Blood Bowl team update: Berserkers sign new blitzer

The Bromfield St Beserkers are pleased to announce a new signing. Tycho Midnight, nicknamed the Psycho, has been signed to replace the late Stan Van Branahan who was killed in Wednesday's clash with the Grangetown Greenskinz.

Midnight will take on the role of blitzer, filling the number two slot in the Beserkers roster with Lex Kevlar resuming his former position as blocker.

As you can probably tell, one of my favourite parts of Blood Bowl is coming up with names for players.

Blood Bowl match report – 30 September

The Berserkers win away at the Atlantic Waaaaargggghhhhff Thunderdome but pay a high price for success on the road.

Felix Pace gets ready to run for the end zone

The Bromfield Street Berserkers beat the Grangetown Greenskinz 2-1 in the intimidating atmosphere of the Greenskinz home stadium. Watched indifferently for two minutes by Bella the cat in lieu of any actual baying fans, the Berserkers scored quickly through Felix ‘Find the Space’ Pace, who is fast becoming a star player.

The Greenskinz dominated the opening rounds of blocks. At one point only six Berserkers were still upright and able to move. However, blitzer Gudmund Halo wriggled free with the ball before finding Pace with a short pass. The catcher then ran the ball in, evading a despairing heroic tackle in the process.

The game then degenerated into a war of attrition, which included the second fatality in three matches for the Berserkers. Stan ‘the Man’ Van Branahan was jumped while prone by Belchalot Gubbinz, who ended Van Branahan’s solid Berserkers career and his life.

With the loss of a blocker, the Berserkers seemed vulnerable to being out-muscled, particularly with their boosted blitzer, Boghash Foulbreath. But in a twist of gaming fate, catcher Pace resisted an attempted block, dealing out a serious injury to Foulbreath in the process. This means the blitzer has lost the bonus strength gained through his good play in previous games.

The middle play of the game saw possession stop multiple times with the ball spilling more often than being caught and players unable to fend off tackles while carrying the ball. In total 14 players carried the ball in hand; an unusually high number. The Greenskinz eventually seemed to break through, but catcher Slobber McDrool failed to make an extra yard and was carried off seriously injured for his exertions – one of five Greenskinz in total to get badly crocked.

The second down came through a throw from Giles McGiles, who started for the Berserkers after an excellent game last time out. Felix Pace again found the space to catch in the end zone for his second down of the match. Pace was 2 for 2 on catches throughout the game, while his opposite number Chaz Tastak had a nightmare of a match fumbling three attempts at catches including a golden opportunity from a short pass when he was clear in the end zone.

There was more drama to come with Greenskinz blocker Shnozz Shnozzripper making a catch from Noggin Numskull to restore some pride to the home team. But it wasn’t enough to salvage the game. The Berserkers had won, but at what cost?

Team line-up & stats

Blitzers: Halo, Kevlar

Blockers: Hurricane, S Van Branahan RIP, C Van Branahan, Salvvo

Throwers: McGiles, deMenthe (reserve)

Catcher: Tastak, Pace

Starting Linemen: Carambeau, Zang

Reserve Linemen: Bosch, Vandal, Cordite, MacRatt

Scorers: Pace (2)

Man of the Match: Pace

Bloodbowl match report - 26 August 2015

Bromfield Street Berserkers 2 v 0 Grangetown Greenskinz

All set up and ready to play!

The Berserkers returned to winning ways despite a much-changed side following their recent draw at the Atlantic Waaaaarghf Megadome. Having dispensed with most of their multi-racial roster, including the two dwarf blockers and elf catchers, and needing to replaced deceased legendary blitzer, Jimmy Tectonic, the line up was very different. Skaven linerat Hoolie MacRatt was retained, although he had a disappointing game and ended up seriously injured after a minimal amount of time on the pitch.

Blocker Lex Kevlar was moved to blitzer, while brothers Stan and Callum Van Branahan and Kyle Salvvo were promoted from the line and kitted out as blockers. Three new lineman were added as well, alongside new catcher Felix ‘Find the Space’ Pace. Chaz Tastak, returning to the Berserkers line-up after a long hiatus filled the other catcher role. 

This was the first game played under the new XP rules that modify player characteristics. Boghash Foulbreath, the Greenskinz blitzer, made his XP advantage felt in a number of hefty challenges on Berserkers players, although his aggressive approach didn’t result in many victories considering the advantage he was carrying.

The Greenskinz had possession from the off and there were several rounds of blocks in the middle of the park before eventually a pass was attempted. It was successfully caught but the Berserker tackle went in, clobbering the receiver. A long pass forward to Chaz Tastak came off and his subsequent sprint for the line, including two extra yards, saw the Berserkers go one up.

The attrition had worn down the Berserkers in a game where eventually 10 of the starting 11 were carried off with some sort of injury requiring treatment. None of the debutants were having a particularly good game and the step up to blocker didn’t seem to suit any of the former linemen, with little success in the grapple. Salvvo scored particularly badly with only 2 successful blocks from 13. The failure was shared by most of the team, with several players recording no success in blocks at all and at one point both blitzers were carried off stunned in quick succession.

From the restart the Greenskinz opted for a different tack, bunching around their thrower. With their catchers clear, an attempted pass forward was spilled. The long range throw downfield from the Berserkers was also dropped, but the Greeskinz return attempted pass was also unsuccessful. With the Berserkers now back in possession, a Long Bomb was hurled with accuracy by man of the match replacement thrower Giles McGiles to the waiting debutant, Felix Pace, who had fended off two heroic tackle attempts from desperate Greenskinz players.  It was the final play of the game and gave the Berserkers their largest win for several games.

The final score of 2-0 was enhanced for the Berserkers as they had also seriously injured two Greenskinz players while sustaining only the one serious injury of their own. This means two players from the orc team will be temporarily down on various characteristics in the next match. However, Berserker linemen Chovne Carambeau and debutant Thorstein Vandal have been penalised for a terrible tackling record that will see their Agility scores permanently reduced.

Team line-up & stats

Blitzers: Halo, Kevlar

Blockers: Hurricane, S Van Branahan, C Van Branahan, Salvvo

Throwers: deMenthe, McGiles (reserve)

Catcher: Tastak, Pace

Starting Linemen: Carambeau, Bosch

Reserve Linemen: Vandal, Cordite, Zang, MacRatt

Scorers: Tastak, Pace

Man of the Match: McGiles