A few thoughts on Khemri

[SunDevil]

Sad but true, Paul, sad but true. I expect the Norse to take the Wizard and posibly another Lineman or the Babes.

I KNOW the CD coach would take a Wizard, he loves them like I do. My only defense is that I've played against the Wizard plenty with this team. On offense, I surround the carrier but leave spaces all around him - more of a 'cloud' than a cage' with multiple layers. He can Bolt the carrier anytime he likes but the ball will then stay securely in a Khemri mob. If he Fireballs the carrier and one corner/side of the group, I'll take my chances that enough duck the blaze to remain screening the ball. Also, that's why there are multiple layers.

We shall see - their game is tomorrow night! Go Norse! Which means, with me rooting for them, that the CDs will win in a blowout.

[crimsonsun]

CD would be a better match for Khemri, being as they have alot of the same issues, low Ag, players with low AV and not particularly fast. Norse can be a real headache, block everywhere means TGs without block can only safely hit when on 3 die, they have speed, cheap line/foul fodder, the yeti will need dealing with or he will start slicing though TGs which with decay is a nightmare, also all that frenzy can really mess up your positioning leaving you stuck in tackle zones and exposed.

Looking over there teams the lack of guard in the norse team is Massive, but he still has dauntless, and some players that can produce some serious hurt. The Chaos dwarf team I would still rather face, he does not have enough guard in my opinion, and claw is useless verses skeletons, facing them will be all about correct positioning and keeping them from bunching too much, they also lack in reserves, which would make me hunt out the Hobs with killers to quickly gain a player advantage for the match.

Crimsonsun

[SunDevil]

crimsonsun - Thanks for the advice! You actually made me feel a little less nervous as I was beginning to have visions of my hard-fought Khemri season go down the drain just because yet another CD team (yawn) is in my way and lucky enough to roll three doubles for Claw.

But you are right - it will be all about positioning. If I can spread them out, get around 2 CDs locked up with each TG but have my Guard all close, they will have a hard time getting 2DBs even with their Guard. If I can isolate a CD with a Skeleton, I certainly do it. Hit the Hobs with my Blitz-Ras anytime I can and my #6 Blitz-Ra Ordog Sol can look for Sterling Archer, his Blodge SS Bull. I have Dauntless for his 4ST and Tackle, I'd love to get a few cracks there!

Position, position, position - I have to be extra careful and try to negate his Claw with my natural ST. If it is the Norse, I'll have to be aware that they can sort of 'elf' me so need to concentrate on ball protection and removing any Norseman I knock over.

They play tonight and I just hope they maul each other!

[spubbbba]

Of those 2 teams I’d fancy taking on the Norse more than the Chaos Dwarfs with Khemri. All that AV7 is pretty squishy and frenzy can be a big liability when out strength and guarded. He does have some good players but they are all vulnerable to fouling and not that hard to take down. Plus the Norse are only slightly faster and more agile than you so it is certainly no easy thing for them to avoid you.

The Chaos Dwarfs have 2 very nice bulls and a solid line of blockers that can threaten any of your players. They don’t have any niggles so you’ll need a bit of luck to take then out.

[SunDevil]

The question for you now, spubbba, is can the Norse beat the CDs or will I have to?

[crimsonsun]

Of those 2 teams I’d fancy taking on the Norse more than the Chaos Dwarfs with Khemri. All that AV7 is pretty squishy and frenzy can be a big liability when out strength and guarded. He does have some good players but they are all vulnerable to fouling and not that hard to take down. Plus the Norse are only slightly faster and more agile than you so it is certainly no easy thing for them to avoid you.

The Chaos Dwarfs have 2 very nice bulls and a solid line of blockers that can threaten any of your players. They don’t have any niggles so you’ll need a bit of luck to take then out.

See I really do not see the Norse as the easy option in this, yeah they are all AV7, but they are have block making them an instant liability for tomb guardians to deal with, and from my personal experience going into a game with the intention to injure your way to an advantage is not the best match strategy, and Norse can hit you as hard as you hit them so it will just become a matter of who rolls the best dice on the day.

I agree that the Norse are only slightly faster, but the difference between Ag2&3 is huge, add on the extra Ma and you could be looking at a serious headache. The chaos dwarfs maybe tough, but they are really limited on options when it comes to actually winning the game, there offence is a slow grind unlike the Norse hit and run tactics, Khemri do well in slow grinds as they struggle to react to something you did not expect, Chaos Dwarfs really are not going to do much out of the box. The Dwarfs and Centaurs are tough, but slow and easy to block off. The hobgoblins will go down very quickly giving you the player advantage which in combination with your high strength will cancel there guard, and allow you to control the pitch.

Crimsonsun

[SunDevil]

Well, long story short - the Norse won. He protected his Troll very well and he had some stuns on CDs that helped. But the big story was the Norse had TWO one die blocks, both Pows, then rolled natural tens TWICE, both times, and injured both CDs. Brutal. The CDs bought a Wizard but it failed to do anything.

The Norse scored, could not stop the super Bull and they went into the half tied 1-1. Then the CDs were down guys (three Hobs and a CD injured before halftime) so tried to run away with Super Bull. The NOrse dragged him down with a pow and caught the ball on the bounce. They then ran away themselves and stalled out the half to win 2-1. Casualties went to the Norse 5-3. The Norse gained 1 TV in FF but no skills. I'll be giving him 210k in inducements. I'm thinking of cutting my Block/Kick/niggled Skeleton, rebuying a Rookie and then only giving my opponent 170k - a Wizard OR a babe/Apoth, NOT both.

The CD coach tried to help me by fouling both the 4ST Berzerker and the Snow Troll in the final few turns but only stunned the Troll and BHed the Zerker.

It might be two weeks before we can play the Khemri vs. Norse title game as we have to align both of our schedules with those of Three Die Block's producer, co-host and guest host to fill in for me.

Thanks for all the advice so far - please feel free to post abut how you would defeat the Norse and bring home the title with Khemri.

My 2-part plan -

Step 1 - Kill the Snow Troll.
Step 2 - Kill everyone else.

[Smeborg]

Chance - you know this is going to be a tough match, so be prepared for it to go the distance, including extra time. Although you have 6 M-Blowers, the Norse have 5 combined with 5 Frenzy, 1 Claw and 1 P-On. Thus be prepared for the Norse to maintain parity in numbers (or even to go up on numbers) through the middle period of the match (although they may struggle towards the end). Quite a bit will depend on the early exchanges, including who kicks/receives. Fouling is obviously much in your favour, but you can't foul at the expense of the ball.

I'm not sure you should fire the Kicker, he comes into his own in the tough matches. But on the other hand, if the Norse player goes with only 13 players, then depriving him of a Babe may be of some use. Your call.

The main weakness of the Norse is that they have only 1 Guard. If you can put the Guarder into the dugout, or just mark him out of the game, that will give you an advantage. Don't be shy to go for the AV8 guys, AV8 is just not good enough for these players in my experience.

With 4 Dodge and 3 Dauntless (2 of each combined), the Norse have a lot of blitz power, and will use this to push a Receiver or two into your backfield, or to move a Blodge Runner 9 squares through your line. Accurate positioning of Guard on defense will help, in so far as you have any control of it. If I were the Norse player, I would be looking to tie up your Tacklers much of the time, so if you can maintain a Tackle sweeper or two (I think you call that a safety) on defense, that will help. As said before, I suspect the Norse would also be looking to stay out of contact much of the time (with the exception of the AV8 guys, they can't help it).

Not much to add to what has already been said. A fascinating match, I wish I could spectate.

[mattgslater]

Another game where Grab-chaining into backfield blocks could be huge on offense. He's all AV7 and has insufficient Guard, and will probably protect his Snow Troll, Runners, and POMBers in a shallow, screened-off position. Tying his men down to reduce his resources for assists and scoring early AV rolls on his Dauntless and ST5 players can make a huge impact. I'd have been leery of such a plan against Guard-heavy CD, but Norse without enough Guard are ripe for the smashing. Especially if he gets overaggressive and sets his midfielders only one back from scrimmage.

[SunDevil]

All good points Paul and Matt, thank you!

I do hope to receive to start and remove his line. If I kick, and he breaks through, I may be content to smash and kill whoever I can reach to force him to score. I hope to keep a Tackle Safety (or Sweeper ) free to convince the Norse Runner that maybe it isn't safe to break away.

He will be looking to protect his Troll, and should, but will only get one quality Blitz with him if I can help it. Once he is exposed, I'll devote a MiB Blitz, maybe PO, to him and then follow with a foul.

Matt, I have not forgotten your Grab advice and will look to exploit the skill whenever possible. He set up far enough back on defense that the CDs could not Blitz, only a Bull could have, and will likely want to do that with me. However, that is at least 6 or 7 spaces back and I would be content to smash his line for two turns and cloud screen or cage up in relatively safety with his whole team so far back. Thus, he will probably set up close, letting me try the Grab trick Matt described. I also hope to use the Grabber to clear Blitz paths to his protected players.

First the Troll. Then, when I can, slam his Zerkers. He is particularly fond of them and if I can remove them, I can get into his head.

Best case scenario for the Khemri - I gain a player advantage almost immediately and then lean on the Norse for the rest of the match. Linos fly into the dugout (or morgue) and he cannot protect his Troll or Zerkers or Runners for long and they soon fall as well.

Worst case scenario, he removes a TG or two before I gain that advantage and my remaining de-strengthed team is left fumbling around.

I have to use my massive Guard advantage to prevent that. I'll be looking to engage the Norse on a grand scale at the moment of my choosing, leaving them looking up into 2DBs against as soon as possible.

As for firing the Kicker, I really think I'm going to. Kick has been good, but the Niggle pretty much undoes his Thick Skull. I must deny him the chance for a Wizard AND a Babe. He may even forgo the Wizard altogether and hire an extra Apoth and Babe both. He knows I want to maul his team and he knows the Khemri have mauled AV9 teams in my last two games. Quite frankly, the Norse were VERY fortunate to have so many cas against the CDS - those two one die pow, ten, ten, chart rolls on CDs were amazing, but not likely to happen again. He knows I have the capacity (and great desire) to outblock him and wreck his team. He will have to decide if he wants to disrupt a drive with the Wizard or hire an extra medical staff to protect his team. I believe he will choose the Wizard after some mental back-and-forth and I hope to make him regret it by drawing out his Apoth in the first four turns.

Anyway, that's the plan. I know not to overlook my opponent or his team. The Norse can dish it out and he is just as worthy of being in the BB as I am. Should be a quality game, though I hope the Khemri make it a laugher by grinding the Norse into dust right from the start.

Paul (and Matt and everyone!) - I'd love to have you spectate in person! However, we will have to settle for making the 3DB broadcast of the game as much fun as possible!

Go Khemri!

[Smeborg]

He set up far enough back on defense that the CDs could not Blitz, only a Bull could have, and will likely want to do that with me. However, that is at least 6 or 7 spaces back...

If he's so worried about the safety of his poor darlings, I suggest you have quite a big advantage. With a defensive mentality like that, I am surprised your opponent has not given his players more Guard and Fend (perhaps he did, and they died). Though no doubt he is an excellent player to have got thus far. That's the glory of BB, no doubt he plays in a different style to what I would expect.

All the best.

[spubbbba]

]If he's so worried about the safety of his poor darlings, I suggest you have quite a big advantage.

Yeah that would be a huge mistake as this is the final and it's pretty easy to rebuild next season. Mind you maybe he was doing that in the semis as he knew he'd be facing another bash team.

In his position I'd certainly bring a wizard vs you and would apoth the 1st 1/2 decent player to get BH. Who cares if all the great players die, if they do so in the quest for glory then that is the Norse way.

But if he is a player protector then a couple of early fouls on key targets or late half fouls on anyone may make him think twice about using PO or leaving any player isolated. If he bunches together then that helps you with a guard and strength advantage.

[mattgslater]

Even if he does set up deep, you can still blitz with a Guardian if you want, by chaining him across the line. Oh, the glory of Grab.

[SunDevil]

Even if he does set up deep, you can still blitz with a Guardian if you want, by chaining him across the line. Oh, the glory of Grab.

True but I don't want to then leave that TG at the mercy of a Snow Troll Block/Claw/MiB Blitz with two shots of Frenzy.

I want him to let me do that to his Troll after his Frenzy gets him out of position.

[mattgslater]

Even if he does set up deep, you can still blitz with a Guardian if you want, by chaining him across the line. Oh, the glory of Grab.

True but I don't want to then leave that TG at the mercy of a Snow Troll Block/Claw/MiB Blitz with two shots of Frenzy.

I want him to let me do that to his Troll after his Frenzy gets him out of position.

Are you talking 3 squares back from scrimmage (too far to blitz safely... so he thinks) or 5 squares back (too far to blitz at all)? Against a very deep defense from a slow team, I would go for an Orcish Conveyor Belt; you know, zone-blocking the defensive line off to the backside of the play, pushing laterally on diagonal blocks, not following except perhaps on the last defender. This leaves two of your Guardians, and prolly some Skels and/or a Blitz-Ra, on the backside of the play, where the D-line is already (re-)positioned. Since it's the backside and he has guys there, he'll have a tendency to try to get push on the play-side, especially if you leave him a reason to blitz on the play-side. If he commits, redirect. If he doesn't, kick his butt.

There's no way I'd set up a deep defense against Khemri, by the way. The way to beat Khemri is to shut down their cage before they get it rolling, or failing that to force it to a wide zone and lock it out of redirecting, no?