natural life - along with an insane amount of inducements, as the Wanderers take on some fould Necromantic creatures. Until then, goodbye from me & Andy.



(sorry for any typos, wanted to get this out now as I wont be sitting down at my PC for another 6-7 hours).

[notjarvis]

Quick notes as I'm knackered now and am looking forward to a bath.


Beat the Nurgle 2-1

- Norse score in first half after running the ball through the nurgle lines, even after the stag fails a pass (again)
- Nurgle score before the mid point of the second through good cage and play (and me idiotically forgetting to declare a blitz on the ball carrier through the 1 player who could.
- Norse try again, The stag makes a pass for the first time in his life, but the catch fails. Norse pick up the ball and run it in to score on the last turn.

On Dice
nurgle had the clear advantage in Block Dice Stagocalypsd had an advantage on the D6 (though not a massive one Eballa rolled one 1 all game).
2D6 was fairly average too.

[id3nt1ty]

This was one of those games where the luck was very one-sided. Three blitz events for Fables meant that their coach could make the most of Bigby Wolf and Jarluck the Growler, a cousin of Bigby's who was invited to join the team for a match. 48 of the 97 Block dice rolled by the Fables resulted in a Pow or Pow/Push, and The Brewers Brawlers rolled a much higher than average amount of ones on the D6 rolls. That, coupled with Spinx's lack of sleep and a long day at work meant that the Dwarves had a really hard time stopping the Fables from scoring.

There were only two injuries for the whole match. Bigby Wolf managed to Badly Hurt Kazgg, a Dwarven Blocker. Lambrini the Shameful managed to strain Dun Pig's groin but being a zombie, Dun Pig doesn't have much use for ligaments so he just shuffled if off and was back for the next drive.

Thanks for playing LtSpinx, and thanks for being a good sport! I'm sorry the game wasn't more enjoyable for you.

[Gandalf]

Norse try again, The stag makes a pass for the first time in his life, but the catch fails. Norse pick up the ball and run it in to score on the last turn.

Nurgle had 2 super-short turns here. Firstly he failed a 3 dice block. Second turn he tried to blitz the ball carrier but failed a dodge.

Was fun to watch, quite a change of pace from elf-ball!

Spinx had utterly screwy luck. At such times blood bowl ceases to become a game and instead an instrument for mental torture. On top of the crazy kick-off rolls, he got 8 1's from 33 rolls, 0 catches in 3 attempts, 3 pickups out of 7, 11 skulls from 46 block dice...

And a quick heads-up about Khemri vs Undead... Khmeri had a massive 22.35 luck score in BB, to the Undead's 0. Khemri don't seem to do average luck. What's almost as staggering is that both teams rolled a D6 a mere 17 times.

[Raveen]

Why on earth would you roll more with these teams? Out of the 23 players available at the start of the match, exactly one has any realistic chance of making a dodge (the undead ghoul). I made 1 dodge all game, and failed it. The other rolls were pick ups, a kick off catch and KO rolls. Temmop made a couple of ill advised dodges with ag 2 players but apart from that I suspect it was pretty similar.

Why dodge when you can hit people out of the way instead?

[Gandalf]

The other rolls were pick ups, a kick off catch and KO rolls

No GFI's is pretty rare in itself. Your pick-up rolls were lucky, this limiting the number of pick-ups needed.

Granted you're not going to try to roll D6 much, but 17 seemed particularly low. I'm at work so I can't check BB manager but I don't think I've ever seen a sub-20 number of D6 rolls before, so to see two in one game was surprising for me.

Obviously I wasn't expecting 40-50+ like my elves usually do. I think there was one turn in my Friday match when I managed 15 dice rolls (some were blocks, most weren't though).

Edit : As suspected, your game was a freaky outlier for this season so far.... D6 dice rolls per match so far this season.... (also 40-50 was an ever-so-slight underestimate of the number of D6 the wood elves roll in a game)
Wood Elves vs Nurgle = 149 (100 + 49)
Wood Elves vs Pro Elves = 133 (83 + 50)
Pro Elves vs Dwarves = 101 (60 + 41)
Norse vs. Nurgle = 98 (56 + 42)
Underworld vs. Undead = 74 (49 + 25)
Norse vs. Necromantic = 64 (43 + 21)
Khemri vs. Orc = 61 (34 + 27)
Dwarves vs. Necromantic = 57 (33 + 24)
Khemri vs. Undead = 34 (17 + 17)

Even last season's Khemri vs. Ogre, when you had insane luck the whole match (34.55 in BB) and thus almost never needed to re-roll, you still rolled 22 D6.

[DaigaroOgami]

WELCOME TO WEDNESDAY NIGHT FOOTBAAAAALLLL!!!

Due to the Ducklingz' commitments to a mushroom harvest tour of the mountains, we have a special midweek Blood Bowl derby!

And, what makes it even MORE special is it's a local derby - no expenses have been spared; refreshments have been shipped in from the Halfling's Larger&Lime brewery, the physio's room has been kitted out with donations from the Tomb Army & the Pinewood Carrions (thanks Mummies), the toilet contents have been promised to Eballa and the cheerleaders have been provided for by the Elves, for this one off mid-week extravaganza. (The order from the Dwarvern Brewery seems to have gone missing along with the konga line of the Norse stag party...)

There's rumours flying around of new signings for both teams, we're hoping to go live to the dugouts before kick off, for what some are calling 'The Best Game Of Blood Bowl Ever Played On A Wednesday Evening In October'

Has Percy been at the Mushrooms? Have the Cheesers been at the Cheese? Can the Ducklingz rise to PirlOrc's expectations? Has David Bowie polished his Shoulderdong?

There's only one way to find out!!

[lawastooshort]

Goodness gracious - a shock 2-1 win for the Mighty Undercheesers!

David Bowie set the tone by breaking Percy the Troll's jaw in the second turn, and the Cheesers' block rolls kept on going from there (62% vs 50% success, marginal leaning towards the Orcs in d6).

The Mighty Undercheesers scored in the first half with blitzer Lou Reed breaking away with the ball in around Turn 5, and the Ducklings were unable to score back before the end of the half, mostly due to a positioning error.

Second half the Orcs received, and scored; then blitzer Bob Dylan gained his first SPPs in 12 matches by retaking the lead and Badly Hurting a goblin who bounced off him.

The Ducklings just had time to attempt a last minute equaliser, but Paul Simon put paid to their chances by taking out ball carrier Mavis the Speedy Orc Blitzer, and that was about that.

[Gandalf]

With Commissioner Raveen away, it falls to me, sub-commissioner Gandalf, to declare this weekend's fixtures.

At the bottom of the table we have Eballa playing Brewers Brawlers, at least one of them is going to move up from zero points.

Early season leaders Everglade Wanderers take on the necromantic Fables. Both teams scored 4 last week, how many can they serve up this week?

It's green flesh against no flesh as the Orkly Ducklingz take on The Tomb Army.

In the game least likely to finish in a draw, we have Pinewood Carrions take on Mighty Undercheesers. This is because the Carrions only seem to do amazing luck or amazingly bad luck.

Finally we have Stagocalypse against Cangurus. Will the stag do to end all stag dos continue the successful way it has gone so far, or will Elf Team 2 bounce back after defeat to Elf Team 1 last week?

[Raveen]

There's a disturbing number of missing match reports... I've posted mine (in my own thread in case you were looking Gandalf )

[id3nt1ty]

For those who aren't aware, the winner of a game traditionally write the match report. In the event of a draw, you decide between yourselves.

[Raveen]

Really? I tend to write up either and both unless it was a really horrible game (usually a loss ) in which case I might skip it or be a little perfunctory

Get to work minions, write for my pleasure!

[notjarvis]

No time. Meant to write something this lunchtime (I've been busy. meant to write some fluff last week about the appearance of the new player and who he is too, never got round to it).



Quick report on Idan's and my game

I get a ton of inducement money, I have players spare (a squad of 13), so I don't get star players adn go for Halfling master Chef, Wizard, and Babes and a Bridbe.

Elves Versus Norse
Cangurus Versus Stagocalypse

Driving rain is the weather (or whatever it's called).

First Half
- (I get 1 of Idans re-rolls, But the Kick off event gives us both another reroll so I have 5 to Idans 2)
- Idan Kicks off, I receive. It lands on my left half way in my half. I Knock over and KO/injure a few elves. I fail to pick up the ball.
- Idan swarms around the ball. Lots of fighting happens around the ball. I fail to pick it up again (with a reroll both times)
- Hitting happens. Some more players go down injured/Ko'd (mostly Idans).
- I make a couple of poor moves, nearly leaving it a bit open
-- I picked the block result for my werewolf when I didn't have to - I genuinely forgot he was the one player without block, then followed up by wasting my wizards fireball (I considered it and misc-licked when Imeant to cancel)
- Luckily Idan failed to get to the ball.
- I decide to pick up the ball and make a risky pass. As it would leave me fairly open to run and score.
-- The pass goes Okay, It gets past the 3 potential interceptions, but the catch is failed (failed 4+ with a re-roll again like all the pickups).
- The Elves can't get into the ball though, and on the last turn I have a chance to pick up the ball and run it to my waiting Runner who could score. Yet again I fail the simple pick-up (with a reroll)

At end of First half it's 0 - 0 Norse are winning the physical battle but the Elves still have 11 on the field, and will receive to start the second.
Second Half
- I take all Idan's rerolls. I try to kick off short,-ish but it scatters really deep in Idan's half (which is miles from what I want).
- Idan makes a few hits, and manages to KO 2 players and Stun another, then picks up the ball and runs several catchers/elves through the wide open Norse lines.
- My shredded lines can't get nearly enough cover on the Elf players , so Idan, hits a catcher free and runs in to make an easy score on the second turn
1-0 To the Elves, who are looking good for their lead
- We go again. This time The Elve's kick lands off the pitch so I don't have to worry about Picking it up. I give the ball to the stag.
- I plan to move it a bit and try some passing, but the oppurtunity doesn't arise, and the Norse basically cage and run the ball down the field.
- Idan manages to knock the ball carrier down with a single die block, but the Norse can get numbers around the ball now, and get it again.
- The Norse worried about another 2 turn TD, dawdle by the line, and score on turn 15 (Chances of the Norse turning the ball over and running a TD when kicking in 2 turns is tiny, have to settle for draw)
1-1 at end of turn 15
- The last turn for each side doesn't result in too much, no potential for 1 turn TDs for either side.

Overview
A fun game which could have been won by either side, There were chances to score for both sides in the first half, but it basically involved hitting.
The second half was characterised, as a more open contest, And I was happy to get a draw out of it (to be honest I was kind of glad Idan scored early, as I knew there was time to at least pull one back)

On Inducements - I liked the extra re-rolls very much, and think they helped. Will probably get Master Chef whenever I can afford it. I wasted the wizard, and never really had a good opportunity for fouling either so the bribe wasn't used.


Notes on Dice
According to BBManager the dice were fairly even, although I had decent luck with the 2D6 and injury rolls.
(The impression was I had decent block (and injury) dice in the first half, and terrible D6 rolls though)

Best play
Clearly Idan's 2nd turn touchdown in the second half. The Norse play was much more ugly.