Doubles on a Vampire

juggler434 · Post by **juggler434** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 4:23 am

I've got a vampire team with the following line up

3 Vampires
9 Thralls
5 re-rolls
2 FF
1 AC
1 CL

I just got my first advancement roll and rolled doubles on one of the vamps despite my best efforts to skill up the thralls first. The league is pretty bashy: Orcs, Khemri, Ogres, High Elves, and Nurgle. What are peoples thoughts on a skill for my vamp.

tenwit · Post by **tenwit** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 4:44 am

Ignore the doubles. Pass and Nerves of Steel are both useful, but not yet, there are too many other important skills that you need with a rookie team. Block and Pro are both popular choices. Sprint allows you to put your Hypnotic Gaze on someone a bit further away. Guard will help your Thralls get a few extra casualties. Passive skills in general (Guard, Tackle, Side Step, Stand Firm, Block, Wrestle, Dodge) are all good ideas on negatrait players.

You have too many options for normal skills, why add 30k to your TV for a skill that you just don't need yet?

falconeyed · Post by **falconeyed** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 4:45 am

Leader or Pass, although I have reservations about turning a vampire into a dedicated thrower.

The more I think about it, the more I think Leader is the way to go. You'll need all the rerolls you can get.

tenwit · Post by **tenwit** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 4:47 am

The downside of Leader on a Vampire is that it might suddenly disappear just before you need it.. But you do need extra rerolls, it's true.

juggler434 · Post by **juggler434** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 8:52 am

I see the advantage in leader, but I'm wondering if its really worth giving up a skill for the player. Both games I have played so far I have not used all of my re-rolls, although I only had two vamps before. I'm very hesitant to give a vamp pass, with AG 4 is seems to make some sense, but I don't want to make a dedicated passer out of an unreliable player.

fen · Post by **fen** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 11:23 am

Ignore Doubles rolls on Vampires. Stick with GAS skills, you don't need a vampire passer or Leader. It's not worth the extra 10K, you want Leader on a Thrall (Pref an AV8 one) not a Vamp.

Stick with the staples like Block.

PubBowler · Post by **PubBowler** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 12:43 pm

fen wrote: Stick with the staples like Block.

Agreed.

Warpstone · Post by **Warpstone** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 10:29 pm

Fen's probably right, but if you have a hard time ignoring doubles: Nerves of Steel will turn him into a great man marker/receiver. NOS+AG4 is pretty damn useful for scaring your opponent into overcommiting players. He can play defence against the High Elves and deep receiver against all the bashy sides.

If you ever get a Dark Elf team in your league, NOS+AG4 will be an uber-combo against dump-passing.

fen · Post by **fen** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 10:47 pm

Warpstone wrote:If you ever get a Dark Elf team in your league, NOS+AG4 will be an uber-combo against dump-passing.

You can just hypno gaze the dump off player before blitzing him. Hypnotised players aren't allowed to pass the ball. It also stops pass blocking, intercepts and it's hilarious when you do it to the recievers on the opposing team.

"Want to pass to them? Better move them first squire, does that make the pass a long bomb? Oh I am so sorry."

juggler434 · Post by **juggler434** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 11:40 pm

I think I'm goint to go with block. I'll see if I regret not taking pro. NOS was what I was originally looking at, but its just not what I use the vampire for. I mostly use my vamps to gaze, and block will give him a little more protection, and if I need to throw the a puch they'll be able to.

Warpstone · Post by **Warpstone** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 11:44 pm

fen wrote:
Warpstone wrote:If you ever get a Dark Elf team in your league, NOS+AG4 will be an uber-combo against dump-passing.
You can just hypno gaze the dump off player before blitzing him.

Good point. I guess I'm still stretching my brain to understand the unique options available to a vamp side. An Ag4+NOS is really great for getting a dump-passed ball in one fell swoop on a blitz, but a skill-deprived Vamp side would probably be better served with more conventional skills.

I do admit that I have an incredibly hard time doing the practical thing and passing up doubles

fen · Post by **fen** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 12:02 am

I pass up doubles a lot with three teams: Chaos, Nurgle and Vampires. These guys have good enough skill access that you don't need the doubles rolls (Dodge is tempting with Chaos/Nurgle, but I play in very tackle heavy leagues so it doesn't work most of the time).

Vampires are so good at doing their thang (when they don't get peckish) that Passing skills rarely do anything that AG4 or Hypno Gaze can't do already.

mattgslater · Post by **mattgslater** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 3:02 am

Forewarning: Maybe I shouldn't be giving advice: I'm a wee bit bombed.

If you're the kind of guy who likes SH on Vamps*, then a Passing skill sounds like fun.

Maybe I shouldn't be dispensing advice tonight. If you don't see a big post in the morning (well, afternoon if you're a Lime and midnight if you're a Kiwi) condemning this stupid idea, it's probably a sign you wouldn't be screwing yourself to take Pass, then SH next for the free Accurate, as unless you roll consecutive 11s (1/324 chance after all, AG4 really is free Accurate.

*DISCLAIMER: I haven't gamed Vamps and can barely write after all that gin, but I'm about to make chili anyway [peut-être c'est parce que je ne peux pas conduir ce soir, et je ne parles pas l'Italien, so good pizza is out of the question, and I'm a Yank so Bonehead's on my profile and I can use big knives whether or not I can walk a straight line]. Ignore me if you want, but I'm dumb enough to listen to me at least, and some people (maybe dumb people, but if so I wouldn't know) think I'm smart and know this game when sober.

mattgslater · Post by **mattgslater** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 3:08 am

Wow. Record time. Save money and don't do anything stupid.

Unless it's Nerves of Steel. Nerves of Steel +AG4 RULES!

I'm still drunk. But I mean it, damn it!

Jural · Post by **Jural** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 5:50 am

fen wrote:I pass up doubles a lot with three teams: Chaos, Nurgle and Vampires...

I definitely pass up doubles on Chaos Dwarves often, there's no shame!

Elf teams should never pass up doubles, I feel. Well, unless it's double 5's or 6's...