Test Game Report

GrumpyGrizzly · Test Game Report

As promised in the mod thread, I was going to run a sample game or two to get a feel if I thought the mod was ready for league use. This is the game report.

I had hoped to be able to post the log file. but my laptop decided to reboot for no apparent reason after I had taken out the screenshots I wanted

This is my first match report. It was also my first competitive game using the Mod (version 4.1).

I was playing against a friend of mine who has played about 10-20 games of Grandma’s FF. We had worked over the Elf Ball rules before hand and done some tutorial work (set up for specific complicated situations and roll the dice) plus about 5ish Tests or so. This his first game with sideline staff and about my 4th. I went with the Sarcos, which I had never played before and he went with Middle Kingdoms because those were his favourite icons.

I’ll have some general comments after the game after the report

SETUP:

I went with the Sarcos. I just loved the icons and tend to like teams with hunters and strikers and good filler. This was the Sarcos to me. Plus I could field the Leviathan, my favourite of all the icons. I went with the following composition:

Luggage Rack:
4 Hunters
2 Midfielders
3 Strikers
1 Levithan
2 Cheerleaders
2 Kegs
1 Potion

My friend, Eric, liked the middle kingdoms the most and really likes the 300 outfits. He also liked the mobile monsters and the decent amount of ball handling.

Kings of Sparta:

2 Cyclops
2 Safeties
3 Strikers
1 Thrower
2 Midfielders
1 Cheerleader
2 Kegs
1 Potion
1 Bribed Ref

THE GAME: FIRST TEST

It opened with a Striker vs Striker face off. Eric decided not to risk a cyclops or his ref in the opening. The Middle kingdoms win the faceoff and tries to grab the ball right off (needs 2 successes). A flop puts the MK striker down on the pitch. The ball scatters right into the white line and goes 1 hex into MK territory.

The MK thrower comes up and picks up the ball and dumps it 3 hexes into his own territory. He is successful. The leviathan comes up and puts a hard hit on the thrower. The thrower makes 3 success on the 6 grit injury roll and is placed on the bench.

MK Midfielder runs up to cover the ball , but flops the challenge scattering the ball and sucking pitch. Sarcos moved the left side striker (not the one in the face off) up toward the ball, but can’t quite reach.

MK brings over a safety to give some defensive coverage by the ball, but also can’t reach it. Things are starting to line up for the first break attempt. The Sarcos striker in the faceoff rushes over and tries to pick up the ball, but get 0 success and the ball scatters.

MK Takes the turn to bring on a safety to bring their number up to 6. However the placement of this safety will be key for the drive. Sarcos bring their Leviathan (Big Earl) down to put a Tackle on the Safety that is closest to making a play next action. Both players go down.

The Middle Kingdoms try to get their face off striker back into the play, but 2 failed get ups occur before he finally makes a success and he has little jog left to be involved in the play. Now comes one of two keys plays on this drive. One of the Sarcos strikers charge down the field and shoves the safety. The little lizard manages it and pushes the Safety out of bounds! That’s a 1 test suspension and time on the bench.

The break in is going well for the Sarcos and MK knows that something has to be done. The Cyclos in the goalie circle comes charging at the Striker (Boots). It should be nothing but lizard smear all over, but the shove challenge is failed (0 successes) and the Tackle challenge fails (0 successes).

Sarcos striker next to the ball uses a cheerleader for 1 point of momentum and makes the Pick-up challenge. Makes a risky 2 dash challenge, moves next to Boots and passes the ball off. It requires 1 momentum to reroll a blank and get the number of successes needed. Finally the ball is caught and Sarcos is one disengage for making the score.

Middle Kingdoms brings a Cyclops off the bench and places it next to the ball carrier. Eric made a mistake in placement. In face, he originally placed that Cyclops one hex to the lower right. That would have forced Boots to make 2 disengages. As he is placed now, it is only one that is needed. But this was an old fashioned FF mistake.

Sarcos uses a cheerleader, and rolls the disengage. Using the momentum from the cheerleader the reroll is successful and he disengages in for the score. 1-0 Sarcos! Probably the fastest score I have ever had.

COMMENTS:

Eric had a bit of bad luck and the GWBB in his game cost him as well. Boots needed to be put on the turf and his Cyclops just came up short. After that Boots made the rolls he needed to make and got the score.

Dual striker and a leviathan on the attack. Two errors. One getting him shoved out. Caused him to place the Cyclops so it couldn’t be shoved out, but 1 successful dodge and it was over for the TD. Should have placed it different, but he was rattled and I got lucky.

The rest of the game report will be added when I have more time later.

GrumpyGrizzly

GAME IN GENERAL:

I found the two teams to be balanced against each other. While Big Earl (Leviathan) was a force up the middle he didn’t dominate like “Big Guys” do in the old FF. I think that Eric had problems adjusting to the fact that his best tacklers were a bit slower, while the Sarcos’ hunters were more efficient over all players. A big guy may be a stud in the tackle/shove game but sometimes a person needs to pick up the darn ball.

I was surprised how important cheerleaders were. I found them more important than the Kegs or the Potions for that matter. Changed the way I thought about them. Will probably drop to 9 reptiles and add in more cheerleaders next time. Against another team, that might not be a factor.

I still find a Get-Up challenge on a Grit 2 player to be the most annoying thing in the whole game. Grrrr…. Not much to be done with it. We had battered around the idea of letting a keg add 1 success if the get up wasn’t flopped. But then you’ve got the keg being used if there is 0 success on as Get-Up and 1 success on an injury. Just not good for rule consistency point of view. But grit 2 get-ups are about as frustrating as they get.

Game played well. It was fast and mean and I never felt that either team had it made. There were a couple of plays when my Luggage Racks were deep in his turf that if I wouldn’t have flopped or zero successed a 4 skill pickup the game would have been over. But DL does what needs done sometimes and that’s the way of it.

Once momentum was earned, it sure didn’t seem to go away. Lots of SiM due to SiM’s for the ball finishing on the ground, and the flow of our game putting the ball on the ground all the time. No complaints. Just drove home how important momentum was.

My midfielder was the hero of the second test. Coming from a G.W. FF background I was used to the idea of “Never take a positional”. But in EB it is nice having a guy who doesn’t have to roll 2 dice for anything. He did a good job in being the utility player of the drive. Shoving, tackling, picking up, and passing with gleeful impunity. While I wouldn’t want 12 of them on a team, one or two have earned a spot on my roster.

So from an EB rules point of view, we had no problems. Everything we wondered about was in there and clear. Admittedly I am not the target “new to the rules” audience. We also played with no skills, so that makes it easier.

THE MOD:

I have been trying to make sure that the mod is ready for league use and adjust what needs it before we start to get involved with it. That is because if I update the version, then the saved teams will not work correctly and need updated. Trust me, it is easier to re-enter the teams than to go through the process of updating the teams from 1 version to the other.

So far there were two things that I would want to have that aren’t in there.

1) Auto updating of +1 GP for all that were on the pitch

Unfortunately this is not going to be possible due to the way that the vassal code updates the attribute sheet that the GP is located on. So for now, it’s just not going to happy

2) Throwing to an empty square is clunky

When you throw to an empty square you have to scatter the elfball off the player and then place it where you targeted it. I don’t care for this too much. The way that vassal works means that I would either have to:

a) put an invisible piece under each and every square that would allow the ball to move there (removing it from the ball carrier)
b) Put the “clear ball carrier” option on the elfball itself. That way the player could drag the elfball off the pieces menu and then remove it from the player.

I will experiment with both of these, but I think that a) will kill performance and that b) will be easier to code. I would prefer a) if it doesn’t hurt movement or activation performance. Would be good to just right click on a square and select “Place Elfball here”

3) Status indicator overload:

Sometimes all the indicators on the player can be a little overwhelming. There was a player who was dazed, active, targeted, and had 6 momentum. It was hard to see what it was. However, once another team-mate was selected, the target and active square icon was removed. So this was less of a problem than I thought it was going to be.

4) League Play

I think that the tool will work ok for league play. I would like a little time to get the empty square passing worked out. I can probably have the “league version” ready by Friday. If people don’t care about it, then I would rule it acceptable for now.

GalakStarscraper

GalakStarscraper

Oh and I love the play-by-play ... very cool.

Galak

GrumpyGrizzly