[BB] All or Nothing - A Season with the Uzkulak Earthshakers

[Jasko]

By some lucky stroke of fate, I have joined Season 2 of David Guymer’s Blood Bowl 2 league. There are 21 human players, featuring a couple more Black Library authors and GW employees, and three AI teams. First there is a round robin, afterwards the top, mid and bottom eight are entering knock-out rounds. That means a minimum of 24 games per person. I decided to enter with a Chaos Dwarf team, the mighty Uzkulak Earthshakers, so I hope this qualifies to post about it here I played my fourth game today, so have to recap the first games from memory.

For my 1000 gold coins I got the maximum of 6 Chaos Dwarf Blockers, 2 Bull Centaurs, 3 Hobgoblins and 2 Team-Rerolls, clocking in at a team value of 940. I should have gotten the Apothecary as well, but somehow decided to wait to maybe buy a third re-roll first. That was my first mistake.

Well, my first game was against one of the few teams (two, I think) who didn’t start fresh but entered with established teams. So I was up against a TV 1560 (or so) Orc team with Block on basically all players. Ouch. It did mean I had lots of petty cash to throw around though and enlisted Hthark the Unstoppable and could get two more team-rerolls. It was my first pvp match ever and I was quite nervous, to be honest. The Orcs decided to attack first and the random kick-off event saw one of my Chaos Dwarf Blockers out of the game with an injury! Before the very. first. snap. The Orcs scored on their opening drive, and in subsequent turns I killed an Orc (but the apothecary intervened) and had one of my Bull Centaurs get an injury and one of my Hobgoblins drop dead. It was a brutal game, and neither I nor my opponent could score again. At the end, I can live with an 0:1 against a heavily favoured team coached by an experienced player.

For my next match, my team value had dropped to 700, so I again had some petty cash. Again I was facing Orcs, but this time a rookie team as well. I did not buy any replacement player (but I got that Apothecary), meaning I got assigned three journeymen. I still had enough cash to get additional team re-rolls. The match was super close until the last second, when one of my sneaky Hobgoblins snatched the ball and hogged it close to my own end zone. It was quite the gambit, but I could secure my 1:0 lead for my first victory! My touchdown even saw a daring pass from one Hobgoblin to another, something I am particularly proud of.

None of my journeymen from the second game got any SSP, so I saw no reason to buy any of them. My injured players from the first game returned, but I lost another Blocker in my second match. I bought another Hobgoblin and entered my third game against Lizardmen with another journeyman. Those Saurus are brutal, but overall it was a fair game, I think the Lizardmen only broke my armour once for a stun, no injuries. Unfortunately, I couldn’t really hurt him as well, resulting in a 1:1 tie. After my first three games I was 1:1:1 and had a complete team again. I was actually OK with that, but I only could upgrade one Hobgoblin so far. I don’t get enough SSP on my Blockers and Centaurs so far.

My fourth game was against Wood Elves. I had enough petty cash to spend to get a team-reroll and a Bloodwiser Babe. I had high hopes to finally get some SSP because of their weak armour, but they are just so fast and nimble (and I had some terrible dice rolls), I barely knocked some down. And I made the mistake to focus too much on the Treeman, I should have just tried to ignore it. Anyway, I scored on my first drive in the sixth down! Elevated by this success, I got cocky and tried to hit their Wardancer with a Bull Centaur, but of course he missed his re-rollable GFI on 2+ and stumbled. In the next down, the Wardancer had his vengeance and injured one of my Blockers. The Wood Elves were on the attack in the second half and scored pretty fast. On the next kickoff, a random event saw the Treeman stunned, which was great, but I could not stop that Wardancer. He tackled my ball-carrying Hobgoblin and a brawl for the ball ensued. With a little luck I ended up with it again, was able to build a cage around my Hobgoblin and, with one or two lucky dice-rolls, was actually able to score again in the seventh down! My kick-off was amazing and landed in their end zone, so I had no problems securing that win for a 2:1:1 record! I am actually pretty proud of that win

I now have 200 gold coins to spend and have to decide between a third re-roll or a Minotaur. I think I will be going for the Minotaur

[tjub]

Cool!
Playing without an Apoth more than necessary is either brave or stupid, Im not sure Id dare… At least Chaos Dwarfs is a stable enough team with mostly AV9 to take on Bash teams without, but Id defiantly get an Apoth before the Minotaur. Also you might consider Leader for a Hobgoblin as a “cheaper” ReRoll?

Anyway, great to follow you team. Would love a Roster to go with the reports as well.

[Jasko]

Oh I rectified that mistake with the Apothecary immediately after the first game
Thought about that leader skill, but I refuse to name a Hobgoblin the leader of my team! I have one on level 3 now, and he got sure hands and block. Hopefully I can give him dodge some time. I need reliable ballcarriers

[tjub]

Ah…
Havent played Chaos Dwarfs myself, but all Ive met has more or less went for the Bull Centaurs as ballcarriers.

[Jasko]

Oh they would make great ballcarriers, but they start at AG2 and need doubles to level up on agility skills. They need a lot of grooming to do that…

[Zoddtheimmortal]

I play cds quite a lot in bb2. They are really good against elves amazons etc. Hard at the start against high strength teams though. Orcs and lizardmen is a hard start. Once you get guard and claw suddenly its a much better match. Hobbos i like wrestle or dirty player or guard apart from a surehands gobbo ( vital). Bulls block and break tackle make a really good player out of them. Minotaurs help the strength deficit issue, but having to blitz with it to use it a fair amount of time is a pain. Cool to have though

[Uther.the.unhinged]

I do not play or understand Blood Bowl or it’s fantasy equivalent ‘American Football’. However, the game sound great fun.

Oh and you have to get a Minotaur…because you are worth it

[Jasko]

Oh yeah, I cannot wait to get guard on some Blockers. And block on the Bull Centaurs. So annoying otherwise.

[Jasko]

Here is my current roster before the next game. Still not 100% decided between a vital 3rd re-roll or that Minotaur. Have to check again who I am facing next in the league…

One of my biggest problems though is the lack of notable SPP on almost all my Blockers and Bull Centaurs.

[tjub]

Oh, with that roster Id go for some more bodies… I prefer at least one player on the bench, especially with Hobgoblins who can foul alot.

But good luck with the league, cool to see more BB players.

[Jasko]

Yes, next game I wouldn’t even have 11 players.
I checked - next up are Halflings! I have the higher TV, so he will get the master chef. That means, I can very well end up without re-rolls. But still, I think I need that Minotaur…

[Jasko]

Ouch! Ouch, ouch, ouch. Yesterday was a brutal game against a Halfling team and a sad day for the Uzkulak Earthshakers.
As announced, I enlisted a Minotaur prior to the game to have the minimum of 11 available players, given that one of my Chaos Dwarf Blockers was out with an injury. The Halfling had two Treemen and a bunch of Halflings. And he had enough petty cash to get the Halfling Chef, obviously.
It startet pretty bad, he took both my team re-rolls, having now 5 himself and leaving me with 0. This happened both halves. I started in defence and completely forgot what I said I would do after the game against the Wood Elves and again focussed way too much on the Treemen, those guys with their M2 and Take Root need to be ignored, not engaged, stupid Jasko! And they made me pay dearly, the very first block by a Treeman threw one of my Chaos Dwarf Blockers out with an injury (no long term effect). Next block by a Treeman outright killed another Chaos Dwarf Blocker! Luckily my apothecary could change that into a simple injury (misses next game). Overall I had horrible luck with the armour rolls throughout the game, a Hobgoblin went down with a KO and yet another Chaos Dwarf Blocker was injured and lost AV! So pretty soon I only had seven players on the field and no re-rolls. I only came close to a touchdown once, in the very last drive and was too far away from the end zone. One of my Blockers had the ball (lucky coincidence) and all I could try is hand it over to a Bull Centaur who then would have been able to make it with two GFIs. But with AG2 he missed the catch and that was it. The Halfling scored twice and I lost the game. Small bright side was levelling up with three players, but still, bad day.
Next game I should have four Blockers available, but the next thing I’ll buy is two more Hobgoblins, I need more bodies on the pitch.

[tjub]

Oh, sounds harsh! But I agree, never engage a Treeman with a Dwarf. Give them a hobgoblin with wrestle or something… If a Dwarf finds himself based by a Treeman, there is a saying around here “the grass dont have Mighty Blow”. So a Dodge might often be preferred as a last action, forcing the Treeman to activate again and rist to Take Root.
The Dwarfs should ideally be hunting 'flings.
A leader Hobgoblin would be a good way to keep atleast a ReRoll since the Chef cant steal them.

Other than that I hope you had a fun game atleast, but I cant lie. A 'fling win always warms my heart!

[Jasko]

Oh that is excellent advice, both that a failed dodge doesn’t have mighty blow and that a halfling chef cannot steal a leader re-roll, hadn’t considered either. I shall learn from this defeat, as one should.

[Jasko]

Another day on the grid iron for the Uzkulak Earthshakers. Today’s match was against a Choas team, weak manlings worshipping lesser Gods of the Pantheon. Still, even though I regard them only with righteous discontent, my team was severely weakened. I had two Blockers and a Bull Centaur on injured reserve. I enlisted two more Hobgoblins to field 11 players. Chaos warriors are legit, and even the Gors have S4 on the charge. He already had a lot of block skills in his team and a minotaur with guard. I used my 250k petty cash for two additional re-rolls (giving me 4) and a Bloodwiser Babe. I like to start playing defence and selected it.
It started out pretty good. My Minotaur delivered and caused injuries in the first and second turn. The dice were kind to me and I stole the ball and scored a touchdown in my sixth turn. I could hold him off for the rest of first half and got the ball for the second. He had only 10 players on the pitch at that point, but managed to keep his lines tight. It took me five turns to get maybe halfway down his side when I lost the ball. He did manage to recover the ball and try a pass, but the catcher fumbled. I could contain it there and won 1:0. Not a pretty victory but certainly a most welcome one.
My Minotaur and a Hobgoblin levelled up. I rolled a double with my Minotaur and was seriously considering Claw, but in the end gave him Block. It’s just too important and gives him a boost both on offence and defence. My Hobgoblin scored a 10 and could get a +1 agility. I’d say both a very good results.
I don’t know yet who my next opponent is, but for the first time in a while I will start a game with my full roster of 14 players

[Jasko]

Game day. The Uzkulak Earthshakers entered the game with a boost from their unexpected win against the weak manling followers of the pantheon and were facing another team of Lizardmen. I was soundly beaten during the whole game, no sense in sugarcoating anything here. In 16 turns, I carried the ball in their half for exactly one turn and lost the game 0:4. I made one or two bad decisions, but the dice really did the rest. And with only two re-rolls, I couldn’t cheat fate. Alas, none of my players will be on injured reserve for my next game, that’s a small concession. But I also only rolled a 1 for my earnings (meaning I am still 20k shy of getting that third re-roll) and a stupid Hobgoblin was MVP. And to make matters worse: My next game is against a Dwarf team which is 7-0 at this point (compared to my 3-3-1 record)

[GhraskDragh]

That sound exactly like the Blood Bowl games I remember
Carrying no injuries over is at least a pretty big deal and hey upsets can happen…maybe not against dwarfs in Blood Bowl but they can happen

[Jasko]

Nooooooo! I had him! I really did!
So nuffle was quite kind to me in the beginning. Pretty early, my Block-Minotaur re-rolled his one dice against the Deathroller, knocked him to the ground and he was KO! And two other Dwarfs. I could stop his offence but couldn’t score either. Second half I had the ball and scored on my fifth drive! He had four drives left. One of my Bull Centaurs was out with an injury, but I thought I would make it. But I made one stupid mistake in the end - positioning a Hobgoblin besides a Blocker instead of behind him, allowing him to get past my line in one turn. Well, two mistakes, because instead of risking a dodge roll with a Hobgoblin to tackle the ballcarrier, I decided to first set a couple of other, risky blocks to allow him to attack with dodging first. That decided the game and he scored for the 1:1 tie result. But I had him! So, so close. But I could finally afford that critical third re-roll.

[GhraskDragh]

Noooo!

Ah but you are also now the 1 on their 7-1-0 record

Sounds like an absolute nail biter with it all being so close…damn hobgoblins the thing I like most about these games though is there’s always so much to all about after them

[Jasko]

The Uzkulak Earthshakers took to the pitch again! Today I faced a ramshackle crew of Norse men. One of my Bull Centaurs was on injured reserve, but I still had a massive gain in team value on him. He had to take two journeymen and bought another 4 team re-rolls, bringing him to 7. The team was almost completely linemen, he had only one Ulfwerer and one Berserker (and I think a Catcher) I elected to start with defence, as I always do. My kick was awful, landing immediately behind the line of scrimmage on one flank. Luckily I had my Bull Centaur and a Hobgoblin as safeties and could push the ballcarrier out of bounds. The ball flew back to his end zone, but I could stop him again. I knocked a couple of players out, but no injuries unfortunately. Still, I could recover the ball and score a touchdown, going 1:0 into halftime. Some of his players recovered, but not enough. I could score on my drive, and finally broke some real armour. My beloved Block-Minotaur killed two Linemen and well, I basically kicked him around all game. Unfortunately I could not score a third time, but my victory never felt in danger. I collected enough SPP to get guard on a second Blocker and Kick on a Hobgoblin. I kicked three times today, two times immediately behind the line of scrimmage, one time out of bounds, and I always aimed dead center. No more, I need a kicker! So, that game felt pretty good. Next time I’ll be up against a brutal AI Nurgle team. Let’s see how that goes.