My buddy needs your help

[mattgslater]

OK, preseason week 3. My buddy, C, has played a few games, so I make an effort of trying not to help coach him, but he's still fairly raw (his blocking skills are still improving quickly; he's done better this game than last, which is heartening). C has an Undead team that's played all three preseason matches, and he's trying Necromantic 'cause he's enchanted with their Frenzy/Stand Firm combos (who isn't?) and he can transfer Wights, Ghouls and Zombies to either team for the regular season. Being allowed to take experienced preseason players in the regular season, and liking his Undead Wights as-is, he didn't take any Wights on his roster, and instead opted for two Ghouls, two Weres and two FGs, plus five Zombies and 3 TRRs, hoping to skill a Were and/or an FG, plus get an MVP on a Zombie, and being afraid of fielding either 2 TRRs or only three AG3 players.

It has sort of worked. They're 1-1, but more important in this sense, C is getting a pretty good understanding of positioning skills and has SPP on both Weres and both FGs (one FG has Block), and has the Zombie MVP he was looking for. But now he's got a problem with earning SPP in Week 3, and I don't think I could fairly help him out, given that I'm his opponent.

Halftime against my Orcs (2-0), score 0-0, he's kicking. This is both teams' final game in the preseason: the betting line favors me by a score and a half and I'm going to disappoint (which makes me feel good, actually: I've been playing hard and he's been fending me off). The Orcs brought 12 guys and suffered an MNG on a rookie BOB. They still have their Apothecary. The Necros induced a pair of Babes, which looked like a good investment when I KO'ed six players in the first half. Unfortunately, the Weres and one Zombie all rolled 1s at halftime. Fortunately, he made his only Regen roll (on a dead Golem, no less). He did a good job playing keep away in the first half, ultimately getting a piece of good luck by fumbling the ball into the crowd on Turn 8, scattering it improbably out of range, but his O-line completely blew chunks (yeah, a lucky casualty, but it was on a 1d block).

C has the following stuff available:
FG with Block (7 SPP)
FG (4)
2x Ghoul (0, 4)
5x Zombie (0)
Total 9 players
1x AC
3 TRR
2 Babes
Were (2), Were (3), Zombie (5) in KO bin.

I have the following available:
Thrower w/Leader (7)
3x BOB (0)
Blitzer w/ Frenzy (13)
3x Blitzer (0, 3, 5)
Lineman
Goblin
Troll w/ Guard (7)
Total 11 players
Apothecary (saving for skilled player)
2 TRR+Leader
FAME +1
BOB (2) MNG (might as well be dead).

Real question: Can you come up with a strategy, as C, to force me to score in 4-5 turns, or takeaway and score in 4-5 turns? How? I intend to comp with the Blitzer with 5, march the cage up and score with the Blitzer with 3 in turn 8. If that leads to OT, no worries. I figure if I were in his shoes, I'd try to block the front of the cage with Flesh Golems: should he put them inside? Should he leave me the wide zones and just try to defend the inner 7 squares (or maybe 9 or 11)? Should he set up asymmetrically to force me to build to one side, to keep his FGs from getting taken out of the play?

Note: he has no especial incentive to score with the players on the field, unless he can figure out how to do it with a Flesh Golem or in Turn 7-8. The Ghoul with 4 SPP has to compete with a Guard Wight and a Ghoul with Block and Side Step for one roster spot... he'd need to roll an 11 or 12. It's the preseason, so record doesn't matter and injuries only matter if they're on skilled guys.

[Grumbledook]

to be honest in that situation vs a much more experienced coach I don't fancy his chances

I think his best bet would just to keep all 9 players behind endzone side of your team and make you come through him and stop you scoring at all

keep the golems in front of your cage to make you head off to one side then try and get you stuck

try and get the goblin off the pitch if he can, wait and see if the troll makes a horrible really stupid action or for some bad dice from you

hitting the thrower with leader if possible and try and get you to use up your rerolls

if he does that then maybe try and get a golem on the ball carrier to cause you problems with having to either hand off or dodge

if he can get into overtime if you play that he has a good chance of getting his KO back as he has a babe and he may end up receiving the ball as well

so I think that may be his best bet, if it does get to around turn 4 and it looks like you are going to probably score then try and really get players on the ball carrier

putting zombies on all your players who don't have blocks is a good way to make you burn rerolls, though it can go wrong quickly

[SillySod]

I have a few ideas but they would work better if you didnt see them

[mattgslater]

I have a few ideas but they would work better if you didnt see them

Helpful. I see the paradox. Hmm... I wish I knew someone that I could get onto this board. Post with a line that says "mattgslater stop reading here" and I'll copy it, send it to him (well, probably print it and hand it to him or he won't read it), then come back after the game and read what you posted.

[mattgslater]

Finished up ahead of schedule. Man, that guy is lucky. I isolated his guys and started whupping them off the field, but he regenerated everything. I got my completion with the 5SPP guy to my Thrower, and he threw a comp to the 3SPP guy, who ran into the corner next to the endzone.

Then C's spectacular luck kicked in. A 1d block, a 4+ dodge, and two GFIs later, his Golem was in blitzing range of anywhere my ball-carrier could get to. I put a zone on him with my Troll (who was exceptionally well-behaved; he didn't fail a single RS roll, though I did skull out on him once), but he still had a couple TRRs, so I ran a Thrower up to lend a hand. The Thrower failed a GFI and forced me to re-roll, so I figured "What the heck?" and scored in Turn 5. I'm actually quite glad I did, even though it meant his Weres came back.

I kicked off to him; the ball landed really badly, but no sooner had I finished licking my chops than he went all Air Coryell on me, throwing insane passes accurately. He'd look at me, tell me what he was going to do, I'd tell him the odds, he'd say "yeah, I know," and roll whatever he needed. But he needed it; even with his KOs back, he had a hard time dealing with the pressure. Necromantic teams have no good answer for the Orcs' D-line. Having only 4 players who can run the ball takes away a lot of the element of surprise. So at least I was able to force him to score in two.

On offense again, he tried a very shallow symmetrical defense on me. Using Frenzy on the LOS, I engineered an extra block on his linebackers, and followed up to cream one of his Ghouls, MNG'ing him (as if it mattered). I ran a guy up into maximum scoring range, and secured the ball. He covered my scorer with a FG and a Zombie, and blitzed my ball-carrier Blitzer 1d with his Were. I smacked him down, but on my turn I couldn't see my way through to a score. So I handed of to the Goblin and threw him into the end-zone. The Troll did everything he's supposed to, and the scatter die brought him to comfortable safety, as I ran in the 2-1 win. All the time I've played Orcs, I can't remember ever actually deciding a game on a successful TTM.

His MVP went to the Were who didn't score, and he got Block. My MVP went to the MNG BOB, who got a normal roll. The Blitzers... well, that's a topic for another thread.