Human underdog inducement choices updated

[bouncergriim]

I have a rookie human team going against a well developed lizard team (4 sauri w/ block and three of those have guard) but he only has 4 skinks on his 11man roster. So I am thinking Kill the stunties.

I have a 12man roster all rookies: 4blitzers, 2 throwers, 4 linemen, and 2 catchers. I have one game under my belt so I bought an apothacary and I have 3 RRs.

I was thinking of inducing: a wizard, Hulmut with his lovely chainsaw, a couple of bribes for him, a wandering apoth, 1 babe

With the whole focus being on killing skinks. Would you change the inducements and how would you go about skinning the skinks, I need some new leather wallets.

[Urb]

Agreed prey on the weak. Mark sauri with linemen and go hunting. 2 apoths should keep you soundly in the game with the 12 man roster. Multiple chainsaw drives are great expecially on prone saurus's. Nasty on skinks. Does he have a krox? A ogre would've been a nice addition on your side either or but the 4 blitzers are a great option too. I like the wizard too..

[bouncergriim]

yeah he has a rookie krox. Also, in our league stars are not eligable for MVPs but mercs are, so I want to avoid merc'ing an ogre and just use fodder on the line. I was thinking about possibly inducing puggy also to have a good line fodder with blodge, but not sure on him.

[Urb]

I agree you don't need the ogre. Just would've been nice to have. I'd skip on puggy myself. You do have 2 apoths and 12 guys. The wizard and helmut should take out a few skinks. Maybe a fallen saurus. The 11 man 4 skink roster should be tough for your opponent to manage. Hope you play helm on your drives.

[RogueThirteen]

Beating the lizards will require taking the advice above and marking the Sauri which will quickly prevent the skinks from going anywhere safe on offense and will force them into dangerous jobs on defense.

I'm torn on the Wizard. At the very least, you can lightning a skink ball carrier early with it, hoping to knock the little guy out of the game while forcing the lizards to have to make another pick-up attempt (something that can easily burn up a team reoroll or cause a turnover for Lizards - when I'm playing Lizards the last thing I want to have to do is pick the ball up again, especially against fast defense teams). Best case, you can get some of your faster MA7-8 blitzers and catchers back to try and recover the loose ball while the sauri are marked. I wouldn't try to use the wizard later in their drive, because once he's got a skink or two in position, in a single turn he'll be able to move the ball 16-24 squares downfield with a hand-off and maybe a quick pass mixed in, so timing the wizard might be harder since there will not be a slow and plodding cage advance.

If humans have access to a Star with Stab (I can't recall if they do), I might take him and use him as a safety to shiv any skink receivers that try to hangout in your half. Stab is great against AV7 stunties. Mercs with Block or Tackle will be great against the skinks.

HALFING CHEF! - I would definitely take this. It gets you more rerolls which are nice, but most importantly it will take away his rerolls. Lizards live and die by their rerolls, since they have only Dodge (and in this case some Block) to work with. They need rerolls for picking up and handing-off the ball and doing Go-For-Its, so if you can deprive them of 1-3 Rerolls, you can hamper them much more significantly than most other teams and you'll make his game play very predictable (only safe pickups, probably no hand-offs, few Go-For-Its, limited blocking with the non-Block sauri).

[RogueThirteen]

Beating the lizards will require taking the advice above and marking the Sauri which will quickly prevent the skinks from going anywhere safe on offense and will force them into dangerous jobs on defense.

I'm torn on the Wizard. At the very least, you can lightning a skink ball carrier early with it, hoping to knock the little guy out of the game while forcing the lizards to have to make another pick-up attempt (something that can easily burn up a team reoroll or cause a turnover for Lizards - when I'm playing Lizards the last thing I want to have to do is pick the ball up again, especially against fast defense teams). Best case, you can get some of your faster MA7-8 blitzers and catchers back to try and recover the loose ball while the sauri are marked. I wouldn't try to use the wizard later in their drive, because once he's got a skink or two in position, in a single turn he'll be able to move the ball 16-24 squares downfield with a hand-off and maybe a quick pass mixed in, so timing the wizard might be harder since there will not be a slow and plodding cage advance.

If humans have access to a Star with Stab (I can't recall if they do), I might take him and use him as a safety to shiv any skink receivers that try to hangout in your half. Stab is great against AV7 stunties. Mercs with Block or Tackle will be great against the skinks.

HALFING CHEF! - I would definitely take this. It gets you more rerolls which are nice, but most importantly it will take away his rerolls. Lizards live and die by their rerolls, since they have only Dodge (and in this case some Block) to work with. They need rerolls for picking up and handing-off the ball and doing Go-For-Its, so if you can deprive them of 1-3 Rerolls, you can hamper them much more significantly than most other teams and you'll make his game play very predictable (only safe pickups, probably no hand-offs, few Go-For-Its, limited blocking with the non-Block sauri).

[bouncergriim]

good idea on the wizard early, I always wait to use them, but attrition early is better than waiting for the right momement that might not come.

[Urb]

Just one more thing to add. If you honestly don't think you're in a position to stop them from scoring, force them to score quickly. I typically ignore the ball handling skink and isolate a saurus or two. This in turn exposes skinks for you to blitz as they try and maintain a cage with thier skilled players.

[Smeborg]

I would not bother with the Wandering Apoth (you have nothing to lose).

I suggest you take a Mercenary Lineman with Dirty Player (cost 130,000 - you can afford this if you drop the Wandering Apoth and the Babe - you have an extra man instead). You can afford to foul Sauri if you have enough assists, you can kill more than Skinks.

[Smurf]

Halfling Hot Pot
300k

1 Random Event
200k

Helmut Wulf
110k

610k

Nick his rerolls, gain some, chop the bugger up and read the interesting funnies in the Random deck... some are really awesome!

[Wanchor]

I don't think 300k for the Chef is worth it in this case. I would rather concentrate on a wizard, a bribe or two and Helmut, then whatever else to fill it in. Cards, maybe, or Smeborg's suggestion about a Dirty Player.

[RogueThirteen]

I don't think 300k for the Chef is worth it in this case. I would rather concentrate on a wizard, a bribe or two and Helmut, then whatever else to fill it in. Cards, maybe, or Smeborg's suggestion about a Dirty Player.

I disagree, it'd be the first thing I would take. Gaining any extra rerolls from it is just icing on the cake, but if you can take away 2-3 of a Lizard team's rerolls for the drive you have effectively hemmed in their options. Without rerolls, Lizards can't:

Pick up the ball reliably (this is a big one, as I'm guessing this team has no Sure Hands since skinks can only get it on doubles)
Make a hand-off reliably (unless the skinks have catch)
Block/Blitz with the Skinks or Blockless Sauri reliably
Can't dodge more than once per activation with each skink reliably (effectively neutralizing their stunty 'advantage' most times)
Can't risks GFIs except in do-or-die situations

A lizard team with few to no rerolls is a very predictable team to play against and are very turnover prone. I'm playing a Lizard team in a league right now and I've got 4 Rerolls, a Leader, 2x Cheerleader, and 2x Assistant Coach and I'd still love to have another reroll (and I favor a very cautious, defensive playstyle). Without any innate reroll skills except dodge, even developed lizard teams will be heavily dependent on rerolls to keep the team flexible. A chainsaw or some cards wouldn't scare me half as much as going up against a chef (but taking them all is especially scary).

[Urb]

RR denial certainly is a valid strategy but a good coach would likely be able to operate without them given the lizards skills. 4 sauri with block and 3 with gaurd sounds pretty good to me. Skinks have dodge and probably a few other skills. Why hand off? Lizard cage doesn't require it and it's unlikely you'll have to pick up the ball on the first attempt. I rarely use a rr to pick up the ball on my drive. Just form a loose cage around the ball and take my time.

I say the wizard, chainsaw, and brides gives you a better chance for success but that's only my opinion so take it as such. If it was a rookie lizard team I might think it was a good direction, but then there would be no inducements.

[Drool_bucket]

Do the skinks have built in re-roll skill, like Catch and Sure Hands.

If any of them do, forget the HMC, as good as he can be he's too much TVR at this point.

I agree, Kill the Skinks is the most important strategy you can play...

how many Skinks have Block/Wrestle? If 3 or less do, I'd think the Mighty Zug a good choice. He has the dreaded Block/Mighty Blow combo which can remove Skinks at an alarming pace if he doesn't protect them right.

Helmet is good but most LM coaches are good at protecting their Skinks...

Wizard
Zug
Merc Lineman w/ Dirty Player
Babe

get those Skinks off the pitch. Don't let him tie up Zug with Saurii, let Zug and his low MV get to those Skinks after Wizarding their asses early on....

[bouncergriim]

I don't really like the chef for non-halflings, too costly IMHO. Cards are sadly out in my league, but which would be better if I took a merc, one with DP or one with tackle? He also has 9 more FF than I and 1 AC and 1 CL and 4 RRs to start, so even if I took two RR away he would still have two and probably only use them on the pick up then smash forward with sauri until he is close enough to score. But none of his players have surehands. And I am not liking zug against the speed of the lizards.