There are so many ways to enjoy the APBA games and Football is no exception.  I sometimes think that people get so caught up in playing things “right” that they take some of the fun out of playing the games.  People that know me, particularly my friend Gilles, know that I like to quote Mr. Seitz “You are the manager!” So while I am tasked by the OGuard to talk about Face-to-Face, he also told me to talk about anything I want, so for this one I am going to talk about another way to play solitaire.

There is more than one way to go about things of course and ultimately it depends on what your goal is.  Greg B. and Mark Z. are full bore replayers and they are the masters of that.  Other folks prefer to play a tournament style, or a “what-if” or maybe just the occasional game.  Each of those scenarios are created to come to a different goal.  The what-if is really just an exercise in imagination.  I am a big fan of the what-if play.  The Tournament is a nice easy way to get the feel of a season, play everyone and not commit to 180- 400 games.  The replayer, ultimately, wants the stats to look like Real Life.  Finally the occasional gamer wants to pull two teams out of a box, set up the game and roll dice.  They want to do that pretty quickly.

I want to focus on the “Non-Replayer” for this purpose.  Greg, Mark, et al. have given everyone plenty of material around doing a replay.  For the non-replay what should you consider?  Here’s a short and no doubt incomplete list of things to consider:

• What is your usage thought? Do you care about over playing a running back/ quarterback/ Wide Receiver?
• Are you going to be keeping Sack/ Interception stats?
• For that matter what stats do you want to track?
• Injuries?
• How do you want to call defense?
• How do you want to call offense?

So there’s a little bit to consider.  Let’s take the questions in order:

The thing about usage is, it’s more important when replicating a season then it is in any other scenario.  In real football how many times have we seen a guy who was not a big part of the season be a huge part of the playoffs or Superbowl?  James White, Tim Smith, that’s just two that spring to mind.  So basically, if you’re playing a game as a one-off, play whoever you want, have fun with it.  If you’re playing a tournament it probably makes sense to put some guard rails up.  I like to use a combination of average attempts/catches and maximum attempts/ catches so that I can see how the game plays out.  So if a team gets ahead by 14-17 in the fourth quarter I don’t feel hamstrung to pass because of usage.  I am a very big believer in playing the game as it comes, even if that means someone is overworked.

What stats to keep is a little different than the Sack/ Interception number because of the finder column.  If you’re playing a game I’d recommend you don’t worry about finder columns and just use the board results.  It doesn’t affect the outcome of the game in anyway and it dramatically reduces setup.  For tournaments and what-ifs I think it’s worth getting the finders setup.  Find the excel doc that will help you with this and do it as you go.

What stats to keep is a personal preference issue.  Scoresheets and Excel today make keeping more stats than you may have 20 years ago be much easier.  Still, the more stats you write down the slower your game play will be.  I like to keep attempts, yards, turnovers, touchdowns, first downs, penalties, punting, kicking and return stats.  I notice that Greg B. accumulates as he goes, something I had never done, and it seems to make totaling easier.   I know a guy who told me he just keeps final scores and scoring plays and he’s quite happy with it.  There is no wrong way and I was impressed when he could describe games in great detail even though he didn’t have stats.

Injuries are a big part of the game so I recommend that you at the least play in game injuries.  If you are playing guys based on what they actually played you don’t need to keep the carry-over injuries (since you have done that already) for a tournament you may want to play the multi-game injuries out as it will, potentially, be in the storyline.  Personal preference again but I think it’s pretty cool to have that as a “great unknown”.

Finally we get to play calling.  We seem to be moving towards a world where the players of the football game all use some form of a computer to call plays.  On behalf of Mr. Seitz I implore you to call your own plays.  Frankly I always thought the most fun about the game was to call your play.  The brochure even brought you into the huddle with Terry Bradshaw to see if he should throw short to Frank Lewis or send Franco Harris into the line (how old am I) to get the first down.  What I recommend is that you take a look at the team you’re playing and in your head create a “game plan” for that game.  Include your C receivers and your lesser players in that plan.  I don’t see any issue with throwing to your C in the second quarter on a second and 8 and throwing to your A* in the fourth quarter on 3^rd and three down 6 points.  Do you?  Who does Big Ben throw too in the 3^rd down spot?  I’d also point out that if you only want to give the ball to your best runner and throw to you’re A’s, there’s really no law against that.  Just understand the effect on the final result.

Defense is usually called with some sort of automatic caller.  I use flip cards that I designed to try and replicate playing a person FTF.  That’s what I like to do.  Others use the APBA defense cards, the Fletch System or some other automatic play caller.   My advice is, whatever you do, don’t try and “game” the defense.  I have a set of “match up” cards that Ray Dunlap gave me several years ago.  He’s simplified them in the interim but I like the “complicated” cards a little better.  What I do is roll three dice, a 1 or a 6 and I draw from Ray’s deck and otherwise I use mine.  Since I don’t know before I call the play there’s really no chance that even subconsciously I will game the system.

In the end this is all supposed to be fun.  I am starting to think that one of the reasons Football fell behind the other games in APBA sales is because people found it daunting to play a game.  It doesn’t have to be.  Like all games APBA makes it’s a roll of the dice.  Find where you are comfortable and play there for awhile.  You may find yourself adding more in as you go.  In-the-meantime don’t be afraid to call a medium pass to Antonio Brown without the help of a computer.  My mantra is, as it has always been, make sure it’s FUN!

Scouting doesn’t just have to be in real life.  You can take a look at the team you’re going to play and adjust your game plan accordingly.  As I have said in the other articles about face-to-face play, there more than one way to go about scouting.  I will review what I like to do.  For this article I will be using two Quarterbacks from the recently released 1976 set.  I really believe that the APBA game is best played with that era of football, it was designed then and the game play just “fits” the era better.

My two choices are Ken Stabler and Dan Fouts:

Stabler had one of the great seasons for a quarterback ever, up until that season.  He and Bert Jones had a QB rating over 100, the first two since Staubach in 1971 and the first time that two guys in one season were over 100.  Fouts, at 25, was handed the keys to the Chargers and finished the year as a very average quarterback.

I’ll be referring to this chart:

My scouting starts with what I will call the “power numbers”, how many 1, 2, 3 and 4 does he have?  Part of that is I will want to know what happens if I blitz and the 3 and 4 become 1 and 2?  My next check is for interception numbers.  How many and how many specifically are 24 and 25?  I want to know what I am going to get for turnovers and I am going to be very happy to see the 24 and 25 because I’ll be able to play more S and still get the interceptions.  I’ll want to see 26 and 27 results, because if the QB can run I may need to account for that (as I did with Mariota in the defense article).  Finally I like to see how many sacks I have a shot at.

So with Stabler you get a very strong double 1 and a 2.  He doesn’t, however, have any 3 or 4 results.   He has a 24 and a 25 so I can get picks but he only has 1 20.  With a 28 and a 29 he will get sacked but not the big sack.  He has a 26 so he is not a huge threat to run and his R column is dreadful so it’s basically another sack.  Fouts, on-the-other-hand has a 2 and a 4 for power, he has a 21 and a 25 for pick numbers, plus 3 20’s so there are defenses that will push Dan over 3 picks and in one case much higher.  With a 28, 29 and 30 he can get some big sacks.  He has one 26 and his run column is actually pretty good.

Let’s start with Stabler.  First if the ’76 Raiders are opponent get your mind around giving up some points.  This is a really good offensive team.   A check of the chart shows that Stabler has 2 picks and it’s hard to get even a third.  So if the Raiders roll out 3-Wide what is better, Dime middle or Nickel light?  Let’s see, if I go Dime Middle then we’ll assume that the Raiders will be BS even, there are plenty of A receivers after all.  That means 16 completions (basically half or a little more with the RP/ Fumble et al.), 2 interceptions and 3 touchdowns.  If I go nickel light then he’s BD up two lines so you pick up a half an interception but no completions or TDs.  So if the choice is Dime Middle or Nickel light and I think he is going medium I think I’d opt for nickel and drop the running game down 2, even in light plus a yard.  Now if it’s short he’s up to a tremendous 21 completions, with 2 interceptions and 3 touchdowns against a dime and 19.5, 2 interceptions and touchdowns against a nickel.   So again I like the nickel.  One more thought on defending Stabler, because he doesn’t have a 3 or a 4 you’re not going to add any additional touchdowns to him even if you blitz.  Look at the chart, he’s either 2 or 3 TDs.  The 1 is always a TD and there are a few short passes where the two doesn’t get it done.  My theme is there’s no “harm” in blitzing and you do knock his completion percentage down.

Fouts is different, as you’d expect.  Against a Dime Dan is going to get 12.5 completions medium and 18 short.  In both cases he gets an interception and a touchdown.  Against a nickel the completions are 12 and 16.5 but you take a TD off the board and medium Fouts goes to 3.5 interceptions.  So I would be very comfortable blitzing but if I am not blitzing I am likely to stay in S otherwise because I am not getting enough out of going to D.

Remember the basic tenet of defense is don’t be predictable but if you scout you can ride the odds.  If the opposing QB has a 3 on 66, therefore no 1 or 2 results, stay away from the blitz.  It’s tough to score without a TD result.  If you can force field goals from the Raiders of ’76, that’s a win.

You have heard me say it more than once and I am not the only one that believes it,  APBA football is the best face to face game available, anywhere.  I think that is in no small part because of the excitement there is in calling defense.  Winning and losing can come down to dice rolls but there are small victories in the game, those moments when you “got him” and you know it and he knows it.  I especially like when the offensive coach is looking at me and I get it right and he gets a look on his face, crestfallen, defeated, annoyed, maybe all those things.  That’s part of the fun of calling defense in APBA Football.

So let’s start from the start.  You’re choices for defensive calls are: Standard Light Line, Standard Middle Line, Standard Max Line, Goal Line, Middle, Goal Line Max, Nickel Light, Nickel Middle, Dime Light, Dime Middle, Blitz, Nickel Blitz and Dime Blitz.  That’s 12 choices that do a variety of things to the offense.  You can move teams offensive index, either up or down, or their result lines up or down 2 or in some cases 4 lines.  You can turn a great play into a dud or a dud into a great play.  It’s a lot to consider.  What you want to try and understand is not just line movement but also Offensive Index (Column) movement.  It’s not just up and down, it’s also left and right.

So let’s start by simplifying what you want to do.  It’s my belief that in APBA the key to stopping a team is stopping their Quarterback.  This is true in the NFL in this day and age but I think it’s always been true in APBA.  So many of the results sit on the QB card so it’s that card that you need to focus your attention around.  So the rudimentary questions to ask yourself are:  Does the QB have a 1 or 2 (or more than 1) in their P column?  How many 26 and 27 results are in his P column?  What are his interception numbers (20-25) in his P column?  Does he have 15, 16, 17 in the R column or is he a 3, 5,7?  Armed with this information you can begin to formulate what I’ll call your “base defense”.  By “base” I mean the defense you are going to spin your game plan around.  You want to be grounded in 1 or 2 formations so that you can be surgical about how to call a game.  If you don’t determine a starting point you might wind up spinning around out of control and just guessing on every play.

So let’s look at answers to the questions.  The issue on 1 and 2 versus 3 is simply this, it’s going to be hard for your opponent to score when he only has a 3 on 66.  This means you don’t need to be anywhere near as aggressive on defense, the card does some of the work for you.  Scramble numbers are important because they can really hurt you when you are in a light line or, especially in a blitz.  This is even worse with a QB that has a lot of 3’s and 5’s.  The additional yard against nickel and dime is also underrated and important.  Finally the interception number comes into play if you are looking to turn the ball over.  A 22 is a tough one to get an interception on so you need to be cognizant of it.  Really it’s only on medium passes and only then half the game.  If the QB has a 23 or 24 there’s a greater chance of an INT and a 25 is an INT basically against any and all defenses.

So let’s assume I am now defending Marcus Mariota.  To refresh Marcus has 1 “2”, on 66, he has a 22 for an INT number, he also has 2 “20’s” but I am not too worried about those.  He has 2 “26’s” and a “27” so he can scramble, his R column is loaded with 3 “K’s”, 4 “3’s” and 6 “5’s”, so more than 33% of his R column is going to be very beneficial if I am aggressive against the pass.  On-the-other-hand, I can’t get a pick if I am not aggressive.  This is why I think the Titans will do well in a replay, they’re tough to defend.  Given that Murray and Henry have good cards I am going to default far more to two defensive calls, Dime Middle and Nickel Light.  In shorter yardage situations I may use Standard or even Goal line middle even against a pro-set.  I know that moves Mariota up two lines but his card won’t necessarily get more completions from that as he doesn’t have a lot of numbers in the teens.  Basically I am willing to over commit against the run to put the Titans in passing downs where I think I can get some stops.

So let’s assume I am defending and my opponent comes out with a play calling sheet like I outlined in the offensive play calling discussion.  Because of my belief in being a little aggressive early my first call will be Nickel, Light line… Double Walker.  So Mariota will throw the ball in B Light to Sharpe.   What I like to do when “keying” is pretty simple. I will double only A receivers, if my opponent has an A* he’ll get 75-80% of my attention because I can’t move him to B so I need to drop his lines.  I will sort of rotate around the A’s but I will try and determine who my opponent is likely to “go to” in a big spot.  My guess is that a coach of the Titans will come back to Walker in a big spot but by halftime I’ll know if I guessed right.  Whoever I think is his “Go to” I won’t key until I think it’s a play he has to have.  Basically just lying in wait for a moment that will hurt most.  If I think he has to have a play, chances are he thinks the same thing.  There’s a lot of mind play in the calling of defense.

Let’s assume Mariota’s pass went incomplete.  He’s out pro set on second and 10.  Assuming pass I’ll again go nickel, light and double Murray.  My guess is off as he called an outside run.  A, light plus a yard let’s give Murray a first down.  Offense comes out 3w on first and 10 and since I have gone nickel two plays in a row I’m going to go Dime/ Middle and double Sharpe.  At this point I’ve doubled three different guys, so no pattern and I’ve called two defenses.  I’ve also been aggressive against the pass by going with an extra back in all three calls.  I may want to be conservative but I won’t worry about it too much until I’m 8-10 calls in.  On the fifth play Tennessee is going 2-TE and I will call a Standard Defense and Key Murray.  The call is a short pass to Walker so it’s A-S down 2 lines.  I like that.  More on this later.

I want to establish a couple of things early.  One is that the offensive coach isn’t going to know who I am double covering, the exception being if he has an A*, I don’t care if he knows I’m doubling him, maybe he thinks twice about throwing to him all the time.  The second thing is I want to establish that I may go to any defense despite the offensive formation.  Solitaire players almost all automatically go to Dime against a 3-Wide offense.  They almost always go to a Standard D against a pro set and they almost always go Goal Line against a 2-TE.  I like to make sure my opponent knows, I am not necessarily going to do that.  By calling Nickel twice early he is now not sure if he can pass out of a pro set.  I guarantee that early in the game when the Titans go three wide I’ll call a standard defense and perhaps even key Murray or Henry.  I recognize A up two lines can be a killer but if my opponent is passing there’s a chance he’ll roll a 26, 27 or 29 and that will take the wind right out of his sails.

I am basically going to call a Nickel Light or Dime Middle 65% of the time in this game.  That’s my fallback/ go to defense.  So basically the Titans will be passing in Light up two or Middle even all in B column.  I think I can do OK keeping him there.  He’s going to get a lot of +1 yard on the run but ultimately I think I can overcome that.  Everything else, all of which I will probably call at some point, comes from that base.

I like the Blitz when I am playing some QB’s.  I don’t think I’d blitz here very much against Marcus because I’d risk too much on runs and screens.  If I were playing against the Patriots, for example, I’d blitz a lot.  I know there are people who are deathly afraid of the screen and draw plays.  My attitude is a little different.  If you roll a good number those plays are great.  There’s also a lot of results that are just not that great.  Basically I’d rather have Brady/ Big Ben/ et al. rolling a good number on a screen pass than a Medium Pass.  The one tenant of this whole thing is, you have to accept that sometimes an offense is going to break a big play.  It’s hard to completely shutout a good team in APBA.  As it should be.

One thing about how I play defense that may be different and will on occasion cost me a game is this, I want turnovers.  I think I am heavily influenced by my first F-T-F league experience.  I was in a league on the North Shore of Boston and my team was terrible.  I also didn’t really know what I was doing.  The end result was 0-10 for the season.  Now the offense was led by the two Superbowl Quarterbacks, 1985 Jim McMahon and Steve Grogan.  They were both putrid.  It was the defense, however, that killed me.  In ten games I had zero interceptions and only a handful of fumble recoveries.   What I learned was, if you never get a turnover you’re going to give up too many points.  Ever since than I have aggressively pursued interceptions.  The quandary/ challenge that Mariota provides is that if I try and get a pick I open up myself to his running successfully.  While I don’t necessarily recommend playing D, I think in the second and third quarters when the 22 is a pick in the Medium/ Light line area I would play more D.  Especially if I think a Medium pass is the call.  My experience is that interceptions are huge game changers.  Offensive coaches tend to get a little gun shy after throwing one which is another advantage.  As an aside after my QB throws a pick I like to toss one medium on his next throw, just to try and get balance in the universe.  Also, if I sense that Short Pass is going to be the call well more often than I should I’ll worry a little less about it.  It’s hard to win a game only throwing short passes.

A word on defending the double Tight-End.  Don’t automatically go to Goal line.  If the Titans come out with the 2-TE set I would more often than not go Middle line and key Murray.  I am not worried about Henry, let him get some yards, but I am keeping Murray even and I am dropping Mariota two lines on all passes, that’s a killer to the offense.  I may go Max Line and Key Murray but I won’t be going Goal line so that the passing is even-up in A column, that’s too powerful.  If I feel like my opponent is going to go Goal Line and I am operating the Titans, I will pass like crazy from that formation.

Finally there is an element of calling defense that we can’t ignore, that of getting in your opponent’s head.  Take full advantage of getting a call right, make sure he knows you’re all over him.  You want to set your opponent back on his heels some, that’s an advantage to you.  If he crosses you up, acknowledge it.  I bet I say “good call” to my opponent 4-5 times a game.  Always before dice roll.  A call is good whether the dice work out or not.

It takes about 8-10 games to really get a handle on Offense and Defense, specifically around line/ index changes.  Once you do, there’s nothing better.  If you can get a friend to go through the learning curve, you’ll have a lot of fun on the other side.

Calling Defense is an art, not a science.  Find the things that you like and then build from there.  It’s the most fun a person can have sitting at a table playing a game.

There us one very significant difference between playing solitaire and playing F-T-F.  I think sometimes it’s so obvious that it gets lost but it’s very real and very much the key.  When one plays solitaire the goal is to, on some level, recreate what happened.  Our host Greg B. is the master of creating a path to the recreation of reality.  It’s a genuine mindset and the results speak for themselves.  The goal of F-T-F is a little simpler, it’s to win the game.  There are many paths to that goal but in the end, winning is what you want, much like any game you play against someone.  In Clue you’re not worried about making sure the weapons are evenly distributed and the murder isn’t always in the same room, right?  We can talk about reality all day long but if I have the chance to “over use” someone to win a game.  Guess what, he’s going to be worn out from the usage.

My approach to what I will write is going to be this, I’ll talk about how to play a game F-T-F, drawing on my years of playing that format.  That will be what I talk about here.  Subsequently I’ll focus on strategies, both offensive and defensive, then I’ll take up some rudimentary scouting ideas.  In the end though remember that my whole goal is for you to win games, not to get stats right.  My friend Steve Ryan commented to me after I won the Football Tournament in Alpharetta last year that he thought my biggest advantage was just that, I only cared about winning.  We see it all the time on the forums, people roll dice for basically everything in the game.  I was never about that.  I call the plays, even solitaire I pick the runner/ receiver.  I throw to the C because I know I should but on a 3^rd and 12 down 6 points with three minutes to go I don’t want to throw a pass to my third string TE because I rolled a 65 on the receiver chart.  That’s the F-T-F mentality.

So let’s play a game of APBA football F-T-F.  The first thing you want to do is decide what, if any regulations around usage you want to use.  My advice is to keep that very simple, I guess I’ve said that a few times already!  Maybe a player can’t be the target/ carrier more than 2 plays in a row for example.  This can be tricky as one commenter pointed out he played a guy who would only throw to his A receiver.  We can talk about how to stop that with strategy but basically if that happens, only double that receiver, he’ll stop eventually.  You can also limit backups to something like 5 carries or 5 receptions if that makes sense.  I am not advocating that you allow Danny Woodhead from last year to carry the ball 30 times in a game, I am advocating that you keep whatever you do simple.  Once you decide how to regulate it’s time to pick teams.

Picking teams is important, especially if you are “breaking in” a new person.  You want to get teams that have a decent offense because when you’re learning the game a 9-3 defensive battle may not bring a player back.   Also there’s some fundamental issues with the structure of the APBA game that come to light with a limited offensive team.  For example, as with the above team, one A receiver is a pretty easy offense to defend.  The same is true with only one good running back.  APBA developed their rules back when teams routinely had two backs who carried the rock.  So defending the 1972 Dolphins of Csonka and Morris or the 1976 Steelers with Franco and Rocky is harder than the 1983 Redskins with Riggins being the single setback.  There are a lot of teams that have good offenses each year that choosing one shouldn’t be too hard.  Remember that “reality” is not a big part here.  So when I played the 2015 Patriots in a tournament I regularly paired James White and Dion Lewis even though in reality White didn’t really play until Lewis got hurt.  It made the keying much tougher when both were back there.  Same concept with A receivers, the more the merrier.  I’d also recommend that to start you pick two teams that will start in B index for the game.

Once you’ve selected your teams you need to get organized.  My recommendation is that you have a pile of cards that is your starting Defense with the d11 on the top down through d1.  You’re probably only going to need to consult that pile only once or twice.  Get your kicker, punter and returners pulled out and keep them where you can consult their cards easily.  Finally organize your offense.  These are the cards, obviously, that you will be using the most.  Remember that in F-T-F you’ll be flipping through these cards to call a play so you don’t need to lay them out in front of you.  I’ve played guys who keep their QB card out on the table rather than in the stack to call a play.  That’s a mistake.  Don’t ever give the defense that advantage.

Once your cards are organized get a piece of scrap paper out so you can write down who is on the field for the other guy.  I usually give my opponent my base. 3-Wide and 2-TE starters.  Then I will tell him specifically who is in or out from those three “base” defenses.  In a friendly game if I make a change and my opponent keys on a guy not in the game I simply tell him to try again, before I mock his ability to remember things for short periods of time.  Finally make sure you know the indices for nickel and dime defenses as you’ll need that to roll for the index on a play.  Sounds like a lot and setup is longer for Football than Baseball but if you’re setup right the game will play faster and that’s key.

I think one thing that is oft overlooked is how to call a play in F-T-F.  I am not saying the way I do it is the only way but I think it’s how the game was designed to be called.  No matter how you choose to do it, make sure you and your opponent know in advance what your call means.  So let’s say its first and 10 on the 25.  The first thing one does is call the formation.  That should happen as you are choosing the play since the NFL has the guys in the huddle.  Let’s assume I am playing with last year’s Falcons.  I announce I am pro set and I have Freeman and Coleman in the backfield with Jones, Sanu and Toilolo as receivers for Matt Ryan.  I’ll note parenthetically that the Falcons didn’t usually play Freeman and Coleman together, that’s because APBA is a little different than the NFL.  I’ll have 6 player cards and the play calling cards in my hand, while I shuffle through to get the cards I want I’ll announce I am pro-set.  I’ll then select my play call and the player and place them face down on the table in front of me.  I like to hold the two cards on the table in my hand but that’s just me.

I’ve now called my play and the defense is up.  Here is where I think there’s differences in how things are called that are detrimental to the intent of strategy in the game.  Let me explain what I mean.  Each team has three time outs and two audibles in a half.  It’s when you can call them that seems key to me.  I don’t think you should audible after the key or double team call, only after the line setting.  So I call defense with a second “beat” between the line call and the key.  When I call defense I don’t use “D, S or G”, I like to sound a little bit more like Football and so I say “Light, Medium or Max” line.  So if I am calling a defense against Atlanta I would say “Light Line Double Jones”.  The way I believe the game is designed if I am throwing and my opponent goes light line I can audible if I’d like during the beat but NOT after I double Jones.  If you want to get out of a bad call there you have to take a timeout.

Finally I recommend that after the Offense turns over the play card the defense rolls on the index chart to see what index we start in.  Two reasons for this, index is very much a function of defense and it gives the defensive coach something to do on each roll.  Once the index is done the offense rolls for the play.  If they roll a 66 it probably doesn’t matter how smart you are, if they roll a 51 you may be a genius, or a dope.

I’ll run through a few plays to see if it makes sense.  Assume Atlanta still has the ball.

First and 10 on the 25

Offense: Pro Set / Now have a little fun with this “Ryan breaks the huddle and brings them up to the line”

Defense: Medium line Key Coleman

“Freeman on the run, defense is completely fooled” Freeman picks up 6, second and 4

Offense: Pro Set / “Ryan likes what he sees, from the shotgun”

Defense: Light Line (should I audible?  No too early) Double Sanu

Incomplete pass/  You can talk smack on Defense too “Knocked away by Revis, no completions today!”

Third and 4 on the 31

Offense:  3- Wide (My opponent knows that means Gabriel replaces Toilolo)

Defense: Nickel Light Offense calls audible.

Defense is now stuck in nickel unless they have a player that can move form LB to S, which is a lost art.

Offense must stay 3-Wide / “Ryan moving players around takes the snap”

Defense can call TO and kill the play (audible is done though), I’ll talk about that more under strategy, for now Nickel Light Double Jones.

My point here is that you need to be very specific in how you decide to call plays.  There is a great deal of strategy around this point of the game, really it’s the best part of it, but you need to make sure that you and your opponent are on the same page.

Once you get this part down the game really flows.  Also you start to see how the play calling can really help or hurt you.

I’ll get into that next time.

APBA Pro Football game is the greatest Head to Head board game on the planet.  Note that I didn’t say the greatest “Sports” board game.  The football game is better than Monopoly, Life, even Clue.  There is no game that can combine the intensity and excitement that football provides with the thoughtfulness of a well-crafted game.  APBA football has that and more.

So, you may quite rightly ask, why isn’t it the most popular APBA game?  In fact it may well be one of the least popular APBA games at this point.  If it’s so great, why isn’t it more popular?  These are legitimate questions and the answer to both is the same.  There’s a learning curve to the football game that’s much longer than the other games.  Also, the football game takes longer to play than the other games APBA makes, that’s just reality.  If you want speed than Bowling and Baseball in that order.  If you want a memorable experience though, it’s Football.  Eventually the time it takes to play is about 4 baseball games, maybe a little longer if it’s a close game.  The difference is you’re all in all the time, so you won’t forget what happens anytime soon.

I am honored that Greg asked me to write about the F-T-F version of the Football game.  I am not sure how many folks still sit down to play a game but maybe we can get more people to do it if we talk about it.  The learning curve for the game is about 8-10 games.  That’s when you start to see the nuance, the strategy and the way you can really change the outcome.  Greg mentioned my time playing in Howard Ahlskog’s league.  I actually started in a league on the North Shore of Boston.  10 guys picking from the entire NFL in 1986.  The team I took over was terrible, Jim McMahon’s infamous 1985 card at QB, plus I didn’t know what I was doing.  The result?  0-10, the next season with Jim Kelly and Hershel Walker added I went 6-4 and lost my conference championship 24-20 when my final play was stopped on the 4 yard line.  I tell you this because it’s important to note that whatever I know about his game a learned by getting drilled and because I lost the NFC championship game in December of 1987 and I still know the score and many of the big plays.  Thirty years ago and it’s still there.  Because, Football.

Even before I moved to Western Mass and joined Howard’s great league we talked about the strategy often.  Howard loved the football game and really enjoyed tearing into questions like “which is better B/S or A/D down 2 lines?”  Football is the only game in APBA that you can do something on Defense to turn a 66 dice roll into a bad thing for the offense.  If you and a friend that enjoys football takes the time to learn the game it’ll be some of the great times you have rolling dice.  Of that I am certain.

My plan is to write about the “how-to’s” of playing F-T-F.  Give some tips on the best way to approach game planning and the like.  I’ll follow that with a little strategy around calling plays on both Offense and Defense.  As I said, I am not sure how many people are playing F-T-F but if there are some and you have some questions I’d love to hear them.

My thanks to Greg for asking me to do this.  I am hopeful that it helps to build the audience of fans that this great game deserves.