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quarta-feira, 29 de fevereiro de 2012

GHAG overdrive contest winners

Well didn't quite get the response I was hoping for, but we had six entries to the "overdrive" contest.
  1. Marco Preto
  2. Axtlinge
  3. Laughing Ferret
  4. Be4ch
  5. Mathias
  6. dokumitsukai
I used random.org and got the following winners.
Prize 1: #6 dokumisukai wins...
spike limited edition 4 armed goblin

Prize 2: #5 Mathias wins...

a set of impact blood bowl dice (3 block dice + d8 + d16)

Prize 3: #1 Marco Preto wins...
an original blood bowl undead sketch/storyboard draft

Winners, please contact me -> natsirtdm [@] gmail [dott] com with your mailing address.

terça-feira, 28 de fevereiro de 2012

Both Down, I hate you

by Nazgob

I really, really do.

You pointed out a huge flaw in my gaming. In my hobby life, I try to put fluff first; mycetic spores, radical Daemonhunters, D&D characters that do more than stab things with sticks. However, my fumbbl activities of late have been woefully inadequate. Where once my teams and players had stories, now thar are simply a means to an end:

Chaos at the World Cup - Wood Elf practive

Waterbowl testers - Any idea why I made these?

Team Choas at the World Cup - I can't spell, but you still get the idea.

And then, Both Down dedicated an entire segment on why (and how) Blood Bowl teams deserve fluff. I felt ashamed. I can power-game as well as anyone else,* but I do like to have a theme going as well. Even worse, I knew what they were talking about. I help to run the Zlurp Nation Blood Bowl league over on fumbbl and a lot of the gingers' comments were ringing home. My very own, brand new league team, the Knife Sharpeners, had a theme so skeletal, it resembled the Death himself. Guilt made me delete them and start anew.

Both Down, how I hate you.

I have spent hours on my team since then. First, I started looking for a logo. Then, I realised I needed a name first and had to spend time with a map of the Warhammer World to find my little green guys' home town. Having settled on the Badlands to the south of the Empire, a quick google search came up with a variety of lovely icons. With a little bit of judicious editing, the Badland Outlaws were born.



Both Down, I still hate you.

Because I wasn't done there. I still hadn't got a back story for the team, so I had to spend another couple of hours writing (and formatting the HTML) for this little doozy:

Famous Orc Team Profile


BADLAND OUTLAWS

Team Colours: Black and Orange

Team Owner: Rark Snotling-Muncher


Head Coach: Nazgob

Players: Black Orcs, Orcs and Trolls

2499Rark Snotling-Muncher becomes the head of his clan, the Gibbering Moon, by virtue of being the biggest, the ugliest and the smelliest Orc around. Not being able to spell did not affect his ability to fulfill his electoral promises.
2499-2501Rampaging around the Badlands, Rark beats up several other clans, swelling his ranks.
2501The Border Princes move against the growing Waaagh. Displaying a stubborn tenacity and stupidity that would make him famous, Rark leads his troops on a suicidal charge against the Empire gunline. The Waaagh over and clan destroyed, Rark retreats into the wilderness, disgraced.
2502-2509Rark disappears from record during this period and the Gibbering Moon ceases to exist. It is surmised that at some point, during the years 2502-2509, Rark met disgraced Orcland Raiders coach Nazgob. The Black Orc later said that "Nazgob sed we wuz gonna die. I fort, I mite as well die rich and fame-uhs."
2510The Badland Outlaws begin their career in the minor leagues. Beating up Skaven and Goblins came naturally and the Outlaws made the play-offs. However, in a catastrophic accident with a Slaaneshi wizard and a Halfling Master Chef, many of the Orcs' best players were turned into Chaos Spawn.
2511Looking to rebuild, head coach Nazgob told Rark about a new opportunity; the Zlurp Nation league. With the money, women, drugs and fame on offer, the Outlaws moved north, stopping only in the Halfling Moot for supplies of fresh meat.

So eventually, I finish and I'm actually feeling pretty pleased. Inspired.

Even stranger, I find myself filled with a warm fuzzy glow, a positive sentiment directed towards the source of all this labour. I might even say, "Both Down, I love you!"

Filled with happiness and confidence, I played my first league game today, and the stupid green-skins lost. As disappointed as I was, I am solaced by the fact that the defeat can be woven into a story; it seems that as the owner and biggest Orc on the team, Rark disapproves of weakness and sacks any player without armour 9.

The moral of the story? Add some fluff and game with style.

And now, the Outlaw's theme tune:



I particularly like these lines:

From their holes and caverns creep
Ten million Orc and Goblin feet
With hungry hearts and sharpened knives
They come to take your worthless lives

Should anyone wish to sponsor the Badland Outlaws or any of their players, they simply have to ask.

*I know how to power-game; use Wood Elves. Whether I am as successful as anyone else is another matter entirely.

Another GHAG update

Here you have laughingferret #08:



Also,please check his awesome blog here:


http://laughingferret.blogspot.com/

Im telling you...you wont regret it ;)

sexta-feira, 24 de fevereiro de 2012

A Dog ate my...Goblin?

Trying to leverage off my success in finishing off Tristan's Spire Brat Harlequin, I was going full bore on my little gobbo to make to deadline for the preview comp.  There he was, all cleaned up, greenstuffed and drying in his new undercoat, when disaster struck...

...and yes I am very well aware how much this sounds like my son making an excuse for his homework...

Yep, the Dog ate it! Literally.  Sadly there is precedence for this, but it was some years ago and I thought he had grown out of nit.  After all, many other minis had been safe and sound.  But in the end he is a beagle, and they come with the Always Hungry skill...

So at the end of the day, I was left with a bit of a mess and no gobbo.  And he was my last one!  So I'll zip down to the hobby ship tomorrow and see what I can find, but I'm out of the mini-contest.  Poo.

quarta-feira, 22 de fevereiro de 2012

Ahoy there all...

How´s it going everyone?

Just want to do a quick update here explaining why i´ve been so quiet.

Well,long story short,on the 12th of February my dad suffered a stroke and went to the intensive care services.

So,as you can imagine,i was not felling in the mood to paint,or update the blog...or playing fumbbl :(

Anyway...he´s getting better everyday,but hes gonna have to do a heart surgery.

And thats about it...im here now and i´ve played 2 fumbbl games already (Lost 0-2 with Norse Vs Chaos and won 2-0 with Amazons Vs Orcs).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And now about the Give him (ME) a goblin contest...

Here´s Mathias (sorry for the pic...its my fault :) )



He´s an angry looking goblin...Mr.Merry Mayhem approve´z it

I approve it also by the way :P

Also,heres the pic of Be4ch:



Pretty cool huh??? :)

And to end this post,let me copy/paste my post from the TFF forum :) ...yes...im lazy :P

Now that goblins around the world are getting ready for action,you can send them to:

Paulo Miguel do Carmo Soares
Av. da Liberdade,Nº481-2ºEsq.
4620-167,Boim,Lousada
Portugal


Also,for pics and other stuff,use the following mail:

almightyabraxis@gmail.com

Please put GHAG on the subject

When you send the gobbo,please tell me by mail so i can keep track of them.

Thanks all

Paulo

Monster Dice Counter

Love this guy!  Like our Dragon Dice, this is another Blood Bowl turn or re-roll counter by Fantasy Bowl Dices

 Again, we put a bit of felt on the bottom surface so he doesn't scratch up the pitch or dugout

domingo, 19 de fevereiro de 2012

DragonDice

This is the limited edition (only 140 made) resin Dragon Dice counter made for the Australian Blood Bowl Championships. Right Stuff wanted his done up as a Red Dragon, like the old D&D 'red box' artwork!
Underneath is a small piece of felt so it doesnt scratch up the dugout and field.

segunda-feira, 13 de fevereiro de 2012

The GHAG "overdrive" mini-contest...

Well - the response to this contest has blown away all my expectations - it's nothing short of incredible.  I can't believe how many generous folk are out there getting involved with this MMN gobbo team; many thanks, muito obrigado, merci beaucoup, stort tack, muchos gracias, and ta!

In saying that - I would LOVE to get a few more entrants to really complete the team.  Should fortune smile so much we have more people that want to enter than pieces, I'm sure duplicates of secret weapons and duplicates/combinations of mutations would be acceptable - as would obviously additional goblins!  We won't turn anyone away regardless of what mini they want to submit.

So here it is, pretty simple...

Post a photo of your goblin (WIP or finished, but should have some paint!) along with a link to the main contest post (aka THIS LINK) on your blog, twitter, facebook, NAF, TFF, FUMBBL, whatever...
WIP Looney

THEN post a link to that update in the comments below...  you can only get one "raffle entry" but are free to post your update in as many places as you like!

Everyone who does so will be entered in a raffle for some little blood bowl prizes I have laying around (once you win a prize, your name will be removed "from the hat") - to keep up the suspense I will update this post with some teaser pics where you can't really see the entire prize.

This mini-contest will end in two weeks, on Monday February 27th.

PRIZE #1 TEASER

PRIZE #2 TEASER

PRIZE #3 TEASER

terça-feira, 7 de fevereiro de 2012

#3 & #31

Aye caramba...

Im still sick.This flu is kicking my butt pretty good,and,because of that,my Dark Wood Elves are in stand by mode.

New episodes from Both Down and Zlurpcast are out...YEAHHH :)



In this episode, Steve and Scott go over how to make a team. Then they go over the Orclahoma Bowl and talk about tournaments in general.

There’s also 3 contests mentioned in the podcast! 3! Surely you want to enter at least 1 of them! So give it a listen and rock out with your Block out…

Links mentioned in Episode 3

Google Earth Style Warhammer Map
Seventh Sanctum Name Generators
Orclahoma Bowl Results
FF Fields Contest
Blood Bowl Mayhem “Give him a Goblin” Contest
Custom Sports Products
What the hell is a “Fluffernutter”
Definitely let us know what you think at either twitter (@BothDown) or by email at BothDownPodcast@gmail.com

- DOWNLOAD IT HERE

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Jonny P and Xtreme, the not-so-dynamic-duo are back, and G-Dub has been shown the door. Hopefully he’s gone for another year… or at least only accesible via phone making prank phone calls for Zlurpcast donations! The boys cover Frozzty Bowl, Seaside Slaughter, and Orclahoma Bowl in the Graveyard, and preview February Blood Bowl Tournmanets, Heroes Challenge, Rat City Rumble, and Bugman’s Bowl. Inside the Dugout this month talks in-depth with the winner of last year’s Best Guest Award, Chris “Wapcaplets” Engler. He discusses Blood Bowl, Wrestling, and Fat Albert…. what else right? Info is giving on FF-Fields Too Cool Team Contest and Abraxis’ Give Him a Gobbo Contest. Roger Ebert calls this episode a fun romp for the season.

- DOWNLOAD IT HERE

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And thats about it for now...let me just thank the guys from both podcast for talking about our gobbo contest (GHAG)and then,im off to bed again :)

Thank you (in no particular order)

JP,Xtreme,Steve and Scott

Hey guys,thank ya very much fo da support dat ya´re givin me and ta da blog.If someday da merry mayhem news blog conquer da world,ya´re da ones ta blame. - aww yea foo.

#whutupshun

sexta-feira, 3 de fevereiro de 2012

CCKO 2012 - result = biggest dissapointment!!

The rules pack gave you 1,100TV to build your team, with each player only allowed 1 additional skill to start and every skill can only be used once.  I brought Orcs since I was a little tired of playing my Undead (even though they would probably be a better team based on the rules pack). My overall plan was to try and stay under the radar - win my games but not by much.  Between my ST4 blitzer and my Blodging blitzer I was hoping I would always have a ball carrier very tough to take down depending on what skills my opponent had.  After the third game was a skills draft, with two of each upgrade (ST, AG, etc.) and skill available - with last place picking first.

Blitzer +ST
Blitzer w Guard
Blitzer w Dodge
Blitzer
Black Orc w Block
Black Orc w Stand Firm
Black Orc
Black Orc
Thrower w Leader
Line Orc
Goblin w Sneaky Git

Game 1 vs. Craig (Humans - 7th + Most Improved) 2-1 win
Funny how it goes, I hadn't played in a blood bowl tournament since the Blingtoof - where Craig was my last opponent, now he's my first opponent at the CCKO.  He brought the shadowforge bunny team but played them as humans.  For the first couple turns I kept thinking they were amazons.  He chose to receive after winning the coin toss, and I decided to pressure him very aggresively hoping for some early KO's/Casualties to get the numbers advantage.  This meant giving him an opportunity to really get out of range and score an early touchdown - which he dutifully took.  I did enough to force him to score on his turn 3, and then he rolled a Riot kick off result, which basically gave me 7 turns to grind to a first turn tying touchdown.  Throughout I managed to block & foul off 4-5 of his bunnies to get that numbers advantage.  I made sure to stall right the way to turn 8.

Second half I received, and Craig rolled all his KO's back.  He had 1 extra player in his build so we were just about even on numbers, but I managed to do a good job of cage-ing down to the end zone for a turn 8 score, all the while still getting 4-5 of Craigs players off the field.  He had his turn 8, and fortunately for me (and my setup) he failed to roll a riot and was unable to score again.  I think Craig hated my Sneaky Git goblin the most.

Game 2 vs. Stephan (Orcs - 18th + Special Mention: No CAS Against) 1-0 win
Another funny one.  Friday evening while chilling at one of the ottawa guys - Stephan and I nearly convinced each other to take duplicate rosters!!  I am glad I convinced him to bring all 4 black orcs (Glenn convinced him to take at least 3) and I am also glad he convinced me to switch my skills from blitzers to black orcs (blitzers are already pretty useful!) and then further glad he convinced me to switch my dirty player line orc to a sneaky git goblin.  That extra 10K + one black orc skill gave me Dodge for a blitzer, which was unlikely to be available in the skills draft.  It meant my goblin would remain on the pitch even if I rolled doubles but armour didn't break.  In the end Stephan ditched all but the black orc changes and kept his roster pretty different from mine.

Again I lost the coin toss and kicked to Stephan.  Unfortunately though he left an opening to hit his ball carrier pretty early and I took full advantage with my ST4 blitzer.  I ended up scoring around turn 6-7 and the rest of the match was pretty much a shoving contest - even were we did knock opposing players over there was only 2 KOs the entire game.  Stephan did give me a scare knocking the ball loose but I managed to recover and I threw the ball downfield leaving him with an opportunity for a passing score which unfortunately for him - didn't go off.  Kept this win under the radar too at 1-0.

Game 3 vs. Leathan (Chaos Dwarves - 6th) 1-0 win
Possibly my proudest moment of the tournament.  Leathan is a very strong player and I tend to not do well against chaos dwarves (those damn bull centaurs are freakin annoying!!) Thankfully he didn't have a minotaur.  This game my ST4 blitzer really proved his worth.  I lost the kick off again and Leathan had the ball in a bull centaurs hands.  He had my blitzer tied up, but elsewhere he rolled double skulls and (can't remember) either chose not to reroll or he rerolled to double skulls.  It seems Leathan has a tendancy to poor luck against me when it's 1-1 (he's owned me 3-0 but in deathbowl format - after looking up my NAF stats I see both games I've played him at CCKO I've won..  something in the water I guess!!)

I took a chance and once I had done the few safe moves I had, blitzed with the ST4 blitzer (requiring a dodge) and got a single dice block against the BC which turned up open star (schweeeeeet!) and this is where I can really tell my play is improving.  Instead of trying to pick up the ball with the blitzer (which after such a sweet blitz, I usually would have) I left him as a tackle zone next to the ball, and then used the rest of my team to get behind his line of scrimmage and picked it up with a different player.  Managed to stall out the first half and score late.  He had a long shot chance to score with a chain push (not beyond his abilities!!) but I rolled Perfect Defence on the kick off and got to screw up that chance for him.

Second half I just held the ball deep in my end zone, stalling him where possible and late on threw the ball into his end - again giving him a chance to score, but definitely making it more difficult by forcing him to roll many more dice than a blitz on my ball carrier would have.  I even dodged a black orc out of a tackle zone to tie up his bull centaur (something I should have learned from, because I should have tried a similar move later in the tournament).  Held on for my second win vs. Leathan out of two standard games (whaaaaaa?)


After game three there is a skills draft.  In their game three, my next two opponents - Alex and Glenn - tied their match 1-1 so going into the skills draft I was in FIRST PLACE and got to pick skills DEAD LAST.  I got a nice little ovation for being in first place at the time (but by the end of the tournament if there had been a "biggest dissapointment" trophy I would have won it!)

I knew I would be playing Alex and Glenn (both Norse) - so my number 1 skill had to be wrestle.  Other selections I was hoping for were Stand Firm or Fend for a black orc, dirty player for the goblin, and hail mary pass for my thrower (just to be able to guaranteed get the ball out of my end).  I got Wrestle (was amazed Alex had the pick before me and he got dodge - how was dodge still available after 19 people had picked?!?!) and put it on a black orc.  Second pick I got Fend for the other skillless black orc, third pick I got my Dirty Player, fourth pick I had to scramble to choose since my selections were taken - in the end it was between Catch or Diving Catch for my blodging blitzer.  In the end I selected Catch because you can reroll a hand off as well (later in the tournament, Diving Catch would have helped - but I still think I made the right choice)



Game 4 vs. Alex (Norse - 2nd + Best Defence) 0-2 loss

Definitely my worst performance of the tournament.  Can't blame anything - dice were not terrible, just down to poor decision making.  4th game of the day, it was very late by the time it started.  Alex made several mistakes too - also due to fatigue I am sure.  The best way to beat Norse is to start winning the numbers game, they are basically faster/more vulnerable dwarves so it's key to get some early KOs/CAS.  Strange how the one match that I won the kick off, I lost.  Alex kicked to me and I pressured his players very hard - going for some early damage.  He snuck a couple through and put pressure on my thrower.  Here's where I made my mistake, I tried to block (or blitz, can't remember) his player off my thrower but could only push him.  Then - instead of forcing him to block me down and then pickup the ball, I tried to dodge away with my thrower (I wanted to get the ball in the hands of my ST4 blitzer) and failed my dodge with a team reroll to boot.  This allowed Alex to simply free up a player, pick up the ball and stroll into the end zone.

I was pretty dissapointed with myself, the rest of the first half didn't accomplish much, but in the second half I had to kick to Alex and he took his time to score not leaving me with much chance at a consolation TD, let alone to tie it up.  Alex is pretty new but is already a very very strong player - he was the eventual second place winner so I don't feel too bad about losing to him - but have definitely decided from now on, caffeine is required before a 4th game in one day!!

Game 5 vs. Glenn (Norse - 1st) 2-3 loss
This one was a total heartbreaker and probably a tie for my proudest moment at the tournament.  Glenn is something of a legend in Canadian blood bowl.  His living room has a coffee table that is a beautiful blood bowl pitch the likes of which you have never seen (it's glass over an entire stadium, filled with figures and with an etched glass field) and is littered with the stacks of trophies he has won over the years.  A really great guy, this was my first time ever playing him (he works at a bar, so unfortunately finds it tough to make most tournaments due to weekends being his major bread winning time).  I knew I was in for a tough match - again against a Norse team, which may have been the best team suited to the rules pack for this tournament.

Started very aggressively again, in a near copy of my first game vs. Craig - I caused some pain but gave up a very early TD.  For the remainder of the second half I stalled/held out, until finally on the last turn, managed a long pass TD score without even requiring a reroll!!  Unfortunately he rolled back all his KOs, and he started with 12 players so we were pretty even in the numbers game for the second half.  He as well as Craig really hated my little goblin sneaky git/dirty player!

In the second half, he managed to blitz my ball carrier who I was trying to keep out of harms reach and score another quick TD.  I pulled the same hijinx again and stalled until very late and made a long pass to score my second thrown TD of the game (with ORCS?!?!?) and here's where heartbreak happened.  He had two turns left to score, I rolled a Riot on the kick off and unfortunately for me, it gave him an extra turn to score, which I made very difficult but he dutifully did.  Later a buddy pointed out I should have tried to dodge out my black orc to make his passing play more difficult, it's difficult though when everyone is watching your game and with all the excitement.  I was literally a 50/50 die roll (the Riot result) away from tying Glenn on my very first game playing him - but well played to him for a good win and a really really fun and exciting game.

Game 6 vs. Ryan (Undead - 4th) 0-2 loss
After that demoralizing loss, I was happy to play any race other than Norse.  I came up against Ryan's Undead - he was close to 3rd and also to Most Casualties but ended up in 4th place.  It kinda sucked for him to come up against an Orc team when he needed casualties.  My goblin also was ejected on his first foul for double 5's which lost him the one AV7 guy he could beat up on.  I wanted to try something very similar to the games vs. Craig and Glenn - basically trying to destroy Ryan's ghouls early and force him to score early so I could grind out a 2-1 win.  Unfortunately for me, after killing a ghoul early - my dice just completely turned on me.  Lots of failed Go For It's and Dodges all over the place - if you remember last years CCKO, you know the dice have a big F-U on the 1's.  Well in this game I got the middle finger a lot.  Ryan played really well and stalled on his scores enough that I didn't really have enough time to grind - and while pushing to try to tie it up I kept giving up turnovers.

I did make one big mistake though, I didn't read his team sheet closely enough - I thought he had no tackle and my blodger would be very tough to take down - but he did have tackle and didn't have a problem all game destroying that blitzer.  Fair play to Ryan though, he played pretty well - though I managed to nullify the effect his mummies had on the game, after I killed that first ghoul he protected them very well and definitely earned the win. 

So overall, I won my first 3 games, then lost my next 3.  1 loss I felt was due to the dice, and 1 loss was a real heartbreaker - but considering I lost to 1st, 2nd, and 4th place - I was very happy with my performance.  I really wanna win this tournament at some point though - this year they instituted red CCKO dice for the champion - where the F-U is on the SIX!!

dual posted on GWpertinent

quinta-feira, 2 de fevereiro de 2012

my GHAG entry (looney)... build phase complete

Never realized how hilarious the acronym for this contest is!

Well, since Paulo conveniently - ahem... "borrowed" my idea/miniature I was planning to convert into his looney - I decided I needed to try and figure out something else.  Unfortunately my problem was the only goblin models I had were old warhammer fantasy monopose figs.  The spearman being taken that left me with the night goblin archer, so I decided I could make the hand drawing the bow be actually pulling the chainsaw starter cord.
he does actually look like trying to start it
It worked out much much better than I anticipated!!  Other than the chainsword/saw conversion (I used pieces of plastic to give it a guard, as well as another piece as a handle and the bit of wire to act as the starter cord so it looks more like a tool than a space marine weapon) I gave him the nearly obligatory ridiculously massive shoulder pad and used a circular piece of sprue to give him a back number plate.  He will be the number 19 since that's my birthday.
another view that shows the chainsaw better
Hope this inspires someone!  If you haven't made up your mind about entering - this is how easy it is.  This whole conversion took less than an hour.  He's already got an undercoat of black paint on.  I'll have to think of some funny story for why this night goblin isn't the fanatic - maybe he's allergic to mushrooms?

p.s. This contest officially ZLURPCAST APPROVED!
p.p.s. Even though Jonny P clearly didn't understand the tournament.  For anyone confused - we are raffling off a print of my blood bowl painting - not the team itself.  Hope that was clear for everyone but MAIN(ly wrong) GUY.