BigMac
Joined: Dec 19, 2004
|
  Posted:
Apr 28, 2006 - 03:49 |
 
|
Blood Bowl is a strategy game. Those of you who realize that, may be interested to learn about how to counter fouling with strategy.
Everybody else get out of this topic.
1. Building your team
Skills: Side Step, Dodge, Dirty Player, Block, Mighty Blow
2. Picking your opponents
To make sure the game will be balanced, the most important thing is the opposing team's match record. If you are challenged by a team that has a record of 0-0-100, then it is most likely this team wasn't built to win and doesn't play to win either. In that case, there is no point accepting the challenge. If on the other hand your opponent shows a 100-0-0 match record, this team is surely playing to win. There is no reason to assume your opponent is abusing the system to only cause damage to your team while giving away the victory from turn one. Examples are of course exaggerated to illustrate the point. A 50% win record should be proof enough for a team to try their best to win.
3. Evaluating your opponent
Look out for +ST, the block and tackle skills. In order to foul you, the opposing team has to knock someone down first. Teams that combine high player strength and multiple dirty players are therefore best suited to the fouling strategy. As you can see, the block and dodge skills prevent your players from beeing fouled in the first place, so don't forget to check the opposing teams treasury it may give you a hint if a high ST star player might show up to generate targets for fouls. Analyze the development of opposing teams dirty players. A rookie lineman with nothing but the dirty player skill will obviously try to foul you a lot, since he's good for nothing else. A star lineman with dirty player, block, tackle and guard however is rather unlikely to foul you first thing in the game. As you know, chances for a player to be sent off increase dramatically after the first foul. So it is very unlikely for your opponent to use a valuable player for consecutive fouls.
Try to realize that while there is only one foul per turn, there can be up to 11 blocks thrown at your players. Dirty Player fouls give your opponent one quality armour/injury roll per turn. What you can do is to try to avoide that your players are beeing blocked at all. Take away the quantity of the armour/injury rolls against your team, and indeed force your opponent to foul you in order to inflict any damage at all. Most importanly scan for "Piling On". Most coaches have a top-blitzer and use him primarily, identify him and try your hardest to take him out early.
Get your own dirty player, and try to commit the first foul of any half at all cost. Try to target players with a high damage dealing potential, preferably rookie dirty players, frenzy blitzers, scary big guys or powerful blockers. But even if you do only get to foul a rookie lineman, your opponent beeing a man down early massively affects the remainder of the game and greatly improves your chances. Never ever foul back when your opponent fouls first though. The only exception to this is "get the ref". While your opponent cannot be sent off at all, your players can still be sent off on a roll of 6, but you got to take that chance. If your opponent get's the ref, do your best to knock his dirty player down and remove him from the play with a foul of your own. In addition, use "dead turns" at the end of each half to foul back, just make sure your opponent does not get to respond!
In order to prevent your opponent from using his dirty players, make sure to put them in tackle zones and knock them down whenever possible. By forcing your opponent to risk a dodge roll in order to take his foul action, you delay that action towards the end of his turn. That way you can force him to give up turns where he didn't manage to use his foul action before he suffered a turnover. Also most teams that rely on grinding suffer from low agility, which makes them likely to burn team rerolls while trying to dodge away in order to foul, or even cause a turnover by doing so.
7. Using your apothecary
Use your apothecary even if your player was just badly hurt if the casualty happens early in the game, and the injured player is important for your blitzing game. Your opponent will be tempted to commit additional fouls (that are likely to get his dirty players sent off) just to get rid of your best blitzer. Getting rid of an opposing dirty player will prevent more damage than healing one of your dead players in the long run. In addition, loosing your top blitzer early leaves you virtually defenceless.
8. Your game plan
Everytime you score you have to put three players on the line of scrimmage for the opposing teams blockers to showcase their skills. So try not to score more touchdowns than necessary to win the game. If you put the game out of reach for your opponents too early, you discourage them from trying to chase the ball, which exposes you a lot more to fouls with multiple assists. Try to understand that if you humiliate your opponents, they have every right to try to make your pay the price for running circles around their teams by pounding your players into the turf.
9. Chatting during the game
Never ever complain about beeing fouled. If you are willing to accept defeat, ask your opponent just once to please stop. A handful of elves can still win or tie a game, and your opponent knows that as well. You cannot seriously demmand for your Wardancer not to be fouled and then use him to prevent the decisive touchdown in your next turn. Whining and complaining are most of the time just pissing your opponents off, calling them names most certainly does. What you can do however is to try to trash talk your opponets into stupid consecutive fouls against tough players!
I hope some folks enjoyed reading this article, maybe some of that was new to you, maybe you already knew.
If anyone has something to add, or additional tips, fire away. |
Last edited by BigMac on %b %23, %2006 - %02:%Aug; edited 26 times in total |
|
Plorg
Joined: May 08, 2005
|
| Posted:
Apr 28, 2006 - 04:00 |
|
To avoid high-assist gang fouls, deploy your players in pairs or more (in each other's TZ) instead of spread out by themselves.
Having standing players next to your prone player reduces the possible number of assists on the armor roll,
which makes it more likely that the DP skill applies +2 to beat the armor roll instead of +2 to your injury
(effectively turning KOs into Cas). |
|
|
Laviak
Joined: Jul 19, 2004
|
| Posted:
Apr 28, 2006 - 04:43 |
|
Plenty of good suggestions there BigMac.
_____________
Something else to consider:
When you're developing a a team with access to agility skills (e.g. elves), take side-step early on. Players with side-step can position themselves out of harms way, even when they are knocked over. Often you can use this to keep from getting your better players gang-fouled.
Dodge is also useful, as it makes it more difficult to get knocked down, and they can't foul you if you don't fall down - unfortunately, dodge won't help you much at high ratings, as your opponent will be able to use tacklers to target your best players anyway.
_____________
Sometimes it can be good to lure your opponent into a gang-foul on one side of the pitch. While it may hurt, it is easy for them to over-commit, and make it really easy to score a TD, or even better, stall for a bit before scoring the TD. If you play it right (and your opponent doesn't), you may be able to corner a group of players near the sidelines, and start crowd-pushing for revenge 
_____________
PS: I think that this post should be moved into the user guide section of the forum. Contains some pretty useful information for people that are new to the concept of fouling (even if they are otherwise quite good at BB). Maybe if someone is so inclined, it could be formatted nicely, and added to the wiki too. |
_________________
We Fink Wer Orks
--------
Help save blood bowl, foul an elf today!. |
|
Plorg
Joined: May 08, 2005
|
| Posted:
Apr 28, 2006 - 04:58 |
|
Another tip:
If you are facing an AG 2 team with lots of DP (e.g. Khemri, Necro, Undead), consider hiring a wizard.
After they gang foul one of your players, you will have several low AG opposing players clustered next to each other for a fireball. |
|
|
Laviak
Joined: Jul 19, 2004
|
| Posted:
Apr 28, 2006 - 06:43 |
|
mmm, i've never done that one myself -- I always save the fireball to retrieve the ball from a tight spot myself .. but i can see how it could work  |
|
|
Synn
Joined: Dec 13, 2004
|
| Posted:
Apr 28, 2006 - 06:50 |
|
You guys are seriously dead on in a lot of aspects.......
Using your own guys for canceling foul assists is a sound tactic. Just beware of teams that use chainpushing to take out entire segments of your line.
__Synn |
|
|
Flynn
Joined: Aug 02, 2003
|
| Posted:
Apr 28, 2006 - 07:07 |
|
i agree with synn
a lot of this is really sound advice and thats coming from now 2 foulers
and as to the match record, i have a dp elf team that has a winning record, because they play to win first
fouling elves is a very good strategy
perhaps not with the amount of dirty players that mine have but 3 or 4 dirty player linemen can make sure you have damage dealing potential late into the game, and it has ag 4 and sometimes block and side step (while i prefer side step to dodge in most cases anyways, it is far more useful for dirty players who are often attacked with the intent of a return foul, so having the positioning advantage can seriously hinder said malice) |
_________________
Proud to be a professor in Wuhan's Fouling Academy
Goodbye Cusi |
|
shadow46x2
Joined: Nov 22, 2003
|
| Posted:
Apr 28, 2006 - 07:19 |
|
i think there's something that needs to be tossed in here
dirty player is *NOT* a license to foul every action, just because you feel like fouling....
a fouler will foul just because
a *SMART* fouler will foul when he knows it's going to break armor and the skill is going to push to injury...just because you have someone who is capable of fouling with a vengance, doesn't mean you have to use it...the threat of having a DP on the field, is enough for some coaches to think about their tactics and what they're going to do...i can't count the amount of times i've had someone throw a foul against me, with no assists, just because it was convenient, and there was no other option....
want to be good at fouling like some of the coaches on fumbbl are known for?...learn when to foul, who to foul, and how to abuse it properly....if you settle for anything less than this, then you're really just punishing yourself.
--j |
_________________
| origami wrote: | | There is no god but Nuffle, and Shadow is his prophet. |
  |
|
heinz
Joined: Mar 24, 2004
|
| Posted:
Apr 28, 2006 - 07:45 |
|
Good post, I have comments on a few points:
| Quote: | | Consider using your apothecary on a badly hurt or seriously injured player if the casualty happened after an very early foul and the hit player is important for your blocking game. It takes away the sucess of the foul, tempting your opponent to commit followup fouls which are likely to get his dirty player sent off. Removing a dirty player may prevent way more damage than healing one of your players over the course of the whole game. |
I see the reason behind this argument, however if your star player was worth fouling the first time, he will be even more bootylicious with your apo gone. It all depends on numbers - if your oppo has plenty of reserves you'll be sorry you didnt hold you apo till a perm cas. And remember he can foul the same player next half too without the eye being on him.
| Quote: | | Get your own dirty player, and try to commit the first foul of any half at all cost. |
While this is logically sound too you should be aware that in an open environment as fumbbl this has a tendency to "rouse the dragon" - for some reason many coaches in ranked usually play 16 turns without a single foul - a coach of that type will probably see it as breaking the truce to some degree if you foul in turn 1 "without any tactical reason" (sic!). Just an observation I've made...of course again, if you're up in numbers starting a foul war will only be to your advantage. |
_________________
#fumbbl_academy - the old school alternative | #bloodlust - FUMBBL's first Vampire chat |
|
BigMac
Joined: Dec 19, 2004
|
| Posted:
Apr 28, 2006 - 08:05 |
|
On the Apothecary: Beeing a man down very early may lead to a cascade effect, especially if it was a Player like, say a Mighty Blow Wardancer whom you count on to knock some people out himself.
Using the Apothecary soon is a risky move, but unlike public belive it is not necessarily always the best move to save the Apothecary for a permanent injury.
On the first foul: When you play against a team with 2 or more dirty players, it would be naive to expect your opponent not to take advantage of the skills he picked. However, sadly you are right about the general feeling among FUMBBL coaches. Still, if you decide to play against a team that scares you, actively try to deal with them instead of complaining. |
Last edited by BigMac on %b %28, %2006 - %08:%Apr; edited 1 time in total |
|
heinz
Joined: Mar 24, 2004
|
| Posted:
Apr 28, 2006 - 08:10 |
|
| BigMac wrote: | On the Apothecary: Beeing a man down very early may lead to a cascade effect, especially if it was a Player like, say a Mighty Blow Wardancer whom you count on to knock some people out himself.
Using the Apothecary soon is a risky move, but unlike public belive it is not necessarily always the best move to save the Apothecary for a permanent injury.
|
In a tourney/cup game of some significance I'd certaintly consider using apo early on a key player even if on bh'ed. In ranked never, because my priorities are with team building. If you look at the game isolated of course a bh and a rip has the same impact. |
_________________
#fumbbl_academy - the old school alternative | #bloodlust - FUMBBL's first Vampire chat |
|
SideshowBob
Joined: Aug 02, 2003
|
| Posted:
Apr 28, 2006 - 08:18 |
|
Another nice tip for all you foulers out there:
If you have knocked over several players and you plan to foul, go for the one with the worst injury. If you for instance RIP or niggle a guy with an old niggle injury, chances are big that your opponent don't use his apoth on this guy. |
|
|
BigMac
Joined: Dec 19, 2004
|
| Posted:
Apr 28, 2006 - 08:18 |
|
in reply to heinz:
Not really.
If you accept the loss of, say, your own dirty player in turn one, you may have 4 dead after turn 16.
If you keep your own dirty player on the pitch by "wasting" the Apothecary, you may sucessfully remove the oppositions Dirty player during your own turn and end up with only one dead after turn 16.
In addition beeing a man down early will may lead to outnumbered, outbashed. Question is if you can manage to score fast enough to get a replacement in the game, or face a stalling drive. It's a tough choice, but personall i won't accept the loss of my top blitzer in turn one and be left virtually defenceless for 15 turns. |
|
|
Synn
Joined: Dec 13, 2004
|
| Posted:
Apr 28, 2006 - 08:33 |
|
This post is exactly why i hate the Shepard Fouling Post. Fouling is not a defenceless tactic. Losing you apothecary early is a bad call though as once an apoth drops, I am more likely to foul ANYONE just to clear the pitch. If i am trading a player for a guy on your team who happens to be in a bad position for me, it is worth it.
Just check the winning percentage of the coach. This tells you what to expect in terms of fouling. A coach with a crap record and 3 DPs is different from Slashy Fouler type teams (zons, norse, flings, gobbos, humies, elves).
By the way, all Darkies should get at least one DP..... If any tean is going to be fouling on fumbbl, it is Darkies. So in their fluff.
__Synn |
|
|
Jinxed
Joined: Jul 04, 2004
|
| Posted:
Apr 28, 2006 - 09:02 |
|
| Synn wrote: | This post is exactly why i hate the Shepard Fouling Post. Fouling is not a defenceless tactic. <snip>
__Synn |
I think that is not what Sheperd said. He points out why fouling is like camping. Sure you can defend against fouling. You can defend with sharp pine-apples vs tanks too. It is just a very hard thing to do. |
_________________
Nuffle sucks |
|
|
|
| |
145 League and Tourn...
Search
