How to develop ST5 Black Orc Blocker?

Ulrikk · Post by **Ulrikk** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 7:43 pm

My Black Orc with Block and Guard recently got strength 5. Yay!

However, what is the best way to develop such a huge asset? I'm considering Multiple Block or Frenzy. How would you do it?

mattgslater · Post by **mattgslater** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 8:00 pm

Is he your nose? Stand Firm.

Got a Troll for that? Multiple Block.

Ulrikk · Post by **Ulrikk** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 8:53 pm

Wouldn't stand firm be a bit wasted on him? He is ST5, so he is not going to be blocked that often.

Grogmir · Post by **Grogmir** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 9:24 pm

Gotta be Frenzy or MB for me.

tenwit · Post by **tenwit** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 9:27 pm

Ulrikk wrote:Wouldn't stand firm be a bit wasted on him? He is ST5, so he is not going to be blocked that often.

Why not? It's exactly the same chance for my ST3 player to knock him down now that your BOB is ST5. Odds haven't changed a bit. If anything, he's more likely to get blocked. Sure I'm less likely to use my ST2 player, but I'd rather block him than have him block me.. at least if I'm blocking, a POW! gets him down.

stashman · Post by **stashman** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 9:51 pm

Fend or Break Tackle to have that monster more mobile.

Ulrikk · Post by **Ulrikk** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 9:55 pm

tenwit wrote: Why not? It's exactly the same chance for my ST3 player to knock him down now that your BOB is ST5. Odds haven't changed a bit. If anything, he's more likely to get blocked. Sure I'm less likely to use my ST2 player, but I'd rather block him than have him block me.. at least if I'm blocking, a POW! gets him down.

Maybe you're right. The coaches I usually play against hate to make any other than two-dice blocks, so they will block him less.

As it is, a ST3 who blocks a ST4 or 5 have 55% chance of causing a turnover, not counting rerolls or assists. That means people will probably wait until the end of the turn before blocking him. Which means that he will not be blocked that much, as they hopefully have caused a turnover by then.

But his great strength might be better used offensively. He is probably the safest guy ever to give frenzy, as he have big problems getting into situations where the block dice go against him.

But Multiple block is also tempting, I have three other guys with guard, so it should come in handy.

mattgslater: I think I'll develop my troll for the defensive role (stand firm, then guard) so the Black orc is going to be offensive for sure.

Hmmm.... Which should it be? Frenzy or Mult. Block?

stashman · Post by **stashman** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 10:00 pm

With Break Tackle you can dodge into cages on a 3+/4+ and then give the Guard for a Blitz!!!

landrover · Post by **landrover** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 10:03 pm

Frenzy for sure. Although he's ST5, you'll still need two other assists to make MultiBlock work. That ties up too many of your team for the sake of a bit of fun.

tenwit · Post by **tenwit** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 10:19 pm

landrover wrote:Frenzy for sure. Although he's ST5, you'll still need two other assists to make MultiBlock work. That ties up too many of your team for the sake of a bit of fun.

He has lots of guard players: one guard player in both targets' tackle zones means a single assist will work (as the guard will cancel the opponent's assist while still giving his assist).

That said, I think Frenzy is the way to go. It works in all non-cage situations, and in many cages too. For dealing with cages, the next skill should either be Guard or (probably a better choice) Tackle: frenzy into the cage (thus avoiding the need for Break Tackle), and use the gap to put lots of TZs on the ball carrier. Next turn, you can take him down.

mattgslater · Post by **mattgslater** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 10:33 pm

Ulrikk wrote:Wouldn't stand firm be a bit wasted on him? He is ST5, so he is not going to be blocked that often.

Depends where you put him. If you stack your wide zones to force the offense to run inside, you can use SF on your strongside end lineman (the guy on the end of the three-man cluster, on the side with the weaker linebacking) against a no-Big-Guy team to hedge 'em in virtually 100% of the time, and on a one-BG team to force a pair of less-than-easy checks. If you have a scary Troll, you don't even have to pick a strongside: the opponent now has to push your Troll. Good luck with that, esp. if your nose tackle (the BOB in the middle of the line) has Guard.

If you tend to put your ST5 guy in the middle of the line at Nose Tackle, then SF is better against bash teams (esp. Khemri), because your opponent can't push the Guard player off of the ends no matter how hard he tries, and he always has to get worried about getting whacked back if he fails to KD (4 times in 9, I might add).

It has the same value offensively: it's much harder to crack a cage with a Big Guy, if the anchor has ST5/Guard/Stand Firm and he's surrounded by Guard. It does require you to pin their Juggernaut(s) down, but you're Orcs: how hard can that be? Defensively, there's no such requirement if you keep him on the line. If he's not a line-player, don't give him Stand Firm (Frenzy or Multiple Block: Multiple Block is cooler, Frenzy is better).

Mighty Blow is a great 1st-3rd selection. This guy's beyond that now, one step from the end of his career. Take utility skills, not star skills. Frenzy's both, so that's ok. Ditto Multiple Block.

Ulrikk · Post by **Ulrikk** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 12:10 am

Thanks for the replies, guys. Much appreciate it.

I think I'm going with Frenzy for this BOB. It's much more versatile than the other skills that we've covered. I'd really like a BO with Frenzy, and this ST5 is much better at the job than a ST4 would be. Plus, a ST5, Block, Guard, Frenzy BOB will make the other guys in my league worried and start gossiping about my fearful team.

Now the question that I face is what to do with my other Black Orcs. I got one with Block, Guard who is getting Stand Firm next. I've also got two with Block who is just a single CAS away from getting their second skill. What should I give them? M.B. or stand firm? One of each?

mattgslater · Post by **mattgslater** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 12:44 am

Playing a lot of games? Either is good. Not expecting to skill them up a lot more? SF beats MB. SF gives you control on your opponent's turn. Only Side Step does that better.

Ulrikk · Post by **Ulrikk** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 1:02 am

mattgslater wrote:Playing a lot of games? Either is good. Not expecting to skill them up a lot more? SF beats MB. SF gives you control on your opponent's turn. Only Side Step does that better.

Yes... The problem is that I'm falling behind on the casualty count in our league. The two chaos players are really discovering the joys of Claws, and since our only dwarf player won the chaos cup and got two guys with Claws + M.B... Well, things have been quite bloody.

But to answer your question: Yes, it is a perpetual league, so I expect to play lots of matches in the future. Maybe I'll go for one of each.

tenwit · Post by **tenwit** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 1:14 am

It's perpetual, so get Mighty Blow first for both. You've already got Stand Firm lined up for one BOB, and the Troll will get it soon if he doesn't already have it. You'll want it on your Frenzy player ASAP (Frenzy = crowd pushes = you're going to be standing on the sideline a lot = SF is vital). Three is enough to start with. You want to be able to hit some of those Claw players and take them out of the game. MB helps with that.