Makin' the playoffs

In Blood Bowl this week I faced off against Fur Plus Death, a Necromantic team.  The FPD have the highest team value in the league and had killed a ton of players on other teams.  The team sported a normally statted out Necro lineup but had two Werewolves with Claw, Block, Mighty Blow, Frenzy.  They are super fast so they can hit whoever they want and they absolutely murder people, as the rest of the league can attest.

I had hoped to be able to buy a wizard because of FPD's big Team Value but the coach trimmed some zombies off the roster just before the game so we ended up with my inducing a 10k star player (Barik Longblast) and no other inducements.

I received the kickoff and began the slow, inevitable march up the field that is the dwarf game plan.  Things got a bit exciting as my opponent got the kick deep, right on my goal line, but I recovered and got the ball safely into my cage.  In the early going one of the Werewolves went after a lineman of mine and killed him - the apothecary managed to turn it into a -Str injury, so that lineman is still alive but is getting fired immediately due to being terrible.  He had one skill, so this hurts my team a little, but no big deal.

Due to my massive edge in Guard, Block, and Mighty Blow I took control of the brawl and punched the opponents into submission.  My Star Player spent his time firing his cannon into fallen enemies, and his relentless fouling killed one Werewolf but it regenerated and was waiting in the dugout for another shot at my dudes.  By the end of the half I had the board completely under control but had only removed one Wight permanently.  I scored and went into the second half up 1-0.

We both fielded 11 players for the second half, with my opponent putting in a zombie instead of his injured Wight, and me fielding a regular lineman instead of one with Guard.  Not that much damage either way, though I did get the better of that trade.

In the second half my opponent had couple of early turnovers due to failing to pick up the ball and knocking his own dude down on a block but neither really was a big problem.  The turning point came when I dropped a -Str injury on his Flesh Golem and completely opened up the board for myself.  Without the second Golem to lock up dwarves I was able to start beating up his team and putting pressure on the ball. 

Facing down an implacable wall of dwarves my opponent came up with a gambit - he rushed the ball to the sideline and tried to get a quick score.  Dwarves aren't good at defending such things, being slow and all, but I had just enough dudes to surround his advance and pin them in.  Once they were pinned against the sideline I knocked a couple dudes out of bounds, grabbed the ball, and the game was over.  There were still turns left but with me having the ball, a significant numbers advantage, and no need to actually score to win the game my opponent conceded and just left his players lying where they were.  I ran out the clock and then scored on turn 16 to go up 2-0.

I got 17 experience for the game and lost a dude with 16 experience.  Unfortunately the experience gain did not net me anything so I am slightly weaker for the next game.  I am however locked into the playoffs now, being guaranteed second or third in my division.  FPD might tie me in overall points on the season in their next game if they win and I lose but I won our showdown so I get the tiebreaker advantage.

I could simply concede my next game if I wanted to and still get into the playoffs.  The team I am up against is Ziggyny's Nurgle team, which is 390 Team Value below mine.  That advantage is massive, and I think I am hugely favoured to win.  In bash vs. bash matchups that much Team Value is *really* hard to overcome.  He could easily kill some of my dudes, but I could also rack up some experience if things go my way.

I like the idea of playing.  I want to bash things!  That said, I think a smart player aiming to go for the best possible setup for the playoffs would concede in my spot to make sure to go in with a full team and a full bankroll.  I am more bloodthirsty than smart though, so I figure to get my bash on.