Both Blitzers rolled doubles (Dark Elves)

ajnin · Post by **ajnin** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 5:10 am

Hey everyone. We just started our BloodBowl season tonight, where I play Dark Elves, and my two Blitzers managed to level up - both of them rolling doubles for their skill rolls. I was wondering if anyone had any input as to what I should pick up for them. My starting roster consists of the 2 Blitzers and 9 linemen. Four of the linemen should easily level up to get their first skill next game. I wasn't sure if I should look into getting Dauntless or Guard, or just simply picking up Dodge.

Our league consists of 7 other teams: Orcs, Chaos, Nurgle, High Elves, Skaven, Necromancers, and Khemri. The teams are broken down into two divisions, my division contains the Skaven, Orcs, and Chaos. We play each team twice (from both divisions), so we have a 14 game season not including playoffs. The divisions pretty much just determine playoff rankings and such.

Any input on the direction I should go?
All help is greatly appreciated, thanks!

TuernRedvenom · Post by **TuernRedvenom** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 6:28 am

1 Mighty Blow and 1 Dauntless. Leave guard for linemen doubles (guarders get smacked often and you don't want your blitzers to get smacked) and pick up dodge as a second skill for both. Anyway, this should get you off to a strong start.
Mighty blow for the cas vs skellies/wolves/catchers/gutter runners/beastmen, dauntless for taking on Golems, Chaos Warriors, Black Orcs, Mummies, Rotters and Rat Ogres.

JJB · Post by **JJB** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 10:56 am

I'd suggest two guard in view of your league's races lineup.

Two players with guard can make up for a dauntless player + serve as general support for your team.

And you need to have a strong start as there are many hitters - don't wait for your linemen to pick up doubles, it might never happen.

And if one of your future witch elves has the luck of rolling a double, then dauntless is the right trait...

JJB · Post by **JJB** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 11:02 am

And for Tuern's info:

Once I have at least one guard lineman, then I start considering something else than guard to my blitzers when they roll doubles...
That includes mighty blow, and dauntless possibly if I know I won't get any witch elves any time soon.

TuernRedvenom · Post by **TuernRedvenom** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 11:19 am

JJB wrote:And for Tuern's info:

Once I have at least one guard lineman, then I start considering something else than guard to my blitzers when they roll doubles...
That includes mighty blow, and dauntless possibly if I know I won't get any witch elves any time soon.

I'm not too keen on giving witch elves dauntless, I'd rather give them mighty blow instead, frenzy + AV7 is too much of a liabilty to go after high str players IMO.
Guard on blitzers is also risky IMO, but I see your reasoning, still I'd rather take the risk of not getting any guarding linemen over getting your guard blitzers killed/maimed. Personal preference I guess.

JJB · Post by **JJB** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 11:45 am

I see your point, although...
...I give witch elves dauntless to combine with their frenzy trait
- they are less likely to find themselves stuck with two attempts at bringing down a big guy.

While I personally view only one attempt as potentially more dangerous in the long run within a given game.

wesleytj · Post by **wesleytj** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 1:52 pm

dauntless and dauntless.

guard is a line elf skill. your blitzers are meant to be the more active ones, doing the hitting. guard is more of a complimentary skill, for the players that are getting in and giving the assists....like line elves.

your league is LOADED with high strength players. chaos warriors, black orcs, mummies, etc etc etc. you need dauntless.

if you get witch elves going later, and they roll doubles, give them dauntless too. as mentioned, it is nice when combined with frenzy.

TuernRedvenom · Post by **TuernRedvenom** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 2:01 pm

JJB wrote:I see your point, although...
...I give witch elves dauntless to combine with their frenzy trait
- they are less likely to find themselves stuck with two attempts at bringing down a big guy.

While I personally view only one attempt as potentially more dangerous in the long run within a given game.

Sure but the forced follow up can bring you in "sticky" situations, eg, what if you don't bring down that Beast of Nurgle/Tentacled Chaos Warrior? Same for busting high str cages, I'd rather have a dauntless blitzer have a go at it and if he fails he can still try again next turn rather then send in a witch elf which might get herself in over her head. (although I can definately see plenty of opportunities where the frenzy would be usefull)

Aksho · Post by **Aksho** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 2:08 pm

I can see the point the other guys mantioned, but going with guard is the best option I can see for you. Dauntless and Mighty Blow will help you in one or another game, but Guard will help you in ALL games. Ok, I would also prefer it on Lineman here, but even on the Start of a Leage it is perfekt against this strong Teams to have 2 Guarders allready. Never give away an advantage like that, so take the 2 Guard and see the other Coaches crying

mfg Bernd

Mad Jackal · Post by **Mad Jackal** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 2:16 pm

1 Mighty Blow
1 Dauntless

Is the way I'd go as well.

I like to make line elves guard or dauntless, but I don't think you can pass up these chances to make specialized blitzers...

Guard at this point is going to assist who ???

Defensively you get hit first, offensively there is no block on the rest of the team.... I say skill the blitzers special and blitz / block with them while your line elves develop....

maxlongstreet · Post by **maxlongstreet** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 2:41 pm

I'd go one guard and one mighty blow myself...

D'Arquebus · Post by **D'Arquebus** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 2:55 pm

Firstly, take at least one with Mighty Blow (followed up by tackle). In my own Dark Elf team my 'second string' blitzer (ie 2nd highest SPPs by a reasonable way) did this in reverse, ie tackle then MB. He quickly became number one in Cas and SPPS for the team. Such a player has the agility to target the softer, position players on the opponent's team (particuloarily the ball handling types). He thus gets more Cas (lower AV) and helps you to dominate the ball and the flow of the game.

As for the second, Duantless IS tempting. I agree with wes that this should be considered over Guard (as that skill is much more useful on linemen). However, whilst there are a number of high Strength players in your league, most of them you shouldn't be trying to hit. Block Orcs and Mummies for example are best left alone whilst you target the ball carriers, at least with your blitzers. That would pretty much leave Chaos Warriors (not Rotters so much) as potential ST 4 ball carriers. And to deal with them you always have the availability of 2+ dodges to get extra assists in. Therefore I'd be torn between Duantless or another Mighty Blow player, to dominate the other agility teams and target the best players on the other teams, not just the blockers.

wesleytj · Post by **wesleytj** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 3:11 pm

D'Arquebus wrote:As for the second, Duantless IS tempting. I agree with wes that this should be considered over Guard (as that skill is much more useful on linemen). However, whilst there are a number of high Strength players in your league, most of them you shouldn't be trying to hit. Block Orcs and Mummies for example are best left alone whilst you target the ball carriers, at least with your blitzers. That would pretty much leave Chaos Warriors (not Rotters so much) as potential ST 4 ball carriers. And to deal with them you always have the availability of 2+ dodges to get extra assists in. Therefore I'd be torn between Duantless or another Mighty Blow player, to dominate the other agility teams and target the best players on the other teams, not just the blockers.

But how often do you honestly get a shot at the ballcarrier on an orc team without black orcs and such in the way? You have to have SOME way to deal with them. How about when your team is on offense, and your opponent has high ST guys guarding the wide zones?

Having dauntless evens the playing field against high ST teams. You can't always just avoid them.

Cramy · Post by **Cramy** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 4:50 pm

One dauntless, one mighty blow.

You want guard on players that have to be in the thick of things. You don't want your Blitzers in the thick of things. That's why you have linemen. Blitzers should be dodging away to blitz key players on the other team. As somebody else said, enemy ball carriers will be hiding behind Chaos Warriors, Black Orcs, and the like.

In your league, you will probably want to stay away from big fights anyways, as you will lose that battle in most cases.

Later, give the dauntless guy Dodge so that he can dodge away from TZs to blitz more easily. The mighty blow guy is more suited at blitzing more agile ball carriers, so give him tackle next to negate the inevitable dodge skill on those catcher types.

D'Arquebus · Post by **D'Arquebus** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 5:06 pm

True the other ST 4 players will often get in the way (heck thats their job). It is not always easy to get around them or shift (re push) them out of the way. Thus my being torn between the Duantless and another Mighty Blow player.

For my money I'd probably go the extra Mghty Blow as getting assists is not usually a problem for me and I like being able to hurt the competent ball handlers consistently. Additionally, even in the first instance of needing to get through the Black Orc to get the Orc Ball Carrier I would seek another option then blitzing the Black Orc with my Blitzer anyway. The hole would only close in the next turn and to otherwise leave my expensive (skilled) blitzer standing next to a Black Orc (to get a Block on my turn) seems a bad idea. I must point out that my typical tactic against strong cages was the step-1-square-back trick to slow it right down. By layering your team 2 deep you stop any breakouts and when they are evetually forced to make a last minute dash for the end zone, thats when the Mighty Blow Blitzer steps in and POW.

I can still see a use for Duantless even in my playing style and so I was in the end undecided. Possibly ajnin would get more use out of the Duantless? However, I would still advocate at least one Mighty Blow as it will be endlessly useful against all the expensive and fast position players on at least half the other teams (and the skeletons on the Khemri). Also, as an aside, one would want to be careful not to get drawn into a bashing match even with alot of Duantless as the Elves would come off worse.