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2016-06-04 01:10:04
5 votes, rating 5.8
5 votes, rating 5.8
Hindsight II
Join me now for more tales of bemusement and heavy defeat in the world of marginally-competent BB coaching.
(Peculiar observation of the week: have noticed many Ranked players expressing reluctance to play in Box due to the fact that players can't pick their opponents there. Have also noticed many Box players expressing reluctance to play in Ranked due to the fact that players can pick their opponents there. There may well be a deep truth revealed here. But I have no idea what it is.)
Well, yesterday I made the mistake of thinking 'hmm, my record for this week is about a 3/5/7, which is virtually respectable', and then of course I got smeared all over the pitch for four games on the trot. Overall I'm on 6/8/19, compared to 2/3/8 this time last week, so there are some faint signs of improvement; 4/5/11 for the week isn't brilliant but at least I appear to be moving in the right direction.
Teamwise, the Drakwald Dominators seem to have fallen into a pattern where they scrape out a draw or a win, then get mauled by a superior side and need a game or two to rebuild (it's these recovery games that I usually do best in). They're 2/1/3 for the week; neither of the wins was exactly glorious but they were both better than a nightmarish game against a Khemri team where they were reduced to abandoning the ball and fleeing to the enemy end zone in an attempt to avoid casualties. A shameful blot on the record.
A quiet 0/1/1 week for the Black Crag Berserkers who fought another Orc team to a standstill and then got spanked by some seemingly adamantium-plated High Elves. Most of my Orc-related energies have gone into league games this week (see down the page).
A tough 1/0/3 week for my own High Elf team, who of course seem to be made of wet pasta. Having their positional player kicked to death at the start of the week (and routinely playing with 3-5 journeymen) has not helped their cause much and playing games with the main objective of not getting killed and grabbing sneaky SPPs here and there is not always very exciting. On the other hand they have managed to scrape together the dough for a new positional, and they were responsible for the biggest win of my Fumbbl career to date, a 3-1 victory. (Against some very unlucky Goblins. In fact it probably constituted a dicing. But hey ho.)
A bunch of other teams picked up a game or two in Ranked: 0/1/0 for the Gobbos of Maximum Break, ditto for the gloomy Chaos-followers of the Ragnarok Redshirts (actually, a lucky draw against a Halfling team: clearly I need to play them against less dangerous opponents), and the Khemri of Grue Alexandria got pulverised by an Orc team (boy, those Khemri are fragile, and their ball-handling skills don't seem to compensate, oddly enough). Looking on the bright side the Khazad Khans Dwarf team are on an unprecedented 1/1/0 although the draw was slightly dicey.
Over in League, the Badlands Bad Lads have done a splendid job of being crushed in the two tournament fixtures they've contested, generously donating a player to a Nurgle team along the way. Perhaps the second game wasn't so bad, being a 2-1 loss after extra time; the fact it wasn't 2-0 at full time was again perhaps a bit fluky.
Meanwhile, the League of Linesmen's Wichita Lyricals seem to be under the impression they're in the League of Journeymen given the enthusiasm with which they are getting injured and killed. A fairly remarkable game against the Goblins of Bad Moon Risings resulted in a 2-0 defeat (really not representative of the game; should've been more like 4-0) and the whole team getting psychiatric counselling (along with the coach). As a result they have dropped from third to sixth out of ten in their division; I suspect they may go rather lower still.
Is it worth mentioning the general standard of decency and friendliness amongst Fumbbl players? I think so; I've played a lot of different people and only a couple of them got a bit grumpy when the dice turned against them during our games. The general standard of comportment here is impressively high, as is the level of coaching; I try to emulate the former, though the latter still seems to be well out of reach.
(Peculiar observation of the week: have noticed many Ranked players expressing reluctance to play in Box due to the fact that players can't pick their opponents there. Have also noticed many Box players expressing reluctance to play in Ranked due to the fact that players can pick their opponents there. There may well be a deep truth revealed here. But I have no idea what it is.)
Well, yesterday I made the mistake of thinking 'hmm, my record for this week is about a 3/5/7, which is virtually respectable', and then of course I got smeared all over the pitch for four games on the trot. Overall I'm on 6/8/19, compared to 2/3/8 this time last week, so there are some faint signs of improvement; 4/5/11 for the week isn't brilliant but at least I appear to be moving in the right direction.
Teamwise, the Drakwald Dominators seem to have fallen into a pattern where they scrape out a draw or a win, then get mauled by a superior side and need a game or two to rebuild (it's these recovery games that I usually do best in). They're 2/1/3 for the week; neither of the wins was exactly glorious but they were both better than a nightmarish game against a Khemri team where they were reduced to abandoning the ball and fleeing to the enemy end zone in an attempt to avoid casualties. A shameful blot on the record.
A quiet 0/1/1 week for the Black Crag Berserkers who fought another Orc team to a standstill and then got spanked by some seemingly adamantium-plated High Elves. Most of my Orc-related energies have gone into league games this week (see down the page).
A tough 1/0/3 week for my own High Elf team, who of course seem to be made of wet pasta. Having their positional player kicked to death at the start of the week (and routinely playing with 3-5 journeymen) has not helped their cause much and playing games with the main objective of not getting killed and grabbing sneaky SPPs here and there is not always very exciting. On the other hand they have managed to scrape together the dough for a new positional, and they were responsible for the biggest win of my Fumbbl career to date, a 3-1 victory. (Against some very unlucky Goblins. In fact it probably constituted a dicing. But hey ho.)
A bunch of other teams picked up a game or two in Ranked: 0/1/0 for the Gobbos of Maximum Break, ditto for the gloomy Chaos-followers of the Ragnarok Redshirts (actually, a lucky draw against a Halfling team: clearly I need to play them against less dangerous opponents), and the Khemri of Grue Alexandria got pulverised by an Orc team (boy, those Khemri are fragile, and their ball-handling skills don't seem to compensate, oddly enough). Looking on the bright side the Khazad Khans Dwarf team are on an unprecedented 1/1/0 although the draw was slightly dicey.
Over in League, the Badlands Bad Lads have done a splendid job of being crushed in the two tournament fixtures they've contested, generously donating a player to a Nurgle team along the way. Perhaps the second game wasn't so bad, being a 2-1 loss after extra time; the fact it wasn't 2-0 at full time was again perhaps a bit fluky.
Meanwhile, the League of Linesmen's Wichita Lyricals seem to be under the impression they're in the League of Journeymen given the enthusiasm with which they are getting injured and killed. A fairly remarkable game against the Goblins of Bad Moon Risings resulted in a 2-0 defeat (really not representative of the game; should've been more like 4-0) and the whole team getting psychiatric counselling (along with the coach). As a result they have dropped from third to sixth out of ten in their division; I suspect they may go rather lower still.
Is it worth mentioning the general standard of decency and friendliness amongst Fumbbl players? I think so; I've played a lot of different people and only a couple of them got a bit grumpy when the dice turned against them during our games. The general standard of comportment here is impressively high, as is the level of coaching; I try to emulate the former, though the latter still seems to be well out of reach.
Comments
Posted by harvestmouse on 2016-06-04 01:47:30
"Peculiar observation of the week: have noticed many Ranked players expressing reluctance to play in Box due to the fact that players can't pick their opponents there. Have also noticed many Box players expressing reluctance to play in Ranked due to the fact that players can pick their opponents there. There may well be a deep truth revealed here. But I have no idea what it is."
Actually it's not that hard to work out. Of course it's a bit more complicated than this but basically it comes down to this.
Ranked: Pro 'The division self governs itself by alienating builds that are game breaking.' Con 'Players can pick matches that are favourable and can to a certain extent avoid playing fair matches if they wish.'
Box: Pro 'You cannot avoid any opponent, so therefore the playing field is level, and all coaches are playing the same pool.' Con 'You cannot avoid playing any player or team. So any build will get games, even if it is essentially built with combos that give an unfair advantage. Or your team is built to take advantage of a certain TV area.'
Unfortunate; however both divisions have their merits.
Actually it's not that hard to work out. Of course it's a bit more complicated than this but basically it comes down to this.
Ranked: Pro 'The division self governs itself by alienating builds that are game breaking.' Con 'Players can pick matches that are favourable and can to a certain extent avoid playing fair matches if they wish.'
Box: Pro 'You cannot avoid any opponent, so therefore the playing field is level, and all coaches are playing the same pool.' Con 'You cannot avoid playing any player or team. So any build will get games, even if it is essentially built with combos that give an unfair advantage. Or your team is built to take advantage of a certain TV area.'
Unfortunate; however both divisions have their merits.
Posted by Danish_Dan on 2016-06-04 10:13:06
As you opponent in two of those games, I want to say that there are certainly a few ways you can improve your game, but the gobbo game in the league of linemen, you were also ridiculously unlucky. When the dice are really against you, there is not much that can be done.
Regarding the box vs ranked, I used to only play ranked, I think my first 50 games were in ranked. Then I tried some tournaments, joined some leagues, and now I almost only play league and box. I could imagine that quite a few coaches go this way (I think JD has too). The reason was I got tired of picking opponents and being picked, and would rather not worry about it. My record is not as good anymore (especially my elves, which are terrible in the box!) but I personally prefer it.
See you next time,
Dan
Regarding the box vs ranked, I used to only play ranked, I think my first 50 games were in ranked. Then I tried some tournaments, joined some leagues, and now I almost only play league and box. I could imagine that quite a few coaches go this way (I think JD has too). The reason was I got tired of picking opponents and being picked, and would rather not worry about it. My record is not as good anymore (especially my elves, which are terrible in the box!) but I personally prefer it.
See you next time,
Dan
Posted by Awix on 2016-06-04 11:19:04
Just to clarify, I wasn't making a 'which is better' comment about Box vs Ranked, I just found the mutual suspicion slightly amusing.
Dan, putting flippancy to one side for the moment, I'm aware that against a competent offense I usually have to be lucky to stall out to the end of the half, also that (Elf vs Goblin games aside) most of my own TDs come from an opponent being unlucky on offense and the dice going my way. The art of receiving a kick-off, retaining the ball and then actually carrying the thing down the field is one I am still trying to figure out...
Dan, putting flippancy to one side for the moment, I'm aware that against a competent offense I usually have to be lucky to stall out to the end of the half, also that (Elf vs Goblin games aside) most of my own TDs come from an opponent being unlucky on offense and the dice going my way. The art of receiving a kick-off, retaining the ball and then actually carrying the thing down the field is one I am still trying to figure out...