What occurs to me with this is that if the beer pig is your 12th player, you run a lineman instead of him for the first half. Then, once you are inevitably down players, this guy comes in as a EXTREMELY cheap sub, provides assists, and makes sure your norse keep fighting. I feel like Norse are very swingy as glass cannons. The beer pig actually gives them a chance to recover from a "glass" start to the game which is amazing for 20k
There also will be turns where you can stand up nobody out of 5 prone dudes (and feel you'd be better off with a lineman), and times where you'll stand up 5 out of 5 dudes and have a super-turn! Also the pig could be a distraction for your opponent to focus on.
They have block or high Strength, so they'll go prone less often. They have low AV, so they'll more often be injured when they do go down. Two of the positionals already come with Jump Up. Is there another team that would get less benefit from this ability?
What ntw3001 said about "Glass Cannon" players reduces the pigs needs. Also, what opponents does the pig counter? Teams concerned more about the ball and scoring the touchdown aren't going to engage in brawling and typically only do surgical strikes to try and free up a ball so a small number of Norse are even going to be prone. The brawler teams will be glad the Norse are effectively down a player (Strength 1) while the combat skills like mighty blow against the "Glass Cannon" players pushes them into KO range or worse. A player without hands is a player I can effectively ignore until mop up time if the opportunity presents itself because there is no threat of scoring. Such a weak (Str 1) player doesn't have the numbers advantage like Snotlings so it won't be clogging up tackle zones or physical squares on the board. If it gets caught out of position because it fouled or a turnover its a easy target for the majority of other players. Cons^ --------- Pros : 20k players free up roster cash for more impressive Star Players or allow for starting teams to have better positionals if the costs work out to meet that 11 player minimum. I agree it is a cheap fouler for a chance to remove more team value than itself. --------- Neutrals: I still think I'd rather have off the pitch bonuses like a Cheerleader/Coach Assistant advantage over a pig that takes a roster slot. Conclusion: A casual fun player that is good for a laugh at the theme of the team but when the stakes for bragging rights at the local tournament are riding on the line this pig is best left to the victory dinner. Choose the additional Lineman.
Jump up doesn't guarantee a block and actually does stack with this giving 2 chances to get a free block in. And any lizardmen player can tell you st 4 and no block means more hitting than being hit for not falling down. So yes there's definitely marks against it but for 20k what do you expect? I think it will mostly boil down to whether you need to free up the points for another positional or reroll which I would gladly trade for a lineman.
The 1st team I started playing Blood Bowl with was Orcs. Now, at 1 million, I take a Goblin instead of a 3rd LineOrc or Thrower so I can get 3 Rerolls from the go. This Goblin usually just provides assists; maybe some Fouling here and there. Now, these Boars give me an option to 2-die block with a Goblin. I approve of these Boars for that reason alone.
To my mind the question: "is an extra lineman better then a beerboar?" has to be answered with "it depends!" First of all 20k is fucking cheap and cheaper than a lineman. Cheaper players leads to free cash and you can buy more positionals. 2. Beer boars can fould and most of the times will foul upwards 3. Beer boars can assist and don't have to attack on it's own. 4. if a player stands up nobody says it would be a lineman. It also could be a yethi for example 5. Beer boars got the same value as the skill "jump up" and actually their ability is a little bit compareable. But it ends up to be a jump up aura instead. Imagine having jump up on your yethi... 6. the value of the beerboar expands in teams, why are lying on the floor more often. So I'm thinking about teams which play more around the abilities pile driver and/or wrestle... This would be a superb synergy and I would definately would take it. I mean sure, if you look at the game in an optimistic way and tell yourself "my team spams block and so they never are going down on the ground", then in this world the beerboar will feel a bit of useless. But if you are calculating in hard matchups and expect your enemy to smack you in the ground, everybody beeing stuned and you just can do one single blitz to defend yourself, man then such a boar gets awesome. I mean 3/9 players standing up + 1 blitz and + 2 player which start with the regular jump up skill? jeah please!!! this leads to 54% of your team to be able to punch back, after a desastreus round please, i want more of these!!!! Jeah it would be better if not everybody in the norse team will start with block, but some would recieve wrestle instead. But I heard nothing about the valkyrie starting with block (I see strong sacker builds here: your thrower/catcher-valkyrie should recieve dodge anyway. add wrestle, strippball and juggernaught to this kit and you recieve the best possible sacker, which this team could build) Also maybe I could imagine, that if I'm running beerboars, that this would make the skill piledriver more usefull. So thinking about Ulfwerner taking Piledriver instead of ... let's say mighty blow (both raise the chance to remove an enemy player from the field)... would it be interesting? I mean this player would have to deal with the risk to be sending of the field, this player would commit a foul action and he would use the foul action of this turn and would open a gap in your defence... there are plenty downsides to this plan. But could it still be in your favour? I mean expect, the piledriver runs well, and your Ulfwerner would have a 5+ jump up afterwards. (compared to 4+, which would be the real jump up on Ulfs) If Piledriver would still deal with his old ruleset of 2016, I would run 2 piledriver Ulfwerner, which both could work to knock down enemy players each turn, and I would have 2 additional Sacker-Valkyries, then sure the beerboar's ability would be a no-brainer for me and I would take it every match... atleast one (and I guess the secnd sitting on the bench) these 4 positionals which work around this mechanic and would be on the ground more often would be reason enough for me to deal with it. I would be happy to take it just for this synergy. But nowadays, with the FAQ changes of Piledriver? Beeing limited to just 1 foul each turn, committing the foul with a expansive and worthfull player without any benefit like recieving ssp for this risk?.... pff... Well, I got to say I'm not sure about this... and finaly 7th, and this could be the best pro argument for running a beerboar!!! If you are running your beerboar and your opponent has the option to choose to knockdown a worthfull player, or the beerboar, then the boar could be worthy opportunity. So what do u choose? Break up the enemies cage with a blitz to mark the ballcarrier but having no opportunity to steal the ball this turn, because u required the blitz, and u have to expect the ballcarrying valkyrie to dodge away afterwards anyway, or do u blitz this fu**ing piece of a beerboar which makes help your enemy to stand up every fu**ing time and makes your pows to close as useless?!?!?! To my mind such a beer boar on the field is a psychological tread on the field, which feels more worthy than 20k. Imagine beeing turn 3 and you would have to choose to attack the boar in hope to remove it from the field, or attacking the enemy's cage with the ball... I believe attacking the boar would be more lokrative and it would be fine to just play a zoning strategy to slow down the cage and stop the enemy from scoreing and care about the ball later. This could be totaly fine! And this means the boar bought a free turn for the norse where their cage stayed untouched. It helps to prepare opportunities, which is totaly fine for them, too. The point is, the value of the boar is more than simply it's statline, or combat potential. From your enemies point of view the value of removing the boar shrinks, as longer it takes to do so. the value of a blocking lineman is in the moment and the actual turn. But the value of the beerboar has to be find in the future. And man, you never know how many lucky rolls of 6s Nuffle will spent to your opponent. And the longer this mechanism keeps on running, the more blocks the enemy will have to knock your players down and this leads to less opportunities for your self to block your enemy. This fucking beerboar is to my mind actually an psychological devil and a single lineman could never compete with this. Noone fears a single lineman! But everyone will fear the beerboar, if it leads to an unstoppable yethi (or anythink comparable) knocking out your own players, which happens uncalculateable anywhere on the pitch (in a 7x7 field around the pig). The beerboar is a reincarnation of chaos himself in a game, where each competitive player tries to reduce the the randomness of rolling a dice as much as possible, because it leads to death (in the worst case) So to my mind beerboars are not worthy. They are evil! And jeah, so I will like to run them. But actually I realy believe, they are gamebreaking and not realy fair... But they help u to run a realy risky playstyle, which is diverse to the normal meta. It's a compareable level of crazyness like abusing your teammates as ammunition to kill the enemys team, but without the downsides so jeah, from the point of view of a stunty player like me, this is realy a weapon on the pitch. (And I believe I know what I'm talking about, because in my last league I were the reason for 30 of my enemies to study anti stunty throw teammate strategies... jeah, I may have abused it a bit to much... but it was fun. My halfling never have lost a single game...) So, if u like cooking with gas, then this is a realy good way to do so. If norse also would recieve halve priced bribes (to commit more piledriver fouls), then I believe this could be a realy nice way to play this team. (like blackorcs with halve priced bribes. the rules say, you should foul more, but nobody does. to my mind this could be try number two to get this into the game) #sry for wall of text and thy for reading
Oh, wait I got more to add: Beerboars increase the value of thick skull, because your player stays on your pitch longer. Beerboars decrease the risks of rushing, because you care less about the risk of rolling a 1 So thinking about the newlineman, they recieve benefit from both of these. Beer boars may be bad, if you like to play classic blood bowl, then these may be a semi good choice. But if u like taking risks and if you love to play the game like cooking with gas and still want to play like a tier 1, or 2 team instead of such stuny teams, then the boars are awesome... If these would be a type of starplayers, then I guess I would take them with every team. Realy!!!
The thought that occurred to me was that if I have a Yhettee on the line and a BeerBoar behind in the background, then even if the Yhettee gets knocked down, there is a 33% chance of and immediate jump up. Or the Yhettee is not going to stay down long! Food for thought (at the end of the match - if you aren’t a vegetarian) And many people like bacon 🥓! There is also the opportunity to stand a pig next to an opponent and force your opponent to dodge out, a cage boar providing interference, an assist boar in blocks or blitzes.
OK as someone who plays Norse a lot in tourneys here is my thoughts on the beer boar. It is situationally serviceable. You wont see it a lot on the pitch at the start of the first drive as it would have to replace another player. However Norse are a glass cannon and these are cheap players that can give you a full 11 in the 2nd half as replacements if need be. It's not likely that the pick me up will be very effective as the low armor means when knocked down your likely stunned or worse. One thing I think contributes toward negative reviews is these are positional players. Blood bowl players have been conditioned for years that positionals are better than lineman and these definately arent. Think of them more like a mascot in guildball. They take up space can provide assists and cheap fowler's and tie up opponents a bit as well. I am looking forward to getting this team on the table.
I'm very surprised by the zone covered by the beer pig's effect. when I read 3 squares, I understood 'within quick pass range' thanks for the math calculation!
"You know much that is hidden, o Tim!" Interesting to learn about the cost and the fact that it will for sure take up a player space. I instinctively feel that a lineman will just suit my playstyle better. That said, I notice some third parties (Greebo and Hungry Troll for instance) have already got some nice pigs on the go and I'm tempted to paint a couple up. Finally, "The Realm of the Beer Pig" - quirky expansion for AoS? :P
The Beer Pig is massive. But there is 1 disadvantage that should be explored further: Agility access being Secondary means the essential skill up "Sneaky Git" is very expensive. Knock dudes down, then foul and retreat on your turn Get punched back and then use pig's AoE skill. Rince and repeat. A cheap Sneaky Git would win this for me, but as it's a Secondary... positioning to protect the pig becomes more of a headache.
The hidden taunt trait is strong in these ones. A few weeks ago a gobbo with chainsaw sucked it at the first turn of the match. "I blitz the boar." Well done, easy SPP. ... ohh, no, just stunned. Then you are surrounded by sweating nordic guys pissed of by you touched their pet. Well done, easy SPP for one of my linos.
I'd take a 20k fouler on pretty much any roster! Good point about this happening in the 'non-phase' between turns. So if a wizard drops a fireball, does the pig give a chance for them to get back up after? GW will need to set out the order of operations for the between-turn phase. If I understand it, if you're playing against Norse with a pig, just don't follow up any blocks until you kill the pig, right? Even if they make the 5+ roll, the player won't be adjacent, so no extra block.
Glad you covered them overlapping. Seems like it would be great when Norse are kicking the ball. Have the line of scrimmage punched! And then the boar gets them back up.
Beer Pig helps your positionals stand up. Linemen don't do that. I imagine your Yetis and Ulfs will appreciate the assist, and there will be times your Valkyrie can really use those three squares of movement. So yeah, I imagine Beer Pigs will fulfill a strategic role on the pitch.
It's not 1 beer boar vs 1 lineman. It's 2 bear boars and 1 dedicated fan vs 1 lineman. You don't take the pig for they aura, you take 2 so you can foul with them as much as possible. The aura is just a bonus :) And if you take a lineman here instead then you simply don't foul enough.
Just getting back into blood bowl after a long... long break. I don't think you mentioned it directly. But being that you might stand up a Yhette, or Ulf, or Valks not just line men, makes it a way better piece then just a lineman, to me.
I would prefer drunken Rabbit!!! 😁 I'm still not completely sold on the Beer Boar, but they are cute and I'm glad you add the graphics to convey the amount of coverage. Gonna be honest I am someone who has always wanted to sneak animals on to the pitch but......not sold! Make me think about Sevens! .....Can't see them making it into the Dungeon mind! Where did you get the value from though?
It's not a guarantee that they have stunty, dodge, and titchy, and the beer barrel might affect stunty, but if they can dodge into places easily they can be assists (or cancel assists) to help your frenzy models with their blocks (especially the second block) where a normal lineman may struggle to get to the right spot. Oooooo
Looks good for roster flexibility. There will be some strategy to fielding it early game when you are trying to get a numbers advantage, when making more blocks in a turn and fouling are more useful. Go a few players up, bring it off at the end of your first drive and have a lineman come on to defend. I've played a few seasons as ogres where the majority of the team has a comparable stat line and you might be surprised by how much of hidderence strength one players can be as a tripping hazard.
I wonder if the boar's discount is enough to fit two Valkyries in a starting lineup? The possibility of a high-scoring Norse passing game is tantalizing
Thank you for the video. It is nice to know they actually take up a player slot, so I am happier with this piece now. There is one strength to the beer boar that hasn't been mentioned and is worth mentioning. I will call this "Poor-Man's Fend:" With a beer boar present the opposition will be somewhat less likely to follow up your knocked down players (just incase). Does this make sense? I do think this is an appreciable strength!
I don’t know of any timing rules in blood bowl, so I want a faq concerning if my Norse wizard wants to fireball and has beer pigs, can they both be done “at the end of my opponent’s turn”? If my wizard knocks down but does not stun a Norse player, can I use the pig to stand him up? Thanks in advance Ben! Get me answers!!! 🍻
There are so many things I want to remark on here. Firstly, you say this ability still works when the beer pig has lost it's tackle zones. I think this a big assumption, taking into consideration the FAQ that disables most skills on 'hypnotized' players. You should also take into account the opponent's ability to either down the pig or push it out of range of your other players. Secondly, a 5+ roll to stand up does not equate to 1 in 3 downed players standing up. Any blood bowl player wort its salt knows this instinctively. This is not how statistics works. For example, more than one of those 3 could stand up (with some smaller chance). More likely than that, they will all remain prone just when you need them to bounce up. Thirdly, I like the re-imagining of this skill as 5 'jump-ups' per game. However, this in no way equates to 5 additional blocks per game. If I were facing these Norse and I knock one down in range of a pig, I'll be sure to try to take into account their chance to jump up. Like any player with Jump Up, you can either not mark them when they're down, or double mark their downed frame (or foul them, depending on how dangerous they are). I also agree that the pigs have more uses than just that one skill. However, when I see Gnoblars, I don't really see supporting players for the Ogres. I see really annoying players that turn into SPP pinatas when block or tackle gets involved. And the pigs don't even (seem to) have the annoying element of side step. All that said, as you said I also really like how GW is exploring their design space with this player.
Here's an interesting thing then, played a league game with my Norse team and the lone beer boar gained MVP, what the smeg? and what am i supposed to do with SPP on a beer boar?
I can't see taking a pig over a lineman. Now, if I had 20k leftover for a tournament roster and the question was 12th player pig or 2 coaches that's a different story. I do anticipate seeing 1-2 pigs on a roster to try to free up money for Star Players similar to how Underworld takes Snotlings.
The one thing that I noticed (and don't know if GW will address it later on) was that there is nothing saying that you can't roll twice for a prone player to stand up, if he is in the area effect of two Beer Boar. Now with that said, imagine two Beer Boar in a game of 7's or Street Bowl where the pitch is smaller.
Competitively you would choose the Lineman. Fun wise, you take the Beer Boar! It is great to have the option though. I like the idea of getting an extra Re-Roll at the start of a league. Thank you for putting this together Ben 👍🏻
This ability is just not worth being 1 and definitely not worth being 2 players down. My luck I'd rarely get it to work. On the subject of orc throwers, that's another team positional that I think should be geared towards a runner more than a thrower. I think the orc thrower should be faster than than the rest of the team with less armor and different skills than they have now.
What occurs to me with this is that if the beer pig is your 12th player, you run a lineman instead of him for the first half. Then, once you are inevitably down players, this guy comes in as a EXTREMELY cheap sub, provides assists, and makes sure your norse keep fighting. I feel like Norse are very swingy as glass cannons. The beer pig actually gives them a chance to recover from a "glass" start to the game which is amazing for 20k
There also will be turns where you can stand up nobody out of 5 prone dudes (and feel you'd be better off with a lineman), and times where you'll stand up 5 out of 5 dudes and have a super-turn! Also the pig could be a distraction for your opponent to focus on.
Question... How would the beer boar work with Deeproot Strongbranch? Have we got another way of getting the big guy up?
The pick me up skill is a partial counter to the Drunkard skill of the Linemen.
They have block or high Strength, so they'll go prone less often. They have low AV, so they'll more often be injured when they do go down. Two of the positionals already come with Jump Up. Is there another team that would get less benefit from this ability?
What ntw3001 said about "Glass Cannon" players reduces the pigs needs. Also, what opponents does the pig counter? Teams concerned more about the ball and scoring the touchdown aren't going to engage in brawling and typically only do surgical strikes to try and free up a ball so a small number of Norse are even going to be prone. The brawler teams will be glad the Norse are effectively down a player (Strength 1) while the combat skills like mighty blow against the "Glass Cannon" players pushes them into KO range or worse.
A player without hands is a player I can effectively ignore until mop up time if the opportunity presents itself because there is no threat of scoring.
Such a weak (Str 1) player doesn't have the numbers advantage like Snotlings so it won't be clogging up tackle zones or physical squares on the board. If it gets caught out of position because it fouled or a turnover its a easy target for the majority of other players.
Cons^
---------
Pros :
20k players free up roster cash for more impressive Star Players or allow for starting teams to have better positionals if the costs work out to meet that 11 player minimum.
I agree it is a cheap fouler for a chance to remove more team value than itself.
---------
Neutrals: I still think I'd rather have off the pitch bonuses like a Cheerleader/Coach Assistant advantage over a pig that takes a roster slot.
Conclusion: A casual fun player that is good for a laugh at the theme of the team but when the stakes for bragging rights at the local tournament are riding on the line this pig is best left to the victory dinner. Choose the additional Lineman.
Jump up doesn't guarantee a block and actually does stack with this giving 2 chances to get a free block in. And any lizardmen player can tell you st 4 and no block means more hitting than being hit for not falling down.
So yes there's definitely marks against it but for 20k what do you expect? I think it will mostly boil down to whether you need to free up the points for another positional or reroll which I would gladly trade for a lineman.
The 1st team I started playing Blood Bowl with was Orcs. Now, at 1 million, I take a Goblin instead of a 3rd LineOrc or Thrower so I can get 3 Rerolls from the go. This Goblin usually just provides assists; maybe some Fouling here and there. Now, these Boars give me an option to 2-die block with a Goblin. I approve of these Boars for that reason alone.
"It's simple maths here, one prone player out of three will stand up"
My curse with dice : you underestimate my power !
I used this against the Necromantic team the other night and I popped up players on more turns than I didn't
I think the low price of the BP will allow more flexible team builds which is good with so many Norse positionals.
To my mind the question: "is an extra lineman better then a beerboar?" has to be answered with "it depends!"
First of all 20k is fucking cheap and cheaper than a lineman.
Cheaper players leads to free cash and you can buy more positionals.
2. Beer boars can fould and most of the times will foul upwards
3. Beer boars can assist and don't have to attack on it's own.
4. if a player stands up nobody says it would be a lineman. It also could be a yethi for example
5. Beer boars got the same value as the skill "jump up" and actually their ability is a little bit compareable. But it ends up to be a jump up aura instead. Imagine having jump up on your yethi...
6. the value of the beerboar expands in teams, why are lying on the floor more often.
So I'm thinking about teams which play more around the abilities pile driver and/or wrestle...
This would be a superb synergy and I would definately would take it.
I mean sure, if you look at the game in an optimistic way and tell yourself "my team spams block and so they never are going down on the ground", then in this world the beerboar will feel a bit of useless. But if you are calculating in hard matchups and expect your enemy to smack you in the ground, everybody beeing stuned and you just can do one single blitz to defend yourself, man then such a boar gets awesome. I mean 3/9 players standing up + 1 blitz and + 2 player which start with the regular jump up skill? jeah please!!! this leads to 54% of your team to be able to punch back, after a desastreus round please, i want more of these!!!!
Jeah it would be better if not everybody in the norse team will start with block, but some would recieve wrestle instead. But I heard nothing about the valkyrie starting with block (I see strong sacker builds here: your thrower/catcher-valkyrie should recieve dodge anyway. add wrestle, strippball and juggernaught to this kit and you recieve the best possible sacker, which this team could build) Also maybe I could imagine, that if I'm running beerboars, that this would make the skill piledriver more usefull. So thinking about Ulfwerner taking Piledriver instead of ... let's say mighty blow (both raise the chance to remove an enemy player from the field)... would it be interesting? I mean this player would have to deal with the risk to be sending of the field, this player would commit a foul action and he would use the foul action of this turn and would open a gap in your defence... there are plenty downsides to this plan. But could it still be in your favour? I mean expect, the piledriver runs well, and your Ulfwerner would have a 5+ jump up afterwards. (compared to 4+, which would be the real jump up on Ulfs)
If Piledriver would still deal with his old ruleset of 2016, I would run 2 piledriver Ulfwerner, which both could work to knock down enemy players each turn, and I would have 2 additional Sacker-Valkyries, then sure the beerboar's ability would be a no-brainer for me and I would take it every match... atleast one (and I guess the secnd sitting on the bench) these 4 positionals which work around this mechanic and would be on the ground more often would be reason enough for me to deal with it. I would be happy to take it just for this synergy.
But nowadays, with the FAQ changes of Piledriver? Beeing limited to just 1 foul each turn, committing the foul with a expansive and worthfull player without any benefit like recieving ssp for this risk?.... pff...
Well, I got to say I'm not sure about this...
and finaly 7th, and this could be the best pro argument for running a beerboar!!!
If you are running your beerboar and your opponent has the option to choose to knockdown a worthfull player, or the beerboar, then the boar could be worthy opportunity.
So what do u choose? Break up the enemies cage with a blitz to mark the ballcarrier but having no opportunity to steal the ball this turn, because u required the blitz, and u have to expect the ballcarrying valkyrie to dodge away afterwards anyway, or do u blitz this fu**ing piece of a beerboar which makes help your enemy to stand up every fu**ing time and makes your pows to close as useless?!?!?!
To my mind such a beer boar on the field is a psychological tread on the field, which feels more worthy than 20k. Imagine beeing turn 3 and you would have to choose to attack the boar in hope to remove it from the field, or attacking the enemy's cage with the ball... I believe attacking the boar would be more lokrative and it would be fine to just play a zoning strategy to slow down the cage and stop the enemy from scoreing and care about the ball later. This could be totaly fine!
And this means the boar bought a free turn for the norse where their cage stayed untouched. It helps to prepare opportunities, which is totaly fine for them, too.
The point is, the value of the boar is more than simply it's statline, or combat potential.
From your enemies point of view the value of removing the boar shrinks, as longer it takes to do so. the value of a blocking lineman is in the moment and the actual turn.
But the value of the beerboar has to be find in the future. And man, you never know how many lucky rolls of 6s Nuffle will spent to your opponent. And the longer this mechanism keeps on running, the more blocks the enemy will have to knock your players down and this leads to less opportunities for your self to block your enemy.
This fucking beerboar is to my mind actually an psychological devil and a single lineman could never compete with this. Noone fears a single lineman! But everyone will fear the beerboar, if it leads to an unstoppable yethi (or anythink comparable) knocking out your own players, which happens uncalculateable anywhere on the pitch (in a 7x7 field around the pig). The beerboar is a reincarnation of chaos himself in a game, where each competitive player tries to reduce the the randomness of rolling a dice as much as possible, because it leads to death (in the worst case)
So to my mind beerboars are not worthy. They are evil!
And jeah, so I will like to run them. But actually I realy believe, they are gamebreaking and not realy fair... But they help u to run a realy risky playstyle, which is diverse to the normal meta. It's a compareable level of crazyness like abusing your teammates as ammunition to kill the enemys team, but without the downsides so jeah, from the point of view of a stunty player like me, this is realy a weapon on the pitch.
(And I believe I know what I'm talking about, because in my last league I were the reason for 30 of my enemies to study anti stunty throw teammate strategies... jeah, I may have abused it a bit to much... but it was fun. My halfling never have lost a single game...)
So, if u like cooking with gas, then this is a realy good way to do so. If norse also would recieve halve priced bribes (to commit more piledriver fouls), then I believe this could be a realy nice way to play this team. (like blackorcs with halve priced bribes. the rules say, you should foul more, but nobody does. to my mind this could be try number two to get this into the game)
#sry for wall of text and thy for reading
Oh, wait I got more to add:
Beerboars increase the value of thick skull, because your player stays on your pitch longer.
Beerboars decrease the risks of rushing, because you care less about the risk of rolling a 1
So thinking about the newlineman, they recieve benefit from both of these.
Beer boars may be bad, if you like to play classic blood bowl, then these may be a semi good choice.
But if u like taking risks and if you love to play the game like cooking with gas and still want to play like a tier 1, or 2 team instead of such stuny teams, then the boars are awesome...
If these would be a type of starplayers, then I guess I would take them with every team. Realy!!!
The thought that occurred to me was that if I have a Yhettee on the line and a BeerBoar behind in the background, then even if the Yhettee gets knocked down, there is a 33% chance of and immediate jump up. Or the Yhettee is not going to stay down long! Food for thought (at the end of the match - if you aren’t a vegetarian) And many people like bacon 🥓!
There is also the opportunity to stand a pig next to an opponent and force your opponent to dodge out, a cage boar providing interference, an assist boar in blocks or blitzes.
I feel like the Man-Beer-Pig would work better if they had switched Norse to a Wrestle team instead of Block.
OK as someone who plays Norse a lot in tourneys here is my thoughts on the beer boar. It is situationally serviceable. You wont see it a lot on the pitch at the start of the first drive as it would have to replace another player. However Norse are a glass cannon and these are cheap players that can give you a full 11 in the 2nd half as replacements if need be. It's not likely that the pick me up will be very effective as the low armor means when knocked down your likely stunned or worse.
One thing I think contributes toward negative reviews is these are positional players. Blood bowl players have been conditioned for years that positionals are better than lineman and these definately arent. Think of them more like a mascot in guildball. They take up space can provide assists and cheap fowler's and tie up opponents a bit as well.
I am looking forward to getting this team on the table.
I'm very surprised by the zone covered by the beer pig's effect. when I read 3 squares, I understood 'within quick pass range'
thanks for the math calculation!
Will this be a 1 box team or 2 box for meta Norse build
"You know much that is hidden, o Tim!"
Interesting to learn about the cost and the fact that it will for sure take up a player space. I instinctively feel that a lineman will just suit my playstyle better.
That said, I notice some third parties (Greebo and Hungry Troll for instance) have already got some nice pigs on the go and I'm tempted to paint a couple up.
Finally, "The Realm of the Beer Pig" - quirky expansion for AoS? :P
So wait, where did you get the stat information from? How do we know they have A secondary and no primary?
The Beer Pig is massive. But there is 1 disadvantage that should be explored further: Agility access being Secondary means the essential skill up "Sneaky Git" is very expensive.
Knock dudes down, then foul and retreat on your turn
Get punched back and then use pig's AoE skill.
Rince and repeat.
A cheap Sneaky Git would win this for me, but as it's a Secondary... positioning to protect the pig becomes more of a headache.
The hidden taunt trait is strong in these ones. A few weeks ago a gobbo with chainsaw sucked it at the first turn of the match. "I blitz the boar." Well done, easy SPP. ... ohh, no, just stunned. Then you are surrounded by sweating nordic guys pissed of by you touched their pet. Well done, easy SPP for one of my linos.
Any thoughts on strategies where you might run Valkyrie pieces and the with the bear boar be able to use them after diving catches, etc?
I feel like linemen who fall over from drunkard should stand up on a 4+ if near the beer boar. Would be really fun and thematic
I'd take a 20k fouler on pretty much any roster! Good point about this happening in the 'non-phase' between turns. So if a wizard drops a fireball, does the pig give a chance for them to get back up after? GW will need to set out the order of operations for the between-turn phase.
If I understand it, if you're playing against Norse with a pig, just don't follow up any blocks until you kill the pig, right? Even if they make the 5+ roll, the player won't be adjacent, so no extra block.
Glad you covered them overlapping. Seems like it would be great when Norse are kicking the ball. Have the line of scrimmage punched! And then the boar gets them back up.
Beer Pig helps your positionals stand up. Linemen don't do that. I imagine your Yetis and Ulfs will appreciate the assist, and there will be times your Valkyrie can really use those three squares of movement. So yeah, I imagine Beer Pigs will fulfill a strategic role on the pitch.
...on that tip, it's a stunty to keep your Yeti company and ensure he's getting at least two dice on everything but a Treeman or Deathroller.
How's he know it's 20k? Did I miss something in the article
Leaks
They said on the initial release video at adepticon or what ever it was called 🤣
Thanks, I was worried to know I missed a news
It's not 1 beer boar vs 1 lineman. It's 2 bear boars and 1 dedicated fan vs 1 lineman. You don't take the pig for they aura, you take 2 so you can foul with them as much as possible. The aura is just a bonus :)
And if you take a lineman here instead then you simply don't foul enough.
Just getting back into blood bowl after a long... long break. I don't think you mentioned it directly. But being that you might stand up a Yhette, or Ulf, or Valks not just line men, makes it a way better piece then just a lineman, to me.
You guys. I'm totally cereal. Man-Beer-Pig is real.
Am I missing something? Where is it posted that they are 20k?
It was said during the reveal livestream and it's also in the leaks
Beer boar can be an MVP at a game. Stand up most players!!!
I would prefer drunken Rabbit!!! 😁
I'm still not completely sold on the Beer Boar, but they are cute and I'm glad you add the graphics to convey the amount of coverage. Gonna be honest I am someone who has always wanted to sneak animals on to the pitch but......not sold!
Make me think about Sevens! .....Can't see them making it into the Dungeon mind!
Where did you get the value from though?
Im looking at running 1 BP in 11s and most likely none in 7s. Looking forward to the Spike! For point break downs
Beer pig and ivar combos gonna make the yeti so dangerous
It's not a guarantee that they have stunty, dodge, and titchy, and the beer barrel might affect stunty, but if they can dodge into places easily they can be assists (or cancel assists) to help your frenzy models with their blocks (especially the second block) where a normal lineman may struggle to get to the right spot.
Oooooo
Looks good for roster flexibility. There will be some strategy to fielding it early game when you are trying to get a numbers advantage, when making more blocks in a turn and fouling are more useful. Go a few players up, bring it off at the end of your first drive and have a lineman come on to defend.
I've played a few seasons as ogres where the majority of the team has a comparable stat line and you might be surprised by how much of hidderence strength one players can be as a tripping hazard.
I wonder if the boar's discount is enough to fit two Valkyries in a starting lineup? The possibility of a high-scoring Norse passing game is tantalizing
Not an auto take but handy. Our leagues norse player would love one on the pitch when he doesn't get first turn as he gets hammered going second
Maybe not a starting player, but could be a good option for bench since it's so cheap TV wise
Thank you for the video. It is nice to know they actually take up a player slot, so I am happier with this piece now. There is one strength to the beer boar that hasn't been mentioned and is worth mentioning. I will call this "Poor-Man's Fend:" With a beer boar present the opposition will be somewhat less likely to follow up your knocked down players (just incase). Does this make sense? I do think this is an appreciable strength!
Depends what the access is. But it's a great way to get a sneaky git/dp
I don’t know of any timing rules in blood bowl, so I want a faq concerning if my Norse wizard wants to fireball and has beer pigs, can they both be done “at the end of my opponent’s turn”? If my wizard knocks down but does not stun a Norse player, can I use the pig to stand him up? Thanks in advance Ben! Get me answers!!! 🍻
There are so many things I want to remark on here.
Firstly, you say this ability still works when the beer pig has lost it's tackle zones. I think this a big assumption, taking into consideration the FAQ that disables most skills on 'hypnotized' players. You should also take into account the opponent's ability to either down the pig or push it out of range of your other players.
Secondly, a 5+ roll to stand up does not equate to 1 in 3 downed players standing up. Any blood bowl player wort its salt knows this instinctively. This is not how statistics works. For example, more than one of those 3 could stand up (with some smaller chance). More likely than that, they will all remain prone just when you need them to bounce up.
Thirdly, I like the re-imagining of this skill as 5 'jump-ups' per game. However, this in no way equates to 5 additional blocks per game. If I were facing these Norse and I knock one down in range of a pig, I'll be sure to try to take into account their chance to jump up. Like any player with Jump Up, you can either not mark them when they're down, or double mark their downed frame (or foul them, depending on how dangerous they are).
I also agree that the pigs have more uses than just that one skill. However, when I see Gnoblars, I don't really see supporting players for the Ogres. I see really annoying players that turn into SPP pinatas when block or tackle gets involved. And the pigs don't even (seem to) have the annoying element of side step.
All that said, as you said I also really like how GW is exploring their design space with this player.
Standing a player up behind enemy lines could be very disruptive.
Here's an interesting thing then, played a league game with my Norse team and the lone beer boar gained MVP, what the smeg? and what am i supposed to do with SPP on a beer boar?
Sneaky git...
@@MadBanker ignore last response, sneaky git not much use to a beer boar though
@@Met_Head why ? At 20k, it is a perfect dedicated fouler
The pig would be amazing on a dwarf team but a bit pointless on the norse
I can't see taking a pig over a lineman. Now, if I had 20k leftover for a tournament roster and the question was 12th player pig or 2 coaches that's a different story. I do anticipate seeing 1-2 pigs on a roster to try to free up money for Star Players similar to how Underworld takes Snotlings.
Pretty sure they are just going to feed your opponent SPPs.
PIG ME UP! Take me out! Turn it on! Yeah Yeah!
Nah... I wont play Beer Boars in my XI
The one thing that I noticed (and don't know if GW will address it later on) was that there is nothing saying that you can't roll twice for a prone player to stand up, if he is in the area effect of two Beer Boar. Now with that said, imagine two Beer Boar in a game of 7's or Street Bowl where the pitch is smaller.
I get it now across the game for 20k it sounds good, given the strength of the rest of the team 👍
Competitively you would choose the Lineman. Fun wise, you take the Beer Boar!
It is great to have the option though.
I like the idea of getting an extra Re-Roll at the start of a league.
Thank you for putting this together Ben 👍🏻
If it takes up one of your 11 players on field it'll be next to worthless
5x a game, you’ll have a standing player and a pig. Or, 16x a game you have a prone player and a standing player. Simple math to me.
This ability is just not worth being 1 and definitely not worth being 2 players down. My luck I'd rarely get it to work.
On the subject of orc throwers, that's another team positional that I think should be geared towards a runner more than a thrower. I think the orc thrower should be faster than than the rest of the team with less armor and different skills than they have now.
Im not a fan of the beer pig. That dude can hog MVPs. No thanks.