Need help on choosing team for a league

[Digger Goreman]

Nurgle might be more rewarding in a longer league: You have great disposable heroes (Rotters) who only "fall apart" if injured and can field the ball as well as any other non-cheeser.... Your NWarriors make great cagers ("Can't touch this") around a Pestigor/Rotter and make it nearly impossible for even a cheese-leaper to nick the bounding ball (-12 to catch roll) if it does pop loose.... Access to mutations give you great ersatz dodging capabilities (two heads) and your beastly pestigors blitz out of most trouble on their own.... Spread the Warriors on defense and the passing game suffers for your opponent.... Sadly, the BoN is a train wreck waiting to happen and should be passed up... though the thought of a Frenzy BoN (needs doubles iirc) is vastly amusing....

Humans, on the other tentacle, don't even need linemen and have great potential through fielding 4 blitzers.... Nevertheless, I think they will suffer in a super-bash environment.... Again, eschew the big guy (Ogre), except for fun....

If these are the only two choices, then I'd have more fun with Nurgle....

If really wanting to compete in a Blood Bowl environment, then go with Undead.... If really wanting to prove your ultimate mental/physical prowess... go Necro!

[Bilbali-Lion]

Thank you all for your great advices. I was going to finally choose humans, but that last comment made me consider nurgle again. I´ll play a game with nurgle at the begining of the week so I can see by myself how can I play them.

If going with humans, I would like to make them dangerous. I know I can´t be as bashy as they are, but I would like them to "fear" me. Instead of thinking; "yeah, humans, this is going to be all about having fun and kicking their groin", I rather have them think: "crap, not humans again".

I think I can achieve that by having a couple of dirty player linemans, and/or a couple of blitzers with mighty blow and pile on, or even frenzy. Do you think it´s possible? Has anyone tried to make that kind of human team?

[mattgslater]

Humans!

Humans are massively underrated. Not good, but underrated.

Take an Ogre and 4 Blitzers to start. You won't be all that under-strengthed. 2 Throwers, 4 Linos, RRs and 10k Treasury. Work like a maniac to skill everybody: the first skill on the curve is the most important, especially in this format. The Ogre is key, because you want power at the point of attack, on both teams' turns: for this reason, Stand Firm and Break Tackle are better Ogre skills than Guard against these kinds of teams. Protect the Ogre; I know it sounds funny, but his ability to do useful things is why he's worth 90k more than a lineman, and soaking up a line-block is not so useful a thing to do. Take tons of Block, focus on the soft points. Hires are Apoth, Catcher, Catcher.

You can't win the ST war; you don't need much Guard. You do need to offer a threat, so focus primarily on Mighty Blow instead, say getting Guard on the first Blitzer to skill and MB on the rest, picking up more Guard as the opportunity arises (like after a double or +AG). Humans above all teams need to avoid getting corralled; early on you can keep safe with positioning, but eventually you want a lot of Fend, probably a little Stand Firm, and hopefully a couple +AG guys and/or SS'ers. Linemen who double should consider Mighty Blow, unless it's late and they've got Block/Fend; in that case, Side Step is just too darn good, or Dodge if you already have a lot of it on Throwers and Blitzers.

Skilling Humans is critical, because you need as many bites at that +AG/+ST apple as you can get, and also because you get good value on your first two skills against this kind of opposition. Since you don't need to invest in a Tackle track on Blitzers, and you don't need maximum Guard, you really want to focus on Linos. Block/Fend x3, Wrestle/Kick x1. Third skills on line guys should be spent on toolbox (Dauntless, Tackle, whatever you need); Frenzy for the Kicker. A Catcher makes a great Dirty Player, because with DP/SG you can keep fouling once your numbers drop. For the other, I'm a fan of Block-SS-DT, try to get him singled on the carrier. Two is enough.

On offense, you should play fluid and elfy, at least in the sense that you should use big, loose hedges and play keep-away against your heavy opposition mix. You can run midfield cages, but try only to deliver the ball there once you have a safe downfield outlet. Control the middle on defense, don't let yourself get wrapped around, and if you get a chance, try to keep the cage from joining the line.

[Hitonagashi]

Thank you all for your great advices. I was going to finally choose humans, but that last comment made me consider nurgle again. I´ll play a game with nurgle at the begining of the week so I can see by myself how can I play them.

If going with humans, I would like to make them dangerous. I know I can´t be as bashy as they are, but I would like them to "fear" me. Instead of thinking; "yeah, humans, this is going to be all about having fun and kicking their groin", I rather have them think: "crap, not humans again".

I think I can achieve that by having a couple of dirty player linemans, and/or a couple of blitzers with mighty blow and pile on, or even frenzy. Do you think it´s possible? Has anyone tried to make that kind of human team?

If you do go that line, you could pull a Khemri trick...wrestle/dp linemen. Human linos are really cheap, and the advantage of a wrestle/dp lineman is that if they use wrestle to put him down, he stands up and kicks them where it hurts. 2 of them means that one can block and the other foul.

Pretty much all the successful FUMBBL human teams in the Box (bash heavy environment) go for at least 2 mbpo tackle blitzers. Your advantage is your speed. With catchers, you have very mobile assists, so you can punch without losing position. There's nothing wrong with having a killer blitzer on the opposite side of the pitch to the ball hunting some fragile beastman, because in a turn he can reposition and get back into the fray.

Remember, at the end of the day, your main threat is that you can kill *and* threaten the ball at the same time due to your speed and positioning. You won't win a pure bash against Orcs/Chaos, but you can make it so that if they try and break from protecting the ball to stick the boot in while cackling, you grab the ball and win the game. If they close up and protect the ball, you can pick on stragglers and punch them.

[Smithysworld]

In the absense of having a Halfling option (how much fun would they be in your league ) I would go with the Human team. Why you ask? I will simple refer you to the Blood Bowl novels. I rest my case.

[Bilbali-Lion]

Thanks a lot for those advices. I have readed some human playbooks, but none of them was oriented to human teams in all-bashy enviroment. Those advices are pure gold.

I was thinking of that exact starting roster. I have tried the one with an ogre and the one with 4 blitzers, so mixing them must be great. Should I place the ogre behind the first line? Sounds like something I would like to do, since an ogre and two linemans are not much better than three linemans when facing a mino and chaos warriors or a troll and black orcs.

I will still play a game with nurgle just for the fun, but I´m going to use the humans for the league. As someone said before, it will help me become a better coach.

[Lunchab1es]

I will still play a game with nurgle just for the fun, but I´m going to use the humans for the league. As someone said before, it will help me become a better coach.

FWIW, Nurgle are a far less dynamic team. So if slow and steady isn't your cup of tea, and you'd rather execute some actual running and passing plays, humans will definitely be more enjoyable for you. Just don't get too attached to any of your players.

[Smeborg]

Bilbali-Lion - I think you should just go with whichever team you think will bring the most variety to the league. This will enhance enjoyment and learning for you and the other coaches.

All the best and good luck with your team, whatever it is!

[Bilbali-Lion]

Thanks. I´ll post a comment about the match with nurgle as soon as I play it.

[Wanchor]

Thanks. I´ll post a comment about the match with nurgle as soon as I play it.

Make sure to slog the 76-page behemoth and post your thoughts to it.

[Bilbali-Lion]

Ok. I´ll try.


I´m starting to get pissed off at the league. A new player will probably join us... with orcs. That would make a league of 6 teams; 3 orcs, 1, dwarf, 1 chaos and 1 human. Hooray for variety. Maybe I should make an orc team aswell.

What pisses me off, is that the two last players to join, have a Wood Elf team and a High Elf team, but for some reason, they decided to go with orcs, instead of adding variety. And now, one of the players who decided to go with orcs, for no reason, said to me: "Remember, the team is not important, the coach is." Wich is kinda true, but sounds almost insulting when the player with a better team (or army, or band) says it to the one with a less competitive choice. Yeah! Sure. If his team bashes yours out off the pitch, is not because of the players, it´s because he is a much better coach than you are...

Well. I´ll probably do what I usually do in these kind of cases. I´ll laugh about it, and try to have fun while I beat them.

[Bilbali-Lion]

I played the game with nurgle a couple of hours ago. I won 2-0 against orcs. The orc coach was really frustated for the entire game. When three rotters manage to stop three black orcs and a troll just by being there, it´s awesome.

On the first half, he tried to pass through my defense on my right side, since those 3 rotters where in the middle and the beast and the pestigor were behind them. That was his first mistake, because the beast and the pestigor joined the two warriors that already were there and I blitzed his ball carrier and put 2 takle zones and 3 disturbing presences on the ball. I just had to pick up the ball with the pestigor, while one warrior and the beast stayed there to keep his players from following the pestigor. The black orcs and the troll were too slow to reach him and they had to dodge the rotters first. His right side players were too busy with the two warriors on their side. Touchdown on turn 7, bacause I didn´t want to stal in a friendly game.

On the second half the pestigor took the ball and I formed a not too strong cage around him. I moved the cage a litttle to the left, since his centre was strong, with the black orcs and the troll. He then tried to surround my cage with the players on that side, but he didn´t leave any of them behind. I sent a nurgle warrior to prevent his blitzer from going after the pestigor, and moved forward with the pestigor, the beast and the other warrior. The rest of the team, including the brave rotters stayed behind to prevent his other players from moving. Then the pestigor scored his second touchdown on turn 6.

I think I did quite well for being my first game with nurgle. I tried to throw as little dice as possible and make him roll lots of them. The Foul appearence just worked once and the disturbing presence wasn´t really needed, since the ball was in 2 tackle zones and none of the orcs was near enough, but both played a psicological rol on my opponent. I K.O-ed 3 of his players, but the troll killed a rotter. Poor brave rotter.

After the match, the chaos coach and the orc coach joked (I hope it was a joke) about banning the nurgle team from the league. Scared much?

[JaM]

Well done !!

Dont mind the other players, do what you want. Play the team what you think is the best for your playstyle.

Although I think if you join a small league, you should see what type of teams are already there and choose something different. I'd love to play HE if I were him, make the others fear your ball-handling.
He's got more speed and agility than the rest. Pure 'win' I think.

[Digger Goreman]

IAfter the match, the chaos coach and the orc coach joked (I hope it was a joke) about banning the nurgle team from the league. Scared much?

"Remember, the team is not important, the coach is."

Wonder if he remembered that...?

Nurgle on, man, Nurgle on....

[Smeborg]

Well done B-L, that's the true Nurgle spirit!