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Completed Blood Bowl: The End

Who is the Codex's Pre-Season MVP?

  • Jaedar

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • stabby

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Angelo85

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Gondolin

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • eklektyk

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • LundB

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • good little toastboy

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    14
  • Poll closed .

RK47

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MOTHERFUCKING STRONG ARM, RK47
LONG BOMBS ALL DAY!

He didn't get Double for the STR access, unfortunately. :(

XENO.png
 
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Ulminati

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r00fles. AV9 minotaur with juggernaut and regeneration. Full frenzy team. GG cyanide.

Ah, no doubles. I'd go with Dump Off, Safe Throw or NoS then. NoS is most fun after Safe Throw, since that allows you to run right up to the front line and throw a short pass, not giving a fuck. But it's also handy for picking up the ball after the other team tries to mark it, then immediately throwing it to someone else.
 

RK47

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Level ups complete
gondolin - Guard
Ulminati - Guard
eklektyk - Guard
Xenomorph II - Safe Throw

New Team Value 1550
The Emperor Protects
 

RK47

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More Blood Bowl Facts Corner, very relevant to the upcoming matches from www.bbtactics.com

Frenzy (General)
A player with this skill is a slavering psychopath who attacks his opponents in an uncontrollable rage. Unless otherwise overridden, this skill must always be used. When making a block, a player with this skill must always follow up if he can. If a ‘Pushed’ or ‘Defender Stumbles’ result was chosen, the player must immediately throw a second block against the same opponent so long as they are both still standing and adjacent. If possible, the player must also follow up this second block. If the frenzied player is performing a Blitz Action then he must pay a square of Movement and must make the second block unless he has no further movement and can’t Go For It again.​


Frenzy Overview:

If there is one skill in Blood Bowl that I would consider a double edged sword, Frenzy would be it. On the one side it is an incredibly useful skill if you harness it well, on the other it can come back to bite you. The latter reason is why it is considered a skill that isn’t friendly for beginner players and as a result those teams with players who start with Frenzy are considered teams for more advanced coaches.

The key advantage of having Frenzy is that it will allow you to hit an opposing player twice in a row but with the caveat that you must both follow up and must do the second block. You can’t elect to avoid doing either, the only way you can prevent this would be if the opposing player had a skill such as Fend. You need to be careful before you block to realise where you need assists of your own and if the opposing player will gain any more assists on the second block, especially if you are going to lose yours. In some ways you could look at Frenzy as a free reroll for a block as you get two chances. If you do also use a reroll you can get 6 block dice against the one opposing player if you set up all your assists well. This gives you a much better chance of knocking the opposing player over so well worth taking, especially when blitzing the opposing ball carrier.

Crowd pushing is the second advantage and having Frenzy can effectively narrow the pitch by two squares. Pushing players off the pitch is one of the best ways to get a numerical player advantage and Frenzy makes this easier. Not to mention players pushed into the crowd automatically take an injury without an armour roll. So it means the other team needs to be careful when they get nearer the sideline than if you don’t have Frenzy. This can be a good way of denying them space, or with careful player positioning you can corral their team towards one sideline.

Another great use for Frenzy is just generally pushing players around. Pushing an opponent two squares rather than one can free up space for your own team, either to run recievers through or to manoeuvre a cage further towards their end zone. You can push opponents next to other team mates so they can then block them or perhaps tie them up with Tentacles or Diving Tackle. If you make good use of chain pushing players, you can set up more chances to crowd surf, free up your own ball carrier from a scrum, push their ball carrier out of a scrum to set up a block etc. Even just pushing their ball carrier further back away from your end zone can be of great benefit. The reverse of this is also useful in that you can push your own ball carrier or receiver further forward as well. This fact is worth remembering if setting up for a One Turn Touchdown for example as it will require one less player.

The last use of pushing players around is when you combine Frenzy with Strip Ball, the first hit can knock the ball loose and then the second hit can push that player away or even knock them over at the second attempt.

Disadvantages of Frenzy:

As I already mentioned though it isn’t all good and Frenzy does come with a danger. You really need to pay attention to assists, especially on the second block and where you plan on pushing them back should that occur. If you aren’t careful while you may have a favourable first block, the second block can quickly turn against you and perhaps cause a turnover. Due to this Block (or Wrestle) is generally a prerequisite before getting Frenzy (though some players start with this handicap). Against certain teams and in certain situations Frenzy can prevent you taking blocks due to this risk. Typically if facing a team that is stronger or has a lot of Guard players.

Side Step players can also be very tricky to deal with as you can’t control where to push them. Having Frenzy as a skill prevents you from getting Grab to negate Side Step as well (having Grab also prevents you from gaining Frenzy on that player as well). To make matters worse because they choose where to place the player, they could lead your player into a trap or alternatively either towards the sideline or just away from the action (a favoured tactic of mine with Gutter Runners and similar players with Block + Dodge + Side Step against Frenzy players without Tackle).

The other disadvantage it gives is that you have no choice over whether your player follows up on the block. If you don’t knock the target player over then you are likely to be facing a block against your Frenzy player in the following turn. Again this is another reason to have Block first and protective skills can also be useful such as Dodge or even just having high strength and armour. Having to follow up is also what enabled opposing players to lead your player where they want them if they have Side Step. As a result you have to consider if following up is going to leave your player in a worse situation than if you don’t block. So while Frenzy can give you a greater chance of getting a knock down, it may also prevent you making blocks that you would have done if you didn’t have Frenzy.

Following on from always having to follow up, you must always do Go For Its if required for one or both blocks. For example if a ball carrier breaks through your defence and makes a run for the end zone and you need to blitz them. If your player is 6 movement and they are 6 squares away, you hit them for the first block getting a push. Then the second block requires a Go For It and you have to do it. If you’ve no rerolls left this can obviously be risky but you have no choice in the matter. There is a way to avoid making a second block though and that is if you have run out of movement. To do this you have to run around wasting your move, do a Go For It to get next to the target player and then hit them with your second Go For It. While this does avoid the second block it does introduce two extra 2+ dice rolls for what would otherwise be a normal blitz. Obviously this isn’t possible to avoid if doing a block action. If you have the Sprint skill to do three Go For Its, then you can elect not to use Sprint to avoid a third forced Go For It roll. All these factors combined are what makes having Frenzy players tricky for new coaches, especially if facing an advanced coach.

Benefits of Frenzy:
Higher Chance of Knock Down
Increased Crowd Surf Opportunity
Pushing players around

Players Frenzy is Useful On:

Regarding the players that Frenzy is useful on would be a very long list if I put them all here. I think it is safe to say that every team can benefit from Frenzy somewhere on the team. Some teams can carry Frenzy on more players safer than others are. The safest players to put it on (after Block or Wrestle) would be stronger players. They are less likely to fall victim to being forced into a bad block. Also teams that have a lot of Guard players which can provide a widely cast blanket of un-cancelled assists can utilise Frenzy well. So strong players on teams full of Guard are probably going to be your safest bet.

Lower strength players with access to strength skills can be good Frenzy players as well. It combines really well with Juggernaut for pushing players around and into the crowd and with more chances of getting knock downs Mighty Blow and Piling On can help leave those players down for good! If you have a player who blitzes a lot and has Horns then they can also usually negate the disadvantages fairly often.

It isn’t only the domain of strong players and those with strength skill access though. Knocking the ball loose and pushing players can be crucial to success in a lot of matches. Players you’ve built to go after the opposing ball carrier may find it useful, as I mentioned it can combine well with Strip Ball. Agile and high movement players can also be a threat. They can get to spots that stronger, low agile players can’t which poses other threats. They can either dodge or leap where you didn’t expect and crowd push a player you thought was otherwise safe. Or they can even get through a screen to blitz an isolated ball carrier. You do need to be careful against Guard heavy teams though. You can’t cancel out their assists just by marking them with Linemen like you typically would. If blitzing an exposed ball carrier with a good chance of knock down on the first hit, but it leads to a bad second hit on a push, weigh up your options before going ahead. If it is your ball hunting specialist sometimes you may just have to take the chance anyway.

Frenzy Summary:

Hopefully now you understand better the double edged sword that is the Frenzy skill. It can greatly aid you in a game as there aren’t any other skills you can gain which can provide the same benefits. I also hope this highlights the dangers you need to be aware of when you have Frenzy on your players.

One other point worth mentioning is how Stand Firm affects Frenzy. While you may end up not being able to push back a Stand Firm player, it is the result on the dice that dictates if you get a second block or not. The fact the player doesn’t get moved back doesn’t prevent the second block. Stand Firm is also optional for the opposing coach to use. So while you may have a favourable first block which would lead to an unfavourable second block, don’t assume that player is a safe hit just because they have Stand Firm.

Frenzy is without doubt a skill that can take some time and practice to truly master the benefits and work around the downsides. This will become more apparent when you find yourself match off against an advanced coach. In the mean time you should also check out the Blood Bowl Challenges on the site. Make sure you read through the comments after testing yourself against them. There are some that make great use of Frenzy and they can help advance your game to the next level.
 
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Ulminati

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Well, most people know how frenzy works. :3

At a glance, it seems none of the lolbroken Khorne demons start with block and they have expensive rerolls. You have lots of guard. If you can force situations where the follow-up block moves the blocker into the guard tacklezones, he'll probably get a lot of turnovers. Just be careful about chainpushes off the pitch, since none of your dudes have side step.

Also, try to avoid getting close to the bloodthirster and foul it if given the chance. Claw+mb means that even your ogre has an effective AV of 7 against it. It's going to get messy fast if nuffle favours him. Note that with wild animal, if you don't leave anything next to the bloodthirster, he'll have to use his blitz to move it with any semblance of reliability. This can be exploited if you can get your cage far enough away from the bloodthirster (with some tacklezones in the way).
 

Jaedar

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Khorne is probably good once you get a lot of guards going. But yeah, they're kinda close to "joke" territory.
 

eklektyk

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well, U should always pick what suits your playstyle better
for ex. i prefer to bash'n'smash so often i need to catch up with score after some casulties get inflicted[not often i do passes like your 'umies do]

jet i greatly enjoy this LP [mostly for so diffrent play than mine]

and cant wait for that next match....so much wait still ...
 

hoverdog

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Khorne is probably good once you get a lot of guards going. But yeah, they're kinda close to "joke" territory.
It's still a team with only one S5 and limited both MV and AV. Plus guard is less useful when you have your whole team running around like mad. And they absolutely need to take block first. So, in essence, it's a bash-only team without basic reliability skills (like norse) nor stat advantage (like chaos), nor a mix of both (like orcs).
How are their skill choices? Strength on normal for everyone at least, I hope.
 

RK47

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Wow. Khorne is such a shitty team.

A very iffy team that has frenzy as selling point imo.
And their demons not having access to mutation makes them ... very meh.
 
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Ulminati

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Khorne is probably good once you get a lot of guards going. But yeah, they're kinda close to "joke" territory.
It's still a team with only one S5 and limited both MV and AV. Plus guard is less useful when you have your whole team running around like mad. And they absolutely need to take block first. So, in essence, it's a bash-only team without basic reliability skills (like norse) nor stat advantage (like chaos), nor a mix of both (like orcs).
How are their skill choices? Strength on normal for everyone at least, I hope.
Apparently SG on everyone except on their 4 heralds (SAG) and bloodthirster (S).
At really high TV, they're probably terrifying. But they just seem kinda enh at low TV. They can probably do some damage, but RK has enough guard on his team that they should get themselves into a lot of situations where the follow-up is a -2d block.

That said, the claw+mb+frenzy bloodthirster needs to be contained ASAP or he'll cause havoc.
 

RK47

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Match Day 3 is coming...

Meanwhile, why not take a look at the top players so far this season?
ImageHallOfFamePlayersCompact.aspx

Congrats to Azira , stabby , XenomorphII , and Whitewolf for painting a target on their ass.

Match ups are as follow...

wYZNHJD.jpg


Our division match ups:
M1 - Both Underworld coaches meet - let's hope Best with Mess soften 8 Eyes a bit.
M2 - Vast Mountain Raiders Orcs have started with back to back losses - I don't think their luck will change when they face a speedy Skaven albeit the rats are rather low TV.
M3 - The Banned desperate to snatch a win off Changer of Minds. With the latter standing at 780 TV after being crippled by Knights of Codexia, there's a possibility of Changers entering a death spiral.
M4 - Purple Inferno takes on Knights of Codexia. We know how it works. Let's make it count while the going is easier.

:bro:
 

RK47

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Couldn't get hold of my match day opponent during the weekend. Very sorry guys.
 

RK47

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Our glass is half full.

Vast Mountain Raiders vs Fursection
Skaven coach write up follows
Vast Mountain Raiders met Fursecution and the result was entirely opposite to the state of play on the pitch.

I kicked and the Orcs caged up as usual after getting off to an excellent start by injuring Let Me Tell You About My Fursona. The Skaven started badly when a Gutter Runner dodge went bad and even burning a reroll didn't help. Tyhe next Skaven turn was just as bad when a 3 die blitz from Headsplitter came up 3x both down versus an opponent with Block. Loner ate another reroll to no effect and the Orcs effectively had three turns in a row. There was a big scrum in the middle around the Orc cage and eventually I got both Headsplitter and Secretly a Unicorn in there. Two Rat Ogres was a little more than the Orcs could handle at once especially as their Troll kept failing Stupid rolls. Eventually I got a blitz on the ball carrier and a lucky bounce sent the ball behind the Orc cage and within range of Yiffy who has done extremely well in previous games as well. He ran it up out of range of the Orcs and waited for the clock to run down. There was a hairy moment when the Orcs managed to get a marker with Tackle on him but I Have A Backstory You Know came charging in and rescued Yiffy, allowing him to score on the last turn without having to make a dodge.

Despite the pounding of the first half I was still able to field 11 players for the second. The Skaven made the ball safe then knocked a hole in the Orc lines to fill their backfield with furry bodies. Another big scrap began to form in the middle but the ball was well away from it. I was mugging any Orcs that made it into my half well enough but I had no cover to get the ball forwards. Eventually I figured that the Orcs were decently entangled and ran forwards with a light screen down the clearest wing. The Orcs broke some players free and started marking me up more aggressively and I made a dumb mistake by running forwards and passing the ball to a player who was in scoring range. I thought I'd be able to grab a quick score but the player I passed to had already moved that turn. Having to change my plan in a hurry, I knocked down his marker and then screened him as well as I could. It wasn't quite enough and the Orcs knocked Yiffy down but the ball was still loose at the end of their turn. A bit of judicious blocking and dodging gave Not Going To Lie, Fur is Hot a clear path to pick up the ball and hand it off to I Was Born A Dragon You Know who had a short, risk-free walk into the Orc endzone. Here a weird thing happened. I had my player selected, I picked the square he was to move to and I got the usual line of green circles but nothing happened when I clicked. For the last three seconds of the turn I clicked frantically but he refused to move. Luckily for me the Orcs were able to get a bunch of markers on him but couldn't blitz him and he was able to make the dodge to score on his next turn.

With that we had 3 turns each to play left and while my win seemed secure I was concerned about the safety of the team. Luckily I avoided serious injury and also prevented a last gasp dash for a consolation touchdown by mobbing the Orc runner with Gutter Runners.

I had two injuries, both just Badly Hurt and the Orcs had one when their Goblin got his foot tangled in the tail of a Rat Ogre.

ImageMatchReport.aspx

The Showdown of Underworlds: 8 Eyes vs Best with the Mess.
Write up by 8 Eyes' coach

I made an embarrassing amount of positioning errors in the first half, and that's without even taking into account the part where I had my Bombardier star player make a 2d against blitz action instead of bombing on turn 2 (I'm usually good about making sure the interface is actually doing what I want it to before I confirm, but slipped up here). This allowed an opposing Blitzer to take out my ball carrier, and I didn't form up around it properly to stop from giving up the first touchdown. Rat bullshit let me score a two-turn TD to even the scoreline before half time, but the entire half I was pushing the sidelines with my positionals while feeding goblins to the Best troll on the line of scrimmage, which wasn't great for my long-term game. Down multiple players in the second half, I managed to catch my own kickoff and put up a hell of a fight for the ball but couldn't manage to slug it out nearly long enough to keep the game tied. The Best delayed the game until the last turn and ended it at 2-1.

Fortunately, no permanent injuries anywhere and I leveled up a goblin, so I should be in fighting fit form to prove mutant superiority over Iaian's boring old rattus rattus in game 4.

ImageMatchReport.aspx

Current division standings is very favorable to us.
01.jpg

Note that we haven't played the third game and we're still on 4th place.
According to Azira , this is probably the last win we'll ever need, barring some freak results, we can basically manipulate losses to guarantee qualification.

Thanks, Azira with the observation! I can take less risk and play like a boring, caging human from now on.
Some division observations:
- Changer of Minds season is over. There's no way they can scrape up to top 4. That two deaths we inflicted is too much to recover from. Grats on the Knights for destroying a team on their 2nd match day.

- Vast Mountain Raiders seem to be on the way out. Their fates are completely out of their hands. 3 losses out of 3. MA 6 is always punishing to the unprepared coach. But let's see their match 4 reaction. Another loss would guarantee them out of the top 4.

- Only Purple Infernos and The Banned has a realistic chance to make it through. But the former is gonna go down hard to us. :mad: No worries guys, I've got this.

Training Camp bust-up

popcorn.jpg


Brother None: I'd rather die then see my proud name besmirched by elvish play
RK47: wins are determined by number of TDs
RK47: not how many people you bashed
Brother None: Typical elf
Brother None: I bet you loved Colin's Complete Book of Elves
Brother None: I bet it's your bible

Before the coach could reply, Brother None storms off the pitch, offline.

Q: Are you really playing the elvish way with human team?
A: Well, I wouldn't call it Elvish, it's a passing game we're trying to play with. I'm sure blood bowl includes those in the playbook.

Q: But you dodge when most humans would stand their ground, why?
A: 50% isn't a bad deal. I don't know why people think 50% is too high of a failure rate. The glass is half full. If you don't want to take a chance, then just stand there and get pummeled like the Changers did on our game. They have equal agility, but didn't attempt a single dodge in that game. When they finally make a pass, it was a despairing move without any care of success - with an AG4 goat. We capitalized on the scatter launch, and scored. Game over.

Q: Are you going to switch play style anytime soon?
A: You know, I've been reading post-match comments by coaches like lamaros (Best with Mess, tied with Knights 2-2 on Match 1) saying I pass too much. This is good. If people expect Knights to keep passing, I'm fine with that. We never tried caging cause I just don't see the need. But let's see, our next game against Frenzy-focused teams, it might be a virtue. So yeah, who knows, really? We need to keep ourselves predictable. That's how we keep plan B stay plan B. There's a reason why plan B remains plan B, because plan A almost always works.

Q: Final question, how will this bust-up affect your coach-player relationship with Brother None?
A: He goes into the General Discussion on the next game. Alongside Ulminati and other rookie linos. That'll teach him.
 

Brother None

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'for I get to questions man I like to say summin. I been here all games, I unnerstand the bidnis and the nature and you all got a job to do, so...when it comes to blood bowl, I take my job seriously, but I think there's here in the Codex area I think a lot of people don't want to see me to do good. Reason why I don't... I really don't care.

I got aksed the question about me being here and being unhappy. I'm here, and I understand my role. My role is to attack and kill, not to take the ball deep, take the top off the defense. All I'm sayin is, sometimes you want your boss to tell you you doin' a good job. That's just the way with Blood Bowl. You wanna be appreciated, and I really don't think me personally that I'm appreciated. Don't take it outta context, I am a man and this is my job.

I'm not here to start any trouble, I'm here to play the league out, on my contract. I wanna stay here, I never said I want to leave the Codex, but I think some of the things that been written or been said has me lookin' in a negative light, and I don't want it to be in a negative light. You can print it, I don't care how you put in on your ink. This is a bidnis.
 

RK47

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Game Set on Friday Night.
Looking forward to it.
 

RK47

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Alright guys, tonight's the night. 10 hours from now let's play hard for that win and take control of the match.
I've been trying to find out the perfect guard setup for Frenzy counters - but generally I still want 3 guards on the LoS at the start to force them to commit.
Please correct me if I'm doing it wrong.
Hence Line of General Discussion will feature eklektyk , Ulminati and Brother None for triple Guard line.
While right behind them would be the the two of the guardians ready to spam that 2red die for the second frenzy push.
Whitewolf will be ready to spam that MB Blitz when it's our turn and we'll play our usual fast TD.

There's a lot of AV 7s out there. Let's make it happen.
 

Dead Guy

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I put on my pom-poms and/or wizard hat.
 

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