Wood Elves in tournament

[Didacsoy]

Hi you all!

I'm, playing a tournament this week end and as it's a very long time since I last played (almost two years from the last tournament) I decided to ask for a little advice.

The tournament is a 4-round swiss style resurrection. Teams start with TR110, star players not allowed and you can assign one extra skill to two of your players at the start of the tournament and plus one after each round. Only starndard skills (i. e. no doubles roll on skill table). I came up with this roster for Wood Elves:

2 Wardancers (will be both given Strip Ball as starting skills)
1 Thrower
2 Catchers
6 Linelves
1 Apo

2 RR
2 FF

What do you think?

[SolomonKane]

Looks solid to me. You definitely should take lots of positionals, with so much money and such a short schedule. I can make a couple small suggestions, though.

Depending on your first opponent - if you get to know who it is ahead of time - you might consider swapping the apo for a third RR. After the first match, the apo still costs 50, while the RR would then cost 100k. This all assumes, of course, that you survive the first game more or less intact...

Secondly, while double Strip Ball is certainly a solid choice, what about having one WD with Tackle instead? I would imagine at least one or two teams will have a Dodger you're going to want to take down at some point.

[Didacsoy]

Thanks for your answer, Solomon. Although swapping the Apo for an extra RR looks very nice indeed, I don't think we are allowed to buy anything between rounds.

The reason why I chose to give both Wardancers Strip Ball is that I'm afraid one will be taken down too early in the game but maybe the flexibility of having two different sets of skills is worth the risk. I think I'll go the Tackle way.

My main concern is about skills after rounds. Should I make two nice blodgers out of my Catchers or maybe I can give the second Strip Ball to one of them? Maybe I should get Kick on a lineman? Although it's a little sneaky (and clearly against fluff), I've also considered Dirty Player for a lineman and go for one of the opponent's player a turn.

[frikipe]

If you use LRB 4 go for the treeman he prevents casualties on your LoS and worth his price i would go for :

1 Treeman
2 Wardancers
4 Catchers
1 Thrower
3 Lineman

1 RR
4 FF

The skills would be :

1- Strip ball - Wardancer
2- Kick - catcher
3- Sure hands - Thrower
4- Strip ball or Tackle - Wardancer
5- Block - Catcher

[wesleytj]

while i like the idea of a tree, i think taking 4 catchers is a bit of a liability on defense...not to mention the fact that you end up with only 1rr that way.

i do think the skill options listed are solid...starting with kick and strip ball are good. then sure hands for the thrower.

however, i would do it this way:

2 wardancers 24
2 catchers 18
1 thrower 9
1 tree 11
5 line 35
2 rr
3 ff

[Didacsoy]

Thanks for your answers. Sadly, I won't have a Treeman with me at the tournament, so no big scary guy with me this time. From your posts I infere I should drop the Apothecary.

Kick's got me thinking for a while I don't know if I'll take it before Block for my cachters, (that way they'll be a bit more resistent and more useful as defensive lock-ups) is it that strategically important?

[SolomonKane]

For your speed, YES, Kick should be EXTREMELY useful. In theory, on defense, you could have four players with MA 8 or better who can all run round the flanks and go after the ball carrier, or leap THROUGH the line. Pretty scary stuff.

Incidentally, with all the Dodge you'd start with (and the Pass and Catch skills as well), I should think you would be 1) very hard to knock down, barring a Dwarven opponent, and 2) wouldn't burn too many RRs due to movement (probably mostly on Leaps). 2 RRs might very well be enough for your team, so you can afford to buy the apo instead of RR #3.

But if you really can't buy anything between rounds, I didn't realize that, so I would definitely take an apothecary after all.

You know, Kick right off the bat has a lot of merit. Consider a layout like this:

First two skills:
Thrower - Kick (he'll be sitting back much of the time anyway, play him as a safety)
Wardancer - Strip Ball - the usual WD ballhawking routine

Skills postmatch:
1) Tackle - second WD
2) Sure Hands - Thrower
3) Sprint - Catcher. One-turn scorer with one square pushblock into the opposing half. Set yourself up right and you can do that (or you might roll a +MA and not need pushblocks).

After this, it's hard for me to decide. I would pick skills which focus around your players rushing forward and hitting the ball carrier before the ball can be caged - Sprint, Sure Feet, Leap, Tackle, Strip Ball. I don't know that Block is going to be overly necessary for you because you aren't really going to be able to get enough of it to matter, over the course of only five games, probably.

Of course, this is all dependent on what skills your players get during the game - you DO still get standard SPP rolls besides the extra skill after every match, yes?

With the above ideas, your defensive setup would look something like this:

_________________ LOS
oooo|ooLLLoo|oooo
oooo|ooooooo|oooo
ooWo|oLoooLo|oWoo
oCoo|LoooooL|ooCo

The wing players stand two squares back to avoid Quick Snaps, but you can push them up one square closer to the LOS if you're not overly concerned about Quick Snap. The liners will probably get squashed, but by grouping them together on the LOS, you tighten up the opposing line a little bit more, maybe enough to get your wingers through the line. You go after the ball, using the Catchers on the rear corner of opposing cages, liners to take away assists or make pushblocks to expose the ball carrier, and the WDs to actually pop the ball/ball carrier loose.

[Moose Cloud]

Please don't take a tree. Even in leagues they are a terrible idea for WEs. With WEs you have to rely on al your players being able to score/pass. A tree may prevent one or two casualties but your opponent will just ignore him and he costs almost as much as a wardancer.

Your original roster looked along the right lines.

[wesleytj]

if a treeman is indeed out of the question, then there's no real need to debate it's value. i think it's worth it to solidify your line and save a few elves, but we can discuss that some other time.

in this case, i'd do your roster thusly:

2 wd 24
2 catcher 18
1 thrower 9
6 line 42
1 apoth 5
2 rr 10
2 ff 2

alternatively, you could switch out the apoth for another rr... but to be honest, with all the position players you have, i think you have enough skill rerolls that having the apoth would be BY FAR the better value.

and yes, kick is really worth it as one of your starting skills. the idea is to kick deep so your opponent can't immediately form the cage. it makes it much easier for you to capitalize on an opponent's mistake with your speed. if they fail to pick up the ball, or drop a short pass or whatever, you can make them pay. if you use kick properly, you're less likely to NEED the strip ball because your wardancer will be in a more advantageous blitzing situation.