4 Diamonds Cup 2019 - Blood Bowl AAR

This past weekend I drove out to Dillsburg, Pennsylvania to attend this year's 4 Diamond Cup tournament. It's a long-standing Blood Bowl event that raises money for the Penn State Children's Hospital! 

The event was held in a fire hall with plenty of space for the games, and the ticket price included a catered (and delicious) lunch.

And the prizes! Attendees could buy raffle tickets to try and win a variety of items. There were playmats and teams...

A really nice painted Lizardmen team, a fantastic looking dugout and a carved wooden box with the tournament's logo...

And a ton of miscellaneous items!

I ended up with a pint glass, a dice tray, and dice with logos for Keystone Kup 18 (looks like another central PA event that happened last year. I may need to keep an eye out for this year's event).

I decided to bring my Human team to the event. I've already played with the Chaos Dwarves and Slann, and I needed to play with the Humans and Orcs before moving on to other teams. And since I've already played with the Orcs in a league, I thought trying the humans out wouldn't be too bad.

In hindsight, well...

My first opponent was Ken and his Dwarves. It was a clash of older edition teams, and the Dwarves came away with a 1-0 win against my Humans. Ken ground out a goal in the first half, which I couldn't follow through to even get a tie.

As Ken pointed out, however, I was playing too conservatively and not using the Human's better speed against the Dwarves. He gave me some advice that I hoped I could use against Dwarf teams in the future.

However, my second game was against Jason, who had brought Pro Elves/Elven Union (depends on the age of the player). This was a rough game for the Humans, and even though I was knocking elves off the pitch left and right, the pointy-eared lads and ladies ended up with a 2-0 victory.

It's always impressive how elf teams and coaches are able to exploit mistakes with that AG 4, as Jason demonstrated with a pickup, hand off, pass and dodge that took the ball from one end of the pitch to the other.

With my expectations shattered, my final opponent was Ezzard and his Dwarf team! I was hoping to put some of my previous experience to good use. I managed to keep Ezzard from scoring in the first half, and scored myself halfway through the second. However, I wasn't able to keep the Dwarves from opening a line in my defense, which Ezzard was able to push through and clear a lane for a late second half score to tie the game 1-1.

So, two losses and a tie, which meant I ended up in 54th place out of 58 players. Not exactly a good first impression for the humans, and I expect they'll be gathering dust on my shelf for some time.

Unfortunately, while each of my opponents were fantastic both in and out of the games, some extenuating circumstances and the frustrations I was having with my coaching really got me in a bad mood, which affected my overall tournament experience. It's a shame, and I hope I didn't negatively affect my opponents' time too much.

On a more positive note, the event did raise for $6,500 in donations!

I'd definitely like to attend again next year and give a better accounting of myself.

Humans vs. Norse, Practice Game - Blood Bowl AAR

Since I'm planning to attend the 4 Diamonds Cup tournament in early May, I've been looking to get the cobwebs out of my Blood Bowl knowledge and get some experience with the team I'll be taking (Humans).

So Sam was kind enough to meet up with me for a practice game. It was also an opportunity for Sam to both get a better handle on Blood Bowl (having only played it once) and to use his excellently painted Norse team. 

With that, the Loch Rysk Warhawks arrived at Loki's Field to play against the Thor's Thunder!

The game started with the Thunder choosing to receive. Of course, some mushroom-and-mead fueled madman in the stands lobbed a rock at the visiting Warhawks and knocked out a Catcher. Somewhat worried, the Warhawks kicked high and the ball landed just short of the scrimmage, right in front of a Thunder player.

The Norse made for a quick drive up the side of the pitch with a loose formation, but couldn't stop the Warhawks from knocking the ball carrier down.

Undaunted, the Thunder launched a fierce counter attack, opened a hole and ran the ball in for an early score.

After both teams set back up, the Thunder kicked off, with the ball scattering off the pitch and handed to the Human's Thrower. The Warhawks moved up and tried to make an opening, while trying to avoid the rampaging Yhetee that had knocked down the opposing Ogre.

The Warhawks got a lucky break when the Ogre recovered from a single turn of being Bone-headed, blitzed the Yhetee and punched its lights out! This also opened a hole in the Norse line that the Warhawks' Catcher sprinted through. When the Thrower, however, tried to follow up, he got tripped up and went down hard.

Both teams scrambled for the ball, but the Warhawks recovered it first and sent it downfield to the waiting catcher, who moved to just outside the endzone. Feeling safe in their numerical advantage, the Warhawks took the opportunity to do some damage to the Norse before the end of the first half.

When the Thunder couldn't deal out any pain in return, the Warhawks scored at the end of the first half to tie up the score.

With the second half starting, the Norse found themselves down several players, with some unconscious and others dead.

The Warhawks were looking to knock out a few more players before pressing forward with the ball.

The Thunder coach, seeing his players getting knocked around, waved a few hand signals. The team took the hint and disengaged to a new line, waiting for the Warhawks to approach.

The Warhawks obliged on one side of the pitch, but the Ogre went Bone-headed again.

With the Ogre recovering its meagre wits, the Warhawks slammed into the Thunder defensive line, and finally made a move to hand the ball off to the Catcher and ready him for a run at the endzone.

However, in a move that had the Warhawks' coach chewing at his clipboard in anger, the players made a positioning mistake, which let the Thunder blitz the ball carrier, recover the ball, and sprint down the side of the pitch without any opposition!

The Warhawks managed to shove the ball carrier off the pitch (and their obliging fans beat the opposing player unconscious), but the ball landed nearly in the middle of the field - right where another Norse player could sneak through the Warhawks line and pick it up!

Scrambling to prevent a sudden loss in the last turn of the game, the Warhawks surrounded the Thunder player and stopped him from running the ball in. It all came down to a failed pass that scattered off the table and was thrown-in multiple times before finally landing back in the pitch just as the whistle was blown for the end of the second half.

The game ended in a tie, 1-1.

It was a close one, however! Had I waited maybe another turn, or better protected the Catcher, I probably would have had a chance to score and prevent Sam from scoring in a couple turns.

I do like my extra skill placement - two Guard Blitzers, a Tackle Blitzer, a Leader Thrower, and a Block Ogre. It meant that I had a decent armor threat with the Ogre, a 13-deep bench, and three re-rolls per half.

I'm not wholly confidant of my chances to win any game at the tournament, but at least I'll be able to scratch Humans off the list of teams that I have painted and need to play with (next will be Orcs, and then I'm free to get more teams!). 

Painting Update - Red Book of the Elf King, ADLG, Blood Bowl

Here's a look at what I've been working on since the last update. 

These are the six Thanes currently released for the Red Book of the Elf King. They're somewhat akin to the Warcasters and Warlocks of Warmachine/Hordes. They're powerful warriors capable of wading into a fight, while also having access to powerful spells. Each Thane has its own special rules and weapons, and tend towards either being better at close combat or spellcasting. 

A Circle of Companions accompany the Thane into battle, and a normal sized game of Red Book of the Elf King will see a Thane leading six units of Companions (made up of three elves each).

The stats and abilities of the Companions change depending on which Thane is leading the warband - some might be able to move and shoot their magic with a slight penalty, while others ignore Courage tests taken from magical attacks. It makes for a fun bit of variation.

I also completed a Tamil Indian army for ADLG, and ran it at a tournament (you can find the AARs on the blog).

It's a pretty simple force - lots of Medium Foot and Elephants, with some Mediocre Bowmen and Cavalry to round out the flanks. With poor command and no initiative, it really relies on marching forward and hoping the first round of combat goes well.

In its first tournament, I lost two games and won one. Hopefully I can get this force out on the table in the near future.

Recently I kickstarted a Blood Bowl team from Gaspez Arts. It's supposed to be a Slann team, but modelled after the Kislev that were added to the Blood Bowl video game (who wanted to add the Slann, but weren't allowed by Games Workshop. Thus, Fantasy Russian Acrobats). The miniatures are resin and the details are crisp. I'm looking forward to playing them soon.

As for what's coming up, I'm heading to Fall In! this weekend. I'll be taking part in a Warmaster Revolution tournament, as well as playing in a few other convention games. And there will probably be loot to show off as well.

Empire Cup 4 - Blood Bowl AAR

This past Saturday, I drove up to Long Beach Island to attend Empire Cup 4, my first Blood Bowl tournament. 

I decided to take my Chaos Dwarves, since I had used them in the recent league and had a decent grasp on how to run the team. Team had a 1.1 million gold budget to spend on their team, and then additional gold to spend on skills depending on their Tier. Since Chaos Dwarves were Tier 1, I had 60k to spend. I gave one Bull Centaur Break Tackle, and the other Block and Mighty Blow. I also took Zzharg Madeye for more ST and ball handling skills. 

My goal for the tournament was to at least get a touchdown against an experience opponent. Anything else was a bonus!

My Round 1 game was against Cary and his Goblins team. It had the full compliment of Goblin craziness - chainsaw, ball-and-chain, doom diver, 'ooligan, pogoer, and bombardier - along with a couple of Block Trolls.

However, a few lucky dice rolls (and not one, but three interceptions from the Bull Centaurs) meant that I was able to win the game, 3-0.

My Round 2 opponent was Ramsay and his Chaos Dwarves. We both realized that this was going to be a slow, methodical game. Ramsay had decided to drop the Bull Centaurs in favor of taking a Block and Claw skilled Minotaur. While I managed to foul it off the table, it was definitely the focus of my team for the first half.

While both Ramsay and I managed to score, an unfortunate double 1 when trying to Go For It with a Bull Centaur allowed Ramsay to run a hobgoblin in for a Turn 16 touchdown. The game was a loss, 1-2.

My round 3 opponent was Campbell and his Norse team.

Unfortunately, I made a few mistakes during this match - getting greedy with a 1 die block and reroll, for example - and the dice were against me. This was a bad game for the Immortals, with a lot of Dwarf casualties. I also had a Hail Mary pass from Zzhargh scatter off the pitch, when it could have been a tying result for the game. It ended up as a loss, 0-1.

I placed 7th out of 8 players, but was awarded Best Sportmanship. At least I accomplished my goal of getting a touchdown!

It was a fun time, and I enjoyed my first tournament. However, it definitely showed me that I'm not a fan of driving 2.5 to 3 hours each way to get to a day long event. I'm considering the two day event later this year, since that'll at least give me a day to recover.

Painting Update - Blood Bowl, Test of Honour, DBA

Recent changes in location have made painting a little more difficult, but I'm still trying!

I finished another Blood Bowl team - the Zharr-Angkor Immortals! These miniatures are from an Impact Miniature kickstarter that produced resin versions of Rolljordan Volmarian Dwarves and Necromantic teams.

I also finished the rest of my Test of Honour warband. Since I have a group to play with now, I shifted a group of archers from the other planned (and now unnecessary) warband into the one I'm using now. I also completed all the support commoners - the two sergeant types, a bannerman and a musician - and four samurai with a variety of weapons.

Another project that I finally wrapped up was an Ancient British army for DBA. This is the old Corvus Belli set that I picked up a couple years ago at Fire in the East (NJ Con). Since DBA is one of my 6x6 games for this year, I'm making an effort to get all of the armies I have for it painted. Their opponents are an Early Imperial Roman army from Rebel Minis.

Blood Bowl League, Post Season Analysis

The Blood Bowl league at Aetherstorm Gaming came to a close recently. So here's a look at the Zharr-Angkor Immortals, a Chaos Dwarf team, at the end of the season. 

The team ended with 9 wins, 2 draws, and 3 losses. It wasn't enough to score them the top spot, but enough to place them high in the league's standings.

The overall idea for each of the team's positionals are pretty obvious. The Chaos Dwarf Blockers took the brunt of the fighting, which was made easier thanks to judicious amounts of Mighty Blow and Guard (and one Claw, which was the first skill roll I made for the team!). The Bull Centaurs did most of the legwork, scoring touchdowns and dealing out the pain. And the Hobgoblins, while not spectacular, helped to add a little variety to the team with a more diverse range of skills.

I had fun with the Chaos Dwarves. They're a team that can developed into a really nasty bash team, but still have some vulnerabilties that other teams can exploit; chiefly, their lack of ball handling skills and the squishy Hobgoblins.

I'll be moving on to another team for whatever league I participate in next; maybe Undead, or Underworld for a real change-up.

Chaos Dwarves vs. Skaven, League Game - Blood Bowl AAR

This game was against Anthony and his Skaven. 

Having won the toss off, Anthony elected to kick and set the ball deep into the Dwarves' half using his Kick Linerat.

However, the Sure Hands Hobgoblin was able to pass the ball to a Bull Centaur, who blasted past the rats for a touchdown.

The team set up and the Dwarves kicked, managing to get a Blitz.

Anthony managed to exploit my overaggressive play, but couldn't get far enough before his ball carrier was swamp and stalled. The Dwarves managed to regain possession of the ball as the half ended.

With the start of the second half, the Dwarves kicked off against a severely reduced Skaven team (which was already fielding a journeyman to cover for a couple missing players).

A failed dodge by a Linerat meant that the ball was exposed.

The Dwarves managed to take advantage of the turnover and overpowered the outnumbered Skaven as another touchdown was scored by a Bull Centaur.

With only a few turns left (and only a few players left), the Skaven received the ball.

Anthony attempted an ambitious play that might have netted him a touchdown had it worked. Unfortunately, the gambit failed, and the game ended with only three rats left on the field and a 2-0 victory for the Immortals.

Chaos Dwarves vs. Orcs, League Game - Blood Bowl AAR

My opponent for this game was Mike and his Orc team.

After my beating from Bruce, the difference in team value between Mike's team and mine was so great that I was able to by Morg 'N' Thorg!

The teams set up, with Mike winning the toss and deciding to kick. The ball landed back in my endzone.

With a blizzard raging, my team basically fumbled the ball constantly. Neither Morg nor my Sure Hands Hobgoblin could pick the ball up from the pitch. Mike even managed to slip a few Orcs around my line and grabbed the ball. He was only stopped from scoring by Morg's blocking.

The teams set back up for the second half with the Dwarves kicking off.

In a surprise twist, I managed to not only get the ball out of the Orcs' hands, but then ran it in for a touchdown with a Bull Centaur!

With only a few more turns, the Dwarves kicked off again. A failed block with no rerolls left Mike's team in the lurch. Amazingly, I then managed to get an unskilled Hobgoblin past the Orc line and in possession of the ball. Mike attempted to block the Hobgoblin with the Orc Thrower. However, an Attacker Down resulted in not only a casualty, but a touchdown as well. I had somehow managed to win 2-0!

This was an insane game. By all rights, Mike's higher strength and Mighty Blow filled roster should have blasted apart my team. Sometimes the dice treat you well, and this was one of those games. I managed to pull through with only a single player missing the next game (with a Niggling Injury as well, but that's not so bad for a Dirty Player Hobgoblin), and another Chaos Dwarf picked up Mighty Blow.

Chaos Dwarves vs. Humans, League Game - Blood Bowl AAR

This was a game between my Chaos Dwarves and Bruce's Humans. With Bruce's star Thrower having died in a previous game, I was fairly certain my Dwarves could out-bash the humans. 

I won the toss off and elected to kick in the first half.

This turned out to be a mistake. A few surprise knockouts on my team left a gap wide open that Bruce exploited for an early touchdown.

We reset, and I was hoping to get a touchdown with the remaining turns left in the half. Unfortunately, we had rolled Pouring Rain for the game's weather, and my Sure Hands Hobgoblin never managed to pick the ball up.

I eventually forgot the ball and just tried to smash as much of Bruce's team as possible. Again, the dice weren't with me, and my Dwarves mostly pushed the opposing players around the pitch until the end of the first half.

The second half started with a rock thrown at my team, turning one of my Guard Dwarves into a casualty.

With the rain still pouring down, my team was unable to secure the ball.

Bruce managed to sneak through my diminished line, grabbed the ball, and scored another touchdown - after causing a casualty to my Mighty Blow Bull Centaur.

We set up once again, but the Chaos Dwarves couldn't force a gap through Bruce's line. Mired in the mud, the game ended with a 2-0 victory to Bruce's team.

This was a complete and utter defeat. I had not only lost the game, but the hits kept piling on: the two casualties rolled Missing Next Game, I lost a point of fan factor, no one gained enough SPP to gain any skills, and I ended up with a Major Incident on my Expensive Mistakes roll, losing half my treasury!

The Immortals will have to soldier on through the next match, hopefully without any more casualties.