Any newbie tips?

[Kruxxor]

I saw that BB2 was on sale and I was tempted by it, but I've literally only played an hour of BB1, so thought I would try it again to check that I want, and would enjoy, BB2.

I went through the tutorial last night and decided to do a skirmish to see how well I would get along with it, and I got DESTROYED.

Every time I tried to take out, or push back one of their team they would just dodge, or make the attacker fall.

Any time the enemy team ran past my guys, they would just dodge the reactions.

Half the time, over half my team were unconscious, even though I specifically chose the lowest scoring enemies to go up against, and the mid team to play as.

First match was Orcs (me) vs Undead.
Second match was Orcs (me) vs Humans.

I couldn't do anything to either of them.

What am I doing that's so wrong?

Thanks!

[Metal Izanagi]

So, against Undead you just had the bad luck of picking an Undead team to face.

Orcs are a primarily bashy team because of their Blitzers and Black Orcs, but the major advantage Undead teams have is that they're hard to hurt. You can't really keep Undead down for long because they have good Armor and most have Regeneration, so they tend to heal most injuries that you give them. Against the Humans...you might have just had bad luck honestly. If you were playing the campaign, the first few matches are also going to be much harder than you might expect because you're forced to go against 1300 TV teams with your brand new 1000 TV team.

Best advice I can give without knowing how you play is to try and get as many Black Orcs as you can, followed by Blitzers, and then Linemen, if you're trying to win hardcore. Don't bother with the Goblin unless you REALLY don't have enough money for even a Lineman, definitely ignore the Troll, and unless you have confidence in your ability to play the ball with an Orc team,(Unlikely if you're new to the game.) don't bother with the Thrower.

Team members you want for your starting 11 in order of importance:

Black Orc - They're expensive, slower than other players and have no skills to start, but with their 4 Strength they can get two dice blocking most opponents, so you want these so you can level them up and grab Block/Mighty Blow on them, at which point the game will become hilariously easy.

Blitzer - They start with Block. As a bashing team, these guys are your advantage against other teams early on. Get as many as you can field.

Lineman - These are the only other guys you even want on the team besides Black Orcs and Blitzers unless you're going for a specific strategy, which you probably don't want to do until you get more experience. Linemen are very basic with no starting skills and average stats all around, but they're the guys who will help your more useful team members succeed. Fill out any gaps in your roster with these.

Goblin - If you get a Goblin, be aware that you're buying an expendable player. The Goblin will die or get horribly injured eventually with his 2 Strength and 7 Armor. Only use him for that +1 to a player that needs extra help in a fight, or to foul someone or...I guess to steal the ball and dash for the endzone if you get a chance. If he levels up, ONLY get him the skills that make fouling easier, unless you get lucky and can get him an extra Strength point, at which point things can get really funny, really fast because you'll have a Gobbo with 3 Strength. >:3

Thrower - Lower Armor than the other Orcs make this guy not really worth the price, honestly. He can do some work in an Orc team dedicated to playing the ball because he has Sure Hands, but playing the ball isn't really what Orcs are good at and so in most team comps you're better served with another Lineman instead, or even a Goblin if you really want someone who can run the ball.

Troll - Like a lot of Big Guys, the Troll just isn't worth the cost and frustration that will come with making him useful. Big Guys are at their best if they get Pro early on, and that requires rolling doubles. Until then you don't want to attempt rerolls on their negative skills like Really Stupid, because Loner will more often than not make you waste it. Having a big tough guy like a Troll on the forntline sounds perfect for an Orc team until you remember that they have Block Orcs, which don't have negative traits and can quickly eclipse the Troll in effectiveness with a couple of levels under their belt.

[hatani]

For me Orcs are really great to learn the basics.
Beyond the great advices above, just read some other guides about best skills and main tactics, should be enough to get the grip.
Then either consider this game as part rogue where you will lose games and even warriors sometimes, playing chill not getting too attached to your players (would say it is the way this game was made, for fun mainly) ... or save a lot and as soon as crippling injury / dead result appears, reload and retry.

[Planewalker]

Goblins and Halflings will always be me favourite teams, simply bc they are so notoriously difficult to keep strong.


OP the first rule of Blood Bowl is to minimize risks, just like in x-com.

Ie always make sure you roll as few dice rolls as possible, and when you have to roll, make sure the dice are stacked in your favour.

Winning a match 1-0 or 2-0 is still a win.

[Kruxxor]

I'm assuming the references to XCOM are about the board game version, rather than the PC Game? Because on PC at least I can move my players to increase their odds of hitting a target, I seem to be left to the mercy of the dice in Blood Bowl regardless of my placements, though.

I think I need to read up a little more on what specifically the stats do, and what the skills do, and the interactions between some skills (Like Heavy Hitter vs Block, and whatnot).

Thanks to all of you for your comments so far, I have managed to win one game by essentially surrounding enemy players rather than just mark 1 enemy with 1 player.

I am also still unsure how the number of dice play in to it, as sometimes having 2 of my team adjacent to an enemy lets me roll 2 dice, but there's still occasions when I can only roll 1.
I'm assuming that there's reason to it, but I can't find anything in game to explain it.

[Metal Izanagi]

Originally posted by Kruxxor:

I am also still unsure how the number of dice play in to it, as sometimes having 2 of my team adjacent to an enemy lets me roll 2 dice, but there's still occasions when I can only roll 1.
I'm assuming that there's reason to it, but I can't find anything in game to explain it.

So, the thing that's likely happening is that you're running into the weird way the marking system works. To apply a +1 to the Strength of a block or while defending against a block, the "helper" has to ONLY be in contact with the opposing player. If they're touching anyone else, they're considered too busy dealing with them to help. The exception to this rule is the Guard skill, which ignores the marking rules entirely and always applies a +1 bonus to adjacent players. Guard is a really important skill because of this.



The number of dice you get works in this order:

Defender has twice the Attacker's Strength or more = Roll three dice and the opponent picks which die to use.

Defender has more Strength, but less than twice the Attacker's = Roll two dice, and the opponent picks which die to use.

Strength values are equal = Roll one die.

Attacker has more Strength than the Defender, but less than twice the Defender's = Roll two dice and you pick which die to use.

Attacker has twice the Defender's Strength or more = Roll three dice and you pick which die to use.


Stacking your guys against opponents is really important if you want to gain the advantage and not be rolling single dice and using your rerolls to fix bad rolls constantly.

[Kruxxor]

Originally posted by Metal Izanagi:

Originally posted by Kruxxor:

I am also still unsure how the number of dice play in to it, as sometimes having 2 of my team adjacent to an enemy lets me roll 2 dice, but there's still occasions when I can only roll 1.
I'm assuming that there's reason to it, but I can't find anything in game to explain it.

So, the thing that's likely happening is that you're running into the weird way the marking system works. To apply a +1 to the Strength of a block or while defending against a block, the "helper" has to ONLY be in contact with the opposing player. If they're touching anyone else, they're considered too busy dealing with them to help. The exception to this rule is the Guard skill, which ignores the marking rules entirely and always applies a +1 bonus to adjacent players. Guard is a really important skill because of this.



The number of dice you get works in this order:

Defender has twice the Attacker's Strength or more = Roll three dice and the opponent picks which die to use.

Defender has more Strength, but less than twice the Attacker's = Roll two dice, and the opponent picks which die to use.

Strength values are equal = Roll one die.

Attacker has more Strength than the Defender, but less than twice the Defender's = Roll two dice and you pick which die to use.

Attacker has twice the Defender's Strength or more = Roll three dice and you pick which die to use.


Stacking your guys against opponents is really important if you want to gain the advantage and not be rolling single dice and using your rerolls to fix bad rolls constantly.

Thank you for the breakdown of this.

I've been able to play a few games and actually win now, so progress is being made!

Thanks again to everyone who has responded.

[Metal Izanagi]

Glad to hear you've been able to win!

I'm kinda surprised that Cyanide has never thought to make some tutorial videos that break down the important elements of the game with diagrams. Have 'em narrated by Bob and Jim or something. The tutorials in the game have never really been much for depth. They just teach the basic controls and then it assumes you'll figure it out without actually explaining how the math works.