Orcs Hit Las Vegas: Game 3 Tournament Report

If you missed the action of Game 1 & 2 they are easy to find, just before this update.

With an even record now of 1 & 1 the Bronze Boars made their way to the next field of battle.
The enemy of the moment: Norse.  Quite a coincidence.  One the drive to Vegas, Dan and I had talked some about what we thought were the best teams in a tournament.  I feel that 'bash' teams have the edge.  Reason being, even though a team like Wood Elves excel at winning games, able to score often, dodge & grab the ball anywhere with agility 4 across the roster (which is no doubt amazing) if a couple teams can win all their games it is going to come down to bonus points, and bash teams could win by a decent margin but also have a lot of causalities, which Elf type teams aren't going to have much of.  Also, with skill packages, most bash teams get the 'gravy' skills: the real enhancers, where an elf team with few skills is going to be trying to cover the basics. Of all the bash teams I think Norse is the strongest.  Block across everyone but the wolves & yeti, which most will take block for their wolves easily enough.  Frenzy can be great and their only disadvantage is armor 7, which is still a better than 50% chance to protect them. Plus you have to get them down before you can hurt them, not always so easy.

Besides: I tend to not be able to break even armor 7 anyway. So we'll see how it plays out...

Game 3: Bronze Boars vrs. Valhallan Loyalists (Norse).

The Norse came to inflict pain.  That was clear by the build.  The team was 12 players, with 1 Catcher and 1 Thrower, 2 Blitzers, 2 Werewolves, 1 Yeti and the rest Linemen.  The Yeti had the dreaded Mighty Blow to augment his natural Claw.  For those not too familiar with Blood Bowl, if you knock someone down, you must roll over their armor value to have any chance to hurt them. Teams like Norse are easier to hurt because their armor value is 7.  Teams like Orcs are harder to hurt because their armor value is 9. On 2 dice, it's a lot harder to roll 10 or more than it is to roll 8 or more.  The Claw skill makes any roll of 8 or more beat *any* armor value, even if it is 8, 9, or 10!  Mighty Blow skill lets you add +1 to the armor roll (and if you don't need it, then you add +1 to injure after).  So to have both means any roll of a 7 will break any armor in the game.  A very powerful & nasty combo of skills.   Both Werewolves had Block, Both Blitzers had Mighty Blow and the Thrower had Sure Hands.   All that Mighty Blow helps them even the odds against higher armor teams.. like orcs ;)

Pregame: We tied for fame (3rd game in a row!) he wins the coin toss (also 3rd game in a row) and elects to kick. 

I held the ball back and tried to do some pounding. He kept the Yeti back, knowing I'd get first swing.  

I did manage to knock out a lineman on turn 2, but mostly I knocked guys over and didn't break their sturdy armor 7. 

On his Turn 2 he did a double Go For It to sack my thrower and the ball bounced free.

Turn 3 I fail a dodge (with a reroll) to rescue the ball.  Another 1/9 chance and I hit it out of the park!  ;)

But that's nothing... Next chance I blitz with the troll, needing a Go For It (Risky, but had to be done).  The Go For It? 1.  Loner is good.. Reroll the die: 1.  You couldn't make this up if you tried. So his Runner gets away and scores on Turn 5. 

Set up to receive, his knock out comes back. I try to set up to tie the game before the half. 

He injures a guarding Orc Blitzer.  Ouch. Meanwhile I still am not breaking his armor.  Tending to roll '5'. 

The Troll tries to redeem himself, needing a double Go For It to blitz, but the 2nd is a 1. loner reroll is fine and the reroll? 1! Oh!  Take that Gods of probability! In Your Face! That's 2 times I hit the 1 in 36 chance!

This is why I don't gamble folks.

This leaves no more time to score and the half ends 0-1.

2nd Half: I kick to him, and start worrying about the Mighty Blow Claw Yeti.

In my turn I go after the Thrower while my Troll gets into a slug out with the Yeti. I manage to knock the Yeti down, but I don't break his armor.

I Blitz his carrier for a 1-die block and get him down, then I dodged away, to cover the ball where he'd have to blitz me off it, but I fail the dodge, fail the reroll and go down, stunning myself.  Yikes.

On the bright side, the Yeti takes another swing at my Troll and they both go down, relying on his combo, the Yeti accepts this, but doesn't break the Troll's armor, but the Troll breaks his, and knocks him out! I'll take my moral victories where I can.

The catcher recovers the dropped ball and tries to make his way through the Orcs.

Turn 5 a werewolf injures a Black Orc and his ball carrier makes a break for it.

I'm having none of it, so I blitz the norse ball carrier, manage to stun him.

Boris da Spider, the Goblin then grabs the ball and heads back to the Troll.  The Troll grabs him by his shirt, decides he's not got enough meat on his bones to make a decent meal, and flings him upfield.  The Goblin sticks the landing and is fine.  Time's running out, but this is my chance to score next turn. A slim hope.

The Goblin get's blitzed, stunned and there's no more time to score.

The game ends 0-1.

MVP went to the Orc Blitzer, Happy Jack.

I think I only managed to break armor three or four times this game.  Pretty poor showing for a 'Bash' team ;)
I had never considered Mighty Blow as a worthwhile skill in a tournament skill package, except where combined with claw, but the Norse showed how useful it is.  That is the thing about a team like Norse: the basic skills are already covered with all that block, so they can make more from their skill selection than some other teams.  Norse does look like a very fun team to play.

Fear the signs that the Norse are coming!