Subject: P: Allies and stuff

Hello one and all,

Well, I'm back once again. << Horrified screams and groans can be heard
world-wide from those who thought I'd gone for good! >> Sorry for the
enforced sabbatical, all I can say is "damn that Chaos Codex!" (at last
count it was over 140 pages and still growing - aaaaargh!). Fortunately,
I've more or less been able to clear my desk of the beast, and I've spent
this weekend catching up on the last week or two's BB digests, so hopefully
I'm back up to speed.

Anyway, from the posts I've seen it would appear that it's the new ally
rules and the IGMEOY rule (gotta _love_ that abbreviation!) that are
causing the most grief, at least to the BB list. Here at the Studio the
biggest complaints I've had have been about the Really Stupid negative
skill rules, especially the fact that those poor old Trolls only get to
move at the end of the turn. I have to admit I was rather pleased to hear
people saying things like "there's hardly any point having a troll on the
team", etc, but in the end I relented and there is a slightly toned tone
version of the really stupid skill below, which we'll be using from now on.

As for the IGMEOY rule, although it's brutal, I have to say I like it a lot
just the way it is, and although it is obviously causing some frustration
to the more murderous coaches that are around, I'm keeping it just the way
it is in the Studio league, so there!

The use of allies is clearly a far more thorny problem, and although we've
not had much trouble with them in the Studio league, they obviously have
potential for rather, erm, cheesy uses, as several of you have already
pointed out. I've therefore come up with a couple of suggested changes,
which I'd be interested to hear your comments on. Giving credit where due I
should say that these have been heavily influenced by stuff sent to the
list by James Jamieson and Chet Zeshonski, both of whom have  come up with
some _really_ sensible ideas which I've cheerfully stolen for my own use!

REVISED ALLY RULES

1.) Only Linemen, Big Guys and 'secret weapon' star players (see below) may
be hired as allies.

2.) Every Ally causes the loss of Fan Factor. There are two exceptions:

    - Big Guys do NOT cause a loss in Fan Factor, because most fans love to
      see such players on the field.

    - Chaos teams do not lose Fan Factor factors for allies.

3.) You are not allowed to buy allies when you create a team. Every team
must play at least one game with a starting line-up in order to 'prove'
themselves before they can purchase any allies for the team.

4.) If you're using the new ally rules then you can't have Star Players,
except for stars that use 'secret weapons' (i.e. Fanatic,  Bombardier, Ball
& Chain, Chainsaw, Death-Roller, Assassin). Any secret weapon hired as an
ally costs FF and may result in the loss of rerolls as normal. No team can
have more than one secret weapon.

5.) Finally, please note that a D6 must be rolled for each and _every_ ally
in a team, and you lose a reroll for each dice that comes up with a '1'. If
you don't have enough rerolls to lose, then the opposing team gains rerolls
instead. There are no exceptions!

REVISED BONEHEAD AND REALLY STUPID RULE

These guys no longer _have_ to move last. However, if they fail a 'bonehead
test' or 'stupidity roll', then it causes a turnover!

MANDATORY SKILLS

Finally a rules clarfication about the use of skills in general. You never
*have* to use a skill, just because the player's got it. However, unless a
coach says otherwise it's assumed a skill will be used, and if you don't
want to use a skill you must say so before rolling the dice for anything
that the skill may effect. Hope that clears up any misunderstandings.

Jervis



*Disclaimer* This stuff is just our own opinions - it ain't official until
it's in print!