As Promised, here are the Norse!

The Norse are finished!  Well, except for the Yeti.

Linemen:

Linemen are pretty important on Norse teams, because the positionals are expensive and because they're a fantastic bargain.  They start with the Block skill, which is often the first skill of choice for many linemen of other races, so they're a skill ahead for a reasonable price of 50k.  Also, most Norse have lor armor, and every once in a while they'll have "one of those games".  They field loner linemen then, for the next game!

Here's a close-up of the front line:

Wolves:

Norse Werewolves are arguably the best players on the Norse team.  They're strong, Frenzy lets them get in additional hits, and they can develop into fantastic players with their Strength skill access.  Well worth it in spite of not starting with Block, and low agility.  Why carry the ball when you can just hit someone?

Blitzers:

Blitzers (aka Berserkers) are there to kick ass and chew bubble gum, and bubble gum hasn't been invented yet in the Blood Bowl universe.  They hit hard and can skill up to hit even harder.  They start with great skills and are one of the more feared players in the game.

Ball Handlers:

Throwers and Catchers (aka Runners) are kind of a point of contention among Norse coaches.  On one hand, with access to skills like Accurate on the throwers, and Catch and Diving Catch on the catchers, the Norse *can* develop a reasonably effective passing game.
On the other hand, they're AG3 and generally considered to do better in a bashy playstyle.  Plus the Catchers look to me like a poor man's Elf Blitzer, starting with Dauntless and Block, and AG skill access.

Hotties:

Yes I painted up a cheerleader!  See comments from earlier:

Sir Mix-A-Lot approves.

Legacy Lineman

I also painted a lineman for a legacy team in our local Tabletop league.  (For a legacy team, everyone paints one figure, then a raffle is drawn to see who gets the entire team).  I have withdrawn from the raffle, because I already have a Norse team, but then again I didn't pay for the figure:

Yellow and Black look entirely too much like Pittsburgh to me, but I can just pretend it's Bruins colors and I feel better.

Yeah, I got #16 to paint, getting the last slot for the legacy team!
I didn't put any grass on the base, because it's supposed to be yellow grass, and all I have is green.

Dreadball

I'm painting up some Dreadball figures for a friend.  Dreadball teams are smaller (the one I have here has 10 players).  The figures are decently detailed (other than the blockers missing their right arms!) and I'm looking forward to seeing how they turn out.

The Norse are almost done, I'm working on the last four players, then one last Werewolf, then the Yeti.  I'll probably finish the Norse (or at least, everything but the Yeti) this week, leaving me 3 weeks (and a holiday / possible 4 day weekend) to do the Dreadball humans.  Should be fine.

... although the figures are tiny!  Here's a striker, getting totally dominated by two elves (not always the largest of players):

He looks a little smaller than he actually is, because of the base sizes, but still. 

Here's a more even matchup:

Wow, it looks like he could almost take on that Goblin!  Well, except apparently Strikers aren't allowed to hit anyone.  But still!  Goblin!

I'm still trying to figure out what color scheme to go with.  At first I was looking forward to using some green for a change (I don't often use green in Blood Bowl figures, because coupled with the base and the field, it's just too much green.  That's why the Goblins play on sand (see above).  I was thinking green pads on white, which would be an elegant, classy look ...
... until I remembered, that would make them look like the Jets.  For those of you not familiar with the NFL, the Jets are the exact opposite of a classy organization.  The players are thugs and whiners, the coaching staff divides their time between boasting about how great they are, and losing games.  They hired a popular, straighlace, high-class player last season,  then refused to let him play, to the point where they hired extra players at his position to make sure he never had a chance.  I can't stand the Jets and will not let any team I paint be associated with them.
So maybe blue and white, like the Elves above?  Maybe Orange and Red, with stylized flames?  Heck, I have a tube of pink paint which I have yet to even use ... ... :-D

Mangle-a-lot-of-players is the Norsca way, to say Merry Christmas to you

So I started painting my Norse.  I knew I was going to have some gray-white shades from painting the Werewolves, and since I wanted the wolves to "fit" with the rest of the team, I needed a color to offset the gray.  Dark Red contrasts really well, it's a very classy look.  I was imagining something like "Redskins without Yellow" or "Mississippi State":

This is the look I was going for.  Only a light gray instead of white, and a slightly lighter shade of red, that's almost purple.

So I am nearly finished with the first four figures and I just now figured out that that look (on a football player) looks like Santa Claus on a Blood Bowl figure:

Meh, too late now, I'm keeping it.

The comically oversized werewolf-like figure in the back will be the Yeti.

How to use the inducement menu

Inducements are a great way to turn a one-sided match into a ... slightly less one-sided match.  But in the Cyanide Blood Bowl game, the menu is very non-intuitive and clunky.  Worse, in multiplayer, you're on a timer (!) so that's the worst time to look at your options and figure it out.  If you know how much inducement you're getting before a match, you're probably better off deciding what you want well beforehand, and just taking it when the menu comes up.

Here's what the main menu looks like:

The sections are pretty straightforward.  "Star Players and Mercenaries" is for buying mercs and star players (go figure), "Fair Play" is for boring stuff like wizards, "Foul Play" is for awesome stuff like bribes, "Extra Training" has rerolls and Bloodweiser Babes.
"Potions" is for some optional stuff that nobody uses.

All of the menus work the same except for the Star Players and Mercenaries.  Clicking on the button (the one on the center bottom!) brings up a sub-menu:

Under "Mercenaries", you have a dropdown menu for any position you'd normally be able to buy.  You need a "Slot" free, so if you've already maxed out a position, you can't get more.  But of course you can always get more linemen!  Whatever the position, a mercenary costs 30k more than they usually would (and get Loner).  You can buy an extra skill from their normal selection for 50k.  Once you've selected what you want, click "Hire".  Clicking "Confirm" without first clicking "Hire" just brings you bacak to the main inducement menu, make sure you "Hire" if you want one.

Star Players work the same way, select them from the "Star Players" dropdown menu:

Again, once you decide who you want, click "Hire" FIRST, then "Confirm".

All other menus are much more straightforward.  Click on what you want, and a "Buy" button appears:

Once you click "Buy", select how many:

Click the "+" and "-" until you're at the right amount, then click "Accept".

Once you've "Bought" something, it shows up under "Bought Inducements" on the right.  When you're done, click "Inducement Results" on the bottom left.

You get one last screen:

... where everything you've bought is displayed for you to review.  If you're happy with what you've selected, click "Start of match" and unleash what you've just bought on your opponent!
If not, the "Back Arrow" at the bottom left brings you back to the previous menu.  Remember that you're on a timer in multiplayer though.

Good Luck!

Brace yourself; the Norse are coming!

One of the teams I'd considered painting up for the Tournament was the Norse.  My biggest problem was that the Norse roster has changed since I bought the figures in the late 90s (wow, that's like almost five years ago!).  The roster I bought had four Catchers and four Blitzers.  Since then, the position names have changed (a lot), the team can only buy two each Blitzers and Catchers, but can get two Werewolves.

So I was short two wolves.  Fortunately, yesterday I was able to acquire two ridiculously awesome wolves.  Just look at these guys:

... just LOOK at those models!  They look fast, dynamic, strong, and intimidating - just what the Norse Werewolves are supposed to be!  Cool enough that I now really want to paint the team just so I can use them!

Here are the rest of the team:

Generally I'll only have one (or zero) throwers, but they're cheap enough - if I want two, I'll be able to get two.  Heck, worst comes to worst, a mercenary thrower with Leader is a pretty decent inducement for 150k ...

Blitzers aka Berserkers are pretty awesome killers, but losing two to get Werewolves (aka Ulfwereners) is probably an upgrade.  I plan to always start with both Wolves, and might not always start with both Zerkers.  But in the end, solid and scary players.

You can see the one lineman that I started painting waaaay back in the day.  Once I finish, he'll probably have the record for longest time from start to finish ... "It took me 15 years!!!".  ish.  Not sure when I actually started.

The cheerleaders!  Don't worry, they'll be hot.  Once they actually get onto bases.  These girls are going to be necessary too.  Bad enough that I picked the team with probably the most exposed skin, despite the fact that I hate painting skin ... without the cheerleaders, it would just be a little too much of a homoerotic experience, highlighting every last ab, bicep, and quad on the shirtless Norse ...

Oh yeah, the Catchers!  They've actually improved somewhat since I bought them, but they're still slow-ish (for catchers, MV7 is still not bad).  They also don't start with Catch, getting Dauntless instead.  I think they're now less Catchers now and more "Utility Blitzers".  But I guess I'll find out when I actually play them ...

I will also eventually need a Yeti (aka Yhetee, aka Snow Troll).  Warmachine makes a fantasy game called Hordes which has a surprisingly diverse selection of models suitable to be "Blood Bowl Big Guys".  They actually have a model for a "Winter Troll":

... but since I'm already sort of going with a wolf theme, I was thinking of getting their "Feral Warpwolf":

I'd paint it all white and snowy-looking to fit the theme.  There's no real consensus anyway on what a Yeti looks like ... I don't think there are any official models for it.  But they have Claws (check), Frenzy (check), Wild Animal (check), and Disturbing Presence (would YOU be able to concentrate on throwing or catching the ball when this guy was near you??).  So it seems to fit.

It'll be a while before I'm buying a Yeti anyway so no rush here ...

I'm going to need a color scheme which will fit both wolves and human players.  I'm thinking of going with a medium gray (which will look awesome as wolf fur) and crimson or burgundy to contrast.  I imagine the end effect looking something like Mississippi State. 

I'll keep you all posted!

One week to go!

Tournament is coming up in one week!  In seven days, actually, round two (of six) will have just started.

I'm looking forward to this more than I expected.  I have a healthy attitude (I expect to lose, a lot), I haven't played Blood Bowl on an actual table tip with actual physical figures and dice in about a decade ... but it should be fun and at least interesting to see how my skills have held up.  I do okay in the online leagues that I play, but I suspect that this will be a whole new level of competition.

Wish me luck!

Training & Roster Cuts

Much like a real team, I can't enter this tournament with everything I want; I need to decide which players to bring, which skills to take, how much of everything else I want.

The rules are:

• I get 1100k Gold to spend on my team.  I must spend all of it.
• Before game 1, I get three "normal" skill choices to distribute (one skill per player)
• Before game 4, I get three more skill choices, one of which may be a "double".  Again, one skill per player, which also means players who got a skill before can't get a second.
• This being a tournament, I get no other SPP or skills, but no damage from one game carries over to the next.  Basically, I have the same roster for the entire tournament.

1100k is a decent amount of cash to spend in Blood Bowl.  Usually teams get 1000 to spend to start a season and develop from there, but tournaments try to strike a balance between new teams and experienced ones.  They also try to eliminate the element of luck in skill rolls, MVPs, game money, all of which is random in "default" Blood Bowl play.

Here are some of my options, from most likely to least (today, I am notoriously indecisive about this kind of thing.

3 Catchers, 3 Rerolls

2 Blitzers @ 110k

1 Thrower @ 70k

3 Catchers @ 100k

6 Linemen @ 60k

3 Rerolls @ 50k

= 1100k

Pros: 

12 players means I have a bench, VERY useful for a team with mostly AV7.

3 Rerolls means I can let loose a little bit and take a few more calculated risks than if I had 2.

Cons: 

None really, this is a well-balanced roster and almost certainly what I'll be taking.

4 Catchers, 2 Rerolls

2 Blitzers @ 110k

2 Throwers @ 70k

4 Catchers @ 100k

4 Linemen @ 60k

2 Rerolls @ 50k

= 1100k

(I can also "downgrade" the second thrower to a lineman, and spend the extra 10k on a cheerleader or coach or fan factor; if I keep the thrower, it's probably to take the Leader skill, which costs me a skill slot.  So think of it as trading a skill choice to upgrade a lineman to a Catcher, which is probably worth it when you think of it that way).

Pros:

Pro Elf Catchers are the best in the game, and 4 of them may be too much for some teams to handle.

"Upgrade a lineman to a Catcher" has to be a win all the way, right?

Cons:

Cutting down to 2 rerolls means I need to think twice about every die roll, maybe accept a turnover I otherwise wouldn't have, probably run out anyway.

4 Linemen means that I'm just two Cas or KOs away from putting position players on the front line.

I don't have a second Thrower model, so I'd have to re-paint at least the base of one figure; probably the pointing lineman.

4 Catchers, 3 Rerolls, no bench

2 Blitzers @ 110k

1 Thrower @ 70k

4 Catchers @ 100k

4 Linemen @ 60k

3 Rerolls @ 50k

1 Coach, 1 Cheerleader @ 10k each

= 1100k

Basically, burn a lineman from the roster above and use the cash to buy a reroll.  This leaves 20k left over, which I can spend on coaching staff and cheerleaders.  (Or fan factor, or whatever).  I could also spend 10k to upgrade a lineman to a Thrower, but that would leave me with 3 linemen, which is REALLY asking for it.  

Pros:

4 Catchers, 3 Rerolls, and increased chance to get more rerolls throughout the game

Cons:

Having only 11 players means I'll be outnumbered after even one KO or Cas.  Elves can play fine and win while outnumbered, but once they get below 9 or so players, every additional player loss just makes everything exponentially harder. I suspect having a bench might be essential to low-armor teams in this tournament format; every team I face will be trying to bash me.

Team's ready!

There are still a few details left to finish (I need to seal the paint job with a matt spray, print out my roster, and so on) but for all practical purposes I am ready to go!  Not bad considering the team only arrived a little over a week ago.  I was worried that my painting skills had deteriorated, but I pretty much just stepped in and picked up where I'd left off.  It did help that these are high-quality models, it really does make a difference.  I'd recommend Neomics to anybody and intend to buy their Skaven (*ahem* I mean their "generic fantasy football rat people who infringe on nobody's IP) sooner or later.  I can't say I recommend their online store though, it's still not working and nobody has gotten back to me about my message from weeks ago asking what the hell was going on.  I bought these from Tabletop Onlineshop for less than they're listed on the Neomics website.

ANYWAY, here's the team!

QB (Thrower)

 

My thrower is #12 in honor of the greatest Quarterback in the history of football

Blitzers

Pro Elf blitzers are fast, mobile, great at what they do (getting to where someone needs to be hit, hitting things).  Might have to fix the B on the left guy's base though.  (I usually don't mark positions like that, but these are non-standard models so this makes it easier for everyone).

Catchers

Pro Elf catchers are arguably the best in the game and well worth their 100k gold price.  I'm looking at three of them on the roster I'm working with, but I bought four in case I ever play this team in a league or something.  Who knows?  The extra figures I got were essentially free, since they put me over the threshold for free shipping.

Line-Elves

Sometimes known as linemen by human supremacists who don't think that Elves are capable of packing a punch, line-elves are still excellent finesse players and as capable of throwing a block as anyone else.  They can skill up and be impressively effective in a league, although the way the tournament rules work, these guys won't.  Still, they are quite agile and mobile and capable of making a difference in games.

The Team!

I still don't have a name for these guys.  If I don't think of anything better by April, I am going with the Eärendil Mariners (after a character from the Tolkien Mythos called Eärendil the Mariner).  But there's still time, and now that they're painted I don't really have much else to do ... :-D

Here's the team!  Wish us luck at the tournament!

And then there were 10

The next batch of 5 figures is finished!  As you can tell by the timestamps, this is a considerably slower process during the work week than it is on the weekend.  Four more to go!

Here are all 10:

Here are the first five shown as Blood Bowl players are meant to be shown:  On a Blood Bowl pitch!

I may have to go back and fix the faces, somehow I always screw them up and they have the creepy lumpyface.  I probably won't, these figures are "good enough" for now.  My goal here isn't to win painting competitions, but rather to not embarrass myself (and to claim the 2 points awarded for having painted miniatures).
And I am not fishing for compliments either, I am aware that these are decent-but-not-great.  If you want to see the kind of minis which DO win painting competitions, here's the NAF painting forum for your enjoyment and my envy.  But as long as these aren't the worst-painted minis in the tournament, I'll be happy.  Heck, it should give me something to console myself with after what I expect will be a thorough and merciless ass-kicking.

I think of myself as a decent player, I do okay in leagues with my friends, and in deep online leagues like the FOL I am about a .500 player ... but the last time I went to a Blood Bowl tournament, I got thoroughly humiliated.  I was in a group of four, with the top two teams advancing to elimination (World Cup style).  After the three games, I was 0-3 and hadn't scored a touchdown.
So this time, my goals (in order of likeliness) are:

• Have some fun {Pretty much guaranteed}
• Score a TD
• Not go 0-for the tourney
• Avoid DFL
• Win a few games and end with a positive record
• Place in the tourney {Unlikely}

Here are the first five

I've painted up the first batch of five players.  While that might be enough for what I'll be fielding at the end of games, I'd like to start with a few more players.

I paint from the inside to out.  What that means is, paint whatever's in deep on the model first, then what's covering it, and so on.  If a model of a knight has plate over chain mail, that means paint the mail first, then the plate.  You're more likely to smudge the deeper you go, and it's less of a big deal if you smudge something that you haven't painted yet.

Same thing for Blood Bowl figures.  I started by painting their skin:

Then their pants:

... then the jersies ...

... then the pads ...

... then the hair (this is an elf team, after all, don't forget the highlights!) ...

... then touch up the detail work (piping and belts and buttons and whatnot) ...

... then the bases.

I painted a ball while waiting for the green to dry.
Here's a comparison of the two "mohawk guys":

I still need to do things like jersey numbers, some details, but I'll probably bring all the figures up to this state and do them all at once.  I have a four day weekend coming up for Easter, I should be done when that's finished.

My name is Drybrush Threepwood, I want to be a pirate

My team is assembled, clean, the base is covered with sand, I'm almost ready to start painting.

When I first started playing tabletop games and painting miniatures, I would already have started, just applying paint to the bare metal.  That works, but it's easy to miss some details, and even worse, paint doesn't always stick to pewter as well or as evenly as it should.  I quickly started using a base coat (coloring the entire figure with one color of paint, then applying the final colors over that).  At first I used a paintbrush and normal paints, but that quickly became tedious.  These days I use spray paint.

Put all your figures on a flat cardboard box, GO OUTSIDE, lie your figures on their backs, spray them from the bottom.  Let them dry about 10 minutes, flip them over, spray from the bottom again.  Wait another 10 minutes or so, stand them up, and spray them from several angles.  What you're looking at there is the first coat of spray from the top.  I needed a few more layers to get every surface, but that's time well invested.  When they're ready, take them off the box.  Sometimes the spray paint sticks them down, use a knife or something to pry them free.  Damaging the box is no big deal, but try not to damage the bases.

Ready to paint now?  Almost.  Time for some drybrushing.
Take your largest, oldest, cheapest paintbrush - it won't be good for much else afterwards.  Dip it lightly into some white (or very light gray) paint - less is more.  Swish it around on some paper until almost no paint is coming off any more:

Then firmly hold a model and do the same swishing motion over your figure.  What's happening is that the paint on the outside of the brush is nearly dry, but higher up and inside the brush it's still most, not quite wet.  It applies a very thin coating, mostly to raised surfaces, while getting almost no paint in deep crevasses.  The end effect should look something like this:

There we go, now this is starting to look like something!  This kind of drybrushing has several benefits.  It helps you see the detail while you're painting, and generally makes the whole operation almost a paint-by-numbers operation.  Also, unless you paint really thick, the final layer of paint will be lighter over the white areas and darker over what is now black, giving a pleasing 3-d fade effect.

Make sure you wash your drybrush well, the paint goes all through the bristles and it's basically totally dry by now.

Next step, I'll finally get started actually painting colors on actual figures, which you may recall as the entire point of this exercise!