Choosing not to recieve?

[Quadrasonic]

Have you ever won the coin toss and chosen to kick rather than recieve? If so, why? And how did it turn out for you?

I know there was a thread about 2 years ago discussing how it can be a good idea with a bashy team. But I have always elected to hit first and ask questions later. Especially considering if you give the ball to a quick team, there is no guarantee that they will score quickly enough for you to score in the first half as well.

I can see how it could be advantagous to give an Ogre team the first turn because at low TR they have the hardest defensive line you may ever see, but their offense suffers from bone-head and weak ball handlers.

I figure that if you can develope a good and effective strategy for kicking first rather than recieving, then you should win consistently as your opponent is likely to recieve if he wins the toss. It should effectively turn the random 50:50 nature of the outset to sure thing for you.

I have definately had the tactic used against me, but I just can't get my head around it.

[Brokje]

Depends on what you play against. With bashy vs Agile teams, I definately recommend choosing to kick first. Then they will score in 2-3 turns, which leaves you with 6-7 turns to equalize AND, MORE IMPORTANTLY, to bash the #$%&* out of them. Second half, you take 8 turns to score the 2-1, and laugh your ass off when they try for the 1-turner....

Cheers!
M

[wesleytj]

My Dark Elves choose to kick away more often than not. My theory is that we can score shorthanded without too much trouble, but playing effective defense is tough to do without all the guys out there. We play good defense, hope to get a turnover and score, and then go from there.

I've also found it's often easier to set up my witch elves to push people into the crowd on defense, and if we can get an early advantage in manpower on the field, we're nigh unstoppable.

[fen]

Kicking is the choice of winners and champions. You always have the best chance to stop the first drive as that's when your team is always at their best strength to start. Agility or Bashing, you normally want to start the game kicking.

It also allows you to recieve at the start of the second half, which is the drive that normally determins who wins a game.

[MadLordAnarchy]

I can't remember the last time I lost when I received first. It's always my choice as it gives me control of the game tempo.

[Patchwork]

I've choosen to kick the ball rather then recieve playing Dark Elves againts Dwarves. It let me get the hard play of getting the ball off the dwarves and going ahead done and gave me a bit of a pychological advantage againts him as he went too cautious afraid I'd do it again and I went into the second half 1-0 ahead.

[Podfrey]

What Fen said . Kick almost every time, though like anything there are the odd few exceptions.

[TuernRedvenom]

I always kick. Unless it's early in the season,the opponent is at 11 players and I have some damage potential. Then striking the first blow could make the difference.

With bashy vs squishy teams there's also the factor of ko rolls. With a bashy team if you receive and score in turn 8 your opponent will get more chances at getting back ko's in the middle of the match. If you kick you can force those ko rolls to be so early (not many ko's yet) or late (who cares if they come back, the game is over) in the game that it really doesn't matter.

[King-Nerd]

I kick vs soft teams, let them score and then grind out a 2-1 win using up all the clock (that's the plan anyway!) and receive vs bash team.

[Pipey]

What Fen said . Kick almost every time, though like anything there are the odd few exceptions.

Wouldn't quite agree with that. It depends on your team and the opposition.

I usually receive, as you should never underestimate the significance of getting free hits on at least three opposing players, certainly with bashy teams. Once you're players up things can slide quite quickly.

Against agile/fragile teams the best option is to kick - for precisely the reason TRV said (just spent five mins typing an explanation of this then realised it had already been explained! )

[mattgslater]

Funny enough, I like to receive first with bashy teams and kick first with agile teams.

Usually I can use my Pro or Wood Elves to get the ball and score or force a TD in the first 2 or three turns if I'm fielding 11 guys, and in fact it's easier to play defense than offense when you've got a full squad; the ball starts out in the other guy's half, so all you have to do is go get it.

My Orcs on the other hand like to receive first, because that means the opponent has to put three guys up on the line as sacrifices. If I can get the opponent man-down before the start of the second drive, I can maybe keep him from scoring and even get a defensive TD before the half ends.

[Little_Rat]

I like to recieve with almost every team first... the first exception are my orcs. They manage to stomp enough teams so I can have a very silent second half, starting with my run ^^

[stormmaster1]

sometimes i recieve with bashy teams. The problem i had with dwarfs for a while was fast teams stalling first half, so i couldn't equalise, and was left with a string of 1-1 draws. I started to recieve and found that the first half i could easily score in 8 turns with both teams full strength. In the second half, even though my opponent got 2 KO rolls, it was still generally easier to either prevent the score or get a second score under time pressure. Bashy teams are more likely to do well in the second half so it made more sense to do the easier job of an 8turn drive on the first go.

[virre]

I think I never won with Dark Elfs when I have not kicked. I have a harder time on attack then I have on defence. (Well acctualy I haven't played that many other teams that is agile)

Also, when playing people that isn't used to the game, they often setup widezones that are absolutley free, going for the thumping instead of the ball.

[mattgslater]

Bashy teams do well by receiving first, especially early in the season or against a struggling opponent. The principles of receiving with such a team don't change so much over the course of the match as kicking does; good elf teams can often get the ball away with five or six guys, but mounting casualties make offense very difficult. So since you're receiving first, the relative health of the opposition doesn't matter much, but when you kick in the second half, presumably they'll be in worse shape than you and your odds will be a lot better. You also have a good chance of making it 1-0 at halftime by going first and playing clock-control. Receiving also gives you three almost-free knockdowns, which gives you a shot at an early jump in the numbers game, which dictates the late-match scenario more than anything else.

Speedy teams do best receiving first against the more dangerous bashy teams and kicking first against teams they think they can handle, especially if the speedy team has something of a bench or an advantage in toughness; as an elf/rat/lizard coach, you absolutely have to score, and if you can get a touchdown on turn 3, you can keep your opponent from trying to stall you; besides, even if you can't hold on to score in 3, you can usually score in 2, which means your opponent has a little breathing room, but is still playing for a halftime draw. In the old days, this was the one time that a speedy team got a really good return on a foul; you can get one good smacking session in and maybe a little reprise, and then you score and if you play your cards right you're kicking the rest of the match. Kicking first with a speedy team, OTOH, is very potent if you have a bench or Apothecary (or both) and you think you can get the ball; there's nothing like giving up a defensive TD on turn 2 and having to set up against the same D on turn 3 to demoralize an opponent, and that's where those 5-0 and 6-0 games that really develop your team come from.