Orc defensive setup vs heavy bash... with a thrower

[PorkSol]

What is the best Orc defensive setup against heavy bash when you're forced to include a thrower on defense? Note that I'm talking teams with plenty of guard and killing skills, where you can't realistically contest the line and where they would like nothing more than to get blocks on your BOBs.

So far I've been running the extremely common defense you see below, with three sacrificial lineorcs on the line of scrimmage. It's nice for keeping your team on the pitch and able to fight back, although if the opponent wants to score quickly it's probably not ideal for stopping him.

"Don't Hurt Me"


Or a variant with two guarding BOBs manning the interior, seen below, if it looks like the opponent will struggle to get a 2d blitz on the interior BOBs.

"Power Don't Hurt Me"


But the sacrificial lineorcs are pretty key in each of these defenses, as the line of scrimmage is going down no matter what, they serve to reduce the number of free shots that the opponents gets on the BOBs and blitzers to an absolute minimum, and keep the BOBs free to engage on their own terms, rather than just spending the whole game standing back up until they get removed from the pitch.

The lineorcs have done their job well so far, but last game my thrower got +Strength, which throws off everything. Normally he only plays on offense and serves as a backup on defense.

But with the +Str increasing the thrower's value greatly, both in terms of TV and in terms of power (at least once he skills up again), it seems like he kind of needs to play on defense as well as offense.

However, including a thrower means that there is only room for two lineorcs, plus the BOBs and Blitzers. Meaning somebody is getting sent to the line of scrimmage.

I'm thinking that whichever Guard blitzer gains a skill next should pick up fend (to protect him from piling on and possibly free him up) and play at nose tackle, keeping the defense schemes the same, with the thrower lining up at a protected interior spot, but I'd be curious to hear any other options, because it really hurts to either a) give up one of your only average speed players on the line or b) give up one of your best players (BOBs) on the line.

Team:
TRR: 3
BOB: Block
BOB: Block, Guard
BOB: Block, Guard
BOB: Block, Guard
Blitzer: Guard
Blitzer: Guard
Blitzer: Mighty Blow
Blitzer: Mighty Blow, Piling On
Thrower: +St
Lineman: Wrestle
Lineman: Wrestle
Lineman: _

(The excessive amounts of Guard are for denying blocks)

[mattgslater]

It's not like you have to field all your BOBs. I would usually put one on the nose, just to get value on the pitch, but you don't have to.

I think you've got good anti-bash defenses there; I didn't go into the Playcreator document, just looked at the thumbnail. Don't get hurt, don't let 'em deploy in the midfield, don't get stuck out of position, and don't worry about anything else. Of course, you can always run a sideline defense against speed.

You don't have too much Guard. Enough, maybe, but not too much. Not if you're worried about heavies. Heck, you might even want a couple more if it agrees with your playstyle. 5x Guard guarantees that your opponent must take your ST seriously, but 7-9x Guard on an Orc team pretty much guarantees that you win the ST war against all comers. Chaos can't afford that much Guard, Khemri don't have enough access, Dwarfs don't have the basic ST to make up the difference. If speed were dominant in your league, then it would be maybe a somewhat different story. Won't stop all 2d blocks, but with good positioning you'll frustrate a lot of opponents.