Which team to pick?

[Ulthuan_Express]

My Chaos Pact adventures have been good fun, though it can be a little frustrating starting off (or playing pick-up games) with zero skills whatsoever. You can get a team playing the run, the pass or the bash with equal measure just by how you skill them up. AV8+ pretty much everywhere is decent, too.

Pro Elves, I've found, tend to score a lot all the time (Catchers are phenomenal and Blitzers generally awesome) and then every few games get absolutely annihilated thanks to their AV7.

The other teams are, for me, mostly Theorybowl, so I'd recommend Chaos Pact or Necro. In fact, I'd recommend Undead instead of Necro, but you're not after so much bash, and refining the 'Wolves is a whole skill to learn in of itself.

[Mr_lemon]

Thanks for all your input, I've read it all a couple of times and leaning towards Necros now. Because A) A two-positional team with limited skillchoices doesn't speak to me after playing Ogres, thus Lizardmen is ruled out B) As someone said: I want to be talked out of playing Elves (which is true since I've always disliked Elves in all fantasysettings) and a friend of my is picking Elves and I want a varied league. C) Necros meet all my prerequisites except a lack of opportunities to develop a good passing game, but I can live with that I guess.

Thinking about starting roster. The league will probably be 10 games or so followed by a playoff, and there will hopefully be more seasons after that so I was thinking about starting like this:

1 Werewolf
2 Fleshgolems
2 Wights
1 Ghoul
5 Zombies
3 Rerolls

Is this a good idea? I know most people probably start with two werewolves but I want to give the Fleshgolems the chance of getting block as early as possible and they have great synergy in pair. The second werewolf will be bought ASAP followed på the 2nd Ghoul or a fourth reroll. The werewolves will be fairly quick to skill up, right? And if I start with just one I can focus on skilling up one first and then give the second one a few TD's! I guess one of them will be a blodging td-machine while the other will become more of a violent beast. Is my reasoning sound or am I delusional?

[nick_nameless]

Thanks for all your input, I've read it all a couple of times and leaning towards Necros now. Because A) A two-positional team with limited skillchoices doesn't speak to me after playing Ogres, thus Lizardmen is ruled out B) As someone said: I want to be talked out of playing Elves (which is true since I've always disliked Elves in all fantasysettings) and a friend of my is picking Elves and I want a varied league. C) Necros meet all my prerequisites except a lack of opportunities to develop a good passing game, but I can live with that I guess.

Thinking about starting roster. The league will probably be 10 games or so followed by a playoff, and there will hopefully be more seasons after that so I was thinking about starting like this:

1 Werewolf
2 Fleshgolems
2 Wights
1 Ghoul
5 Zombies
3 Rerolls

Is this a good idea? I know most people probably start with two werewolves but I want to give the Fleshgolems the chance of getting block as early as possible and they have great synergy in pair. The second werewolf will be bought ASAP followed på the 2nd Ghoul or a fourth reroll. The werewolves will be fairly quick to skill up, right? And if I start with just one I can focus on skilling up one first and then give the second one a few TD's! I guess one of them will be a blodging td-machine while the other will become more of a violent beast. Is my reasoning sound or am I delusional?

if I were starting a necro team, I would kill the ghoul and a reroll and go with the 2 WWs.

[Ulthuan_Express]

To quote some British politics - I agree with Nick.

You've got your Wolves planned out already (and correctly, I'd suggest). Consider that the Ghouls are there to do the scoring and the speedy play - just like the Wolves only not as good. They also don't have regen, and you'll find yourself squirming every time someone goes to block them.

For the loss of the re-roll and an 7-3-3-7 dodger, you get an 8-3-3-8 frenzied claw regener, which has so many more possibilities

[MKL]

(...)
Is this a good idea? I know most people probably start with two werewolves but I want to give the Fleshgolems the chance of getting block as early as possible and they have great synergy in pair. The second werewolf will be bought ASAP followed på the 2nd Ghoul or a fourth reroll. The werewolves will be fairly quick to skill up, right?
(...)

This is my roster of choice, and I agree with your reasoning.
Many take both WW at once, but I think too many puppy-wolf aren't a boon, but a burden.
A single strenght3-frenzy-blockless-precious guy is easy enough to protect. Two of them mean trouble. Two TD -get Block- and the Wolf is able to fend for himself.
And while the WW is the defining piece of the team, I think the Golems are the backbone.

[Smeborg]

I have seen Necros perform well without Ghouls. This may not be to everyone's taste, but it appears to work. The main advantages are improved skill memory, lean TV. Starting roster is also easier to work out.

An interesting comment from one of our Necro coaches the other day (during play): "I haven't got enough Zombies." Getting rid of the Ghouls would eliminate this problem.

All the best.

[mattgslater]

I'm of the one-WW camp. That third TRR is not as easy to get as the second Were, and if your Ghouls live long enough to skill they actually get fairly tough, so long as they don't get too brave. Weres are rather risky without Block, and having two rookie Weres and two TRRs is dangerous.

[Digger Goreman]

I'm "double dawgs" all the way.... Having a Wolf/Wight/Golem triplet to penetrate either side is priceless (well, as priceless as a beginning team of Necros can be)....

5 Zombies
2 Golems
2 Wights
2 Weres
2 Rerolls
(Bank 20k)

Kick on the first zombie to skill up and let the turnovers begin!

I also like having the mobility of one Were blitzing the ball free and the other making the scoop and run toward/to the end zone....

Experiments I've found lacking:
only one golem....
only one wight....

I thoroughly love my golems... but it's worth mentioning that you could trade them in for 2 Ghouls and a reroll....

[mattgslater]

Golems rock. They totally change games.

[Digger Goreman]

Golems rock. They totally change games.

Agreed... and the next "great experiment" is to take my two Wights with Guard and give them Stand Firm.... I'm actually gonna wait (stupidly, perhaps) till the third skill for Mighty Blow....

I've had mixed success with a pair of Golems on the forward points and Wights on the trailing points of a Ghoul cage... with Weres lurking around the sides to blitz away problems.... I might give it another shot with my current team....

[mattgslater]

There's a Necro team in my league with a Blodge Golem and a Blodge/SF/ST4 Wight. They're really, really frustrating to play against.

[Mr_lemon]

Started with the following Necro-roster
1 Werewolf
2 Fleshgolems
2 Wights
1 Ghoul
5 Zombies
3 Rerolls

And I played my first match yesterday against Human and got a really good start with a 4-0 win after good kick off-table results like Blitz and such.

My werewolf scored the first two touchdowns and with a CAS and a Completion he's picked up 9 spp and rolled a normal skill and picked up BLOCK.
Apart from that one of my flesh golems happened to get the ball and scored a TD along with a CAS, bringing him to 5 spp's. The last TD was scored by a wight and the second wight made a casualty so with the MVP that a Zombie stole I got 29 spp's in the first match. I KNOW that I won't be this lucky every match but at least almost all of my positionals got spp's already. I'm thinking about playing the team in a Stymie way and picking a lot of Stand Firm and Sidestep on the team unless I roll crazy stats increases.

Since this was my first match with Necros ever, I must say that I am almost in love with the Flesh golems already. They are not spectacular but they are easily the most important pieces on the team as they bring stability and are so effective as roadblocks. The Werewolves are (or rather, can become) amazing but without Flesh Golems I think Necros would have severe difficulties against a lot of teams...

[Mr_lemon]

Played and won 2 matches now in the league. Got a good spread of spp's so far but got two skilldecisions to make now. My team league looks like this now:

Werewolf (14 spp) Block
Werewolf (ROOKIE)
Fleshgolem (0spp)
Fleshgolem (7spp) Rolled 2+2, Block or DODGE?
Wight (2spp)
Wight (6spp) Normal skill, Guard or Stand Firm?
Ghoul (1spp)
Zombie (2spp)
Zombie (5spp)
Zombie (5spp)
3 Zombies (0 spp)

So what do I pick for the Fleshgolem and on the Wight? The next three teams to meet is Orcs, Norse then Khemri. The league is made up by 2 Khemri-teams, 2 Human-teams, 1 Norse, 1 Woodelf, 1 Pro Elf, 2 Orks, 1 Chaos Pact, 1 Dwarf Team + my necromantic team.

Before I rolled the double on the fleshgolem I said: It doesn't matter what I roll, I'm going to take block, but then the thought of DODGE and a Blodging Fleshgolem started to make me unsure. If this wasn't his first skill I would definitately pick Dodge but as his first?

And on the wight I'm mostly chose between two skills: Guard or Stand Firm. Guard will be needed since my league is rather Bashy but I also want to get a lot of Sidestep and Stand Firm on the team to effectively shut down the opponent. So which shall I pick first for the Wight? Guard or Stand Firm?

[nick_nameless]

I think you have to take the Dodge. That's a significant number of extra opportunities to keep upright, right where you are, and a nice segue into Break Tackle later on if you want it. I mean MUCH later on, depending on how long he lives

Considering your opponents coming up, I would probably take Guard of Mighty Blow on the Wight.

[mattgslater]

Ditto. Dodge on the Golem, Guard on the Wight. Go Block next on the Golem; Break Tackle is overrated on a piece like this, though it's much better with Block.