After Game Four, I was exhausted. I am not one to wake in single-digit morning hours. So Saturday night was calm & relaxed and be ready for early Sunday morning for Game Five. I had already exceeded my goals for game play, which was "don't lose all the games". I not only won one, but with a tie that means two games not lost! Granted, not two wins, but two non-loses.. I'll take it.
CHAOS CUP 2013: GAME FIVE
Opponent: Huatl Hurdlers,Slann. Coached by Matthew
Slann! The frogs... fun! I have never played against Slann in a tournament before. I have always thought they looked like a very fun team. It's got to be the oddest play style in Blood Bowl, and though I own a painted Slann team I've never had the opportunity to use mine. Added bonus, as the team started setting up I could see they were gorgeous. It is so nice to play against a really nice looking team, it makes the whole experience much better.
It was an interesting team: 12 players: 4 catchers, the rest linefrogs. 3 of the catchers had Guard, one linefrog had Wrestle, the other had Wrestle & Strip Ball. I could see the threat right away: Catchers leaping on a 2+, so a guard or two is where they need, then leap in and take the ball from whoever is carrying it. Sneaky.
With all that leap, it would be very hard to defend against.
Pre-game:
I won +1 Fame, but lost the coin toss and he elected to kick... I usually prefer to kick..he's on to me! ;)
Turn 1 I knock out a Frog! Nice.
I decided the best line of attack is to actually attack. If I could inflict some damage on the crunchy frogs I might mitigate their leaping effectiveness. But I'd need to use my own Guards to surround my ball-carrier, to balance out any leaping guard frogs. Then be patient, slow and steady while I hurt frogs. That's the plan.
But then you know what they say about plans: Goats Plan and Huitzilopotchli Smiles.
Turn 2 Pretty fails his wild animal roll & does nothing. He does this often.
But the Frogs injure Ultra Vox! Uh-oh... that's not according to plan!
<Shakes fist> Damn You Huitzilopotchli !
It took me until Turn 3 just to cross the mid-line! These Frogs were proving tough to hurt and just did not give ground. Against most teams I might have felt alright about moving forward with less of a cage, but with these leapers I felt that was likely unwise. Still, with this kind of progress I'd never make it.
Pretty lends a hand, but the frogs stick to me with their sticky fingers and I can't shake them.
They do look pretty though.
Hoping to tie up those frogs on the right, I break to the center with the cage: it looks clearer over there.
Turn 6: It looks like it might be clear ahead!
What's this? It's raining Frogs!
These pesky Guarding, Leaping Strength 2 catchers popped in & sack Inxs!
On the plus side, I see I was right to fear that this could happen... on the downside: it happened.
Too bad they weren't injuries though.. so close!
Turn 7: Inxs gets wrestled down and the frogs steal the ball!
Desperate to remove these catchers, #8 Kajaa Googoo fouled one and Knocked him out! That makes 4.. but Kajaa was ejected.
If he doesn't come back then great, but if he recovers from the knock out then not so worth it.
But Turn 8 right before the half ends the Frogs injure Pretty! Nooooo! Poor Pretty.
This is the first time he's been injured in the tournament. Most teams rightly identify him as no threat whatsoever with his propensity for failing wild animal rolls, but the frogs I determined must be poisonous: they touch you & you are injured.
Half ends 0-0
Of the four Frogs in the Knock Out box, two come back, so we're both at 10 players on the field.
The goats set about trying to stamp some frogs, but they just jump away.
Turn 3 the frogs injure Duran son of Duran! I haven't hurt one frog. I have the gentlest dice at the event.
Step on that frog! But he's impervious to damage.
Turn 4 Inxs blitzes the ball-carrying frog and puts him down! Though doesn't break armor...he Goes For It .. makes it.. snag the ball? 1 Re-roll? 1. Guess he needs a 4th arm!
Next turn he manages to get the ball...
Set up a makeshift thin defense... But they knock down Inxs, steal the ball, Go For It and score!
All too fast for the camera to catch it!
Score: 0-1
Turn 7: Just 2 turns to score I have to move the ball fast, I pick it up, hand off, but fail to receive it, and with no re-rolls that ends my chance to tie the game.
Game will end 1-0 In Favor of the Hurdling Frogs.
I think I had a good plan, but the Frogs played an excellent game. Their ability to leap reliably made it very hard to defend against them, and with losing players but not taking Frogs off the pitch before they soon recovered, I just couldn't get the momentum I needed.
A very fun game, excellent opponent and great guy, with a beautiful team.. just can't ask for better conditions for a game.
I got not a single Star Player point in this game: No scoring, No Injuries, not even a completed hand off.
The Furs just didn't play a very good game, so it is hard to single out a player for an MVP.
But Inxs almost scored. He also prevented a Frog Touchdown.. at least for a couple turns before they took the ball back. So while not successful, he looked to be trying the hardest, so for that, Inxs is our MVP
Next is Game Six: the last game.
Enjoy!
(this seems appropriate...)
8 comments:
That was a nice looking team. You had a tough time of it with this one and once again, Pretty turned out to be pretty, but of no real good to you.
Sorry I missed the last few, but I've been sick and sleeping for almost 48 hours!
Those pesky jumping frogs...
Its nearly impossible to keep them away (remove "nearly" if they are having a good dice day), but you seemed to have done a pretty nice job (except for that last play, I mean).
About their armour, except for the catchers (which coaches tend to keep away from trouble), all the others have AV8 (like human lineman, or even beastmen), so they usually prove to be tough enough to give a good fighting challenge to most teams.
Those pesky jumping frogs!
;)
Anne: You missed the Furs'more successful games then ;) 48 hours of sick sleep sounds horrible..though I wouldn't mind shutting down for 48 hours, or 48 days...years ;)
I do like Pretty, he just takes more than 6 games to warm up is all.
Axt: yeah, armor 8 is pretty good, and I even got several knock outs, just couldn't crack that injury barrier.
Another great report and another tough team. Very nice it looked indeed!
Another nice write up, but a poor end result for you. Sorry for that. Though at least they were painted nicely while pounding on you eh? :)
Some games just feel uphill. What's next for our brave heroes?
FMB
I have enjoying your game reports.
I am beginning to think that your overall gaming karma means that since your team is painted so well and looks so good, to balance this in the game, your dice have to be bad... ;-)
What are the coloured disks for that some of the models have on their bases?
Simon: Thanks! His frogs were beautiful, a rare treat to play against such a nice looking team.
MrLee: Well, the poisonous frogs are often the prettiest ;)
FMB: Just one more game, then the last Chaos Cup post will be awards & overall thoughts.
Scott: thanks, glad you've enjoyed them :) Well, I'm pretty sure my obviously bad karma indicates in a past life I passed out small pox blankets or invented rap music.
the colored plastic rings are how some people mark out players who have had tournament skills given to them. I just write the skill on the front of the base, can always paint over it afterwards.
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