Alright Boyz, 'ere we go... WAAAAAAGGGGHHH!!! (The Blood Bowl Impressions Thread)

[Calis]

Oops. Thanks for the info. Too late to save my WD's from getting Sure Hands, but I'll definitely go the route you mentioned next time. I think I might actually reroll this team because I'd like to try a little different approach. I went a more specialist approach with this one, going with....

2 Wardancers
2 Throwers
2 Catchers
1 Tree
4 Linemen

That took all my cash and so I was left without a reroll for quite a while, especially when you figure in the cost of replacements. I think I might retry with a more heavily linemen oriented team. Linemen seems to be really flexible and still have good stats, so I might drop the tree, and possibly both throwers to replace with linemen to save some cash. I thought about Linemen instead of Catchers as well, because they'd give you a little extra strength and are still very mobile.

I'd of course still add some of these positions later, but right now I'm noticing money is extremely tight for Elves and I'm hating the lack of rerolls. An Apothecary sure seems like it'd be nice also because of how pricey and fragile these guys are.

I'm going to have reroll syndrome with this game I can tell.

[PadresFan104]

Originally Posted by Atocep

Here's the official rulebook pdf. It actually makes a better manual than the one that comes with the game:

http://www.bloodbowlonline.com/LivingRulebook5.pdf

Thanks for that, it helped quite a bit for this BB Novice. My only wish is that this game played more like a board game in the Classic mode. I'd like to see the die rolls, etc so I could follow what was going on a bit better.

[Calis]

There's a little button in the bottom left like chat window that you can click on and that will show the die rolls with bonuses and what they were for.

It's not what you're looking for exactly I think, but it's something. I've been checking it out a little bit my last few matches to get a better idea of the bonuses/penalties.

[Eaglesfan27]

Really basic question: Is there somewhere special to go to level up characters or only a certain time you can do so? I have a few characters who I know have gotten a fair number of skill points but are still level 1.

[SirFozzie]

Here's the chart:

If you have players who need skill rolls it will say "Some of your players have level up pending"

0-5 SPP No Skills
6-15 1 Skills
16-30 2 Skills
31-50 3 Skills
51-75 4 Skills
76-175 5 Skills
176+ 6 Skills

[CleBrownsfan]

Are there any gameplay video of the game. I've never played this series before and would love to see what it is all about b4 I throw down $50...

[Eaglesfan27]

I absolutely hate the Skaven. Every time I face them, they manage to get a lucky bounce and just completely outrun my orcs.

[SirFozzie]

would anyone be interested in a Six to Eight team FOFC league?

[Axxon]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

would anyone be interested in a Six to Eight team FOFC league?

HOw would it work?

[Calis]

I'd definitely be interested. I still only have a rough idea what's going, but I think several of us are in the same boat.

[Eaglesfan27]

I'm a newbie, but I'd be interested if games were primarily on the weekend.

[SirFozzie]

Originally Posted by Axxon

HOw would it work?

I'd set up the league, you'd create MP teams, leave the public league, and apply to the league. I'm thinking about making it a 1 game-1 week thing.

If we have 8 teams, I'd probably set it up as follows

7 game "Season" (play each other once)
Top 4 make single-elimination finals.
100K bonus to the season Champion
50K Bonus to the season Runner up

[Warhammer]

Originally Posted by Calis

Oops. Thanks for the info. Too late to save my WD's from getting Sure Hands, but I'll definitely go the route you mentioned next time. I think I might actually reroll this team because I'd like to try a little different approach. I went a more specialist approach with this one, going with....

2 Wardancers
2 Throwers
2 Catchers
1 Tree
4 Linemen

That took all my cash and so I was left without a reroll for quite a while, especially when you figure in the cost of replacements. I think I might retry with a more heavily linemen oriented team. Linemen seems to be really flexible and still have good stats, so I might drop the tree, and possibly both throwers to replace with linemen to save some cash. I thought about Linemen instead of Catchers as well, because they'd give you a little extra strength and are still very mobile.

I'd of course still add some of these positions later, but right now I'm noticing money is extremely tight for Elves and I'm hating the lack of rerolls. An Apothecary sure seems like it'd be nice also because of how pricey and fragile these guys are.

I'm going to have reroll syndrome with this game I can tell.

Best build for a rookie WE team, 10 Lineelves 1 WD. The strength of the team later is ensuring that the lineelves have good skills. You save a ton more money in the long run focusing on levelling them up and adding specialists later. Otherwise your specialists wind up sucking all the SPPs.

[Axxon]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

I'm a newbie, but I'd be interested if games were primarily on the weekend.

Me too. Saturday night or sunday for the run.

[SirFozzie]

We'd use all the blitz rules EXCEPT real time.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

I absolutely hate the Skaven. Every time I face them, they manage to get a lucky bounce and just completely outrun my orcs.

Revenge is sweet. Just met them in the playoffs as they finished 1st and I finished 2nd during the tourney, this time they didn't dodge as well and we killed 4 of their players by the end of the match and knocked out 4 more. Needless to say, 11 on 3 made it easier to score

Oh yeah, the game has some fun achievements.

[SirFozzie]

FOFC Blood Bowl League Created - Front Office Football Central

League Created. 7 spots open

[Fidatelo]

I'd love to join the league but I'd rarely be able to meet up to play. I'll just have to watch and live vicariously through you guys.

As for the game, it just keeps getting better for me the more I play. I've created an Orc campaign and I managed to win the Clear Cup or whatever it was called. Now I'm a couple matches into a new cup and doing pretty well (a win and a draw). The only thing that drives me crazy is that I almost always get screwed on the cash award at the end of the game, regardless of whether I win or lose.

[Marc Vaughan]

I got the game last night - had a quick play on my laptop and got the settings to a level where it wasn't like sludge ..

Then tonight my eldest son and I started masterminding our campaign* - we're playing as humans (against my suggestion of being Orcs) and managed to throw away a victory tonight against a dwarvish team on the final turn ... grrr.

(the really really sad thing is I've played Blood Bowl a LOT as a kid and he'd never played before - BUT it was him who got us our touchdown and me who gave away the equaliser )

*When he was younger I'd read to him, now he's 9 and an avid reader in his own time we play computer games together for 30 mins before bed, normally something strategic - Battle for Wesnoth being the mainstay.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I couldn't hold off until July 1. After working for 16 hours straight, on a Sunday, I decided to reward myself and bought the game and downloaded it last night before going to bed.

I can't wait to fire it up.

Unfortunately, I don't think I can join the league as my schedule as all over the map.

[RendeR]

I'd be up for joiniong the league, but I worry that my computer being a tad slow to run teh game will cause problems for my opponents when we play?

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by Marc Vaughan

*When he was younger I'd read to him, now he's 9 and an avid reader in his own time we play computer games together for 30 mins before bed, normally something strategic - Battle for Wesnoth being the mainstay.

You are one cool Dad my friend, all I ever got was the three Bears.

[SirFozzie]

Originally Posted by RendeR

I'd be up for joiniong the league, but I worry that my computer being a tad slow to run teh game will cause problems for my opponents when we play?

If you can get the turn in in four minutes, I wouldn't see any problems

[Icy]

How long does usually take to play a game?

[Honolulu_Blue]

Has anyone been experiencing a lot of bugs/crashes with this game? A friend of a friend keeps reporting back that the game is nearly unplayable or that they shipped an "unfinished" product.

Is it really that rough?

[Atocep]

Zero crashes. Zero problems for me or any of the friends I play with.

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

Has anyone been experiencing a lot of bugs/crashes with this game? A friend of a friend keeps reporting back that the game is nearly unplayable or that they shipped an "unfinished" product.

Is it really that rough?

I haven't experienced a single crash, and i've probably put in nearly 20 hours into the game already. I HAVE had very occasional problems where I seem to lose the ability to give commands to my players...but that always has turned out to be because I've hit enter and unknowingly entered the chat dialog, or hit ctrl and been unknowingly in rotate-the-camera mode, or something similar.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

Has anyone been experiencing a lot of bugs/crashes with this game? A friend of a friend keeps reporting back that the game is nearly unplayable or that they shipped an "unfinished" product.

Is it really that rough?

Zero bugs and crashes. My only issue is the loading time is on the long side. Once the match starts it is very smooth.

[Calis]

No crashes here and I played the game WAY too much this weekend. I can't really even think of a bug I ran into.

The loading is a bit long, but not often so can't complain. Sounds like maybe a hardware issue or conflict on his part.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Thanks for the responses, fellas. That was my impression from reading this thread as well.

[Calis]

Looks like there is a patch out. It just made me download it. Not seeing any release notes or anything, but there was something about it speeding up for certain resolutions or something. This might be good news for the people who had troubles running the game speed-wise.

Just tried out Skaven for the first time as I thought I might give them a shot in the FOFC league since we didn't seem to have one yet. I don't think my skill level is there yet for taking these guys. I made a 4 Gutter Runner team and while it sure is fun having those offensive options it's tough going. A lot of casualties, tough time defending, and maybe I was just unlucky but I had a tough time picking up the ball or completing even short passes.

I can see the damage a Runner to Runner hand-off could do though. That'd be nasty.

Fun team though, I'd like to learn them better.

[Axxon]

Originally Posted by Calis

Looks like there is a patch out. It just made me download it. Not seeing any release notes or anything, but there was something about it speeding up for certain resolutions or something. This might be good news for the people who had troubles running the game speed-wise.

Just tried out Skaven for the first time as I thought I might give them a shot in the FOFC league since we didn't seem to have one yet. I don't think my skill level is there yet for taking these guys. I made a 4 Gutter Runner team and while it sure is fun having those offensive options it's tough going. A lot of casualties, tough time defending, and maybe I was just unlucky but I had a tough time picking up the ball or completing even short passes.

I can see the damage a Runner to Runner hand-off could do though. That'd be nasty.

Fun team though, I'd like to learn them better.

I think Chinaski is Skaven.

[chinaski]

Originally Posted by Axxon

I think Chinaski is Skaven.

Yup yup. Really liking Skaven so far, pretty tough learning curve for a newbie Blood Bowl player, but fun none the less. High risk, high reward is what im gathering.

[Atocep]

Just finished a game against someone using Wood Elves and all I can say is Wardancers can pull off the most ridiculous shit you'll ever see.

From now on I'm killing every damn one I see.

[thesloppy]

I've been playing a human campaign for maybe near a couple dozen games so far, and have been doing relatively well, but even after all those games I still hadn't faced a skink team, and upon meeting one in a playoff, they really threw me for a loop and put a kink into the strategy I had been developing the dwarves, orcs and rats. I haven't even sniffed a wood-elf team, and the scattered comments about them being speedy and advanced, are beginning to scare me.

[SirFozzie]

Originally Posted by Atocep

Just finished a game against someone using Wood Elves and all I can say is Wardancers can pull off the most ridiculous shit you'll ever see.

From now on I'm killing every damn one I see.

Welcome to the Wardancer hate club.

Why? I've run into the following Wardancer.

+AG/Strip Ball

Would you like to try to deal with a Wardancer that can leap on a roll of 2+, and who if he gets a pushback against your ball carrier, will make him drop the ball? (Unless he has sure hands).

Hate HATE HATE them.

That's why I took em, to try to get past my hate.

[SirFozzie]

Originally Posted by thesloppy

I've been playing a human campaign for maybe near a couple dozen games so far, and have been doing relatively well, but even after all those games I still hadn't faced a skink team, and upon meeting one in a playoff, they really threw me for a loop and put a kink into the strategy I had been developing the dwarves, orcs and rats. I haven't even sniffed a wood-elf team, and the scattered comments about them being speedy and advanced, are beginning to scare me.

Every single player has 4 AG, so they can dodge out of there on a 2+ (if no extra TZ). If the dice are halfway decent you'll be chasing them all over the field all game

[Glengoyne]

I just got to the finals of a tournament with my humans. I had a two - one lead and the ball. Then I got sloppy. I lost four players in one turn to "bad injuries". I tried to consolidate, and then pick up the ball just to make it hard for them to score. I picked it up, and then thought..hey if I just dodge to that square I'll have a supporting blockers. Flat on the face...and into the infirmary, bad back. They took out two more players on the last turn...then picked up the ball and scored. They kicked off to me, and I only had four players left.

This game has overtime...I guess it is the finals ...so OK. I went for it. Got almost to the goal line with a couple of blitzes and a fancy block or two. I failed my first go-for-it...I needed two. Oh and my tripped catcher was KOd. By the time they scored, I was down to two players. Luckilly one came too, and gave me a line of one blitzer and two catchers. The game ended with my two catchers KOd, and my blitzer with his back to the sideline facing an Ogre. I rolled two dice "you pick", and stunned the Ogre.

All in all I had one killed, five significant injuries(including a gouged eye and a back problem). All because I decided I could get a little bashy against another human team. Lesson learned.

[thesloppy]

I just finished an 8 team single elimination tourney that laid a real whooping on me. The first game was a war against an orc team that was constantly putting me on my back and ended regulation at 0-0 forcing an overtime that I squeaked out of 1-0. Next up a dwarf team that I'd faced before plenty of times and underestimated, figuring I'd put the stamp on 'em again, but that one ended regulation at 1-1, and ended up going into double overtime, which I had to play the entirety of fielding 6 vs 11. Not surprisingly I ended up losing. I also sustained eight casualties and a death in that game alone. Not a fun tournament.

[BYU 14]

Downloaded last night and I can't wait to get going with all these glowing reports. I hated the first incarnation of this on a computer, but it sounds like they got it right this time. Hopefully I will have some time tonight to play.

[Fidatelo]

Won my second tournament last night in my Orc campaign (classic mode). My favorite moment was playing against some Skaven fools and knocking 9 of them off the pitch in one march down the field (not just down, right off, either dead or KO'd). On the final kick-off of the game they had only 4 guys to send out on the field, it was awesome.

I'm starting to wonder if I want to re-roll though. I didn't realise initially that I could rename the players as they are purchased, and now I wish I could have given them more memorable names. I also think that Orcs might be a bit too good in this game, and since I'm on easy the combination might be a little less challenging than I want going forward, now that I've mostly figured out how to play. I'm also wondering what I might be missing out from the Blitz side of things... DAMN THIS GAME IS AWESOME!

[Calis]

Pretty sure you can rename the players anytime. If you go into your roster and double click or whatever it is to get the individual details screen you can click on the name and change it to whatever you want.

I do tend to agree about Orcs at least vs. the AI. I never had much of a problem using them and usually steamrolled whereas with other teams I've had some real tough games, but that might be because I play a riskier game with other teams.

I'm quickly finding out with Chaos that even picking up the ball is a risky play. I'm not entirely sure what their strength is yet but I've only played two games with them. Horns is a nice skill(+1 to Str when Blitzing) and I'm assuming there are some real nice mutation skills available. Its nice being able to get in close with all 11 guys and have a pretty decent chance of out muscling the other team but the lack of a ballhandler is rough.

Heh I actually enjoy ever race I've played so far which is surprising to me. I want to do campaigns with all them. I still haven't tried or even played against Lizards yet.

Out of curiousity I know that Dark Elves and Undead are two races being worked on. What are these two like? I'm assuming the DE are pretty similiar to WE so what's the difference? Are undead a slow bashy type?

Hope we see a consistent adding of new races through expansions or whatever.

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by Atocep

Zero crashes. Zero problems for me or any of the friends I play with.

No crashes but I need to drop EVERYTHING down to minimum to play without it being very unresponsive and I hate the loading time for the match (not particularly excited by 3d me - would be more than happy with a 2d view ) ...

Very pleased by the game overall - nice job

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by Calis

Out of curiousity I know that Dark Elves and Undead are two races being worked on. What are these two like? I'm assuming the DE are pretty similiar to WE so what's the difference? Are undead a slow bashy type?

I WANT Dark Elves - thats who I used to play as when I was a kid (and incidentally when you play me online be gentle - I'm relearning things and its a harsh lesson ) .... they're fantastic

If I remember right undead reanimate (so they can't be killed) and possibly also take the dead from the opposition to join their team? ... plus they had mummies or something silly who were their 'Ogre' equivalent .... can't remember exactly but they were definitely an 'acquired taste'.

[Fidatelo]

Originally Posted by Marc Vaughan

No crashes but I need to drop EVERYTHING down to minimum to play without it being very unresponsive and I hate the loading time for the match (not particularly excited by 3d me - would be more than happy with a 2d view ) ...

Very pleased by the game overall - nice job

I agree, 3d seems pretty meaningless in this type of game. I've also found that the game seems to run slower as I play more and more matches in a row without shutting it off. For example the first couple matches will run fine, but by the third things get a little less responsive. I don't think it's a memory issue, though, since I have 4GB and at most the game seems to use up around 1GB. It just seems like the CPU starts to spike up after a couple games (and it's only using one of my cores, so one will be running at like 45%+ and the other sitting idle... kind of annoying).

[Pumpy Tudors]

Originally Posted by Marc Vaughan

No crashes but I need to drop EVERYTHING down to minimum to play without it being very unresponsive and I hate the loading time for the match (not particularly excited by 3d me - would be more than happy with a 2d view ) ...

Very pleased by the game overall - nice job

I agree with this completely. The game is a lot of fun, but damn, they didn't need to make it so resource-intensive.

[SirFozzie]

Dark Elves are slightly slower then Wood Elves, but tougher.

Undead are a slow team, individually their players are fragile, but they will regenerate 50% of their injuries, so they're a long run team.

Here's their stat blocks (the # are Move/Strength/Agility/Armor)

Dark Elves

Linemen (0-16) 6 3 4 8 (70K)
Runners (0-2) 7 3 4 7 Dump-Off Pass (80K)
Assassins (0-2) 6 3 4 7 Shadowing, Stab (90K)
Blitzers (0-4) 7 3 4 8 Block (100K)
Witch Elves (0-2) 7 3 4 7 Frenzy, Dodge, Jump Up (110K)

Here's the Undead stat block

Skeletons (0-16) 5 3 2 7 Regeneration, Thick Skull (40K)
Zombies (0-16) 4 3 2 8 Regeneration (40K)
Ghouls (0-4) 7 3 3 7 Dodge (70K) <-- the only Undead player that doesn't regen
Wights (0-2) 6 3 3 8 Block, Regeneration (90K)
Mummies (0-2) 3 5 1 9 Mighty Blow, Regeneration (120K)

[Calis]

Thanks for posting that Foz! I do like the look of those DE stats. That's a team I think I'd enjoy.

Another question, is there weather? Seems like a given, did it just not make the cut into the game? Thinking a nice mud bowl would be nice for slowing those pesky elves down.

[SirFozzie]

The weather table I think has generally been neutered in the new edition.

[Fidatelo]

I just created a competition in Blitz mode... this looks way better! Multiple seasons, moving up and down in divisions, player aging, equipment... this is going to be awesome!

Time to learn how to play with my Wood Elves...