NAF button has been pressed.
Urgh! I knew Slann wasn't a favourable team, but that was horrible!
Game 1 vs Juck (Skaven): Juck has been around on TFF for at least as long as I have (2002), but he'd not played a lot of tournaments, so this was the first time I met him. Worried about his 4 Gutter Runners, I set about trying to beat up his team, whilst dealing with my own team falling over a lot. In managed to score in 6 after turning him over, and he replied with a 2-turn score to level the game. By half time I'd caused 8 KOs but no injuries, all of who returned. He broke my armour once, so a Serious Injury (ACC uses "normal" rules, so injuries carry over - this was a recurring theme!). A score a piece in the 2nd half meant it finished 2-2, and I suffered another injury in the process, meaning I had 9 fit players for the next game - enter the Journeymen. Score 2-2, 0-3.
Block on a Catcher.Game 2 vs Gimli01 (Dwarf): Not the best match-up when trying to recover a team. Gimli was a nice opponent, but there were a few rules issues, as he had only played BB2016 (I believe) and he got a few things wrong that I had to point out, which might have made me come over a bit of an ass (Leap, Diving Tackle)
*. In the first 3 turns I managed to break Dwarf armour 6 times(!) but couldn't roll higher than a 8, which due to their Thick Skull meant I didn't even KO any of them. Game is a bit of a blur, but I recall being turned over, then re-turning him over to get the score at the half, but by this time I was down to 9 players again (another 2 Serious Injuries). Tried my best to stop the score in the 2nd half, but not enough bodies, although I did finally manage to cause a Cas. Surprisingly, my teams abject failure didn't put him off wanting to make a team of his own! Score 1-1, 1-2.
Wrestle on a Blitzer.* Then the was the one I got wrong in the game, when he kept trying to get me to flip a coin, and I couldn't understand why! Been so long playing with the "roll a dice to see who kicks" I completely forgot that the rules state a coin-toss - sorry!Game 3 vs Thor (Amazons): Again just 11 players (2 Journeymen) against a skilled up Amazon team, who also had a missing skill! Due to my expensive players, I got no inducements. Game started well, as I managed to Cas two 'zons in the first 2 turns, but it went downhill after that as I couldn't roll the elusive POWs I needed, whereas Thor regularly got the Block/Pow/Pow! he needed against me. With my player going off the pitch regularly it was impossible to stop the score. Worse, my Wrestle Blitzer took a -1ST injury and I stupidly forgot I had an Apo. Finished the game with 9 fit players - still needing Journeymen. Score 0-2, 2-2.
Block on a Blitzer.So day 1 was 0-2-1, a beat up team (10 players and carrying two injuries) and feeling on a downer.
Game 4 vs Moodygit (Chaos): Hooray, could have spent another 2 hours at home.
Had a bad feeling as I can always seem to beat Gary in league or practise games and yet when we play at tournaments he always has the better results (6th game). Not really a lot to say about this - when Gary says "sorry, your dice have really been bad in this game" you know you've had a bad time!
Only 2 highlights for me -1) Gary doing his usual "no injuries" thing and me killing his Mino on a throwaway Block (which he Apo'd). Back to 10 players, so only 1 Journeyman now. Score 0-2, 1-0.
Couple of Block Catchers.At this point, feeling thoroughly depressed I went to the local Tesco and bought some cider.Game 5 vs Sabellida (Wood Elf): Fully expecting to get beat, I continued to consume cider all the way through the game. Alice was another new-ish player, and she made a few positioning mistakes, that her team made up for by refusing to fail dodges, even when going through Tackle Zones past the Krox and the Blitzer! Some hard work and some lucky dice managed to allow me to turn her over and score, then to prevent the equaliser in the first half. Second half I received, and the ball then changed hands about 4 or 5 turns, before a failed 2D block gave me the room to be able get the 2nd score. The Elves tried to get a consolation, but numbers and some bad dice stopped that. Although the Elves caused no Cas a Catcher did decide to injure himself on a failed dodge, so he got cut, meaning I was back to 2 Journeymen. Had 150k in the bank, but as that wasn't enough to get me above 11 players decided to save the money for the last game and maybe induce someone. Score 2-0, 2-0.
Dodge on a Block Catcher.Game 6 vs Blocknroll (Orcs): At least I knew I'd have a fun game vs Robin, as we always have a laugh when we play. He was the overdog (13 players and skills), but decided not to spend his 50k on a Babe, so I induced Helmut Wulf, hoping to put his chainsaw to good use against the Orc armour. Received, and in the opening turn I killed the Troll, who sadly regen'd. At this point Robin decided he wished he'd bought an Apo. Also managed to KO the Thrower. Had to score in my 6, as it looked like I might risk losing a couple of players if I didn't, which gave Robin 3 turns to score, which he did - thankfully I didn't need to bring Helmet on at this stage. 2nd half, Robin received and gathered the ball. I knocked down his Mighty Blow Blitzer, and declared a chainsaw-fuelled foul. A few seconds later Helmet is off to the Injured box, having chainsawed himself in the face - an excellent use of inducements there! Robin made his way downfield, but my insistence of leaping into his cage and one-dicing the ball carrier (twice) meant he scored in his 7, giving me two turns to reply. He did manage to injure my 2nd Catcher before doing so, which my Apo decided not to help (git!). He set up, and bought on the Goblin to give him the option of a Throw-Teammate, and I set up, having to leave two linemen downfield to get the ball. A deep kick mean I needed a miracle (given my dice) and I got it, as the pair of linemen managed to make a pass and had-off to give the catcher the ball. A successful turn of leaping and dodging meant I marked as many of the orcs as I could, but the catcher was on his own halfway up the pitch. Robin moved who he could, then blitzed the ball carrier, but only got a push. He tried to move the goblin up to make the dodge worse, but he decided to face plant and kill himself. A 2+ dodge later and it was all over. Score 2-2, 1-3.
Overall, despite my moodiness (that Gary claimed copyright on
) I enjoyed it, but the ARBBL tradition of not causing Cas came back to haunt me here. In a resurrection event it's not so bad, but when it actually effects your team, it hurt - if a few of the KOs & amour breaks had been Cas against the Skaven and/or Dwarfs it might have not only made the difference in those games, but given me some much needed skills. Of course, I wasn't helped by 5 of the first 7 injuries I took being Serious, rather than Badly Hurt (obviously the ARBBL tradition in reverse!). Final result, 1-3-2.
Will be back next year (rota permitting), but not with Slann! Maybe a nice, safe all-lineman Dwarf team.
Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2016 5:41 am