intersting question

[tenwit]

Then again, universal MA7 never hurts.

So speaketh the Halfling coach. For the rest of us, yes it does

[mattgslater]

You're thinking AV, not MA.

[tenwit]

Oops, yep, my bad.

But still, as a lizardman coach, MA7 hurts

[Cramy]

OK, any of the Elves then, depending on what you're confortable with. DE or HE if you like the safety of the armor. DEs are more bashy, while DEs have a better passing game. Woodies if you want speed. Pro Elves if you want cheaper linos and positionals with lots of useful skills.

With any of these, you want to be mobile, stay away from opponent tackle zones, and use a stand-off defence.

[mattgslater]

OK, any of the Elves then, depending on what you're confortable with. DE or HE if you like the safety of the armor. DEs are more bashy, while DEs have a better passing game. Woodies if you want speed. Pro Elves if you want cheaper linos and positionals with lots of useful skills.

With any of these, you want to be mobile, stay away from opponent tackle zones, and use a stand-off defence.

Francophone typo aside ("confortable"), I'd agree with this assessment. The primary factor in what team you should play is what team you want to play. If you're going to build around your opponents, do it for fun.

The most fun Elf team? Hard to say. The Side-Step-o-phile (and Nerves-of-steel/AG4 nut) in me would always say Pro Elves (the extra RR matters a lot, as does the extra step on the Blitzer progression, and those Catchers have all kinds of freaky development options), but Dark Elves can be a great deal in a long season (but have a harder time with that all-important two-turn defensive score), and the Woodies, while risky, have nothing but positionals, the game's best blitzer, and maybe the best big guy (or second best after the Ice Troll).

How long is your season? Fixed or open? Is there a tourney at the end? How many games do you expect to play? How well do you stack up, coaching-wise, against your opponents?

[ClayInfinity]

LRB5... it has to be Pro Elves.

The cheap line elves and the highly skilled blitzers plus the Catchers who are fantastic you cant go wrong.

Journeymen are your friend... save the apoth for Blitzers & Catchers and let the linemen live or die.

If you give your blitzers Leap / Strip Ball and then you've effectively got a WD with Sidestep playing alongside the best catchers in the game.

I disagree with the "play the bashy DE side" as you will ultimately get outbashed by all those Dwarves, Orcs and Chaos sides if you never get a relief...

[Gorbad]

I would not advise Poo Elves for _any_ sort of league, I consider them seriously crap for their price.

For bashy leagues I would also go for DE and HE, with Wood Elves only for the "adventurous" or "masochistic", as they can be quite good, but you will always be men down.

[Marlow]

All the Dodge makes Wood Elves a very good starting team if it is a short league.

However if it was for a ongoing League I would proplaby go with Pro Elves as I think the Str 3 & NOS makes them a better team with some development.

[mattgslater]

PEs are especially scary in a 110 tournament, but also start to shine at the beginning of a season or after about 10-12 games. It's extremely hard to protect a cage against four MA8/ST3/AG4 guys who ignore TZs when they pass/receive.

Pro Elf Blitzers are hands down the best cornerbacks in Blood Bowl, forcing the opponent to go inside on every single drive (plus they get you halfway to four Side Steppers, which means your opponent is gambling on a KO or Cas on the blitz, or on being a single Stunty guy, which usually isn't smart).

PE linos are a better deal than WE and HE linos even if their inferiority is glaring and the price diff doesn't look like much on paper, because their reduced price lets you either have an extra RR or a pair of positionals (C & T), reducing your cost burden compared to HE/DE (don't get me started on Woodies) even as you do need to hire more players, and the extra re-roll or positional you can afford more than makes up for any GFIs or strategic changes forced by the lower MA.

PE Throwers are a good deal at 70k (like other elf Throwers, they're best used like linos with situational "clutch player" value and Leader access), and a Thrower upgrade for a lino compares favorably to a point of FF or an AC.

My fave team, I must say. I don't think they're the BEST, just the coolest.

[PubBowler]

PEs are especially scary in a 110 tournament,

I swear Matt, you're the only person that think Pro Elves are any good in a tourney.

Looking at this sites list, they have won one tournie, the same number as Halfings. (They've only been there a short time it's true but still).

In NAF, the best pro elf coach is 176 in the world ranking.

I think they're a fun team. They may be good in a short league (I've heard a lot of people say they struggle long term) but in a tournie, no.

[mattgslater]

That may be due to the fact that I'm off the beaten path and at the top of my food chain. I probably shouldn't be talking about the tourney circuit, but look at the potential, not the outcome:

Two shutdown corners, without having to spend skills on them. Two skill bumps on linos, and you've got a backline that's simply impossible to penetrate without a Cas machine (MB+PO) so rare in tourneys and so common in leagues.

Twelve players, two RRs, full slate of 8 positions. Or a more manageable 4 positions, with 3 RRs and an Apo. 110 is good to Elves, as are 1-skill-per-player rules.

Catchers all one skill from super-coolness, with lots of variety in what that skill could be, in case you're required to make unique or 2x selections.

[poochée]

hmm I also think that pro elves are the best choice, they are also my favorite finesse team and I actually think they can do really really good in a long league too.

[TuernRedvenom]

That may be due to the fact that I'm off the beaten path and at the top of my food chain. I probably shouldn't be talking about the tourney circuit, but look at the potential, not the outcome:

Two shutdown corners, without having to spend skills on them. Two skill bumps on linos, and you've got a backline that's simply impossible to penetrate without a Cas machine (MB+PO) so rare in tourneys and so common in leagues.

Twelve players, two RRs, full slate of 8 positions. Or a more manageable 4 positions, with 3 RRs and an Apo. 110 is good to Elves, as are 1-skill-per-player rules.

Catchers all one skill from super-coolness, with lots of variety in what that skill could be, in case you're required to make unique or 2x selections.

That's not so great in a tourney. Your catchers have neither block nor dodge and will be targets. Two rerolls for (non-bashy) elves in a tourney is really pushing it in my experience! (remember: there's 5 games to win, you can't count on things that will "usually work out") And just eleven players with so many AV 7 players is pretty risky as well. Wood elves are a lot better, although they also have AV 7 across the board but they can start with 6 players with dodge, of which 2 also have block, which lessens the attrition considerably.
League is a different matter of course...

[DoubleSkulls]

I'm really not scared at all by 4 players with side step if only two of them have block and non have dodge.

Woodies, with the same 4 basic skills also have 2 blodge, sidestep players and 2 dodge/sidestep catchers. That's a much harder proposition for every team except Dwarves to face and it costs exactly the same...

Sure catch/NOS is lovely on offence, but the woodies can win on defence reasonably often without even needing their own offence.

For me pros are the worst tournament team but the stats seem to show them about the same as DE, with HE trailing. They are actually more popular the HE under LRB5 too.

[ClayInfinity]

PE's in LRB5 become so much more dynamic... the skills of Wrestle / Dodge against bashy teams is great...

I have played 20+ games with my PE's in a league that is 75% bashy and I have only lost 5 times... 3 of them to one very good DE team.

I have lost once to Chaos who were heavily induced and once to a human team when Nuffle gave me the bird.

I have had to use journeymen on occaision, but my TV hovers around the $2M mark and the catchers are brilliant.

I do concede I have a great thrower though: AG5, Sure Hands, Accurate (and Pass of course)