Norse team after 6 games

berserker · Post by **berserker** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 8:50 am

Hi here is my norse team. They are doing okay with a 4-1-1 record so far

4 RR
11 FF
Apo 
120.000k to spend

13 players:
Blitzer  2 spp
Blitzer    0
Blitzer    0
Thrower    3
Catcher    9           +1MA    
Catcher 12          Guard       
Lineman 7           Dirty Player        
Lineman 6           Kick        
Lineman 1       
Lineman 11          Sure Hands
Lineman   19          Tackle, Strip Ball      
Lineman 5  Nig          
Minotaur     4

Now I have 120.000 k to spend and I am really tempted to fire the mino to replace him with an ogre. I bought him after game 2 as the other teams were still rookie in order to let him progress, but in 4 games he managed a whole 2 casualties and is more of a concern to me. The strenght he adds (when not deepfield) is not worth the eventual turnover (though my opponent doesn't play a lot in order to get one...).

On the other hand I still have to buy my 2nd thrower, a blitzer and a lineman... Though I'm not in a hurry for the blitzer as they don't seem to do much for me!

Should i go for the Ogre or for the thrower + lineman?
I think the ogre but advice is welcome

Gorbad · Post by **Gorbad** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 9:30 am

I think you should buy a blitzer, not only for what you can do with him, but also for what he makes your opponent NOT do. You know in advance that he will stay 2 squares clear of the sidelines, which makes for more predictable play, and forces him to use more guys to cover sides. And access to strength skills is always nice. A second thrower is also pretty handy, as you can cover just a bit more of the pitch on offense, and your first one will be less of a target.

As for the Minotaur vs Ogre... I'd keep the mino and use him as a deep sweeper, taking 3 die blocks where possible. He will get his 2 SPP sooner or later, if only from an MVP, and once he has block he will be a lot easier to handle. (And think of the nice possibilities... Block, RSC, Tackle, Tentacles/Prehensile Tail... hmmmmmm)

Arkan · Post by **Arkan** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 9:50 am

I agree, keep the Mino (more fun, get the Ogre sometime later if you desire a more reliable option). My mino had a slow start as well, but with Block he started to bring in the casualties. And yes he is going to mess up an occasional play, but what the heck.
Get the fourth Blitzer, they give you more options when beating up the OpFor.
+MA on the catcher is nice. A bit surprised to see you go Guard on the catcher and Sure hands on the Linemen. Ideally your thrower would sure hands. Guard's nice, I guess they can assist each other then (is that the idea?)
I'd probably go with Blitzer first, then second thrower, then ... you can think about either getting another re-roll or replacing the Mino. You can also start using him more offensively when you are in the lead and see what happens. If he dies, you can replace him, as long as he is live and kicking, I'd keep him as the monster he can be.

Tim · Post by **Tim** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 9:52 am

Very interesting ... you seem to play themquite differently from me!

here's a link to my 3 games old Norse team (sorry, requires Excel)
http://www.rzuser.uni-heidelberg.de/~cmohr/norse.htm

Going for the Ogre is a good idea imo. The Mino is a liability and his use as a backfield sweeper is very limited on a Norse team imo (you have 4 great blitzers, and 2 good safeties -team list calls them catchers-). The Ogre, even if he will not do much actively as well, will still absorb a lot of damage at the LOS, saving one of your AV7 players from punishment.

I only see 3 completions on your thrower, don't you pass much? I think Norse have a good passing game and it helps them to make up for their lack of speed. I made 9 completions in the first 3 games, 6 of them with the thrower.

You seem to do a lot of scoring with the linemen, quite good SPP numbers on them. Try to use the blitzers for this as well, you gotta add some strength skill pics (PO, MB, Guard) to the team.

I'd go Ogre, Blitzer, then 5th RR and a 2nd thrower ... and replace the nig lineman if he makes his first skill and it's not something awesome like ST+ or AG+

Arkan · Post by **Arkan** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 9:56 am

I agree, keep the Mino (more fun, get the Ogre sometime later if you desire a more reliable option). My mino had a slow start as well, but with Block he started to bring in the casualties. And yes he is going to mess up an occasional play, but what the heck.
Get the fourth Blitzer, they give you more options when beating up the OpFor.
+MA on the catcher is nice. A bit surprised to see you go Guard on the catcher and Sure hands on the Linemen. Ideally your thrower would sure hands. Guard's nice, I guess they can assist each other then (is that the idea?)
I'd probably go with Blitzer first, then second thrower, then ... you can think about either getting another re-roll or replacing the Mino. You can also start using him more offensively when you are in the lead and see what happens. If he dies, you can replace him, as long as he is live and kicking, I'd keep him as the monster he can be.

Darkson · Post by **Darkson** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 11:45 pm

Go for the blitzer. Anything that makes your opponents moves/placements more predicatable is a good thing. And keep the mino. OK, he's had a slow start, but then I had an ogre who took 4 games to register his first cas. If you're worried about your opponent playing the mino, then just don't stick him on the LOS. Once he's got block then you can place him there.

berserker · Post by **berserker** » Thu Nov 06, 2003 8:50 am

Arkan wrote:+MA on the catcher is nice. A bit surprised to see you go Guard on the catcher and Sure hands on the Linemen. Ideally your thrower would sure hands. Guard's nice, I guess they can assist each other then (is that the idea?)

Well the guard catcher was the first player to get a skill and as I got a double I figured guard would help me a lot more early on (and it did!).
I don't use the passing game so I was not very interested in Nerves of steel. Sure hands is not sure yet, I might take tackle instead... But as he's close to the 16spp mark sure might go well with strip ball.

Tim wrote:Very interesting ... you seem to play themquite differently from me!

I only see 3 completions on your thrower, don't you pass much?

You seem to do a lot of scoring with the linemen, quite good SPP numbers on them.

Probably we play differently, I am a really conservative coach, for me a 3+ roll is really dangerous and should therefore be avoided unless essential

Actually only one lineman scored once (the dirty player), the tackle, strip ball got 3 mvp(out of 7

), another got 2 (sure hands one), and 2 linos got the last mvp's... I would have loved to get one on the blitzer but no such luck!
As I just mentionned I don't pass a lot as I prefer the running game but I like to have the option in my sleeve.

Last point, dropping the mino avoid me handicap rolls in my two matches also (and increase my winnings by 10k).

Arkan · Post by **Arkan** » Thu Nov 06, 2003 9:30 am

Yeah, I guess you do play quite differently.

I pass quite a lot and let the mino have some fun.

Very interesting points though, from a team management standpoint. Certainly interesting to write off the 110K investment into the mino for lowering team rating and and the 10K more income. Would not have thought that way, but interesting ...

berserker · Post by **berserker** » Thu Nov 06, 2003 9:44 am

Arkan wrote:Yeah, I guess you do play quite differently.

I pass quite a lot and let the mino have some fun.

Very interesting points though, from a team management standpoint. Certainly interesting to write off the 110K investment into the mino for lowering team rating and and the 10K more income. Would not have thought that way, but interesting ...

I play to win every game I play, Team development comes after the results. I know some coaches who are willing to lose as long as they can earn skills through making completions deepfield for instance.

To show how conservative I play here are my Norse results so far:
1-1 draw vs High Elves
2-1 win vs Undead
0-0 win vs woodies (he conceded at 0-0 after 3-4 round where I got lucky with armor and injury rolls and was about to score)
2-0 win vs Hih Elves
1-2 loss vs Undead
2-1 win vs Undead

Which made made me realise I'm missing a td on my spp table

!

Now for the team managment, I'd drop the mino primarily because he's unreliable and doesn't fit my playstyle, lowering TR is a serious bonus.

Arkan · Post by **Arkan** » Thu Nov 06, 2003 11:11 am

As they say: whatever floats your boat.

It's giving me a totally different view on thinking, which is great.

I started my Norse team last year basically because I needed another low TR team as we were explaining the game to others and did not want to be the TR to far apart. So the fun factor was definetely a key factor, more than the winning one, but they did amaizingly well and only lost to chaos dwarfs in the final of our Mini League.

I played Norse at the MMM in Mannheim and was not so successful. Two wins, four losses. Here is my summary of that tournamend (I played a mino, three blitzer, apo and eight or nine linemen, not sure any more):
- I was extremely short on luck (and I did have my own, then not so lucky dice).
- I think I only won one kick-off at the start of the game
- In four games, I lost two players in the first two rounds.
- out of four tries, my apo managed to fail THREE times
- I thought that my tournament norse team was very dependant on starting on the offense side (which it was not in most cases)
- But that was just me, the dice were not with me those two days, though some of the games were fun

The league team looks like this: Mino (Block, Piling on), 4 Blitzer (one with Dodge), two thrower (one with NoS, Dodge, but AV 6), 2 Catcher (one with Dodge), the rest linemen (one dodge & MB. one kick, one dirty player, one strip ball). Unfortunately a good one died in the final.
Well let's see how they play this season.

Tim · Post by **Tim** » Thu Nov 06, 2003 2:39 pm

berserker wrote:
Tim wrote:Very interesting ... you seem to play themquite differently from me!

I only see 3 completions on your thrower, don't you pass much?

You seem to do a lot of scoring with the linemen, quite good SPP numbers on them.
Probably we play differently, I am a really conservative coach, for me a 3+ roll is really dangerous and should therefore be avoided unless essential

I know what you mean ... however, Norse are perfectly equipped with RR skills (pass and catch), so it's worth just to generate starplayer points IF you do it either in a secure position (backfield vs. slow teams) or in a hurry (two turn TD). I'd not try it when playing Skaven or Woodies or if i'm already low on RRs.

Post by **Dave** » Thu Nov 06, 2003 8:31 pm

get the blitzer.
Keep the Mino at the back
Allways get one of the catchers (why Guard?? I'd have gone for jump up .. or NOS) into scoring position ASAP. gives you the chance to blitz from behind the defence as well.

Use your blitzers wisely. Make'm fear the sideline.

I think it's an advantage to recieve first .. but should you kick, make sure you got time enough to score during the first half as well.