newb with norse

[delsbro]

i've had a tema for a while, but recently dusted them off when interset sprung up again at the local game store. i was wonderign if anybody has tips or advice for the norse team. any comments appreciated
thanks
leo

[arv9673]

Block your opponent. A lot. Then, when all your blocks are used, Block some more. They may score, maybe even twice. By the second half you should be able to, slowly, move over and get the ball and score with relatively little trouble. Oh yeah, while you're scoring, knock the opponent down some more.

[Gorbad]

Block your opponent. A lot. Then, when all your blocks are used, Block some more. They may score, maybe even twice. By the second half you should be able to, slowly, move over and get the ball and score with relatively little trouble. Oh yeah, while you're scoring, knock the opponent down some more.

While I do agree with the previous posters' sentiments, I feel the need to add some small details:

-Do Not Follow Up Unless You Have To.
-Do Not Move Into Tacklezones Unless There Is A Reason For It.

AV7 will not win you the attrition game against any of the heavier armored teams, and Block will only protect you so much.

Norse teams thrive on outnumbering the opponent, so try not to go man-down. Hit 'n Run is the Norse specialty game.

And never forget that you can score fast if there is a need for it, no need to stick purely to the killing tactic. Norse are a pretty fast team in a pinch.

[mrbrownesquire]

As arv9673 said, block.

As all your guys have block, they all have a 50% chance of knocking down any basic opponent. No other starting team has those odds. Two diece are still favourable, but the one dice is less of a risk than it is for anybody else. The more blocks, the more likely you are to get some of their players stunned or better.

And as Gorbad pointed out, you are not that slow, three go-for-its or some creative pushbacks will let you score in two turns

[mattgslater]

Block your opponent. A lot. Then, when all your blocks are used, Block some more. They may score, maybe even twice. By the second half you should be able to, slowly, move over and get the ball and score with relatively little trouble. Oh yeah, while you're scoring, knock the opponent down some more.

Knocking opponents down saves lives. Your guys aren't tough, but they're not fast enough to avoid the grind, either: putting opponents down on the pitch is the most reliable way to keep them from ganging up on you. Against armor teams, you'll often find that your line is just not up to the challenge. This is a real problem against Dwarfs and Orcs, who have better lines-of-scrimmage and can more-or-less neutralize your Block advantage in the backfield.

Some years ago (just before 4th ed came out), our league in San Diego had a very good Norse player. His guys were fast enough to keep pace with the speed teams and force them to play a grinding game, and his Dirty Player was really unanswerable -- he could make a hit squad out of whatever players he had around, and his DP was always right there whenever an opponent's best guy went down (for my part, I blitzed the DP and fouled him out on turn one, but the guy racked up a ton of casualties in other games). He lost three games that season (Wood Elves, Orcs, Dwarfs). The Wood-Elves were just well-played (as were the other teams that beat him), but I noticed that his advantages pretty much didn't matter against my Orcs ( all-ST4 with only a little Block on the line will beat all-ST3 with all Block every time). I don't think he had a fair shot against the Dwarfs (he had to play them right after he played my Orcs, and I wrecked him pretty badly ), but even if he had, I don't think it would have helped much.

So in my experience, Norse have an easier time against AG teams. They also tend to do better early in the season, before their opponents start getting a lot of Block.

[arv9673]

Question that runs 180 degrees out from the one that started this thread: What's the best way to counter Norse? Knock 'em down first? Avoid 'em if possible? I've only played them once and was beaten by the stalling tactic. Plus, all my guys were KO'd or chain stunned. And the opposing coach (my younger sister, to make matters worse) just calmly moved across the pitch 6 squares at a time. I was using some kind of elf, I forget which one, but it doesn't matter, they were a light, fast team adn it seems she got the first punch in and didn't let up.

[Gorbad]

Question that runs 180 degrees out from the one that started this thread: What's the best way to counter Norse? Knock 'em down first? Avoid 'em if possible? I've only played them once and was beaten by the stalling tactic. Plus, all my guys were KO'd or chain stunned. And the opposing coach (my younger sister, to make matters worse) just calmly moved across the pitch 6 squares at a time. I was using some kind of elf, I forget which one, but it doesn't matter, they were a light, fast team adn it seems she got the first punch in and didn't let up.

If you are playing a faster AG4 team, use the few guys you have with block to remove the Norse Blitzers, and foul them and the possible DP. (Yes.. elves can foul too, and Elves are not hurt as much from being outnumbered, if played properly).

Use the fact that you have more move by focusing your strength on the are of the pitch where he is not, and try and get as many 2die blocks as you can (a pushback is an automatic dodge). Control where the action is, and control his movement by placing tacklezones one square away from his players in the direction you don't want him to go)

On defense it can be hard to get the ball away from Norse, so if you are not comfortable with a chance to take it from him... don't. If he has good protection on the ball, start picking off his other players, and make sure he can't move more than one or two squares each turn. Attrition works against Norse.

If you do decide to try for the ball (3 or 4+ dodge with reroll for a blitz on the ballcarrier for example) make sure there is already a guy in place to receive a pass/hand-off and score _that same turn_.

Quick turnovers are the way to get hurt, so do all the free and easy moves which save players first (actually, do that for all teams.. it's surprising to see how many people will start with the essential risky blitz, without doing their free moves first).

Finally, dodge away with anything which shouldn't get hurt, and score, score, score.

[Magic Dave]

block,block,block.

one dice two dice it dont matter just block.

ohh you have a thower and a catcher as well so use them.

[Cramy]

I played quite a bit with my Dark Elves against Norse (my brother). We ended-up playing a lot with walls. What I mean is that the Norse would make a wall across the pitch, and the DE would have to try to go through. Spent quite a bit of time blitzing trying to create a hole, and if it didn't work move back and wait for next turn. Somebody eventually fell or got impatient and the game started to move. It was quite interesting.

If you are elves, do not stay in his TZs. Use your agility and speed to score more often than he does. That's a theme that people forget with agility teams. Defence can be optional. If playing solid defence can cripple your team, don't. Just score more often. And as somebody else said, always try to get one or more of your players in scoring position. I don't know how often I was able to pick-up the ball after a turnover and do the run-pass-run-handoff-run-score routine.

Try to outnumber the Norse by doing two dice blocks against his stragglers. Use AG4 to dodge away from his players, but don't just dodge one square. Move to a position where you can throw a two-dice block against your opponent. At the end of your turn, try to aim at not having any of your players in his TZs, and a few of his players on the ground.

[TuernRedvenom]

If you are elves, do not stay in his TZs. Use your agility and speed to score more often than he does. That's a theme that people forget with agility teams. Defence can be optional. If playing solid defence can cripple your team, don't. Just score more often. And as somebody else said, always try to get one or more of your players in scoring position. I don't know how often I was able to pick-up the ball after a turnover and do the run-pass-run-handoff-run-score routine.

Although this goes further then newbie tactics I just want to say I totally don't agree with your statement! Games are won by defence, it is never optional against a good coach. A good coach will control the clock versus elves and you'll end up losing 1-2 almost every time.
Pont is on defence you shouldn't go all out untill the time is right, you must be patient! And when the time is right go full contact and up the ante. But never just roll over on defence with a finesse team!

[Gorbad]

I agree with Tuern.

There are two mistakes to be made on defense as an AG team.

1. Not doing anything, this will make sure you lose 1-0 or 2-1.
2. Doing too much too soon with no real drive, this will get your team killed.

Although I have to say that I do have some misgivings on 'fully committing', usually you only need about 4 players to make a turnover with elves or skaven(standard teams).

1 to cancel assists
2 to blitz the ball carrier
3 to pickup and hand off/pass
4 to score

If 'Stuff Goes Wrong (tm)' you should already have the rest of your team in place to prevent him from moving further down the pitch (i.e. block off where he wants to go with spread tacklezones, you don't need to be next to a guy), and only a few of your players are going to get blocked.

[mattgslater]

Whenever your elves are going up against any stomping team with an average or better coach, you MUST accomplish 3 objectives:

1) Take the ball away and score on D at least once. This means going into the cage to get it. It ain't pretty, but you gotta do it.

2) Force the opponent to score quickly if you can't get the ball away, usually by applying pressure to the cage, sometimes by causing the opponent a lot of grief and making him want to score to reset the line. The latter usually works only if a) you can get them man-down (which will sometimes happen against Norse), or b) your opponent is too chickenpoop to let one of his players chew on kleat sandwiches for a turn or two.

3) Answer every opposing TD with a TD. Every time. Score as fast as possible, every time. Scoring saves lives.

Defense is important for elves, because your ability to manage the clock is very limited. You must take the timing advantage away from your opponent, or you will tend to lose games 1-0 or 2-1 no matter how good your offense is. The only way to do this is with sweat and blood. Yeah, play the dodgy game as far as it goes, but if you can't crack the cage at least once, you'll tend to lose. I've played about 15 games against elves with my orcs, and I've only lost twice. Both times, elf defense made all the difference.

[mattgslater]

By the way, this is why Wood Elves are better than other elves (at least, with a good coach). Wardancers are great nutcrackers, and MA7 across the board enhances the truth of the old saying that every elf is both a thrower and a catcher.