Talk Fantasy Football

It's time for a new rookie season and I'm going for the vamps!

3 Vampire, 8 thralls and 5 rerolls is the starting lineup. It's cheaper to get an apo after the first match (or second) than buying another reroll. With the journeyman rules you will always have thralls around anyway.

Now I need some advices from vampire oldtimers

In my mind I have some skillchoices and playstyles.

Vampire skillchoice
1. Block (safe as always), Guard (helping others), Stand Firm (to be in place)

2. Dodge (more movability), Sure Feet (more movement), Side Step (even more opertunities for movement)
3. Frenzy (maybe to crazy, but with ST4 it can be a good wallpusher), Block (needed), Mighty Blow (killing machine)

Next vampires (to get and develop)
4. Strong Arm (the thrower), Pro (a "good" reroll), Accurate (hope for double or just kick him )

5. Block, Dodge, Guard (a bodyguard not moving if not necesary)

6. Probably no sixth vampire!


Thralls
I will build thralls as "positionals". A third skill will probably never happen.

Runner - Sure Hnads, Block
Blocker - Block, Tackle
"Linefodder" - Wrestle, Fend
Tackler - Tackle, Wrestle
Kicker - Kick, Dirty Player
Blitzer - Block, Dauntless

Well all help is appreciated.

Heres what I do in LRB5 leagues....

2 Vampires, 5 Re-rolls, 10 thralls and some FF to start. I then buy an apoth before collecting some more thralls and vampires (I try to keep my player count at least around 13-14, sometimes you just have to buy the thralls instead ). Extra re-rolls arent really needed until much later (maybe before a 5th vampire) unless stuff is going really well for my team, usually I get an extra re-roll ASAP by using your first thrall double on leader.

Development:

Vampires - Virtually all my vampires get block and dodge as their first two skills.

The first two vampires to skill will get block first, after that every vampire will get dodge as the first skill. I need the block so I have a decent blitzer on the team, dodge for the later vampires makes them very effective mobile hypnogazers as well as helping them to score a little faster.
My third, fourth, and later skills are: tackle (get at least one as your first "third skill"), sidestep, guard, mighty blow (after tackle), diving tackle. I ignore doubles unless I have a +AG vampire that really really wants to become a thrower Usually I'll take accurate rather than pass but it depends on your playstyle as to whats optimal.

Take any stats your vampires roll (+Mv rather than +Av). These all transform an excellent statline into a fantastic one.

Thralls - I think that wrestle is definately preferable to block (since it makes space) and can often make up for geting tackle relatively late in team development.

I always develope two specialist thralls - a kicker (kick then wrestle), and a crowd pleaser (frenzy then wrestle). All other thralls get wrestle and then a mix of: DP, fend, tackle, strip ball according to how I'm feeling and what the weathers like.

Any thrall doubles go on leader and then guard, I take all +AG and +ST but probably ignore +Ma unless the thrall is on their second skill and I dont have other plans for them, again I prefer +Ma.

Ok, a quick look at your plans:

Your starting roster looks solid, personally I want to win right from the start so I go with the extra thrall over the vampire but thats just preference.

1 - nice but I think that sidestep will serve you better than stand firm
2 - think about what you want the move for, without block you are vulnerable with the ball and wont be a great blitzer either.
3 - frenzy on a vampire usually takes away too much control, a thrall does a pretty neat job anyway (combine with hypnogaze for some true magic)
4 - a thrower vampire is interesting, I havent had one for a long time but I do have very fond memories of my last and only Probably only worth it if you didnt roll a +AG for a thrall
5 - handy, get some more blodge!

Tactics and so on, could go on for ages about this but in a nutshell:
- skill up the vampires, your thralls will get SPP without attention
- if you're new to vampires then focus on playing your thralls well
- if you're already solid with vampires or are sure you can use thralls properly without special care then focus on your vampire fanciness
- hypnogaze lots

Hope that something in my monologue is of use Good luck.

My new strategy will be to do this with the vamps.

1. Guard, Dodge, Stand Firm
2. Guard, Block, Side Step
3. Block, Grab, Pro (mostly for hypnotic gaze)

4. Block, Grab, Guard
5. Frenzy, Juggernaut, Leap

... and we really sucked!!!

First game out against a Norse team with Snowtroll, two Ulfverners and two Runners.

My three Vampires didn't have enough strength to give them headache

Lost 4-0 and 4-1 in casualties (two casualties on thralls from biting vamps! so I can say I won the casualtinging )

hard to play with too much bloodlust and I hope I have better dices next time.

What SPP's did you get, and what injuries did you suffer? Oh, and how much money did you get?

Norse are always going to be a brutal team, especially against Vampires early on. That much Block will just pummel your Thralls into the ground, and two Vampires will never be able to deal with the Ulfwereners and Troll (even if you Hypnogaze two, the third will blitz and smash one of your Vampires to the ground).

~Andromidius

I got two good players
Vmpire. 2 comps+1 casualty

and a thrall got mvp

thats good


EDIT

Next match was against Nurgle (three warriors, 3 pestigors (one with block)).

Lost again!

Much becuse in the first three turns I hade three thralls in the injury box.

Got MVP on a thrall, did a TD with one vampire.

Injured thralls:

-AV (will probably save him)
-MA (will save him)
Niggling (got fired)

I certainly didn't know that tier 3 teams was full of unluck and bad dices, just a bad team

Lost my last game and ended not suprisingly last!

BUT I did get some nice skill ups in the last.

Vampire AG5
Thrall ST4

Now I just hunt down to get block on thoose good guys!

That AG 5 vampire will be a game changer....Chin up, the vamps will start making things happen late.

Gamebreaking!

Got two wins and a loss that almost ended in a tie.

1-2 against a awesome chaos team with ST6 warrior and 3 ST4 beastmen, a team 220+ TV. I almost got a lead with 2-1 but lost 1-2 instead. I did a great match, but I couldn't stand up against all strength.

Won against chaos dwarf with 2-1. Bloodlust was in check and my hypnotic gaze worked almost every time. Lucky me!

And a win against a nurgle team, 2-1 and again I hade some good luck.

The team is getting better, not good, but playable.

TV 138, , FF 3, RR 5 (saving for a 6th reroll).
Vampire AG5 (He is doing comps every game just to get Block)
Vampire Block (My "relaible" bloodsucker)
Vampire (Rookie, only played one game)

Thrall ST4 (A great and awesome player in this team)
3 Thralls Wrestle (The thralls of LOS)
Thrall AV8, Block (Expensive, but "tough")
3 Thralls (Rookies with 0, 3 & 4 spps. Soon someone will get skill)
Thrall AV6 (my lunchbox)
Thrall MA5, AG2 (my star lunchbox)

Shall I go for a 6th reroll or a fourth vampire? Any advice is welcome.

Two more wins, one aginst an ogre team and one against a wood elf team.

I'm learning to use Hypnotic Gaze and it's awesome when it works! Bloodlust is still annoying, but it make you concentrate more on "your next move" before you move the vamp.

I have got some nice skills on the team and it looks like this.

Batshof Red Sucks (5 FF, 5 RR, 50K cash @ 152TV)

Vampire: AG5, Block [Great with Hypnotic Gaze and passing the ball]
Vampire: Block, Dodge [Hmmm... Not much to say]
2 Vampire: --- [Rookies]

Thrall: ST4 [Block next and then Sure Hands]
Thrall: AV8, Block [Costs alot but he is reliable]
Thrall: AV6, Block [Stays untill he dies, a third lunchbox]
Thrall: AV6 [Lunchbox]
Thrall: MA5, AG2 [My crippled lunchbox]
Thrall: --- [Rookie. I'm thinking of a kicker but don't know if its worth it]
Thrall: MA5, AG4 [Expensive slow agile player. Will he be worth having?]
Thrall: Wrestle, Tackle [There will be skavens and wood elfs next season]
2 Thralls: Wrestle [Use as LOS Fodder. Fend next skills]

Shall I get a fifth vampire or a sixth reroll. More thralls?

Overall I have more fun with the team now when I have some skills.

More thralls and try to replace the av6 thralls. Try and focus on skilling the rookie vamps where possible. Definately pickup a kicker and (if possible) a leader... blodge vampires, a kicker, and a leader are must-haves

New Season - New Games!

My first strategy about how to skill the vamps don't exsist anymore

I'm glad I can do something with the vampires. One is great, two are so-so and two are still rokkies. Well 5 vampires may be too much, but heck I play a vampire team

First match was up against another vampire team. It was a tie 1-1 where I almost was ashemed for my opponents bad dice, so I was glad he made a TD after 4 times trying to get it into endzone (missed pass, fall on GFI, bloodlust without thrall in endzone and a missed pick up).

Second game was against a orc team. I managed to win 3-2, but the opponents goblin rolled a 1 on the gfi in endzone! me HappY! Tough game where I was outnumber most of the time.

Third game versus a human team. It was a damn close game, but the dice made opponent win by 2-0 (should have been 1-0). I did a great game, but dices are not your best friend!

My last game was against another vampire team. In the first four turns I was down to 5 vampires and only one thrall (with ST4 and Block, so I wasn't even trying to bite this hero ). But with some lucky bloodlust rolls I did take the lead 1-0. Then I won when I got my players back and game ended 3-0 to me.

I still have to play a chaos team and two human teams (all around 175-200 TV). 4 of 8 teams goes to the playoffs, and I think I will take my Batshof Red Sucks to the semifinals!

Here is the team

Batshof Red Sucks (RR:5, FF:7, TV: 183)
Vampire: AG5, Block
Vampire: Block, Dodge, Leader (couldn't think of a better doubleroll)
Vampire: Block
2x Vampire: none

Thrall: ST4, Block (awesome guy)
Thrall: MA5, AG4 (nice to have as ballfetcher in the backfield)
Thrall: Wrestle, Tackle (blodge players nightmare)
2x Thralls: Wrestle
Thrall: MA5, AV6, Block (not good, but works as a lunchbox)
2x Thralls: none
Thrall: AV8, Block ("the tank" takes the first step up against LOS. Played all 14 games!!! )
Thrall: MA5, AG2 (crap player, but as long as I don't have nigglings I keep them for feeding!)

I think I will need some Fend on my thralls so I can just run away and keep up with the athletic vamps. I need Block and Dodge on every vamp, so I will be boring in my skillchoices for them.

When I get nigglings on my thralls, I retire them (well I don't think I will retire ST4/Block thrall for that) so I don't give my opponent a too easy way to get my thralls of the pitch.

If vamps shall get a boost I think AV8 on thralls will be a great way to go, Bloodlust isn't that bad compared to my opponents crashing and trashing the thralls and even fouling them of the pitch to make it hard for the vamps to play without their bloodbanks!

New win!

I won vs. a human team with 2-1. Human team did get a chance for a tie when they got "blitz" when it was 2-1. I managed to hold on to the ball for two turns and considered my self as a winner

One thing with vampires is that when the gaze works (I use 5 vamps) it's awesome.

Got a double on a wrestle thrall and I took side step to help me have a thrall in reach!

Now I think I will get to the playoffs.

I bougth my 11 thrall so I have a 16 player team! It's needed!!! I'm always down on players.