Talk Fantasy Football

Ok, here's the situation: I'm a pretty new player taking a Norse team in league that's about 2/3 newbs like myself. Each team in the league will play 5-15 games, followed by seeded playoffs. In what little BB I've played, I've enjoyed the challenge of the Norse--Trying to skillfully execute blocks without getting pounded on too much. I want to have fun in this league--I want to be competitive, but I don't want to get a bunch of guys pounded out early leaving no team to play with. So far, our league looks like it'll have a Skaven team, two elf teams, a human team, an amazon team, two lizardman teams, two orc teams, a chaos team and an undead team.

I'm thinking of fielding the following roster:

7 Linemen
3 Blitzers
Ogre
Apothecary
3 Rerolls
3 FF

I'm thinking it's safer to go for the big guy, the blitzers and the rerolls and sacrifice skill players and a high FF at the outset. I'm interested in what people think about starting with the Ogre in particular--Will this help a lot in keeping guys alive?

Well, yes and no.

Having the Ogre soak damage by sitting on the LOS will definately help.

I worry that the low FF will harm you in your attempt to buy up the other positionals, And replace the dead av 7 guys that might still crop up.

If you plan on using the ogre for anything other than soak, I think the 3 re-rolls are a must.

Though I would consider dropping the 3rd reroll for the 5 extra fan factor, and using the ogre strictly for holding a place on the LOS. (No early blocks, no ball handling, no blitzes etc.) With his help and the FF boosted winnings filling the roster should come easier. (Or buy the 3rd re-roll first. which ever.)

Maybe others have more experienced answers though. I've only started 1 norse team and don't have plans for buying an Ogre as I dislike the big guys.

Here's my alternate list that bags the ogre and pumps FF:

8 Linemen
Thrower
3 Blitzers
3 Rerolls
8 FF

Any opinions which would be more effective in a 16 game league?

I'm about 3/4 through a season similar to yours with a Norse team and I've been doing ok so far. 4 wins 2 losses.

From what I understand of the Norse, they're actually a pretty bashy team. Not because of their durability like with dwarves or orcs but because of shear number of blocks (Frenzy and Pro 4 teh win).

Your blitzers are golden. You need all four of them right away in my opinion. Jump Up is deadly, especially in an unexperienced league where coaches tend to ignore players on their backs. Watching their face as you say "I stand him up and throw a block" and then explaining how jump up works after they protest about you already taking your blitz is priceless hehe. Here's my starting roster...

4 Blitzers
1 Catcher
1 Thrower
5 Linemen
8 FF
2 Rerolls

All that frenzy on the field is very dangerous if you play it smart. Against a newbie league you'll be pushing opponents off the pitch left and right. Just be careful, make sure you have the assists you need if you have to make that second block with Frenzy.

Your Catchers are the only players on your team with access to agility skills, so they're not to be underestimated (Blodge 4 teh win!). They make good back field players as well with diving tackle or pass block. And with so many passy teams in your league I would seriously consider taking at least one.

I don't see how the Ogre is going to be that useful. Without high armor linemen you won't be able to hold the line. One Ogre does not a line make I think you're better off staying away from any line and just trying to contain your opponent, hamper their mobility. Interpose your linemen between your opponents and where they want to go, whether it's your ball carrier or the end zone. The Ogre is either going to be ignored or swarmed and brought down. After my first couple games I bought a Mino for even more Frenzy love.

Here's my roster after 6 games...

2 Blitzers
1 Blitzer, Stand Firm
1 Blitzer, Pro
1 Thrower, Sure Hands
1 Catcher, Dodge and Side Step
1 Catcher (Got him for free with a card)
2 Linemen
1 Linemen, Pro
1 Linemen, Dirty Player
1 Linemen, Guard (Yay!)
1 Minotaur
3 Rerolls
11 Fan Factor
Apothecary

I'm tied with an Orc team for the league leader in causualties caused. They're definitely a challenging team but they've been a lot of fun. Just make sure to give your opponent as few blocks as possible, almost never follow up on your blocks if you can help it.

Have Fun

Played a few preseason games last night using the second list, and I'm glad a couple of those games don't count. You know it's bad when you concede a game before you get to move a player (after three my opponent's first three blocks my three guys on the line were in the dead box).

As far as frenzy goes, we have an extended preseason and the league members are veteran gamers and learn very fast--I'm actually consciously not frenzying guys off the pitch, saving that for the regular season.

A list like yours would scare me unless I made sure that I played finesses teams my first couple of games--No reserves and no apothecary could be very bad against a bashy team if the die rolls went sour.

I'm intrigued by what seems to be your strategy of not engaging along the line. Obviously, against some teams matching along the line is suicide, but against others it seems necessary to take full advantage of block...

Yeah, my first two games were against a Human team with an ogre and a Skaven team with a rat ogre. Not full bash but still dangerous. An apothecary was my first purchase, then the Minotaur which gave me a reserve lineman.

It could have been bad but I feel I did a pretty good job of staying away from my opponents while still able to throw good blocks. The three lambs on the line haven't been hurt yet at the start of a drive. Maybe I've just been lucky.

I think the trick is to make them come to you. If you stay away from their line they usually move up to your players using their blitz to desperately try and break armor. They may knock 1 or 2 Norse down but when your turn comes around you have plenty of blocking oppotunities. Jump up helps immensely here.

The idea of sacrificing positional players for more reserves doesn't seem to hold much water in my opinion. The positionals give you skills needed to keep away from your opponent or keep his players on their backs. Back up fodder is still fodder. This'll sound silly and obvious but avoiding those casualties in the first place is better than having guys in the reserves box. Your skilled players are going to make that possible, not a box full of linemen. And you don't have to worry about this dilema so much once you can afford reserves.

I'm not a super experienced coach or anything but that's my opinion Oh, and sorry about your dead line. That's a freak occurence if I ever heard one heheh. You break a mirror or something?

It was a freaky run of rolls...but it was a pratice game so no big deal. I hear what you're saying about reserves, but I think I'll probably take one spare lineman or an apothecary to start to play it on the safe side. I'm not very experienced, but it seems to me that Norse are a bit different in that there are no sucky scrubs on the team, since everyone has block. Unlike other teams, you can play mostly lineman and still have a decent starting team. I hear your point about the blitzers though--That fourth one will probably be my first purchase when the league starts, as long as other guys don't die. I'd just rather start with the three rerolls rather than buying the third to save the double cost.

By the way, your starting roster only seems to come to 950--Is there an apothecary or lineman missing?

Oh yeah, I did have an apothecary. I bought the Mino after the second game.

Yeah, 2 rerolls suck. Dropping a 4th Blitzer for another RR makes sense.

I'd be interested in hearing how your season games go. With no dwarf teams in your league it sounds like you'll have a big advantage early on. Keep us updated

Here is my norse team after 8 games:

blitzer frenzy, jump up
thrower sure hands, accurate pass, N
lineman dirty player
lineman N
lineman -1ST
lineman +1 MA, -1 AV
lineman tackle
lineman
catcher +1 AG, dodge
catcher +1 MA, dodge
blitzer guard, strip ball
thrower
blitzer guard, mighty blow
blitzer guard
minotaur

TR: 176
RR: 4
FF: 11
apothecary
treasury: 10 000 gp

My score is:
6 wins, 2 looses

1. loose was against High Elves (136:209)TR (me 136) it was 1:1 and I've lost by penalties
2. loose was against Amazons (147:173) (me 147) it was really bad 0:4 with lot of bad luck on my side.

TD score is 19 against 9 (with 4 TD from amazons and 3 from skaven)
casualties: 16 against 12 (with 5 from High elves I've lost)

My suggestion is to move catchers one square from border of the playing field and cover from the top with blitzers pushing of the field any attempt to attack your thrower. I ussually move at least like this:

|_____|crowd
|__B__|
|___C_|
|__B__|

Using guard blitzes. If I have more players spare I cover the area better, but this is at least if I have that turn less spare players I do not try to move forward ussually. Any atempts to blitz my catchers are ussually rewarded by pushing off and killing by crowd :DD. (esp nice against dwarves and orcs).

My starting Cockerel was:
3 blitzers
2 catchers
1 thrower
5 lineman
3 RR
9 FF

Playing against dwarves first match. I played very carefully taking just 1 cas. and buying apothecary after match.

I always put single niggled player on LOS, st 2 guy is reserve and I use him to give neccesarry assistences after I have too much of my players KO-ed. Mino is for taking hits from opponent because with good position of blitzer there is always way to push opponents players off with mino starting. I use DP untill I have 11 players every turn if possible. (prefering to foul valuable players).

That's my 2 cents to norse play.

PS: and don't forget to study carefully 1 turn TD in thread below. It's nice to know that possibility.

Thanks for the great replies. I'd love to hear any other Norse experiences...

I'm too lazy to read through all that have been said, mostly, so i'll just tell you my 2 cents on Norses (I've been playing them in an experienced (now) league.
I started with
2 blitzers (180k)
2 catcher (140k)
1 thrower (70k)
7 linemen (350k)
3 re-rolls (180k)
Apothecary (50k)
8 FF

I bought a minotaur, not an ogre, here's why:
Both would mostly just stand up on the LoS and maul people, so Wild animal is not that big a disadvantage. Minotaur has access to Physical Traits, if you're lucky enough to pull doubles, which is not my case. But most important is the first skill he'll take is of course Guard, and if you miss Wild Animal he keeps his tackle zone.

How it went:
I had a very good start and mauled my first 3 opponents (Lizardmen, Chaos Dwarves and Humans) but sadly my opponents often pull out doubles for progressions and I pulled 1 out of 18 skills rolls only so life's hard sometime. Be very wary about your frenzy and make sure you can get assisted if you just push back.
Best skill for blitzers for me: Guard then mighty blow.
Best Catcher skill: Dodge, of course, then pass block, i have the most interceptions in the league, and there's 3 elves!
Best Linemen skills: touchy, diversity is the key. Dirty!!!
Best Trower skill: sure hand is a must, stop wasting rerolls.

Hope this helps.