Review of the Season

Well - that's all ten games of CBBBL V played for Khorne's Killers and I'm quite pleased with how they did.  As I mentioned in my first post, my main aim was to try to be the highest ranked Chaos team and I've done that - and only narrowly missed out on a top-four play-off place while I was at it.

The hardest thing about playing a Chaos team made up of just beastmen and a minotaur is that they're just not that tough.  I've suffered four dead beastman and another than I had to sack as he got a -1 ST injury.  The early games in the season saw me having to field loads of journeymen because of this.  The reason so many beastman had to die is that I had to save my apothecary and keep him in case the minotaur got injured.  If anything happened to him, I'd be fielding a team just linemen.  It did pay off in the end though as I had enough spare funds at the start to buy four rerolls which have been essential with a minotaur on the field.  He has had  good days and bad days - sometimes he got knocked out and spent most of the game recovering whilst other times he has reaped a bloody harvest, most notably when he killed two wood elves in the same game.  He's been such an important player for me this season that he deserves the "player of the season" award - and as he's killed more players in the CBBBL than anyone else he can have MVP too.

So - what's next for Khorne's Killers?

The Chaos players in the league thought it would be fun to have our own play-off to really decided who is the best Chaos team - our own mini-Chaos Cup if you will.  So in November I'll have at least one more game to play against one of the other Chaos teams - and hopefully I'll win that to get through to the final.  We will be following the CBBBL V play-off rules for this; after the ten games of the CBBBL league is played, you can spend your treasury money on hiring new players or buy team goods and then your team is locked.  The play-off games are played like a tournament - injuries will not carry over and you can go to overtime to get a winner.  In preparation for this, I had 300K in my treasury to spend - so I have broken with the team's starting ethos and purchased three chaos warriors.  If nothing else, they will for a nice solid line of scrimmage for my beastman and minotaur to hide behind.

I will post up a report after the first play-off game...

Chaos teams in CBBBL V :

1) Khorne's Killers - 22 points
2) The Pink Horrors! - 18 points
3) The Slaves to Pleasure - 15 points
4) Lashor Devastation - 7 points

Game 10 vs Dwarfs

Alister before the kick-off

Last game of the season.  They just had to survive one more game and their season would be ended. Khorne's Killers had started the CBBBL with very few thoughts of anything other than trying to kill and maim as many opponents as they could but, along the journey, they had turned into a fairly decent Blood Bowl team.  This was their final test though - travelling to battle against another Dwarf team, albeit one without any minotaurs...

The Killers arrived at the Netherdome, a curiously constructed twin-domed stadium with an entrance neatly in the middle of the two hemispheres.  It was obviously a masterpiece of Dwarven workmanship but it looked exactly like a big arse.  The home team were the Nether Region Ravagers, a fairly new team to the CBBBL but they were still Dwarfs - rock solid and packing a punch like a headbut from a charging billy goat.  Thankfully for the Killers their team was entirely made up of charging billy goats so they were hopeful they could do well.

The day was hot and steamy as the had Dwarfs refused to open the stadium roof and a lot of the players were looking ropey as the game commenced.  They would never last the whole game in this heat, but the teams got underway with full lineups as the ball was kicked off.  The Killers received and did their best to try to break through the Dwarf lines but a blitzing Trollslayer laid out the ball carrier and the Dwarfs stopped the Chaos players drive.  The Khorne team did their best to surround the Dwarfs and get the ball back but the game descended into a toe-to-toe punch up, both sides seeing linemen too injured to continue.  The Killers' minotaur enjoyed himself by goring a journeyman Dwarf blocker to death and then waved the still-twitching corpse at the jealous Trollslayers to tease them.  The half ended with the score tied at 0-0.

At half-time the sweltering heat took its toll on both teams with the Dwarfs only being able to get six players back onto the pitch for the second-half, the Killers also losing players but less than the Dwarfs who had already suffered some injuries.  The roof of the Netherdome was finally opened to allow the heat to escape - but the bright sun outside was blinding - no-one would be trying to pass the ball now...  With just six players on the field, the Ravagers did their best to cage the ball-carrier but there were just too many beastmen for them to take on.  One by one the Dwarfs were bludgeoned to the floor or pushed into the crowd and the Killers soon had control of the ball and slowly walked it down the pitch.  They strolled over the touchline as the final whistle blew.

It was a tough game for the Ravagers but the only serious injury done to their players was to a journeyman so they chalked the game up to experience.

For the Killers though, they had won their seventh game of the season and gotten within a hair's breadth of qualifying for the CBBBL playoffs.  They had done Khorne proud and were looking forward to retiring after their final game.  Khorne had other ideas for them though...

Final score 1-0 win.

Rosters:

Killers : 1 minotaur, 11 beastmen, 4 rerolls

Opponent : 2 runners, 2 blitzers, 2 troll slayers, 3 blockers, 2 journeymen, 3 rerolls, 1 wizard, 1 travelling apothecary, 1 bloodweiser babe

Game 9 vs Chaos Dwarfs

Rodders - a tough opponent!

“Hang on a minute – didn’t we play these blokes last week?” complained the players.  Khorne’s Killers were still travelling in the Dark Lands and had been scheduled against another Chaos Dwarf team.  Neither the minotaur or any of the beastmen were happy about it – the evil dwarfs were surprisingly spiky and their beards smelt funny.  Even more worrying than the grooming habits of the followers of Hashut; there was another minotaur on the field.  They would have to trust to Khorne and let the blood flow where it would.

This was a far different game from the previous match.  The ball surged one way and another and most players ended up prone or stunned at some point.  It was the Dawii Zharr Rockets who were the first to draw blood – a punishing blow from a bull centaur killed the Killers’ kicker.  As he lay struggling to breathe, he beckoned the team’s apothecary hoping to be saved.  The medic just shook his head, pointed to himself and then to the Killers minotaur – he was the personal physician of the big cow and everyone else was destined for the post-game BBQ…  As they first half concluded, the Rockets had scored (a quite unusual touchdown as it was a blocker who’d trundled in to score).

The second half kicked off and the Killers fell to pieces immediately.  The minotaur had aimed himself towards his counterpart on the Rockets team but got himself into such a rage that he lost control and just trembled in anger and frothed at the mouth.  This left the Chaos Dwarfs an easy chance at surging into their opponents half and, before long, they had scored again, this time by one of the bull centaurs.

Knowing they were doomed to lose the game with such little time remaining, the Khorne team focussed on punching opponents really hard – and it paid off when a bull centaur was killed.  Too busy celebrating the slaughter, they failed to notice the Rocket’s apothecary pull out a resurrection scroll and in seconds the fallen player was on the sidelines waiting to get back into action.  With the reduced number of evil dwarfs on the field, the Killers managed to get the ball into their opponents half and, somehow, scored – merely a consolation goal though.

The Rockets finished the game in a fine show of brutality but to no real end as they caused no further injuries.  They had been the better team and deserved their win.

As the Killers limped back to their ship they swore never to come to the Dark Lands again.  There were no skulls for Khorne here.  Only hair gel and smelly chainmail underwear…

Final score 2-1 loss.

Rosters:

Killers : 1 minotaur, 11 beastmen, 4 rerolls, 1 babe

Opponent : 1 minotaur, 2 bull centaurs, 6 chaos dwarfs, 2 hobgoblins, 3 rerolls

Game 8 vs Chaos Dwarfs

My mate Barry - very decent chap indeed

The Killers sailed deep into the Dark Lands to the stadium of the Forge of Vulcan, a Chaos Dwarf team with a cunningly named stadium of “Vulcan’s Forge”.  Still fairly new to the CBBBL, the Forge were only in their second game of their season whilst the Killers were now well used to the rigours of Blood Bowl and were hoping to do well.  A huge crowd had followed the Khornate team and crammed themselves into the already packed stadium which gave the game the honour of having the highest number of fans of the CBBBL so far – over thirty-nine thousand supporters watched the match.

Those vast number of supporters were hoping to see an amazing game – but they were, unfortunately, very much disappointed.  The only significant theme throughout the entire first half was a distinct lack of both casualties and touchdowns.  At half time, both team coaches had severe words with their players and they emerged for the second half looking more composed.  The Killers started playing like they used to, causing a casualty on a hobgoblin and scoring whilst trying to avoid the lightning bolts being thrown by the Chaos Dwarf sorcerer.

As the teams reset, the Chaos Dwarf team surged down the field towards the Killers end-zone and were looking confident of getting a touchdown to equalise.  It was then that the Chaos team’s ship signalled an alarm – they had received a message that the Killers’ home stadium was under attack by barbarians and they needed to head back immediately to defend their territory.  As the Killers were running from the field to their ship, the Chaos team’s coach shook the hand of the Chaos Dwarf coach and conceded – only  to be told that the Chaos Dwarfs would not accept a win by concession and that the game be recorded as a draw.  They would meet again in another league and play again...

Final score 1 -1 draw.

Rosters:

Killers : 1 minotaur, 11 beastmen, 4 rerolls.

Opponent : 2 bull centaurs, 4 chaos dwarfs, 7 hobgoblins, 3 rerolls,  1 wizard, 1 extra reroll