From: awells@fenris.claremont.edu (Adam "Servo" Wells)
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
Subject: Blood Bowl Tackling
Date: 15 Oct 92 18:12:50 GMT
Organization: Harvey Mudd College, Claremont CA

In article <492zj!j@rpi.edu> cleggp@aix.rpi.edu (Paul Jason Clegg) writes:
>In article <books.32.0@fsunuc.physics.fsu.edu> books@fsunuc.physics.fsu.edu (Roger Books) writes:
>>In the basic game if you block a down player one of the possible outcomes
>>is the player is injured.  Nothing is mentioned about this in the veterans
>>rules.  What happens if you block a down player when using the Vet rules?
>
>In the veteran's rules, I believe you add +2 to the block roll, in addition
>to any of the other modifers due to differences in strength.

This rule works fine, but if you get the Blood Bowl Companion, you get fun
rules for referees.  With these rules, blocking a downed player is a foul(!)
and there is a chance that the ref will see you and penalize you.  Of
course, unconscious refs don't say much ... :)  This is a much better rule
set (IMO) than the +2 for being down.

>My question:  How EXACTLY do tackles work?  The rules say something to the
>effect of "when a player moves from one tackle zone to another"  Does this
>apply if a player moves through two consecutive squares of an opponent's
>tackle zone?  That's the way I've been interpreting it, since I figure if
>anything, the guy you're running around is most apt to reach out and trip you
>up, but I never found anything concrete in the rules or the examples.  I only
>own the boxed set, as well...

The rules in the box set are quite unclear in many aspects.  It wasn't until
we played in a con, after about a year of Blood Bowl, that we finally
understood how sprinting works.

As for tackling, the opponent is allowed to attempt a tackle after a player
of yours moves from a tackle zone square to another tackle zone square.  The
two squares need not belong to the tackle zone of the same player.  Also,
the opponent does not have to tackle (usually you don't want to if it's a
blocker tackling an elf -- too much chance of the tackler getting hurt).  

And, for each other opponent who has two TZ squares exerted on your move,
the opponent can declare that the other player is helping and gets an
additional +1.  For example,

    ..2*...
    ...E1..
    .......

You, the elf (E) want to move to the star (*).  Opponent 1, TZ covers both
of those squares, so may attempt a tackle.  If the opponent declares that 2
will help, he can gain an additional +1, since your path lies on two of 2's
TZ, also.

Which means, that you can jump in and out of lots of tackle zones and never
get tackled, like so:

...1..2..3...
....a.c.e....
...E.b.d.f...
....4...5....

So, if your player was E, with opponents 1,2,3,4, and 5, you could (if you
had MA of 6) move on the path indicated by a,b,c,d,e,f, since you're never
in two sqares of a single opponent consecutively.

By the way, has anyone had the problem with Heroic Tackles that our league
had?  It is good that the rules specified that you could only do one of them
per turn, or else that's all that the Dark Elf team would do.  We had to
make a rule that you could only make a heroic tackle if it was actually a
last-chance move; i.e., no moving away, then turning back, just so you can
sprint into their TZ and Heroically Tackle.  Running straight out to catch
the enemy ball carrier before he entered the End Zone was fine, but doing it
instead of a block by moving away and back was not.

Adam Wells
team manager, Brockian Ultra Cricket
awells@fenris.claremont.edu