Talk Fantasy Football

Hi there!

Here's the situation: We just started with a new season, 7 teams, fixed schedule, i.e. 12 games overall. We use straight LRB 5.0 with only two house rules: hidden rosters (cannot see the other guys levelups) and coaches can borrow each other some cash, if they want to. Participating teams are orcs, chaos dwarves, skaven, norse, lizards, necros and my woodelf side. So far, I already have four games finished, losing to the skaven, but defeating norse, lizard and chaos dwarves and I reckon my team starts to shape up nicely. Here is the roster:

WD +strip ball (one spp away from next skillup)
WD +ST (yeah, I am a lucky bastard)

Lineman +leader
Lineman +block
Lineman +kick
Lineman +fend

and five additional, unskilled linemen. Unfortunately, I also already suffer from a few casualties. Last game, one lineman died and two of my unskilled linemen suffer from a -AG (one of them being MNG currently). However, skill points are well distributed, I have almost linos in a TD-range of an upgrade. I have a FF of 6 and 3 rerolls.

Due to the fact, that I borrowed some money from a fellow coach to purchase the second WD, which I have to pay back, before I can get new additions to the team, I reckon, there will be at least three more games until I can buy a new player (probably a thrower).

My plans are to get all linemen up to at least one skill by the time, I can get an additional player. I wil focus on defensive skills for them like block, dodge, wrestle, sidestep and fend. I plan to more or less randomly assign those skills to the players. The block lineman will gain frenzy on his next skillup, so I can harass the sidelines of my opponents, leaving more gaps to exploit. I have no problems scoring (averaging more than three TDs per game so far) and my focus lies in prying the ball from the opponents hand as soon as possible to turn them over.

So, my main questions actually concern the development of my wardancers. There are so many excellent skill choices for them, that I just can't make up my mind. Actually, I planned to pick tackle as first skill for my second WD, however +ST definitely comes in handy, so I wonder, what I should go for next with this guy. Stick with my first idea of tackle? Or rather use frensy to make even more out of his +st? Take jump up, since they ARE gonna gang up on him? What about the other wardancer. Sidestep? Dauntless? What am I gonna do in case of a double?

Then, what about my two AG3 elves? I am gonna put them on the LOS, as much as possible so the take the brunt of my opponents heavy hitters. Planning on fend, of they level up, so I dont have to dodge them away. Any other thought? Should I just kick them out, relying on journeymen on their positions?

Finally: Is there anything, I have overlooked so far? Any must-have skill, I didn't pick / plan to pick yet? Any other comments or critique?

Oh ... and sorry about this wall of text. I ... tend to be verbose.

the strip ball wardancer I would consider juggernaut on a double, makes the chances of a strip even better vs a non sure hands/block ball carrier

tackle probably is a good choice for the +st guy

On the +strength wardancer you should get frenzy as the next skill. He can now crowd surf like a real maniact trust me... people will hate him and fear him more than anythig else. No sideline will be safe anymore

Defo frenzy on the ST4 wardancer, strip ball too after that so you'll still get a 1d on the ball carrier in a guarded cage. Tackle on the other one, then probably dauntless. Side-step is good too.

I wouldn't bother with frenzy on the ST3 block lino, it could get him into trouble and you should have a ST4 frenzy guy who is much better...

Otherwise, your skill choices look good.

I like AG3 linos to put on the LOS-you don't worry about them dying and that's quite refreshing on a woodie team. AG3 is fine on the line, they are just there to get hit, they're worse at dodging away, but that's not too much of a problem,

No Catchers??

They are the stars of a wood elf team and beat throwers by a landslide.
Playing with woodies is all about getting skills that allow you to re-roll actions when your about to score. Catchers start with 2 good skills that do just that. Not to mention their extra movement which is just as nice. Some players get scared because of them having str 2, but if your playing well your opponent can only blitz 1 of your players a turn and you bet he will almost always get a 2d block with that blitz. And even if he does pick your catcher, at least he goes down 16% less than regular linemen due to dodge.

Fire the -agi elfs asap.
They turned into roadblocks, not even decent roadblocks at that as they cant dodge away reliably. Plus their ball handling skills are now that of an orc linemen.
Even though Journeymen make the use of re-rolls harder, their agi 4 is infinitely better.

Fend is the poor mans dodge. Dodge>Fend pretty much always.
Dodge effects block dice.
Dodge increases the players mobility.

Frenzy on the str 4 WD is pretty much a given. Nasty player you have there. Be sure to protect him. Always think what might happen if he fails a dodge or a leap (easy to foul?).

Side step or tackle on the other would probably be my pick. Both solid skills.
Never take jump up on a WD. You want him on his feet, pick skills that keep him on his feet (Side step even helps when he does go down as you can pick where that will be).
Doubles on a WD are hard, Personally I like MB as they blitz every single turn. But don´t be afraid to ignore a double.

Obviously linemen get Guard on doubles, especially in your pool of teams which leans towards bash.

I´ll close with a general piece of Wood Elf wisdom - Average leaps made in a game ... 0

I think you should keep the AG3 guys until they die or lose ST, or you hire player #13. I think you should play them fearlessly on the line. If they skill, get them Side Step: better that they spend a short time clogging lanes than a long time eating TV, but they're better than a Journeyman: Loner hurts on Blocks, which is much of what you want this guy for. Plus he lets you put a man on the bench eventually, while a Journeyman won't. If he skills, get him Side Step. Who needs a Tree when you have a Side Stepper you don't care about! You can rename him even: I'm sure you can come up with a pun involving dead wood, dead meat and dead TV.

Next purchase: Catcher! Then: Catcher!