St 5 wardancer help

[Storch]

I'd actually say go for the MA.

It will allow him to get to even more of the board for a blitz and, if you continue your crazy un-statistical rolling and get another 10, you could make his next skill after that sprint giving you the most badass one turn scorer ever.

[mattgslater]

Now, I remember this one Treeman with +MA, +AV, and Block. That was annoying.

Isn't AV maxed at 10?

Long time ago. Don't remember the particulars. It might have had something to do with Magic Helmet or something.

[fen]

Only 1 in 15,552 Wardancers get this combination of rolls. You have something special there. Protect the special.

+AV

[mattgslater]

Even at the expense of some of its specialness? If you love something, set it free. If it dies on the pitch, it was never meant to be.

[whitetiger]

I'd give him the armor and only use him sparingly. Use him for the first couple of drives, both offense and defense and then sit him butt down on the bench. He's gonna have a target on him the size of Montana and the longer he's on the pitch, the more likely somebody is gonna get him down and foul him with four or five assists.

A few years ago I was in a league with a WE team that had a catcher with +2 MA, first things he got. Then he got sprint, then sure feet, then leap, then about every other skill in the book. 1 Turn TD everytime. You'd kick off, his thrower would pick up the ball, throw it to the catcher, the catcher would leap your line and go in for the score. Bada bing, bada boom, bada bang. Just that quick. The player was worth about 150 SPP when he was fouled and killed by a Chaos Team. The WE coach left him on the pitch by mistake on defense. Oops.

[mattgslater]

This guy's very different from that Catcher. He has ST5 and Blodge. If you protect him reasonably well, he'll do a good job of protecting himself the rest of the way. Just make sure you have a TRR before you Leap, and Leap with the other guy when you can. Otherwise, the standard player-protector is just fine for this guy: so long as you mark big guys, he's very hard to hit.

[whitetiger]

I'd seriously think about giving him fend and sidestep in the future as well. He's gonna get a lot of SPPs.

And my point about the catcher was, the better he gets, the bigger the target on him. I forgot to mention that when the Chaos coach realized that that catcher was on the pitch, he didn't even try to pick up the ball. He went straight at that catcher with every player. I think he fouled with about 5 assists. And that is not an exageration. He went at that catcher with every player he could. And they'll go after that wardancer the same way.

[Jural]

Even at the expense of some of its specialness? If you love something, set it free. If it dies on the pitch, it was never meant to be.

Clearly a Strength 5 Elf was never meant to be, right? So just try and hold on to it for as long as possible. + AV

[mattgslater]

I think he fouled with about 5 assists. And that is not an exageration. He went at that catcher with every player he could. And they'll go after that wardancer the same way.

A good argument for not taking +AV. If your opponent is fouling, AV is worthless unless it's so good he can't get to 5+, and not particularly useful unless your opponent can't get to 6+ (or 7+ if he's fouling with a Sneaky Git). AV 8 has a big benefit when the player first falls down, but it's barely better than nothing when he gets fouled. Better to try to keep this guy on his feet by avoiding 3+ rolls or even 2+ rolls without a RR, and by using him to do reliable stuff early on when you've got the RR should you need it. That's much more protection than a point of AV you hope never to actually have to use anyway.

IMO, AV is one of those funny things that looks good when compared to some things (sometimes it'd be better on a player type as a whole than MA: for instance, a Human lino is a better line-sacrifice than a Skaven lino at 50k), but when considered as an improvement, at the expense of some other skill (at least one you'd buy, as opposed to Thick Skull or something), suddenly it looks wasteful because it doesn't DO anything: it doesn't usually move your game forward, and every skill you buy must do that. I'd be hard pressed ever to take AV on a double 5, and I'd only take it on a 10 if it were a late skill on a line player or blitz absorber in a perpetual league, or under a few odd circumstances otherwise (if I had an Orc team with a Gobbo who already had MA7 or Sure Feet plus another skill like Catch or NoS, and I rolled a 6/4, I might take +AV... maybe). It's a good third or fourth bump on a Storm Vermin, and it's great on a Norse Runner with Side Step or Dodge, but not at the expense of doubles. I'm running out of places to apply it, though....

On a 6/4, I could see going AV with a ST5 Wardancer: I probably wouldn't (Side Step offers more protection), but I could see it. On a 5/5, no way. Go with the functionality of Mighty Blow or Multiple Block (which will be truly lovely after he gets Side Step next: God, that's icky).

Yeah. Multiple Block.

[Darkson]

However I'd argue a MA10 ST2 Dodge catcher is a lot easier to knock down (especially as it's placed on the LOS for OTS) and therefore foul that a ST5 Blodge Wardancer (that's more than likely NOT on the LOS).

[fen]

I happily take +AV on anything that's AV8 or less with very few exceptions (runners, certain Blitzers and one turners). Every point of additional AV on your team makes you more resistant to the biggest problem, player attrition.

This goes double on a player that starts with Blodge and Leap. He's already pretty much got everything he needs to be exceedingly irritating and potent. The guy is approaching Count Luthor's territory for power.

In this situation +AV looks better than anything else. Heck I'd take +ST, +ST, +AV, +AV on a Wardancer if I could, it doesn't need anything else to dominate the pitch.

[Blammaham]

Retire him NOW!.... every great player should go out on top! .S.

[stormmaster1]

I'd take +MA or mighty blow. They will make him a better player. +MA in particular. an MA9 ST5 player? that's awesome especially with AG4 and his starting skills. Mighty blow on the other hand will help him in the blitzing, skill him up quicker to the next level and make opponents want to kill him even more.

[whitetiger]

However I'd argue a MA10 ST2 Dodge catcher is a lot easier to knock down (especially as it's placed on the LOS for OTS) and therefore foul that a ST5 Blodge Wardancer (that's more than likely NOT on the LOS).

I didn't say it'd be easy to take him out. I'm saying that a lot of people are going to be trying. I'd definately get Side Step on him quickly, keep him from being crowd pushed.

At 8 5 4 9, this guy'd be like the Hulk. Do not make him angry. He's worse than a Rat Ogre.

[Ullis]

I'd give him the armor and only use him sparingly. Use him for the first couple of drives, both offense and defense and then sit him butt down on the bench. He's gonna have a target on him the size of Montana and the longer he's on the pitch, the more likely somebody is gonna get him down and foul him with four or five assists.

You really can't do that. His value is 240k with a normal skill and 250k with a double, +MA or +AV. You can't leave that amount of TV sitting at the bench, as hes a valuable asset both on defense and offense, more so on defense. So, now that you're stuck with him, you're gonna have to keep him on the pitch at least until you've got a guaranteed win for the game. Keeping him on the pitch means that you have to keep him out of the KO or Injured box as well. AV helps there (plus it keeps him out of stun as well).

Getting even two assists on fouls isn't easy if you don't leave him all alone. If he gets stunned, getting assists gets easier (but AV keeps him out of stun). If he's got just one wing man with him all times, its gonna be hard for most teams (having mummies and chaos warriors helps a lot) to even get him down, as getting two dice on a ST5 player isn't easy.

The jump from AV7 to AV8 is a big difference. The chance of breaking armor goes down by 14 percentage points (and 16 points if the opponent has mighty blow!) as illustrated below:

58 % of getting through AV 6
42 % of getting through AV 7 (a drop of 16 percentage points)
28 % of getting through AV 8 (a drop of 14 percentage points)
17 % of getting through AV 9 (a drop of 9 percentage points)

Last, +MA for a possible one-turner in the future? Wood elves have catchers for that.