Jundheim Jugulars: Blood Bowl League Round 1 Game 3

 *BRRZZZTTT- News from 'the Warden of the North' as ' Coach Right Stuff ' plays his third Blood Bowl League game with his Vampire team, the Mighty Jundheim Jugulars, against Orc team "The Git Krumpers":*

Aaaaaand We're back with the weekly match report from the League in the Northern Wastes, This time the hungry and bloodied Vamps of the Jundheim Jugulars take on the big green stinky Orcs of The Git Krumpers. Coming of the back of a solid win, the Vamps were eager to prove themselves and beat the team that introduced them to the league with a preason beatdown. Now that Duke Viktor von Dragoslav(Vargheist) had picked up a major skill in block, he was eager to show those Orcs how its done.

Vampires were the home team for the game and the stands were packed with fans for such an exciting game. Unfortunately the league hadn't approved the used of an special stadium and no fancy balls were able to be snuck past the ref so normal pitch, normal ball. It was all down to the players themselves. The Orcs were allowed a small package of inducements being some extra team training before the game, a keg of Budweizer to help any players snoozing on the job, and an addition assistant coach with some insider knowledge of the Vampires and how they operate.

The Vamps win the coin toss and elect to kick off the Orcs as they feel more comfortable ruining the plans of their opponents. Setting up either side, nice perfect weather ready for a perfect day of Bloodbowl. The new assistant coach hired for the game by the orc side paid off as his knowledge of their aggressive defensive strategies gave the orcs an extra reroll as they prepared for the rush. 

The insider knowledge from the hired assistant coach
wasn't enough as the vamps rush the ball!

Orcs begin by living up to their name and get krumpin', knocking down my front line. Curiously however, instead of trying to pickup the ball, he decides to just surround it with some tackle zones and hand over the turn back to me. My Vamps were chomping at the bit to get at em and SLAM into the orc lines. I rush a few thralls and the Baron Gregor von Kraus(Vamp Blitzer) in and knock his zones off the ball while setting their own onto it, making sure he wasn't getting his hands on it anytime soon. Lady Striga Drachenfeld(Vamp Runner) tags a blitzer, the Duke gets smacking right back. He struggles to get across the board in time for me to snatch up and ball.

Baron Gregor von Kraus makes a break for it!

After allowing him time to move into the forming moshpit and tie his players up (mostly), I go to make a dash for the endzone with the Baron around turn 5 due to the fact that a sneaky orc by the name of  Hook took the opporutnity to lay the boot into Lady Striga after a failed dodge and she was seriously injured(MNG). Unfortunately, the Vamps had clearly planned to have a picnic around this very same time as I failed 5 Bloodlusts in a row... followed by a double skulls on the Vargheist... which I tried to reroll but got a 1 on that also. Just to point out how insane this is, its 1 in 1,679,616 or 0.0001%. A handful of Orcs seized the opportunity to break free of the moshpit and sack the Baron. Demitrius(Thrall) and Count Edgar Diedrich III(Vamp Thrower) push their way toward to ball to help him on the ball. In the background, the Blitzer by the name of Uppercut, kills Goran(Thrall), nothing of value is lost. Seeing the 3 tacklezones on the ball, Count Edgar and Baron Gregor share a glance and know what must be done. The Count runs up to the big figure of the orc big 'un "Tuff" and utilizes his hypnotic gaze to render him useless for a turn. Demitrius runs up and distracts the Line Orc. Baron Gregor shoves the Blitzer out of his way(and onto his ass) as he moves onto the ball and manages to pick it up, avoiding the smacks of the lineorc as he walks into the endzone on turn 7. 3 tacklezones be damned.  A turn of punching back and forth of no result and halftime is called.

1-0 Vamps at the half.

The Baron, The Count, and a bloodbag navigate a
tricky scenario with excellent teamwork to score.

Both teams set up again after the break and the Vamps are eager to try to score a snappy TD and secure this game for good. They go for a running game with some short passes now that the runner eliminates the "Air Vamp(tm)" plan is sitting in the Casualty box. Leaning heavily on the right side, Count Edgar catching the ball after a particularly high kick flys all the way to the rafters of the manor, the Baron opens a path for the Duke to get into the thick of it from the get go. Making a loose protective bubble just back from half pitch and feeling pretty safe and ready to weather the storm. The Orcs get krumpin and start turning my bubble into an arrowhead as the push the front half toward the sideline. I push up for another turn enjoying my cosy 3 space wide bubble along the sideline and both the Vargheist, Thrower(non-ball carrier) and Blitzer get knocked down and stunned.

Vamps recieve the kick and prepare to weather the storm of the Orc assault

The protective bubble around Count Edgar getting pressured hard
along the sidelines by the Green Horde

 I decide I need to take a gamble cause Im never gonna last against all the bash of the Orcs. I double back and shift with the little space I have to start going down the centre now his team is all on one side. Predictably his whole team shifts over to the middle to stop the potential leak.... and this is what I had gambled on. He forgot about my stunned vamps and I stood up Viscount Friedrich Freudenburg V ready to receive a pass as I double double back again. His Big Uns are all tied up on thralls in the Midfield trying to take advantage of my numbers advantage, I will have plenty of time to run it in and be home free.

Count Edgar Diedrich passes the bloodlust... 

Tosses the ball into an effortless long pass.... 

and riiiight as its reaching the fingertips of the Viscount and the lineorc "Mincemeat" slips in an intercepts with 3 6's in a row!

The orcs having taken the bait, the Count lines up the perfect pass...
just for it to be intercepted by a pathetic lineorc!

Now panicked and desperate to not turn this near 2-0 shutout into a 1-1 draw, the Vamps scramble to swamp the orcs before they can set up properly and convert this opportunity into a TD. The lineorc hero that saved the game hands its off to a more trusted blitzer and the blitzer gets as much protection as he can. Fortunately for me, a well placed blitz with the Vargheist and a effective hypnotic gaze lets the Baron, a bloodbag(thrall), and the Count get revenge for their excellent plan gone awry by all getting onto the ballcarrier. The orcs manage to worm the ballcarrier out of that mess with the strength of the biguns, but no one else to protect him. Now enjoying the near elf-like agility of the Vampire nobles, they all dodge out and surround the ballcarrier with 3 vampiric bodies. The Orc ballcarrier, inspired by their agility, decides to give it a go(without rerolls) and dodges out on a 5+, a 4+, and a 3+ and back to the safety of the big un Ruff who managed to get downfield to help his teammate. The Vampires continue to hunt as a pack with the Baron and the Count continuing their excellent teamwork from before, hypnogazing the Big 'Un and smacking the ambitious blitzer to the ground. The Duke(Varg) decides to end off the game by casualising a Big Un and a Blitzer to ensure the orc side can't score before the whistle.

Full Time: Vamps 1-0, 2-3 in casualties(with only 1 being self inflicted).

The mother of all moshpits forms as the Vamps scramble to
 recover after the pivotal interception. 

Aaaand thats the game for the week! Thanks to my opponent for a brilliantly close game, and I look forward to meeting him further down the line with more developed teams on each side where im sure I won't fare as well.

As for you bloodbowl fans, you can catch us next week as we follow the progress of this promising up and coming Vampire team when they take on the Chaos Renegades of the Howling Hill Hellions.
 - Right Stuff

This week's win keeps the Jugulas in third place on the League Ladder

Jundheim Jugulars: Blood Bowl League Round 1 Game 2

News from 'the Warden of the North' as Reilly plays his second Blood Bowl League game with his Vampire team, the Mighty Jundheim Jugulars, against Chaos team "Beeftown Express":

Welcome back all fans of Blood Bowl! Right Stuff Reilly here bringing you the latest news from the Northern Blood Bowl league. This Match sees the new and hungry vampires of the Jundheim Jugulars taking the pitch against the freshly blessed Beef Town Chaos team.

While we were not using the special rules of the Vampire pitch, we did play using the special weather table of the "Creepy Castle" and the special Bat Ball (if on ground, it proceeds to bounce at the end of each player turn as a swarm of bats attempts to pick it up!). Unfortunately due to a rather bloodthirsty first game of the season, the side of Beef Town was forced to hire some less-than-ideal mercenary beastmen to fill out his roster whilst a Chaos Warrior and 2 Beastmen were resting up and recovering from their injuries. 

I take advantage of the dropped ball and run through the lines early in 1st half

The first half begins as I kick off to him and set up rather aggressively, feeling confident with my strength advantage. My continued trend of gambling with kick location pays off as the ball falls close to the line.

The very first activation a fresh Beastman attempts to pick up the ball and fail, then electing not to reroll it. My aggressive defensive tendencies let me fully take advantage of the chance, and I run at least half my team at it the ball while tying up enough of the rest of his team. While I don't quite get my hands on it, we get 3 tackle zones on it. The household bats lurking within the rafters clearly remember who feeds them as they bounce the ball right into the hands of the thrower Viscount Freidrich Freudenburg V!

The Chaos coach, now regretting his decision not to train his team in anything other than punching, can't quite get enough players in the way to stop me handing the ball to the runner Lady Striga Drachenfeld and running far out of reach towards his endzone to score.
A fabled 2 turn defensive TD. 

Lady Striga makes a break for it and sprints downfield to score turn 2.

I set up again, now in awe of what my vamps are clearly capable of when not chomping themselves to death. I repeat my usual aggressive setup and prepare to pounce on potential repeated fumbless. Unfortunately, my gambling tendencies come back to bite me as the ball sails into the crowd granting a touchback. While the crowd and coaches watch the ball sail into the distance, the clearly imported Officious Ref(The new Throw a Rock) proceeds to come to blows with one of my thralls and leaves him eating the astrogranite for a few minutes.

The fearsome frontline of Beef Town while down a man, is still just as deadly as they proceed to knock down my frail front line of thralls but the Vargheist Duke Viktor von Dragoslav holds strong, but alone. After enjoying the classic Chaos pastime of violence, he sets up a wall of players but leaves a gap around the edges alone the sideline. I am far enough up to be able to zip some vamps and thralls around the side while blocking the Vargheist through the center. The regularly scheduled content of a midfield brawl ensues and I manage to spill the ball near the wide zone.

Amongst all the chaos(heh) in the center, the young Thrall Piotr gets caught up in all the bloodlust and summons to courage to kills a Journeyman Beastman by the name of Jeff "the Hunger". The Chaos gods take their tithe as the Chaos Warrior known as "The Mountain" injures the Thrall Nikolai out of next weeks game. Luckily given enough time, the Vampire strength and agility advantages pull through as the Viscount Freudenburg grabs ahold of the ball again and moves downpitch with his entourage.

The Chaos team becomes lost in the violence and he lets me score while attempting put the hurt into my precious bloodbags but the lush carpet of the manor saves my thralls for now. The Vamps score turn 6 and Beef Town have 2 turns left in the half to attempt to score... but just decide to get punching instead, knocking out a Thrall. My Vampires decide to indulge for the last turn of the half, and the Viscount Freudenburg casualises a beastman in return.

End of Half, Vamps 2-0. 

We set up for the second half, feeling confident when seeing the scoreline and matched number of casualties. He sets up a pretty standard defense, holding the Chaos warriors in reserve to blitz into any potential cages. I match with a strong left side planning to play a pretty classic bubble running game down the left widezone, with the middle held up by the Blitzer Baron Gregor van Kraus and a few Thralls. Unfortunately for me, as the ball sails straight into the hands of the Viscount the same Officious ref(who had clearly been paid off) decides to give my beloved vampiric Baron a talking to while the game continues around him for the first turn ... leaving my center wide open to be smashed through. Ruh Roh.

Offensive momentum now a little shaky, we push forward and blitz down Chaos Warrior Biff 'Chrome' with the might of the Duke, daring the chaos side to match his strength. The Lady Striga runs down the sideline enjoying the now wide open wide zone. The Viscount bubbles up around the backfield and hands the ball to the teams other thrower, Count Edgar Diedrich III. Half the chaos team run forward and swamp the bubble, attempting to apply pressure a stop me moving forward. The other half took the taunting from the Varghiest personally and swamp him attempting to bring him down... and fail. 

Unfortunately for him, the distraction screen of the Vargheist made him forget about the runner Lady Striga and doesnt even mark her with a player! A few blocks here and there allows for Count Diedrich III to calmly stride forward, lob the ball to the runner and she runs in for a clean 2 turn touchdown via Air Vamps. 

3-0 Vamps.

We both set up a measly 9 man team due to the few KOs and casualties between us so far, and we get back to duking it out. I send vamps around the side again to pressure the ball carrier, sticking to the gameplan of pressure, pressure, pressure. Completely unsuprisingly, a massive mob forms in the middle between the Varghiest, some thrall chewtoys, and the Chaos Warriors. My Runner and Thrower begin headhunting the ball carrier and push him towards his endzone. 

One lone Beastman Joe "Platter" breaks free of the moshpit and the ballcarrier Joe "Hasslehoof" manages to panic lob it to him. Lady Striga realises the mistake of overextending and BOOKS it back to mark the ball, graciously dodging through the moshpit. Luckily, the Baron makes it out of the clutches of the moshpit with a few lucky dodges and gets a blitz on the ball with no rerolls... and only succeeds in pushes him even closer towards the endzone. Shit.

Its now out of my hands, all he needs is a 3+ dodge(with no team re-rolls left) and hes in to score with Joe 'Platter'. As the crowd waits with baited breath..... SPLAT. Joe falls flat on his face. The crowd erupts in a chorus of cheers and bleats.

After only just learning that Vampires can sweat, Lady Striga swoops in and picks up the ball but can't quite get out of threat range of the downed Joe Platter and his one beastman friend who managed to remember what the ball is. Joe "Platter" stands up, eyes full of anger at being embarassed on World Wide Cabalvision, eager to redeem himself.... and trips over the outstretched food of the Baron who was marking him. Lady Striga runs up pitching hoping to last ditch lob it downfield to the Viscount Freudenburg in the dying hours of the game. However "The Mountain" decides that he has to do everything and proceeds to make a string of dodges to blitz Lady Striga to the ground. 

I foil his attempted score halfway through 2nd half at the last possible moment.

In the last turn of the game I realise I have one possible hail mary opportunity at another touchdown.... but before that lets do some fun blocks. The Duke Viktor von Dragoslav then proceeds to remind us that he is in charge around here and kills his only Chaos Warrior with block, Biff  'Chrome'. Luckily the Chaos gods can see Biff's potential long career of violence ahead and him and spare him, and allow the the apothecaries to reduce it to a MNG.

Now my reroll-less hail mary play. Count Diedrich III needs to pass bloodlust(2+), dodge through a tackle zone(2+), pick up the ball(2+), rush twice(2 x 2+), Long Pass(4+ for accurate), and then the Viscount Freidrich Freudenburg V needs to catch(2+), Pass bloodlust(2+), and walk into the endzone.
The crowd can see the madness about to occur and go eerily quiet...

He passes the Bloodlust...
He dodges through onto the ball...
He picks up the ball...
Passes rush #1...
Passes Rush #2...
The Pass is as straight and accurate as an arrow...
... and the ball smacks straight into the daydreaming forehead of the Viscount.

3-0 Victory to the Jundheim Jugulars.
4-2 Casualties in favour of the vampires.

MVPs went to the Duke Viktor von Dragoslav and "The Mountain".

The Duke enjoys the thrill of killing
Beef Town's prized Chaos Warrior... momentarily.

Following the game, Lady Striga picked up the Dodge skill to help her pull of some sheer nonsense and up her survivability whilst the Duke manages to pick up Block as his first skill! The Vampire lord manages to save the dying beastman Jeff "the Hunger" and recruit him as a "willing" thrall to the Vampire team. The team then spent the game's winnings on an Apothecary and an additional new thrall recruited from the local Jundheim villages by the name of Alexei.

So with this win, the league standings show the Jugulars in third position of the 11 teams, sitting just beneath The Red Gentlemen(Khorne), and tied with Disturbingly Dank Denizens(Underworld) and Da Git Krumpers(Orcs... and their opponent next week!).

And more importantly, the Vargheist Duke Viktor von Dragoslav is now tied for the title of League's leading casualty generator!

And thats the game. Violence, Touchdowns, and sheer shenanigans. Sounds to me like some perfect bloodbowl. 

Thanks to my opponent for a brilliant game, and I look forward to more nonsense next week!
As for you bloodbowl fans, you can catch us next week as we follow the progress of this promising up and coming Vampire team when they take on Da Git Krumpas.
 - Right Stuff

Battle of the Fallen Eagle

So excited were Alan and I to see our Civil War project realised earlier this week, that we even got a second game in: superb! Joined by mates Marty (my Co-Consul) and John (duped into an alliance with Pompey)- the game was afoot.

Consul John - unwitting pawn to the perfidious Pompey

After I had won initiative and advanced with march move, Alan's first turn started inauspiciously when his centre command's group move failed with the dreaded Ace card, allowing me to steal 2 moves on him and press him hard with my veteran legions. It was at this exact moment that he knocked over the standard bearer model of Pompey Magus's command stand, breaking off the Eagle standard! A terrible omen indeed, and soldiers are known to be a superstitious bunch...

Nemesis accepts Caesar's offerings and strikes a deadly blow to Pompean morale

Marty and I trust our whole line ahead fast, pushing hard to keep the initiative and restrict their options. Admittedly, Alan and John's cards didn't give them many anyway. Under Caesar's watchful eye, the legions clashed in the centre, pinning Alan against his baggage elements. 

No Mercy for Traitors!!!

My right flank was comprised mostly of Cavalry, both Roman equites and Gallic tribal, who gave ground when pressed by enemy foot troops. This traded space for time, and kept John's troops away from the main event in the centre. My left flank, Commanded by Marty, faced Pompey himself, who was pushing hard to force a flanking manoeuvre but again just didn't get the cards to be able to seize the opportunities.

Consul Marty holding the left flank well against Pompey 

Meanwhile, the grind in the centre continued, Alan continuing to loose units and committing his reserve of raw legions against my broadly undaunted veterans. 

"Push forward in the Centre - Attack! Onward to Victory!"

With their centre collapsing (and my being up 8 VPs to 1 at this point), the Pompean forces conceded the field and retired.

Caesar's veterans grind forward into Pompey's raw legions
(Alan modelled the new recruits sans armour to display their lack of preparedness - very cool)

The auguries were poor for Pompey Magnus this day and his army's morale never recovered from the incident of the Fallen Eagle (reflected by some very unfortunate cards it must be said). Meanwhile, Caesar gave thanks and libations to Fortuna and Mars for this glorious Victory!

We give you joy of our Victory!

Pompey Tristis and John...in absentia

A throughly enjoyable game in which our knowledge of TTS is growing and use of strategums adds a bit of unknown fun. I was pretty happy with how my strong centre formation with veterans and Brilliant General (that is, the leadership figure with a 3 square redraw advantage as opposed to me!) is working. Not much finesse to it, but it is historically correct as Ceasar often tried to rapidly force a result, relying on his veterans before Pompey's usually larger force and superior cavalry ground him down.

Thanks again Alan for hosting us all to a great evening of culinary delights, tabletop fun and camaraderie!

A Civil War 4 years in the making

Legionaries of Caesar and Pompey clash!

Today Alan and I finally got to play our first Roman Civil War game: Caesar vs Pompey! The first figs were bought in 2020 after which we were disrupted by job changes, moving house, a pandemic and a bold (but correct decision) to change rules and basing. 

Alea iacta est!

After all that it was great to fill the table with 28mm figs!  Many of these figs were painted across a few seasons of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge in the intervening years. We started with two starter boxes of the Warlord Plastic Caesarian Army and added to them over the years with pretty much every manufacturer we could find: Aventine, Foundry, 1stCorps, Relic, Baueda, Debris of War and even some old Wargames Factory figs. 

From little things, big things grow

We initially chose Infamy Infamy as our rules (which were newly released at the time) but as our vision and appetites grew we switched to To The Strongest for larger, table spanning games, which we are really enjoying in other periods- mainly Dark Ages.

Tabletop Megalomaniac!

My force is that of Caesar, focusing on his veterans from the Gallic Wars and campaigns in Britannia. It also includes tribal allies to swell the ranks, especially in cavalry where Caesar was traditionally short in comparison.

Alan's force represents that of the vile (though possibly more legally justifiable) pretender Pompey and includes a range of different support units with an Eastern flavour, such as Cretan archers and Hellenic Thyreophoroi spearmen, to represent his territories and recruiting regions.

Alan's army is characterised by his amazing handpainted shields and lavish attention to detail across every unit. His ability to tell stories through his dynamic basing is quite remarkable and the pics just don't do them justice.

When asked to comment on his army, Alan simply stated "it is very impressive and invincible". He is a Commander of few words, respecting only Victory enjoyed with a cup of fine wine.

Of course that is my unit with the dreaded Ace card next to it...

Let the Bellum Civile commence!

Pallidus' arena Debut

After another couple of weeks away, some Lanisti convened for more Blood on the Sands arena action. I hosted two matched pairs plus author Frank encouraging us from the Editor's box, which made for a fun night with a few amphorae of wine.

In the match next to us, Gav's Thraex rapidly dispatched John's Murmillo having almost severed his arm in an opening rush (John rolled double 1s for his defence and it was all rapidly downhill from there...). 

In the meantime my new Retiarius Pallidus had his debut match against Marty's Secutor. Pushing forward early, Pallidus used extended lunges to exhaust the Secutor's defences, before entangling him, pushing up against the arena wall and disarming him. 

Many trident strikes landed, unable to penetrate the heavy armour of the Secutor. Through clever fatigue and dice management he got hismelf out of the net and retrieved his sword. Ultimately, the two gladiators ended up in their original positions and a stans missus was declared with each sporting 3 honourable wounds. Most entertained!

So two VERY different bouts - John entertained himself by recreating his Gladiator's demise with the artefacts available around my loungeroom...

"They dont like it up 'em Mr Mainwaring"

And I was excited to have this arrive too :-)

Pallidus joins the Familia Gladiatoria!

Lots of work travel this month (3 countries and 2 stints at sea) so not much hobby done. But I did complete Pallidus (the Pale One) the Retiarius, a Gaulish prisoner of war, who is now ready for action in the arena!

That fair skin is going to suffer in the Mediterranean sun!

28mm Crusader figure kindly donated to me by Alan, to help flesh out my second Ludus - thanks mate :-)

Ludi Incipiant - Let the Games Begin!

"Ave Imperator, morituri te salutant!"

This week I invited a select group of Lanisti to my Province to celebrate the Maius (May) Spring Festivus. OK its autumn here in the antipodes but we needed an excuse to roll dice and hurl insults in appalling Latin is a good one! 

And so the matchups began - my Murmillo faced John's more nimble Thraex, who was all over me from the start. I took a couple of light wounds and was getting fatigued so tried some different tactics to turn the tide.  I managed to disarm John, but he dashed in, retrieved his blade and wounded me again. As things were looking bleak for me, I was lucky to land a disabling head wound and the crowd were appropriately merciful.

Next to us, Alan's Thraex fared badly against Marty's Murmillo who was bludgeoning him to a pulp. That is, until 2 quick strikes incapacitated Marty's heavier fighter.

The final match saw Alan's Secutor face off against veteran Lanista Frank himself and his Retiarius. The fisherman danced around at range, and even managed to ensnare Alan, but he managed to escape and disable the trident wielder, to the crowd's delight.

Alan clearly had just suffered some kind of wound when this pic was taken!

So 3 bouts and 3 Victories by Missio. Once again, we were most entertained!