Best Slann starting roster?

Carnis · Post by **Carnis** » Tue May 05, 2009 9:34 am

Joemanji wrote: But either way, Blitzers are not the way to go. You can get a Linefrog and a reroll for the same price, and belive me that is waaay better.

Which brings us to the next question, was that the designer's intent? That the team have blitzers that are not worth buying except for guard access usage..? In all the other teams, the blitzers are the stars & you want all 4 asap.

Joemanji · Post by **Joemanji** » Tue May 05, 2009 9:45 am

I can't imagine its intentional. At first glance Blitzers do seem the stars. They have the potential to develop into powerhouses ... Block/Wrestle, Guard, Side Step, Dodge. One can be a killer and go down the MB/PO route.

But when you actually play the team ... you realise the Blitzers are never going to get the SPPs to become the stars you imagined they would. AG3 means they get tied up in TZs easily with no safe way to escape. They have some cool skills, but both DT and JU lead or require the player to be blocked or fall over. Which leads to AV rolls, which leads to dead 110K players. They can't block or dodge or ball handle reliably. And the Catchers are such stars that they just inevitably end up hogging all the SPPs. There is no way to escape this without drastically compromising your chances of winning.

And of course, there is the simple fact that the best skills for Slann are general: Wrestle, Strip Ball, Tackle. Which means a Linefrog can do exactly the same job as a Blitzer for 50K less.

Ikterus · Post by **Ikterus** » Tue May 05, 2009 9:46 am

Joemanji wrote:
SillySod wrote:Kroxigor, 2 catchers, 8 linefrogs, 4RRs

The catchers are really frail so I'd start with only two to help protect them a little better.
Interesting. I suppose it is possible to score on offence with only 2 catchers if you play a pure running game. 3 or more make it a lot easier to make quick scores though.

I was intrigued by Gandalug's 5 RR roster. Might be interesting.

But either way, Blitzers are not the way to go. You can get a Linefrog and a reroll for the same price, and belive me that is waaay better.

I agree on all accounts.

The 5 RR roster is real interesting! I've done the math but if you can afford it it could be a winner.

That said I basically only leap with my catchers unless I need a lino to leap in for the blitz. If you leap every guy every time you're playing to risky. So I'm not sure you need 5 RR from the start, but it could be interesting...

Edit: I agree even more to your last post Joe...

Joemanji · Post by **Joemanji** » Tue May 05, 2009 9:54 am

I view leaping with Linefrogs as I do dodging with Human or Skaven linemen. Do it at the end of the turn expecting to either fail or use a reroll. If you pass, cool. But expect to fail. The difference with Slann is a 3+ leap has so many more options than a 3+ dodge. You can almost always either get out of trouble, or get into more trouble and annoy your opponent.

Like you say, leaps to Blitz the ball carrier are an exception.

Gandalug · Post by **Gandalug** » Tue May 05, 2009 10:27 am

Ikterus wrote:
Joemanji wrote:
SillySod wrote:Kroxigor, 2 catchers, 8 linefrogs, 4RRs

The catchers are really frail so I'd start with only two to help protect them a little better.
Interesting. I suppose it is possible to score on offence with only 2 catchers if you play a pure running game. 3 or more make it a lot easier to make quick scores though.

I was intrigued by Gandalug's 5 RR roster. Might be interesting.

But either way, Blitzers are not the way to go. You can get a Linefrog and a reroll for the same price, and belive me that is waaay better.
I agree on all accounts.

The 5 RR roster is real interesting! I've done the math but if you can afford it it could be a winner.

That said I basically only leap with my catchers unless I need a lino to leap in for the blitz. If you leap every guy every time you're playing to risky. So I'm not sure you need 5 RR from the start, but it could be interesting...

Edit: I agree even more to your last post Joe...

The 5 RR not only need to reroll the leap, but they are usefull to reroll the blitz dice. Because of a no block and tackle team, you have less usefull result to keep down the opponent.

You could possibly switch a line and a reroll for a blitzer, but I'm not sure it could be a good idea.

SillySod · Post by **SillySod** » Wed May 06, 2009 3:24 am

Joemanji wrote:I view leaping with Linefrogs as I do dodging with Human or Skaven linemen. Do it at the end of the turn expecting to either fail or use a reroll. If you pass, cool. But expect to fail. The difference with Slann is a 3+ leap has so many more options than a 3+ dodge. You can almost always either get out of trouble, or get into more trouble and annoy your opponent.

Like you say, leaps to Blitz the ball carrier are an exception.

Definately the way to go. Dodging with humans, vampires, etc often gives you a great positional advantage.

Tripleskull · Post by **Tripleskull** » Sat May 09, 2009 9:14 pm

Im pretty sure this team will prove you guys wrong: http://www.midgardbb.com/MBBL/teamView.php?teamid=876

Slan can be played without blitzers, but blitzers gives you the possibility of a whole different game, and its a sensible option.

Carnis · Post by **Carnis** » Sun May 10, 2009 8:06 am

Tripleskull wrote:Im pretty sure this team will prove you guys wrong: http://www.midgardbb.com/MBBL/teamView.php?teamid=876

Slan can be played without blitzers, but blitzers gives you the possibility of a whole different game, and its a sensible option.

The problem with that team is.. it'll be hard pressed against an AV9 team going MB/PO having a disadvantage in both AV & ST. The teams which focus on ball play are more allround, I feel.

SillySod · Post by **SillySod** » Sun May 10, 2009 9:22 am

Gotta say I'd feel uncomfortable with a 2RR Slann roster. The blitzers are far from useless but you seem to have to give up too much to make them worthwhile.

Tripleskull · Post by **Tripleskull** » Sun May 10, 2009 9:51 am

SillySod wrote:Gotta say I'd feel uncomfortable with a 2RR Slann roster. The blitzers are far from useless but you seem to have to give up too much to make them worthwhile.

I agree with you about the RRs. I will start with 3 RRs, 2 catchers and no krox on the next slan team I play. But apparantly it can be done, as Tourach has proven with his 5-0-2 record, and I predict that this team will be very scary very soon. 4 blitzers with mighty blow, piling on at around tv 170 (180 with 4 RRs). That is gonna hurt. Start putting block, tackle, frenzy, guard or whatever you like on top of that, and you got a mean team.

About the AV 9 piling on mighty blow teams. They are slow so they suffer big time from slans superior defence. And even if the argument holds, and that is the real problem with the team in question, I think its a small problem. All teams and all builds have weeknesses. The only case I am making is, that it is not obvius, that the best slann stating Cockerel doesnt include blitzers.

Starting with the blitzers gives them skills they would get very slowly later on.