Post Underworld and Blood Bowl 2016 Musings.

About 20 days ago I attended Underworld Cup 2016. I decided to bring my Ogres due to the unique nature of the tournament (adding skills to players each round, additional initial points for purchasing the team, additional first round skills for Ogres) and also because I wanted to crush heads and get the Most Casualty award for the tournament. 

The roster I brought was simple - a hint of Block, a smidgen of Break Tackle, and a nice dash of Pile On. And of course the "twin towers" with Guard and Stand Firm. A few other fun choices like Side Step and Frenzy rounded out the mix. 5 Ogres, with a full roster of Snotlings and one Chainsaw Star Player to round out the mix. All in all I felt good about my chances to win a game, thump skulls, and have fun. 

In the end I came in with 2 wins, 2 ties, and 1 loss in the 5 rounds. I lost the Most Casualty award by 1 - winner came in at 26 and I had 25. The fact that I managed so many CAS vs some very bashy teams made me happy. Overall though it was still a great showing for the Ogres! Here are a few photos I took of the rounds though I can't recall the specifics of any one game in details now.

Game 1 vs Goblins

Game 2 vs Norse

Game 3 vs Chaos Dwarves

Game 4 vs Chaos Dwarves

Game 5 vs Norse

Speaking of Blood Bowl... did y'all see that new edition that came out! It's not perfect (in fact they took some very well tested and written rules and messed them up a bit) but it is pretty slick. I was originally not planning on picking up the new box but I did on a whim. Thinking of painting up the two teams included to give away as a gift. Or maybe sell? Who knows.

In the meantime here are some photos for those who want to see more! 

Blood Bowl 2016 Orc Team

Overall I dig the style of these sculpts. Sort of a cross between the Blood Bowl video game look and the more modernized Age Of Sigmar Orruks look. They could probably be converted to play in that game pretty easily with some minimal modifications.  

Blood Bowl 2016 Human Team

Not as chuffed on the Human sculpts though they do look better in person. Their poses are much more static when compared to the Orcs and they are just a bit bland overall. Probably less you could do on the conversion front with these models.  

I had a question on scale from another community so I thought I would post a quick scale photo of the new models as well for reference:

Left to Right you have: Deadzone Human, BB2016 Human, BB2016 Orc, Black Orc BB conversion, GW Wight King, and This Is Not A Test Linebreaker Human. As you can see the Human scale is closer to 32mm or a beefy human body type. 

While there has been some initial interest in getting a local league going with the new edition like many things it might be just a fleeting fad with little long term support. I'll be doing my best to get something going (because I love league play!) but only time will tell if Blood Bowl 2016 is the relaunch Blood Bowl needed to inject new life and new players into the great game.

Headed Off To Underworld Cup 2016!

It's November! That means it is time for the Underworld Cup!! Due to work obligations I have not been able to attend since Coach FlyingDingle took on hosting the event with new rules. But this year is different! I can finally bring my Ogres into a potentially competitive environment for them with plenty of build gold and a nice boost in development at the early stages of the tournament.

You can find rules for the event here.

Essentially you start with a 1.2 Million GP build and get to add 90k in skills and extras each round. Each player can only get one upgrade per round. Outside of that you are pretty much free to do what you want! My Ogres start with an extra 100k for their build (so 1.3) plus an additional 50k to spend on skills before Round 1 (so 140k total).

After a few botched attempts at roster creation here is what I settled on for Round 1:

Click to embigify

First thought it... was do Ogres love? Being strong! So +ST is a must. Also they like to hit stuff and help each other hit stuff so we needed some hitting skills and a bit of Guard tossed in. Snotlings don't need anything but to get in the way and not get stomped. Unless you bring a Chainsaw to the field... in which case you probably won't get eaten (right away).

So what does Round 2 look like? See for yourself:

Push button make big

Gonna need to be able to hit people better! Also maybe we'll try and pick up the ball?

Then it is on to Round 3:

You can do it! Click here!

Hitting things is fun but what we really want is dead things (to hit and eat)! Ogres!! Let's fall on em!?

We get up in Round 4:

Don't make me type things here...

We get up and we also get tricksy with a bit of Side Step to go with our Frenzy. Oh yeah and we can also move around a bit more with some Break Tackle in there for funsies.

Round 5 it all goes to pot:

More +ST!! More movement!! More crushing skulls rarrrggh!!?

And there you have it. My goals with these rosters and upgrades is simply one of having fun playing with my Ogres. Nothing fancy. If I can win a game or two and get a bunch of CAS in the process I would be a very happy Irongut. What will become of the matches?! Perhaps I will let you know the next time I update...

Off to the Underworld Cup!

Why I am awake so damn early? Because I am headed to beautiful Wisconsin for the 2011 Underworld Cup! I had intended to go to last year's event but the winter elements conspired against me and I chickened out. Not so this year! 

While I had hoped to have my additional vampires painted in time to take the Strigoi Slash, I didn't manage to get them done enough to bring along. Thus I have fallen back on my trusty friends of the Nurgland Germs making this their 4th (or 5th?) tournamnent showing in 2011. What did I choose to bring you ask? Well since you asked...

Click on the image for a more detailed look. The gist of it is this: 14 player roster, 5 normal skills and 1 doubles skill, 1 reroll. We'll see how it goes!!