Goblins! Your worth as a BB coach and, dare I say, a functional member of society and ultimately a human being should be best appraised by how much and how well you employ them.

One quick tell of how good a Goblin coach is, can be the way they use their Chainsaw. If their saw blitzes in a manner by which a subsequent block from a fellow player on the (argh! still upright!) target of the saw is still possible... And then the saw is effortlessly screened safe from either a block or a blitz... It means you are in for a tough time against the green menace. Of course, there are times when the saw just sits right there alone in a field because they want you to blitz it. How to tell the difference? No clue.

Conversely, a Goblin coach can gauge their opponent's confidence and experience versus grots by the way they deal with being tagged by a Fanatic.

If your opponent reacts to it by dodging, you might be in for an easier ride than expected. If they just stand there, scheming to bring in one teeny tiny support for their player facing the Ball and Chain, then you can expect an end-of-turn uphill block, because that's almost always the correct path in terms of risk and reward.

Assuming a blodgeless fanatic and a vanilla human, your dodge results in 1/3 knockdown and turnover, 2/3 escape and repositioning. A 2-dice uphill block will be 1/4 removal of the fanatic, less than 1/3 knockdown and turnover, and less than 1/2 chance of pushing away the fanatic. And unless that fanatic is in homing missile mode, pushing them away is always good.

So, to all goblin coaches... Sometimes tagging opponents with your last B&C move is inevitable and rushing is often undesirable. But if you want to keep the flailing chap on the pitch, for the love of Nuffle make sure it's not possible to squeeze that support in. Particularly hard vs mobile guards. But if you are careful, that should only leave you at the mercy of those madmen that will close the turn with a *three dice uphill block* and their memorable 1/8 successes. That is, of course, way way more unlikely, close to impossible. But you don't want to be ever in the "find out" part of the script.

These are all but examples, Ball and Chain players can now appear almost in every team while still being something most coaches won't be very familiar with. The bottom line is, how we deal with uncommon skills and traits can tell a lot about our adaptability as coaches. I faced mass Gaze on tabletop a while back and my brain didn't adjust to the idea probably for the whole first half. And I'm the self-styled Vampire evangelist! What I'm trying to say is, always expect the unexpected and be prepared to rethink everything.

And don't base stuff with a lone fanatic.