Necromancer Offensive Setup

[Digger Goreman]

I'm a big fan of setting up the Flesh Golems in the wings and sending them downfield... offense or defense.... Defense is still fine, but my offensive scheme needs work as I rarely cage and usually sprint down a side.... This is great (sometimes) for the 2-turner, if I get a little lucky, but there are times when I would do better to cage and (at least) semi-grind downfield.... Inspired, also, by other threads mention of the further uses of Stand Firm (and my experiments with Werewolf mobility), I came up with a rough concept of a tough, Necromancer cage... (you can stop laughing now....)

Necro Strong Cage:

z=zombie, Gl=ghoul, Fg=Flesh Golem, Wt=Wight, Ww=Werewolf

This uses the 2 reroll, one ghoul lineup (i.e., all positionals except one of the ghouls).... The direction of "flow" will follow whichever side, or even straight up, where penetration is achieved.... If this works the way I think it will (fat chance ), then one can establish something of a cage and a fairly strong line at the end of turn 1. Of course, should your ghoul come from the same region my ghouls seem to always come from and are unable to pick up the ball, one could form a rudimentary cage by falling back with the Golems and lone zombie.... The grey areas are the general setup area I use for Wights and Weres....

"No plan survives combat", so feel free to make comments and poke holes in all the theories.... (Especially when they're constructive), it's what you guys do best...!

[mattgslater]

The trick to caging is effective partitioning of the field, and the trick to partitioning is neutralizing the defensive line. Unless you're up against a d-line that's so tough you can't attack it, you should stack at least six men on the line, to help turn pushes into knockdowns and create a "conveyor belt" effect, to draw the defensive line away from the play. If nothing else, your MA4 means that in order to cage up in the defensive backfield you need to start on the line.

Flesh Golems are good for throwing the last block, as they can follow and book-end the defensive line. They're also good for blitzing, as the one thing you can say about a Golem is that he owns his square. You should also have at least one offensive setup with your #2 "hitty" Golem at center, keyed up to make the first block against a defensive end, when facing Dwarfs, Orcs and other Guard/ST-heavy teams.

I tend to prefer to build my offense around the defenses I'm likely to encounter, and my knowledge of the coaches and their strategies. One skill that's just gnarly on offense is Grab on a Flesh Golem (esp. as a second skill after Block or Guard, as either skill with ST4, Grab and Stand Firm is just a gas). Between him and a Werewolf, you can use two actions (both blocks, no blitz needed) to chainpush one of your men two squares into the backfield, or two men one square, to give you one or two free blocks into the backfield and expose vulnerable safeties to your Wights or the remaining Were. If you manage to chainpush the other Fleshie, he'll be able both to save you an action (since he needs no assist) and anchor your cage. Or let you drop a big guy.

That stuff only works against shallow defenses. If you chainpush the second Were this way against a deep defense, you can OTS with just a Grab Golem if you're clever, especially against a depleted defense. But that's not as much fun. More fun, but less reliable, would be using the second Were on the line in conjunction to OTS with a Ghoul or even a Wight, or put a Zombie or FG into two-turner range.

Positioning skills change all of that. This is how you punish your opponent for taking Block, Dodge and Guard over Side Step, Fend and Stand Firm.

Of course, to do that, you need to skill a Golem, and that's where caging comes in. A Flesh Golem on the front of the cage might find himself in scoring position, particularly against speed teams that may leave him open. 4+ sucks, but if he fails, there's a ST4 TZ on the ball that can't be pushed. Not that you should make this a major strategy, but you can pull it off if you can get control of the pitch with 2 or 3 turns to go. If you always play speed, you have zero chance of scoring with the Golem.

[Digger Goreman]

I'll mull over the advice....

If things were to go somewhat to plan, the end of turn 1 would find us thus:


The golems and trailing wight present tough nuts to crack, and assists on the front line, hopefully enabling 2 of 3 zombies to gain downs or pushes....

Of course the ghoul may need to pull up short, and/or the Wight & Were combo will be somewhere in the vicinity of the arrows, depending on how the blitz went.... My wights get guard FIRST! to assist the wolves and rest of team....

Another option, if the ghoul can't make it that far, is to pass to the trailing Werewolf....

(For the Wight to make position, he'll have to gfi... could just start the Wights and Weres in opposite places....)

[Digger Goreman]

Switching the starting positions of the Wights and Weres you get more vesatility out of movement and the trailing Wolf could finish in either of the three colored positions....