Northern Wastes League!

Ever since I creamed Frank in the JAR Grudge Match Match-tacular, I've been playing a lot of Blood Bowl on Fumbbl.  Mostly because I like being better at things than Frank, but also because I actually like the game.  The endless nature of the Fumbbl divisions was starting to irk me, however.  Basically, there's two leagues that never play each other, each  consisting of hundreds (thousands?  Probably thousands) of coaches and unlimited teams per coach.  Every 3-4 months, there's a MAJOR TOURNAMENT, which you can enter and immediately lose, if you like.  I did.  It was fun, but it also put a harsh spotlight on how Fumbbl's divisions are nothing like real sports leagues.  If only there was some way to play Blood Bowl online in a reasonably-sized, structured league with seasons and championships...

Oh, hello there. Didn't see you.

Enter: The Northern Wastes League.

Wait, no, that sentence is all wrong.  Let me try it again - I entered the Northern Wastes League.  Better.

Quick league overview: Roughly 30 teams, in three sub-divisions - Two 'veteran' divisions, and one 'premier' division.  Premier is what you want, but you gotta earn it by doing well in one of the vet divisions first.  As a new coach, I'm a veteran this season.  The racial breakdown is kept even among Bashers, Ballers, and Betweeners (think Humans and Slann).  The games are played during the evenings in Eastern Standard Time.*  And that's about it!  Oh, and there's one little thing I forgot to mention about the racial balance: If you pick an especially crappy race, you get to play that race automatically regardless of league balance.  This little rule made my choice clear, because one of the 'crappy' races is...

Who says I'm crappy?

Yeap.  Ogres.  NEW Ogres, none of that 12-ogre junk.  No goblins.  Goblins are OP.  Instead, I get snotlings.  And my Ogre count is capped at 6.  Oh yeah, and they still have bone head, and lack access to general skills, which were the things that made the race crappy before they got nerfed.  Let me start over...

YEP!  OGRES!  They're so big, and great, and they START with Mighty Blow!  Snotlings dodge to any square on a TWO PLUS and come with SIDE STEP and only cost as much as TWO CHEERLEADERS.  And, just like two cheerleaders, they have almost no impact on the game whatsoever.  My main strategy is -duh- bash with Ogres, but also to foul everybody.  I will foul human linemen.  I will foul secret weapons.  I will even foul OTHER SNOTLINGS.  I will do this because the risk of losing a snotling is so minimal -they really just aren't helpful- the benefit of an extra armor/injury roll is almost always worth it.

My first match was against a TV1540 human team.  Pretty standard stuff, nothing extravagant.  Block on linos, tackle on blitzers, strip/wrestle on catchers.  He has a pretty nice thrower who, as it happens, is highly resistant to chainsaws.  His ogre was, too.  I didn't get to find out which of his players were weak to chainsaw elementals, though, because Nobbla got BH'd on a blitz after he failed to remove the only Ogre not on his own team.  My other inducements were equally unexceptional: Scrappa -though he scored my only TD, and prevented a dreaded shutout- failed a dodge play for the ball after I used the wizard to free it - essentially taking out 2 inducements with one poor roll.  I had a bribe, also, but never used it until late in the 2nd half.  Overall, the breaks didn't really go my way until T16.  I caused 2 BH's on LoS blocks, and another BH on my final foul of the game.

You can see my team, and their most recent match here.  I probably won't post match reports for each of the 9 weeks in the season, but I'll be sure to keep you, the ever appreciated reader posted.


*You can play whenever you like, but as Fumbbl is an international site, many leagues are set up to group people who can play at the same times week to week.