List of interesting things to know about Skaven:

1. They have low armour and average strength. Unless they have rolled more ST+ then you have big guys.

2. If your average rat player happens to roll well on KO dice, good luck getting anything done.

3. One-turner gutter runners are well balanced and interesting players, adding skill and strategy to Blood Bowl.


Anyway, game went a lot better than I had anticipated. I say this because having looked at the matchup, I was expecting a 3-0, 4-1 blow-out, that thankfully didn't eventuate. My opponent was a little bit unfortunate with a couple of die rolls (critically timed 1rr1 on dodges and hand-offs), and while I did my best to utilise my supposedly greater strength and Guard access, it was really the ability to manoeuvre and good time management that landed me the draw.

The game started well enough with me taking the kick and knocking a couple of rats off the pitch within the first two or three turns. The Skaven wrapped around the flanks in response to my caging run towards one side-line, and were able to stall the push up by blocking down the troll and mino. Yes, you read that correctly.

Unfortunately for me, I had also lost a couple of players (one I think to a KO, the other being my newly ST-boosted marauder, who on account of his niggle promptly got punched in his fat head and will be sitting out next game. TV well-invested imo), and as a result, my cageing was half-arsed. I had lost players at the back of the cage and couldn't afford to screen completely, and as such made the dubious decision to expose the elf on one diagonal, to a single-tile block. The thinking was that with two Guard big guys on the adjacent tiles, he would be relatively safe. What I failed to account for was the amount of strength on Psych Lab's side, as the Troll was blocked down, and the ball sacked on a single die block.

Remember children: one die blocks - its what Hitler would have chosen.

Despite, this actually turned out rather well, with the ball not getting too far away from the scrum. I fireballed the offending rats, and repositioned to sack & recover. With the Skaven team starting to succumb to the sophisticated Blood Bowl strategy of "hit them until they fall down", the ball was screened-off and eventually handed over to the elf for a TD on turn eight (and a level up for him, finally).

So the rats have one turn left. And the star runner walks it in for an equaliser. The funny thing was though, that I had gotten a blitz on the kick. If I had deployed my staggered line within range of the LOS, the blitz would have very likely meant me being able to take the rat in question out. Oh well, live and learn.

Second half began at 1-1. The rats pour into space created by a couple of my players going out early. My opponent, in trying to level up a runner, fails a catch, and gives up a few turns on mad ball-scrambling. This was lucky, as it meant that even though I was now 1-2 down, I had five or so turns to generate at least an equaliser. Psychologically, I think, this takes some of the pressure off, as I kinda knew that I was unlikely to secure a win at this point, but at least had control over the game and could drag out a draw.

I take the kick again, and the rats get a blitz of their own. Gutter runners get in and under the ball, and despite throwing six dice at it, I can't knock the damned rat down. Luckily, he fails a dodge and KOs himself out, coughing up the ball. The remainder of the game plays out in a relatively predictable fashion; we trade blows and lose players at a similar rate, but with enough of his fodder off the pitch, my guys are finally able to screen the ball in a manner reminiscent of the first half, and equalise on 8/8, ending the match at 2-2.

This puts me at 1/2/1 and squarely in the middle of the table with 9 points. The upshot is that with only three more games left to play, two of which I should be able to win. The one remaining game is going to be a rough one, against Erickan's Intoxicating Mayhem, and I will definitely need to have a solid gameplan before we line up.



So what are some of the things that came out of this game.

Well, the first thing I think, was the role played by Lewdgrip Whiparm whom I hired for this game. So afar, I've not been particularly impressed with Pact star players (apart from the chainsaw. But its a chainsaw so you can't exactly go wrong there). Oddly enough though, Whippy played a pretty good game - much like DE assassins, his Tentacles drew an inordinate amount of attention, especially when I managed to park him next to the occasional gutter runner.

His passing skills didn't play into it at all (even though I perhaps should have tried, if only for the threat - however little that may be against the vastly quicker Skaven), but the threat of tying up a player drew a few blitzes, and arguably bought me some time.

Secondly, I think its very important to try to get into the head of your opponent. I'm not sure, but I suspect that my opposite this game didn't realise that I would be playing for a draw. I think that maybe had he withdrawn a little bit in the second half and not committed so strongly into my players, he may have been able to hold out for a 2-1, or even a possible turn-over 3-1.

But, because he went so hard out at getting the ball, the low AV and lots of die rolling eventually started to take its toll, and I was able to sneak back into the game.

Finally, one thing that this game has made particularly clear to me is the importance of initial offensive set-ups against fast and agile teams. For example, during the first half I had a quite a good potential drive set up. Key word being 'potential', because despite having a Guard and ST advantage overall, I was unable to utilise it properly. As a result players got out-positioned and out manoeuvred -> the cage suffered -> ball is controlled unsafely -> sack -> no chance of controlling the pitch and beating up rats.

So when deploying to take the kick, its important to understand (I think) that while a fast team might be able to commit a number of players to attack the ball, one needs to still maintain a well-spaced and thought-out front line in order to create, effectively, a pocket to fight from. Being able to balance defensive shepherds for the ball - perhaps 2x Guard marauders - while still maintaining a front and centre effectively L-shaped screen, is paramount.