Down-Men Defense

[Asperon Thorn]

I have to say I hate the "303" line. I never use it, especcially with elves. Even the pummelling you get gets you no strategic value. With the (xxx) line at least the bodies on the ground can be useful.

Sometimes I go with the (x-x-x) line But ussually only against another finesse team. Not against a team that is stronger than me.

I will sometimes use the asymetric (-|x--~--xx|-) line when I am down players, but that is only when I am receiving.

It is important with DE (I assume most elves because I use a lot of the same defensive strategies with rookie teams) to drive those cages to the wide zones. They are easier to halt if you can force them against an edge. . .and you can use the sideline to get guys off the pitch. So, like I said earlier, I liked the first formation best as it gave up sides, but stacked the middle more.

Asperon Thorn

Edit: spelling.

[mattgslater]

That's where I ultimately went. I agree about forcing cages wide, though against Necro you have to get the Zeds at least into the 3-column, as the position players are mobile enough to reposition. The FGs' Stand Firm makes this easier said than done. I totally gave him a run for his money, though; the first time, I locked him out of centerfield then busted his cage when tried to break left, locking his guys mostly out of the action. The second time I kicked a touchback, and pushed on the key 1d blitz, so I'm not sure how much of a chance I had. It didn't hurt that he learned from his earlier mistakes and screened me out of midfield, or that I was running out of men, and even though I wasn't turning over much I was still only getting half a turn, 'cause that's all I had.

So yeah, there ends Matt Slater's experiment with the 303 d-line, barring 2x Stand Firm or more. I probably wouldn't do it then, either. 123, 101, maybe a little 202, or a bit of the "Orklahoma" defense (5-man line) with heavy teams against down-men opponents.

[Asperon Thorn]

Yeah, the stand firm is rough. It essentially means you need to run with two more men down, because you have to mark those guys until the play has moved beyond their reach. . .It also means that you have guys that will need to risk being hit every turn as well.

I don't see it mentioned a lot, but a lot of times I will dodge a guy away from a stand firm player and then place him right back next to the same player. . . In that way I can control the follow up. It is more die rolls but sometimes worth it. . .(It is especcially effective against wild Animals but that's a side note) It is useful in this case because you can either control where they follow up (instead of following you closer to the endzone they are trying to reach, they instead need to follow you to a sideline.) OR if they have more discipline than to follow up every block, they essentially freeze in place.

Asperon Thorn

[mattgslater]

I don't usually have to mark Golems. One man can hedge MA4/AG2 off pretty effectively with a TZ, even without a structure of any sort. They still got two Cas, even though they didn't get many blocks, and they didn't move much unless I was drawing them off, except in the last drive, when the wrong guys went down and I couldn't recover.