What does a cage look like?

[BobbyDavro]

I was just wondering what other people here regard as a cage - are we talking about a really tight formation around the ball handler:

XXX
XOX
XXX

or a more spaced out box leaving room for some movement within and out of the box, such as a 1 square gap between all the players:

X X X

X 0 X

X X X

When I experimented with this I ended up with more of a flying wall than a cage, forming a running tunnel down one side of the pitch towards the endzone:

|-------------------------------
|-------------------------------
|  X
|    X
|      X
|        X
|0      X

Is there a 'normal' formation for a cage? Are there any other tried and tested formations for ball protection?

[Ithilkir]

Code: Select all

.......|E|
..XXX..|N|
...O...|D|
..XXX..|Z|
.......|N|

Is pretty good It saves using eight in the cage, from a single blitz you can't pushback the ball carrier, and you have a bit of room to move back or forth

[DoubleSkulls]

The classic cage

Code: Select all

X_X
_O_
X_X

Basically your ball carrier can't be blitzed from any direction.

Your flying wedge is form of loose cage

[BobbyDavro]

Ok, those two formations make a lot more sense - I was wondering how people managed to get so many players around the handler. Doh.

Thanks

[Ithilkir]

By the third turn of holding the ball you should have players round to form any style of cage (if you want). Turn one is spent getting the ball and moving some players into position, turn two should be spent advancing the ball carrier with either some of the team falling back to protect him or getting ready to blitz holes. Turn three and you (in theory) should have a ball carrier, protected fully with a gap opening up.

Cages down the centre of the field are risky however since you can be attacked from any angle, I'd start to move a cage at a diagonal towards the sidelines and use any players not in the cage, to basically, cage the cage. That way if the ball does pop out, you should have players still protecting the ball area.

[franck_le_grand]

Code: Select all

X_X 
_O_ 
X_X 

Basically your ball carrier can't be blitzed from any direction.

Except for my ST 4 wardancer; a little leap and he's in the cage to smash the ball carrier!!!

[Nermal]

yea the wood elf wardancers in my league are grooming themselves to be cage smashers too. they are a pain then they are a victim

[Xynok]

I like to use what I term a VERY loose cage formation, using the sideline to my benefit. Specifically:

|_X___
|____X
|_B___
|____X
|__X__
|

As long as none of the Xs are adjacent to an opponent, you FORCE him to BLITZ! the outside of the cage, and/or force extremely difficult (4+ for AG4) dodges to get to the ball carrier. In this formation, the ballcarrier cannot be pushed back like in a tight cage. If they DO manage some crazy play on the ball, they are still surrounded by several of your players. In a tight cage, all you have to do is take out one side of the assists and you generally get a 1 die block...all you need is a push to disrupt the entire play. I like forcing my opponent to make 2 or more 4+ dodge rolls just to GET to the ball carrier, as only the most agile of players will even attempt it.

[DoubleSkulls]

Except for my ST 4 wardancer; a little leap and he's in the cage to smash the ball carrier!!!

The way to stop him is to form a 2nd weaker line blocking his route to the cage so he either has to make lots of dodges or use up the leap.

[Cervidal]

Personally, with HE, I end up running a hexigon cage, often so I can form a pass pocket and so my cagers can run upfield in a hurry:

____0____0____
______________
0_____0______0
______________
____0_____0___

Takes a few more players but it gives you more flexibility if you need to run the ball upfield in a hurry. I make sure there are spaces between my players so that pushing any one of them will assure you that the first blitzer cannot follow up into the ball carrier or another cager but still makes sure that the ball carrier is inaccessable except through ugly dodging/leaping.

[Marcus]

The problem with that formation is you need a lot of space to deploy it. For a cage to work properly you can't have the cage in base to base contact with an opponent, otherwise they will block your cover out of the way and blitz through the gap. Your wide formation makes it easier to get assists against the ball carrier as well.

A good opponent will be bottling up your pocket so as to restrict the size of the cage so it is unlikely you will be able to form that formation regularly without surrendering field position. Against a loose formation like that I would blitz away one of the defenders then run numbers inside, between the ball and the endzone - isolating the ball carrier from the defence and fragmenting your team.

I prefer to run the classic cage, or similar, with a flying secondary screen to prevent numbers from getting through.

[Nermal]

if i have a cage on the go i usually make the rest of my team start a big melee, in the thick of it is my big guy. the opponant will usually defend the victims i am smashing and that takes opponants away from the cage.

against a good coach this will not work so well as he will attack the cage and risk losing a few players. but some coaches will try to take out a big guy at any cost. to the point of attacking him with any amount of players, this can be exploited obviously

[CoachGorbad]

The 4 post cage is just fine for most purposes. A second layer of tackle zones is greatly beneficial to any cage formation.

When they come to their senses and apply modifiers to leap rolls as well as the requirement to actually jump Over a player and only to a square on the other side of said player, then leap won't be the unstoppable tactic breaker that it really shouldn't be.

[D'Arquebus]

franck_le_grand wrote

"except for my ST 4 wardancer; a little leap and he's in the cage to smash the ball carrier!!!"


The way to beat this is with guards in the cage. Just one or two can really spoil your blitzer's day. I personally built an aerial team to bust into dwarf and orc cages (there were two of each team) but they almost immediatley afterwards had guard. Even with elves sacrificing themselves on the outside of the cage to cancel assists the defenders coach should be picking the result on the hit.

Otherwise, the best bet for the cage itself is the rolling wedge down a sideline. One flank is completely protected leaving more players back as sweepers or to tie up opposition away from the cage.

[DoubleSkulls]

Otherwise, the best bet for the cage itself is the rolling wedge down a sideline. One flank is completely protected leaving more players back as sweepers or to tie up opposition away from the cage.

Sideline cages have a significant disadvantage - as you only have one side to roll out to is much easier for you opponent to block it off and stop you progressing.

They are very good however, for dealing with super mobile teams (e.g. woodies) as you can put double layer protection in, without requiring huge numbers of players.