Talk to me abou Blood Bowl (And dwarves)

[D.Shaffer]

My FLGS is starting up a Blood Bowl league. I've gotten a couple of walk throughs of the game, and it's pretty fun so I put a down payment on a team of Dwarves, who seem to follow along my general playstyle.

That said, while I believe I have the basics down, any general advice, and advice about dwarves in particular, would be appreciated. And heck, while I'm here, anything else you want to discuss about the glories of Blood Bowl, feel free.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

What version of Blood Bowl are you playing?

In the two versions I have played (1ed and 2ed) I never cared for the dwarves because their poor speed really hampered me pulling off the big play.

I was always partial to my team of hobgoblins/dark elves/troglodytes.

In our leagues the undead players always had the easiest time of it because by the end of the season they were the only ones with teams full of players. Everyone else was short a man or two on the field due to attrition.

DS

 

[D.Shaffer]

Which version?
Um...whichever one that's on the GW website for download?

*checks*
Doesnt say. 2006 edition? And yeah, the Dwarves are slow, but it looks like they have some nice abilities to help them get around that.

PS: It's a free PDF BTW. Check it out HERE if you're interested in the changes.

 

[Holy Bovine]

While I started with 2nd edition BB (the one with the polystyrene board) I felt the game really didn't shine until 3rd edition. The advent of the cards (Dirty Trick, Events and Magic Items) and the new blocking dice as well as an overall balancing of the teams helped to make 3rd Ed the best version of BB imo.

For the OP while dwarves are slower than average their high armour and general toughness more than makes up for it. In the BB league I was in for 2 years there were 3 dwarf teams, one year 2 played each other for league champion and the 2nd year one of them was in the championship game. I think there were about 14 teams/players total in that league. The main thing that kept the dwarves so viable is the fact they had so few lasting injuries during the year.

 

[Drawback]

Hey, I've just d/l the rules (I've never played). I'd like to start a "league" with my friends but I don't have a "field". How big is that thing in squares?

I'm ready to print small tokens for players but I also need the different sheets necessary to play. Where can I find such sheets?

Any web site useful to get everything necessary to play?

 

[Swedish Chef]

I played 3rd edition for a while with my regular gaming group. I loved the game, but not everyone did, which is why it fell to the wayside.

I loved playing Skaven. Another guy had a team of Dwarves. When we played against each other, I always won. Although I couldn't do much in the way of hurting his players, my higher agility usually allowed me to get 2 receivers deep down field away from his defensive line. Then it was just a matter of making the long bomb passes. Mind you though, when his line came crashing down on mine, it hurt. A lot. By the end of the game I usually had 2 or 3 players out for the game, and maybe 1 out for several games. But the winnings usually helped me offset that.

 

[Marcon]

That said, while I believe I have the basics down, any general advice, and advice about dwarves in particular, would be appreciated. And heck, while I'm here, anything else you want to discuss about the glories of Blood Bowl, feel free.

I have a Chaos Dwarves team and I love 'em. Bull Centaurs and Hobgoblins add a bit a versatily to an otherwise slow race as was pointed out by some.

If you happen to play a lot of Elves team, you'll have a clear advantage because the "Tackle" skill basically negates their "Dodge". Elves are expensive and most people build their team with only 1 or 2 rerolls because they rely on the Dodge skill to reroll failed Dodge checks. You'll also have a 1-in-2 chance to knock them down every time you block. Just be careful with your players placement because if they get past you, you are done for.

You can also handle bashy teams like Orcs because of your high AV and Thick Skull. I'd say your worst opponents are more generic teams like Humans/Skavens because they can nearly match the Elves' speed without being hindered much by Tackle.

The game really shines when someone gets a bunch of people together for a multi-month league. Just regularly post the schedule/standings/highlights in the FLGS and rivalries will spawn and trash-talk will fly.

-Marcon

 

[D.Shaffer]

Well, I had my first game last night. Me (Dwarves) vs Humans+ogre. Resulting in a loss of 0-2 for me. Ugh. Combination of some silly mistakes, as well as EXTREMELY bad luck.

Bad Luck:
On the kickoff, my opponent getting the 'Defense moves first' result when I had the ball. On the next kickoff, him receiving 'Offense blitzes' for the kickoff.

My trollslayers failing their Dauntless roll twice in a row trying to knock down his ogre.

Attempting a foul and getting caught at it, twice in a row really early on. (Which hurts when you have only 11 players)

silly mistakes:
Kept forgetting to move my turn marker first. Losing those rerolls HURT.

Got to caught up trying to put his runners into traction. One particularly lucky bugger got knocked down something like 10 times over the course of the game and didnt get anything past a stunned result. Twice I had someone try to foul him with two assists, and STILL nothing. *grr* That catcher must DIE.

Highlights: Putting his Ogre in the hospital.

MY next league game is tomorrow so hopefully I'll actually do better.

 

[Marcon]

Well, I had my first game last night. Me (Dwarves) vs Humans+ogre. Resulting in a loss of 0-2 for me. Ugh. Combination of some silly mistakes, as well as EXTREMELY bad luck.

Bad Luck:
On the kickoff, my opponent getting the 'Defense moves first' result when I had the ball. On the next kickoff, him receiving 'Offense blitzes' for the kickoff.

My trollslayers failing their Dauntless roll twice in a row trying to knock down his ogre.

Attempting a foul and getting caught at it, twice in a row really early on. (Which hurts when you have only 11 players)

silly mistakes:
Kept forgetting to move my turn marker first. Losing those rerolls HURT.

Got to caught up trying to put his runners into traction. One particularly lucky bugger got knocked down something like 10 times over the course of the game and didnt get anything past a stunned result. Twice I had someone try to foul him with two assists, and STILL nothing. *grr* That catcher must DIE.

Highlights: Putting his Ogre in the hospital.

MY next league game is tomorrow so hopefully I'll actually do better.

I hate the Dauntless skill. Always use it at the end of your turn or as a desperate measure. The way the game is designed really doesn't mean it's a skill allowing weaker players to block mighty ones, far from it.

Believe it or not, the Blitz kick-off roll was even more broken in earlier versions of the game. This time around, only people that are not in opponents' tackle zones get the free move, which means you'll have at most one player down at the end of it.

I never foul when I can field the minimum number of players. The odds of hitting a double are 1-in-6, no thanks.

I hope your league pits people against each other more than once during the season, rematches are cool. And you are lucky to be playing again tomorrow because usually, the whole league drags because A didn't play vs B yet and your next game is against A so you're screwed up.

-Marcon

 

[D.Shaffer]

Our league games are a bit...freeform. We have a league night, but the games dont HAVE to be played then, and there's no set match up schedule. So long as you get 6 matches against 6 different teams that's all that matters. We're on the honor system, more or less. Just easier to work out schedules that way.