TACTICS: Tsudochan Scoot!

On an all Jack team, you often have to be creative in the way you move the ball around the board to score. Luckily, if you are the Tsudochan, you have a bigger tool belt than most, using your Push ability. This is a simple tactic, but hey, everything doesn't have to be deftly crafted by Hannibal to be valid.

Let's say you have a Jack go to pick up a ball on the Pitch, and sadly, he does not double the Pick Up, meaning he only has a single space to move and throw with his second action. Well, if you are using the telekinetic Tsudochan, this is not a problem. You can be up to 6 spaces away from where you would like to throw, and not incur the movement penalty (up to 7 if you don't mind being at minus one dice on that throw).

Orange - Tsudochan, Dark Blue - Other Team

Ok, our Jack is the only Tsudochan on the opposing teams side of the Pitch. We could try to Sprint someone over to that side and Throw the ball to them, either being Threatened or having to Evade once. Then our Jack would have to Throw the ball successfully, and that other Jack would have to Catch it... Too many points of failure, and maybe the only option for some teams, but not for the Tsudochan.

Instead, let's just use our "psychic" abilities and move our guy down the Pitch. Our first action was the ball Pick Up. The second, third, and fourth actions will be using other members of our team to move our Jack down the Pitch:

Then, "Tada!" Our Jack has our team's final action to attempt the 3 point shot with 2 Dice. Not bad at all.

Remember, when playing the Tsudochan, play the game your way, not the opponent's way. Use your Push to move your guys into position, or move the opposing coach's players out of the way. Look for lanes and how to use them. It requires a different mode of thinking, but it is a lot of fun.

SIDELINE REPORT: The Fran-Taar Philosophers vs Long Rock Lifers

This is my first Sideline Report (Battle Report) on the blog. I plan on alternating some between the TACTICS and the SIDELINE REPORT entries. It is not the format I am going to follow, and I didn't know I was going to even write it when I played the game. But I did want to get some of these up here to discuss a few things about the flow and movement of games. We'll see how it goes...

I was fortunate enough to get in a game of Dreadball with a fellow veteran Dreadball Coach the other night. We decided to play two of the newer teams and see how the match went. He chose the Long Rock Lifers, the Convict team, and I chose the Fran-Taar Philosophers, the Tsudochan team. We had seen the Tsudochan on the Pitch before, but this was our first time trying out the convicts.

The Setup:

Orange - Tsudochan Jacks

Dark Blue - Convict Guard, Light Blue - Convict Jack, Green - Convict Striker

We both began the game in a very standard setup for Dreadball. We each had three players along the center and one player guarding the extra point lane of each Strikezone. My opponent's plan was obvious, he was going to try and hurt me with the Guards. Not a whole lot I was going to be able to do about that-a Jack with a 4+ Speed and a 5+ Strength isn't going to strong a monster 3+ Strength Guard. Oh well..
The first Rush went totally my way. Being on the Home side as the Tsudochan is a major boon to your game. You are pretty much guaranteed to get an attempt to score, which I did, for three points!
Then the pain... the rest of the Rushes after the first consisted of lots of pain, for both sides. For the poor Tsudochan, the pain was actual pain. Although he ever only managed to kill one player, I was constantly getting guys sent out and getting knocked down. There was pain on the other side too, but it was the pain of bad dice. My opponent missed every Strike attempt, when he actually managed to Pick Up the Ball.
The 12th Rush is the only other one worth mentioning. In the 11th Rush, I made a crucial error, I one I had avoided the entire game so far...

I ended my turn in the 11th Rush with the above setup. I had two Tsudochan Jacks (Orange) side-by-sideThreatening his Convict Striker (Green) who was sitting on the 4 point hex. On his turn, in the 12th Rush, she Sprinted a Convict Jack where you see above (Light Blue). Then he used his shock collar... *sigh* it sent both my Jacks out for two rounds (removing them from the game), and freed up his Striker, who finally scored a 4 pointer.

And though there was some valiant last ditch attempts at scoring, the Fran-Taar Philosophers met defeat that day.

What did I learn?:

1. The Convicts are a really good team (despite my opponent's terrible dice). They can score like Trontek (maybe even easier considering they come with an Offensive Coach), but there Guards hit like Orx. And that Shock Collar at the right moment can turn a game.
2. As much as I really want to like the Tsudochan, an all Jack team is still difficult to handle. With a 5+ Strength, your only real option is Dodge. Moving people is great, but you only get that on your turn. 
3. If you can at all avoid it, do not space your guys so that the Convicts can get that Shock Collar on more than one player.
4. With the Fran-Taar Philosophers, score early and go for the three pointers if possible.

TACTICS: An Anti-Tsudochan Defense

Again, I know this team is still technically in beta...

Anti-Tsudochan Defense

Yellow - Any position

The Tsudochan are an opponent that doesn't play the same game as ANY other team. They will pretty much ignore your players unless they have to do something with them. Well, as an initial setup, MAKE THEM HAVE TO DEAL WITH YOU! This setup makes the Tsudochan have to sacrifice tons of Movement that they do not have to spare if they want to go for a 3 or 4 point goal--being a team made up of entirely Jacks, they NEED Movement desperately. The center line of 4 players causes them to give up 8 spaces of Movement to clear the 4 point Hex line. You can make this defense slightly better versus 3 point attempts too, if you position your Threat Hexes on the straight line of players just right. To do this, face the player closest to the home team forward, then face the player behind him completely backwards, this will give a double Threat on two Hexes at least.

This has been the best defense I have come up with to deal with the Tsudochan. I would be very thankful to anyone who might have a different or better setup they could share!

TEAM: Fran-Taar Philosophers (Tsudochan team)

Fran-Taar Philosophers (Tsudochan team)
Just some initial thoughts after the beta test release...

Strengths: 
Never lift  finger - You don't have to worry about evading. No one can block your scoring lanes. You can thwart your opponent's plans with movement choices he never ever made. Telekinesis is of course their shtick, and it is a crazy one.

I use the pitch my own way - When you play the Tsudochan, you have decided to play a different style of game than everyone else. You have decided that you are going to do as you please on your turn, getting where you want, and moving other players out of the way. Board Manipulation is their thing! It is a great addition to the styles of play for DB.


Weaknesses:
You DO know Jack - Well, some teams suffer from having only Jacks... and this is one of them. Only Jacks on the squad makes it a bit harder to Pass the ball, to Score, to Slam (although, you can position players into Threat Hexes easier), to everything. I think that the all Jack teams feel this a lot more than the Jack-Heavy teams.

Different Playstyle - I know this is the same as the strength from above, but it is also a disadvantage. Newer players might find it hard to "not play the game". Seasoned players will find that normal stratgies don't work (which is good in many ways too). Add to this no Guards and no Strikers, and you have a difficult team that needs a lot of practice.


MVP Recommendations:

I am going to wait on this until I can see the Tsudochan MVP and th other Season 5/6 MVPs are capable of.


Overall: 
I'll have to play these guys more to really get a handle on their play style. Much like the Koris, I think that positioning of the players is key. It is nice to have another Board Manipulation team on the pitch. I bet in a league they would do pretty well.


Grade:
C +

COACH'S CORNER: Play Testing the Koris and the Tsudochan (both V.2)

I had the good fortune to be able to wrangle a free night to try out two of the teams that Jake released for play testing from Seasons 5 and 6.

Tsudochan:

Game:
Tsudochan V.2 vs Male Corporation Team (I was playing Corporation)

Result:
Landslide victory for the Corporation in the 8th Rush

Thoughts:
The Tsudochan are very interesting. You cannot block their path. You cannot threaten them. You have to play an entirely different game against them. From the beginning, I knew the game was going to be unlike playing against any other team, so I set up my defense with that in mind. I was the Visitors. I used Guards to block the center lanes of the 1/2 point zones and used my remaining 3 Strikers and a Jack in a straight line defending the 4 point lane of the 3/4 point strike zone (see picture). I thought that if nothing else, he would have to dedicate a lot of resources to moving my players if he was going to go for the big score--I wanted to prevent that as long as I could. My opponent began in a standard 3 Frontline/3 Goal Guarding setup.
Even though the Tsudochan were able to scoot my team all over the pitch, moving the ball was hard for them. They tried a few times to score, but due to the amount of movement it was taking for them to get in place, they were almost always trying for a strike with a single roll of the dice, a straight up 50/50 shot. This overall swung the game to the team with some Strikers.
As the Corporation, I was easiy able to move the ball down the pitch and score, opting for the 3 point shots whenever I could. Eventually, it came down to the fact that I was able to just run the pitch with the ball-handlers, and constantly moving my other players into places where he had to sacrifice his movements to use the Push ability. Without a solid Striker or a Guard to dish out some damage, the Tsudochan are almost playing a different game on the pitch entirely. Which is not a bad thing, but would take some getting used to.
My friend and I discussed how we would change the Tsudochan after the match. We settled on what we thought they needed for a straight team on team match was to begin with a Coaching Dice (or maybe 2). The 2 Cards were not as needed as one might think, due to the specialized nature of the cards, heck you can't even use Striker or Guard cards at all. But a Coaching Dice would allow them to have a more solid shot at getting some points on the board and moving some momentum toward their side of the table.
In a League, these guys may well become monsters! Especially, If they can get an MVP or a Free Agent, they will be unstoppable. Same goes for an Exhibition Match with say 120 MC, that would entirely change the dynamic.
Overall, super fun and cool team with interesting rules and interactions. They seem like with a little practice, they might be a force to be recokoned with! And as a side note, with an all jack team, go for the 1 and 3 point shots most of the time, the odds are way better.


Koris:

Game:
Koris V.2 (I played the Koris) vs Male Corporation Team

Result:
One point victory for the Koris

Thoughts:

Portals! Man, the portals were a ton of fun, for both sides! And boy does it change the game flow and strategy!

So, I was the home team Koris in this matchup. I set up with a slight variation on the standard 3 up and 3 defending configuartion. I had a Guard defending a 1/2 strike zone, and Jacks defending the other 1/2 and 3/4 strike zones. I played my Striker in the center, flanked by a Guard and a Jack. I placed my initial portal right behind the Striker. My opponent set up in a almosted honeycombed configuartion that was well-planned to prevent me from having an easy go at a deep feild incursion. 

The first thing I did on my turn was Sprint my forward Jack as deep into the center of my opponents backfeild as I could. Then I placed a portal. This was key. I used that portal constantly. 

At first, the 4 Movement was really bumming me out. Then, I decided that I had to utilize the portals better and as a constant part of my tactics on the pitch. Then everything changed. I used Jacks to move portals and jump to place just beside the ball, or used the portal as my one space move for a Jack to throw on the other side. It was loads of fun!

My opponent enjoy using the portals too! He used them to score, to Slam me and generally take advantage just like I was. The problem, of course, was that pushing your luck like that will eventually catch up with you, and it did! A portal gave him the chance to win the game in the 14th Rush, then with a Failure on a Confusion check, it solidified the win for me! This was a really close game, btw.

I think the Koris are great! I look forward to more games with them and more teleporting shenanigans! They would be great in a League too. I don't think I would change a thing about them. 

Pro-tip: Protect your sole Striker! He is your money-machine!

TEAM: Fran-Taar Philosophers (Tsudochan team - beta)

http://quirkworthy.com/2015/04/22/use-the-force/

Wow at the beta rules to play test!!!!