Orcs: Who gets Kick?

Master Wang · Post by **Master Wang** » Sat May 10, 2008 2:24 pm

Well, with a bit of luck / well planned offence, 2-3 of my blitzers should get their first skills in the next game. One'll become my ball hunter, but I'll try out stand firm on the other two...

Cheers with the heads up over the code thing. Pretty cool.

Post by **DoubleSkulls** » Sun May 11, 2008 2:01 am

Interesting. I'd probably say guard is the #1 skill for Orcs because it makes passive defence fantastically strong - especially against other bash teams. The combination of 4 or 5 players with S4 or better and lots of guard is very difficult for most teams to break down.

So for me guard is the first choice on the first two or three BOBs to skill up. The last one or two can get block just because they'll then get the block/guard combo sooner. Stand Firm and mighty blow fight it out for the 3rd spot. I'd ignore doubles on BOBs on the first two skill rolls too.

Blitzers are much more affected by the league composition as they need to both fill the hunter role (tackle/mighty blow or frenzy/mighty blow) and provide more mobile assists (guard). So with lots of elves etc hunters are more important than the assists, whilst with bashy league the guard/mighty blow route can be used instead. I'd always take Frenzy on the first Blitzer to skill up. Its too good a utility skill to pass up.

Throwers now have a lot of choices. The traditional runner now has KoR as an option on top of block, with leader being very competitive choice too. In most instances I'll take another skill first the opportunity cost is quite high. The other thrower can be built to pass accurate/kor/safe throw etc or as another runner - personnally I like having a passing option for the short duration drives.

Trolls are guard, stand firm and praying for doubles...

Goblins, does it matter?, probably sure feet, sprint, catch as after a while they are only getting used for one turners and shouldn't be normally fielded otherwise.

whitetiger · Post by **whitetiger** » Sun May 11, 2008 2:32 pm

I'd always give BOBs block as a first skill. They're in the mix banging heads too much. I hate it when a power player goes down when they're throwing a block and throw a both down die. After that, guard and stand firm are my choices. Make a wall of BOBs that is very hard to break through. And BOBs don't skill up often, so you have to be very judicious in what you give them.

PubBowler · Post by **PubBowler** » Mon May 12, 2008 3:01 pm

ianwilliams wrote: Goblins, does it matter?, probably sure feet, sprint, catch as after a while they are only getting used for one turners and shouldn't be normally fielded otherwise.

I can't add anything to Ian's (excellent) post on the other positions but here I have a difference in opinion.

Bashy league: TTM only as above

Agile league: Diving Tackle, Side Step, Jump Up

Can be thrown over line to harass thrower types or used to mark the catcher types you're not pounding with your hunter Blitzer.

mattgslater · Post by **mattgslater** » Mon May 12, 2008 10:14 pm

I'm generally not keen on TTM: just too many chances to go wrong. I like Gobbos as a reward for tempo-control. Score on Turn 6 (or force a score on Turn 6), and now you've got a two-turner mechanism better than many teams' options, on a team built for the long slug-fest.

Guard on Orcs is good in a league where you're worried about Khemri, Chaos or Lizardmen. Otherwise, I'm not so keen on it (except on Trolls: it's a great nose tackle skill; also, it has good applications on outside LBs after getting a jump on the hunter package with MB and either Tackle or Frenzy). I usually have to worry more about elves than Khemri, so I tend to downplay Guard on BOBs and Blitzers in favor of Mighty Blow, Tackle and Stand Firm (plus of course Frenzy).

whitetiger · Post by **whitetiger** » Wed May 14, 2008 2:32 am

mattgslater wrote: I usually have to worry more about elves ...

As well you should. All Elves can dance around Orcs and DE eat them for breakfast.

Post by **DoubleSkulls** » Sat May 17, 2008 1:02 pm

I'll rephrase the gobbo comment.

Normally only get fielded for short offensive drives. The skill selection is the same (sure feet/sprint/catch) as the 2 turn run is just as needy of the extra pace as the one turn effort.

Any good player is going to target gobbos - and everyone ought to have some block/tackle or block/frenzy after a few games. So fielding a gobbo either means you'll be down a player very soon, or have to protect them so much you may as well be.

mattgslater · Post by **mattgslater** » Sat May 17, 2008 1:27 pm

He's definitely player #14 for that reason.