Talk Fantasy Football

I just wanted to start a thread on the relative merits of strip ball vs. tackle. Personally, defense is my favorite part of the game, and I love building for it.

These days, I usually go for a couple Tacklers then a strip ball guy...it certainly depends on what team you're talking about. At any rate, I'd really like to hear what you folks take first and why...also why might you combine the two on a single player?

p.s. I think I've been going for Tackle first because I love being able to put players down...but who doesn't?

Tackle, for the same reason. Besides Strip Ball doesn't work against Sure Hands, nothing defends against a good tackle!

R

Yes but tackle does not help against a push result.

Depends on your playing style, your oponents and your other players.
On Orc Teams I use Tackle on at least 2 Blitzers and again at least at 2 Black Orcs. Then I Put my Tackle Players on the "Side Field" forgot the name in English, sorry!

But a Strip Ball Blitzer also does very good, since oposing players dont have Sure Hands that often (mostly Throwers, Runners). If he knows you have one, he will be more concerned to give the ball to a player without sure hands and this will, eventualy slow him down and or reduce his scoring possibilits.

A lot really depends on the league and which teams you perceive as being the problem.

Having said that I think the thing that makes me prefer tackle is that your opponent has to have the ball for strip ball to work.

So players who can reliably get a hit (especially if its 1 die) on the ball carrier are better off with Strip Ball (e.g. War Dancers) while those who aren't as mobile are better off with tackle.

I'm playing dwarves for the first time and I'm finding that Strip Ball has been a great skill to give my Runner. Most of the team already has Tackle but giving the Runner Strip Ball gives me a player with high movement (well, for dwarves ) and guarantees that I'll get the ball loose in most blocks vs the ball handler.

Depends on your league.

If you have a league that goes heavy on the sure hands, take tackle.

For my Norse team I'd be looking at tackle as the 1st normal skill for linemen, strip ball then tackle on 1 or 2 blitzers.

It's hard to say. Tackle is great against players with Dodge, but useless against everyone else. I find Strip Ball a great skill, but you have to be able to hit the ball carrier with the Strip Ball player, not always possible.

On my orc team I am developing 2 bashy blitzers (Guard, Mighty Blow) and two safeties (Tackle, Strip Ball).

-Balrog

So many great responses! I love this site

I guess the perfect solution is to have both. I tend to favour tackle as i face far too many gutter runners for my own good and its just far to theraputic to smash these little ST2 guys into the ground.
Also, i have come up against orks that use the thrower to carry the ball in the cage with black orks surrounding it making strip ball next to usless, (and tackle i guess) so i have tended to shy away from that skill a little.

Tackle does seem to be a particularly favourite skill with people on this site. Havn't used this much but am beginning to at last see the merits of it. Strip ball I have long been going off. It's usefulness fades over time I find and can become a wasted skill, but this only when teams really develop.

I have a human team with 3 blitzers. I gave one of them Strip Ball and use him as a defence blitzer, bc I have had enough occassions when I had to stop an opponent from scoring and just got push-back result on a 1 die block. With strip ball you will lose the ball and can secure the area. The second skill I will give him is off course tackle then he will be my ultimate emergency break. So you can push back someone who has the ball (and the dodge skill) and he won't just stand up, dodge, pick up the ball, dodge again and run away (like elfs and gutter runners do).

I find that even when hitting the ballcarrier, tackle is more useful than strip ball. Most ballcarrier types (catchers, etc) will have dodge, and it's always better to knock them down than to push them...takes care of the ball issue AND means there will be 1 less tackle zone on it (not to mention you might get a CAS, etc)

And of course tackle works whether the guy you're hitting has the ball or not. It's useful on ANYBODY with dodge, wheras strip ball is only useful on the ballcarrier, and only if he doesn't have sure hands.

Having said that, don't ignore Strip Ball either. Having both will allow you to remove the ball from the ballcarrier 2/3 of the time (5/6 if you have blk and he doesn't). And when it comes down to it, the hits on the ballcarrier are generally some of the more important hits in the game. You need to make sure you get the ball out in those cases.

Summary: I prefer tackle in general, but strip ball is useful too, especially on player types that tend to be in position to whack the ballcarrier the most.

The other reason to go with tackle would be to denie your oponent the use of dodge! Dont forget that, I know nobodey does, but I didnt see it mentioned. Having 2 Black Orc Blockers, 2 Blitzers and 2 Lineman with Tackle helps a lot against agile dodging 1 or 2 turn scorers. They even stop trying to outscore me mostly and start beating my players.
I love it when Skaven try the Bashing game and end up as 2 Starplayer points on MY Cockerel
*/insert evil-pirat laugh:* "Muhahah"

True...I love that tackle denies the AG teams their Dodge skills but when you are facing another tackle heavy or ST team with little or no Dodge skills then the skill seems a waste.

All in all, it is good to develop a team with both, so you are prepared for either scenario.