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I had a bit of fun this morning and ended up with this.

My Orc Blocker, Vultug Flame Basher leading 'da boyz' on to the field of play. Ha ha!

Come on you Raiders!!!!

Orcland Raiders

An image to strike fear into very souls of the opposition. A new brand is born. (or is that franchise?)

The Orcland Raiders are here and very much in your face.

It has been a busy Christmas on the gaming front. The Blood Bowl has been first class entertainment. I have had great fun growing my squad of Orc's. They were only a few in the beginning. And they lacked colour and personality.

I added some reds and blues to the colour scheme and applied lots of 'wash' to give them that dirty, 'lived in' feel.

Next I paid a visit to ebay. I needed some more Blockers, Blitzers, and a Troll. Highly successful, I got an entire team for £16 including postage. A real bargain!

Da Boyz were starting to look like a team. I needed a goblin and a visit to my 'bits box' allowed me to scramble together what I needed to construct a suitable model. This got me thinking about the Orcs them selves. My team had three identical Blockers, it also had three identical Blitzers. It would be nice if they were different. I had a look around and discovered the Warhammer Savage Orc plastic box set. Fantastic models that oozed personality. I love the open mouth posing.

I am still working on the new Blitzers but overall a great gathering of orcs.

The team grew over the course of three games of Blood Bowl and this has allowed individual heroes to emerge. Yakstick the Goblin was the super star of game one. My Blitzer Karfu and Blocker Vultug made their names in game 2. And finally in game three Karfu became a rampaging beast, Vultug made an unbelievable interception and Blitzer Pergu, number 11, scored two touchdowns.

Thanks to the Dark Templar for the new Orcland Raider brand. I feel the need for cheerleaders and banner waving fans!!

Blood Bowl Skaven

Project Skaven has begun ...

At the moment I am painting and basing what I have got in the way of models. Research yet to be done. But what I have learned from the Ors is that it is important to field your potential match winners early so that they may gain SPP's. I have just painted what I have and there are a few more Linemen on the painting tray.

I think that the Gutter Runners are important. They are the match winners. I always loved the Rat Ogre and as I have learned 'you got to pick up the ball' so a Thrower looks likely.

It will be a vanilla team. I think this means that I need to field as many players as possible with 'skills'.

Nuffle I need you now - are you hearing me?

New Orc Blitzer models

I have been working on some new Blitzer models for the Orcland Raiders. I have four in the team at the moment and three of them are the same plastic orc blitzer model. I replaced one standard model for Karfu last week using one of the Savage Orcs from Warhammer. This was a great idea because the new model is oozing personality and was great fun to play.

Here he is at his intimidating best closing in on the Dark Elf ball carrier.

Well one of the other Blitzers had a great game, scoring two touchdowns and gaining MVP. He deserved to have his own model. I thought I would replace all 3 when I was at it. There are actually four Savage Orcs models that are in running stance - so very appropriate. I give you the new orc Blitzers.

Still early days on the painting front but they do look intimidating. Pergu Nail Snapper has just gained the Guard skill so he will be the guy on the right with the single spike on his shoulder.

The next project will be a Skaven team. I think the Boomtown Rats will be a suitable name.

I used to really like playing the Skaven in the past. So fast, so fragile, so funny.

Skilling up

After our game this week I had acquired a lot of SPP's. Three players had new skills to choose. A new Black Orc, A new Blitzer and Karfu my Orc super Blitzer who already had the Mighty Blow upgrade.

I think the easy choice is to give the Black Orc, Block. It had worked well for the first Black Orc upgrade.

The Blitzer is questionable. Number 11, Pergu Nail Snapper, scored two touchdowns and was awarded Most Valuable Player. His current tally of SPP's is fourteen and therefore very close to his next upgrade. So do I make him into another Killer Blitzer following Karfu's footsteps or do I go for a Support Blitzer. I am leaning towards the Support role.

I am looking at Guard and Tackle.

Guard means you always assist in a Block even if you are in another players tackle zone. I can see that being used a lot.

Tackle means that players standing in my tackle zone can't use their Dodge skill. On the whole, at at this early stage I think that Guard will be used more in the games. So Guard it is.

And now to the main man - Karfu!

He had a great game and has become a real menace. Giving him a second skill will only increase his threat. But what to give him. I am looking at Piling On and Frenzy as my main options.

Piling On sounds good but has a downside in that you finish as 'Prone' lying face up on the field, vulnerable. The upside is that you can force a knocked down player to reroll either the Armour or Injury dice. Good at increasing your casualty causing.

Frenzy sounds great - the player turns into a 'slavering psychopath'. Here, if the opponent is Pushed Back or Defender Stumbles you must follow up and Block him again. This could be great for opening up holes in the line or breaking through cages. Perhaps the downside is that the action must be taken. There is no choice. The second Block might not have the assists that the first had. So there is potential downside.

I am swaying towards Frenzy, probably because you finish standing up, but some more thought required.

All advice gratefully received.

Da Boyz are ruling the roost

Another fantastic day of Blood Bowl. Today I travelled to the home of the Daggeroth Darkblades. A totally different experience. We are starting to get a real grip on the game and today was much more tactical. The Dark Templar had done his homework and came to the game with a plan. Instead of standing up to the orcs he would fade away, dodge, pass and look for opportunities to open up. The heavy scale Blocking was a thing of the past. Today was for tactics.

The pity was that The Orcs had had a couple of victories with some SPP's and picked up some extra's. They were powerful. The Darkblades were virgin and as such they were up against it. However the plan was in place and the game began.

The difference between the undead and the dark elves is that you need to commit to the Dodge. Mentally this proved a challenge at the start of the game but over time the Dark Templar began to 'feel' his way to confidence.

The start was brutal! And the Dark Elves started positively.

Both of my newly skilled orcs were on their ass on turn one. Could the fortunes be changing?

Not only this but the Darkelves had actually picked up the ball. This was different all right. Much more control.

However my Blitzer 'Valtrog' had acquired Mighty Blow and was rampaging around the field. He was applying pressure and beginning to be a real thorn in the Darkblades side.

Block and Mighty blow really gave me confidence. The double handed blows of the Blitzer 'Karfu' were becoming an intimidating presence. Here he has worked his way around the back and is applying pressure on the ball carrier.

However the Darkblades were up to the task. The ball carrier squirmed free and was ready to pass the ball to a free Blitzer. Nooooo....... I had been sucked in. I was in trouble. The Pass went over the head of my upgraded Black Orc 'Valtrog Flame Basher'. He reached into the sky and attempted an interception. He needed a six and the big hand was raised into the sky. I rolled the dice and Nuffle was in my corner. Six!!! I had the ball. The laughing was loud!

And with that ...... I headed to the touchline. A hand-off to Blitzer number 11 and we are in. Can you believe it? We are ahead.

Karfu, my upgraded Blitzer, was doing some damage began to knock people over and cause some casualties - 4 on the day. Big SPP's for him. This was predicted on the blog comments. Well done guys. He was a maniac!!

Interesting Bolgrot was proving to be difficult. The troll must have had at least three turns of being Stupid. I can see why people don't like him in the Orc lineup.

There was some 'to and fro' in the following moves. The Darkblades were down 3 players by the half so gaps opened up and I scored a quick touchdown early in the second half.

But then the Darkblades returned to full strength and it was very different. The Darktemplar had begun to get some confidence about the strengths of his new team and it showed. They reacted well to receiving the ball and opened up a door in the middle of the field.

Their running Blitzer was away and  Going For It. I took some big risks and knocked the Blitzer down. My goblin picked the ball up but was knocked down himself. The Darkblades took control and walked in for their first touchdown!!! Gratz gratz.

A great game with lots of twists and turns. I think the Dark Elves suit the Dark Templar so will this team grow?? Lets see.

Thanks to the Dark Templar for hosting today. Great fun and a big step forward.

Will the 28mm Victorian step forward? So many questions.

To the Victors ...

It only seemed right that the developing players should get a little tender loving care. Two players had moved along and picked an extra skill.

Black Orc - 'Vultog Flame Basher' acquired Block which seriously improves his blocking skill. (by 16.66%) I thought that I would add to his model making him stand out from the other Black Orcs.

First I built a hat from green stuff and some bits from the Orc Bitz Box. I went for the 'broken horn' look.

I also added another shoulder pad. I went for something smaller than the one on the left.

Finally I added a disk to the bottom of the left shoulder pad. This can be used to write his number on and keep him looking the same as his team mates.

Blitzer - Karfu Eye Cutter acquired Mighty Blow. In future when he knocks down opposition players they will have to add '1' to their AV roll or add '1' to the Injury Table roll (Ouch!!) making it more likely that he will cause serious damage. My existing Blitzer model are the same. I figured that a 'new build' was appropriate. Karfu actually has the most SPP's on the team with 10. In game 2 he caused a casualty, scored a touchdown and was the MVP. A bit of a superman really. He is therefore closest to getting a second skill and becoming a bit of a monster.

I returned to the Warhammer Savage Orcs box set. There is a running orc model with only one foot on the floor (in fact 4 of them...how fitting) So I picked the one I liked best. I do like the head, a broken undead limb in his mouth.

I went for the 'both hands in the air' look. You can feel the 'mighty blow' that he is about to deliver.

I added shoulder pads and again used some green stuff to make the metal disk for his number.

Now if it would only stop raining I could get outside to put some primer on him. But that doesn't look likely today.

In summary our narrative is developing nicely.....

Yakstick Sticky Hand (chief goblin) has acquired a reputation. Super scorer, dodger supreme and target for the 'bucket' treatment!!

Bolgot Bone Snapper (troll) has proved to be the much needed immovable object in the middle of the field

Popeye Wind Rider (Thrower) has become the lead ball handler / Thrower having completed an accurate pass in game 2.

Vultog Flame Basher (Black Orc) has become the lead casualty causer, with 3 so far.

Karfu Eye Cutter (Blitzer) is the current 'super star' and will be the one to watch going forward.

What next? - we are discussing an away match later in the week and not sure who the opposition will be yet, Dark Elves, Humans, Undead or maybe even Khemri? Will Nuffle be sated by the much anticipated Auzzie coloured Block dice? Bring it on.