Blood Bowl League: Match #4 - Gnarly Gobbos versus The Elm Street Slashers (Necromantic Horror)

For my fourth game in the Bridge City Blood Bowl League (Second Season) I played my first interdivisional game against the Elm Street Slashers - a Necromantic Horror team! 

This was also the first non-stunty team I played... and... wow... Goblins suck. 

David and his team of Necromantic Horrors, ready to go. 

The Gnarly Gobbos received the kick off for the first half of the game. 

I'd decided to leave the Doom Diver OFF the field and focus on SMASHING THINGS with the Ball and Chain and Chainsaw... this was probably a mistake... I could maybe have left one of those in the dug out and tried for a one-turn touchdown... but the Slashers had kind of set up to BLOCK that kind of Shenanigans, so... 

ALSO... in this game **I** had the lower Current Team Value, so I spent some of that sweet, sweet free monies... on some bribes for the referees (three of them, but I also had to spend some cash out of my treasury to get the third, because I didn't get THAT much Petty Cash (I think it was around 120,000 gold - Bribes are 50,000 gold each). I'm not sure WHY I bought bribes, since the Ball and Chain Fanatic and Chanisaw Loonie are usually out of the game due to INJURING THEMSELVES before they're actually sent off by refs for illegal weapon usage!? 

#48 Lil Bopper caught the ball 

Hotlicks Wobblespot and Ted "Wildboar" Grogan moved into blocking positions

Fungusface, the Chainsaw Loonie, cut apart a zombie lineman (I think...?). 

Jean Klean, the Ball-and-Chain Fanatic surged through the Slashers lines, knocking down more Lineman... maybe...? 

Even the Troll surged forward knocking back one of the Ghoul runners.. 

In retaliation, one of the Slashers Werewolves charged forth and knocked down Fungusface, who fell on his chainsaw, seriously injuring himself (see? out of the game before the referee even noticed he was up to no good!) 

Flesh Golems and Wraiths went after Leon Cankersore and S. Maulfart on the Goblins left... 

Lil Bopper bounded up the field, swinging left... the rest of the team surged in that general direction in support of the move. 

Leon Cankersore and Ted "Wildboar" Grogan running defence for the Pogoer! 

Jean Klean veered in the general direction of the werewolf, but was unable to do much more than knock it down. Fawkzy the Bomma, threw a few bombs around, with little effect. 

Logan knocked down, the Slashers Wraith and Ghoul go for Lil Bopper... 

but Bopper stays on his feet... or... rather stays upright on his pogo stick and dodges out of the way... 

And just bounds away from the horrors for the end zone! 

With Dirk Blood trailing behind running defence, Lil Bopper almost makes it there... potentially scoring the first touchdown against this team in the league so far!!!

But one of the Slashers Ghouls races back and blocks Lil Bopper, knocking him to the astrogranite! And the Ball is loose for anyone to grab! 

The Ghoul manages to pounce on the ball first! 

Meanwhile the rest of the Slashers are beatind down the Gobbos left and right! 

Hotlicks Wobblespot joins Dirk Blood and Lil Bopper to try and wrest that ball away from the Ghoul and back under the Gobbos control right on the scoring line! 

A Wraith is knocked down, but so is the Gobbos Troll! 

A Werewolf rushes back to aid the Ghoul, hearing it's desperate cries for help. 

Dirk Blood is knocked out and another Ghoul comes to help out... 

The Ghoul with the ball shoves his way past the diminutive Lil Bopper... 

and rushes down the field past the rest of his team trying to overwhelm the Gobbos Ball-and-Chain Fanatic! 

Who was knocked down... and knocked himself out... and was out of the game... 

The Ghoul rushes up the field, followed by a protective entourage of an additional Ghoul, Werewolf, and Wraith... but Lil Bopper gives chase, trying to trip up the Ghoul! 

The Ghoul Breaks away and Fawkzy tries to intercept and throw bombs at the Ghoul, but the Slashers other Werewolf interferes with the Bomma's plans

Ted "Wildboar" Grogan rushes to block the Ghoul... 

Lil Bopper Catches up AGAIN! 

Grogan makes a play to take the Ghoul down, but the slippery dead thing, covered in goo, just slides away! 

...and scores the first touchdown of the game!!! 

And, I think that was the end of the first half... so the Gnarly Gobbos were kicking to the Slashers! 

The Slashers Ghouls scooped up the ball and made for the Gobbos sidelines, while their Were wolf punched a hole through the middle, stunning #16, S. Maulfart! 

A wraith knocks down Fawkzy the Bomma, while the other wraith along with a Flesh Golem and zombie try to take down Dagadyr the Troll. Any yet ANOTHER werewolf tries to block "Icky" Russ from going anywhere... 

Once again is Lil Bopper, the Goblin Pogoer, and Ted '"Wildboar" Grogan, moving up to try and block the Ghouls advance! 

Just a mad, pell-mell melee in midfield! 

The Ghoul runner tries to sneak around the side. Dirk Blood joins Grogan in the attempt to stop the Ghoul advance... 

Grogan is down and the Ghoul ducks off to the side and runs to centre field... 

Where the ball is handed off to a werewolf who runs it in for a second touchdown for the Slashers!! 

Receiving another kick off, the Gobbos get the ball to their boy, "Icky" Russ! 

#28, Dagadyr the Troll, manages to remember why he's here AND NOT to eat the goblin, and instead HURLS "Icky" Russ down the field! 

But he does not complete the landing and the ball scatters freely... 

One of the Werewolves snatches up the ball and the Slashers are off up the field with the ball again!

Wraith and Ghouls kick the poor Doom Diver while he's down! 

The push forward leaves a trail of Gobbos flying through the air and hitting the astrogranite HARD! 

and the Werewolf runs in a THIRD touchdown for the Slashers!! 

There is ONE TURN left and the Gobbos are recieving a kick off! Can the pull off another one-turn touchdown!? The elements are all in play; Lil Bopper, the fastest moving Gobbo on the team is ready to receive the ball and dash it forward to the Doom Diver, "Icky" Russ. Dagadyr the Troll is still in the game and standing by ready to hurl Russ up the field... The kick goes up, the ball couldn't come down in an more ideal place - right between the Pogoer and the Doom Diver!!

Nope! #48, Lil Bopper, the Goblin Pogoer bounds forward to scoop up the ball and bring it forward to "Icky" Russ... and fails to do so, knocking the ball forward up the pitch... and the whistle blows, ending the second half! 

Well... it went about as well as I could have hoped... Would have been really cool if I could have scored that first touchdown against this team as they have completely shut out all other teams so far this league - including Vera's Dwarf team, the Mi'Ami Dagfins! 

Somewhere along the way Bill S. Pestmaim was "Killed" in the confusion of one of the smash-ups... I let him die and kept the apothecary in case someone else more important was killed or seriously injured... I'll probably just buy a new lineman and call him Bill S. Pestmaim and say the money was spent on a resurrection spell... which are cheap for goblins as they're really just an excitable fungus and mostly need fresh clean water to revivify them! 

Jean Klean knocked himself out good with he old Ball & Chain when the slashers tripped him up and will be out the next game (and has a deep dislike of all thing undead now...) 

Lil Bopper was aware MVP for that initial, but ultimately unsuccessful rush! He had enough experience that I COULD get a new random skill... but I think I might hold off and see if I can't get a few more points for him and pick something useful!! 

S. Maulfart and "Icky" Russ also have enough points for a random skill... but I think I'll also hold off...

My next game is against Sakura Blossom, the Gnome team... the only team in the entire league that is actually doing WORSE than me! This will be the chance for ONE of us to finally win a game!! 

(Ugggghhh... unless the game ends in a draw... damn... I would rather see them win than it end in a draw... because that would just be TOO SAD... seriously, I might just have to throw the game if it looks like that might happen!!?)

Test of Honour - First Game!

A couple weeks ago, Trevor invited me over to play Test of Honour, out of the blue. 

Trevor moved to Saskatoon from Ontario in the middle of the pandemic! He joined a local Facebook miniatures group and was pretty active in that and then set up a Facebook group for Saskatoon Role-players. Even organized some socially-distanced meet-ups in parks - where I met him on one occasion. 

Though we've interacted a lot on the Facebook groups, and he seemed like an awesome dude that painted a lot of fun miniatures for a lot of different, interesting games, we kind of just never got around to playing any games. He wasn't interested in playing online role-playing games (having tried it earlier in the pandemic and just didn't love it...). And was reluctant to meet up with people in person to play miniature games when things opened up (far too early, around here!) - which was understandable, given the lack of uptake of vaccines in our area... I completely understood and respected that. I mean, I was wearing masks in public until a few months ago (at least in any public buildings) (and seriously considering doing so again as I return to school in a couple of days!) 

The two local Facebook groups we've interacted on are often silent for extended periods and I just haven't been using Facebook much at all for months... So it was a bit of a shock when he sent me an invite through Facebook to try out Test of Honour! Despite lots going on around our house, and just getting over my first cold in... forever... I was pretty excited about this opportunity to get out and try something new!

I'd heard of Test of Honour, but really didn't know much about it (other than Samurai Skirmish Game!). I'd never really looked into it as I already have a Samurai Skirmish Game (Ronin: Skirmish War-games in the Age of the Samurai - from Osprey Publishing) that I've really enjoyed playing - though, admittedly, have not done so for quite some time! (and there are plenty other games I have that I have used for Samurai skirmishing, and would again if ever I felt the urge - Savage Worlds, Song of Blades and Heroes, etc, etc...) 

(looking it up on Board Game Geek, the last time I played Ronin was... OVER A DECADE AGO!? At the Ronin Campaign Weekend for the 10th Annual Wargaming Birthday Bash!? WTF!?) 

When I arrived things were all set up and ready to go. Also playing were Brian (on the left in blue, a friend of Trevor's visiting from Hamilton), and Steve (in white on the right, a local friend of Trevor's who had never played any miniature games). Trevor is in orange in the middle. 

I ended up playing Team Blue - an Armoured Samurai, an Ashigaru armed with a Teppo (matchlock gun), an Ashigaru armed with a bow, and a group of three Ashigaru armed with spear. I think everyone had, more or less, identical units. 

The idea was it was a free-for-all - all of our bands arrived at a temple and wanted to pray first and words were exchanged, then hurt egos demanded satisfaction... 

Each group set up in a corner and... the idea was to destroy all the others...? 

Activation was done by passing a bowl around from which was drawn a token. It could be a Samurai token, an Ashigaru token or one of three fate tokens in the bowl. If you drew a Samurai or Ashigaru token you could use it to activate an Ashigaru or Samurai. The Samurai are super heroes and can each be activated three times in a round. Each Ashigaru or Ashigaru group can only be activated once. If you draw a Samurai or Ashigaru token that you cannot use (because all of your troops of that type have all activated as much as they can in a round... or they're ALL DEAD!?) you miss your turn and pass the token on to the next player and they use that as their turn - instead of drawing a token themselves... if THEY can't use it, they pass it to the next player, and so on. IF you draw a Fate token you just lose your turn, unless it is the third Fate token drawn then the round immediately ends - regardless of whether everyone has activated or not! 

I liked the system. It felt pretty fast moving. I like games where not everyone necessarily gets to act. 

I started off taking pot shots at Steves forces on one flank with my Ashigaru armed with ranged weapons. I targeted the Ashigaru armed with ranged weapons to try and eliminate his ability to do the same back. The shots had limited (zero) effect. Afterwards it probably would have been more effective to shoot at the grouped up Ashigaru with the spear - as they are an easier target...   

My Samurai and Ashigaru advanced toward Brians force on the other flank. 

Because Samurai activate more often, both our samurai kind of left the Ashigaru behind and were fighting to the death at the shrine while everyone else trailed behind. 

Brian's Ashigaru slowly making their way towards the Shrine, while his Ashigaru archer exchanges shots with Trevor's Sohei! 

irritated by my shooting at his followers, Steve's Samurai charged over to deal with my shooty Ashigaru himself!? 

Seeing the Samurai advancing my Ashigaru archer backed away while firing... the two Xs meant a critical fail - bow string snapped or something... 

The Samurai charged the Ashigaru with the Teppo 

YEAAAARRRRG! 

and chopped him clean in two... 

Because he'd scored some sort of critical hit, the Samurai was able to immediately charge someone else within range, and cut down my archer as well... 

Meanwhile... my plotting Ashigaru with Spears were slowly advancing towards the desperate battle on the other flank. 

They finally got into contact with the opposing ashigaru... just as Brian's Samurai cut down my own... 

Which caused my Ashigaru to flee. 

At about an hour into what turned out to be almost a three hour game, 3/4 of my units were wiped out (or five of six potential activations per round, is another way to look at it...)

At that same point, only one other play had lost a single Ashigaru... 

Steve's Samurai returned to his followers to pick some cherries from the nearby orchard... 

My Ashigaru briefly returned to the fight... 

But with when Brian's Samurai turned on them... 

Things went downhill pretty quickly. 

trying to maneuver away from Samurai! 

But he just rejoined the fight...

... and slaughtered them all... 

And less than half way through the three hour game, I became a spectator... 

Again, only one other player had lost ONE guy at this point!? 

I guess I could have just packed up and left at that point... but it was a fun game to watch play out. It was fast moving and with the activation system everyone stayed involved (until you start losing more stuff that your opponents have...) 

Trevor's Sohei being bullied by Steve's Samurai... 

Trevor's head priest (equivalent to a samurai) attacking Brian's Ashigaru archer across a fence. 

Melee at the crossroads.

Steve's shooty Ashigaru taking pot shots into the melee. 

It was a fun game. It did go a bit long. But I feel like that was because of the multiplayer, free-for-all situation. If it was a two-player game with similar forces and people who knew what they were doing, I imagine a game could likely be played in less than an hour - maybe even half an hour...? Like it FELT like it went FAST! 

I would totally play this again. 

Am I going to run out and BUY all the stuff for it...? Probably not. There are core rules, special dice sets, tokens, cards... expansion rules, MORE cards... it all adds up. MAYBE if I were playing this very regularly and entirely gave up on ever of playing with Ronin (or Song of Blades and Heroes...?)...

I kind of want to dig out Ronin again and re-read those rules and maybe set up a game - to kind of compare and contrast. (and/or Song of Blades and Heroes...?)...

Thanks to Trevor for inviting me! I hope we get to play again soon!!