Screaming Spires 3

The first tournament for me this month was the third edition of Screaming Spires, in Oxford, organised by FallingdownJoe, and once again I chose to bring Vampires. After the last couple tournaments and a fair bit of practice on FUMBBL, I figured that the main thing that lost me games was team implosions. This is hardly surprising - Vamps have always been notorious for destroying their own team - but I felt the problem was less with Bloodlust and more with the almost complete lack of built-in skills on the team (other than Hypno). To really utilise Vamps to their full extent you will be rolling tons of dice, many of them with no built-in reroll, so rerolls are at a premium. You want to have Leader for the extra reroll and you want to have Strip Ball on a Blitzer for the easy sacking, but that means two skills gone right away and your team is no safer than before. You of course also want Dodge to keep the runners mobile, maybe a Pro here and there and soon you're out of skills without any Block on your team! And because you want to conserve rerolls, you avoid those 1/9 blocks, while your opponent's Orcs gleefully throw block after block at you with their Blitzers and blocked-up Big Uns, because you've HAD to base them to use your Hypno. AV 9 isn't terrible but it will break roughly 1 in 4 knockdowns, so you will lose Vamps almost as fast as you lose Thralls.

This time I wanted my Vamps to punch back a little. My first thought was a Block Mighty Blow Vargheist for that Claw MB combo. However, in this ruleset taking a double would mean taking only 6 skills total instead of 7, and I felt that that extra skill would be sorely needed. I had also been thinking about the conversation in a recent OWOBB about Vampires, where both Kfoged and Asteflix had expressed doubts on the value of the Varg. I wasn't convinced, but figured this would be a good chance to put that to the test. In the end, this is what I took:

Player	Skills
Thrower	Leader
Thrower	Block
Blitzer	Block, Mighty Blow
Blitzer	Strip Ball
Runner	Dodge
Runner	Dodge
8x Thrall
3x RR, 1x Coach

Dropping the Block MB Varg for a Block MB Blitzer meant an extra 40k, just enough for another Thrall bringing my total up to 8 for a bit of extra buffer. As the ruleset only allowed a single stack I couldn't blodge anything up after that, so I went with Block on the Second thrower for some additional hitting power, Dodge on the Runners for mobility and, of course, Leader and Strip Ball. 3 RRs and 1 coach rounded the roster up.

Game plan was simple: If I have the ball, I score ASAP. Forget stalling, just score as quickly as possible and spend most of the game defending, which is where Vamps are happiest. Meanwhile, snipe at the opponent's key pieces with the MB Blitzer, using a Dodge runner to Hypno skills away first and provide an assist if needed, and conserve rerolls for the "Go Turn" where the ball can be stolen for good.

Of course, a plan rarely survives contact with the enemy...

VAMP DISCLAIMER

As with the previous two reports, there's just so much stuff that happens in Vampire matches that I have a hard time remembering it all. This one involved 3 coaches with 210+ NAF rankings, 2 of whom were playing Wood Elves, which made this tournament especially tough on my brain. I will try to be as accurate as I can with the game reports but it's likely I will miss things and get things wrong - if you are one of my opponents and you think I've missed something or got something wrong, please get in touch and I'll fix it.

Round 1: 8ulldog, Orcs

When I looked through the list of coaches in attendance, there were a few names that popped out to me as particularly dangerous opponents. 8ulldog was definitely one of them. I had never met the man before, but had seen his name pop up time and again as tournament winner on TFF. The fact that he was playing Orcs was also a reason for concern, as the track record of my Vamps vs Orcs has been lacking so far. To round it off, 8ulldog won the toss and chose to kick, putting Vamps on the attack right from the get go.

Well, this is why we plan. I launched an attack down the right flank, setting up a well-protected cage within easy reach of the end zone. Thrower easily picked up the ball and handed off to a Runner who took her position within the cage. The Orcs had not really set up for stopping a 2-turner, and 8ulldog made a token attempt to threaten the ball, more aimed at making me roll some dice and spend some RRs than truly stopping the score. Sure enough, the Runner ran it in on turn 2, but the attempt cost the Vamps 2 rerolls and a Thrall.

This left 8ulldog with 7 turns to score. The Vampires got to work trying to prevent the score, harassing the carrier and (I think) even popping it once or twice, but never quite managing to steal it for good. Meanwhile, the orcs had clearly had their vitamins that morning because they were removing Thralls and Vamps left right and centre - though fortunately Regen kicked in and both Runners ended up in the reserves instead of the CAS box. The Vampires put on enough pressure to force the Orcs to roll some dice in turn 8, but they were easy dice and they scored on their 8 without much trouble.

1-1 at half-time and Vamps to kick. Not ideal, but not terrible either - a lot can happen in 8 turns, especially when you are playing Vamps. And sure enough, the previously on-point Orcs suddenly developed a bad case of the butterfingers, literally dropping the ball just within range of the Vamps. The Orcs are almost saved here by the Vamps deciding to roll 3 1s in a row, but none of those are crucial, and Thralls are there to feed them and prevent the turnover. The vamps Hypno through, clear the ball, pick it up and push towards the end zone. The Orcs easily catch up and knock the carrier down, but cannot secure the ball, and an early turnover due to a Skull Both Down into Double Skull is all the opening the Vampires need to recover the ball and drive it home for the 2-1. 8ulldog is now 1 TD down and down to a single RR so he's (understandably) not best pleased, but a draw is still on the table. Nuffle sees to that though, and the Orcs once again fail to secure the ball and the Vamps take the score to 3-1. A triple skull from the Troll adds insult to injury and the game ends in a decisive win for the Vamps.

This really was a game of two halves. The first half I felt I was getting diced to oblivion as the Orcs just couldn't stop removing my pieces, and any time I popped the ball it went to the hardest possible square. On the other hand, the second half was a dream for the Vamps, as the Orcs just couldn't play ball and the Vamps just couldn't fail. Although I initially thought that I would miss the Varg in this matchup, I found having the extra Hypno was useful in peeling away layers to get at the ball, and the extra Thrall was a godsend after the Orcs demolished my team in the first half.

Final result: 3-1 win

Round 2: FallingdownJoe, Lizardmen

Lizards, another interesting matchup. Going in, I was 0-2-0 vs Lizards, in both cases having had trouble with the Skinks' speed negating the Vamps' ability to get the ball away. TO FallingdownJoe is an internationally capped player for Wales and dealt me my first ever loss with Union at Noodlebowl early this year, so another coach on my watch list. Once again Vampires are receiving to start, and once again they pull off a 2-turner with (relative) ease, then settle down for defensive play. Aided by the Skinks' complete inability to pick up the ball in the first half, the Vamps easily recover and drive the ball in for a 2-0, which then becomes a 2-1 as the Lizards ram it in in the 11th hour.

Second half, and Lizards to receive this time. The rest of the game is a bit of a blur - I believe that the Lizards managed to briefly pick up the ball this time only to get dispossessed by the Vamps once again, for a 3-1. Lizards then managed the 3-2, but this left the Vamps plenty of time to score yet again for a 4-2 finish. Joe, if you are reading this and remember more please get in touch, I'd love to flesh this one out a bit more!

Final Result: 4-2 win

Round 3: NippyLongskar, Wood Elves

Speaking of internationally capped coaches, Nippy has not only played in the Eurobowl but won it twice, in both 2017 and 2018, as part of Team England. He is also one of my favourite people to play against - not only is he a phenomenal coach, but he is also a lovely person who I have never seen without a smile on his face, even when getting thoroughly diced. He had brought Wood Elves, a team that I think is a decent matchup for Vamps. However given Nippy's 210+ ranking with them, I was sure to be in for a hard game.

Fortunately, Nuffle smiled on me and I got to kick to him this time. Even better, in the early turns I managed to CAS one of his Wardancers (though his Apo quickly fixed that) and later KO the second one, considerably weakening his ability to attack. Even still, he played one hell of a half, constantly keeping me on my toes and never letting me have an easy hit on his carrier. His Treeman did stellar work as well, taking out a few Thralls and stunning Vamps constantly, and generally being a massive nuisance to my Vampires. The Mighty Blow Blitzer did work too, though, and in their depleted state Nippy's elves just couldn't seal the score, but they did prevent my Vamps from scoring themselves, so the first half ended 0-0.

Facing a diminished Elven side, the Vamps were confident of a victory and threw in a quick score to make it 1-0 in the early stages of the second half. Again, though, Nippy showed his quality as a coach and skilfully avoided my sacking attempts, finally running the ball to the edge of the end zone, protecting it with a thin but effective screen and leaving me with few options to recover it. A desperate blitz on the Dancer resulted in a push, and I considered forcing the score to give me 3 turns for the 2-1, but at this point my rerolls had run dry and I was not confident enough that I could stop the Elves from turning me over and snatching the win, so instead I pinned the Dancer to the sideline. Nippy easily freed him with a blitz, but elected not to score and instead tried to stall to secure the draw. Unfortunately for him, this time I had plenty of resources in range, and I managed to Hypno myself a path to the Dancer who was powed down onto the end zone and stunned, popping the ball loose and letting my Vamps recover it, carry it away and punt it downfield to where the Elves could not recover it in time.

This is one of those games I wish had been recorded for later study. Despite almost everything going against him, Nippy managed to keep the pressure on the Vamps all game, keeping the outcome of the game in doubt until the very end. It was a full-on game from start to finish and I enjoyed it immensely, as always. The sheer intensity of the game, added to the previous two, meant fatigue was starting to show. I forgot about his Frenzy in the second half and left him a surf on a Vamp, and forgot to move a Thrall before the pass attempt in my quick score, which cost me a reroll. Ultimately I got away with those but certainly something to bear in mind for future games - 3 tough games in a row with Vamps is hard!

Final result: 1-0 win

Round 4: Nazgob, Wood Elves

At this point in the day, there are only 2 of us on 3-0-0, so that means Nazgob and I are on top table, and playing for the overall tournament win. Wood elves again - this time throwerless but with extra Catchers. Nazgob wins the toss and elects to kick, and once again I prepare for a quickscore. Only, this time the kick goes very shallow, and a Prayers kick-off makes a critical Thrall 1 square slower, which now means the initial push down the left flank requires a rush for proper positioning. This means that I cannot effectively prepare the 2-turner, so instead I do a much more modest push down the left then secure the ball and run it all the way back out of Wardancer range. I figure this is no big deal, and just delays the quickscore by a turn. Oh how wrong I was...

Turn 2, I move to set up for the score, putting one runner in scoring range with companion thralls, one thrower in the middle of my field to receive from the current carrier (the second runner) and move it upfield to the other runner for the score. The final move of the turn is to put the carrier a couple squares back to stop a breakthrough from a Wardancer threatening the ball and - of course - the Vamp decides she's thirsty. No big deal - I move her back into the corner, still safe from the Elves, and let her drop the ball. This takes Nazgob by surprise, but he quickly reacts by applying maximum pressure to try and capitalise. It still leaves me with a decent play to recover the ball - 3+ hand-off, 2+ dodge, 3++ pass, 2+ catch, 2++ dodge and 2+ rush for the score. Of course, failing any of those means the Elves take the ball, but such is life!

Well, we never even got that far. Runner decides she's still thirsty and bloodlusts, and despite throwing a reroll at it the bloodlust sticks. There is no thrall in position for the handoff, so the hand-off target changes to a Thrall who is next to another, downed Thrall. This immediately raises it to a 4+ handoff, 4+ pass (in fact it's a 5+ because of the sun, which I don't realise at the time), 2+ catch, and I'm already a RR down. Again, we don't get that far, as the Runner needs to rush twice to get into position and fails the second one. Well shit.

Nazgob wastes no time taking the ball and moving it downfield. The Vamps relentlessly launch attacks on the carrier, but nothing sticks and I get 3 Vamps removed for my trouble, 1 of them (a runner) permanently. At one point, I manage to Hypno a path to the carrier for a Thrall to throw a desperate 1d at him. My hope is to force the score and give me a second chance at a quickscore, but after a reroll on the first both down the Thrall gets a pow, popping the ball loose and into the crowd. Unfortunately for me, it is thrown back in a whole 2 squares away, right in the middle of a clump of elves, and bounces into the hands of a catcher. Oh well.

Second half, Elves to receive and I'm 1-0 down and missing a Runner. Things not looking great for the Vamps! But as we've learnt, Vampires are perfectly capable of turning things around, and we're playing 11 vs 10 now. And indeed, after a brief standoff, the Elves fail a repositioning dodge, and a reroll is used to no effect. This happens at the end of Nazgob's turn, but it leaves enough of an opening to allow a Strip Ball blitz on the carrier which sets the ball loose. Recovery isn't happening for the Vamps, but this throws the elves out of position enough that in the next turn I am able to pop the ball again, and after the third sack my Runner is able to run off with it behind a protective screen, while a Thrall once again manages to pow a Wardancer down with a 1d when again all I wanted was a push to nudge him out of range.

Here I start considering my options. A 1 turn stall is pretty much guaranteed, but I need at least 2 more after that to secure the draw, and even though the Elves are now reroll-less they are faster and more skilled than my Vamps, and perfectly capable of denying me that equaliser if I'm not careful. However, we both have 3 players in the KO box, only he has none in the CAS box while I have 5, and I have only 3 vamps left on the pitch. An unfavourable KO recovery roll would spell disaster for me, as with superior numbers the Woodies could easily protect their carrier from my few remaining Vampires and score an easy 2-turner.

Ultimately, I decide to score, as I figure there's an even chance that the rerolls will go my way vs his, and even on a neutral result I have a slight advantage on the defense. My play is immediately rewarded as both KOd vampires come back and none of the Elves do, leaving me with a much healthier 9 vs 8 on the kick. Nazgob goes all in on the left flank, in a formation I later realise is a 1-turn attempt. The kick goes shallow, right in front of his catcher. Dice cup comes down for the kickoff roll. This is it.

BLITZ

Nazgob's 1-turn setup has left two of my LoS pieces open, and a huge gaping hole between me and the very shallow ball. I roll the full 6 players for the blitz, and a swarm of Thralls takes up position around the square where the ball is going to drop, with the Leader Thrower in the middle. My Block MB blitzer takes a potshot at a catcher on the way in, knocking him down but doing no actual damage, then takes position next to the Thrower to further protect him from harm. Blitz ends, Thrower catches. Nazgob throws everything at the cage but the ball is still in Vampire hands by the end of the turn, and with a couple blocks and Hypnos I clear out a path, making it a 3+, 3+, 2+ 2++ to score, with a single reroll in the bank. Everything works. Score is now 2-1, and the Elves have 2 turns to get the equaliser. We are now on the clock and I set up as fast as I possibly can. Nazgob tries for a 1-turner again, setting it up perfectly and at an almost unbelievable speed, but the second block is a knockdown and his Wardancer is left 1 square too far. Pickup then fails, and his turn 7 ends without any elves in scoring range. Game over.

I had never played against Nazgob before, though I had seen him at many tournaments. I have to say this was one of the best games I have ever played, and due in no small part to Nazgob's attitude. Like myself he had a tendency to verbalise his plans and reasoning for moves in the most complicated turns, and after the turns were over he often asked questions about the moves, analysing the game as we went. I found all of those questions and comments fascinating, it felt like a real pleasure and a privilege to analyse my own game in real-time.

I also have to give him a shout out for his sportsmanship. During a critical turn in the second half, I blitzed his carrier with my Strip Ball Blitzer, but did the proper Vampire thing and set up a Thrall to be bitten in case he failed his Bloodlust. Sure enough, the Blitzer rolled a 1, but in the excitement of it all I completely forgot about it and mechanically followed up the carrier after pushing him, then immediately resolved the scatter for the ball. At this point Nazgob stopped me and said "I know you have already rolled dice, but that piece did not follow up". It took me a few seconds to realise that by following up, I had left my Blitzer Thrall-less, leading to a turnover which would have left the ball completely unpressured, letting him pick it right back up again and move away with it into a much stronger position. By calling my attention to it and allowing me (more like telling me!) to take that follow-up back, he voluntarily gave up a great chance of getting the ball free and clear, a decision that probably cost him the game and the NAF shield. This is not something many people would have done and I am humbled and very grateful for it. Thank you Nazgob, you are a true gentleman, and I hope to play you again soon!

Final result: 2-1 win

Tournament record: 4-0-0, Most Touchdowns, Tournament Win

Closing Thoughts

What a tournament! I cannot remember ever facing tougher competition than at Spires. From the first to the last, every opponent I faced was a serious contender for the shield, and three of them were playing their highest-ranked races on the day. I will freely admit I had some lucky breaks - 8ulldog and FallingdownJoe both failing to pick up the ball several times in a row was very helpful - but I also had some rough moments, such as 8ulldog demolishing my team in the first half or my Runner rolling 3 ones in a row vs Nazgob. Every win was a struggle, and I feel like it took all of my brainpower to finesse those lucky breaks into wins, as my opponents played superbly and did not give me an inch where they didn't have to. Which is exactly what you want from a tournament!

In terms of the roster, results do speak for themselves I suppose. The Varg may have been useful against the Orcs or the Lizards, but I never really missed it. Using a Blitzer as my killer piece was fine most of the time, and had the added bonus of an extra vamp to Hypno with when needed. Him having AG 2+ also meant he could just dodge away from anything that was pestering him, which the Varg cannot. The extra Thrall came in handy, too, as even in games where the removals built up I never felt like I was hurting for players too much in the second half.

Having a killer piece at all was also a novelty, and I think it worked well. Perhaps it is down to having a lot of AV8 opponents (even the Orcs had squishy Gobbos to punch), but having a piece that could more or less reliably thin the opposing numbers meant that even as I lost players myself there was rarely a huge imbalance between the teams as I'd be taking pieces out or at least stunning them more often. I think in this role the Blitzer was better than the Varg would have been, as he could be used to surgically strike and return to formation instead of having to Frenzy itself into a complicated position, and most of the time ST4 was as good as 5. The lack of Claws did limit his usefulness vs Orcs and Lizards, but even there he was plenty useful and scary.

Another novelty was not having any Pro. As I had suspected, I again did not really miss Pro at all. About the only rolls where I would have used it were the odd non-critical Bloodlust or Hypno, but those were few and far between. Block and Dodge were far handier and saved me more rerolls than Pro would have done on those same players, for sure. I think in a generous skill package that allowed multiple stacks, I might consider Pro on a Runner along with Dodge, but it seems to me more of a luxury skill than anything else.

There were a lot of comments from people regarding the sheer number of Vampires. 6 vamps has traditionally been considered the province of madmen in Blood Bowl, and with previous rulesets I completely agree. With these ones, though... Bloodlust is less of a problem than it ever has been, Hypno is better than it has ever been, and having 2 of each positional is actually pretty helpful. Even with the Blitzer being arguably the worst piece on the roster, having that dedicated Strip Ball one along with the Block MB one means you can go removal hunting in turns where the ball is in your hands or out of easy reach, and have an extra backup Hypno to use during ball hunting turns. I think I will need to run this roster again a couple times to really test it out but it definitely felt more capable than the previous ones - and so far, results seem to support that conclusion!

My Vamps will be hitting the pitch next this Sunday at WAR Bowl, with an almost identical roster, so we'll see how they fare. Before that though, there's the November Pitch Invasion, where Vamps will take a well-deserved break and let an old classic take the field again for a bit of a palate cleanser. Onwards!