Skavens on D **Updated on Aug. 7**

[Pink Horror]

Jimany uses this defence with Skaven, and I found it useful.

That reminds me of one of my old defences. The little pocket to protect the runners was a favorite of mine. Though I usually put them farther forward and had only one GR in each one. The other two are wildcards, sometimes on the same side. It's one of my philosophies to rarely repeat the same defense, especially in tabletop leagues, because I don't want people getting used to them. Every single defense in Blood Bowl has holes. I find it's best to shoot for the quick turnover than to try to stop every two or three-turn score, because you'll never achieve that. At the least, you need basic defensive positioning skills like Stand Firm, Side Step, and Diving Tackle if you want to try for that.

[plasmoid]

I wonder why nobody mentions dauntless as a good defensive skill.
I inherited an almost destroyed skaven team from a friend, and the block dauntless runner I developed has really done the team a lot of good.

[Rab]

Agreed; dauntless plus strip ball on a gutter runner is a brilliant defensive skill combo.

Unless you're planning on using the linerats as speedbumps (a valid tactic if you have a reasonable treasury or a deep bench), you really have to be going for the turnover and strip ball is great threat at the very least.

[SBG]

I see where my mistakes where made. I really thought you went offensively with the GR's. I see that I have to adopt another mindset.

Would you say that generally, you develop two offensive GR's and two defensive ones?

Fred

[Grumbledook]

I make mine all defensive

they score after they get the ball loose

[mattgslater]

Just about any BB team can afford to develop one offensive specialist. A Skaven team needs 14+ men, so can develop up to two. You probably want one offensive Thrower. So if you want to develop an offensive GR (say a 1TTD guy, like you've got), great, but I strongly recommend keeping it to just one.

Generally speaking, defensive skills (both player skills and coaching skills) are more important than offensive skills. Scoring on defense is the fastest way to build a team.

[Smeborg]

I agree with Grum: develop any AG team (I count Skaven as one) to maximise performance on defense.

The more you score, the more you defend. The more you defend, the more you score.

A Skaven coach in our league has 2 GRs with Wrestle/Dauntless (the others are going Block/Sidestep). The Wrestle/Dauntless GRs are so good on defense, he wishes he had at least 3 of them.

Hope this helps.

[TuernRedvenom]

I agree with Grum: develop any AG team (I count Skaven as one) to maximise performance on defense.

The more you score, the more you defend. The more you defend, the more you score.

I fully agree! I usually go 1 blitzer (wrestle, strip ball, leap, dauntless), 2 markers (block, side step, diving tackle) and the first one to get a double becomes a retriever (big hand, block, leap).
And you'll find that these guys are very usefull on offense as well!

[Baduk]

(blood bowl / american football noob here)
marker? retreiver?
so what do they do in general/exactly?

[Cramy]

(blood bowl / american football noob here)
marker? retreiver?
so what do they do in general/exactly?

No, not football I think.

I develop my whole team for defence. Very similar development to what Tuern suggested. All 4 GRs go on defence, they are my players with the most skills, and can turn around a game in a turn.

Marker: Put TZs on key guys, usually on the ball carrier. Block, Side Step, Diving Tackle, Shadowing, etc ...

Retreiver: His job is to pick-up lose balls. Big Hand / Extra Arms, Leap, Block, Nerves of Steel

Extractor: His job is to knock the ball loose (what Tuern called a blitzer, but he's more specific than that). Wrestle, Strip Ball, Leap, Dauntless.

I consider the Rat Ogre as an Extractor, with Prehensile Tail and Frenzy. Give him Block on doubles, but aside from that Juggernaut and Break Tackle and Stand Firm are all good. Which ones of those skills you pick depends on if you use him a lot to blitz or if you use him to mark the ball carrier or other important players.

The most important skill for Skaven is kick. Give it to the first lineman who skills-up. After that, they can get Block, Tackle, Wrestle, etc ...

Throwers I usually develop for defence as ball retrievers. I usually use one, and he's a lineman who can handle the ball. I use him as protection against Strip Ball as well. I give him Block, then Nerves of Steel. Leader if you don't have enough rerolls.

Blitzers get a mix of Claw, Guard, Mighty Blow, and other hurt skills. I personally like Horns, which provides reliable ST4 blitzes when you really need to poke a hole somewhere. You don't want to rely on the RO to do that. And without much guard, it can be difficult to get an assist in to get that 2-dice block.

You don't have that many skills on your GRs yet. So you can try to change their development a bit to what we are suggesting here.

And as others have shown, your defensive setup should be such that your GRs can't be blitzed on the first turn.

Once you get the hang of playing defence with these guys, they are loads of fun. Their defence tends to be very fluid, with targetted attacks being done every few turns.

Good luck.

[Baduk]

ah ok I see, thanks for explaining.

[Mo]

What is this defence thing you are asking about?

In a perfect shut-out game, your team only starts on 'offence' once -- the half that you receive the opening kick off. All the rest of the drives you're taking the ball away from the other team and scoring. Skaven Runners are the best players in the game for taking the ball away from the other team.

Mo

[Ullis]

This:

All the rest of the drives you're taking the ball away from the other team and scoring.

[mattgslater]

What is this defence thing you are asking about?

In a perfect shut-out game, your team only starts on 'offence' once -- the half that you receive the opening kick off. All the rest of the drives you're taking the ball away from the other team and scoring. Skaven Runners are the best players in the game for taking the ball away from the other team.

Mo

This is the soul of great BB play, especially with a low-AV team. The best offense is a great defense. Skaven are one of the top three ballhawk teams, with Wood Elves and Pro Elves, and have lame-o armor: scoring saves lives, and every time you score you kick. So master the art of kicking!

[Cramy]

What is this defence thing you are asking about?

In a perfect shut-out game, your team only starts on 'offence' once -- the half that you receive the opening kick off. All the rest of the drives you're taking the ball away from the other team and scoring. Skaven Runners are the best players in the game for taking the ball away from the other team.

Mo

This is the soul of great BB play, especially with a low-AV team. The best offense is a great defense. Skaven are one of the top three ballhawk teams, with Wood Elves and Pro Elves, and have lame-o armor: scoring saves lives, and every time you score you kick. So master the art of kicking!

Yes, agreed. Hence the critical importance of developing your team for defence: Kicking, ball extraction, ball retrieval, marking. Have to keep you tactics fluid though, as you must play very differently if you are facing another agile fast team vs. a bashy team (and all that is in-between). But your goal is still the same. Score as often as you can.

You are down to 6 guys in the second half against Dwarves, but you are up 3-0? No problems if you still have some of your key players. If you play it right, it is almost impossible for the Dwarves to tie the game, let alone win.