Norse Barbarian

[Tim]

Leblanc ...

From what you were saying, i'm not 100% sure if you use the Norse team to its best ...

The Ogre is a great asset for the Norse team. If Bonehead screws you up regularily, you are not using him correctly. The Ogre is ment to tie up opponents, lend assists and occasionally hit an opponent. I give him Guard first (over Block) so he'll assist all the time no matter if he's in a TZ or not and if he's bonehead or not. If he's left alone by the opponent, i'll make a move action and move him back into at least 2 TZ. I never use him as a part of my cage (and if i have to, i move him first to see if he still has a TZ in the target and if not, I'll change plans), only use him to Blitz if no other option is possible.

Tackle is most important for your linemen. Although you'll need a kicker and a dirty player and every lineman double goes into guard, most of the other skill picks should be tackle, not only to deal with Amazons, but all catcher types and elves in general.

The Blitzers are vulnerable with AV7, but they usually stay on the pitch quite well, because if you operate them in pairs near the sidelines, few opponents will dare to attack them, because of the danger lurking in the crowd.

It's true that the Norse get a worse team on higher TR levels, but adding another unreliable AV7 player would not help the team much. Imo, if you want to fix something, give the Norse access to "toughness" (AV+1) as a strenght skill or general trait, this should help to make them more resilient in higher TR.

[leblanc13]

I'm over the barbarian thing. No need for any help with it. The Norse need something though. They cannot compete at the higher TR ratings. AV 7 is detrimental to a team that does not have regular access to dodge.

I know the catchers have access, but that is only two players on your roster.

My newest thought about the Norse is to take away the thrower and make him a runner like the dwarf team. Give him Block/Surehands instead of Block/Pass. Give him access to agility/general instead of passing/general.

This small change could turn the norse team around at the upper level.

It would give you 4 posistion players with access to dodge. It gives you a viable running game right from the start which is what the Norse should focus on with lower movement than most passing teams.

Use the Catchers defensively, the Runners as your scorers, and focus your blitzers and linemen on making holes in your oppositions defense.

I think that I will petition for these changes in my next league and see how they go.

Of course, I am playing Norse in the new league.

[leblanc13]

Regarding Ogres:

They seem alot better than they actually are. They can't be counted on to do much due to bonehead rolls. They can't use team rerolls. To top it all off, Pro has been made a trait which makes it next to impossible for any big guy to do anything without rolling doubles on a skill roll or getting a Leader on the team.

Besides, if you give him guard and use him for assists only, he'll never get a second skill.

In my last experience with an ogre player in my roster he cost me many games due to frustration clouding my judgement in the latter half of the game. Argh! Boneheads!

In eleven games he gained a total of 2 star player points. This was due to one injury he caused during the season. I used him to hit opponents over and over again and couldn't break armor even with mighty blow.

We have coaching rolls in our league and through this he gained his first skill after game 11. He took block.

I have just had awful experiences with the ogre on my teams.

I may try again with my Norse team, but I think that it would be against my better judgement to bring him in early.