Tuesday, September 05, 2006
The Blood Bowl pre-season continues. On Sunday, my opponent was my friend Logan, who put together an orc team (Da Tarrana Arr'Gotniks) to take on my humans (Romper Stompers). The dice were being especially cruel to both of us during our three-hour game (we're both still re-learning the rules, and I suspect our next game will be considerably shorter), and it ended up being a fairly close game.
As my fan factor was far higher than Logan's, I ended up getting a +2 FAME bonus for the game (8000 of my fans showed up versus 4000 of his fans), which ended up helping out in the middle of the second half when a cheering fans roll on the kickoff table netted me an extra reroll.
The weather was nice when we started off. Logan won the coin toss and chose to receive. A roll on the kickoff table showed changing weather, but the roll gave us nice weather (we had this happen twice more throughout the game). Unfortunately, my kick was terrible and I punted it right into the crowd. Logan handed it to one of his guys and we began.
Poor dice rolls right off the bat led us to using up almost all of our rerolls during the first two turns. It seemed like nobody could hold the ball for long, and our blocks were far too often ending up with the blockers themselves being knocked over. Rerolls weren't helping much.
The ball spent most of the first half on my side of the field, although it was rarely very far from the centre line. It was dropped several times and even bounced into the crowd a couple of times. As we neared the end of the half, it was still a scoreless game. Things turned around for Logan on his eighth turn when he managed to hand off the ball to one of his players and run a touchdown.
My eighth turn was rather useless. We set up for the kickoff. It landed in the crowd. I gave the ball to one of my catchers, who foolishly tried to run through a tackle zone and blew his dodge roll ... and his dodge reroll.
I kicked off at the start of the second half (another weather change that didn't change) and the ball once again flew off the into the crowd. The next few turns were pretty grueling, as our players pounded on each other until the orcs had cleared the line of scrimmage of humans and were able to make a run down the field to score another touchdown. I remarked that this touchdown had probably just won Logan the game, but I wasn't about to give up yet.
The next kickoff netted me a reroll because of cheering fans. I had used up a couple of rerolls already that half (I had four), and Logan had used all of his (he had three), so with an extra reroll on my side, I figured I'd be in a good position to tie the game up (although probaby not win). Considering the dice continued to be cruel to me, though, it was not to be.
It was the slowness of the orcs and a lucky break when the ball was dropped by Logan's thrower on his side of the pitch that got me my first and only touchdown of the game. One of my blitzers made a couple of good dodge rolls, plowed through to grab the ball and run as far as he could down the field (using up both go for its). Thankfully, he was too far away for the orcs to catch him before he could run a touchdown on the next turn.
The last kickoff of the game finally dropped the ball on the field itself, and Logan's throwers grabbed the ball. It was looking good for me that the throwers were down near Logan's endzone and I was able to push my blitzers all the way to try to do some damage. However, luck was not with me once again, and I wasn't able to actually knock the ball-carrying thrower down -- just push him. If I had knocked him, I figured a second touchdown would be a sure thing. Oh well.
Logan's thrower dodged away from my blitzers and made a long bomb down the field, which was dropped by the receiving player. Although I managed to get the ball again and start running back towards Logan's endzone, it just wasn't going to be enough. I was down to my last turn, and I didn't have enough time to run down the field.
Game over. Orcs win 2-1. It was a close, tense game. I'm looking forward to the rematch.
As my fan factor was far higher than Logan's, I ended up getting a +2 FAME bonus for the game (8000 of my fans showed up versus 4000 of his fans), which ended up helping out in the middle of the second half when a cheering fans roll on the kickoff table netted me an extra reroll.
The weather was nice when we started off. Logan won the coin toss and chose to receive. A roll on the kickoff table showed changing weather, but the roll gave us nice weather (we had this happen twice more throughout the game). Unfortunately, my kick was terrible and I punted it right into the crowd. Logan handed it to one of his guys and we began.
Poor dice rolls right off the bat led us to using up almost all of our rerolls during the first two turns. It seemed like nobody could hold the ball for long, and our blocks were far too often ending up with the blockers themselves being knocked over. Rerolls weren't helping much.
The ball spent most of the first half on my side of the field, although it was rarely very far from the centre line. It was dropped several times and even bounced into the crowd a couple of times. As we neared the end of the half, it was still a scoreless game. Things turned around for Logan on his eighth turn when he managed to hand off the ball to one of his players and run a touchdown.
My eighth turn was rather useless. We set up for the kickoff. It landed in the crowd. I gave the ball to one of my catchers, who foolishly tried to run through a tackle zone and blew his dodge roll ... and his dodge reroll.
I kicked off at the start of the second half (another weather change that didn't change) and the ball once again flew off the into the crowd. The next few turns were pretty grueling, as our players pounded on each other until the orcs had cleared the line of scrimmage of humans and were able to make a run down the field to score another touchdown. I remarked that this touchdown had probably just won Logan the game, but I wasn't about to give up yet.
The next kickoff netted me a reroll because of cheering fans. I had used up a couple of rerolls already that half (I had four), and Logan had used all of his (he had three), so with an extra reroll on my side, I figured I'd be in a good position to tie the game up (although probaby not win). Considering the dice continued to be cruel to me, though, it was not to be.
It was the slowness of the orcs and a lucky break when the ball was dropped by Logan's thrower on his side of the pitch that got me my first and only touchdown of the game. One of my blitzers made a couple of good dodge rolls, plowed through to grab the ball and run as far as he could down the field (using up both go for its). Thankfully, he was too far away for the orcs to catch him before he could run a touchdown on the next turn.
The last kickoff of the game finally dropped the ball on the field itself, and Logan's throwers grabbed the ball. It was looking good for me that the throwers were down near Logan's endzone and I was able to push my blitzers all the way to try to do some damage. However, luck was not with me once again, and I wasn't able to actually knock the ball-carrying thrower down -- just push him. If I had knocked him, I figured a second touchdown would be a sure thing. Oh well.
Logan's thrower dodged away from my blitzers and made a long bomb down the field, which was dropped by the receiving player. Although I managed to get the ball again and start running back towards Logan's endzone, it just wasn't going to be enough. I was down to my last turn, and I didn't have enough time to run down the field.
Game over. Orcs win 2-1. It was a close, tense game. I'm looking forward to the rematch.
// posted by Chris @ 11:32 AM 
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