Blocking works like this: if the model has been put out of action, knocked down or recoiled, he rolls a die, on a 5 or 6 (or on a 6 only if the model is surrounded by 3+ foes and/or knocked down), the model may downgrade a OOA into a Knockdown or a Knockdown into a Recoil or a Recoil into a No effect.
Therefore a character knocked down can only be saved by block if the result is a Recoil and he rolls a 6 for Block, right?
Also, how about a trait "Bare chest" (or something like that), worth -1 or -2 pts, and giving the character C-1 in case he lost? This can't be combined with Heavy Armour of course.