Orc thrower - Leader vs Kickoff Return?

Foz · Post by **Foz** » Mon Jun 29, 2009 9:20 am

My orc thrower got a normal skill roll in my last game. His current skills are as follows:

Orc Thrower - Pass, Sure Hands, Accurate, Strong Arm

My team has 3 rerolls.

Should I take Leader or Kickoff Return? Or maybe even something else?

Thanks

elfman · Post by **elfman** » Mon Jun 29, 2009 9:36 am

If you have to choose between those I would say that choose kickoff return. It helps alot against faster teams because you will get the ball faster to your thrower.

Block might be useful too..

Grumbledook · Post by **Grumbledook** » Mon Jun 29, 2009 11:13 am

I'd have taken block first skill

orc teams don't usually tend to have many injuries to contend with compared to other teams due to their high armour

as a result they can have more cash, their players aren't expensive either

so you should be able to save up for rerolls

I can see a use for kick off return as he is only move 5, safe throw may be another option

Carnis · Post by **Carnis** » Mon Jun 29, 2009 11:18 am

Grumbledook wrote: as a result they can have more cash, their players aren't expensive either

Leader is still -40k inducement value. Well worth it, even for orcs.

Like you I'd still have taken block first skill, leader & kick coming in 2nd & 3rd..

Edit: And would have taken dodge over strong arm on a primary ballcarrier as well..

mattgslater · Post by **mattgslater** » Mon Jun 29, 2009 1:36 pm

On a Thrower with Accurate and Strong Arm? Kick-off Return.

Do you run two Throwers? With that guy on the field I would. I'd give the other one Leader and Block, in either order, and save the Acc/SA/KOR guy for offense.

Smeborg · Post by **Smeborg** » Mon Jun 29, 2009 10:41 pm

Kick-Off Return would be the outstanding skill choice on this player, I believe.

The "reserve" Thrower can be given Leader, along with Block, Fend and even Kick.

Hope this helps.

grampyseer · Post by **grampyseer** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 4:02 pm

Kick off return. Alot of other teams are faster than you, and it helps to create the cage ALOT!.

Smeborg · Post by **Smeborg** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 9:32 pm

Orcs have the slowest Throwers in the game. They therefore stand to make the best use of Kick-off Return. Orcs are vulnerable when receiving against a deep kick, especially against a fast team.

My ideal would be to have 2 Throwers on an Orc team with Kick-off Return. This gives you a relativeley high degree of security on your receive, especially against fast teams using the Kick skill against you. Since Orcs, like Dwarfs, tend to rely on the "classic" 2-1 grinding win, this extra security matters.

Hope this helps.

mattgslater · Post by **mattgslater** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 9:46 pm

Smeborg wrote:My ideal would be to have 2 Throwers on an Orc team with Kick-off Return.

I'd stick with one, myself. 8 squares is plenty from the center of a 13x15 half (if you're really worried about it, pull the Thrower off one square to the weak-side). But the first KOR player is great. From anywhere he can deliver the ball into the hands of one of your players. Remember, this particular Thrower can attempt short passes willy-nilly and long-passes if he must (heck, he's about as safe bombing as QPing to a handoff, and safer bombing than QPing to a GFI/handoff). As long as he can get far enough either to the strong-side or to the interior to connect on turn 2, or close enough to the middle to quick/short pass to a protected back in turn 1, any offensive ball control issues you've had should be a thing of the past.

I'd like to post some offensive formats, but I need to know more about your line-blocking. If you're still working out your OL strategies, then how do your opponents tend to build defensive lines against you? I prefer to use kind of a strange line, keyed off of a Grab BOB, to chainpush a couple extra squares into the backfield. It makes me set 6 on the LOS, and 2 straight behind it, but usually lets me pull one guy off the LOS to babysit the ball if I need to, and still leaves me with enough men to wall off the strong side and chuck to a protected carrier, either deep or shallow. Different lines may leave more or fewer resources. If you like to knock the opposing line down the chain to ensure knockdowns, you'll have to stack the weak side, though it's likely you can pull some of them off after you've finished knocking the line down. If you like a minimalist three-man matchup, then you have no excuse not to build a very strong cage (as you'll be generating fewer knockdowns), but you'll certainly have the personnel you need.

Yeah, a good Orcish chucker is a mighty thing. He doesn't look good on paper, but he makes a deadly vertical threat out of what would otherwise be a conventional groundpounder team.

Joemanji · Post by **Joemanji** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 2:12 pm

Smeborg wrote:Orcs have the slowest Throwers in the game. They therefore stand to make the best use of Kick-off Return. Orcs are vulnerable when receiving against a deep kick, especially against a fast team.

Exactly.

However, I wouldn't run 2 throwers. I don't even run one once my Blitzers start developing.

mattgslater · Post by **mattgslater** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 6:45 pm

That's the beauty of Orcs. Orcs are the darlings of the game: they have many, many good builds but no really great ones. For instance, I only ever hire one lineman on my Orc team (my last purchase, no less), but I have a buddy who always starts with three.