Blood Bowl – Skycastle Titans Part 3

It's been a while since I introduced and updated the Skycastle Titans team, but I mentioned that actually only one model was left to paint. Now the last Skaven of the team is finally finished the project is completed.

Hard to believe. I started with the team in September 2013 as an Ogerteam and after almost five years(!) I finally ended up with an Underworld team. I think the most exciting thing was basically the journey to this point, because I did not only get to know a lot of nice folks in the hobby and at the gaming table during this time, but I finally fulfilled my goal of having a team with blue as the main color. Although the color scheme is rather unusual for Skaven, I am pleased with the overall result. Also, the decision to accommodate a purple troll has paid off visually.

The Skaven with the club as an arm was quite a simple conversion It is just a stormvermin upgraded with a piece from the mutations sprue of the old chaos warriors. Visually both stormvermin have integrated well into the overall picture of the squad and my starting lineup in the games that I have already played, looked like this:

2x Skaven Thrower
2x Skaven Stormvermin
2x Skaven Linerat
1x Troll
4x Goblin

3x Reroll
1x Assistant Coach
1x Cheerleader
1x Apothecary

Total value: 970.000 Goldpieces

Some people might wonder why I did not take another goblin rather than an assistant or a cheerleader. Well, the basic idea was, that the goblins would drop the bucket pretty fast anyway and another gobbo just wasn't worth what an extra coach and a cheerleader would add to the team. Since I started with a fan factor of zero, I wanted to exclude the possibility of already having the Fame against me, so I tried to make up for it a bit this way. In my previous games, I have had these experiences:

2:0 vs Orcs

For an Underworld team, orcs are a bit of a tough nut to start with, and in my game against Chefoberboss I was lucky throughout the match. I started the first turn directly with a foul, which sent one of his players into the K.O. box and one of my guys off the field, as the gobbo got caught. From there on I chose my targets more carefully and made sure that the stormvermin always sent a player kissing the dirt, which was then followed by an additional boot to the victims mug by another goblin. The troll, however, tried to tie one of the stronger players, which only moderately succeeded. It would probably have been more worthwhile to target the orcish thrower than to go eye to eye with the blackorcs.

The points came from a classic delaying tactic in the first half and a dropped ball in the second half. It's quite possible to stall against slower teams, as you can simply run from one side of the field to the other before being forced into the end zone.

3:0 vs Darkelves

I´m not sure if it was rather bad luck with his dice in this game too, than my talent for playing, what made me look good. In any case, Swarley had built up a very nice dice tower, which sadly rolled a mass of ones for him, while I was able, with daredevil maneuvers, to free myself from hopeless situations again and again. On the positive side, the trend towards fouling seems to be a well-suited tactic for Underworld teams, especially against players with more moderate armor. As a result, I had an unexpected superiority on the field quite early on and could always cover the ball carrier with expendable players.

The combination of handovers and passes is a tricky thing as the team lacks the skills and agility to do so. But if you keep a skaven thrower nearby, you can even handle any mistakes by recovering the ball during the next turn. The throwers also seemed to be in very good harmony with each other in this game and I believe these are the two key players which are meant to play much more together than in a regular Skaven team.

2:1 vs Vampires

In my old gaming club WAAAGH! –Frankfurt, which will soon run under a new name and structure, I had the opportunity to lead the Titans against Volkers vampires into the field, an old friend against whom I've played pretty often already. One of my stormvermin had gotten the skill mighty blow, as mutations were nice, but I somehow felt that I could do more with this choice. As it turned out, it was a good decision. In the first half I was quickly able to clear the field with a combination of the previously gained experiences of fouling and risky plays. This way I could snatch the lead. In the second half, I learned why the hypnotic gaze of vampires is so dreaded. Although Volker had only three vampires in the team, he always managed to put my defense out of action.
Fortunately, only a few of his players recovered after the equalizer, so I was able to stumble on happyly with the numerical advantage.

Conclusion

I usually play orcs almost entirely and do not spend much time thinking about deeper strategic planning (yeah...I know). The Underworld team does not have the punch of a bashy team, but is also far from the speed of a fast team. The goblins too, do not really seem to be an attracting positional with their fragility. The sum of these factors, however, make up for a fairly carefree game, since you don't get used to your players too much. Correspondingly, the willingness to take risks and try out a crazy play on the field seems to increase with this thought in mind. In addition, it is kind of joyful to continue stomping onto the already downed opposing players.

I will play a few more games with the Skycastle Titans in the future and possibly even make a detailed match report. The classic match-up bad against worse would probably offer itself against a nicely painted halfling team. What a coincidence that Dennis just happens to have one in the making...

Greetings from the Chaosbunker
Dino