Wood Elf skill picks in tournament

[Jeremiah Kool]

I played in the same TR 100 tournament as Mootaz did and wasn´t happy with my skills (you gave one after every game without knowing who´d you play). My main tournament team was Dwarves so Woodies very quite new for me. My picks were:

Strip Ball (Wardancer)
Kick (Lineman)
Tackle (Wardancer)
Wrestle (Catcher)
Dodge (Lineman)

Strip Ball I´d take again, but the for the rest I´m not sure.

Kick helped me in two games to retrieve the ball after an early turnover. What didn´t work was kicking deep against a slow team so he had less time to move his cage forward. In that game I played too agressive, put players in tackle zones and got lots of KOs and casualties. I guess I just need to practice to get the most out of the Kick skill. Then again I could take another skill that helps "all the time" like Block and a good opponent can still play smart so that the advantage isn´t that good for you with Kick.

Tackle was good to have because there were a lot of agility teams. The problem is when you don´t play against one Tackle is wasted. I took Tackle after my third game and played Chaos Dwarves, Human and Skaven. I managed to hit Catchers and Gutter Runners but did no real damage, armor just didn´t break. So I was wondering to not take Tackle again and get something else that helps all the time, same situation as with Kick.

Wrestle was OK but didn´t make a diference, although I just love it on a Catcher. It didn´t do anything for me but that was just the dice rolling for my opponents.

Dodge on a Lineman was a bad choice. Block would´ve been much better for some safe blocking on the LOS.

Next time I may try Sidestep on the second Wardancer and maybe even on the Catcher. It´s great when your opponent blitzes them and you step closer to the endzone or away from his assisting players. A sidestepping Blitzer on the ball carrier seems great on the defense, too.

Once I saw a Skaven team in a tourny with a lot of Block on his Linerats to protect them. It seemed to work for him because he won that tournament. Would that be good for Wood Elf Linemen, too? You can always dodge away with Elves but that doesn´t work everytime.

[Cramy]

Kick is pretty good on WE teams actually. You mentioned that you kick deep, then put tackle zones on you opponent? Well, with WE, I wouldn't want to try that. Kick deep and then place your players in the way of his path, but not in TZs. No free blocks for your opponent.

Tackle: Did it make your opponent fall? Breaking armor is nice, but making these GRs and catchers fall is still much better than just pushing them. Their movement is then reduced by 3, which is pretty good. And you can foul them once they are down. A Skaven team without GRs is in trouble.

Strip Ball on a Wardancer is good.

I have not tried Wrestle yet, so I'm not sure how to use it. Not sure I would give it to a catcher though. I know that if I see an AG4 player with MV9 and AV7 on the ground, I'm putting my special boots on and pow.

I play DEs quite a bit, and I'm a big fan of dodge. Gives so much more maneuverability to the team. Dodge on a WE Catcher makes him an almost guaranteed assist anywhere for those key blocks that your WDs will but throwing. If you had two Catchers, I would have tried Dodge on both of them.

As for Skaven, I can understand why Block is so good for them. They have 4GRs with dodge already, and they are the key players. I would give all of them block to help them survive, and to be able to throw those 1-1 blocks. Then kick to a lineman. Then you can sprinkle some block to the other linerats, or tackle on the Blitzers depending on how many bashy vs. agility teams you think you will face.

[grotuk]

Im not sure what roster are you taking but im going to give you mine and the skills i take:

1 Treeman
2 WD
3 Catchers
1 Thrower
4 Lineman

As i play my first game without RR the first skill is Leader to the Thrower. Then Strip Ball to a WD. Third Kick to a catcher...and the last 2 are a little more doubtful. In the last tourney i take wrestle to a catcher and Side step to the second WD but i think for the Madbowl im going to take Side Step and Block to a Catcher.

Wrestle doesnt work so well (i tried it at the Barnabowl too) and Side Step is a good one if the ball rests in a middle of a melee and your WD is around.

BTW, the explanation for Kick on the Catcher is that he has more survival percentage. Your linnos are the first going out the field...and when you are down to the linno with kick...you are going to loose the kick skill...or are you going to risk a WD in the LOS?

Hope it helps.

[Bevan]

.BTW, the explanation for Kick on the Catcher is that he has more survival percentage. Your linnos are the first going out the field...and when you are down to the linno with kick...you are going to loose the kick skill...or are you going to risk a WD in the LOS?

I agree with Kick on a Catcher. I used Kick on a Gutter Runner for much the same reason. I always have a GR in a legal position for kicking (assuming I have any GRs left ) whereas I want my linerats on the line, or out wide. It only makes sense in events where your player will never gain a 2nd skill.

[Pipey]

Frenzy on a Wardancer (awesome in conjunction with WD's superb mobility)
Leader on a Thrower
Kick on a Lineman
?Tackle on the other Wardancer

Including a treeman is an absolute must too.

I've played against this lineup with these skills and it's pretty awesome. Having to adapt my game plan big time to combat it.

[Leipziger]

I've played against this lineup with these skills and it's pretty awesome. Having to adapt my game plan big time to combat it.

Is that vs Geoff, Bren?

Cheers

Leip

[Pipey]

Yeah he managed a rare win against me this sunday.

The frenzied WD plus treeman combines to make a rather tasty sort of bashy wood elf variant.

Not at all like playing woodies normally.

[Jeremiah Kool]

My setup was 2 Wardancer, 1 Catcher, 8 Lineman, 2 RR, 1 Cheerleader. I just can´t play without 2 / 3 rerolls and didn´t want to go with Leader on a Thrower. I feared the first game with only one RR and that the Thrower would be taken out. It´s nice that you have a lot of skill rerolls with Wardancers, Catchers and a Thrower but nothing can save you against double skulls, failed two dice blocks without the Block skill or failed pickups. Sometimes you have to dodge several times and not always the easy 2+ ones. Can you play that careful to avoid those turnovers?

Tackle did put players on the ground but the enemy Catcher/Runner still got to the endzone without failing their Dodge roll. But that´s just the dice. Tackle is a very good skill, but maybe Sidestep or Frenzy could be better for all around help.

And who expects Frenzy on a Wardancer (apart from Loony Toadquack )? Or even a leaping Wardancer with Frenzy?
It would be quite interesting to try that. Leap into the cage, get a push on the first block and on the second block push him out of the cage next to your other players. With luck you might even bring him down and the ball can bounce from a much better position. Sounds like a plan but might be too risky?

[Pipey]

Well you don't need to leap with it. It's great because your opponent will be afraid to place an players within two of the sideline when you have a highly mobile frenzied player on the pitch. Very useful for crowd pushes.

Leaping is a last resort. It shouldn't be a staple tactic, its just too risky.

[Jeremiah Kool]

I wouldn´t try leaping every turn but it´s still very potent for getting to the ball carrier at the right time.

Frenzy is worth it alone. It doesn´t need Leap to be good, of course. Just thought about some additional benefits.

[wesleytj]

My picks were:

Strip Ball (Wardancer)
Kick (Lineman)
Tackle (Wardancer)
Wrestle (Catcher)
Dodge (Lineman)

I'm a firm beleiver in Kick for Wood Elves, in fact I would have taken it 1st.

In fact, before I get too carried away, here's how I would have done the skills, given the roster you took. then I'll go into why:

1. Kick - Line elf
2. Strip Ball - Wardancer
3. Leap - Catcher
4. Tackle - Wardancer
5. Block or Dodge - Line elf

Kick is useful for kicking deep against slow teams. It USUALLY gives you a turn before they can get their cage set up, and that's when you pounce. Sometimes you can get really lucky, and the opponent will fail to pick up the ball, and wood elves are the best team in the game at making them pay for that. If the opponent manages to form his cage on the first turn anyway, then he got lucky and kick didn't help you as much on that kick. But that window it usually opens for you is vital if you know how to exploit it. As you said yourself, part of the Kick skill is knowing how to use it to your advantage, which comes with practice. Once you do, you won't want to play without it!

I won't dwell long on Strip Ball, you know what it does and why it's good.

The Leap on the catcher is another one of those things that is great once you know how to work it. It can REALLY cause fits for your opponent and make him dedicate inordinate resources to stopping your catcher, which frees up the rest of your team. When I play Skaven at tourneys, I always get a GR with leap, and it's amazing how often during the game my opponents asks "Which one has leap again?" They know that this player can get him/her self out of any bind that most players would be stuck in, so it gives them problems. Anything that gives your opponent problems is good for you.

Tackle on the Wardancer is good...but if you notice this far into the tourney that most of the teams aren't dodgy, you may want to look elsewhere. Also pay attention to where you are in the rankings at this point, and what teams you're likely to play in that ranking "zone". If you're the #1 team, and teams 2-5 are all dwarf/orc teams, tackle may not be the skill for you...

The Block or Dodge thing on a Line Elf is sortof a throw-away skill. All the position players on your starting roster have skills already. Block or dodge is the best thing for a line elf at this point. Which to choose depends in part on opponents and your personal play style.

[Ryvel]

Hi all!!

In my last local league I played with Wood Elves... I simply love them. The simple fact they have WD is enough for me to choose them.

Talking about the skills I have to say that I disagree with the people that say that Block is better than Dodge for the Line Elves. I always choose dodge for every line, until I have at least 5 of them (to fill the front line). Later, I try to develop different combinations depending on the other teams in the league.

This is because at the end of my turn, I always try to keep 1 square of distance with every oposing player to allow them only 1 hit. I play a very Non-Agressive tactic, which means that I never block unless it is necessary to defend or to open a hole in the enemy defense. So considering this, in order to resist a block, Dodge is as valuable as Block, but the first also gives me the chance to repeat if I fail while dodging. For me Dodge is much better.

I have to say that with this strategy, I won the league with 12/1/1 and 3/0/0 in the pre-season. And the only team tha beated me was the Skaven one!!! On the other side, I only made 3 casualties... but only receave 14 (nearly 1 per match on average... wich is veeery nice for WE).

This style worked for me, so I encourage you to test it. But Dodge on almost every player playing in the front line is a must!!

The positional players were developed in a different way. I'll resume them:

Attacking WD: AG+, MA+, SideStep (this is a nightmare for oposing teams, as it allows you to be always next to the lateral line without any risk), Sure Feet (this and the MA+ gave me a WD with MA 11!!!!) and Sure Hands. This player scored more than 25 TDs in 16 matches (he sufferd 1 Miss). MVP of the league.

Defensive WD: AG- (ageing), Strip Ball, Mighty Blow (this was an error... It should have been Dauntless in order to beat those Ogres and Str4 players carrying the ball.

Catcher: Block the First!!! Sure Feet (MA11!!!) and Side Step. This convert the catcher into a MachineGun scoring TDs.

Thrower: Leader. Hail Mary Pass (When in defense recover the ball, throw it deep into his field and run with those MA11 WD and catcher...)

Treeman: Due to my style, he didn´t get any additional skill....

I have to say that this was with the previous roles, so I don´t have what I would do with Wrestle... for instance. I´ll see in my new league!!!

[Jeremiah Kool]

The Leap on the catcher is another one of those things that is great once you know how to work it. It can REALLY cause fits for your opponent and make him dedicate inordinate resources to stopping your catcher, which frees up the rest of your team. When I play Skaven at tourneys, I always get a GR with leap, and it's amazing how often during the game my opponents asks "Which one has leap again?" They know that this player can get him/her self out of any bind that most players would be stuck in, so it gives them problems. Anything that gives your opponent problems is good for you.

Since Leap is a 3+ roll and you have to use a RR if you fail is it that useful? I´d rather Dodge with a Catcher. I understand that an opponent has to be careful about Leap, especially with a Wardancer. But a Catcher?

[Yavatol]

I agree with the previous post on kick and strip ball, but for a 100 TV tourney I probably bring 2 WD, 4 C, 5 L, 1 RR, 0 FF and take te following skills:

sure hands on a catcher or a WD (depending on spread of bashing/agility team, with a lot of AG teams I might prefer tackle on a WD as a later skill)
stripball on a WD
kick on a Line Elf
side step on a catcher
again side step on a catcher, maybe tackle on a WD

When played well side step can be a real pain for your opponent. Those guys are very good to mark the ball or ballcarier

[Snew]

The Leap on the catcher is another one of those things that is great once you know how to work it. It can REALLY cause fits for your opponent and make him dedicate inordinate resources to stopping your catcher, which frees up the rest of your team. When I play Skaven at tourneys, I always get a GR with leap, and it's amazing how often during the game my opponents asks "Which one has leap again?" They know that this player can get him/her self out of any bind that most players would be stuck in, so it gives them problems. Anything that gives your opponent problems is good for you.

Since Leap is a 3+ roll and you have to use a RR if you fail is it that useful? I´d rather Dodge with a Catcher. I understand that an opponent has to be careful about Leap, especially with a Wardancer. But a Catcher?

You completely missed what he said. Leap works even when you're not using it BECAUSE that guy has the potential to get almose ANYWHERE on the pitch and out of almost anything the opponent can get him into. If 1 player on your team makes your opponent place 3 or 4 players where he might not otherwise, you're going to be in a much better position that you were before.