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Hi. I am starting blood bowl as Khemri. Do you have any general tips on playing defensivly?

Khemri has ag2, so even with re-rolls I have a hard time picking up the ball (75%?).

Units with block, blitzers, seems to be the best at breaking up lines. That means my Tomb Guards (4 with S5) should mostly be used as massive road blocks. How do i place them out on the map?

- Vidar

 Niiai wrote:
Hi. I am starting blood bowl as Khemri. Do you have any general tips on playing defensivly?

Khemri has ag2, so even with re-rolls I have a hard time picking up the ball (75%?).

Units with block, blitzers, seems to be the best at breaking up lines. That means my Tomb Guards (4 with S5) should mostly be used as massive road blocks. How do i place them out on the map?

- Vidar

Khemri undead are a slow bunch and are cursed with butterfingers. A good defence needs to be deployed deep. This holds true for all teams. And now about your mummies. A lot of people make the mistake of positioning them on the line of scrimmage. There they will bash unfortunate linemen to little effect while the opponent will rush either to the left or the right for a winning touchdown. Be smart and hold them back as a reserve. Later in the game when the opponent is going to push down a flank of his choosing the mummy in question can be deployed as a formidable roadblock. Also consider the skill Break Tackle. It allows your undead brute to dodge with ST instead of AG. It can then start the game pummeling linemen and later escape tackle zones with ease to support the defence of a flank. But doing this requires a lot of thought because the mummy is slow as a turtle. You will need to sprint so don´t waste your team rerolls for unimportant stuff.

So assuming I have 4 Tomb Guards and 1 or 2 blitzers. How should i posittion them? In the front or behind?

 Niiai wrote:
So assuming I have 4 Tomb Guards and 1 or 2 blitzers. How should i posittion them? In the front or behind?

You need two throwers, two blitzers and three rerolls. Those blitzers will reliably create openings with their Block skill while the throwers will handle the ball. Remember that you can only win games with a good offence and not just with a great defence. With four mummies several options are available:

1. One on the line of scrimmage and three in the backfield. One on either flank and one acting as substitution in the middle.
2. Two mummies on the line of scrimmage and one mummy on each flank. Works good, if you already outnumber your opponent.

Backfield positions depend on the speed of the opposition. Deploy deeper, if the opponent is fast like skaven or wood elves.

What is the schrimmage?

Also, you say i need 2 blitzers, 2 throwers and 3 re-rolls. That means not 4 Tomb Guards. The math do not ad upp to all 4.

Then you need to drop as many mummies as necessary. You will need three rerolls because once your throwers are incapacitated your ball handling skills will become atrociously bad.

But would you rather not have a tomb guard then a blitzer? Block vs S5. Seems very similar to me.

 Niiai wrote:
But would you rather not have a tomb guard then a blitzer? Block vs S5. Seems very similar to me.

Not sure about the statistics, but would generally prefer 2 dice without block than 1 dice with block.

 Niiai wrote:
What is the schrimmage?

Also, you say i need 2 blitzers, 2 throwers and 3 re-rolls. That means not 4 Tomb Guards. The math do not ad upp to all 4.

I would start with all positionals, get the re-rolls later.

Against elves and weak teams, I just send all tomb guardies up front on the line.

For level-ups, I suggest Block on everything that doesn't have it. You usually won't roll double on tomb guardians, so for them I would take Guard and Mighty Blow (if you can't choose block). After that, they become bloated. You could go with grab or juiggernaught, but I would considere replacing them with a fresh one. For Blitzers who start with guard, I prefer Guard/MightyBlow/Tackle.

 Niiai wrote:
But would you rather not have a tomb guard then a blitzer? Block vs S5. Seems very similar to me.

Blitzers are the best players on all teams. They are fast and will open spaces due to Block. Without Blitzers your opponent will just lean back, pin each of your mummies with a lineman and deploy deep. As your team is one of the slowest in the game, you will find it very difficult to score a touchdown. Remember Blood Bowl is not a stupid brawling game as many people might think. I have done a lot of demo games and people told me afterwards that they were surprised how complex the game was.

And now to the chances of blocking:
Blitzer will suffer a turnover while blocking (1D Blck): 1/6
Mummy will suffer a turnover while blocking (2D Block): 1/9

At first glance the Mummy would be better suited for the block but if you want to punch through on a flank ASAP things can be a very crowded affair. Therefore it is necessary to have the capacity to send an opponent down witjh a Both Down result which will only be possible with a Blitzer. If you desperately want to have a 2D block then send in a skeleton to assist the Blitzer in the block. Both Down means the opposing player will lose his/her tackle zone and you can slip through along the sideline. Just pushing an opponent won´t cut it with a mummy. And don´t forget the most important fact right here. As the mummy is slow as a snail, it won´t be in position for your quick play.
If you want to play a grinding game then play dwarfs or orcs. Most dwarfs have block and AV9. The orcs on the other hand lack block with the exception of their Blitzers and also have AV9 but are faster than the stunties.

You need to learn that stats on paper alone won´t win you games. ST5 looks awesome but if it is not there where it needs to be it becomes useless for offensive play.

Thanks both of you.

@baxx I would have a 75% to pick up the ball would I not? It is an easy action, A2 meaning I need to roll a 4. Re-roll for picking it up up to 75%

I will look into what to cut. 2 re-rolls sounds like little. As long as you have a re-roll you arerelativaly safe.

@Strg Alt I will have to mull that over. I am not playing orks or dwarfes, I havd fond memories of TK in fantasy. This is my last chance of playing sole Khemri.

You seem to confuse the tomb guardians with mummies. The tomb guardians are move 4, not 3. So they are a bit more mobile.

With bad chances of picking up the ball I need to keep the opposing team in check somehow as my last action willoften be a failed pick up. I can see how both block and S5 help with that.

Sorry yes, 75% you are totally right. That's better than picking up the ball with AG3 without sure hands

Khemri is a tier 2 team which basically means they suck. I started with all positionals and 2 re-rolls, then suffered through some games until I got leader on one of the throwers.

The core thing to remember about Block vs Higher Strength is you can add Strength situationally through assists as required, you cannot add Block.

Also in BloodBowl I would in no way consider a 4+ with a reroll reliable, quite the opposite.

Rik

Do the things that have to succeed first, your most reliable things second, then your less reliable things last.

Hitting something with a troll or ogre might seem reliable, but it has a 1/3 chance of going down on a dice roll before they get block. Slightly better odds most of the time, but I cant tell you how many times I have had my big guy punch himself in the face.

Ive had Tomb Guardians kill themselves on me and whiff the Regen roll.