After finally completing a BBT run last season, I decided to really push and run 2 squads this time. I expected to be up against it to get the games in, but I ended up finishing them a month early. Here are my thoughts on the teams and what I may or may not have learned from them.
Squad 1 - Teams What I've Played before
Team 1 -
Beats So Sick - Nurgle - 8/3/4
While I haven't played nurgle that much this edition, it was certainly a team I played back before I took a break from the game. This team started off with some really lucky games, and scored a bunch of touchdowns, skilling the pestigors early. I doubt most nurgle teams have such an easy time early on. I don't know what I really learned specific to this team, though like all of the slower teams I played this season, I think they helped me practice disciplined positioning. I certainly like them a lot more than any of the other one point teams, so I imagine I'll be running them again in future BBT runs.
Team 2 -
Chaotic Bombs - Chaos Chosen - 6/6/3
Frankly, this team just feels like boring nurgle. Slow and starting skilless, I just don't really find them fun. It's good for fundamentals practice, I guess, but I feel like I get all of the enjoyment out of the game that I would out of Chaos by just playing nurgle. As before, I don't know that there is anything specific I learned from this team.
Team 3 -
Skinking Outside The Krox - Lizardmen - 10/4/1
Oh lizards, my beloved. My newest favorites that I will run in every BBT forever and in leagues forever. Last BBT taught me that I love lizards, and this BBT just caused that love to grow. Mostly it taught me that a +AG Skink is a drug that I can't get enough of. These guys almost took the lizard crown, but needed a tie and a win or better in the last 2 games. In the second to last game the team got absolutely demolished by Vampires, and were down to just 3 saurus on the field by the end. Even with that, they almost scored a tying touchdown, as a saurus succeeded on a 5+ dodge, into a 5+ pickup, into a 6+ pass, but the receiving saurus failed the 5+ catch that would have tied the game. But I still had a chance to tie the lead in the last game. However it was not to be, as all I needed to win the game was a push on a 3d (with reroll, but with loner) to win the game. But alas, the much likelier thing also did not succeed, and the chance at glory was lost. Now I must merely hope that I can somehow get a wild card entrance into the Steel Guantlet.
Honestly these guys were also just the recipients of a lot of positive variance, and likely should have had another loss or two in there somewhere. But there was negative variance elsewhere, in the end it probably evened out.
Team 4 -
To Reroll Is Human - Human - 6/5/4
Oh boy, this team was the worst I have performed with humans in BB2020 by far. To be honest I think they were the major recipients of the negative variance balancing out the Lizards positive variance. There isn't much for me to learn from human specifically at this point (of course, playing with any team will give experience which helps with general practice knowledge), since I have played hundreds of games with them across editions. I still love them, but this team just felt like it was not able to get anywhere. It was not able to pump up its TV at all, and in game it performed worse than any other humans I've played this edition. I'll still almost certainly run more Humans in future BBTs
Squad 2 - Teams What I Haven't Played Before
Team 1 -
Believe In Your Elf - High Elf - 9/2/4
Well this team performed well in its games as far as winning went, but boy were they not able to keep a team fielded. I think it took until game 13 until they were even able to afford to have a bench. The star of the team was the lino who rolled random Tackle + Wrestle and then took dodge. A cheap piece that was a great sacker. I also got a +AG catcher, but it was too late in the run for me to get much experience with it. Frankly what I've learned from them is that I do indeed perform the best with teams with solid movement, but that I find elves, painfully boring. I played Woodies in the last BBT and that was my first time giving elves a real shot and I kinda feel the same about them too. I will play more elves in future BBTs, it's good to practice to understand them for when I face them, but I hate them. I want to play teams that are better at hitting. Of course my love of Lizards and humans also means I love fast teams, so my options for teams I really like is limited.
Team 2 -
Legion of Tomb - Khemri - 7/5/3
Before this run, Khemri was my least favorite team in the game. I hated facing them so much, so I figured, much like how I played elves to learn my enemy better, I would do the same with Khemri. And the result is... I'm not much of a fan of playing with them. I will give them credit that I think they teach positioning discipline better than just about any other team, and I didn't truly hate playing them like some other teams, but slow with terrible agility is just not what I want to be doing in blood bowl. I still don't like that the Khemri playstyle exists, but I hope I understand them better now.
Team 3 -
Renegades Brigade - Chaos Renegades - 7/3/5
Well, if there's one thing I hate using the most in this game its Big Guys with negatraits. But like with several other teams here, I played things outside my comfort zone to try to learn better. Well, no surprise here, the slow team with no skills and big guys were the least favorite team I've ever played with. Like Khemri I think they are actually good positioning practice, but you would have to pay me to get me to play renegades again.
Team 4 -
We Are Thralled To Eat You - Vampire - 6/3/6
This team felt like it was cursed starting out, but it's hard for me to tell if I just was hitting bad variance or if I just didn't know how to play vampires. I think its some of both. I think I got better with them as time went on. It was good to get some practice with them, I guess, but I really don't like the effect they have on the game. They just require such a mental load on the game whether I'm playing them or my opponent is. When I play a game a lot competitively, I like to learn to play it by instinct and vampires are terrible for that. Frankly I just don't think current vampires are fun thing to be in the game. I hope they get changed. This was the only team I did not play to a winning record, and I think it is significantly due to my lack of experience with them. I may still play them again in the future from a "know thy enemy" perspective, but I won't enjoy it if I do.
And those are the teams. I have to pray that I can get a wildcard slot in the Gauntlet. I think these runs have helped me improve at the game. I should play more slow teams in the future so that I can't get away with bad positioning. I'm frankly not sure what to do now, I built a 3rd BBT squad, but with the holidays coming up I'm not sure I'll be able to finish it. But my goal is to practice and become better, so it can only help I suppose.
If anyone read through all of this rambling, thank you. And if you have any advice on how I can improve, I'd be glad to hear it. My goal is to eventually become actually good at this game, and I'm hoping these BBT games are pushing me towards that.
