Norse vs. Lizardmen - set up advice

[steveq]

I have a league match coming up tomorrow night against Lizardmen.

My Norse teams line up is:
Thrower x 2 (one with AG5,SSP17, one with 3SSP)
Runner x 2 (one with Sure Hands & Sure Feet,SSP19, one with Dodge,SSP6)
Berzerkers x 2 (one with Strip Ball, AV6,SSP14 one with Guard & Stand Firm,SSP23)
Ulwereners x 2 (both with Block & SSP 13 & 6)
Linemen x 5 (one with Tackle,SSP8 and the rest on 5,4,2,&1 SSP)
FF6, 3RR,2CL, 2 AC, 100,000 in Treasury

His line up is:
Saurus x 4(one with Block)
Skink x 8 ( three with Jump Up, one with Catch & -1MA, one with Block)

Its the last game of the league season before the play offs and I am already in the semi-finals. I know my tactic is to bash his skinks for the whole match but I am pondering what to do about the line of scrimmage when I set up defensively.

On offence I plan to set up the Berserker with Guard and Stand Firm at nose tackle with the Ulfwerners on each square either side. Should I use the same three when setting up to kick to him or should I just put some sacrifical linemen there, and keep my position players out of harms way, or am I being too much of a wuss and very un-Norse like. Obviously his Saurus will pack a pretty good punch when going first even with their lack of skills.

I plan to set up the rest of the team spread fairly deep to put as many tackle zones out as possible for his Skinks to dodge through.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Steve

[PubBowler]

I'd put sacrifices on the LOS on defense. ST4 against your ST AV7 could be messy.

Leave your Guard & Stand Firm guy free to go where the action is.

Your Tackle lino & Ulfs are going to be your stars at taking out skinks and separating saurus respectively.

Oh and he's going to be inducing people right, your TV seems to be higher than his (especially as you have 16 guys). Watch out for Hemlock & any MB Saurus.

[necromancer]

IMO

Berzerkers should have mblw, piling on (jump up+piling on combo is excellent)

Why Sure hands on the runner? I guess you pickup with your thrower?

I would put linemen on the LOS. They got block and with all that st4 the opponent will have 2d blocks anyway.

The Ulfwernes are expensive so are your Berzerker. don't let him block them for "free".

Where is your Snow Troll for taking out all those nice yummie AV9 Dinos? Show them that they are pre ice-age

[rodders]

keep that lino with tackle in your backfield as a sweeper he's your skink hunter. also "pin" his saurus with skilless lino's without block even though they're S4 they will be tied up for a long time remember 2d blocks without block never guarantee your opponent goes down

[Da_Great_MC]

1) A shame you don't have a Snow Troll, it would have made things a lot easier.

2) In regular Norsca vs Lizardmen, my money is on the Lizardmen. AV7 is a bigger liability than "no block". This hower is not a regular game, because your opponent only has 4 Sauri and no Krox. In this game, you are the clear overdog.

3) Offence: your opponent does not have Frenzy or Sidestep. Move the ball to the sidelines in a loose cage and make him chase it. Your 4 Frenzy guys and Guard + Stand Firm should pay big time. (you play Norsca, so I assume you know how to translate Frenzy into a lot of crowd pushes)

4) Defence: tie up the Sauri as fast as you can, target the Skinks with Block + Frenzy. If your opponent wins the toss and he manages a good position to run in the 2nd turn TD, don't waste any re-rolls on trying to prevent the near-inevitable. Force him to score in turn 2 and focus on scoring the 1-1 in turn 8.

[steveq]

Thanks for all the advice guys. I will definitely be putting Lino's on the LOS.

To answer a couple of questions, the Runner got Sure Hands as he was the first player to skill up and I did not want to burn re-rolls picking up the ball. We are 9 games into the season now and the Thrower developed much later.

I decided not to go with a Snow Troll at the start as in practice games I played he was a bit liablity. I am planning to include one for next season though.

I won the first match with him 3-0 but he has improved a lot since then.

Steve

[PubBowler]

To answer a couple of questions, the Runner got Sure Hands as he was the first player to skill up and I did not want to burn re-rolls picking up the ball. We are 9 games into the season now and the Thrower developed much later.

I see a lot of teams use their runners as primary ball carriers.
Thus I wasn't surprised when I saw Sure Hands on him.

[kithor2002]

While you only face 4 Sauri it should be an easy win with your Norse.

For Defence just put three Linemen on the LOS.
And like you sad block/blitz as much skinks as you can- he can't protect them with the few Sauri.
And if the Blodge skink is on the ground foul him as he will be the biggest threat!

[stormmaster1]

plus your tackle lineman will become a great player for this game. Particularly for taking down the blodger.

[steveq]

I am pleased to say that thanks to advice received I did manage to sneak a 1-0 win.

I ran a sideline cage up the pitch in the first half and managed to send 5 out 7 skinks crowd surfing. 1 Skink was killed but the rest were either knocked out or stunned. Unfortunately when I was poised to score on turn 6 he managed to knock the ball loose on a one die block (I had block and he didn't) and it went into crowd who threw it straight back to a skink who dodged clear and threw a long bomb downfield to an open square where he hoped to pick it up with a skink lurking down there. I managed to get a TZ on the ball and he was unable to pick up.

In the second half he received and the ball went 6 squares straight back from the kick and then bounced out for a touch back so he gave it to one of the Saurus but an early failed block opened a big gap and I was able to blitz the Saurus down but not pick up the ball. He managed to recover and dodge away with a skink but I eventually got the ball free and picked it up with my AG5 Thrower who threw a quick pass to a berserker who ran back to midfield. We exchanged possession in quick succession before a lineman finally got the ball and scored on my turn 7 leaving him no chance to equalise

The lineman gained a new skill so I immediately gave him Kick.

Thanks again for all the advice.

Steve

[rodders]

What about winnings enought to buy that snow troll?

[steveq]

Hi Rodders,

Yes I now have 150K in the bank so the Snow Troll is a possibility. I am not sure whether I ought to get him for the play offs or wait until next season and learn to use him in the early games then.

Thanks for the PM by the way. Did you get my reply?

Steve

[rodders]

yup
I'd buy the snowtroll now and drop the av6 berzerker

[PubBowler]

I'd buy the snowtroll now and drop the av6 berzerker

I agree, with AV6 and a poor (IMO) skill choice you're best to cut you losses.

And Snow Trolls are just great.

[steveq]

I realise from having trawled the forum since I joined that the Snow Troll is held in high regard but I am bit concerned about trying to learn how best to use him at this late stage in the season. My record is 5-4-1 with the only defeat coming on a last turn HMP which had to scatter 3 squares in a row to land in the receivers square who had already moved into the end zone. This was especially upsetting as I had been throwing a long pass to win the match on my last turn only for the dropped catch to be thrown straight back 12 squares by the crowd into range of the HMP player..but hey thats Blood Bowl

I will give it some thought especially as I may end up playing a Skaven team with a Rat Ogre in the play offs. Otherwise I was just planning on running with the AV6 Berserker until he died or suffered any other sort of Stat decrease whilst keeping enough in the Bank to buy another. I have been pretty lucky so far as the only other player to be injured wasa lineman who managed to kill himself dodging!

Steve

Rodders, I just tried to pm you again and it did not work. If you want to pm your email address I will drop you a line.