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So we have a long standing league starting up, well started on the 1st of July. Our leagues tend to run 5-6 months, with a starting value of 1M and 5 free FF. LRB5 rules, with the exception that they are allowing the three "new, official" teams.
At first I was going to play my normal Amazons, Ogres or High Elves in the league. Since no one seemed interested in the Underworld team though, and I had tons of spare models around to mix up a team, I decided to give them a go.
Due to the relative squishiness of the team I decided the apothecary was better than another reroll.
I took the team out for a test spin to get used to them. Played against a buddy of mine who had a starting Human team. 4 Blitzers, no ogre, quite a few lineman, 4RRs, couple positionals (catcher and thrower I believe). Man did I get stomped. Some was due to good dice, some was a few bad positioning mistakes on my part, as well as me testing to see if goblins are a bit more survivable than snotlings. I scored easy enough. They have speed and can easily make a hole with the troll and blitzers. I just couldn't break his cage, and that's just a human cage!!
I'm now incredibly worried that I might not make it in a longterm league against a decent smattering of bashy teams. What skills/set-ups should I be using to reliably break a brick with this team? I am pretty deadset on using them, but I just can't seem to grasp the defensive side. Offense is no problem
if you are on about breaking armour your whole team has mutation access so getting claw and mightyblow on your blitzers won't be hard
add piling on as well and they will be really mean
though reading your post again i think you mean cage instead of brick?
well you have stunty, so you can dodge right up to the ball carrier with your goblins, i'd wait until you get a double though, take wrestle, then look at getting horns the next skill
give one horns and vs ST3 you are getting one die if you mark his players and avoid guard
or you can throw a goblin at the cage using the troll, blitz the troll next to the ball carrier and give him stand firm
you have quite a few options for cage breaking with underworld
other defensive options you want to get sidestep and diving tackle on 3 or 4 goblins as well, just like you would with them on a goblin team, or halflings or skinks etc
Thanks for the quick response!! I did mean cage, but around here we are just used to using the term brick. Not sure why, but we're special like that
Great ideas. Totally forgot about goblin bomb from the troll. Should have known that considering I played Ogres for awhile.
I'm beginning to wonder if it wouldn't be better to just let certain teams score in the first part of the league. I know I can score pretty easy against most folks. Trouble is keeping goblins alive long enough to get them some skills, while trying to stall an opponents bashy drive down the field.
I've been playing a lot of underworld lately. Its a wonderful team.
Grumbledook covered it well.
A Goblin who scores a double, can grab block, wrestle or strip ball.
With a normal roll he can get 2 heads 2+ dodge all the time, As well as Horns.
One single skill of horns can be used to break cages, Its not the greatest but it can work because of stunty and dodge will get you in. Without skills breaking a cage is hard with underworld. Mainly I just box it in and run out the clock until I get some horns. Even when I do, I try to box in the cage, and wait for a turn over, if it never comes, the cage still can't move effectively, and I just wait for my turn with the ball if I'm not already up.
Fezglitch(sp?) though not as good as the goblin teams guy is amazing for cage breaking. Move some gobos to the edges to cancel out assists as Fez 3 dice blocks through the cage. Then blitz in. Or blitz the troll in who could have tenticles as well to hold the ball carrier next to him.
IN a moment of sheer desperation, chuck a goblin at the cage, if he lands next to someone he could push them out to open it for a blitz, if he lands on someone the cage is opened right away.
For defense in general....
It really requires some development. You can put your storm vermin on the line, with Guard, Stand Firm, Fend, etc.. With the Troll, who can get Claw right away, and can be used with the guard for 3 dice blocks and systematically remove players. You can give the storm vermin claw, mighty blow and piling on as well, to really put some pain on the line, underworld has no double access to the dreaded Claw, MB, Pilling on Players. Storm vermin come with bock and have a lot of movement to get back in the action.
You could instead use the Storm Vermin as blitzers, but I prefer to build the linerats as blitzers, giving them Wrestle, Frenzy, Tackle, etc... If you don't put the Storm Vermin on the line, you don't really have a good option to hold it on defense. The goblins can work if your opponent has no tackle, but its just a delay, your effectively giving up the center. The line rats are too flimsy, 2 Storm Vermin with Guard, and a Troll with Guard on the line for defense is a bit rough to deal with.
The thing you got to remember on defense with Underworld is your focus is to slow them. Keep them from scoring. Goblins can get Side Step, and on team with low tackle can effectively block paths, and keep the opponent from moving around. When something gets through use the fast line rats to blitz it. I like Frenzy and Wrestle on the line rats, one way or another what your hitting is going down.
Your Starting roster is perfect, in fact all your likely to have different from it on a developed team is a second thrower as the league progresses, and 1 more goblin. I find it safe to have 15 man roster because some one is always out on injuries so I have room for 2 induced players. I like the chainsaw goblin and fezglitch. The chain saw for offense to cut a hole, and Fez for defense.
For keeping goblins up, on defense, NEVER move into him unless your going to blitz him off that turn. Block paths, don't sit on him. Try to hold the center to force the cage to go left or right, then box it in, dodge out make a circle of overlaping tackle zones around the cage and wait it out. 1 blitz a turn will make it real hard to get hurt or move the cage. Use a blitz to push them back, but be out of zones by the end of the turn with your goblins.
Wow! Great post nerdkingdan. Much appreciated and very informative. I'll try putting it to good use. Have my first official game(s) tonight with my yet-to-be-named Underworld team tonight. Spent all last night making models up for the list. Love the conversion potential using skaven clanrats and lots of bits I've built up over the years. Even using a Reaper model for my warpstone troll.
I don't play Underworld, but as far as cage-breaking, shouldn't you get Guard on a Goblin (with a double)? then you can dodge him in, that with Horns will mean that you are getting 2 die blocks, pretty nice for Goblins IMO, and excellent when cage-breaking.
So I got a game in last night against Skaven. They only had a handful of games under their belt, so my inducement total was only enough to get Nobbla (the chainsaw guy). I figured that a chainsaw against the low armour of the Skaven would be wicked....
Well not so much. I received in the first half, only to promptly have everything go to crap. Nobbla kick-backed on two turns in a row, being stunned both times for a total of 4 turns outta commission. I couldn't pick up the ball to save my life, and his gutter runners made quick work of the loose ball to score late in the first half on me.
Second half went a bit better in the beginning. Managed to KO or kill all his runners, and score early in the half when he flubbed a pick-up roll in his backfield. My troll even got an interception.....
Unfortunately an incredibly lucky string of events, bounces, rolls saw him scoring a crazy touchdown on his turn 8. I couldn't get the 1 turn, thrown goblin touchdown to work so I lost 2-1.
On the plus side, we both played a great game. Had lots of laughs. His dice just liked him better that night...happens to the best of us
Only skill-up was the Troll who also received the MVP. I rolled double 5's, and I'm not sure what to get for him. Was originally trying to get him claw and tentacles for annoyance factor. Do I get him Block now? Or maybe the +mov to make him a bit more mobile?
BLOCK!!!! a double on a troll on this team is HUGE. The troll with block will mean you can do his stuff first instead of having to do other things first in fear you'll end up with a both down.
I played Underworld in our last season and they were great fun. Generally, they were competitive in every game (2-1 loss was the usual score) and the new stunty cas rule (BH on a 10) was really helpful for keeping the goblins alive.
Re: cage-breaking. Until you get skills, you can always 1/2 die blitz with a goblin. Dodging on a 3+ isn't too hard. The blitzers can be quite effective. I have one with horns (LRB 6), claw and 2 heads. He is a brute! 47 Spps and counting I also have a few 2 headed gobbos which makes them very hard to pin down even with tackle around.
Your starting line-up is pretty good. I would have taken the full positionals, but at least you have the apo. I didn't and game 1 the Troll died! Then he failed the regen and DIED! It took about 5 games to get him back.
As I've mentioned before, the Underworld coach in my league gave Pro to his Troll and swears by it. He does a lot of goblin throwing on offense and defense, though, I suppose that's why he finds it more useful than Block.
Normally I'd advocate dodge on trolls as being a neat alternative to block since it combos massively with BT/guard/SF. Warpstone trolls can pick up claws and tentacles though which makes block much more desirable since blocking becomes more profitable and staying in place becomes more important than staying upright.
Reason:''
Victim of the Colonel's car boot smash. First person to use Glynn's bath. Update: the Hartlepool family Glynn now has a virgin bath.
After someone suggested pro on the troll I managed to try it at Zlurpee bowl. I think I'll change my vote to pro. Its amazing.
I was really rolling bad at the tournament, and pro made my troll about all that was working for me. It came up constantly. When casulties were mounting I could still often do something with the troll when I couldn't afford to put someone next to him. It helped me score 1 turn touch downs. It helped my blocks. It was the single best choice I could have made. Block is nice. But it looks like after trying both, pro is first.
Ugh, well got another game under my belt against a developed Chaos team. Had about 500K in inducements. Instead of taking Bloodweiser Babes and rerolls like I should have, I went for the big gun in the form of Morg N' Thorg. Boy did he fail me.
That game was brutal. 4 players are missing my next game, including both my blitzers and a thrower. The dice really hated me. Might have to call my team The Underworld Woes....
Not giving up yet though!! Got another game tonight.
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