SLAM-ed!!

First two rounds of the DreadBall league down at the Enfield Gamers last night which saw a healthy turnout of coaches raring to go.

Levels of preparation were decidedly mixed with myself well towards the bottom end borrowing Shaun's unpainted, unbased humans. To cap things off I walked in with the team unnamed and unrostered as well.

Don't worry though they definitely paid me back for it :)

First game of the night was against Ian's Forge Fathers, the Green Tray Stackers. Ian is well known around the club for the quality of his dice to the point where "Ian Dice" is a fully coined phrase. Fully prepped and far more experienced I was soon handed something of a lesson.

In short it was 7-0 at the end of the 7th rush which did at least leave plenty of time for post match analysis and tea making.

In honesty I made a few opening turn blunders quickly compounded by poor dice resulting in quick turnovers. Ian took maximum advantage. Buying up event cards each turn he deployed them to maximum and brutal effect. 3+ strength for Slams also helped :)

Main lessons;

1. Cards are important buy them whenever you can. Effective use means three activations for that player / play.

2. Sequence of play, do the no risk things first (schoolboy error from an experienced BB player!). Just because the game is fast and furious doesn't mean you should be!

Second game of the night was against Rob's Veermyn team, The Biters. Due to my lowly ranking I got to choose my opponent and did so partly because Rob always gives a good game and also so that I'd gain some experience of the Veermyn.

What followed was a (full) game of Benny Hill-esque incompetence as we were both plagued by the same appalling dice conspiring to ensure that neither of us could score. We could both set up the strikes no problem but no matter how many dice we could muster.........NOPE!

Eventually I managed a solitary 2 point strike in the 12th rush to break the deadlock, snatching unlikely victory from the jaws (sigh) of ludicrous draw.   

Main lessons;

1. Those cards again, HUGE part of the game as is the need to "play like you've got a pair". Go for doubling the big strikes to whip up the crowd to gain more coaching dice. Risk vs reward not playing by the percentages!

2. Look at all the options. Veermyn are quick and skillful, several times Rob just stole the ball from me and skittered away. Slam and bash is not the only way to win the game, not by a long chalk!

So by the end of the evening;

A Guard died against Ian but selling his body and my income bought me a 3rd Guard which isn't so bad.

One minor win / one big loss means that I'm currently mid league which is cool.

I've learnt a lot more and enjoyed myself massively doing so. Lots / some prep before the next round!

I've just ordered the Gamers Edition :)