Talk Fantasy Football

I'm hoping to get to Quake, and play my Dwarves. Several skill packs - +1MA or AV on 1 player plus 5 Normal Skills - no duplication of skill with same type of player. Or just 6 Normal skills - no duplication. 4 other packs available.

My usual 1M Dwarf Team is 6 Blockers, 2 Blitzers, 2 TS and 1 Runner, with 4 RR. Of late, I've been seeing the virtue of a 12th player, so was thinking I might try

6 Blockers, 1 with Guard
2 Blitzers, 1 with Guard
2 TS, 1 with MB, 1 with SF
2 Runners, 1 with +1MA, the other with Leader.

This would give me 12 players and 3 RR (2TTR and 1 Leader). A bit light on RR, but the comfort of an extra player.

On the other hand, could stick to the 11 players (these are Dwarves, after all) and 4 RR, as follows:

6 Blockers - 1 with Guard
2 Blitzers - 1 with Guard, 1 with MB
2 TS - 1 with MB, 1 with SF
1 Runner - +1MA (or maybe Block, but my 70 SPP Runner started his 18TD (so far) career with +1MA and hasn't looked back ...)

Comments/Suggestions invited, especially on the 12th player vs RR tradeoff.

12 players over 4 rr imo

dwarfs are slow and really could do with having 11 players on the pitch, even if it is hard to remove them, they will still go

most of the time you will be doing 2 dice blocks with block anyway, not much reason for turnover there

Gimli wrote:I might try

6 Blockers, 1 with Guard
2 Blitzers, 1 with Guard
2 TS, 1 with MB, 1 with SF
2 Runners, 1 with +1MA, the other with Leader.

This would give me 12 players and 3 RR (2TTR and 1 Leader). A bit light on RR, but the comfort of an extra player.

Looks good. The 12th man with be of great help. I'm not about the +1MA runner though, you might get more value from Block (not cut and dried though). You just need Guard with Dwarfs, so I might consider swapping out MB for that on a troll slayer.

Agreed on 12 players being better than 11. 2 Runners is a must.

Joemanji wrote:

Gimli wrote:I might try

6 Blockers, 1 with Guard
2 Blitzers, 1 with Guard
2 TS, 1 with MB, 1 with SF
2 Runners, 1 with +1MA, the other with Leader.

This would give me 12 players and 3 RR (2TTR and 1 Leader). A bit light on RR, but the comfort of an extra player.

Looks good. The 12th man with be of great help. I'm not about the +1MA runner though, you might get more value from Block (not cut and dried though). You just need Guard with Dwarfs, so I might consider swapping out MB for that on a troll slayer.

I'm interested in your observation that I would swap the MB on one TS for Guard, as opposed to swapping the SF on the other TS for another Guard. I am only now starting to play my TS with SF, and always thought to date that MB was the Skill of Choice for TS because of their Frenzy/Dauntless. I take it you'd be of the view SF is more valuable than MB to a TS?

With respect to the +1MA on the Runner, I have usually given the Runner Block in other Tournaments, but the option of extra MA was never available. It is a calculated risk, but I have had great success to date with my "Fast Runner" on my League team.

MA7 over 6 is huge. 10 men with Block as opposed to 9 is not, even if many of them are slow. MA7 Runner sounds great to me. I flirted with the idea of an MA7 Orc Blitzer, but Orcs need those early improvements more.

I think that the skill rules (one skill per player at position) are a touch harder on Dwarfs than on some other teams, as you're limited in practice to two Guard players, and one of them is one of your four viable ball-handlers, so isn't a candidate for the D-line. I suspect that there's not much you can do to avoid becoming vulnerable to Orcs and other bash teams. But you'll make short work of speed.

Perhaps a Juggernaut Slayer? Not that it should be a high priority in the format but because it'll be advantageous against the very teams most able to take advantage of your lack of Guard.

No way I'd take MB in this format. Not on this team. If I had a team like Undead or Khemri (LRB5, remember), or maybe Orcs, then extra MB carries a value as it adds reliability to the attrition strategy. I think SF is great on a Slayer if you want to use him as an inside LB or corner. If you like them at outside LB, Guard is just positionally the best thing you can take. For safeties, I'd take Juggernaut as a mechanism for defense against Blodgers and (especially) Wrodgers, and to provide offensive oomph against SF.

So, I'd go:

Blitzer w/SF
Blitzer w/Guard
Slayer w/(Guard or Jug)
(Longbeard or Slayer) w/SF
Longbeard w/Guard
Runner w/+MA

As much as I could, I'd try to build that Runner at Will or at free S, and that means penalizing the oppo for going his way by stacking to force a play for the ILB spot on the other side. This probably means putting the Runner next to one of the SF players, and putting the nastiest ILB/end combo you can on the side with the Runner. I'd start him at safety, moving him up to the linebacker spot once the other side starts to show serious wear. If you don't see the value in this, take Kick off Return or Accurate instead.

If you're keen on a +MA runner, take Block on the other one.

Dwarves don't need Leader, rerolls are cheap enough.

I'd go:

Runner: Block
Runner: +1MA

Blitzer: Guard

Blocker: Guard

Troll Slayer: Mighty Blow
Troll Slayer: Guard (because Dwarves need Guard despite it not ebing teh best player for it) or Stand Firm (cause it makes him better at playing by the line).

PubBowler wrote:If you're keen on a +MA runner, take Block on the other one.

Definately! Remember that woodies are a very popular tourney team and 1-die blocks on your ball carrier can often make the difference between win or lose.