Thoughts on playing Nurgle with High Elves

[Master Wang]

These came into my head during and after a particularly late night on stuntyleeg. They are probably somewhere else on this forum and aren't mind-blowing in anyway (still here, or have you gone to another thread?), but posting them may mean I remember them when it's 2am and I'm playing against Nurgle again.

1. Man mark the beast. Ideally use two men neither in any other tackle
zones (to prevent them being blocked or blitzed away so it can move)

2. Beware Disturbing Presence! Also give a nod to Foul Appearance.

3. Speed and mobility will win the game. Hold the ball deep and try to pull
the action to one side then go down the other. The large amount of strength
4 and DisPre make regular 2-turn elf scores much harder.

4. If given the chance, take out the agility 3 players.

5. When on defense, spread your players out so the beast can't easily tie them up.

[Carnis]

If you don't die, you win . Imo my guide is simpler .

[mattgslater]

Really. I mean, the advice is good.... Beating Nurgle with High Elves is a function of not getting grossly outplayed and not getting creamed on the AV rolls. I mean, it's far from automatic, but you have a major advantage until the Nurgle are really beefy.

Oh, and use a Dodge or SS Lineman to mark the Beast, if possible. SS is good, because it can draw the Beast off and isn't tempting to blitz just to free up the Beast, as a push doesn't do it. Dodge is even better in context, because when the Beast gets frustrated and hits him, it's only 11/36 to knock down. If you're like me and try to get a few Dodge/SS tar-babies up, then using just one this way can be stellar. Until then, though, it's just too expensive to use 110k AV8 players to mark Mighty Blow.

Against most low-AG teams, nailing the AG3 players is in fact the key to victory. But there are different kinds of AG 2-3 teams, and this is the more flexible kind. Some teams (Undead, Khemri, Necromantic, Dwarf) have only so many guys who can handle the ball, and when they're gone they're gone. If you take out a Dwarf team's #2 Runner on Turn 1, you've rewritten his game-plan. The Undead and Necro teams have a little more AG to them, but still, it's finite.

Other teams (Nurgle, Orc, Chaos Dwarf) have so many guys who don't handle the ball, but all the backups are good to take their reps. So targeting skill players is nice, because they tend to be SPP hogs and are generally more fragile for their value (except Orc Blitzers), but if you get rid of one or two, all you've done is make them go to the bench, without any strategic shift (unless it was his two super-studs or something).

[Smeborg]

Patience is the key on offense. Be prepared to slow down the game to Nurgle's pace. Run the ball (which may mean giving the ball, for example, to a Blitzer). The Nurgle defense against an agile team requires the D-Pres players to be well spread. With your superior speed and agility, this gives you opportunities to achieve local superiority.

On defense, remember that the Nurgle caging game is weaker than other ST teams. Don't be shy about marking all the cage corners at the appropriate time, allowing the cage to collapse under its own weight. When you manage to pop the ball loose, be prepared to run it (as on offense).

Don't obsess about taking out the ST3 players (there are at least 6 of them at the start of each drive). Take each turn on its merits, and expect that the game will not take a familiar pattern.

When you do pass or hand-off the ball at worse odds than you are used to (because of D-Pres), make sure your players are well positioned for failure.

You would be right to mark the Beast out of the game with a Lino.

Let us know how you get on!