Next up in our mini-series of coach interviews covering all our lovely new coaches who joined for Season IV… we sit down with Michael!
1) What’s your name and where do you come from?
Michael and I’m from Chippenham, but I was born in Yorkshire
2) Tell us a little about how you came to play Blood Bowl and your experience with the game and wider hobby.
I started playing Blood Bowl on my PSP then later found Blood Bowl 1 which I mostly single player. Afterwards I got Blood Bowl 2 where I spent plenty of time across different multiplayer events. First in person was in season one here, apart from some failed attempts in school to get some friends into it.
3) What Blood Bowl achievement are you most proud of?
I pitch-cleared a goblin team (on turn 16) in a resurrection tournament with my Skaven. It was in person, which improved the gloating quite a bit.
4) What’s your favourite team and why?
Skaven. They adapt how they play a lot depending on who they play, are great at pressuring with the threat of an OTTD, and have a mix of Bash and Agi. They’re also one of the best teams to play with when behind. Over the years, they’ve also changed lots; rat ogres used to be awful but are now a pretty core part of the identity of the team, and gutters are no longer the team’s best player (arguably).
5) Tell us about the team you’ve brought into Season IV. Did you select it for purely competitive reasons, or were there other factors involved?
I haven’t played any Blood Bowl since the first season, so I wanted something I knew how to play, and they had some very interesting changes.
6) What was your thought process behind your roster selections, skills taken, and how would you describe your playstyle with this team?
Generally pretty aggressive both when kicking and receiving. Skaven don’t mind being down players very much, and the fewer players on the pitch, the better for fast teams. The new strip ball on blitzers supports this even more.
Rat Ogre has a few ways to build them, but unlike most big guys, they’re excellent blitzers and have frenzy, but are bad blockers because of their team and AV. Juggernaut -> Break Tackle -> Pro -> They’re already dead by now, so it doesn’t matter.
Gutters got less interesting as they can’t get +MV, and you only have 2, so usually block -> sidestep. After that they can get sprint, stats or mutations that help agi rolls. Guard is nice too but only having 2 gutters makes this less appealing.
Blitzers are probably your most important to level as they are your mighty blow/tackle players, especially with their buff. After that they have a really wide range of things they can do and you want to do most of them, including dodge, claw, guard and stats. They are pretty close in stats to werewolves/wardancers now, but building them bash is still probably best.
Throwers are fine out of the box but aren’t as valuable as gutter/blitzer/rat ogre so are lower priority and tend to die. leader/block/dodge. dump-off is fine but 2 gutters means you likely have noone to catch it and you already have sure hands.
Linemen are very much fodder. kick/dirty player are good but apart from that random general and if they get something good then try for tackle or guard.
7) What are your expectations for this season? Do you have any particular goals you’d like to achieve? Who are you backing to win each division this season?
I’d like to get back into Blood Bowl mostly as I haven’t played for quite a while. Having my Rat Ogre survive the season, having done more damage to enemies than my own team, would be nice (it’s a tie at the moment 2-2).
Div 1 – Skaven
Div 2 – Skaven
Div 3 – Skaven
Div 4 – Goblins, I guess?
8) What’s one thing you’d change about Blood Bowl?
Steady footing – roll a 6 to make something fun happen is fine, roll a 6 and nothing happens, just isn’t very interesting.
9) What Pitch is your favourite (rules, artwork, whatever)?
Nothing interesting here, I have a snow pitch I like as pieces show up clearly on it.
10) Outside of Blood Bowl tell us a little about your life and main passions?
I like doing a lot of low-budget travelling, also TTRPGs – particularly unusual or niche ones – and then video games. I used to do a lot more competitive multiplayer, but now mainly play single-player story games. Mostly just like trying new things in new places.
11) Pirates or Ninjas?
Ninjas – I watched Naruto a bunch as a kid.
Thanks for sharing, Michael😊
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