Halflings or Wood Elf

[mrturtle]

Hi all,

I've only been playing Bloodbowl a short while with my friends teams, and I am looking to buy my own.

The problem is I can't decide between Halflings or Wood Elf. My main goal is just to run all the time to get a touchdown and never block. I liked the look of the Halfling team because you can use big guys to throw them over the scrummage line and then they can just run... but the problem is they have sucky movement.

For Wood Elf the only option is to use Wardancers to jump over the blocker, except it takes 2 movement points which bites. Plus they can throw good Long Bombs.

So what do you guys think? Halflings or Wood Elves? Or another team for the rush tactic (minus Skaven, I hate Skaven in Warhammer)?

Thanks.
mrturtle.

[MickeX]

If you want to lose the overwhelming majority of your games - play halflings. Otherwise play another team.

If you want to get good at BB fast, play humans. You'll like them.

But WE isn't a bad choice either. However, don't excpect to be able to play without blocking every turn, even with them.

[mrturtle]

If you want to lose the overwhelming majority of your games - play halflings. Otherwise play another team.

If you want to get good at BB fast, play humans. You'll like them.

But WE isn't a bad choice either. However, don't excpect to be able to play without blocking every turn, even with them.

Yeah I figured you have to block... because even using High Elves and trying to throw it all the time I still had to block people out of the way or blitz to make a path. I like Wood Elves because they have high movement and are good at throwing apparently.

[boondog]

I firmly concur to the conviction that games of BB are won or lost on defense. When your opponent has got the ball, he's not gonna give it to you nice and friendly style. You gotta block him, run him down and stamp on his hands for good measure.
Most new players I have watched become well proficient have started their carreer with a team that's good on defence - dwarfs being particularly popular because all the players needed for the team come in the team box /w no extra purchase necessary.
Of course, it's all your choice, but why poncy Wood Elves? too many of them around as is. I always thought of Skaven as being superior to the tree huggers with very similar tactics on offence.

[Joemanji]

Wood Elves are a good team, but perhaps a little unforgiving to the newbie. Humans would be the best bet if you are learning the game.

[Skummy]

Chaos Dwarves are also pretty easy to coach. I'd suggest a variation of:

1 Bull Centaur
1 Troll
4 Chaos Dwarves
5 Hobgoblins
9 Fan Factor
4 Rerolls

Switch out rerolls for apoth/extra hobgob to taste.

Just remember the Chaos Dwarf coaching song:

You put the Dwarves up front
You put the hobgobs back
You put the Troll in the middle
('Cos he reacts to their attack!)
The Centaurs are for pickups and for running down the play
That's what it's all about!

[Joemanji]

Chaos Dwarfs say "Eh-oh!"

[mrturtle]

Chaos Dwarves are also pretty easy to coach. I'd suggest a variation of:

1 Bull Centaur
1 Troll
4 Chaos Dwarves
5 Hobgoblins
9 Fan Factor
4 Rerolls

I thought trolls sucked because of their "very stupid" trait.

[Skummy]

They suit a team like the Chaos Dwarves pretty well. CD's tend to stay together and attack en mass, so Really Stupid isn't as much of a penalty as it is otherwise. They're not nearly as good as an Ogre, but 5 strength makes your opposition have some poor choices sometimes.

[Joemanji]

Throw in a couple o' CDs with Guard and you have a very effective front line...

['Ed Basha']

just to make some sense of this for you, halflings are a team that is not expected to win many games...they are slow, weak. and very easy to hurt. They're only saving grace is that they can be thrown by a big guy.

Wood Elves are a great team if you like being able to run and dodge and score goals quickly, but you will have to put a big emphasis on keeping away from the opposing team, because your players will get crushed pretty easily.

Leap costs two points, but you wind up moving two squares, so it's not a big deal.

Humans and or orcs are great teams to start with...Orcs have fewer skills, but they are very tough. you can expect your players to survive and grow, although slowly. Humans will win more games and advance faster, but require a little more strategy to play...not much though

That's the best advice I can give you except,

you will never succed in blood bowl with any team if you are afraid to take it to the other guys and pound them...That's why it's called blood bowl and not ballet bowl

[mrturtle]

just to make some sense of this for you, halflings are a team that is not expected to win many games...they are slow, weak. and very easy to hurt. They're only saving grace is that they can be thrown by a big guy.

Wood Elves are a great team if you like being able to run and dodge and score goals quickly, but you will have to put a big emphasis on keeping away from the opposing team, because your players will get crushed pretty easily.

Leap costs two points, but you wind up moving two squares, so it's not a big deal.

Humans and or orcs are great teams to start with...Orcs have fewer skills, but they are very tough. you can expect your players to survive and grow, although slowly. Humans will win more games and advance faster, but require a little more strategy to play...not much though

That's the best advice I can give you except,

you will never succed in blood bowl with any team if you are afraid to take it to the other guys and pound them...That's why it's called blood bowl and not ballet bowl

Thanks sir.

I have played a few games with my friend's teams. He has the start box (Humans and Orcs), an Elf team and 3 star players (Human - Griff, Orc - Valag the Ghoul-Chewer, Elf - Some dude with Dauntless).

He always plays Humans.

I originally played with Elves and won 2-1 because my throwers kept covering huge distances for me and I was getting right to the endzone within the first couple of turns (although I could never break through).

After that I started playing Orcs (after this thread because Nazgit mentioned that Wood Elves are unforgiving to a newbie and MickeX said Halflings never win). After the first half he had 2 players dead, 1 seriously injured, 1 KO'ed, 1 red carded and his coach banned and there was nothing wrong with my team.

I liked Orcs because they kept belting all the other guys over and injuring them. It even made my friend go out and buy Lizardman so he could stand up to Orcs.

Now the only problem is to try and create a good team, a good tactic, and pull it off. My main tactic so far is to put Valag in the middle with lineorcs and Black Orcs on the outer wings. I leave the blitzers back so that they can catch the ball and run or block anyone who breaks through.
However this has not been proven successful as when I break through on the wing with a Black Orc he pulls his entire team to the end zone line and I can't get a touch down. I also found Valag never moved from the line of scrimmige the entire game.

So when Skummy mentioned about Trolls, I thought I could put a Troll or an Ogre and two Black Orcs on my line of scrimmige and try to use the high strength to bust through, using the other lineorcs to block flankers from getting to my Blitzers.

Trolls are only 100k instead of Ogres 120k so I thought that would be a good tactic.

This way I could buy the starter box and have a field for myself and an instant team. Any suggestions?

[Skummy]

I said Trolls aren't too bad, but Ogres are certainly better. The only reason I suggested it was becasue Chaos Dwarves can't have Ogres. It sounds like you've got the basics of Orc strategy down. Put the beef up front, cage up and bash your way down the field. If you're playing lizardmen you can afford to leave a 9 armor player in the tackle zone of every saurus, forcing your opponent to waste his blitz or try and hit you with a pack of skinks. Either way, you should win.

['Ed Basha']

that's very much the standard orc tactic right there...go for block as a skill for pretty much every one, and really try to build up rerolls. you'll need them. black orcs are good players, but the lack of block makes them a little unforgiving at first. Don't be afraid to use your blitzers to move you play down the field, surround the guy with the ball, and capitalize on the fact that all of your players except the thrower have armour nine.

[MickeX]

Try putting the Black Orcs on the LOS and your blitzers on the sides. Let your thrower pick up the ball and hand-off or make a short pass to Varag. Varag should be in the middle of your half, and move forward to stay just behind the Black Orcs when he's got the ball.

Then just roll ahead. Watch out for Griff.

If your blitzers get into scoring distance, you can make a pass to them, preferably by handing the ball back to the thrower who runs forward through a gap in the defense.

Good luck!