This is the first in a series where I play 12 games with a team then give my impressions. Why a dozen games? Hopefully that will be enough to get the basics of how a team plays, but nowhere near enough to be called an expert. We start with humans because the common internet wisdom suggests new players should start with humans.

It took three tries to get a sustainable team. The first human team, Learning Verbs, managed a 1-1 tie against Orcs. However, a dead blitzer and agility busted thrower made me decide to retire the team and try again. The second team, Owlbears, lost 0-1 to Ogres. A dead lineman and another dead blitzer made me salty. The Owlbears were retired out of spite. After some thought, I went and calculated the odds of the casualty results. The luck had been bad, I felt bad, and I seriously considered quitting Blood Bowl after only two games.

Instead, I fully embraced the gambler's fallacy and decided to try one more time to make a human team, Noble's Physicists. Results with Nobel's Physicists have been much better. Some of it was better luck, some of it was better match-ups, and some of it was learning how to play Blood Bowl. Most of the games were close. If the bashing went well, the humans usually did well.

Nobel's Physicists

1. Underworld 2-0
   
2. High Elf 1-0
   
3. Dark Elf 2-1
   
4. Undead 1-0
   
5. Undead 0-2
   
6. Amazon 2-1
   
7. Necromantic 0-2
   
8. Norse 0-1
   
9. Dwarf 1-0
   
10. Goblin 2-1
    

By far the most difficult of these games was the 0-2 loss to the Undead. Unlike other losses, I got seriously outclassed by the opposing coach, Magicporncup, as well as getting the worse luck. This game convinced me that coaching skill makes a significant difference, and that I still have plenty of room for improvement.

Record with humans after one dozen games: 7/1/4

Lessons Learned

1. The ogre is not reliable. Sometimes it is better to leave him just standing around.
   
2. When everybody is ST 3, correctly calculating assists is more important.
   
3. Block is a good skill.
   

Assessment
The common wisdom is that humans are average focuses too much on the lineman and not enough on the blitzers and catchers. A typical lineup averages to about ST 3, AGI 3, and AV8 all of which are typical. However, MA 6.5 is decidedly above average for speed*. In the matches with fast/agile teams (like High Elves), the blitzers and catchers were able to keep up. Humans are also pretty good handling the ball with a fresh team having pass, sure hands, and catch.

Bottom line: humans are fast* and good at handling the ball.

Sal-utations


*Caveat: I have never played humans against wood elves or skaven so maybe they will be a bit slow in those match-ups.