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!

Team Colors

I've decided to paint the team in URI colors (Dark blue, light blue, and white).  I figure if I'm going to suck at the upcoming tournament, I might as well go with the colors of a team that's used to sucking. it's a classy and elegant look which should work well with these models.

What's that? You want to see highlights from a URI football game?

hmmm ...

... at halftime, the marching band takes the field!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78chP3rZMbQ

I still don't have a team name, I would like to go with something Rhode Island related.  Obnoxious puns are welcome.  Send your suggestions!

Sandcastles in the Sand

There are a couple different things you can do to a model's base.  The easiest is to just paint it green, like the Human Blitzer below on the left:

All his base are belong to me.

It's pretty simple and straightforward; glue the player, paint, done.  And it looks like ass, especially compared to the High Elf Thrower on the right. 
Getting that look is pretty easy, so no reason not to do it right.

I spread normal paper glue across the base.  I'm using a skewer, you could also use a toothpick, matchstick, even an old paintbrush.  It doesn't matter as long as it gets spread evenly and as little glue as possible gets on the figure itself.  And if there's a gap in the base (like the ones on the side on the human above), just slather glue over it.  It's thick enough to cover up all but the largest gaps (which I cover with scotch tape).
In the US, I use white Elmer's glue.  Here in Germany the glue I'm using is clear, so it's hard to see on that base, but it's nothing special, it's the same completely normal inexpensive glue that you'd let a 5 year old use.

Once the glue is even, dip it into a container of sand!

This finer the sand, the neater the grass is going to look.  This is going to come out looking like a short-cut, well tended lawn (with a rock on it, this is Blood Bowl!).  Coarser sand will give you a rougher look, like the High Elf above.

This goes pretty quickly.  I had the entire team done in no time.

So, my models arrived yesterday while I was at work, I picked them up from the post office this morning.  First impression is, they seem high quality.  I'll need to clean them up a little before I even start painting, but the team looks good:

The Elf team, straight out of the box.

Some of the models have some flash on them from the mold, but the seam lines aren't very pronounced, and I can cut the excess off pretty easily:

Little blobs of pewter like this one are typical on metal models.  Pewter is soft and cuts pretty easily, so the biggest worry is not damaging the model.

My biggest complaint is the logo on the stand bar.  You can see that it's actually too big to fit into the slot on the base, it has to be filed down.  The base should be snug enough that the figure stands up on its own, but not so wide that you have to risk breaking the plastic.
Filing down those tabs was the most time-consuming part of this prep step.

See?  That's what it's supposed to look like.

The Thrower came in two pieces, which could be kind of fun.  I tried several poses, "winding back" looked kind of neat, and it's possible to put that arm in at an odd angle to make it look like he's scratching his back with the ball. 

In the end, I went with a sort of "tuck" position.  It's the most natural position for the arm piece and is clearly the way it's intended, although it was still slightly loose and needed some glue to fill a gap.  A grip like that makes him look like a running quarterback, who takes short, accurate passes when there's someone open and holds on to the ball when there isn't.  That also matches the play style I think I'm going to use with this team.

Here they all are!

Still not ready for spray paint though.  I'm going to glue the models to the bases, and add some sand. Stay tuned!

When the going gets weird, the Elves turn Pro

So a little bit of background:  I realized that I hadn't played Blood Bowl on the tabletop for far too long, so I signed up for an NAF tournament downcity in a few weeks.

I immediately faced a choice of which team to play.  I've been playing Blood Bowl for a while, so I have several to choose from.  Wood Elves are the obvious choice, they're one of the most successful teams in the tournament format.  They also look great and won me a Super Bowl in 1999-ish.  Orcs and Humans are always a solid choice, even though they were some of my earlier models and the paint job isn't great.  I actually had two Dark Elf teams to choose from, my own Ice Dragons, and another set I painted up for Diane.  Chaos Dwarves were available, although the models are starting to show their age and need some super glue love.  I have a beautiful-looking Chaos team, although Chaos seems to be pretty terrible in the tournament ruleset I'm looking at.
I also have some partially-painted Undead and High Elves, unpainted Norse and Goblins, another unpainted Human team that I eventually want to paint in Patriots colors. 

Given this wealth of choice, what team am I going with?  Clearly one option stood out as the most sensible and practical.  I bought a brand-new team which I will be painting before the tournament.

A word on "Elf" teams, otherwise known as "Pro Elves".  Before 3rd edition Blood Bowl, there were no separate Dark Elf, High Elf, or Wood Elf teams, just generic "Elves".  They were the quintessential finesse team, fast, agile, winning games by dancing around slower, clumsier players, taking away the ball, and scoring at will on offense.  When 3rd ed came out, generic Elves disappeared, but rosters were offered for both High Elves and Dark Elves.  High Elves were faster and better built for the passing game, Dark Elves were slower but offered Witch Elves.  An expansion called Death Zone offered Wood Elves as well, looking a lot like faster, more brittle High Elves.
Fast Forward a few years, Blood Bowl was cancelled by Games Workshop, and rules were in the hands of a fan-run committee.  A lot of people noticed that High Elves and Wood Elves had a very similar style and proposed a team to replace them; it had mostly AV7 players, like Wood Elves, the same movement as High Elves, and highly skilled Blitzers and Catchers, essentially translating the old Elf Teams into the current rules set.  High Elf and Wood Elf coaches protested strenuously, so those rosters were kept, and the new roster was added. 

So why play them?  Several reasons.  First of all, they're a fun, underrated team with lots of potential, and they should work quite well in the tournament format.  Second, they're one of the less common teams in most formats, probably because they're relatively new and didn't get any models until after GW cancelled Blood Bowl.  Third, I am petty and enjoy bragging, but I am realistic enough to expect to do quite poorly at the tournament.  There are so few Elf teams in the NAF that even a completely neutral, replacement-level performance should put me around rank 200 in the world, and even if I am the worst Elf coach on the planet, I'll still be able to brag about being in the top 500.

There actually are official GW models for Pro Elves:
http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?prodId=prod1100038
... but they look kind of silly.  I ordered a team by an independent model company called Neomics:
http://www.neomics.de/shop/fantasy-football-elves

... I like the look of them, and will be finishing and painting them in the coming weeks.  Tournament is on the weekend of April 13-14.