Nufflenomics S3: Picking up the Ball

Failing to pick up the ball at the start of your drive has been a source of annoyance for Blood Bowl players for as long as I have been playing the game. Now Games Workshop have decided to try to remove that annoyance by introducing a new Secure the Ball Action, meaning that Blood Bowl coaches will need to find something else to grumble about instead.

Secure The Ball Action

The Secure the Ball Action allows a player to attempt to make a 2+ roll rather than making an agility test to pick up the ball assuming there are no Standing opposition players that are not Distracted within two squares of the ball. This will end the player’s activation.

A 2+ is an 83% chance of picking up the ball, which becomes a 97% chance if you use a Team Re-roll on a failure.

It seems like this is designed to remove frustration and help less agile teams against teams that are likely to swarm in and take advantage of any failed pick up.

When wouldn’t you use Secure the Ball?

The obvious answer will be when you can’t. This might be when you are swarmed by opposition players. Having two fast players break through the lines on a Charge! kick-off event and get within spitting distance of the ball is now a good way to disrupt the tactics of less agile teams.

The other reason you can’t use it is if your player is ineligible to use it. This applies to players with either the Big Guy keyword or the Unsteady trait.

When would you choose not to use it?

The main reason will be if you are wanting to move afterwards to get closer to your teammates, or away from opposition players. Secure the Ball could leave you in a weird place that you don’t want to be in.

You might also choose not to Secure the Ball if doing so doesn’t affect the roll that you need to make. If your player is going to pick up on a 2+ anyway, there’s no point denying them the opportunity to move afterwards. This will be players with AG 2+ or better, or potentially players with skills that might assist the pickup.

Another reason might be that if your player doesn’t complete their activation on a square containing a ball then a Turnover is caused.

(Side note: it says “a ball” rather than “the ball” allowing for the possibility of the crazy Gnome double ball scenario among others. If there is more than one ball, it is important to note that only one Secure The Ball action can be declared each turn).

You may therefore not want to declare Secure the Ball if you think you might abort the action during the Move part of the action. This could be if, for example, you have to make multiple dodges to get to it. You may use the Dodge re-roll on one of the earlier dodges and decide not to complete the movement onto the ball. In that case, you may wish not to Turnover and allow another player a chance to pick up the ball instead.

Opposing players skills

The player you want to attempt to pick up the ball with might be marked by (or have to move past) a player with tentacles. In that case, it might be impossible for you to end the player’s activation on a ball due to being held in place by tentacles. Not declaring Secure the Ball might be a better option to prevent a turnover.

Another reason you may choose not to use it is if you think there might be a Tackle zone on the ball when you attempt to pick it up. Secure the Ball only allows you to declare the action if the ball is not within 2 squares of a Standing player who isn’t Distracted. However, there is no mention about whether this needs to be the case when you actually attempt the pickup.

The main reason this could happen is if an opposition player either currently Marking you or you will have to dodge past has the Shadowing skill. It is feasible that they might shadow you so that they are next to the ball when you attempt the pickup. This is obviously an edge case, but it is something that might be worth considering.

Sure Hands

The Sure Hands skill is a tried and tested skill which now states “This player may re-roll the D6 when attempting to pick up the ball, though not when making a Secure the Ball Action.” As such, we will probably want to compare the chances of picking up the ball using a player with Sure Hands with Secure the Ball to make a choice about which is best.

The likelihood of picking up a ball with a sure hands player with various difficulties is below.

Roll	Chance
2+	97.2%
3+	88.9%
4+	75.0%
5+	55.6%
6+	30.6%

 

What we can see is that a 3+ roll with Sure Hands is more likely to succeed than Secure the Ball when a re-roll isn’t used. As such, if you want to conserve team Re-Rolls, then a 3+ Sure Hands pick up is the better option. If you want to have a better chance and you are prepared to use a re-roll then Secure the Ball gives makes you 8.3% more likely to end up with the ball. A 2+ pick up with Sure Hands is obviously more beneficial than securing the ball as if you roll a 1, you have a free re-roll of the pick rather than having to use a Team Re-Roll.

Mutations

There are two mutation skills which allow for more favourable pickup attempts - Big Hand and Extra Arms. Would you opt to use either of those over Secure The Ball?

Big Hand reads “This player ignores all negative modifiers when attempting to pick up the ball.”

The potential negative modifiers are Tackle Zones and Pouring Rain.

If there are Tackle Zones on the ball, then you will not be able to secure the ball, so there is no benefit there.

It is ambiguous if the roll is modified by the Pouring Rain weather. I am assuming the answer is yes as Pouring Rain states “Whenever a player attempts to pick up or Catch the ball, or Intercept a Pass Action, they suffer a-1 modifier to the roll.” The Secure the Ball Action reads “the player must attempt to pick up the ball.” Pick up is unfortunately not a keyword anywhere in the rulebook. Secure the Ball does not suggest it is immune to modification, so that would suggest it would be a 3+ to Secure the Ball in the Pouring Rain.

In that case, if the player with Big Hand would pick up on a 3+ or better after ignoring the modifier for Pouring Rain, then it will be more beneficial to simply make a pickup attempt rather than Secure the Ball.

Extra Arms reads “This player applies a +1 modifier to the Agility Test whenever they attempt to Catch, Pick Up or Intercept the ball.” There is nothing really to discuss here other than if the Pick Up roll using Extra Arms is the same as or better than the roll with Secure The Ball then – as discussed earlier regarding AG2+ or better – then it makes more sense to simply try to pick up the ball.