Same here, feel I have the basics down now. Have yet to score a goal in my first 3 games, but have managed to really reduce the goals scored against me. It took me a while to get some of the most important actions from your team occur on the other player's turn! I'm learning how to do a better job of make walls of tackle zones as well as to better harrass receivers deep in my territory. I also learned the hard way, that if starting a new campaign I need to invest in more re-rolls. I'm also learning some team trends: Elves: Masters of Agility Skaven: Speedy Bastages Dwarves: Wobble but Don't Fall Down Orcs: Fighters, Not Players
So what was the key there? Lots of passing? Just being too slippery for them to knock you down? Sidenote: I just found out that if you pause in-match there is a little checkable toggle to enable the log which lets you see all of the behind the scene die rolls (not that you can use it to check your odds beforehand, but at least you'll have a better idea of what DID just happen).
I finally won a gane 1-0 humans vs orcs. Very proud of my "luck only" game. They fumbled around my five and my thrower picked it up and chucked it down the field to around their 20ish and my guy ran it in for a td. I just have to get the madden out of my mind and i think i can get better. Loving this game.
My guys were doing good for getting knocked around but I tried to rely on the dodge skill more and that worked. But I played against a team of dwarves today and I couldn't dodge anything and they destroyed me.
Pay attention to that little glass bubble in the bottom left corner. It'll show what kind of dice odds you will be facing. It's a bit arcane, and I'm still getting used to it, but it shows when it will be a one die block or a two dice block. If it's in red, that means your opponent will get to choose the result. So if you see two dice in red, that means you'll be rolling two dice and your opponent will choose which one is used etc. There's a lot to learn in this game. I watched a few games on YouTube of the tournament TotalBiscuit ran and even by the final they were still looking rules up, making mistakes, giving each other bad advice. All part of the game's charm really.
Ohhh, like the cursor in the PC game, I totally missed that! But, besides certain skills, aren't tackle dice just a straight ST comparison with the greater ST choosing the result? How do other adjacent team mates factor into the roll?
A question about the iap. When you buy let's say dwarves, it says you get all their teams. What does that mean?
When you throw a block at an opponent, for each teammate able to assist you get +1 (strength I think). Defenders can also have teammates add a +1 to their side too. I'm going to need to read the rulebook to get the specifcs of how that helps as regards number of dice thrown, and who gets to pick. Basically more strength good, less strength bad for now. When you go to throw a block, it shows which players on each side will add a +1 before you commit. The trick is trying to find the best order and placement to get these bonuses. If player is in a tackle zone, they cannot assist a nearby block unless they have learned the GUARD skill (which is something you really want for your bruisers you plan having on the front line). Sometimes you want to knockdown/pushback one of their support guys so that his tacklezones are removed, then hammer away with the bonuses. Then there are other skills like DAUNTLESS which (sometimes) lets someone negate the strength advantage of a bigger opponent. I'm playing the campaign as Orcs, lost 6/7 matches so far. Managed to throw away a chance of a draw in the final turn of a match against Skaven. Had the ball carrier one move away from a TD to tie the score, but I decide to punch some rats before making the move. Dumb, dumb move, but very in character for the Orcs. Poor win record, but no-one has died and 4 of my guys have hit level 2 so we're making upward progress. Put GUARD onto my Troll, as he's always in the front line. While it's tempting to have him throw the block, as the high strength means more chance of an injury, blocks should always be thrown by players with the BLOCK skill as they don't fall over on a "both down" result. My troll is there for support and and follow up attacks. A key thing to pay attention to is choosing the direction of pushbacks. If you can, you want to push them to a square where another player can also throw a block at them. Too many times I've pushed a guy back the wrong way and realised that I missed the chance for my neighbouring player to have a stomp too. Of course, other times I managed to push them into a position where they could add support against my next block attempt. Skaven are just ridiculously fast little buggers. If a gutter runner gets two squares past the centre, they're a danger for a one turn touchdown. So fast. I focus on trying to murder their throwers and gutter runners as a priority.
It means you get 7 famous AI teams for that race in the tournaments. The Dwarf Giants, Bugman's Best etc. Just a fancy name and a tweaked roster. One team might have an extra runner, another an extra blitzer, another might have maximum number of blockers and so on. I didn't even check before buying all the IAP teams, but in the basic game do you get the IAP teams as opponents? I can understand holding back the other teams as playable races, but if in the vanilla game you would only ever play against humans or Orcs I could see that being a little bit distasteful.
Played a pair of exhibition games as orcs and lost horribly but had fun. So I bought the wood elf team and started a campaign. I'm 3W 1L in the campaign and loving it. My loss also resulted in the death of my level 3 thrower/kicker/all-around-good-guy, which I was pissed about and shut the game down for the night. I think I've mastered the 'delay until the end of the half' tactics. Now I gotta learn to take the ball back!
I only have the base game myself, and although I can only play as Orcs or Humans, my opponents can still be any of the 6 initial races.
I see a lot of new to BB players here and that is great, this is one of my all time favorite games, and although I might change some things from the digital versions, overall I think it is a great way to play BB. One of my favorite things about the game is how each team plays very differently, and that is compounded by who you play against. Further, as you develop your team in league play, how you play it will vary greatly. I recommend you pick a team and really learn it. On the BB forums, you can find links to strategies/guides for all of the teams (including the ones not included right now, so you have to scroll through). http://forum.bloodbowl-game.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2402 Of all the teams, I would suggest Orcs as the easiest to really learn the game. They are strong out of the box and just get stronger as they level. Personally I prefer Chaos, but they are more of a sandbox team that start with very few skills, but are the most customizable. For a new player, it can be rough going at the start with a fresh Chaos team.
Reading through the manual (finally following my own advice), there are surprisingly few mechanics you need to learn. BLOCKING: If strengths are equal, roll one die. If one player is stronger, roll two dice and strongest player picks which is used. If one player is more than twice as strong, roll three dice and strongest player picks which is used. So strength is the most important thing for blocking success. If your players are not as strong as the opposing team, you can negate that advantage by adding in some support for your blocker. Need to take down a STR 5 Troll with your STR 3 human lineman? Get the human to take two mates along, and it's a one die block. AGILITY: The dice roll for dodging, picking up a ball, making a pass, all uses this stat. The die roll is easy to remember, because AG 1 would require a 6+, AG 2 requires a 5+, AG 4 requires a 3+ etc. There are some modifiers to remember, but generally they boil down to short passes being easier, long passes being harder, and being in enemy tackle zones is always bad. LEVELLING UP: The levels only go up to 6, so you're only going to get six extra skills or stat increases, and that's if they actually live long enough. Specialise, as you don't have the time or the life expectancy to make one player be a jack of all trades. If you've got a catcher, make them the best goddamn catcher they could ever be, don't waste putting block or mighty blow on them. Got a good thrower? Then give that catcher something like diving catch so dropped passes are less likely. Prefer a running game? Give the catcher skills that help it evade tackles, fend off block attempts, or leap over players in their way. You've got 11 players, you want each of them to be one-trick ponies and use each player to their individual strengths. You get a greatly reduced chance of a stat boost instead of a skill. If you get a chance for boosting STR on a fighty player, or AG on a runner, then you should take it over an extra skill as it will affect far more dice rolls. Skills are situational, stats are universal.
So with online multiplayer, I realize you can't advance rank except in matchmaking. However, I was wondering if anyone knew if you could still level your players through non-matchmaking challenges?
Great game. Async would make this a wonder to play. Anyone have any idea if they have any plans for that?
Ok so there is no assynchornous play. I was afraid of that. I don't think I have an hour at a time to commit to online multiplayer. The campaign is fun enough. I just wish I could win a game or even score. This is the hardest game ever but I am so committed. All I am thinking about is figuring out a good start for the orcs that I amtrying to run
