Blood Bowl itP IV: Anything But A '1'

[Cheesegear]

What do you need the runner for? Your Blitzers (badly in need of skills anyway)

I guess for the same reason I do; Dark Elves need all the Block they can get. Their Biltzers go on the LoS to hold the line. Their valuable (90K) Block is too busy to pick up the ball, especially off of a deep kick. When the Runner gets blocked, you can always Dump-Off to a Blitzer, you'll get the 1 SPP for the Pass, and the Blitzer will end up scoring anyway.

[Gauntlet]

Game finished up in a 1-1 draw. My players cannot pass the ball, but the AG5 Line-elf was a hero at jumping into cages to blitz ball carriers and managed to keep the enemy busy enough to get a draw. The last turn of the match was my opponent going for a 3+ dodge (with Dodge) to score, failing, and I almost scored on my own turn 8, successfully dodging a Blitzer out of the scrum and onto the goal line, but failing to Long Bomb to him even with AG5.

- Blitzer #8 got a skill off the touchdown, and now has Mighty Blow.
- Blitzer #10 got a Niggling Injury and is probably going to get fired, but he's missing the next game anyway.
We forgot to roll for winnings and fan factor, so I don't know yet whether I can afford a replacement Blitzer and/or a Witch Elf.
Next match is against Nurgle.

Team is now:
Line Elf - AG3, Guard
Line Elf - Nothing
Line Elf - AG5
Line Elf - Block
Line Elf - Loner
Line Elf - Loner
Line Elf - Loner
Blitzer - Dodge, Guard
Blitzer - Mighty Blow
Blitzer - Nothing
Runner - Niggling Injury

With potential (depending on winnings) to hire a new blitzer/witchelf and either replace one of the journeymen or fire the runner.

[Silfir]

I guess for the same reason I do; Dark Elves need all the Block they can get. Their Biltzers go on the LoS to hold the line. Their valuable (90K) Block is too busy to pick up the ball, especially off of a deep kick. When the Runner gets blocked, you can always Dump-Off to a Blitzer, you'll get the 1 SPP for the Pass, and the Blitzer will end up scoring anyway.

Relying on Dump-Off to retain the ball, in my eyes, is just bad policy. It's a gamble whether you have unmarked pass recipients or not. It's doubly dubious if the already AV7 Runner is niggled as well; if you ever let him get hit, odds are very good he's just down and out for the rest of the match. I'd much rather have an AV8 Loner instead.

If there's something the Dark Elves don't have a shortage of, it's Block pieces. There are plenty to handle the LoS on offense even if one Blitzer decides to pick up the ball. Many coaches never hire a Runner and always use a Blitzer; Block is one of the desired skills on a ball carrier anyway.

Not Runners, but Witch Elves are the team's trump card. Without those, they'll feel a lot like edgy elves who can't pass, because they are.

[Wraith]

I guess for the same reason I do; Dark Elves need all the Block they can get.

I still don't understand why you need Runner, then. He (on Gauntlet's team) doesn't have Block, and it's not a restricted skill so you may as well have gone without and took your 4th Blitzer instead. Obviously it's too late now and he's better than a Loner Lineman, but I don't seem to grasp your logic.

Their Biltzers go on the LoS to hold the line. Their valuable (90K) Block is too busy to pick up the ball, especially off of a deep kick.

This is exactly the opposite of how I play Dark Elves. You really put your most valuable pieces on the LoS where your opponent gets a free hit on each of them twice per game? 75% chance of being knocked down really isn't that much better than 66% by the time your opponent has worked out his assists properly

Put LINEmen on the LINE. Dodge away if you can. Let them get beaten up if you must. Gloat as your Blitzers run amok and win the game for you.

...but failing to Long Bomb to him even with AG5.

Please refer to the thread's title.

But, well done all the same! On the bright side, Niggling on the Blitzer isn't as bad as it first sounds; he's got Block and shares the best AV on the team, so it probably won't come up all that often if you decide that you need to keep him for a game or two. At least it's not a Smashed Collar Bone or Fractured Skull.....

Relying on Dump-Off to retain the ball, in my eyes, is just bad policy.

Agreed. Again, please refer to the thread's title for reference; rolling ANY dice is a bad idea, when for the same price you can take a piece with Block and just say "No".

[EDIT] On an unrelated note, I am slightly Internet-Famous! ....Very slightly.
I managed to spin against cKnoor during his livestream, and got to play Chaos Dwarfs versus Khemri for the benefit of tens of viewers. It's definitely not one of my best teams in terms of build (Mino, 2 Centaur, 1RR at 1000TV) or skill, but I don't think that I humiliated myself either.

[Gauntlet]

I still don't understand why you need Runner, then. He (on Gauntlet's team) doesn't have Block, and it's not a restricted skill so you may as well have gone without and took your 4th Blitzer instead. Obviously it's too late now and he's better than a Loner Lineman, but I don't seem to grasp your logic.

I started with four blitzers, one runner, six linemen and two rerolls. After taking the Blitzers and two rerolls, I had 10k spare to either upgrade a line elf to a runner, or swap a blitzer for a witch elf. I figured dropping a Blitzer would be more problematic and when my AV7 player inevitably dies, I'd rather have seven linemen and four blitzers than eight and three.

[LCP]

This is exactly the opposite of how I play Dark Elves. You really put your most valuable pieces on the LoS where your opponent gets a free hit on each of them twice per game? 75% chance of being knocked down really isn't that much better than 66% by the time your opponent has worked out his assists properly

Put LINEmen on the LINE. Dodge away if you can. Let them get beaten up if you must. Gloat as your Blitzers run amok and win the game for you.

Words of truth.

If your opponent has a bash team, then anything you put on the LOS is getting flattened regardless. If they don't have a bash team, then the LOS is a distraction. Either way your Blitzers usually shouldn't be there.

[Wraith]

I started with four blitzers, one runner, six linemen and two rerolls.

Ah, okay - so you didn't need the Runner, he was just an added benefit. That's perfectly reasonable - I usually prefer to bank the 10k and get my Apothecary a little bit earlier, but there's also a huge advantage to getting the Runner earlier and starting to get him SPP before your opponents have got too much ahead of him.

[Gauntlet]

Ah, okay - so you didn't need the Runner, he was just an added benefit. That's perfectly reasonable - I usually prefer to bank the 10k and get my Apothecary a little bit earlier, but there's also a huge advantage to getting the Runner earlier and starting to get him SPP before your opponents have got too much ahead of him.

Yeah, my Runner got 10SPP in the first game I played, and proceeded to immediately get killed in the next game I played. At that point I had 80k on the dot and thought I'd give a Runner another shot (since she did so well in game one), who proceeded to get niggled immediately.

[Wraith]

Might be of interest to anyone with long memories/is an incredibly old git like me:

Games Workshops's Made-to-Order releases for April are a bunch of CLASSIC Blood Bowl teams; Chaos (with a Claw Warrior), Chaos Dwarfs (without Minotaur) Dark Elves (Assassin sold Separately) and what-used-to-be Limited Edition Trophies.

I've picked up the Dark Elves so that the Scaretoon Network can return to the table where they belong, and was tempted to get the Chorfs.... but the mark-up on Bull Centaurs is simply far too much and I had to pass. You can get newer, better models from Forgeworld for roughly the same price, and probably way less on an auction site. Hopefully there will be more teams released in the future; I'd like to see the Halflings and Goblins return, as they always had such lovely little models full of humour and personality.