Orcs. To Troll or not to Troll?

Harrower · Post by **Harrower** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 9:54 am

Hi all

I'll be starting my areas ongoing league in february when the new season starts, which gives me time to get my new Neomics Orc team painted and ready to go

I have two rosters in mind, one with and one without a Troll. Which of these do you consider to be more solid, and would you make any changes?
In the league all teams start with 5 fan factor for free.

Troll
4 Blitzers
4 Black orcs
Thrower
Lineorc
2 re-rolls

OR

4 Blitzers
4 Black Orcs
2 Throwers
Lineman
2 Re-Rolls
Apothecary

The second roster could also go for no apoth and 3 re-rolls by chaging 1 thrower to a lineorc, which might be better.

Opinions?

Thanks

Harrower

Magictobe · Post by **Magictobe** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 10:09 am

Hello,

I would go for no troll and 3 RR.

You do not need two throwers. One is good. Sure hands and pass are for ball handling and there is only one ball. A linemen has armour 9 and thrower only 8.

3 RR to start is amazing and you do not need to purchase more. No apo is kind of a risk in a league. A risk I would take and apo is first on the wishlisht. But with your team you will overtake any team.

Harrower · Post by **Harrower** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 10:15 am

Thanks. i see what you mean about the 2 throwers....really they are there for sure hands, pass is pretty much irrelvant to my game plan overall. I do agree that i could certainly get by with just 1 though.

Out of interest, why do you say this will overtake teams fast? Low player mortality rate?

Andromidius · Post by **Andromidius** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 12:14 pm

Reason being Orcs are fantastic league teams. The Blitzers already start as great players, only only really need one or two extra skill to become one of the best players in the whole league. And Line Orcs are possibly the second best line fodder in the game (after Dwarf Blockers).

~Andromidius

mattgslater · Post by **mattgslater** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 12:48 pm

See, I think the Troll is key to maintaining that shut-out inner five that makes Orcs so deadly. Four BOBs to cover the end and backer spots and one Troll to clog up the middle.

The third RR? Meh. Four is overkill on this team.

The second Thrower? Nice. Two Throwers means you've always got someone standing wherever the ball goes down, plus you've got a target for Leader. But the Troll lets you save 10k, so you're only 60k away anyways.

So this longtime Orc coach says "take the Troll."

Grumbledook · Post by **Grumbledook** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 12:55 pm

orcs are orcs no trolls no goblins

be a purists!

if you are going to be unorcy and buy a troll later might as well start with it

s031720 · Post by **s031720** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 12:58 pm

If you get a troll, get a gobbo asap for those 1turntds.

Ok, so you wont need it much, and when you do it wont work half of the time, but the threat of it is nice. And any team that CAN to 1ttds should try to make sure they have the possibility.

Magictobe · Post by **Magictobe** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 2:05 pm

Harrower wrote:Out of interest, why do you say this will overtake teams fast? Low player mortality rate?

This is a solid starting team + certainly the first games the bet is on you to stay with a lot of players on the pitch.

With overtake I mean that you will easily outnumber you opponent on th pitch.

mattgslater · Post by **mattgslater** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 2:59 pm

Orcs are the single toughest (as in toughest-to-kill) team in BB. They have more ST than all but two teams, and this makes the interior of the Orc defense almost impossible to roll up. That added ST and the fact that they don't need to put any AV8 in vulnerable spots makes them tougher than Dwarfs, IMO. With good MA6/AV9/Block players to anchor the wide zone and swing in to recover, there's not a whole lot of room for an opponent to go for the joints. Match-to-match, this is merely nice, but in a longer league (especially one with a fixed schedule), it's great.

One thing about Orcs is that there are many "right" ways to do it. You can build a running game or a passing game, an invulnerable wall of passive defense or a killer aggressive shock-attack, and they all work pretty well. This makes the Orc team equally interesting and engaging for both rookie and veteran coaches. Humans are like that too.

PubBowler · Post by **PubBowler** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 4:03 pm

I favour a Troll (but not in a starting line up).

I favour a 3RR start.

Gobbos make a worse team but a more fun one (IMO).

Cramy · Post by **Cramy** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 5:43 pm

To start, no Troll and 3 RR.

I tend to use a Blitzer as a ball carrier unless I'm playing against some Strip Ball players. The Thrower gets block and leader, and he plays on offence mostly, standing around the cage in case you need to do an emergency pick-up and throw play.

Purchases: Apoth, Troll, Goblin, Lineorc/thrower in whichever order you prefer (but Goblin after Troll) and depending on what style you want to use. As matt mentioned, you can play different ways with Orcs. If you want a passing game, get two Throwers. If not, just keep a thrower for the purpose described above.

Troll are very unreliable. Yes, they make amazing road blocks, but I want to have a some reliable players on my team early on. And giving-up the Troll means you get a 3rd reroll. That helps a lot with failed BoB blocks (which happen more often than you would like). Hence I never start with the Troll. If you have not played with big guys too much, don't hesitate to keep the Troll on the bench. Try to use the Troll as a roadblock. Do not blitz or block with him unless you have to.

Harrower · Post by **Harrower** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 7:20 pm

Well, it's settled. No troll, 3 re-rolls. i was leaning that way anyway as I find the negatraits very hard to get around, possibly due to lack of experience. I'll get an Apoth then a troll/gobbo later

Thanks all!

mattgslater · Post by **mattgslater** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 8:02 pm

You also might want to consider starting an Apo and two Throwers, with two TRRs. This way you can get a Leader without interfering with your QB, and you get a 50k head start on your full team (with a Troll, a Gob and a Lino or a skilled Gob as a reserve). It's also tougher; an Apo is good insurance against Nuffle's Law.

Joemanji · Post by **Joemanji** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 9:42 pm

Buy the 3RR to start. They cost double after startup, the apo doesn't. Also, you never need 2 throwers so having 2 to start means you'll have to sack one eventually.

mattgslater · Post by **mattgslater** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 10:23 pm

Joemanji wrote:Buy the 3RR to start. They cost double after startup, the apo doesn't. Also, you never need 2 throwers so having 2 to start means you'll have to sack one eventually.

You need:

2 RR
1 Thrower
1 Thrower or RR

If you have 2 RR and 2 Throwers, you'll eventually want to get Leader on one of them, meaning you'll be done with RR, as 3 RR plus two SH and several Block is enough. And yes, 2 Throwers is a huge edge.