Vampire Teams?

[Grumbledook]

that does make some sense

i've only played them in lrb4 as 5 wasn't out when our season started, so its a touch different

I do think it will depends to some degree on how many players you are down

if i had sacked my nigglers i would have started a match with 8 players, so in that situation it was useful to keep them

[fen]

You were indeed in a tough situation there. That's a team which is dangerously circling the drain of retirement and I don't know what the correct decision is.

I think myself I'd fire the nigglers and take journeymen in LRB5. Then buy any survivors I can afford at the end of the match. Journeymen are nice to target for bites.

LRB4, I'd keep the nigglers until I could afford to have a deep bench.

[Grumbledook]

think we are in agreement there

[Mad Jackal]

I guess I need to clarify my position a bit.


If you have the money (40k) to replace the Niggled thrall then sack him.(barring skill/combo limits.) And replace him.


If you don't have the 40k and it means you'll be less than 11 then I would sack him anyway and take journemen thralls to fill to 11. Buying thralls as you can.

If you don't have the 40k and will have more than 11 players for your next match (excluding him) then cutting him is a touchier situation.

Sure if your choice is having him on the bench for 1 drive and then either bringing him on to play with 11, that is probably better than not brining any-one one..... But you are looking at 40k of TV to hold an unskilled thrall for this choice. What is your opponent getting or are you not getting for this 40 k ?

That's tougher. I see so much TV "un-used" in inducement money that I think that this 40k can easily be combined with 10k of money you'd just throw away otherwise to get a blood weiser babe or a card. That might have more value to me than this unskilled 12th man thrall.

If the thrall is skilled, then obviously he 's worth more TV, and more usefull.

Generally though, in my experience niggled thralls are deadly to hang onto too long.

I personally run 4 vamps and 10 thralls on my team which is cutting it a ton closer than the recomended 3 vamp / 13 thrall lineup proposed above.

[bouncergriim]

I am thinking for my thralls instead of Block/Fend going Wrestle/Fend. This would mean that if my thrall gets knocked down (placed prone) he will only have a player beside him if they moved there or hit him into another players TZ. This will allow my thrall to not have to dodge and thus position himself better for a Blood lust backup placement.

ON doubles for the sandard thrall (not a ball retriever/carrier), would you go Thick Skull, dodge, leader or some other skill?

Here is my starting lineup for a new season (despite all the advice to the contrary) All unskilled so far. Short season only 12 games allowed per team
4 vamps
7 thralls
4 RRs

Lost my first game in OT 2-1 versus rookie rotter team (expierenced BB coach new to rotters) Would have won it except failed a Blood Lust on turn 8 first half ( I had a back up plan but it fell through, I moved a vamp by an opp who was next to a thrall and then failed the Hypnotic Gaze, then decided that BL was less risky than trying to dodge the thrall and of course rolled a 1) 1 TD, 3 completions, and 1 Cas all on my vamps for SPPs, and an MVP on an uninjured Thrall. 1 dead thrall, 1 MNG, and 1 MNG -1mv, and only 20k in the bank.

Skill plan:
Turn one vamp into a thrower (Pro, strong arm, safe throw (doubles))
2 into blockers (Pro, Block, dodge) and (pro, strip ball, block or jugg)
and 1 into runner/ball carrier (pro, surehands, sprint)
Thralls = fodder backup for bites

Any other suggestions would be appreciated

[Grumbledook]

i'd build the vamps more on getting the ball off the other team than specialising them

you don't need one as a thrower, loads of useless skills when he doesn't have the ball

seeing as you overloaded on vamps and don't have enough rerolls i'd get leader asap, though that means less guard on the thralls

[fen]

I am thinking for my thralls instead of Block/Fend going Wrestle/Fend. This would mean that if my thrall gets knocked down (placed prone) he will only have a player beside him if they moved there or hit him into another players TZ. This will allow my thrall to not have to dodge and thus position himself better for a Blood lust backup placement.

I don't think the team is fast enough to consider Wrestle Players beyond maybe 3 for the LoS. I prefer Block and Fend, with that skill mentioned below on doubles.

ON doubles for the sandard thrall (not a ball retriever/carrier), would you go Thick Skull, dodge, leader or some other skill?

Guard. Guard is great for keeping your guys alive and on their feet longer, while also being harder to negate than Dodge. I'd take Thick Skull or Side Step on a second doubles.

Skill plan:
Turn one vamp into a thrower (Pro, strong arm, safe throw (doubles))
2 into blockers (Pro, Block, dodge) and (pro, strip ball, block or jugg)
and 1 into runner/ball carrier (pro, surehands, sprint)
Thralls = fodder backup for bites

Any other suggestions would be appreciated

Personally I'd never turn a Vampire into a thrower. They're good enough for the job anyway with AG4. So it's easier to use natural ability.
My prefered Vampire skills are mainly:
Block, Guard and Side Step
Then mixing in some Tackle and Mighty Blow to deal with Agility teams
And one of Juggernaut + Frenzy for crowd pushing

Guard + Side Step is my favourite Vampire Skill combo, it allows the Vampire to be a pain (in the neck *boom boom*) without even having to use them and roll for Blood Lust. Block, Guard, Sidestep is also one of the more irritating skill combos in the game. Guard also supports the Thralls by allowing them to make better Blocks than they normally would.

I'd only take Dodge myself if there are a very low number of Tackle players in the league. As your Vampires will always get targeted by Tackle players if they have Dodge. So it becomes somewhat meaningless.

Unfortunately your team is in a bad position, so 'dook is right that you'd probably want a leader thrall, which is a shame as Guard Thralls are much better.

You might want to make a Leader Vampire instead, with the intention of firing him a bit later on when you have 6 rerolls of your own and a decent amount of thralls.

[ttias]

I've been thinking about trying to skill my vamps with Pass block & possibly shadowing, to get some positioning and moveability that don't demand blood lust rolls. Any one tried that, and any thoughts about that?

[Grumbledook]

shadowing is a bit poor on mv 6 imho

its only a 2+ to do an action rerolls are to enable that, wouldn't waste skill rolls on what is essentially an unskilled team

you need block tackle stripball etc

[Grogmir]

Hey there

Someone early asked what it is like to play with/against 6 vamps. Well I’ve just played a game against the vamp team in our league that has 6 vampires. It was his first game and I begged him to take 4 vamps and 4 re-rolls (his conservative option) but he only plays very occasionally so he wanted his vamps and he wanted them now!. Sigh.

Anyway I won the game 2-1 – He was helped by the TV dif which he used to increase his RR’s from 2 to 6 so he had them to use on his bloodlust which he had to (he did roll at LOT of ones in this game). I must admit when he was down to 1 thrall after 2 turns I was getting very worried for him but he recovered and started to get a few tactics together – such as moving a thrall near a person you want to Gaze so even if it fails etc… but did it hinder him in this one game? Probably not, will it hinder him down the line. Well – He killed two thralls and I gave one – 1 ST so he’s already down to 2 team thralls.

It was certainly fun and as the scores suggest he had chances. So my verdict on 6 vamps…

On a one-off game certainly playable. In a long term league I could see a lot of problems. (what happens when he doesn’t have 6 rrs and all them 1's become attacks on thralls?

[Grumbledook]

i struggle with 3 vamps and loads of thralls in some one off tournament matches

as long as you don't roll loads of 1s, it could be interesting to try, though I fear for the easy turnovers when there are no thralls to bite

[gsot_5]

I played my first Vamp game last night. They are my fun entry to our league...

5 rerolls 2 Vamps was what I went for.

8 double 1's for Bloodlust. And another 4 failed after I'd used a reroll.

Worst. Dice. Ever.


However mad I was at the time (worst I've ever been wargaming) I can see the potential and can't wait for the game I get good dice (average would do).

[Wosret]

Hijacking the Tread for a bit (well sort of still in there)

Yesterday had 8th game in our League with my Vampires against Necromantics.
Unskilled team only Block on his one flesh golem further
2 Were's, 2 Wights, 2ghouls, 6zombs toplay with (3 Missing) 2FF, 2RR

me 3 vamps(1Block, 1MB), 8 thralls (Pass, Kick, Block, Dodge and 1 Journey) 4 RR, 4FF 1 vamp missing( the 1Av, 1Ag one)

First half the vamps dominated the field, more due to bad ball handling from opponent, and got in the lead with TD's 2-0 but the journey thrall dead so down to 10 players.
second half got worse start, another thrall died, Regen saved from dead my MB vamp ready for skill due to TD and Cas. So down to 8 on pitch in 5 turns my team got pounded result 2 more injured both the Block vamp and thrall.
Necro's suround my players and get away with the ball last vamp goes after with Dodge roll's of 6,6,5,6 gfi gfi 2DBlock against. Balcarrier goes down.
Necros turn on the kicking pound him 4 times, 2 zombs get off with Red card still there takes down ball carrier again but not enough.

The Necro's score in turn 8 with me only unskilled vamp and 4 thralls left on pitch.

Score(for, against)
TD 2 - 1
Cas 2 - 5
Red 0 - 2
Dead 0 - 2

After game
1 skill roll on Vamp Double 5 (What to do, i'am leaning towards Leader for more reroll's)
Winnings 90K (6+won+2Fame) for treasury 220K

So wat to do with?
The double5 => Leader or Nerves of steal, Mv or Av
The treasury => 1 Re-Roll and 2 thrall's 1 to replace the -Ag/Av vamp
maybe take new vamp in stead of Re-roll and leader on the vamp

one game left(Human) till quarter finals, Still in there with 3 win's and 5 losses but that could change curently 3th.

Any advice is welcome

On the BL subject.
Failed total of 12 roll's in entire match rerolled 9 of them (2 Fame realy helped here giving me 3 extra re-rolls) one of wich still failed 2 stunned one badly hurt(dead before Appo) and Journeythrall Dead. All in all not bad but lost 3 Blitzes and postponed scoring by 1 turn due to running back to bite a thrall.

[voyagers_uk]

Team being tried out tonight... against my Norse

4 Vamps
8 Thralls
3 rerolls
FF 3

he gets 110k in inducements cash, I think he will go for a wandering Apoth or a reroll to minimise the damage.

start with only 3 Vamps on the field etc...

[datalorex]

Team being tried out tonight... against my Norse

4 Vamps
8 Thralls
3 rerolls
FF 3

he gets 110k in inducements cash, I think he will go for a wandering Apoth or a reroll to minimise the damage.

start with only 3 Vamps on the field etc...

That team sounds insane.