Talk Fantasy Football

Well, it's that time of year again where I decide to write about one of my teams in one of the leagues I take part in. This year it's the turn of my Chaos Dwarf team "Dwarfs of the Stone Age" who have taken over playing in the league as my Ogre team has become unplayable.

The composition of the league is currently:

1 Human
1 Wood Elf
1 High Elf
1 Goblin
1 Elf
and there are about 4 more people who potentially could join soon.

But in light of the utterly miserable experience of playing Ogres against Elves I decided to shelve them (I'll play them sometime when more people pick AG3 teams) and wheel out the best Dwarf race for some games.

The initial line up for the team was as follows:

Dwarfs of the Stone Age (aka Dot S.A.)
1. Jos Home - Blocker
2. McBain - Bull Centaur
3. Ghrol Ghrolsson - Bull Centaur
4. Van Leeven - Blocker
5. North Aaronsson - Blocker
6. Druff Johnson - Blocker
7. Coner Ween - Blocker
9. Garcia - Hobgoblin
10. Stahl - Hobgoblin
11. Lurero - Hobgoblin
12. Alain - Hobgoblin
3 Rerolls
20K banked.

Match 1 vs B.E.M.F.C (Humans)

Dot S.A's first match was against the BEMs, a human team with a single match under their belt so far (a victory) and enough of a gap that the Dots are able to recruit Zzharg to assist them in the match. But the head coach of the BEMs is not the most experienced of coaches and is often lured into making one on one blocks. So the team is sent out with the orders to ground the ball where possible and man mark. BEM win the toss and elect to recieve, the ball is kicked high by McBain and the human's lone thrower catches it. The Humans open aggressively by assaulting the front line of Blockers and succeed in knocking three of them over but don't manage to make a dent into the second line which contains Blockers, Bullys and Hobbos. So they decide to secure the ball just behind their left wing and prepare to drive up pitch.

The Dots respond with a brutally punishing play; as every member of the team except Ghrol push up and man mark before exploiting a blind spot in the opposing line. Van clears a space and McBain thunders into the ball carrier (a catcher) with support from Druff and Lurero who man mark potential assists. The catcher is trampled under McBain's hooves and the ball flies to the ground. Ghrol is unfortunately unable to get round to the ball without dodging so the Dots decide to play it safe and send him backfield to cover.

At this point things devolve entirely. The Dots consistently clear any Humans from around the ball and mark it, but the clearance attempts eat into the team's rerolls and there's never a point where a safe pick up can be attempted. One of the BEMs Blitzers attempts to collect the ball and break free but he goes down hard when dodging past McBain and the team's apothecary is rushed to help his shattered shin (sending him to the reserves). Equally the Dots suffer a casualty in the maul as Alain is taken out by a lineman in an exceedingly brutal block and is forced to miss the rest of the match.

At this point the head coach of the Dots decides to change tack, scoring a touchdown before the end of the half would force Zzharg to come onto the pitch and this would result in an immediate sending off and a waste of the star player's potential. As such the Dots are given orders to grind the match out and avoid any risks of losing the ball, they are told to hold until the final moments of the half before attempting to score. Lurero alone stays up in the BEMs half, protected from any Blitzes by McBain and North who work their way back towards the LoS.

The ball continues to amble it's way downfield, assisted by a failed pick up from Ghrol until the BEMs realise that they have no men in a scoring position and decide to go for as much damage as possible. Fortunately the best they can manage is a KO and they suffer a casualty in retaliation (a lineman). But by the time the final turn of the half comes around there is only one member of the Dots in range of the scoring line (Stahl) and only one player who could manage to get the ball to him. Garcia, who is currently on his back after being hit by a Blitzer. The Dots initally open up with a few blocks and succeed in injuring another lineman. Then Garcia goes for his play. He leaps up, successfully dodges away from the opposition, manages to scoop up the ball and throws a long pass over the head of a lineman, who fails to intercept the pass. At this point everyone else stops their matches to watch as the pass turns out to be accurate, Stalh manages to catch it and makes off towards the end zone. The dice are thrown for the two GFIs and land a 4 followed by a 2. It's a Touchdown and the Dots start the second half receiving and 1-0 up.

Both teams trot out onto the pitch slightly reduced, but slow playing the first half means that Zzharg is on pitch to make up for a lost player. So the Dots have a slight edge in numbers. The BEMs kick is gusted slightly by the wind and ends up landing in the Dots endzone before bouncing out of play. The ball is touched back to Ghrol and the Dots start their drive with the hard work done. Sure enough, in a classic drive they grind up the pitch for 5 turns of the half before slotting home an easy Touchdown for Ghrol. But; the touchdown has not been scored without cost. Stahl was cut down by a BEM Blitzer for scoring and will be missing the next match due to a groin strain, also Coner has been cut down in retaliation for hurting a lineman and will also be missing the next match with a broken jaw.

So the Dots set up for the third drive of the game and kick to the BEMs. At this point both teams are down to 8 players, but it's looking pretty likely that the Chaos Dwarf team will win. So the BEMs go all out to try and score quickly, pushing hard and attempting to get an advantage where ever possible. They end up with three men deep in the Dots half with a catcher carrying the ball and three turns to spare, but the Dots have a rather hard response to this and manage to seperate the three while pinning the catcher against the sidelines. Sure enough, as he attempts to break away from a Blocker and a Bully he trips and falls. Freeing up the ball with two turns left on the clock for the Dots.

The response is immediate and decisisve. A path is cleared between the ball and Ghrol while McBain retrieves the ball and hands it off to his team mate. The manuvere comes off without a hitch and McBain thunders off towards the opposing end zone, pacing himself well outside the reach of any BEMs. A small scale brawl breaks out when the BEMs realise they've been denied a chance at some dignity and then Ghrol slots home his second Touchdown of the match.

The final drive for the humans is little more than an attempt to gain SPPs through a pass, after the kick the Dots decline to take advantage of their blitz result (the head coach set the bullies one square too far back), but this turns out to be irrelevant as the thrower - obviously dejected by the way the match went - fails to even pick up the ball before marching off the pitch.

Final result 3 - 0 victory.
Casualties 3-3.
Sendings off: 1 (Zzharg)

SPPs/Injuries gained:
Ghrol - TD x2. 6SPPs - Break Tackle Gained.
McBain - CAS. 2SPPs
North - MVP - 5SPPs
Coner - CAS - 2SPPs - MNG
Garcia - COMP - 1SPP
Stahl - TD - 3SPP - MNG

60K Gained - New Blocker 8. Grogot Fogg hired. Journeyman Hobgoblin recruited.

FF goes up by 1 to 1.

Team Value for next match: 1,010K

Damn good start to the league, I'd say.

Admittedly you got some good luck with the passing game there, but the fact you were able to turn lucky dice into a 3-0 victory shows you know exactly how to get the best out of your team already. Good show, indeed.

What is your general skill plan for this team, or have you not decided what route you're going to take yet?

~Andromidius

Wow, your Bulls do well handling the ball. You have loaded dice? But really, nice game.

Lots of AG teams in the league. Good luck in it.

I wouldn't say my bulls do well at handling the ball. I attempted to pick up the ball with them 4 times in the match and they only passed any AG rolls in the final turn (I touched back the ball to a bull for the second TD, thus scored it without making a single AG roll). That's 2/5 successes against a 50% to 75% chance (depending on the availablilty of team rerolls), which is below average. The first half TD was a lucky manuever (without any risk as a turnover just ended the half), the second two were engineered with careful positioning.

I know exactly how to avoid failed AG 2 rolls becoming a problem, and I avoid making AG rolls wherever possible in a team like this. In total I only made 3 AG3 agility rolls (end of first half) and 5 AG2 rolls (2 of which were at the end of the second half) in the entire game. Blocks are always safer than AG rolls.

Skill development plan is very standard to start out.

Bull - Break Tackle, Block (Dodge on doubles)
Bull - Block, Break Tackle (Dodge)
4 Blockers - Guard, Mighty Blow (Claw, DT, Prehensile Tail on Doubles)
2 Blockers - Mighty Blow, Guard (Claw, DT, Prehensile Tail on Doubles)
1 Hobgoblin - Kick, Block
2 Hobgoblins - Dirty Player, Block (to deal with grounded elves)
1 Hobgoblin - Block, Sure Hands (until a bull gets Sure Hands this guy carries vs strip ballers)
2 Hobgoblins - Block, Fend
(Guard on doubles for Hobs)
Minotaur - Break Tackle, Juggernaut (Block, Claw on doubles)

I'm not planning beyond this for skills because I tend to spread out SPPs as much as possible and as such my team develops slower. I'll figure out third skill rolls when/if I hit them.

Wouldn't Wrestle be better on some of the Hobgoblins? Especially if you want to be fouling Elves. Nothing quite like wrestling a Wardancer to the ground and then booting in him the face repeatedly.

And it's not like anyone is going to try and foul a Hobgoblin, is it?

~Andromidius

I dislike Wrestle on any player with less than MA7, additionally there are too many elf teams in the league to make it worthwhile. I'd rather keep my players on their feet with their tackle zones intact (to force more dodges) over increasing fouling opportunities. Passively attacking elves by forcing them to make more dodges seems better as I am the bashiest team in the league right now.

I might, might take wrestle on a hobgoblin after he's already got Block, but I don't want just wrestle by itself.

Wrestle+Tackle hobo is great if you use him as a "blitzer". He will almost always bring down a Blodger with a guarding dwarf by his side. And even if you loose speed, its better to run the same pace as the dwarf, so 3 squares are ok when running with dwarfs

Well having a Wrestle/Tackle Hobgobling also means you can mark Wardancers and Catchers. Then they have the choice: try to dodge away without their precious rerolls, or try to smash the Hobgoblin out of the way and risk being dragged down and kicked to death next turn.

But personal preference and all that. Looks like you're doing nicely already.

And on another note, if you get a double on a Hobgoblin with Sure Hands, would you consider giving him a Passing skill?

~Andromidius

I'd take Dodge.

This is because I consider Passing actions to be desperation plays (with my play style). I'll always perform a hand off over a pass if I have the choice and normally it's rare that I'm even considering passing the ball. I hired Zzharg in the match not for his passing abilities but because he gave me another ST4 player on one of my offensive drives.

Great thread Fen. Fun read.

Sorry for being a bit off topic but is Zzharg's price really balanced? S4 Dwarf Blocker with extras at only 60 K seems dirt cheap to me, even with the secret weapon...