Lizardmen advice

[mattgslater]

A ST loss is a firing offense.

Put a Side Stepper in the wide zone, with a tackle zone on the sideline a guy right next to him on the inside: if the guy falls down, have him fall directly outside, next to the sideline on the same depth as the guy just inside of his spot. You could put him in front of the inside guy and have him fall backward: if you do that, a ST3 opponent gets to hit him with 3d, but if you suspect a ST4 Blitz you have nothing to lose.

You can also use Side Step to pressure the ball; your guy can't get knocked off the ball if he keeps his feet, and there's no pushing him onto the ball. It's a good way to attack a cage too: put him somewhere where he has to get blocked, and you can let him fall in all kinds of crazy places.

Don't worry about inexperience. Do what you think a good coach will do, because that's what has value in practice. If it takes skills you don't have and you lose games, you'll learn from it more quickly and get better fast. Whatever you do, don't get discouraged: Nuffle doesn't hate losers, but He does hate quitters.

One thing having Side Step will do is teach you to read your opponent's roster, and to game for matchups (as if Lizards didn't teach you to do that already). A Blitzer with Grab/Tackle can give an opponent free rein on a wide zone: you still have your SS'ers to pressure the ball, but a) you have to Saurus-mark that guy if you want to use SS to pressure the cage, and b) you have to set up a more traditional defensive backfield, as if you didn't have a bunch of SS.

[mattgslater]

viewtopic.php?t=26719

There's a lot in here about what to do with a Side Step cornerback.

[someone2040]

Thanks for the advice guys.

I think I'm going to fire the strength 3 Saurus. In every game I've had to play Saurus down (My Saurus seem to like the Knocked out and Injuries box), so I don't think it will effect my play style too badly. He hasn't gotten any spp as far as I know (I have not cause a SINGLE casualty yet. Stupid slacking Saurus, I should make an entire team out of Skinks...) and I would hate for him to win the mvp just before I fire him.

With any luck, I'll be able to roll at least a 2 next match for my winnings (If I don't win or don't get fame), so I should be able to buy him back. Or would it be better to go the extra mile, stick it out with a journeyman skink for a few more games and nab the Kroxigor?
As far as I know, our league resets at the end, so everyone starts with fresh games. So this team will only be going for another 9 games + finals if I remember correctly. So that should probably be taken into account, as my Saurus may not even make it to their first skill at this rate!

[someone2040]

So just had a game against Humans last night. Went reasonably well, I was hoping to score a bit more, but it just wasn't meant to be. Ended up coming out on top with a 1-0 win, and my Saurus finally caused some casualties. It was a special round in that, the theme was it was played in Kislev (So Blizzard weather unless the weather was changed twice throughout the game or something) and each team nominated a captain. If the Captain scored a casualty or a touchdown, they got an extra 20k.

So given that, my first casualty came from my Captain, job well done. I ended up rollinga 6 for winnings as well, so have plenty in the money department now.

So here's what my team looks like at the moment
5x Saurus, 1 has a MVP but refuses to kill anything, 2 have a casualty each.
5 Skinks, 1x Sure Hands, 2x Sidestep, and 1 more levelled up last game so can get a skill.
Got an Apothecary, Fan Factors sitting at 7.

Now, I have 160k sitting in the bank. Given that I've played 4 out of the 12 games I believe (Meaning, only another 8 more + finals before the teams reset again) should I pick up a Kroxigor? Or pick up Saurus number 6 and know that if another guy gets busted, I still have some money to fall back on (Although, I'm currently happy running Journeymen as long as long as my big hitters don't go below 5 I think. I've been playing with 5 for most games so far).

Also, suggestions for skink skill. Lots of sidestep = good? Or should I perhaps make a slightly different one, say with catch, diving catch, maybe sprint.

[tenwit]

Since you can afford him, get the krox before the saurus. You have the experience with sauruses to know how to block with the krox, now you need to get used to bonehead.

The skills you suggest are the best ones to pick for skink first skills; Sneaky Git is also a contender, but that works best when you have a saurus or three with Block (since they'll be standing over the foul victim along with your git). If you find you hand off a lot, Catch is the best. I don't, so Diving Catch is better (helps with kick offs, and if you ever get an AG4 skink, he can 3+ quick pass to the 2+ diving catcher, paired with a possible hand off, giving you awesome ball-moving potential). If you get either of those skills, that skink gets the other skill next.

And since you have Sure Hands already, if you roll a double, get Block.

[DoubleSkulls]

I'd take the Saurus with the money. You'll still have a bit left so it won't be long until you've got the Krox - and because of Mighty Blow and 3 dice blocks the Krox can skill up quickly enough.

On the skink... catch is very tempting since it means with sure hands on the other you can move the ball very quickly from one to the other without needing TRR - useful if you want to score in 2 or 3 turns. Also it makes him a threat that needs extra attention.

More sidestep is good. Diving tackle is good if you are up against elves who run around you more than bash. DT can be good anyway since you can end up controlling the blitz destination or stopping the ball moving.

[tenwit]

In my experience, Diving Tackle is not a good first skill for a Skink. Excellent after Side Step and/or Block, but not by itself.

I do dream of someday getting the most irritating skink imaginable, Block/Guard/Side Step/Diving Tackle.

[someone2040]

Right, I guess I should mention that the league is a bit bash heavy.
I know for a fact that potentially I could be lined up against
2x Humans
2x Chaos Dwarfs
1x Nurgle
1x Skaven (possibly 2x)
2x Orcs I think (At the very least, 1x Orcs)
Unsure about the rest. I think there may be some pure Chaos in there... but not sure.

I don't think there are any Elves left, as the other Dark Elf player changed to Skaven, and the guy who said Wood Elves changed back to his original choice of Chaos Dwarfs.

I've already played Dwarfs, Dark Elves, Nurgle and Human. So that gets one set of Dwarfs out of the way. However, I do know that the Nurgle team has been doing VERY well, and at least one of the Chaos Dwarf team has won all his games (But is still riding around 11 players due to Hobs dying I believe).

So other than the Humans and Skavens, I don't think there's many other agily teams left for me to come up against. So perhaps Diving Tackle isn't the way to go at this point.

I only have 3 team re-rolls, and generally do end up using them. Usually out of re-rolls by the 6th turn, so catch could help there as long as I remember to keep him in a good position.

[tenwit]

I know for a fact that potentially I could be lined up against ...

Sprint is the skill that jumps out at me. Lots of teams have at least a couple of players that can keep up with your skinks, so one extra square between you and them might pay dividends.

I only have 3 team re-rolls, and generally do end up using them. Usually out of re-rolls by the 6th turn, so catch could help there as long as I remember to keep him in a good position.

Are you blocking too much? First your safe moves, then your ball-handling, then your blocks. Don't be tempted to take those last few optional blocks: your sauruses can turnover far too easily. If you skull out on a block after the ball is safe, don't reroll it. If you've got three turns and three rerolls left, then you can try a few unimportant blocks.

In the six games so far this season, I have finished with unused rerolls in 10 halves. And I don't even have any Block or Wrestle yet.

[DoubleSkulls]

Sprint is the skill that jumps out at me. Lots of teams have at least a couple of players that can keep up with your skinks, so one extra square between you and them might pay dividends.

Lizard teams normally need rerolls... sprint is a useful skill, but I'd take sure feet first so I wasn't burning TRRs on it.

[bouncergriim]

Just trying to think what skills help a suari get the next skill fastest:
Block and Mighty blow are no brainers

Then what, I am thinking Stand firm keeps them by opponents to help hit back. What other skills could be good.

[DoubleSkulls]

Remember the effort to get skills increases all the time. So you have two strategies.

1) Get the skills that help you skill up fastest
2) Get the skills you need to win games now.

For Saurus there is a degree to which these conflict. Block, Mighty Blow is nice - but other combos will make you win games now. Break Tackle is a crucial skill on a couple of Saurus, because it stops your opponents just man-marking saurus to enable their skink hunting.

I also like Frenzy on one Saurus - because they are fast & strong and its a good way to make holes.

You'll also probably want some guard, stand firm, tackle etc.

So although a Block/MB Saurus will get to that 3rd skill quicker than a Break Tackle/Wrestle saurus will - having that as a uniform skill set will probably reduce your win rate.