Elves VS Slanns: strategy?

[narg]

Is there a way of winning against slanns with elves? I just played against slanns and lost 3-1, I felt there wasn't much I could do. I had the following issues:
- Hard to dodge away because of 4 diving tackle and 1 prehensile tail
- My own diving tackle not very useful because of the mass leap + very long legs
- Safe throw useless
- Caging useless as well: he had an AG4, leap and strip ball player as well as an AG4, ST4 block blitzer which were really hard to defend against, and I had no sure hands

I was probably unlucky to lose 3-1 but even with more luck I don't think I could have won that game. Are there any strategies that I missed to counter them? As I have a player with mighty blow I tried to play it physical and it kind of worked (4 casualties) but even outnumbered he could still take the ball off my players, dodge out of the tackle zones and score. I had 200k in inducements so I took a wizard and a babe but I used the wizard on his ST4, AG4 blitzer when he was carrying the ball on his own to score and it worked but it didn't go through armor and then I tried to pick-up the ball and throw it forward to score myself but I didn't manage to pick it up (2+ with team reroll) and then he used jump up, blitzed my player and scored. Here are the team sheets:

Slanns (4 rerolls):
Kroxigor 5 5 1 9 Block, Bonehead, Guard, Loner, Mighty Blow, Prehensile Tail, Thick Skull -1MA
Lineman 6 3 3 8 Leap, Tackle, Very Long Legs, Wrestle
Lineman 6 3 3 8 Block, Leap, Very Long Legs
Lineman 6 3 3 8 Leap, Very Long Legs
Lineman 6 3 4 8 +AG, Leap, Pass, Strip Ball, Very Long Legs
Catcher 7 2 4 7 Diving Catch, Leap, Very Long Legs
Catcher 8 2 4 7 +MA, Block, Diving Catch, Dodge, Leap, Very Long Legs
Catcher 6 2 5 7 +AG, Diving Catch, Dodge, Leap, Nerves of Steel, Very Long Legs -1MA
Catcher 6 2 4 6 Diving Catch, Dodge, Guard, Leap, Sprint, Very Long Legs NI, -1MA, -1AV
Blitzer 7 3 3 8 Diving Tackle, Jump Up, Leap, Very Long Legs
Blitzer 7 3 3 8 Diving Tackle, Jump Up, Leap, Very Long Legs, Wrestle NI
Blitzer 7 4 4 8 +AG, +ST, Block, Diving Tackle, Jump Up, Leap, Very Long Legs
Blitzer 7 3 3 8 Diving Tackle, Guard, Jump Up, Leap, Very Long Legs

Elves (3 rerolls):
Lineman 6 3 4 7
Lineman 6 3 4 7 Block, Dodge
Lineman 6 3 4 7 Dodge
Lineman 6 3 4 7 Wrestle
Lineman 5 3 4 7 -1MA
Lineman 6 3 4 7
Thrower 6 3 5 7 +AG, Dodge, Pass, Safe Throw
Thrower 6 3 4 7 Block, Dodge, Pass
Blitzer 7 3 4 8 Block, Diving Tackle, Dodge, Side Step NI
Blitzer 7 3 4 8 Block, Dodge, Mighty Blow, Side Step
Catcher 8 3 4 7 Catch, Dodge, Nerves of Steel, Wrestle
Catcher 7 3 4 7 Block, Catch, Guard, Nerves of Steel
Catcher 10 3 4 7 +MA, +MA, Catch, Dodge, Nerves of Steel

[Smeborg]

Your team needs Sure Hands, obviously. It can be taken on a Blitzer (combines perfectly with Block, Dodge, Sidestep, Fend) if you do not want to give it to a Thrower. This could give you a Bllitzer for running plays, a Thrower for passing plays. Guard on the cage corners also helps, of course.

If I understand your story of the game correctly, you suffered an unlucky 2 TD swing, so you were close to a 2-2 draw. That's not bad against a team with higher TV.

As I understand it from playing against Slann, you have to exploit the 2 negative aspects of Leap:

- Leap has no re-roll skill (just team re-rolls and Pro);
- A player can only Leap once per turn (after that he has to dodge).

So [on offense] you have to protect the ball as best you can with a network of tackle zones which make it unlikely that the Slann can (a) pop the ball loose, (b) pick it up, and (c) pass it. You need to think in terms of a wider net than a simple cage. Using the sidelines can help. The general idea is that while you cannot keep the ball safe, you minimise the odds of the Slann turning you over and scoring. This strategy accepts that the Slann strategy is "sh*t or bust", but you crank the odds towards bust.

[Edit: Similar thinking applies on defense. If you cannot attack the ball directly, you force the Slann player to move through wide networks of your players if he wants to score. You also have the advantage of 5+ intercepts with RR, so if you position your Catchers well, you force the Slann to hand-off rather than pass.]

Your general idea to squish them is also valid (but this will only help late in the game, if at all). The best way to deal with the Blitzers is either (a) to knock them down, or (b) to dodge away from them late in the turn, when you do not mind suffering a turnover.

Hope that helps.

[narg]

Your team needs Sure Hands, obviously. It can be taken on a Blitzer (combines perfectly with Block, Dodge, Sidestep, Fend) if you do not want to give it to a Thrower.

Interesting suggestion. I've got a blitzer with a niggling injury so I don't want to develop him and the other blitzer has mighty blow so I wanted to develop him in a bashy way, with tackle and dauntless or frenzy next. I planned to give sure hands to my blodge thrower but he's 15 SPPs away from the next skill so it'll take a while...

Guard on the cage corners also helps, of course.

True but guard is hard to get for elves, I have only one guard player at the moment and he got killed on the first turn (the apothecary then brought it down to -MA).

If I understand your story of the game correctly, you suffered an unlucky 2 TD swing, so you were close to a 2-2 draw.

Indeed, I think that a draw would have been possible but not a win.

So [on offense] you have to protect the ball as best you can with a network of tackle zones which make it unlikely that the Slann can (a) pop the ball loose, (b) pick it up, and (c) pass it.

I get your point about trying to force the opponent to leap and dodge with every player. Maybe I could have executed better in defense, but with a blitz and six players who can leap on 2+ he could usually get anywhere. And once the loose cage is overrun by these guys, including the one with ST4 and diving tackle, it's hard to reorganize your defense.

Your general idea to squish them is also valid (but this will only help late in the game, if at all).

Very true! I also played these slanns with my norse and I found it very frustrating to only get a draw after inflicting eight injuries. They can keep playing well even when vastly outnumbered, really a pain...

[DoubleSkulls]

I think you played a game of rock, paper, scissors and lost...

His team is extremely well suited to beat yours, but against many other teams he'll really struggle.

[Smurf]

Bet you wished you took tackle!

Blitzers with tackle... really nice.

Elves really love wrestle too.

Luckily there is not much dodge on the Slann team.