So two days ago Never Date Before First Bite completed the Midnight Mayhem Tour, playing all of the 24 FUMBBL races to test their strength. Last game was more a celebration than a real one, a funny and close battle against the Flying Sammiches in which the halflings played very well and managed to get the tie. Thanks to coach Kam for it, it hasn't been easy to find some 'flings brave enough to play against us.

Now, after so many games played, I have some experience with vampires, 3 legends in the team and a good roster that looks ready for a major. I think I can share some considerations about vampires here:

- First thing first, thralls are meat and that's it. In the beginning we had some nice thralls, even a ST4 block/tackle one, but eventually all these good guys you can build and get fond of will die and you'll never waste the apo on them. So probably there's no use in keeping a 3 skills thrall and have a TV boast, better to fill the roster with beginners only to use them as food. A dirty player can be good, I guess, and some with guard if you get double skill rolls, even if these guys will last only some turns.

- Pro+hypnotic gaze is crucial. For bloodlust and hypno gaze, pro skill will make your day. A good combo of successful hypno+no bloodlust will let you blitz a ball carrier in almost any situation, recover the ball and have your chance. I used to underestimate pro, but now I think you should have at least two in the team. You save rerolls as well.

- The building up of vampires must be very careful. You can choose among so many skills to you don't wanna waste them making the wrong choice. The best thing is to build up different kind of vamps. I went for this with my 5 vamps:
1) A basher/guarder/pro hypnotizer
2) A fast MA7 blitzer
3) A dedicate ball carrier and passer with AG5, able to blitz his way through opponents with his tackle skill
4) A fast MA7 versatile supporter, able to hypnotize with pro, help team mates with guard+side step and even score.
5) A pure basher with mighty blow/piling on/jump up

- Bad dice: bad dice rolls affect vampires more than any other team IMO. That means that other teams can somehow deal with bad dice, but they turn vampire games in a disaster when they happen.

- Vampires on scrimmage: against non bashing teams, especially with few tackles, it may be a good idea to put blodger vampires with guard on scrimmage. You will save thrall's lives, being able to have more guys on pitch after the first set of blocks against you and the opponent will have to waste more guys trying to put the vampires down. Obviously there is always a risk of having a vampire out after 1st turn, so you wanna be careful and know the opponents you are facing.

Attack/defense strategy: patience should be a must with vampires. You can score fast in attack, especially with a good passer and two MA7 in the team, but what then? So against weak armor teams you better use turns to remove opponents from pitch while ball carrier is in a secure position, then score when you are sure of a numeric advantage in next drive. This can obviously result in waste of rerolls and bad dice, but it is worth a try IMO.In defense, patience as well: you wait for the chance to steal the ball with hypno, then if you manage it you can counter attack and score a painful TD in their attacking half.

When things go bad: some games are just a pain, I won't lie. You will find yourself with only 4 guys on pitch against Chaos clawpombers or all-guard orcs, wondering if it's better to run away or give fight against all the odds and praying for last turn to come as fast as possible. In that situation there is a rule: better to lose the game than the vamps. Run away, sacrifice thralls to protect the vampires, use the failed bloodlust to have your best guys out of the pitch, foul with vampires hoping to have them banned by the ref. Don't be stubborn, you don't wanna lose the vamps because you know how long it takes to build up good ones. And yes, some games I won with only 3 vamps on pitch. They are never game over, but be careful.

Play any race: before this tour I thought some matches against some races were impossible to win. Then I found out vampires can win against anyone. Don't be scared of Chaos or Orcs, remember that you have some unique sets of skills that can allow you to perform great actions, throw your thralls in the carnage and wait for an impossible TD or for that bastard blitzer to make a risky move, then smash him. Most games I have lost, as you can see, but I really feel more confident now.

Well, guess that's all. I think vampires are a really good race and hope to improve my record with them. NDBFB will probably join next major and play only few games against elite opponents until it, we still have two guys waiting to be legend.

See ya folks. Come supporting us on the pitch, and bring some tankards of blood. We're always thirsty.