Lineorc rolls [6:4] (was: S5 Black Orc - Guard or Block?)

[Piousman]

S5 Black Orc (22SPP) needs to choose a skill. I am tempted by either Guard or Block.
Currently he is supported by 2x Blitzers with Guard, and another BoB with Guard.

Block will help with its survivability, but Guard on S5 (plus the other 3 Guards around him) would make him almost always get a 3D block against S3. And very hard to shift.

Furthermore, with Guard at 22SPP he is a bit closer to the next skill (compared to 16spp, I suppose). OR should this be the argument in favour or Block, since he may get to 31 faster?

Here is the current team:
Thrower Dodge & Sidestep (16SPP)
BoB S5 & ...? (22 SPP)
BoB Block (7 SPP)
BoB Guard (7 SPP)
BoB (5 SPP)
Blitzers Guard (13 SPP)
Blitzers Guard (6 SPP)
Blitzer Stand Firm (10 SPP)
Blitzer Strip Ball (8SPP)
Lino Block (7SPP)
Lino (2SPP)
Gobbo

Piousman

[Powerhausen]

Block, no doubt in my mind. Both to make him better at hitting, and to make sure he's harder to injure.

[duckwing]

I would definately chose 2Bd with block over 3Bd without. Considdering you already have many players with guard I'd say block.

[SunDevil]

Block, no doubt in my mind. Both to make him better at hitting, and to make sure he's harder to injure.

Absolutely right.

I actually don;t like Guard on my BoBs anyway, prefering to make them Block, MiB, Frenzy killing machines. Guard goes on the Blitzers for me.

Congrats on the 5-ST BoB!

[gamesvaultsteve]

Just to be the devils advocate....

I would choose guard. It would make for an amazing cage as all four corners could have players with guard allowing you to cage anywhere on the pitch rather than having to use a wing.

Also the chances of rolling both down on two dice never mind three dice is slim at best, then you always have a trusty reroll.

I play undead and both mummy's have guard and side by side on the line of scrimmage ST6 players make for a tough problem for an oponent....

Take care

Steve

[Powerhausen]

Yeah but he can get Guard eventually anyway.

You'll have to commit to get nothing but 3d blocks with this guy; the vast majority of his blocks will be 2d. And a 2d block player without Block is a turnover machine.

[Piousman]

Thank you for the thoughts. I feel he will get Block, and Guard comes later.

After Block though, MB/Stand Firm/Frenzy may be hard to pass by. We will see f he can live long enough.

Piousman

[DoubleSkulls]

Short term Guard is probably better for the team, but Block will get him up to 31 SPPs quicker.

[Piousman]

Thank you all for the input. I went with Block, for the survivability factor. And in today's game it saved me at least 2 rerolls (where he rolled 1:2).

At the end of today's game I have yet another quandry:

Linorc rolls [6:4]. This gives me +M, + AV, or Normal Skill. At this point I am just tempted to go with the Skill. An unskilled M6 Lino does not seem really usefull at this point. Is it a good idea to go with the M6 and try to develop him into a spare Blitzer?

At this point I am tempted to go with the Skill, and chose either Block | Kick | Dirty Player.

Piousman

[Jimmy Fantastic]

Dirty Player all the way!

[bouf]

Dirty Player all the way!

Ditto Every team needs one!

[gamesvaultsteve]

Blimey, the block skill on the black orc saved you two rerolls in your last game..... Crikey buy some new dice, those ones are cursed. And there was me saying take guard as rolling both down on two dice is slim.... Maybe I have cursed him.

An orc line man with 10 AV would be interesting.

But I think most guiys have said dirty player is useful.

I also think kick is very useful.

Steve

[Darkson]

If the lineman is going to be on the field at the start of most of your drives, then Kick.
If not, or if your Block lino is close to getting his 2nd skill (in which case he should get it), Block.

That said, the +MA isn't a bad shout - he's AG3, so it shouldn't be to difficult to get him to 16spps, and a Orc teamcan use the extra speed, but I don't think it's the best choice. If he had Block already, I'd say take it.

[Darkson]

And there was me saying take guard as rolling both down on two dice is slim....

1/12 chance of getting a result where Block saves you on any 2d Block (double both down, both down/skull), and in a team that throws lots of blocks per game (and especially a ST5 piece, where you're going to probably be looking at throwing more than normal), that's going to happen regularly enough.

[Jimmy Fantastic]

I would advise against kick as on defense with Orcs you should want 2 Linos and a Troll on LOS, 4 BOB and 4 Blitzers in the backfield, thus leaving your kick man without anywhere to go.
Block is always a valid choice, particularly earlier on in development, so really it's a question of whether you enjoy fouling enough to go with DP.