O me, O my....

[mlindsay2706]

o me o my....

im starting a new league, so ive decided to use a team ive loved for ages - vamipres!

however, on the starting line-up (tr100), i cant decide.

what do you guys think -

Line up 1:

5 Vampires
6 Thralls
2 Re-Rolls
7 Fan Factor

Line up 2:

4 Vampires
7 Thralls
3 Re-Rolls
7 Fan Factor

Line up 3:

4 Vampires
8 Thralls
2 Re-Rolls
10 Fan Factor


Thats the rosters i cant decide between to start with, each has strengths and weaknesswes. any infromation would be greatly apprecated form you great fellow coaches out there, and and variations or different rosters ouwl be great!

thanks, Matt

[wesleytj]

can't have 10 ff, unless you're using a rules set i'm not up on...which is highly possible.

that said, i'd go with #2. you'll appreciate that 3rd rr as time passes.

[Darkson]

Short-term or a long-term league?

If it's long-term, none of them.

I'd go:

1 Vamp
10 Thralls
5 Rerolls
9 FF
Apo

or

1 Vamp
11 Thralls
5 Rerolls
9 FF
10k in the bank

Tbh, all the rosters you've posted have to many Vamps, and not enough Rerolls and Thralls. With that many Vamps, you'll either have to not activate them in a turn, therefore wasting they're abilities, or risk decimating your own team on failed Bloodlusts.

[fen]

Darkson's suggested rosters are dead correct. Pick one of those two to use.

Don't start a Vampire team in a league with more than two Vampires on the initial roster. You really want to get the thralls to do some leg work first and get SPPs. Without good thralls you won't have a good team.

Also, the more vampires you field on pitch, the higher the odds that one will Blood Lust. This will cost you your reroll or a thrall, three vampires on pitch at once is the general maximum that you can safely field. I've pushed to four Vampires only when three of them have Pro and there is a low number of turns left in the half.

You're chosing to play a very challenging team, one that requires a lot of forthought and can often cause heartache and frustration. Good luck with them.

[MickeX]

I've found that two vamps are important. On offense, it's great to have one to pick up the ball and one to go forward to score. On defense, one can go aggressive and the other stay back to safeguard. It's also because of AV8: there's a big risk a vamp gets knocked out or cas:ed.

Otherwise, I agree with what's been said. Prepare to lose your matches for a while - vampires takes some time to learn, more so than other races.

[mlindsay2706]

so the roster i like is:

1 Vamp
11 Thralls
5 Rerolls
9 FF
10k in the bank


so, from whats been said, i guess im going to lose my first few games:( overall, will a vampire team work in a long term league?

also, what skills should i take for thralls and vamps? i guess block is the obvious lol what others?

[fen]

Skills to consider on thralls
Block, Tackle
1 Kicker
1 or 2 Dirty Players (If you have no qualms about kicking people when they're down)
A couple of Sure Hands Thralls are decent to retrive the ball and transport it till it's time to give it to a vampire, but some people prefer to use vampires as ball carriers. Myself I like to use thralls as much as possible to spread SPPs.
Doubles: Guard and Dodge.

Vampires:
Block, Pro, Mighty Blow, Dodge, Tackle, Side Step. etc You can pretty much turn a Vampire into anything you want, concentrate on Block and Pro first. If there's not a lot of Tackle in the league Block, Dodge can be pretty good. Personally I get a mix of them.
Some other choices depend on the rules. I'll assume LRB 4.0.
Doubles: Stand Firm, Frenzy
In PBBL doubles on a vampire are pretty much wasted.

Because you tend to only field 3 Vampires max you have a unique situation where it's possible to tailor your vampires into offensive and defensive vampires. My starting Offensive vampire skill choices are Block, Pro and defensive ones are Block, Dodge.

I'm sure others will have more to add.

A big help with vampires is to always have a plan in case of blood lust, move a thrall first if it's important to get a vampire in a position (BL action can then go bite the thrall.) And don't forget about Hypnotic Gaze, it can often be used to provide 'fake blitzes' by removing key tackle zones and open a path. HG imo is the most potent weapon on the Vampires.

[SolomonKane]

Though if the league isn't quite so long-lived, you MIGHT get away with starting 3 or 4 Vampires, IF you make Pro a priority. I've played enough vampires, though, to know you're going to struggle some if you try this.

[miguel77]

We have a vamp team in my league and the coach took 5 vamps. Record is 2 wins 5 losses and in all the losses Blood lust took out his thralls. IMO the vamps are a liability until they get pro

[Strider_fr]

IMO the vamps are a liability until they get pro

Which doesn't mean they're not when they have it .

[Garek_Beurkman]

IMO, the more Pro Vampires you have, the more you can risk to field. But even then, never go over 4, or they'll drain your team dry. At least that's how I see them on paper.

[SolomonKane]

The one problem with trying to get a lot of skills on your Thralls is that they just don't last very long. The lack of Block is your biggest problem at low TR, though caging is still probably your best bet for consistent scoring. You should always keep an eye out to spring free a vampire and toss the ball to him, though.

Do NOT be afraid to dial up the SPPs on your vampires! Despite their innate abilities, they do need some skills to be functional, most importantly Pro, Block, and/or Dodge. You can take any of these three skills to start with, though I admit after some abortive attempts to play Vamps in FUMBBL I believe taking Pro first is the best option. Many people will argue this with me, I don't want to do it here, just giving you my opinion.

All this means that, yes, your Thralls will suffer, but really if any Thrall survives to a third or even a second skill I'll be impressed. No matter how many skills you give them, they're still vulnerable to a hungry Vampire.

Long-term, what I feel you need to do is have a plan for your Vampires, and make a skillset plan for all 6 you can eventually get. I've never gotten this far, but I've always had the idea in my head to build 2 for offense/hitting, 2 for defense/ball attack, and 2 for ballhandling or just general utility. My idea is to not always play all 6 vampires at once, believe it or not. Not until they get Pro, anyway. This way, I'm not forced to roll so many BL rolls when I use all my players in a given turn.

Finally, as mentioned earlier, Pro is not a complete salve for BL, but it does soften the blow often enough to make it worth your while. However, do NOT be tempted to use Pro unless you've already burned your team RR for the turn! A team RR is a guaranteed RR. Pro is not a guaranteed RR. It's not a bad idea to attempt to move Thralls first in a turn, as many as you can, to ensure you use a team RR on one of them if necessary, probably when blocking. If you get through your Thralls without burning a team RR, great, that gives you that many more chances for your Vampires before a turnover occurs.

[Darkson]

However, do NOT be tempted to use Pro unless you've already burned your team RR for the turn! A team RR is a guaranteed RR. Pro is not a guaranteed RR.

That depends. Many a time I've saved a RR and used Pro if it wasn't an essential move.

As an aside, if you're playing under LRB 4.0, pray for the Iron Man handicap. A Thrall that can never be worse than Stunned is a godsend.

[Mootaz]

As an aside, if you're playing under LRB 4.0, pray for the Iron Man handicap. A Thrall that can never be worse than Stunned is a godsend.

Sorry, but you're wrong on that one.
Iron Man states:

If an opposing player beats his Armour roll, he is only Stunned (do not roll for Injury).

[Darkson]

Not the way I've ever played it, and it was Galak that recommended that tactic to me.
Wonder if that was changed when they r-wrote the handicap table. Unforunately, I don't have access to my old PDF's atm (they're on my desktop).