Starting Lizardmen roster for a short league

[kiih]

I'm looking to try Lizardmen (for the first time) for the next league I'll be playing in. The league will be short, about 8-15 games plus finals.

I'd say I'm a pretty decent BB coach, but as I said I haven't played Lizzies and in fact I'm a bit intimidated by them. The lack of skills, average ball handling plus the Saurus' limited mobility (just mark them with a lino and watch me burn through my rerolls) all worry me. But I digress, I'll be asking about tactics in a later post.

What I want to know at this point is how to start the team off. The roster I had in mind is

6 Saurus
5 Skinks
3 RR
1 AC, 1 CL
20k banked, hoping to get the apoth after game one.

My reasoning behind the lineup is: the Sauruses are difficult to skill up, so I want to maximize them for more MVPs. Skinks will miss games and die but I'm looking to use quite a few Journeymen initially. I'd like to take the Krox, but I'd have to give up a reroll to do that, and from the looks of the team they seem VERY reroll-heavy (no Block, no ball handling skills). As the league is short, I don't think I can afford to buy many rerolls after the initial ones. I'm almost tempted to take 4 RR but that would mean one less Saurus and no bank or AC/CL. My reasoning is to hopefully get a RR now and then from kickoffs because of the coaching staff.

Bear in mind, the league is pretty short. Any and all choices have to take that into consideration. Also, there may or may not be a house rule that makes it likelier for Sauruses to get MVPs (and in general for players to gain advancements). If the rule will be in play, it will allow coaches to reroll their MVP unless the player gained SPP during the match or was the captain of the team (and I'll certainly make the captain a Saurus). Whether the rule will be in play is not yet known.

Taking all that into consideration, what starting roster would you choose? Would you consider the Krox? Is the team as reroll-heavy as it looks?

Thanks!

[Joemanji]

I think 5 Saurus, 6 Skinks, 4RR is a great option. As you said, Lizzies burn through RRs quickly to begin with. The AC/CL play isn't as solid, as a reroll event only comes up on 27% of kickoffs, and your opponent has a 50% chance of at least +1 FAME making it a straight roll. Better to save the extra 20K IMO.

Don't worry about your Skinks. Journeymen have Dodge so are still pretty good, and your opponent will usually be able to hit at least one Skink so offering up the journeyman saves your skilled ones.

[mattgslater]

I think 5 Saurus, 6 Skinks, 4RR is a great option. As you said, Lizzies burn through RRs quickly to begin with. The AC/CL play isn't as solid, as a reroll event only comes up on 27% of kickoffs, and your opponent has a 50% chance of at least +1 FAME making it a straight roll. Better to save the extra 20K IMO.

Don't worry about your Skinks. Journeymen have Dodge so are still pretty good, and your opponent will usually be able to hit at least one Skink so offering up the journeyman saves your skilled ones.

+1

[Kwakkie]

I prefer your build in a short league. 3RR should be enough. Although they seem to lack reroll skills, Lizardmen isn't that reroll heavy: easy 2d blocks with sauruses and dodge on the skinks. You only need the rerolls for picking up the ball. Don't dodge with a saurus, just block and don't follow up if you want him free. You also want to maximize the number of sauruses for the MVP. They skill very slowly. Skinks skill fast, but they die easy and you don't want too much skills on them anyway.

Edit: bank all your money though, don't spend it on AC or CL.

[Smurf]

The Saurus trick is tough.

If there is a touch back give it to a saurus
If there is a high kick, see if a saurus can catch it (won't suffer a turnover)
If there is a chance for an interception, let a saurus take it

This may help them score and find the important SPP for skills.

[dines]

Agree with the above posts and would add that trying to score with a saurus can really improve your team. If you have the ball secured in the opponents half with a spare reroll you can try a hand-off to a saurus.

[mattgslater]

More like 8 games or more like 15? If it's more like 8, then yeah, start with all your Saurus.