Good Wood Team Thread

[CopiousDude]

Alright, so I have a Wood Elf team on Legendary Edition that has gotten fairly lucky on skill rolls, and managed to stay just ahead of the casualty game. This is their thread, as I'm in it for the long haul with these guys and wanted to get some opinions on my development.

Here's the information on the team. I will update any changes I make here, so there is no need to dig through the whole thread to figure out each change.

Good Wood: 6-5-3 (Naggaroth Open)
TV 1530
2 Rerolls
Apothecary
Treasury: 50000

Wardancer 1- Mighty Blow, +AGI, Tackle
Wardancer 2
Treeman- Guard, Grab
Lineman 1- Kick
Lineman 2- Wrestle, Dodge
Lineman 3- Wrestle, Dodge
Lineman 4- Guard, Dodge
Lineman 5- Dodge
Thrower- Accurate, Sure Hands
Catcher
Catcher

Thanks in advance for any advice guys. I'll keep you updated on how they progress.

[Smurf]

You could read my play book.

I envy you WDs for both having MB and an AG+1

IMO I'd go with Tackle, Sidestep, shadowing.

I like being sly with my stat upgrades, ie do not use them all of the time and use them when you have to.

Lineman with kick, it's a waste IMO but I know this is MO stuff so far.

Am I correct to think this is electronic format?

[nazgob]

Don't listen to smuf - kick wins games!

You're definitely lucky with your rolls. I would say though that your wardancers can develop in two different ways. the first could easily be a cage breaker, so giving him strip ball and juggernaut could be good, as could frenzy. the other is a great killer, so tackle would be great as your next choice, allowing him to target the weakest points in your opponent's team.

[JaM]

Kick is a very good skill for WE.
You kick deep, he has to react, you move to his designated ball-carrier or try to intervene any passes/pick-ups...
Makes people nervous. I've seen enough pick-ups fail against them, and placing the ball where YOU want it makes it an almost certain score. You can easily get 2-3 elves behind his lines so getting the ball when the pick up fails is "easy".

As for the advize Nazgob gave: +1.

[Smurf]

Oi... I know kick wins games. I'd put it on a Thrower though!

[CopiousDude]

So, against all odds, my other Wardancer also got a +AG for her second skill roll.

Barring some more craziness like a +str on their next rolls, should I still give one strip ball and one tackle, or is there a different way you'd take it now that they are both AG5? I'm thinking on a double at this point it would be great to give one of them guard, as that will give me two 2+ leapers to get in the cage, one whose assist can't be canceled. Makes me wish I'd given the second one guard in the first place, as they'd be the best cage breakers ever.

I do like the kick lineman. It makes it more likely that I can force my opponent to make a pickup, and it prevents bashy teams from stacking the box on me. I just kick it poorly too often without it.

[nazgob]

See, i would prefer to skill my throwers with accurate or leader, depending on how hard up i was.

Kick, i can wate on my subsitute lineman.

[CopiousDude]

Also, why in your opinion would it be better to put kick on the thrower? I might consider putting it on a defensive thrower who already had NOS and Sure Hands, but other than that I don't see why I'd want kick on a positional. Is it just personal preference?

Edit:

I read your Wood Elf Playbook Smurf, nice work. Food for thought for sure.

Another point on the kicking thrower as well. Wouldn't you want your defensive thrower in a wide zone ready to rush in and grab the ball in case of a drop, short kick, or other kickoff craziness? That'd make kick kinda silly on that guy I'd think. I could see leaving him behind my tree so he can rush through the hole that gets made, but that also makes it harder to take advantage of a blitz.

[JaM]

Kick is a lino skill, IF the team can use it.

Throwers should get skills that enable them to pick up the ball and throw it to the designated scorer. Or just... pick it up, and walk to the endzone.

I'd go with strip-ball or tackle. make sure the ball gets on the ground, have a catcher near it, pick it up and score. Rinse and repeat.

[CopiousDude]

Had a weird game tonight with a Necromantic team that was pretty high rank, Sparky Goodboyz.

It started out innocently enough, with me winning the toss and electing to receive. I had 120K inducements and went with a wandering apothecary. The first half went as planned, with the Goodboyz trying to march it down the field and my woodies dodging away to form a double layered wall of GTFO. Goodboyz made good use of a level 5 werewolf, but had to be sure to hide it behind his lines after each blitz, as I was blitzing it with my wardancers whenever it was in the open. The ladies did their work, despite losing the tree to an early injury off a foul. (Which I used the wandering apothecary on so I'd have him back in the second half) The referee ejected the offending zombie, and an early wardancer KO of the unskilled werewolf helped Good Wood hold Sparky Goodboyz scoreless in the first half, when the star werewolf failed the first in a series of nearly impossible dodges right in the teeth of the defense.

That is when all the strangeness hit. Right as I started my turn, the disconnection timer came up and ran for three minutes. As I waited to see if the opposing coach had DC'd himself to avoid the risk of a 5 assist foul on his star player, the timer clicked away, and then all of a sudden my game clock started running. I quickly snagged the loose ball off the pitch with my thrower, passed it to a lineman, and then did what I do best. The lineman dropped the ball at his feat, burning my last reroll with some double one goodness. First half, 0-0.

Then at the very beginning of the second half, my opponent began having connection issues again. In between every move, the disconnect timer would start back over at five minutes and click down for a few minutes. I began to get even more suspicious that the opposing coach had gotten his high rank by forcing everyone to take twenty minute turns when he was losing. Then, after a couple turns of this, he suddenly complained about having connection issues all night, and promptly quit the game.

One of my merc lineman got an MVP and a casualty, so I purchased him at the end of the match. Luckily, he also rolled doubles on his skill roll. (That's THREE so far for those who are counting) I selected Guard, since my tree is my only other player with the skill. I also leveled one of my Wrestle lineman, so he now has Wrodge. I'm really looking forward to testing out my new roster in the next match. Only going to have two mercs this time! That'll be a first since the teams second game, interestingly enough.

[CopiousDude]

So I've had some very interesting games so far this week, and I must say I LOVE those Wardancers. They take up so much of my opponents attention, and 90% of the time they can get out of danger with a couple 2+ rolls. They often mark them with 3-4 players, and still can't keep them contained.

I've had one win and a few ties since the game against the Necromantic team. My ties have been nuffle fests, with my woodies just barely being able to scrape out tying scores at the end. My very latest game was against another Orc team, and ended in a 0-0 tie thanks to both of us rolling double ones and double skulls like it was our job. Also, now that I have accurate I really feel like I should get Sure Hands on my Thrower. Maybe it was a mistake to get Accurate first, but I like to be able to hide him deep and still make a 2+ pass out. I've been starting to run into a lot of Strip Ball players at my current TV however, and Sure Hands would save me rerolls and allow him to play a more effective defensive roll. Combined with dodge (barring an AG or double roll), he should be a very helpful asset for the team.

I'm having trouble skilling my catcher, as he's such a big juicy target for my opponents. Trying to work on getting him TD's, but I'll need some better rolls before that starts happening. It will also be helpful when I have two, and I'm only one good gold roll away from picking up my second catcher.

Any critiques so far? Advice for what I should get next? Is two rerolls enough for woodies at this level in your opinion?

[CopiousDude]

For Christmas, Nuffle gave me a loss and a -st on the level 4 Wardancer. She has since been retired, and luckily I'm only 30K away from being able to replace her.

The loss and -st both came in a game against High Elves. This particular High Elf team had 4 or 5 guards, so it was pretty much tailor made to take on other elves. I fought him to a 1-1 tie for the first half, then had a hell of a time getting the ball loose in the second half with all the guard he had around it. I used the apothecary to save the other Wardancer from death, then the very next turn my Lv. 4 Wardancer took the smashed collarbone. The dice today have just been brutal beyond belief.

So back to rebuilding. Hopefully I get a decent gold roll next game.

[Smurf]

Also, why in your opinion would it be better to put kick on the thrower? I might consider putting it on a defensive thrower who already had NOS and Sure Hands, but other than that I don't see why I'd want kick on a positional. Is it just personal preference?

Edit:

I read your Wood Elf Playbook Smurf, nice work. Food for thought for sure.

Another point on the kicking thrower as well. Wouldn't you want your defensive thrower in a wide zone ready to rush in and grab the ball in case of a drop, short kick, or other kickoff craziness? That'd make kick kinda silly on that guy I'd think. I could see leaving him behind my tree so he can rush through the hole that gets made, but that also makes it harder to take advantage of a blitz.

The Line has many more options. The defence thrower is there to retieve a loose ball and throw it and you may be able to score. It just frees up the line elves with many more decent skills. On the PSP the wrestle skill is fun. After the 3rd trophy I note the AI throws the ball more often. I` ll see if this is a trend.

[CopiousDude]

So this has turned into more of a Team Blog than an advice thread. I just noticed the Team Blog forum myself, so perhaps it would be more appropriate over there. (Sorry, so many sub-forums here I missed that one at first)

If a mod wants to move it, it would be much appreciated. Otherwise I'll just copy-paste it over next time I update and let this thread die.

[JaM]

Maybe the lineman has more options, but there are more of them also.
The thrower needs skills to become better in what he is.
Kick is a good skill, but NOT on a thrower ! Just MO that is