New Chaos Dwarf Team looking for tips...

[MechD]

Greetings all,

I am just starting off a Chaos Dwarf team for my local gaming stores upcoming "Monday Night BloodBowl" league, and I am looking to get opinions on two things..

1st. My starting roster, which goes like this:

6xChaos Dwarf Blockers
6xHobgoblins
4xTeam Re-rolls
9xFan Factor
1x Apothecary

I am thinking that starting without the BC's will be a good thing for me, as it allows me the extra CDB, who from what I hear need all the playing time they can get to get SPP (unlike the BC's), along with an extra re-roll, which appears to be a good thing. Does this roster look solid? or would you suggest any changes?

2nd. I am a little unsure how to run a Chaos Dwarf offense without the Bull Centaurs..would anybody who has playing experience with the Chaos Dwarfs care to share some of the tips of the trade for a new player?

Thanks a bunch guys

[Grumbledook]

Unfortunatly i don't have any replays of when i started my team out as examples for you to watch using the javabowl replay software

so general advice is as you have block you can get through a lot of people

move some players ahead where you want to move the cage too makes it easier to keep the cage rolling

watch for gaps as people tend to over cover an area if you send someone forward and then move the cage into the gap they left (fools!)

make good use of assists to get 2 dice blocks in, try to avoid doing one dice blocks, or do them at the end of your turn with the dwarfs and have a rr left for the turn (stupid doing it with hobbos unless it doens't matter they fail)

basically its down to good positioning

thats the way to run an offensive cage but i find the match is easier to win if you play a good defence, turn the ball over and score when you kick

you also want to much the clock up so when you get to the endzone score as late as possable so that your opponents can't score back, though don't do this if you think you will lose the ball, its safer to score and play good defence than to not score at all

[JJB]

MechD, I find your starting roster most wise: you will save a lot of money by not having to buy rerolls early in the game, having started with that many of them, and you should have much higher winnings with 9ff.
On top of that, as Grumbledook said, if you position your CDs well on the pitch, you should be able to stop any other rookie team without the need for bull centaurs. And remember that hobgoblins are fast enough to serve as blitzers if somebody manages to go through your line of defense...

More generally, I agree with most of what Grumbledook said, except for the two dice block matter:
I agree that it is very risky to make one dice blocks on a regular basis, but I would recommend any rookie chaos dwarf player to go for some when he has done all important moves and other main actions if he has spare rerolls to burn.
A block with a CD against any unskilled player without block gives you 1/2 chance to knock the latter down, with only 1/6 to get oneself knocked down - the same risk for an elf making a 2+ dodge.
I'd definitely say that it is worth making free 1d blocks when the players involved (both the one blocking and the one blocked) don't make any difference in the control of the ball by either side.

[SBG]

That's a good starting line-up!

Of course, you open the way with CD's, and score with the Hobboes.

Your next two purchases must be the BC's and try to score with them early on, so they get block soon. Afterward, buy re-rolls, and big guys if you like them.

Here's a link to my team roster, in the third season (I won the first two championships...)

http://pages.infinit.net/cubslbsr/blood ... sbeer.html

Fred

[Matsu]

My starting roster, which goes like this:
6xChaos Dwarf Blockers
6xHobgoblins
4xTeam Re-rolls
9xFan Factor
1x Apothecary

I am thinking that starting without the BC's will be a good thing for me, as it allows me the extra CDB, who from what I hear need all the playing time they can get to get SPP (unlike the BC's), along with an extra re-roll, which appears to be a good thing. Does this roster look solid? or would you suggest any changes?

So, the argument on one side is "starting without BCs gets SPPs on the other players". The argument on the other side says "BCs are the best players in the game, why the hell are you playing chaos dwarves without BCs?"

Personally, I would drop either a reroll or the apothecary to turn a dwarf into a BC. If you're adamant about spreading your SPPs around, FINE - don't score with the BC. But, having him in your backfield will help your defense dramatically and he's going to open up holes for you in the offense for your hobbos to go through. Just remember not to use him like a glorified black orc - these guys are FAST so make sure they always have room to run.

Here's another thing - you have 12 players AND an apothecary for game 1 which seems fairly excessive to me. How about turning 2 hobbos and a reroll into a BC? You keep the apothecary, you have 11 guys on the field and 3 rerolls is enough for most teams. If you care more about long term growth, drop the apothecary instead of the reroll then grab the apothecary after game 1. Except for the gobbos (who cares if they get hurt as rookies), you have great armor so take the risk on a single game without the apothecary!

[Cool Hand Fluke]

Didn't occur to me to start my CDs without BCs. That said one died in game 2, the other has St 5 + Block (and is 2 SPPs from getting Break Tackle) and is a real monster.

These guys came 2nd in a pre season tournie in my 1st attempt with them (and came within an ace of winning it - damn that double 1)

I go the opposite way on Hobgobs, they break - they get replaced. I aim only to have 3 on the pitch at any one time.

Interesting though that the more experienced coaches like the line up. Maybe i'll give it try

[McDeth]

I would start with them both every time, as been already mentioned apoth and twelve players is too excessive, drop to 4 Chaos dwarfs to start and replace with BC's dropping your Apoth as well and a re-roll. the extra money you get from winning will soon make up for the short term lack of re-rolls.

I've played 10 games with mine in the MBB2, already got a 15 man roster with a Troll Big Guy and 5 re-rolls, and a TR of 184.

[Boss]

depends how much of a gambling man you are I guess

I went for the most powerful lineup I could get to start with when my local league restarted - the mino, both BC's, 5 CD's, 3 Hobbo's, 2 TRR, 6 FF. It gave me early dominance, plenty of spp's, winnings and a fairly decent amount of skills too. The best thing the Chaos Dwarfs have is their powerful starting roster - I took advantage of that and it paid off. I think in the longer run it's not the greatest team to develope. After 9 games I have a 14 player roster, 4 TRR, 11 FF and 120K in the treasury.

[mrcoffee182]

I went for the most powerful lineup I could get to start with when my local league restarted - the mino, both BC's, 5 CD's, 3 Hobbo's, 2 TRR, 6 FF.

That's a cool lineup... is 2 TRRs enough though?

[Grumbledook]

not for a rookie chaos dwarf team imho

only takes a failed pick up and a double skull and they are gone, then you have to cage without the safty factor

[Matsu]

Didn't occur to me to start my CDs without BCs. Interesting though that the more experienced coaches like the line up. Maybe i'll give it try

As Boss said, the strength of the CDs is their great starting team and the BCs. I understand wanting to have a more balanced team down the road, but I don't see why you'd want to handicap yourself so severely in the early games.

2 Bull Centaurs 260k
5 Dwarves 350k
4 Hobbos 160k
3 Rerolls 150k
8 FF 80k
= 1M

First purchase: Apothecary
2nd purchase: Dwarf
3rd purchase: Reroll
3rd purchase: Troll/Mino
4th purchase: Reroll

This is "risky" at the beginning because it's an 11 man roster with no apothecary, but it's also a lineup that is VERY strong against rookie teams and should net you wins and SPPs pretty quickly. That'll get you extra money and strength and more than makes up for its 'riskiness' IMO.

[Robotorz]

I started with a lot of CD Teams recently I tryed following roosters:

Team 1:
Troll
4 Chaos Dwarf
7 Hobogoblins
5 RR
8 FF

Team 2:
6 Chaos Dwarf
6 Hobogoblin
5 RR
9 FF

Team 3:
1 Troll
1 Bullcentaur
4 Chaosdwarf
5 Hobogoblins
4 Reroll
8 FF

I personaly would advise against team 2 since you will to buy too much after starting wich means you will have to develop your 3 Key players (Bulls and Troll) later. For the Bullcentaurs thats not a problem but getting a Troll mid or late season makes him a total waste of cash. I liked team 3 most!

And I dont think that starting with 6 CD is essential as you only need 3 or 4 with guard. Maybe some with Stand Firm too is nice but not a must to win.

[Boss]

Boss wrote:

I went for the most powerful lineup I could get to start with when my local league restarted - the mino, both BC's, 5 CD's, 3 Hobbo's, 2 TRR, 6 FF.

That's a cool lineup... is 2 TRRs enough though?

Like I said, it's a gamble. Depends how 'safe' you play too. To be fair, I did manage to get a leader re-roll after the first game. That helps. But currently I have 4 TRR and the leader ... it is very rare for me actually to run out of rerolls in any half so I'd never start with 4 or 5 like some suggest ... but that's just me.

It's the only time I've started a Chaos Dwarf team, so I have nothing to compare with. What I've experienced is that if you start with an inferior roster you need to take more chances to get things done offensively aswell as defensively ... that'll burn more rerolls. It's the other way around if you have a more powerful roster.

If you want to make changes to the lineup I used ... maybe swapping one BC for a CD + another reroll + 1 FF would be good.


Bo

[MechD]

Hey guys,

Thanks for all of the replies...it certainly looks like a starting team for Chaos Dwarfs can be done several ways, which I think is pretty cool... Since I am not sure exactly how long the season will go, I think I will run with the following roster...

5x Chaos Dwarf Blockers
4x Hobgoblins
2x Bull Centaurs
3x Re-Rolls
8x Fan Factor

I have always been a bit of a gambler, and I do really like the Bull Centaurs...

So with the starting roster pretty much down, I would be curious what defensive sets up you guys have found work well against both grinder teams, and then against speedy teams? Against speedy teams I have been having good luck with the standard 3-4-4 set up..Which for Chaos Dwarfs I would probably set up with 3 Chaos Dwarfs on the line, the next four a space back..probably Chaos Dwarfs on the side, with two hobgoblins on the inside..the last set of four two spaces back, with bull centaurs behind the hobgoblins, and the last two hobgoblins on the outside..would that be pretty ideal? or would some of the more experienced vets have any better suggestions?

Any other general tips on playing Chaos Dwarfs?

Thanks again guys, you've been a huge help to a new player

[Boss]

Any other general tips on playing Chaos Dwarfs?

Take your time scoring TD's ... unlike elven teams we Chaos Dwarves dont get that many chances to score - so make them count. Always remember that an elven team can get a TD in 2 turns quite easily - so you should make sure to score late.

Dont hesitate to foul with your hobbo's if a valuable player is on the ground. Chaos Dwarves dont win by throwing the ball around - we win by stomping th opposition into the ground.

Eventhough the Bull Centaurs only have 2 AG ... they are great scorers because of their strength and movement ... once they get the ball that is. That's why sure hands and catch often are useful skills for these guys ... so is block (obviously) and break tackle.


Good luck
Bo