This week’s installment of our coach interview series sees Dan bare his wares for all to see 😀
1) What’s your name and where do you come from?
Dan Bailey, hailing from Calne although I’m originally from Reading
2) Tell us a little about how you came to play Blood Bowl and your experience in with the game and wider hobby.
I started when I was about 15-16 playing Warhammer 40K, then expanded into other games over the years. Bloodbowl was the first game I expanded to as a friend had almost every team available to borrow. I’ve played it on and off for the past 14 years and always loved the game.
3) What Blood Bowl achievement are you most proud of?
If we’re talking about stuff to actually be proud of it would be winning third division in season 2, it was a really fun experience and everyone was great to play against. If we’re including the daft stuff then it would be my troll eating my doom diver in the final turn of the final round of season 1, because it was absolutely hysterical.
4) What’s your favourite team and why?
My favourite team is probably goblins because of the sheer silliness of their roster and how wildly different each and every game with them can be.
5) Tell us about the team you’ve brought into Season III. Did you select it for purely competitive reasons, or were there other factors involved?
I chose my Skaven team, the Wrat Wrestling Federation, for season 3 because they performed well in season 2 and I wanted to see how they’d do in the rematches against previous opponents who’d had the chance to build their teams more and because I’m most confident in them to be able to adapt to poor luck and changing circumstances. I also just really like getting to watch people react to finding out that my Rat Ogre is named Nacho Man Ratty Savage.
6) What was your thought process behind your roster selections, skills taken and how would you describe your playstyle with this team?
My basic roster structure has remained unchanged since the previous version of Bloodbowl. I really like having a Rat Ogre to chase down problem pieces and punch a hole in enemy lines, and tend to avoid having more than two gutter runners if I can help it so I don’t have too much strength 2 in play. My skill choices on positionals are the process of trial and error over my time playing them, like Juggernaut on the Rat Ogre to really help it serve well as a Blitzing piece. I tend to try and turn one Gutter Runner into a dedicated carrier and the other into a cage diver if I can get the right skills on it. My blitzers are more for providing a mobile roadblock and trying to remove other threats that my Ogre can’t necessarily focus on. I roll randoms on the linerats to try and get cheaper useful skills, and replace them if they get something not desired.
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?
My hopes and expectations for this season are to just try to have as much fun as possible and make things as fun as possible for my opponents. If I win as part of that then that’s fine, but I’ll be perfectly happy if I finish middle of the pack and stay in division 2.
I’m not sure who I’d want to win each division, but it would probably be Drow-Tube Studio or Dummy Borgar Butchers for division 3 because it’s always good to see your friends do well.
In division 1 I’d love to see The Bloody Fists storm the leaderboards but sadly I don’t think that’s likely, so instead I think my bet would be on the Lost Buoys.
8) What’s one thing you’d change about blood bowl?
I’d probably just give every team the ability to hire a journeyman Gnoblar every game if they wanted. 15k for a strength 1 player that can very easily get taken out seems like a very fun and silly addition.
9) What Pitch is your favourite (rules, artwork, whatever)?
My favourite pitch is probably the Ogre pitch, purely because the snow side is so clear and easy to read compared to most of the other pitches.
10) Outside of Blood Bowl tell us a little about your life and main passions?
I’m a sheet metal engineer, mostly working with 3d and 2d modelling software at work. Outside of work I’m a video gamer with a friend group that heavily leans into tabletop hobbies.
11) Pirates or Ninjas?
Pirates. Much easier to name and theme a Bloodbowl team around.
12) What’s your favourite film?
Evil Dead 3: Army Of Darkness. A film about as old as I am.
Cheers for sharing Dan 😀
No responses yet