Advice with developing an Orc Team

[mattgslater]

Exactly. It helps you do everything you need to do against most teams most of the time. It makes it harder for ST3 killers to get 2d blocks set up (Guard Jr), it makes it harder for AG teams to knock you out of position, setting up more dodges (Tentacles Jr), it lets you throw an extra 1/3 of a block every time you get hit once (Frenzy Jr), and wastes a third of an opponent's action every time they block you (Foul App Sr).

[Coachbalrog]

Don't take Dodge in that league; there will be a ton of Tackle...

I always find this advice so bizarre, even against Dwarves you can find opportunities to use Dodge. So what if the opponent has 4 players with Tackle? It also means he has 7 without and you can exploit that if you play well. Dodge is awesome on Orc Throwers, much better than Strong Arm or Guard. To me it's a toss up between +MA and Dodge in this case. Personally I'd take the Dodge.

[grinn]

Great advice everyone thanks.

The thrower: After reading your advice and a parallel thread on the subject it seems like strong arm might be overkill. Dodge is always good, but that would work best if he got dodge and block to make him a runner. It makes accurate slightly redundant but its very useful when you DO need to get the ball up there (too often in my games sadly). I am not fully behind the general consensus on a lot of threads that discuss the issue of orcs not being a throwing team. Having a thrower is a massive bonus for an orc team for the simple reason that things dont go according to plan half the time. A big minus of orcs is their slow speed. That is EXACTLY why you need a decent thrower. Sometimes you just need to move the ball cause things have gone pear shaped for one of many Nuffle-related reasons. Still, I wouldnt go with strong arm on the double because I feel it's overkill when you dont throw all that often. Logically it seems like the +1 Ma is the most flexible. It gives a chance of a +1 on the throw (if you're just 1 away from the next throwing band which is roughly 1/3 of the time), it helps recovering the ball and most of all - running it upfield. I do like using throwers to move the ball up because (a) they give me more flexibility and unpredictability with plays (especially when there are those 3 turn drives) and (b) it frees my blitzers to bash. The only problem i ve experienced is that lack of MA leaving my cage going slower and not being able to reposition as well. The extra MA lets me run the cage a bit faster if I need to, or at least gain more ground so right now the vote is for the MA. Next skill up will be KoR or Block (not sure which yet).

The Blitzer: Seems like Piling On is favoured here. Never used it before so I need to see how it works and it's a good chance to use it. The runner up was stand firm to combine with the tackle and mighty blow (tying up dodgers and getting more of a chance to smack em a tackle-mighty blow green one if they dont drop him).

The Black Orc: Never used stand firm but I m figuring it might be useful here. I m soooo tempted to take Mighty Blow but as was suggested here this might be better on the BOs with Block currently (although I was really looking forward to having 4 BOs with Guard). Then I had a think and it seems like MB will be better on the two guard blitzers. As was pointed out, a S4 Stand Firm Block piece has the potential to be a royal pain in the arse (hopefully).

Any other ideas for the overall development of the team?