Subj: [BBOWL-L]  P: Various bits and pieces (longish)

Hello All,

Well, although my own computer isn't hooked up to the net, it finally
dawned on me that I could put a copy of Eudora on it and then take home
some of the contents of our bulging mailbox to deal with at home. I've also
finally figured out how to paste quotes from the digests we receive into a
message, and after only three or four months on the net - who says I'm not
a fast learner! : ) Anyway, these two facts combined have resulted in the
following rambling reply to various points raised on the Blood Bowl list
over the last week or so.

However, before I get on to stuff from the list, I thought I'd let you know
that the Studio league is now properly back up an running, following a
prolonged hiatus as we tested Necromunda. We will, of course, be testing
out the new Big Guy rules. I've also banned the use of all Star Players
apart from those that have a secret weapon of some sort, so that the
coaches have to 'generate' their own stars using the normal rules (i.e by
playing games and earning star player points and skill rolls!). This was
pretty much the way we played when testing the 3rd edition rules, except
that Big Guys were allowed as Star Players back then, which won't be
allowed this time round. All of the other Stars were added in at the end of
the development of the game, mainly in order to expand the range of blister
packed Blood Bowl miniatures, and I can't say I have ever been all that
happy with the resulting effect on the way the game is played. So, if I
ever get to do another edition, I'd like to limit stars to players that are
uniquely one-off and require special rules, and force coaches to develop
their own 'Griff Oberwalds' (or the equivalent).

But enough of this idle banter, and on to the comments on the stuff I've
seen on the list...

MOVING THE TURN MARKER

I agree that players calling illegal procedure all the time, even when it
clearly isn't required, is extremely irritating, and so I'm going to use
the following suggestion put forward Alec Habig in the Studio league:

>A good cure for this would be to make calling IP like making a challenge in
>Scrabble.  If you call an IP, but it's not really one, then _YOU_ are socked
>with an IP for your next turn, just for being a weasel and trying to distract
>the ref.

However, rather than miss a turn, I'm going to say that the challenged team
gains a re-roll for each incorrect IP call made by the opposing coach. He
he he.

FINESSE TEAMS

On 29th Jan, Aaron C Thies worried that:

>Jervis has mentioned something about dropping the cost of some Elven skill
>players so they could start with "12 or 13 players." Big deal. What are they
>going to do in 3 games? In 5? In 10? Time will catch up with them; Orcs (even
>Humans) will slay them.

<< big snip >>

>Does this ever become a problem in the Studio League? I notice the Skaven
>and the Humans tend to win most of the Tournaments - how do the Skaven
>stay active long enough to do this?

Well, having Andy Chambers as their head coach helped the Skaven a lot! But
seriously, we've only really found that it is the _expensive_ finesse teams
that _can_ suffer badly from high casualty rates. I think that reducing the
cost of some of the players on these teams should quickly sort this out.
Not only will it mean that the teams starts with more players, but also
that any it loses will be easier to replace. I also rather like the idea of
using some form of the 'natural 12 rule' - of which, there is more below...

ACERAK'S QUESTIONS

Acerak raises many questions about the new Big Guy and Vampire rules:

>1.) JJ mentions that a team which used "Black Orc allies" would be able to
>    hire one Black Orc. This isn't to say that a team which was allowed Orcs
>    as Allies would be forced to choose whether to use Black Orc Allies, or
>    Orc Throwers, for example - would it? Or is a team which can use Orcish
>    Allies "limited" to 3 (Orc) Linemen, 1 Thrower, 1 Black Orc, and 1 Blitzer
?

Correct. The team is limited to 3 (Orc) Linemen, 1 Thrower, etc etc.

>2a.) Griff would count as "one of the (Human) team's normal allotment of four
>    Blitzers". Does this mean that a Human team could no longer carry 4 Human
>    Blitzers (@90K apiece) *AND* Griff Oberwald?

Correct.

>2b.) How do the new Allied rules affect team roster limits? Is a Human team
>    limited to 4 Catchers, no matter what race they may cull their Catchers
>    from? Or does this just apply to Star Players of that race? If this is
>    the case, does The Mighty Zug, "Star Blocker," count as a Human Blitzer?
>    Does Hakflem Skuttlespike, "Star Mutant," count as a Gutter Runner?

Allies don't count against the position limits of the team they join unless
they are of the same race as that team. With regard to Zug and Hakflem,
please use common sense to decide what position they count as playing in.

>3.) Stunties only count as a loss of '1/4 of a FF.' According to the rules (as
>    presented), a team which hires a Goblin ally and then a Dark Elf ally
>loses
>    a FF point (because the Dark Elf ally was chosen with another ally "alive
>    and kicking in the ranks"). If the same team were to hire the Dark Elf
>    first, then the Goblin (as '1 of 4') wouldn't necessitate the loss of 1 FF
.

I'd say that you'd lose the FF either way (i.e. all fractions should be
rounded up).

>4.) Presumably, one now needs to be able to hire Goblin allies to use Trolls
>    as Allies, since Trolls won't be a separate team, correct?

Correct.

>5.) Can Goblins use Orc allies? Can Wood Elves use High Elven allies? Or were
>    these reciprocities (Orcs can use Goblin Allies; High Elves can use Wood
>    Elves) intentionally left out?

I'm working on an new allies table and I'll post it to the list asap.

>6.) Vampires aren't on the Undead team roster; all well and good. However,
>    shouldn't Vampires, as Undead, be exempt from the loss-of-FF rule when
>    playing for an Undead team? I can hardly imagine some fan of the Champions
>    of Death going, "Geez, another dead player - I'm not rooting for these
>    stiffs any more!" Also, should Vampires on Undead teams really force a
>    loss-of-reroll roll at the star of each half?

I'd say yes to both questions (i.e. they do cause the team to lose FF and
you do have to roll for the loss of rerolls).

>7.) What are the guidelines for an Ally to force a loss-of-reroll roll at the
>    start of each half? If the player is missing the game due to a Niggling
>    Injury or a Serious Injury suffered in his last game, does the coach still
>    have to roll for him? If the player dies or becomes Badly Hurt or
>Seriously
>    Injured in the first half, does he need to be rolled for after halftime?

You always have to roll (the loss represents the disruption to training and
team spirit as much as anything else).

>8.) Wild Animal - what, exactly, is the drawback to this skill? In theory, a
>    Wild Animal could end up attacking one of his own players - but any tie
>    means that he can attack the opposition. The potential to let lone Rat
>    Ogres wander by themselves, occasionally springing "gift Blitzes" on the
>    other team, just seems a bit open to abuse.

The drawback is that you lose some control over the player, and that they
might end up trashing one of your own guys (which causes a turnover, by the
way, as one of your own players will have been knocked down in your own
turn!). This being said, I tend to agree that Wild Animal isn't much of a
negative skill, so I'm working on a new 'unimproved' version!

>9.) JJ says that Big Guys must earn "doubles the SPPs" to gain new skills, and
>    then quotes 11 SPPs as the first skill cut off (as opposed to 12, which is
>    double the usual 6). Should this really read: "It takes 11 SPPs for them
>    to gain their first skill, and they then progress from there"? Or should
>    the SPP list for Big Guys and Vampires become an unsightly
>12/22/52/102/etc?

This is simply 2x5=10, etc. In other words you double the number before the
break point, not the number after it.

>10.) Can Rat Ogres use doubles on skill rolls to gain Physical Abilities? What
>     about Minotaurs?

Yes to both questions.

>11.) Only 2 Trolls are allowed on a Goblin team? Why not 4, as per Skaven and
>     Chaos Dwarf teams?

Two seemed like a more sensible limit. I'm thinking or reducing Rat Ogres
and Bull Centaurs to two as well.

>12.) Does a new Vampire Lord gain a point of MA upon attaining that status? Ho
w
>     about a point of ST? AV? Or does he just lose his "Off For A Bite" Skill?
>     What if he's lost that skill already? Or is a Vampire team which
>loses its
>     original 'Lord just a helluva lot worse off?

You're just a helluva lot worse off!

>13.) Can Vampires and Vampire Lords use doubles on skill rolls to add +1 to
>     their ST or AV? Can they choose Claws or Razor Sharp Fangs on doubles?
>     (just curious;)

Not at present, but nice idea.

>14.) Can Vampire or Big Guy teams employ Wizards? And whoever heard of a
>     Minotaur Wizard, anyway?

Yes they can - and whoever said a wizard has to be of the ssame race as the
team they play for!

>15.) Do Undead players need double the SPPs to advance in skill level?

No.

NATURAL 12's

On Fri, 2 Feb Sigurd R. Garshol made the following suggestion, and I like
it so much I'm going to try it out in the Studio league:

>OK! Many people that play BBowl are opposed to that good ol' 'nat 12'.
>Here is a suggestion.
>
>Roll injuries as normal, counting all the bonuses etc, and consult the
>slightly modified table below:
>
>1-7:    Stunned (*DAMN*).
>8-9:    Knocked out. (*OK*)
>10-12:  An Injury (*HUURAH*)
>
>If you score 'An Injury' then roll a D6 (NO modifiers apply);
>1-3:    Badly Hurt
>4-5:    Seriously Injured
>6:      Dead, Dead, DEAD!
>
>This table evens out most of the logical errors that occur when bonuses
>for injury-rolls creep upto +2 or more. It makes the deaths a little less
>common.
>
>Sigurd G.
>Head Coach of the "Avengers of the Beyond"

Nice one Sigurd!

And that's all for now.

Have fun!

Jervis

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