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I finally got my Blood Bowl pitch finished enough to play the first game on it.  There's still a bit of work that I want to do but the field was ready, which was the important part.  My Orcs lost to the Humans, 2-1 but it was a fun time!

This pitch folds up into a "suitcase" so it's very easy to carry around.

More:

Looks great - good job GJK!

And finally:

Quote from: bob48 on July 06, 2013, 04:34:45 PM
Looks great - good job GJK!

Thanks!  Wasn't too bad - I started last weekend and finished just this morning before the game.  I want to finish building up the walls to add to the dungeon theme and then add some extras (moss, better scoreboard, label the dugouts and others).  Next game night is Wednesday so I'll probably work on it some more tomorrow.

thats awesome!

love the home and away score board

Very cool looking GJK!

Very cool! A lot of the coached in my league have created custom pitches. One guy put together one for his Slaan team in the last month of his wife's pregnancy. He had a lot of time to sit around.  ;D

Awesome! Thanks for sharing the pics!

I had a blast making the pitch and for some reason, I really enjoy that silly little football game with monsters.  Some fun stuff.  I'm only about 30 years late coming to it but glad that I found a copy of the game at a local discount book store. 

Now this pitch blows me away:  http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/499907/blood-bowl-living-rulebook

Still, fun project making mine and I think that it came out ok.  :)

Yep - that came out pretty cool...nice work.

I have dabbled in the game (PC version) but I really don't have a single clue what I'm doing. It's not a "pick up and play" game - you really need to know some of the things under the hood as well as strategy and player strengths etc - what you can and can't do and who with against who...

Tough wee PC game but I like the idea...just need time to rtfm

Our league meets tonight and there's going to be a dozen players or more it appears.  I've done some work on my stadium so I'll take more pics tonight.

In one of the folders on the PC version is a pdf of the tabletop version of BB.  It's an easy read (looks long, but you'll understand how to play BB in 15 minutes).  Then you just need to learn the interface for the game (hint: most things are accessed via the right click).  That said, I much, much, much prefer the TT version though the PC version is nice to have for a quick game against an AI.

And if you really get sucked into BB (as I have recently), then this podcast is easy to listen to and they go over tactics, teams, and more: http://threedieblock.libsyn.com/  (3 Die Block)

Mini post-game report-

I played our league manager last night in a "learning game".  I fielded a human team with a single ogre lineman and my opponent fielded his lizardmen team.  The humans are a versatile team; they have some players with good speed, a thrower with "sure-hands" and lineman with pretty good protection (armor).  The ogre is a "big guy" on the field and has strong armor and is of course strong with a "mighty-blow" skill but there's a chance on any single play that he will forget what he's there for and he'll just stand around in a daze.  Fortunately, my ogre stayed focused for the entire game and made some good contributions up on the line. 

The lizardmen field a strong set of "Saurus" that are stronger than the human linemen with thicker armor.  They also feature "Skinks" which are tiny little lizards that are blazing fast but thinly armored and they can't handle the ball well - their "hands" are too small to pass or hand the ball off with much proficiency.  However, being small, fast little creatures, they can cover the field well and they get lots of free second chances to attempt manuevers.

I received the opening kick and was able to quickly secure the ball and start my drive down the field.  Right away, I had a man open and with my thrower having the ball, it was to of been an easy short pass to the open man:

(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.garykrockover.com%2FBB%2FBB_07-10-13_1.jpg&hash=6968639cd897b79dab88fcffd3de7416199dca07)


However, I muffed the pass and the ball rolled freely on the field.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.garykrockover.com%2FBB%2FBB_07-10-13_2.jpg&hash=ce2cdce14fb1cb897ab903973d0b29a32968ee97)
My turn was done and a Skink was able to recover the fumble and run the ball in for a quick score.  I'm down 1-0.

On my next drive after receiving the kick, I was dominate.  My ogre bashed the front line and inflicted injuries on his Saurus' as shown with the players stacked up in the "dugouts" on the right:
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.garykrockover.com%2FBB%2FBB_07-10-13_3.jpg&hash=e24efa3cce0a3b60613e136aaa76312eb88e8e64)


I marched the ball down the field freely but as I was just a few squares out of the end zone with my turn over, the Skinks attempte4d a desperate move.  They charged into my "cage" of defenders protecting the ball carrier and were able to get a blitz on my runner and jar the ball loose.  They recovered and returned the ball all the way for another TD.

So I was down 2-0 going into the half.  I had dominance on the field since he was down to 9 players to my 11.  However, those Skinks were proving to just be too quick and disruptive.

(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.garykrockover.com%2FBB%2FBB_07-10-13_4.jpg&hash=8c1460f9794445ec68c3037cfa2584ac0bd997bf)

I kicked to open the 2nd half and was able to stall his opening drive.  I recovered the ball on a fumble and was able to run it in for the touch. 

Down now 1-2, the next drive for the lizardmen stalled and I was able to drive the ball down the field, however time was running out.  Just past mid-field, I was able to (this time) complete a pass and take the ball home for the tying touch.

It was late and we opted to quit the game with a draw.  A very entertaining game though I did have one fatality and some injuries that will keep players out for the next game.

I should note that realistically, with my overwhelming advantage in the number of players on the field, a more experienced player would/should of taken an advantage in this game.  Matt (my opponent) was also a bit aggressive in taking risks that I'm sure he would of normally not taken which opened up some scoring opportunities for me in the 2nd half.  Overall though, a very fun game that was a lot closer than it should of been (on both accounts).

Well don't sell yourself too short, you had players numbers advantage on my Lizardmen most of the game, so I was forced into some more difficult plays then I would normally like to do with a rookie team. I had to try to out score you, because I wasn't going to be able to put up much of a defense beign so outnumbered. If you hadn't fumbled the ball twice in the first half  it might have been a much different story. All in all, it was a great first league for both teams my Lizardmen ended up with lot of SPPs, 18, I got a skill on a Skink that was the MVP and won enough cash to purchase and apothecary. The only permanent casualty was a death taken by a Skink on the Lizardmen team but that is pretty much expected on a  Lizardman team, sadly Skinks have short careers in Blood Bowl.

You've got to describe that incredible play that you made from my fumble down by your goal line.  That was pretty incredible.  What were the final odds of pulling that one off?

And welcome to Grogheads!  :)

I love what you did here, GJK. I played WAY too much BB back in the early 90s and BB and DB are both very dear to me. This set up looks great!

Man I miss BB. :) Any more AARs on your BB games and I would love to read 'em.

The PC game sucks, though, IMO, and I was very disappointed that Dungeon Bowl was released without an AI component - but as bad as the AI is for the PC BB game, I can understand completely why they did that. Pretty sad, actually.

Thanks and sure, I'll take some pics of my next game and give a write up on it.  The group met last night actually but I didn't attend but most likely will next Wednesday. 

The PC game is fine if you have nobody to play the table top version with but otherwise, who wouldn't rather play with mini's and actually roll the dice?

Looks like the board should vibrate.  ;)

I had one of those. Got it in 1985 or 86 - it was the Bears and the Patriots. On that board, though, both teams played about as well as the Cowboys. (Zing!)

I had a Tudor Electric Football set when I was a kid in the 70's.  My dad purchased (via mail order) several pre-painted NFL teams for it.  I actually looked for a set for my son for Christmas but the new "re-issue" is a cheap mostly plastic thing that pales in comparison to the original version.  I did see a number of 70's version  on ebay but they weren't cheap and the bidding was fierce.  I sure wish that I or my parents had saved that copy that I had!

Quote from: GJK on August 05, 2013, 08:39:08 AM
I had a Tudor Electric Football set when I was a kid in the 70's.  My dad purchased (via mail order) several pre-painted NFL teams for it.  I actually looked for a set for my son for Christmas but the new "re-issue" is a cheap mostly plastic thing that pales in comparison to the original version.  I did see a number of 70's version  on ebay but they weren't cheap and the bidding was fierce.  I sure wish that I or my parents had saved that copy that I had!

GJK- You can still get the boards and Offical College Teams here. http://www.tudorgames.com/electric-football.html/
They lost the NFL license a few years ago which is too bad because the quality of the players was excellent. The new board you saw was made by a different company and the quality sucked but they hold the NFL license.

My cousin and I had a 20 team league that we ran from when we were about 12 until we were in our early 30's.  Work and families eventually took over.  I still have the boards and all 80 teams (Home and Away, Offense and Defense).  If you ever have any questions on Electric Football let me know.

Back to Blood Bowl; what are the "must have" components for someone just getting started?

That's some good info re: Electric Football.  I'll go check out the website.  I know that I've seen some of the old NFL pre-painted teams on ebay.  It was a decent stadium that I was wanting (without blowing my sons college fund to get it). 

Regarding Blood Bowl, you can get started with the last edition boardgame that came out (3rd Edition).  It comes with everything that you need to play (but with only two teams; humans and orcs).  The latest edition of the rulebook is available as a free download from www.games-workshop.com so if you do get a copy of the 3rd edition game, chunk that rulebook and use the ones that you download. 

Noble Knight has a copy of it for $85.00 http://tinyurl.com/ko296jo
You can order it directly from Games Workshop (see above link, navigate to the "specialty games" section once you've selected your country on the site).  It's $82.50 there but shipping could be outrageous depending on where you live (they are UK based). 

I found my copy in excellent condition for $50 at Half Price Books in the "collectables" section.  That's what got me started on all of this.

If you do get in to it, you can grab other teams from ebay or 3rd party manufacturers.  Comixinious, Impact Mini's, several make good teams.  Just Google for "purchase blood bowl miniatures" and you'll hit on several links. 

A "cheap" way would be to download the rules from GW, then make your own field (aka "pitch" in the game).  You can find pictures of the full field on boardgamegeek.com so you'll know exactly how many squares to make in the grid and where to put the lines.  Each square should fit a 28mm miniature.  I used 29mm as my size for each square, which is what the boardgame uses.  The game comes with a passing ruler and and template for ball bounces but you don't need those; either make your own or there are pdf's of playaids available on boardgamegeek including a diagram showing passing distances. 

Comixininous has the footballs (http://www.comixininos.com/blood-bowl-accesories/balones.html) and teams.  I thought about getting one of these, but you can get a mini travel BB set at comixininos: http://www.comixininos.com/blood-bowl-accesories/travel-magnetic-mini-bb.html along with magnetic mini-mini's to play on it for fairly cheap.  That might be a good route to go.

Quote from: GJK on August 20, 2013, 05:44:18 PM
That's some good info re: Electric Football.  I'll go check out the website.  I know that I've seen some of the old NFL pre-painted teams on ebay.  It was a decent stadium that I was wanting (without blowing my sons college fund to get it). 

Regarding Blood Bowl, you can get started with the last edition boardgame that came out (3rd Edition).  It comes with everything that you need to play (but with only two teams; humans and orcs).  The latest edition of the rulebook is available as a free download from www.games-workshop.com so if you do get a copy of the 3rd edition game, chunk that rulebook and use the ones that you download. 

Noble Knight has a copy of it for $85.00 http://tinyurl.com/ko296jo
You can order it directly from Games Workshop (see above link, navigate to the "specialty games" section once you've selected your country on the site).  It's $82.50 there but shipping could be outrageous depending on where you live (they are UK based). 

I found my copy in excellent condition for $50 at Half Price Books in the "collectables" section.  That's what got me started on all of this.

If you do get in to it, you can grab other teams from ebay or 3rd party manufacturers.  Comixinious, Impact Mini's, several make good teams.  Just Google for "purchase blood bowl miniatures" and you'll hit on several links. 

A "cheap" way would be to download the rules from GW, then make your own field (aka "pitch" in the game).  You can find pictures of the full field on boardgamegeek.com so you'll know exactly how many squares to make in the grid and where to put the lines.  Each square should fit a 28mm miniature.  I used 29mm as my size for each square, which is what the boardgame uses.  The game comes with a passing ruler and and template for ball bounces but you don't need those; either make your own or there are pdf's of playaids available on boardgamegeek including a diagram showing passing distances. 

Comixininous has the footballs (http://www.comixininos.com/blood-bowl-accesories/balones.html) and teams.  I thought about getting one of these, but you can get a mini travel BB set at comixininos: http://www.comixininos.com/blood-bowl-accesories/travel-magnetic-mini-bb.html along with magnetic mini-mini's to play on it for fairly cheap.  That might be a good route to go.

That was some great advice/info GJK.  It seems like buying the game new might be just as cost efficient as going the DYI route though.  I was pricing out teams and they seem to go for around $50.  If a new game already comes with 2 teams then the rest is gravy.  I'm really intrigued though.  I would love to build a stadium for it.

As far as teams go what Races do you prefer?  In the PC game I usually have a Dwarven team.  I like their simple, head down, run forward style.  Trying to find an opponent is going to be the hard part until my 4 year old son gets older.

For Electric Football; Look at Tudor/Miggle's high end board (Model 620).  It has the largest playing surface although it comes with unpainted teams.  They sell NFL "colored" teams without any logos.  You can find the logos on ebay.  If you don't need a higher end board, I have a few of the lower end boards laying around.  I could send you one for the cost of shipping.  Let me know and thanks for the BB help.

Great info, GJK.

There's tons of resources out there for the DIY BB'er.

If you want to see someone go ALL out, check this out: http://www.coolminiornot.com/articles/1446-bloodbowl-pitch

You'll see lots of good photos as he builds everything from scratch.

Here's an even better one.

http://onyxworkshop.wordpress.com/blood-bowl/blood-bowl-pitch-vikings-stadium/

This is the route I'd want to go - add a ton of portable creativity to a homemade pitch and make it as fun to look at as play on.

I think that Impact Miniatures is starting to come out with a line of plastic (resin) teams for fantasy football for $35 which is somewhat reasonable.  I haven't seen them yet so can't vouch for quality but our league recently placed a group order so I should start to see them in games soon.

As for teams - I like Dwarves, they're tough little buggers.  I'm currently playing a human team with an ogre.  It's a good, well balanced team.  I have a couple of elvin (elven?) teams that my son has played.  They're fast and can pass which is neat but they are brittle.  Orcs are fun to bash with but they are slow and can't handle the ball all too well.  I actually recently picked up a chaos dwarf team that I need to paint.  I'm anxious to play them.

Agreed - probably get the full boxed game and then you can add on to it with other teams and then if you get the itch, make a pitch!  :)  That was as fun as actually playing the game for me.

Re: electric football.  I may take you up on that offer.  My memories of E.F. was a cool looking field, cool looking painted figures but then the plays were those figures going ever which way but the direction that you wanted them to go and with half of them falling over.  Surely it was my technique.  Does it actually "play" semi-close to a real football game?

Banzi- That Viking stadium is amazing.  It didn't look too expensive to build either.

GJK- I've started watching Ebay for BB items.  The last time I did this I bought just about every large lot of Electric Football Teams I could find.  Once I was done ogling them, I ended up reselling the the teams separately and making enough profit to start a D&D Mini's collection (which my wife loves to play and beat me at ;D).

What do most players prefer; the lead figures or resin?  Are the resin miniatures on par with D&D Minis?  They look about the same scale.  I could totally see myself getting into this but would have no idea where to find opponents.

The EF game plays as chaotic as you remember.  However, some people have really jumped in and now "tweak" the bases so that they'll do just about whatever they want them to do.  They've also come up with some pretty cool passing systems.  The custom boards/stadiums are incredible.  There are still very vibrant leagues all around the country and a roving convention takes place once a year.  I'll post some links to stuff later if you're interested.

Keep the Blood Bowl stuff coming!

The only difference that I see between the lead and resin figures are the weight.  It's nice picking up "weighty" figures but the resin ones look just as good (and paint better I think).  I've picked up quite a few teams on ebay and haven't lost a left arm doing it (yet).  You can get full teams for under $50 and even for much less. 

As for opponents - I had no idea that I would ever play the boardgame version with anybody other than my son.  On a whim, I googled "blood bowl league, austin texas" and lo and behold found that there is a league here.  They play every Wednesday and have a summer tournament and "open" play.  You might be surprised.  Also, if not Blood Bowl specific leagues, see if there's a hobby store nearby that hosts Magic and/or WH40K games.  Chances are, if they play WH40K there, then some of them have played BB and would not be opposed to joining in on a game should you break out your copy of the game.

EF:  Yes!  If you have some stuff, please share.  Football season is just about to get going and so I know my son will be interested in gaming some football stuff.  We've tried a few football boardgames but they didn't interest him too much.  We play Madden Football but his fast reflexes will beat my slow reflexes every time.  EF might be the right fit; especially since he enjoys playing with "miniatures".

By the way, that painted human team on the first page of this thread that are in the pictures are the stock humans that come with the boardgame.  I haven't painted a model or miniature in YEARS but I think those came out ok.  They were fairly easy to paint (albeit with reading glasses on, a magnifying glass and a very thin paint brush!).

Quote from: Banzai_Cat on August 21, 2013, 07:26:27 AM
Here's an even better one.

http://onyxworkshop.wordpress.com/blood-bowl/blood-bowl-pitch-vikings-stadium/ (http://onyxworkshop.wordpress.com/blood-bowl/blood-bowl-pitch-vikings-stadium/)

This is the route I'd want to go - add a ton of portable creativity to a homemade pitch and make it as fun to look at as play on.

That Viking stadium is pretty amazing!  He used the same styrofoam blocks that I used it looks like.  Check out the image gallery at boardgamegeek.com, there's some nice stadiums in there as well:

http://boardgamegeek.com/images/boardgame/712/blood-bowl-third-edition

Quote from: GJK on August 21, 2013, 10:31:56 AM

Quote from: Banzai_Cat on August 21, 2013, 07:26:27 AM
Here's an even better one.

http://onyxworkshop.wordpress.com/blood-bowl/blood-bowl-pitch-vikings-stadium/ (http://onyxworkshop.wordpress.com/blood-bowl/blood-bowl-pitch-vikings-stadium/)

This is the route I'd want to go - add a ton of portable creativity to a homemade pitch and make it as fun to look at as play on.

That Viking stadium is pretty amazing!  He used the same styrofoam blocks that I used it looks like.  Check out the image gallery at boardgamegeek.com, there's some nice stadiums in there as well:

http://boardgamegeek.com/images/boardgame/712/blood-bowl-third-edition

For the record GJK, I think I like your actual field/pitch the best.  The players seem to fit on them better than most of the others.  Plus you did a great job on the grass.  Just the other day I ordered $80 worth of D&D Minis games.  I REALLY wish I would have seen this post first. 

Here's a good place to start with some EF info: http://www.miniaturefootball.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?7-Tips-and-FAQ-for-Miniature-Electric-Football.  I'll get you more links in awhile.  I'm having a hard time not searching Blood Bowl stuff right now.

Btw, please keep up with your weekly AAR's.  It really whets my appetite for the game.

Quote from: KyzBP on August 21, 2013, 01:23:19 PM
For the record GJK, I think I like your actual field/pitch the best.  The players seem to fit on them better than most of the others.  Plus you did a great job on the grass.  Just the other day I ordered $80 worth of D&D Minis games.  I REALLY wish I would have seen this post first. 

Here's a good place to start with some EF info: http://www.miniaturefootball.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?7-Tips-and-FAQ-for-Miniature-Electric-Football (http://www.miniaturefootball.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?7-Tips-and-FAQ-for-Miniature-Electric-Football).  I'll get you more links in awhile.  I'm having a hard time not searching Blood Bowl stuff right now.

Thanks for both of those!  My pitch is ok.  It is portable but it's a heavy SOB.  I'd like to make a lighter version of it for taking to the league games.  There's more things that I could add to my pitch as well.  There's prime spots on both sides of the board that would be perfect for fitting a dice rolling tray for example.  It was relatively easy to make and I could share the instructions with anybody interested.  I spent probably less than $50 on materials and could of gotten out cheaper than that if I really tried.  The most tedious part was "flocking" the field (Google has some instructionals on how to flock a field...just saying that is funny....).  I do have a table saw though and without it I would of had to of done things differently.  Table saw - a "must have" for any wood working project!  I really enjoy making things on mine.

I'll check out your link for EF, I'm curious to see what people have come up with - I bet that I'll be surprised!

Timing is everything.  So last night my wife says "Would you mind if I bought a new purse? It's kind of expensive but it gets great reviews for quality." 
So I tell her "That's fine.  You work hard, you deserve it.  Would you mind then if I bought a game?"
She says "OK! Thanks for the purse.  I love you."

She probably should have asked how much the game was.  So, the basic game and a Dwarf team.  What other team should I get?  I'd like to have at least 4.

Cool!  8)

For the fourth team.  Wow, lots of choices (good thing).  Maybe a Dark Elf team if you want a "run and gun" type of team.  There's Undead teams, Lizardmen teams, Skaven (rat) teams and several others.  You might grab that LRB6 (Living Rulebook 6) from the Games-Workshop website.  Near the back is a list of all the teams and their attributes as well as a list of Star players and what teams that they can play on.  That should give you some ideas.  Do avoid Halflings (probably the worst team to play as) and the Vampire team has some neat skills but they are supposed to be a difficult team to play as well.

You might give some Blood Bowl podcasts a listen too.  They usually review teams and their strengths and weaknesses and tactics for play.  Here's a couple:

http://bothdown.com/
http://zlurpcast.com/
http://shows.lifestylepodnetwork.info/tacklezoneradio/2009/06/

Also, check out Blood Bowl tactics for a quick breakdown of each team:
http://bbtactics.com/strategy/races/

It just dawned on me - get an Amazon team (female) and teach the wife to play.  You then have your fourth team and (hopefully) an opponent to play against!! Here's some:

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/amazons-fantasy-football-team-from-necrom-studio
http://www.impactminiatures.com/index.php?option=widows_profile&id=BW_TM3
http://www.ironhands.com/minmorda.htm

Thanks for the links.  I'll let you know what I go with.  I have some reading to do. ;D

Sorry I sounded a bit ungracious in my above reply but I literally had 20 seconds to type that...and I hunt and peck.  Your links were excellent.  I'm really looking forward to checking out the podcasts.  It looks like people have the most fun playing in a league.  Once I get set up I'll have to see if there's one here in Northern Ohio. 

I just put a bid on a complete game on Ebay.  If I get it for what I'm hoping I should have enough left over for either some star players or another team. 

Keep the info/AAR's coming!

Thanks.

Quote from: KyzBP on August 23, 2013, 07:36:57 PM
Sorry I sounded a bit ungracious in my above reply but I literally had 20 seconds to type that...and I hunt and peck.  Your links were excellent.  I'm really looking forward to checking out the podcasts.  It looks like people have the most fun playing in a league.  Once I get set up I'll have to see if there's one here in Northern Ohio. 

I just put a bid on a complete game on Ebay.  If I get it for what I'm hoping I should have enough left over for either some star players or another team. 

Keep the info/AAR's coming!

Thanks.

Is Toledo, OH nearby?  It looks like a league is run out of this store:

http://toledogameroom.com/

On their site, if you go to "Leagues", you'll see Blood Bowl but I get a page not found.  At least they once ran a BB league if nothing else.  I imagine you could contact them and see if they still do or if there's any interest in getting the old league going again.

We should get a game or two in this weekend so I'll post up some AAR's once we do!

On another violent football game note, has anyone here played Battleball?

Quote from: Banzai_Cat on August 24, 2013, 09:45:05 AM
On another violent football game note, has anyone here played Battleball?

I had not seen it.  I think that I have heard the name before but then again, maybe not.  I'm reading the "2.0 Advanced Rules rewrite" that everyone says you need to get.  Sounds very much like a Blood Bowl clone but for a fraction of the price and the game comes with nice, prepainted mini's.  The only problems is that the game is out of print (but can still be had cheaply) and the expansions that were planned were never released so you're stuck with what comes in the box unless you houserule your own other teams.  Might be worth picking up a copy - thanks for the heads up!

I almost bought it a few years back at a Kay-Bee clearance sale - eight bucks, I think it was. But my wife caught me and pitched a fit, so I left empty-handed. Always wondered if it was any good - it looks good, but never met anyone that actually owns it.

With BB, there's no organizations near me that play. There's one on the far southwest side of town but I hate Houston and really don't want to drive across it, even for a game of BB.

And so it begins:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/GAMES-WORKSHOP-Blood-Bowl-Board-Game-COMPLETE-/151105633951?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT&nma=true&si=UjdvryW4TsWKoWmcA9JGwmCKH5o%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

I'm still on the lookout for a reasonably priced unpainted Dwarf team.

Great deal!  That's what I paid for mine but all the mini's were already put together (but not painted).  Hopefully you can find a Dwarf team for $30 or less.  If you can get it for much less than that, you'd get a great deal.

The great news: My Blood Bowl arrived today.  It's in almost brand new condition.  Just one score sheet is filled out but the players are all still on the sprues.
The good news:  My 4 yo son already wants to play.  I'll come up with some simple rules for him and I to play.
The bad news:  I just won an auction for a partial Dwarf team. $4.99 for 6 Citadel players.  I overlooked the shipping from Canada...$23.00!!! F me >:(.  Lesson learned.

I've been checking the U.K. Ebay site and they have a lot of Blood bowl stuff up and it goes for a reasonable price.  I've talked to a few sellers who say they will ship to the U.S. as cheaply as possible if I win.  I can see this getting expensive though.

I'll hijack your thread and post an AAR of my son and I's first game complete with rules.

I'm still looking forward to seeing some more AAR's from your league.

Played last night with the local league.  My humans got CRUNCHED by the Orcs: 1 lineman KO'd, 1 lineman DEAD, 1 thrower out for the game and my ogre is out for the next two games.  No score as of halftime, will have to continue it another time.

(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.garykrockover.com%2Fuploads%2FBlood_Bowl1.jpg&hash=f0970172c996deb4c626a0cccebcac99c8915934)

The opening kickoff.

(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.garykrockover.com%2Fuploads%2FBB_Dugout.jpg&hash=306136272378ec1e337999a42faab489c7268a9a)

My beat and battered dugout area.

(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.garykrockover.com%2Fuploads%2FBlood_Bowl2.jpg&hash=b10fe8c8bf4fe1745235aed1a11b87a068c9202d)

My ogre and lineman square off against a black orc and "Z Elvis".

Such a fun game!!

Hahahaha, that Elvis figure is hilarious!

<Elvis voice> Thank you baby, thank you very much... </Elvis voice>

I'll have to scan and upload an image of the player card for Zombie Elvis.  As I recall, he has "Hypnotic Gaze" and "Rejuvenation" as two of his primary (extraordinary) skills.  Yes, very hilarious.  Apparently it's a fairly rare model that I picked up off of ebay for cheap:  http://www.wcquake.com/12goodies.htm

I own the Legendary PC version. Really wish I knew what I was doing. My lack of American football knowledge I feel is a massive impediment to playing the game. Shame as I know if I did know my Aamerican football I'd love it.

Actually, there's very little resemblance to American football with Blood Bowl.  Some terms are shared "blocking, passing, hand-offs" but that's about it.

I could see where trying to play the PC/xbox version without knowing the game would be very confusing.  I'd suggest grabbing the last rulebook made for the boardgame: NAF Competition Rulebook for Blood Bowl (http://www.thenaf.net/blood-bowl/rules/) and just browse the first few sections that cover game play and review the skills.  You don't need to worry about the league play or building a team or inducements (you can skim those).  Just learn how blocking works and about "turnovers" and how a turn works and then it will click with the PC version.

Well like American Football it has set play. One that comes to mind is Blitz..no idea when you'd use it though. So to a novice it does look like American football to any other sport and I'm sure knowing American footballs general game elements would help even if it isn't that obvious.

WIll have a read of the rule book again. Everytime I've tried to play my players have difficulty picking up the ball or catching it let alone doing anything else:)

Definitely read the rule book. BB is, as GJK said, nothing like 'normal' American football and is pretty easy to grasp once you've played it a few times.

I think there are variants played out there that more resemble normal football with downs, but BB is more a free-for-all (reminds me of Rugby actually, but with spiked armor).

However, I'd HIGHLY recommend you try the board game version of it first. Try to find someone to play it with, or better yet, find a local league and get involved. BB in person is much more fun than computer BB. I have the Legendary Edition as well, but I hate that game - the computer is a highly aggravating cheater when it comes to die rolls.

IIRC the PC BB game has a tutorial, but I don't recall if it was very effective or not. I think it pretty much mirrors the Rulebook that GJK shared above. It's important to get the hang of the basics of BB before getting into player skills and Star Players and such.

The Blood Bowl for Beginners Podcast (http://threedieblock.libsyn.com/webpage/2009/10) might be worth a listen.  I've listened to it and it's well done and starts with the very basics.  It's not a complete "how to" however.

Thanks lads...will give that a listen and then reinstall.

I know no one who'd be willing to play any boardgame..infact I have no mates at all really in Liverpool. Being a single Dad also makes it hard to get out etc etc.

Another option is to join an online league once you're comfortable enough with the game.  I'm looking at perhaps joining one.   FUMBBL (http://fumbbl.com/) has been around for quite some time and has it's own java based interface for playing the game live with others as a part of league play.  There are some "newbie" leagues as well.  See FUMBBL (http://fumbbl.com/) website for details.

There appears to be a number of Liverpudlians that play in the FUMBBL leagues as well.  See FUMBBL Coaches Listing (http://fumbbl.com/FUMBBL.php?page=locator&op=details&cid=212).

So I decided to try to give BB another chance. One thing I haven't been able to grasp (ever, in the case of this game) is how brutally unfair it is.

I read that online somewhere a few months back, and it resonated with me. The game IS a frigging harsh mistress; one minute she loves you, then she kicks you in the groin, breaks your nose, and shits on your chest while you're down. The way to deal with it is just to have a good time.

I've watched a ton of BB videos over the last several months, including a guy running a Halfling team...with quite a bit of success, I may add (he plays against people, not the shoddy AI). I watched him whup a Vampire team last night. Although, whupping Vampires that fail their Blood Lust rolls a lot isn't all that difficult...

I started an Orc team and won my first match. Against a Goblin team. I know...that's like winning against ants. I killed one of the Gobbos and put three more into the hospital, but they have a couple of vicious player types (can't recall the one that swings the mace around at the end of a chain, but holy hell that guy has a 7 strength and can kick your butt good). Fortunately they were part of their casualty list. Once they were off the pitch it was pretty easy to put the game away, 2-0.

Why Orcs? No idea. I went from Humans (even tried starting a Human team, but got my butt handed to me by a Khemri team - those Tomb Guardians are nasty sods). I thought the Orcs might be more fun to play and that first game was fun, even when I had more than a few Orcs dropped on their furry behinds. The fact that they had two Trolls that failed half their 'Stupid' rolls helped a lot too.

In any case, a whole new attitude towards Blood Bowl now will hopefully mean I get more enjoyment out of it. I'm even thinking of going to my local Games Workshop store to see if they sell minis. Might be further therapy in the works.  8)

It's an addicting little game and quite intricate for being a "child's game".  It's chess on steroids where you definitely have to think a turn or two ahead and move your pieces in the right order.  It's chess pieces that have special "skills" and it's a chess game with chance involved (dice).

My brother is an avid wargamer and has never been one for fantasy gaming but I introduced him to BB and he picked up the Chaos Edition for the PC (BB2 is due out any time now by the way).  He sent me a skype message the other morning:

QuoteMan, been having fun with BB.  Playing a World Cup tourney.  Love the role playing, stats aspect of it in guiding your team.  Just blew a game though that should've won.  Jumped out to early 2-0 lead on picking off some interceptions and scoring.  They came back and were up 3-2.  I had one turn left, streaked my catcher into the endzone, was wide open.  My thrower had an open lane to toss it to him to tie it up and the dummy fumbles the pass.  Blew the damn game.

I'm working on a vassal module for it (I have one that someone made that is quite detailed but it's very fussy).  I think that pbem BB would work wonderfully and it would fit my time schedule nicely.  My brother is also looking at making his own pitch and getting some mini's.

if you get vassal rules up and running im heading straight to the shops to buy the game and joining you and your bro!

I'm working on it as time permits.  We've been slammed at work lately (my *real* job) and so I haven't even had time to update the Twilight Struggle game as of yet.  I should get a bit done this weekend however.

Let me know about BB as well. I have the original set from '88 or so but haven't broken it out in a long long time. Don't know if that's all I need to play through VASSAL, though. (Admittedly I know little of VASSAL.)

i feel a league coming on - i know bob would be in it

Quote from: Banzai_Cat on July 09, 2014, 08:01:00 AM
Let me know about BB as well. I have the original set from '88 or so but haven't broken it out in a long long time. Don't know if that's all I need to play through VASSAL, though. (Admittedly I know little of VASSAL.)

The last rulebook (Competition Rules) are freely available online if you google it.  That would be all that you need because the vassal module will have all the rest.

A league would be awesome!  We could set up schedules and then people could play either live or via email and the results posted.  I'm sure that my brother would be in for it as well.

I've got a good jump on the VASSAL module.  All of the graphics are done, I pretty much just need to add the teams and markers and whatever VASSAL "automation" that I think might be helpful.  Early screenshot (no teams present yet).
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fgarykrockover.com%2FBB%2FBB_Vassal_Screenshot.png&hash=6223f37c5a798ba7de596b969a89451bb36fd2b6)

Nice work, GJK!

that looks awesome

Quote from: undercovergeek on July 09, 2014, 08:03:34 AM
i feel a league coming on - i know bob would be in it

Ya bugger - I re-installed it months ago, just to play you, and how many times have we played? :knuppel2:

lol, tis for t'boardgame tho

Meh!

Quote from: TacticalWargames on June 26, 2014, 11:48:38 PM
Well like American Football it has set play. One that comes to mind is Blitz..no idea when you'd use it though. So to a novice it does look like American football to any other sport and I'm sure knowing American footballs general game elements would help even if it isn't that obvious.

WIll have a read of the rule book again. Everytime I've tried to play my players have difficulty picking up the ball or catching it let alone doing anything else:)

That's very normal; the rules are set up to make the ball hard to work with -- represented by the spikes on it. In Cyanide's original rip-off game long-ago back on DOS, they gave the ball chicken feet to represent it running around and doing crazy things. Then Games Workshop (very reasonably) sued them. The GW gave them a job. And now we have BB:Chaos Edition. :) And BB2 on the way.

If you're playing with a team that has poor agility, there are only two ways to deal with ball control.

1.) Surround the ball with players before you try to pick it up. The ball will squirt free and wander around but every time it intersects one of your players you'll get another chance.

2.) Let the other team be the one to try to pick up the ball; concentrate on smashing them instead. :) Low-agility teams tend to be smashy teams by design.

Otherwise, only send your thrower or your catcher in to try to pick up the ball; ideally a thrower.

Or, play a high agility team like one of the elven factions.

(This advice is regardless of whether you're playing live or Chaos Edition. No reason to own the Legendary Edition anymore; CE fixes practically all the bugs, and I've never seen a single bit of evidence of it cheating the dice during my campaign so far.)


Re: blitzing. This is simpler than it seems. All it means is that once per turn, a coach can choose one player to be able to hit another player after running. After which, if the player still has moves, he (usually he) can keep on running -- but not attack again. Aside from a blitz, players can only hit at other players in an adjacent square at the start of the turn for that side. If your player starts your turn next to someone else, you can try to attack. Otherwise, forget it -- you can move up next to another player but cannot attack this turn.

A major tactical implication to this is that (aside from the blitz possibility each turn) the team without the initiative (the team who doesn't currently have the turn) will have more chances, on average, to hit the team whose turn it is, and not even be hit back! -- because the team currently moving will sometimes be trying to move out of a tackle zone, giving the other player at least one free attack without riposte. (There may be a couple of special rules allowing riposte by a few players for breaking the tackle; I can't remember any offhand, but Blood Bowl always has a couple of special rules. ;) )

But, yeah, blitzing: a lot simpler than many other things in BB, don't worry. :) Nice thing about the computer game, it keeps track of all the rules, and implements them religiously.

I'd been watching some videos on YouTube from a guy playing a Halfling team in multiplayer matches, and he did quite well with them. I never in a billion years would have considered a Halfling team, but his videos proved they're viable. If you know what you're doing, of course, and I'm not sure I fall into that particular category.

FWIW, I finished the first beta of the vassal BB module this weekend and am going to be playtesting it with my brother starting tonight.  If there's an interest, perhaps we could get a small league going?

I'm still interested, depending on what we need.

What will we need to play, exactly? I remember downloading VASSAL a long time ago but I never did much with it, so I'm a noob when it comes to that stuff.

What kind of teams will we be able to field? I'm thinking Halflings or Goblins, because I don't want to get too attached to the little buggers.

You will just need to install the latest version of vassal (vassalengine.org) and then grab my BB vassal module once it's tested and ready.  You'll want to have a copy of the LRB6 (Blood Bowl Living Rulebook v6...the last rulebook written for the game).  That is easily downloaded if you google it or I can provide a copy of that as well.

I've included all 24 of the standard teams for BB, so we'll have the full mix of available teams there.

Before actually starting a league, we may want to just get some people paired up to play either live or via email (both using vassal) just to get comfortable with it.  I'd be happy to get a Skype conference going too once we have some people with vassal module in hand and we can go over using the module online w/voice.  What I have is a "no-frills" module; highly functional but you do all of the drag and dropping and moving, etc.

Sounds awesome

Being nearly completely ignorant of how Vassal works -- how would die rolls be tracked between players? Is there a log for accountability?

Quote from: JasonPratt on July 22, 2014, 07:44:05 AM
Being nearly completely ignorant of how Vassal works -- how would die rolls be tracked between players? Is there a log for accountability?

Yes VASSAL logs it's internal die roller results. Or you can use external die rollers that email both players the results.

I know nothing about Blood Bowl but might be interested in getting in on a VASSAL league. I'll have to download the rules and see if I can grog it without having the game in front of me.

Since the LRB6 can be oddly hard to find sometimes (even from GM's own servers!), I've split it into two pdfs and attached below. (Forum limits prevent attaching pdfs larger than 3 Megs each, though the total can go up to 10 Megs. For probably gfx reasons the first 7 pages have half the memory size of the whole pdf, thus the split there.)

Cool thank Jason!  O0

Could not for the life of me track down a copy.... :buck2:

Jason,

In VASSAL, for pbem use, you basically start recording a log at the start of your turn.  This will log any movement on the mapboard(s), any chat entered in to the chat window and everything that was echoed to the chat window including dice roll results (I also have the block dice, 8 sided die and 6 sided dice to show visually).  Once your turn is finished, you simply end the log file and email the small log to your playing opponent.  When he/she loads the log, they can "step" through each event...movement of pieces square by square, any comments entered in to the chat window (taunts, explanations, etc) and they will see what was rolled.  It all works quite well and is a fairly simple process once you've processed a log or two (that sounds very "clinical" actually....lol).

The basic BB concepts are:

1.) Each coach puts 11 players on their half of the field (or pitch) within certain limits; each coach can have up to 16 players for up to 5 substitutions at certain times. The various factions may have restrictions on how many specialist players of various kinds can be on a team. At least three players must start on their side of the center line; no more than two players can line up on each wing (whether close to the line or not). (Or is it no more than 4 per wing? I'm lazy, but I think it's two left wing, two right wing. Any number can be placed center field behind the line at any depth, but there are physical grid limits to how many players can be put up on center line, too.)

2.) The field is divided into a grid of squares, and the players move on this grid, basically without restrictions (aside from each other) after kickoff.

3.) Points are scored only for taking the ball into the opponent's end zone, one point per goal. A team can lose by having all its members crippled or killed however.

4.) Each coach gets 16 turns to play the game. After that game over. Ties are ties, even ties at zero.

5.) The coach who wins the coin toss gets to choose whether to kick first or receive first. After both coaches play the 8th turn (reaching halftime), the board automatically resets for the originally kicking team to receive. One important consequence is that although the receiving player gets the first initiative for that half of the game, the kicking player will get to play the final turn of that half.

6.) A team essentially has the initiative on their turn, regardless of whether they control the ball or not. If they make a clumsy play or if every player has had a move (or they score) their turn is over, thus a "turnover". "Turnover" does NOT necessarily mean the other team has the ball, it only means the other team now gets the initiative.

7.) Almost every player action except for basic movement depends on getting a good die roll. Fail the roll and that team's turn is over. There are ways to salt the roll, usually with a limited number of re-rolls for each coach, replenished at halftime.

8.) Certain actions (for example a blitz) can only be attempted by a team once per turn.

9.) Picking up, handing over, throwing, and catching the ball, all involve rolling the die successfully. Technically, any player can do any of these things with the ball, though most players are clumsy at doing most or all these things.

10.) The ball can be passed or handed off in any direction, within certain distance ranges (which for experienced players can extend a little).

11.) When players fight one another they roll a special set of dice. Each die will have two faces indicating a result of moving the defender, one face indicating the defender stumbles (and probably falls without a special ability), one indicating the defender definitely falls, one indicating the attacker falls (counterpunched by the defender), and one indicating both players fall (unless a special ability prevents it). Player-downs will usually also be pushed in a direction chosen by the attacking player; and the coach can choose whether the attacking player steps into the vacated square.

12.) How many dice are rolled, and which coach gets to choose between the results, depends on relative strengths of the attacker and the defender, modified by nearby players supporting either side.

13.) Players cannot attack except on a turn of their team; and (with one general exception) can only attack enemies adjacent to them without the attacking player moving. A player recently stood up can (usually) lend support but not initiate attacks. Players cannot (usually) move after attacking (except to step into a vacated enemy square perhaps.)

14.) Once a turn, a coach can choose any one player to blitz, meaning the player can attack after moving, and then continue moving normally after the attack (unless the attacker goes down of course).

15.) Whether or not a player is holding the ball makes no difference about whether they can attack or blitz during the turn of their team. (So a coach might tell a ball carrier to blitz, attack to push back or knock down an enemy in their path, and then run onward.)

16.) On a coach's turn, he may not (usually) move one of his players away from being next to an enemy player without the enemy player getting one free attack (using the normal die). This is called tackling, and the coach has to deal with it every single time he tries to move a player out of an enemy's tackle zone. Into a zone, no problem -- this can even set up tackles against the next coach's turn (and is called "marking" players). Tackles are (usually) made at no risk at all to the tackling player, and so setting up tackling interference is an important coaching tactic. Any successful tackle will end the initiative of moving team, resulting in a turnover.

(Note: I don't remember offhand if relative strength values can create natural immunity to leaving an enemy's tackle zone, or if say an ogre can be thrown down by a halfling for failing to leave the halfling's tackle zone.)

17.) Any time a ball carrier goes down for any reason (and under some other circumstances), the ball will bounce free and can be picked up by any player it intercepts, if they succeed a die roll -- otherwise it continues bouncing randomly around until it rests on the ground.

18.) If the ball leaves the playing field, not under the control of a carrier in an end zone, it is placed back in play on the field under various conditions (given to a player of a coach's choice, etc.)

19.) Any player who goes down must roll against their armor score to see if they have been knocked out, injured, or killed. Hired apothecaries, once per game each, allow a damage re-roll if the armor roll fails and the coach can choose which result to accept. KO'd players have a chance to wake up at the half or after any score. Injured players will be out of the game, and possibly some subsequent games, possibly with permanent detriments. Killed players can never play again, period. (Undead players can be killed or the equivalent thereof.)

20.) Players removed from the game cannot be substituted for until after any player scores or halftime. While a team must start the game with 11 players on the pitch, the team can continue playing through the whole game with fewer than 11 players if necessary.

Aside from the effects of special abilities (sometimes detrimental to the player), and of various pre-game adjustments, I think that covers the basic concepts. :) I'm a little fuzzy about when subs are allowed after players are removed however -- certainly at kickoffs (whether post-score or at the half).

Excellent break-down of the game Jason!  The other fun aspect of Blood Bowl aside from actually playing the game is League play where you have player development, new players to hire for your roster and a sort of RPG like element where you carry the same player(s) from game to game, hoping that they survive because you've grown attached to them.

I have a dropbox folder with a bunch of BB goodies, including an ebook of the rules that I put together as well as the beta of the vassal module.  If anybody is interested in gaining access to it, send me an IM with your email address (that you use for dropbox) and I'll add you to the share.

I'm in!

Here's a link to that dropbox folder that has the VASSAL module and other BB goodies for those that are interested:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/vm2swpy0p86r7rf/AABRg4bQm8piVaIkkdYNGJkNa

Thanks for the link Gary, but I'm not seeing the VASSAL module file...?
O0

Quote from: GJK on July 22, 2014, 04:00:38 PM
Excellent break-down of the game Jason!  The other fun aspect of Blood Bowl aside from actually playing the game is League play where you have player development, new players to hire for your roster and a sort of RPG like element where you carry the same player(s) from game to game, hoping that they survive because you've grown attached to them.

Certainly! I'm heavily RPing an Amazon team and their coach right now in the AAR link at the top of my sig. (Now with some actual AAR at last along with the RPG!  :)) )

I will add that the Chaos Edition version of the PC game is, in my experience, great for all aspects of this. The only problem really would be losing the asynch connection during a game: 30 minutes is a long time to gamble, although I've seen plenty of YT videos taking the full hour and a half (or longer!) without any problems. Still, setting the local League rules for a 30 second normal turn limit helps to move things along a lot, allowing for more flexibility in playing other people and reducing the chances proportionately of the internet eating the game.


Meanwhile, I recommend discussing which files do what in the two folders we'd presumably download.

(I think, Bart, the VASSAL files are in a subfolder of the "VASSAL" folder in his root directory. Clicking on that brings up a couple of files plus another VASSAL folder, so once you click the first VASSAL folder you'd click the download button and the system should zip up everything that you see including the subfolder with all the actual VASSAL coding.)

I see a "VASSAL Blood Bowl Working Files Copy" folder in his Blood Bowl folder.

Quote from: Barthheart on July 23, 2014, 07:40:24 AM
Thanks for the link Gary, but I'm not seeing the VASSAL module file...?
O0

Well heck...it *was* in the Blood Bowl folder but now I don't see it.  I'll throw it up in there again tonight when I get home.  In the meantime, enjoy all the extra goodies and that and the other folders...I notice that the link shares out all of my games' stuff that I've collected and uploaded.   ???

Edit: I found a version of the module on this computer that may or may not be the most absolute current.  It's uploading now in the "Blood Bowl/Blood_Bowl_Vassal.vmod" directory.  What I will do is update the version number (currently at .5) to .6 and upload the master copy from home but for now, this one looks to be the most current.  Give it a few...it's 36mb in size so it's uploading now.

Quote from: JasonPratt on July 23, 2014, 07:43:38 AM

Quote from: GJK on July 22, 2014, 04:00:38 PM
Excellent break-down of the game Jason!  The other fun aspect of Blood Bowl aside from actually playing the game is League play where you have player development, new players to hire for your roster and a sort of RPG like element where you carry the same player(s) from game to game, hoping that they survive because you've grown attached to them.

Certainly! I'm heavily RPing an Amazon team and their coach right now in the AAR link at the top of my sig. (Now with some actual AAR at last along with the RPG!  :)) )

I will add that the Chaos Edition version of the PC game is, in my experience, great for all aspects of this. The only problem really would be losing the asynch connection during a game: 30 minutes is a long time to gamble, although I've seen plenty of YT videos taking the full hour and a half (or longer!) without any problems. Still, setting the local League rules for a 30 second normal turn limit helps to move things along a lot, allowing for more flexibility in playing other people and reducing the chances proportionately of the internet eating the game.


Meanwhile, I recommend discussing which files do what in the two folders we'd presumably download.

(I think, Bart, the VASSAL files are in a subfolder of the "VASSAL" folder in his root directory. Clicking on that brings up a couple of files plus another VASSAL folder, so once you click the first VASSAL folder you'd click the download button and the system should zip up everything that you see including the subfolder with all the actual VASSAL coding.)

You have a novella started with that AAR Jason!  I'm going to read it more in depth when I get home.

It looks like the VASSAL module file (Blood_Bowl_Vassal.vmod) has uploaded for those interested.  It's a rough beta so any suggestions on what could/should be added or changed...just let me know.

My brother and I (me and my brother) got in a couple of games *last* weekend.

First game saw his favorite wood elves (unpainted, uh hmmm) taking on an unprepared Orc team.  The Orcs didn't see the high-flying artistry of the wood elves coming and thus the pixies were able to run, toss and throw their way to an easy victory of 3-1.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.garykrockover.com%2Fuploads%2FBlood_Bowl_8-8-2014-1.jpg&hash=dc88e7090d8cfa49ca50adb74133bd957e6e2e50)


The next game was a nail biter.  My humans were able to jump out to a quick 1-0 lead that carried through the half.  The 2nd half kickoff found us with a "pitch invasion" from the fans in the stands and that essentially put two extra turns on the clock for the 2nd half. 


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.garykrockover.com%2Fuploads%2FBlood_Bowl_8-9-2014-1.jpg&hash=3785113e583f58a8fa64baa393bd0ff1505860db)

The last turn of what would have been regulation play found the Wood Elves making a score that generated from a turnover that the humans made during their drive.  The humans drive looked solid, but a Wood Elf "Wardancer" was able to Leap over and amongst the players protecting the ball player and got a good lick on the ball runner, causing the fumble.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.garykrockover.com%2Fuploads%2FBlood_Bowl_8-9-2014-2.jpg&hash=342e55f6f44073740069837c800a4de2016c7b5d)

With the score knotted up at one apiece, regulation time ended and the game went into overtime.  It's first overtime.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.garykrockover.com%2Fuploads%2FBlood_Bowl_8-9-2014-3.jpg&hash=be5cfa9201982aba71dd9ba4f2a26c8727f5eda9)


And then the second overtime in which the humans realized that they were going to have to do what the Orcs failed to do; become a "bashy" team and start pounding these weakly protected elves into the ground while not worrying so much about scroring.  And so with that, the Wood Elves found player after player injured and/or incapacitated and escorted off the pitch.

That took us in to the third overtime (and about 1:30 in the morning) before the humans were able to score against a measily two defenders that were left standing.


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.garykrockover.com%2Fuploads%2FBlood_Bowl_8-9-2014-4.jpg&hash=77209695a4ab4caab6b1d663a4c5221232d563a0)


Had a blast!!!  My brother made great use of the high-flying skills of the Wood Elf team and it was only by attrition that I was able to eek out a win in the 2nd game.  He completely dominated in the 1st. As I've said, for a "silly little kids' game, this game has a lot of depth and decision making!". 

Watching with great interest.

Actually, I'm sorry to say this, but I don't think I'll be able to participate for now. I need to be judicious in the budgeting of my time and between the B-29 AAR, the BOTF AAR, and some upcoming reviews, I should probably not add something else to take up my gaming schedule. At least for now. As KyzBP said, I will watch with great interest though, especially if you guys do a narrative of your game results and the League overall.

Quote from: Banzai_Cat on September 07, 2014, 10:53:24 AM
Actually, I'm sorry to say this, but I don't think I'll be able to participate for now. I need to be judicious in the budgeting of my time and between the B-29 AAR, the BOTF AAR, and some upcoming reviews, I should probably not add something else to take up my gaming schedule. At least for now. As KyzBP said, I will watch with great interest though, especially if you guys do a narrative of your game results and the League overall.

Nice try Banzai but you're not getting out of it that easy.  I have absolutely no time right now but, somehow, someway, I'm going to find time to participate in this league.  Oh, and so are you. :knuppel2:

We're thinking two weeks to complete a game (pbem or live).  Pbem turns take about 10 minutes to run.  There's 16 logs for the turns (8 per side plus the kickoff's add a few logs but are simply the kicking team lining up for the kick, the receiving team lining up to receive the kick, the kicking team placing the ball and rolling for scatter and then the receiving team begins a regular turn so if you average two logs a day (about 20 minutes/day), you should be able to complete a game.  If you can budget that time, we'd love to have you guys! 
If interested, you can join the league on our page here:  http://vabbl.org/obblm/index.php?section=main

Well, ok...but I might need a nudge every so often.  :)

Quote from: Banzai_Cat on September 07, 2014, 08:27:20 PM
Well, ok...but I might need a nudge every so often.  :)

Awesome!  A turn does play really quickly via pbem.  I was getting out turns during my 15 min breaks at work all week long.  :)

Damien (Outcast) is our commish.  When you register on the site, he'll get the notice and approve you (I've already asked him to look out for you guys).  He's across the pond but strangely he seemed to be online during the same hours (CST) that I was so we had no difficulties at all getting our turns done.

I went to the VABBL site and requested a registration. Beyond that I haven't thought much about what kind of a team I want to field, nor am I certain how to go about building it. I am certain you've provided this info already so give me a day or two to go back through everything. You had sent me a link to your dropbox a couple of times I believe.

Yeah, in the dropbox folder (link: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/alob72vrrisz8ds/AAB7c0rwbglvgszWrMlNTWGHa?dl=0 (https://www.dropbox.com/sh/alob72vrrisz8ds/AAB7c0rwbglvgszWrMlNTWGHa?dl=0)) is a spreadsheet titled "Zen7.1 LRB6.0.xls".  Pull down a copy of that.  It will price out your team for you.  You can view my roster as a reference (74 Dalir Audhumlaboys.xls) which is my Norse team.  This is based off of the 1974 Dallas Cowboys team that I  watched as a kid growing up. The player names have been modified to fit the Norse naming convention and the logo is an Anglo-Saxon rune that means "Cattle". "Audhumla"  was a primeval cow that was worshipped in Norse mythology and Dalir was one of their largest cities.

Anyways, in the folder called "Rules and reference material" is a copy of CRP (Competition Rules Pack) in pdf and also what I think is my more useful .chm file that has extras called "Blood_Bowl_LRB6.chm" (Living Rulebook v6, the last).  At the bottom is the "Teams".  Pick a team and you will see the players available to that team and the cost for each positional player.  The spreadsheet will plug in those numbers but for a starting team, our cap is $1,000,000 (that includes the players, re-rolls, apothocary, fan factor, etc).  Also the "Skills" section is a great reference to see what the various skills do for whatever team it is that you do choose.

"Three Die Block" is a great BB podcast.  If you have an idea for a team that you want, Google "3 die block <team race>" and you'll get a link to the podcast(s) that talk about that team, it's strengths and weakenesses, what they suggest for a build out and what they suggest for the skill ups (or just go to http://threedieblock.libsyn.com/ (http://threedieblock.libsyn.com/) and then type in the team type in their search box....probably a better route to go).  Invaluable information.  I used it to put together my Norse team.

I might of mentioned it (too lazy to look), but there's a folder called "Blood Bowl vs Outcast".  That has the game logs from a pbem that I have going with Outcast now.  If you grab the vassal module, you can go through the logs to get a real good idea of how the module works and how the game turns flow.  It may also give you some good scouting info on us.  ;)

Thanks, GJK, for regurgitating that info again, much appreciated. I hope to get to it in the next day or so.

Quote from: Banzai_Cat on September 08, 2014, 06:58:16 AM
Thanks, GJK, for regurgitating that info again, much appreciated. I hope to get to it in the next day or so.

same here, shit weekend and i need to gather the info and get my ass in gear

as a deadline man - is there one by which it all needs doing and thatll probably give me the kick up the arse i need?

Quote from: undercovergeek on September 08, 2014, 07:15:48 AM

Quote from: Banzai_Cat on September 08, 2014, 06:58:16 AM
Thanks, GJK, for regurgitating that info again, much appreciated. I hope to get to it in the next day or so.

same here, shit weekend and i need to gather the info and get my ass in gear

as a deadline man - is there one by which it all needs doing and thatll probably give me the kick up the arse i need?

If you're really interested in playing - please do so! Would love to have you.  We can fit in one more for the league so I'd suggest getting to the vabbl.org site and registering.  I'll let Outcast know that we might have one more. 

Other than that, he's putting together a message forum for us on the site and we're also hammering out the league rules (most of which will be taken from various other leagues since it's tried and tested already). 

I've found Outcast to be very easy going and very energetic about the game.  I don't see things such as "if you don't submit your match by xyz date, then you are disqualified" type of stuff at all.  I'm fairly new to BB and you guys are either new or rusty so it's going to be a beginner's learning league.  I've picked up quite a bit just over the past few weeks and I can share what I've learned about team building, etc. and pass that along to you guys.

As for teams, I've picked Norse.  My brother is going with his Wood Elf team.  Outcast is playing as Orcs against me in a game right now but not sure if that's what he's going to take to the league or not.  Of course, you can select those same team races as well, it doesn't matter aside from it may get confusing on the vassaal board about who belongs to who but if need be, I can add a 2nd set of teams that have alternate markings to distinguish them.

thanks for your patience, ill be along tonight UK time 20:00 ish to do the necessaries

Quote from: undercovergeek on September 08, 2014, 07:36:15 AM
thanks for your patience, ill be along tonight UK time 20:00 ish to do the necessaries

Great!  Outcast won't feel so left out then (he's in the UK as well).  Maybe we can have a fun "All Star" game mid season, Team USA vs Team UK with an assortment of our best players for the season to date.  We could move our pieces that are from our individual teams and then pass the log around until the full team is done for it's side.  That would be pretty cool!

Quote from: GJK on September 08, 2014, 08:22:58 AM

Quote from: undercovergeek on September 08, 2014, 07:36:15 AM
thanks for your patience, ill be along tonight UK time 20:00 ish to do the necessaries

Great!  Outcast won't feel so left out then (he's in the UK as well).  Maybe we can have a fun "All Star" game mid season, Team USA vs Team UK with an assortment of our best players for the season to date.  We could move our pieces that are from our individual teams and then pass the log around until the full team is done for it's side.  That would be pretty cool!

you see, that sounds awesome!

I'm thinking of a Halfling or Goblin team, just because. I'd rather not do a team that someone else has and I'm more fond of bashy teams than prancing nancy elves. ;)

Dwarf, Chaos Dwarf, Orcs and Goblins are bashy teams (good armor *and* can hit).  Halflings are supposedly one of the worst teams to play as...or should I say...one of the more challenging teams to play as.  I've never played them, so don't know but looking at their roster, it's 0-16 halflings and a treeman or two.  Treemen are strong but super super slow and they can "take root" and get stuck in their square.  The halfling is slow (5 MA), poor armor (6 AV), low agility (2 AG) but decent skills.  Yikes, that would be a tough team to play as!

The Undead team is supposed to be a good team to play as well.

I know that contradicts what I said about liking bashy teams, but ultimately I have to decide if I want to be attached to these players or not. Halflings and Goblins are a dime a dozen (almost literally so) and if one dies it's not that big a deal.

Though if a Halfling or Goblin manages to reach Star Player status, having them die then would be bad.

Hmm. I have more thinking to do. Bashy-wise I'd lean more to Dwarves or Chaos. Maybe Chaos Dwarf - I've got some readin' to do.

im deffo skaven

registered for access to the site to register my team - just waiting for admin update

Outcast took the Amazons and has his roster filled out.  I've got my Norse set up as well.  Skaven are the quickest team on the pitch...fast little rats!  That leaves Khemri, Orcs, Goblins, Undead, Humans, Dwarves, High Elves...lots of good teams out there.

I'm pretty sure I'm going with the Dwarves.  I'll try to get things situated tomorrow.  This should be fun.

UCG grabbed the Skaven...everybody bring some cheese to the matches!  Wait, that's mice isn't it??  :)

just need to pick the team now - ill do that today

Playbooks for each of the teams are located at http://www.plasmoids.dk/bbowl/LRB6Playbooks.htm

Breaking down the Skaven team:

PRO
1. FAST!  Fastest team on the pitch. 
2. The Gutter Runner. The Gutter Rats can almost cover half the field in one turn PLUS they have 4 AGility with Dodge.  Quick and evasive.
3. Line rats are cheap.  Buy 'em for a dime a dozen at $50k.
4. They can toss and catch the ball with the Thrower who has Pass and Sure Hands
5. Moderately good armor to good armor.  8 AV for the Blitzer's is a plus.

CON
1. 7 AV for the rest of the team is a bit of a liability.  It's not weak armor, but 7 will break more times than you want it to.
2. You'll wish that the Gutter Rats had a ST of 3 and not 2!

I like this team.  I'm playing them now in a test pbem game.  I'm finding that they are a bit squishy against a bashy team (such as the Orcs) so vs those teams you won't want to go base to base.  I'm also liking that I can break up a box/cage fairly effectively.  The tactic is to sit back out of range and then using that fast MA, swoop in on a corner of the cage and bust it out and then bust in to get to the ball carrier. 

This is going to be fun! 

FYI the forum is now up at the vabbl.org site (www.vabbl.org/forum).  We'll be adding menu and navigation next.  You will need to register for the forum (aside from the OBBL league manager software) but you can certainly use the same credentials that you used to join the league (at least use the same username to avoid confusion).

Also, I'm thinking of holding a coach's meeting some time soon to go over VASSAL installation and module usage.  We can coordinate a group call via Skype or Teamspeak and then go over some things.  Let's start to figure out if a week night this week or if some time over the weekend is going to be best.  I can certainly do multiple sessions if needed.

We have two Norse teams (mine included) so I will need to work up another copy of the team that uses a different color scheme to avoid confusion so there will be a new build of the module.  I will probably wait until coach's have all picked their teams first though in case there's any other conflicts.

If anybody needs help getting their team organized and put in to the league manager software, let me know.

Once we're all registered at vabbl.org, we can move our league related discussions over there.  I'll keep Grogheads site updated in case others not in the league are following along.

awesome - thanks for that, my teams up, full roster with names and im ready

ebay has a complete boxed set at £20 so im on that

looking forward to this, i love the RPG elements

I picked up my copy of the Third Edition boxed set in very good condition for $50 USD at a Half Price book store.  Just happened to see it there but had never played the game (I had heard of it before though and thought that the concept was  intriguing.  That's what started this whole mess including working late hours on my next Blood Bowl pitch that I've been making.  :)

My Dwarves are ready.  Their rookie coach may be a different story though.

Good call on the Three Die Block podcasts!  I listened to two of them today I really liked them.  I also tried to listen to something called Zlurpcast.  It was possibly the worst podcast I've ever listened to.  Don't waste your time with those.

I 'll hopefully be ready to go this weekend but as I said before, I have almost no time this month so please be patient with me.

Quote from: KyzBP on September 09, 2014, 07:01:01 PM
My Dwarves are ready.  Their rookie coach may be a different story though.

Good call on the Three Dice Block podcasts!  I listened to two of them today I really liked them.  I also tried to listen to something called Zlurpcast.  It was possibly the worst podcast I've ever listened to.  Don't waste your time with those.

I 'll hopefully be ready to go this weekend but as I said before, I have almost no time this month so please be patient with me.

The format is relaxed and you're already ahead of the game by having your team all set up.  Next step is to get joined and logged in to the forums at http://vabbl.org/forum/index.php.  Info is being passed along there.

I love 3dieblock....the podcasts up to 2011 or so (that have Pauley).  People ripped that Pauley wasn't a good enough BB player and should be ripped from the podcast but he was very professional with his broadcasting....I miss him on the newer podcasts.

That said, let's critique the Dwarf team since that is the one that you picked:

PRO's
1. Their AV (armor value).  All 8's and 9's with a 10 for the deathroller if/when you acquire him.  These little bastich's are tough!
2. Skills.  They all Block and the blockers can Tackle.  Throw in Thick Skull and some Sure Hands and you have some skilled up little bastich's!
3. Frenzy on the Troll Slayer.  It's a love-hate relationship with that skill but it can reak some havoc.
4. Moderate ST on all players (3).  You'll wish that you had (4), but 3 is good.  You'll squish some 2 ST opponents.

CON's
1. Slow.  What did you expect?  They have short legs and so they don't run very fast.  MA's of 4-6 will hurt against faster, more agile teams.
2. Cost: Blockers are 70K and it goes up from there.  Losing a player will be costly.
3. AG 2 on the blockers will mean that you won't want to dodge with them.  They can go base to base and tie up opposing pieces but with their slow MA (4) and 2 AG, they won't be your cage busters.
4. Deathroller can be devestating but since he is employing "Secret Weapon", his time on the pitch could be limited.  Might be better to spend those earnings on a Star Player instead.

Quote from: GJK on September 09, 2014, 07:21:15 PM

Quote from: KyzBP on September 09, 2014, 07:01:01 PM
My Dwarves are ready.  Their rookie coach may be a different story though.

Good call on the Three Dice Block podcasts!  I listened to two of them today I really liked them.  I also tried to listen to something called Zlurpcast.  It was possibly the worst podcast I've ever listened to.  Don't waste your time with those.

I 'll hopefully be ready to go this weekend but as I said before, I have almost no time this month so please be patient with me.

The format is relaxed and you're already ahead of the game by having your team all set up.  Next step is to get joined and logged in to the forums at http://vabbl.org/forum/index.php.  Info is being passed along there.

I love 3dieblock....the podcasts up to 2011 or so (that have Pauley).  People ripped that Pauley wasn't a good enough BB player and should be ripped from the podcast but he was very professional with his broadcasting....I miss him on the newer podcasts.

That said, let's critique the Dwarf team since that is the one that you picked:

PRO's
1. Their AV (armor value).  All 8's and 9's with a 10 for the deathroller if/when you acquire him.  These little bastich's are tough!
2. Skills.  They all Block and the blockers can Tackle.  Throw in Thick Skull and some Sure Hands and you have some skilled up little bastich's!
3. Frenzy on the Troll Slayer.  It's a love-hate relationship with that skill but it can reak some havoc.
4. Moderate ST on all players (3).  You'll wish that you had (4), but 3 is good.  You'll squish some 2 ST opponents.

CON's
1. Slow.  What did you expect?  They have short legs and so they don't run very fast.  MA's of 4-6 will hurt against faster, more agile teams.
2. Cost: Blockers are 70K and it goes up from there.  Losing a player will be costly.
3. AG 2 on the blockers will mean that you won't want to dodge with them.  They can go base to base and tie up opposing pieces but with their slow MA (4) and 2 AG, they won't be your cage busters.
4. Deathroller can be devestating but since he is employing "Secret Weapon", his time on the pitch could be limited.  Might be better to spend those earnings on a Star Player instead.

I own, but have never played, the tabletop version.  I have played a bunch of the Cyanide version on the computer and have been the Dwarfs almost exclusively.  I'm sure it'll take a little time to figure it all out since the computer won't be doing everything for me.

Grab the VASSAL module and then start playing the logfiles that are in the "Blood Bowl vs Outcast" folder.  Don't follow my lead as the Skaven on how to play but you should gain some insight about how the VASSAL module works and some about the game play. 

I can meet with you online if you like and we can go over some of the rules too if you like.

Still not sure what kind of a team I want - thought I'd check and see what other teams have been picked so far. Two Norse, one Skaven, one Amazon, and one Dwarf team so far...hmm.

Quote from: Banzai_Cat on September 10, 2014, 06:51:30 AM
Still not sure what kind of a team I want - thought I'd check and see what other teams have been picked so far. Two Norse, one Skaven, one Amazon, and one Dwarf team so far...hmm.

from my old days it was always Bashy or Runny/Catchy - once youve got that nailed down its fairly easy

Though I've had the core BB boardgame since 1988 or so, I've hardly played it except the computer version, and my experience from that is I'm always getting players knocked down and the crap kicked out of me no matter what team I play.

I might pick a Chaos team, leaning more to Chaos than Chaos Dwarves. Might be interesting to play a Chaos Dwarf team opposite that other 'normal' Dwarf team, but I'll do some more thinking.

I've uploaded a copy of the "Art of Blocking" pdf to the "Rules and References" folder that's inside the Blood Bowl dropbox folder (sheesh....just get it here:  http://bloodbowl.dk/upload/The%20art%20of%20Blocking.pdf)

It's a very good read if you're new to the game or rusty or just want to master blocking/assisting/follow-up's.

So we need one more coach to make it an 8 team league.  Can you guys think of anybody else on GH that might be interested?  Jason Pratt loves Blood Bowl, I'll send him a PM to see if he'd be interested.  If not, anybody else?

bob also

- do you need me to reformat the team numbers as per the BB forum?

Quote from: undercovergeek on September 10, 2014, 10:56:58 AM
bob also

- do you need me to reformat the team numbers as per the BB forum?

Bob would be great as well.  I'll send him a message too (sent one to Jason).

Edit: Yes, if you would please.  I had to do the same and had to dig a bit in the "Coach's Corner" section to figure out how to renumber the players but it's there (in the same pulldown that you use to "hire" players).

After careful consideration, I think I'm going to pass (though I just sent a pmail saying I'd carefully consider. ;) ) I have too many other things on the plate at the moment. :(

Hopefully Bob can slot in as coach 8!

Quote from: JasonPratt on September 10, 2014, 03:05:22 PM
After careful consideration, I think I'm going to pass (though I just sent a pmail saying I'd carefully consider. ;) ) I have too many other things on the plate at the moment. :(

Hopefully Bob can slot in as coach 8!

Booo....

Agreed, boo!  After reading your novella (aka AAR) for Blood Bowl, I thought you'd be a great fit for us but I certainly understand time constraints and priorities!  Bob has replied back and I've sent him the link to check out the VASSAL module so hopefully after he's had a chance to give it a test spin, he'll join in.  Bob would be a very welcomed addition as well!

Quote from: GJK on September 10, 2014, 04:09:21 PM
Agreed, boo!  After reading your novella (aka AAR) for Blood Bowl, I thought you'd be a great fit for us but I certainly understand time constraints and priorities!  Bob has replied back and I've sent him the link to check out the VASSAL module so hopefully after he's had a chance to give it a test spin, he'll join in.  Bob would be a very welcomed addition as well!

Maybe revive the thread in Computer Wargaming to see if we can get a few more.

Jason: I don't know if your last post in this thread was before or after your last PM to me, but in case you are still considering...you can certainly pick Amazon's as well.  We have two Norse teams (including one from me) so a 2nd Amazon team is fine.  I'd be more than happy to help you install VASSAL and to learn the ropes of using the VASSAL module.  Even if you don't join the league, every wargamer should have VASSAL installed....my personal belief.  ;)

Quote from: JasonPratt on September 10, 2014, 03:05:22 PM
After careful consideration, I think I'm going to pass (though I just sent a pmail saying I'd carefully consider. ;) ) I have too many other things on the plate at the moment. :(

Hopefully Bob can slot in as coach 8!

Whoa, whoa, whoa now. If *I* don't get to plead a lack of time, you don't either, sir.

Quote from: Banzai_Cat on September 10, 2014, 05:22:33 PM

Quote from: JasonPratt on September 10, 2014, 03:05:22 PM
After careful consideration, I think I'm going to pass (though I just sent a pmail saying I'd carefully consider. ;) ) I have too many other things on the plate at the moment. :(

Hopefully Bob can slot in as coach 8!

Whoa, whoa, whoa now. If *I* don't get to plead a lack of time, you don't either, sir.

+1

Ha! For what it's worth, I did try to install VASSAL here on my office computer, which should have worked, but apparently I don't have java 5. (I have a Mac OS 10.4.11, the least OS available for running current VASSAL code. It would install but wouldn't run when clicked.)

Did Java install ok Jason?  I'll search the vassal forum to see if anybody else has had similar issues with Mac OS 10.4.

This thread is on the front page.  I certainly didn't read it all but see if perhaps they have an answer here for you (if you're even wanting to figure it out):  http://www.vassalengine.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6044

Ok, in the Zen7.1 LRB6.0.xls Excel spreadsheet the 'Position' cells/drop-down menus are limited to Amazons and certain Star Players. It doesn't look like it's generic or able to allow a team other than Amazons to be built. What am I doing wrong?

Sigh, nevermind. Found the drop-down I needed to change.  :-[

You don't *have* to use the spreadsheet; you could just use the OBBLM (league manager software on the vabbl.org site).  Actually, it will need to go in to vabbl.org but I found it easier to plug it in to excel first to play around with the cash to see what I could get.  Then once I figured out my purchases, I replicated them on the webpage.

Quote from: GJK on September 11, 2014, 08:12:57 AM
Did Java install ok Jason?  I'll search the vassal forum to see if anybody else has had similar issues with Mac OS 10.4.

Super-busy day at the office; will try today.

Of course, I could install VASSAL at the house on my massive gaming computer... ::) :coolsmiley:

But for purposes of moving things along quickly, it will definitely be better if I can set it up here at the office (and also at the house if/once I do that, of course).

I probably won't have a chance to install VASSAL and upload my team's info until early next week, GJK.

I did, however, finally settle on a team: an undead one. An undead one comprised of all dead writers.

For example:

Heinlein the Hammer (Mummy)
Sick Orwell (Wight)
"Soulsucker" Sophocles (Ghoul)
Poe Choice (Zombie)

...are but a few of the pun-fest that will be my undead team!

I just need to come up with a catchy name reflecting my weirdness, here.

Quote from: Banzai_Cat on September 12, 2014, 09:16:47 AM
I probably won't have a chance to install VASSAL and upload my team's info until early next week, GJK.

I did, however, finally settle on a team: an undead one. An undead one comprised of all dead writers.

For example:

Heinlein the Hammer (Mummy)
Sick Orwell (Wight)
"Soulsucker" Sophocles (Ghoul)
Poe Choice (Zombie)

...are but a few of the pun-fest that will be my undead team!

I just need to come up with a catchy name reflecting my weirdness, here.

No problem B_C, we're still trying to secure that 8th/9th coach's spot.  My brother still has to submit his team as well.

On the vabbl.org forums, I posted a quick primer on how to submit a team to the OBBLM software that the league is using - hope this helps:  http://vabbl.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=55&sid=699c39b10d64e6b9d3e04db4ec0b64fc

Guys, our wiki, forum and league management software is all up and running....we're getting pretty serious about this thing!  If you're wanting to get in the league for this season or just want to follow the action, stop on by!  www.vabbl.org

Quote from: GJK on September 12, 2014, 03:05:37 PM
Guys, our wiki, forum and league management software is all up and running....we're getting pretty serious about this thing!  If you're wanting to get in the league for this season or just want to follow the action, stop on by!  www.vabbl.org

cool, it seems theres a few hoops to jump through here (in a good way)

is there a do this here, then do this here, and then go there and do that guide so that we know were all on the same page

Quote from: undercovergeek on September 12, 2014, 04:27:52 PM

Quote from: GJK on September 12, 2014, 03:05:37 PM
Guys, our wiki, forum and league management software is all up and running....we're getting pretty serious about this thing!  If you're wanting to get in the league for this season or just want to follow the action, stop on by!  www.vabbl.org (http://www.vabbl.org)

cool, it seems theres a few hoops to jump through here (in a good way)

is there a do this here, then do this here, and then go there and do that guide so that we know were all on the same page

Good question.  I'll add something to the VABBL wiki as well but basically: 1) make sure that you have Java and VASSAL installed and working, 2) grab the latest build of the Blood Bowl VASSAL module and become familiar with it (I suggest playing through some logs of mine and outcasts' game which are in a folder within the dropbox folder, and 3) create your team and plug in the info on the website.  And that's where we are right now.

outcast has a rough set of league rules that I've looked over and they look great to me.  One question is how to handle botched rules.  If you're playing back your opponents log and you see that he forgets to do *something* that should of been done (mandatory), what do you do?  One suggestion is that the non-offending coach can request that the offending coach replay the turn.  Another, and this happened in another pbem game of mine, is that the offending coach can create a new log which includes the previous log (that has the error in it) so that the error is corrected in the combined log.

For example.  I forgot to use the skill "Frenzy".  It's mandatory that my lunatic blitzer follows up a block (if possible) and then blocks the same guy twice (if he didn't knock him down the first time).  I forgot to do that.  My problem however was that had I followed the rules, I would of moved in to a square that would of then given the other guy an assist and my follow up block would of been a "2 against" roll.  So, I opened up my previous log, and then started to record a new log WHILE I was doing the playback of the previous log.  When it came to that particular block that I didn't follow up on, I interjected with a comment and then moved the piece (followed up) and then did the follow up block and sure enough, I rolled an Attacker and Defender down.  I picked the obvious choice for him (Attacker down) and so my guy went crashing to the turf and was injured (luckily only stunned).  I then did the playback for the remainder of the initial log (none of my other moves were affected by this lack of "Frenzy"...the only reason why this was able to work this way) and I then sent him the corrected log.

Ok, that was long winded and belongs on the vabbl wiki but hopefully that gives someone that might be on the fence about whether or not to coach an idea of what we're doing and how it works.  The takeaway is; we aren't going to get in somebody's grill (as in being on a Blood Bowl pitch!) if you bonehead the rules a bit.  This is a laid back league...unlike what I found on FUMBBL and some other online leagues where the coach's have literally 1000's of plays and are trying to pad their teams stats.

Another thing that you guys might want to consider doing while we wait to get things rolling is schedule some scrimmages with one another.  Either meet live on the VASSAL module or set up a pbem game (or two).  That would be actually be the best thing to do right now if possible.  That accomplishes several things at once; tests your vassal, gets you familiar with the module and also helps you to brush up on the rules for the game (in case you've been letting the computer do it for you  ;) ).  I have two pbem's going on at the moment but could squeeze in a third if somebody wants to give it a shot.  Otherwise, try and set something up amongst yourselves....oh, my brother (who is in the league) doesn't have any pbem's going right now...his Wood Elf team really needs some scrimmage time.  Contact him via the vabbl.org site and set up a game!