Skaven vs Elves

[klauser]

You took sprint over sidestep on a oneturner. This makes Hito a sad bunny. That said, I don't know your specific circumstances, and it could even prove to be better here.

How come? The idea is not to be reliant on a chain push, right? Sure Feet next and the odds of successful OTT are above 50%. Why would you rather have Side Step?

[Hitonagashi]

You took sprint over sidestep on a oneturner. This makes Hito a sad bunny. That said, I don't know your specific circumstances, and it could even prove to be better here.

How come? The idea is not to be reliant on a chain push, right? Sure Feet next and the odds of successful OTT are above 50%. Why would you rather have Side Step?

Unless they have 3 ss/sf players to put on the LOS, then any push/pow will do with movement 10 ss, as you can push the opponent into you and sidestep one square forward. It cuts a GFI out, and also, MV 10 SS is a useful player when you get players injured and have to field him when you don't want to. The difference between the normal "not reliant" is that you don't need a push, a pow will do just as well.
----ppp------- as an example, if you blitz where that arrow is, you can SS one square forward and you don't need to use sprint at all. There are many different
-----x-x-x---- ways of pulling that off.
-----^--------

Personally, I prefer to take the chance that they might have 3 ss players (and if I really want to negate it, take a Jug vermin/RO) and in exchange have a much more useful player on defense. If you have a lot of elves in your league, or a lot of Necro, your mileage may vary with it.

[klauser]

Okay, I get the idea. The thing is I have a Necro and a Halfling team (read: 3 Trees on the LoS) in my league. Add to that some heavies (Orcs, Khemri) with multiple S5 pieces, where getting even a single push could be difficult, and I feel Sprint is better in my case. Fair point though.

[klauser]

Beat the Woodies in a tight game that ended 4-3. Wizard was the decider, yielding a 2TD swing.

Hito, I took Side Step over Sprint on the one-turner rat and it was alright. Tried an OTT once on T15, failing on a fumbled pass, but still scored on T16.

Now wondering if I should boot my Rat Ogre, seeing how he never does anything useful. My next matches are against Lizards and Ogres. Seems like pointless TV bloat.

[Hitonagashi]

Congrats!

I'd keep him around, depending on the exact makeup of the teams you are facing. The frenzy surf threat is the big threat against both lizzies and ogres. You can't just sit a saurus next to the RO all game, because it'll be in the crowd after a few turns. It's especially good as your RO has stand firm. The RO is also a royal pain for lizardman cages. Frenzysmashing in the side, and the skinks inside are suddenly dodging out on a 4+, unless he can put the RO down. Committing enough saurii to take the RO down often leaves gaps open too, and you might draw a RR on a doublepush. Skinks doth not like prehensile tail. Skaven tend to be very good against lizardmen anyway, although they are better with clawmb vermin.

As a sidepoint, you could really do with a strip ball gutter (wrestle/strip ball/dauntless/leap). The ogres he won't be any use for, but he might survive the game.

If he doesn't suit your playstyle though, he's wasted TV. There are some coaches who are very effective with a RO, and some who are just as effective without one. Which would you prefer, him or a wizard? (and remember, he also does give you a player on the pitch, for better or worse).

[klauser]

I'd keep him around, depending on the exact makeup of the teams you are facing. The frenzy surf threat is the big threat against both lizzies and ogres. You can't just sit a saurus next to the RO all game, because it'll be in the crowd after a few turns. It's especially good as your RO has stand firm. The RO is also a royal pain for lizardman cages. Frenzysmashing in the side, and the skinks inside are suddenly dodging out on a 4+, unless he can put the RO down. Committing enough saurii to take the RO down often leaves gaps open too, and you might draw a RR on a doublepush. Skinks doth not like prehensile tail. Skaven tend to be very good against lizardmen anyway, although they are better with clawmb vermin.

As a sidepoint, you could really do with a strip ball gutter (wrestle/strip ball/dauntless/leap). The ogres he won't be any use for, but he might survive the game.

If he doesn't suit your playstyle though, he's wasted TV. There are some coaches who are very effective with a RO, and some who are just as effective without one. Which would you prefer, him or a wizard? (and remember, he also does give you a player on the pitch, for better or worse).

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated!

I'm afraid I'm not too effective with the Fat Rat so far. I tend to favor a very risk-averse style (weird for a Skaven coach, I know) and will often avoid blitzing with the RO altogether. I tried to build him as a road block/support piece, but WA really hurts with that intended role. If it was not for TV considerations, I would not mind and still run the RO as 'nice to have'. Current TV is 1910 with the RO.

As for Wizard vs. RO, I'd go for the Wizard every single time. I can't recall how many games I won on the power of the Wizard alone. It's that good for Skaven.

Against the Lizzies (current TV 1730), I'm TV overdog by 180 (1910 total). The RO has a value of 190. I don't want to concede a Wizard, so I will either have a) to fire a healthy Linerat to keep the RO, or b) to drop the RO, possibly replacing him with a Linerat to go up to 40k TV over.

Against the Ogres (current TV 1930), I would likely be about even TV-wise with the RO, whereas I would certainly receive sufficient inducements to hire the coveted Wizard by firing the RO.

[Smurf]

Take it on the chin.

BTW no players are missing this game... that affects TV too.

[klauser]

Ugh. My rat crew got slaugthered by the Lizards, leaving a lvl4 Rat Ogre and a lvl5 Storm Vermin dead, and my AG5 GR with a Broken Collarbone. Time to rebuild I guess. Oh and I lost that game 1-0 because my Juanturner was out KO'ed and didn't return for the T16 score. Grrr.

EDIT: Had a nice recovery match vs Ogres that I won 3-1. Two skill-ups, sadly no doubles.

Here's my roster:

SV - Tackle, [normal roll]
SV
Thrower - Block, Accurate
GR - +ST, Block, Tackle. [normal roll]
GR - Guard, Block, Side Step, (-MV)
GR - Block, Two Heads, +AG, (-ST)
GR - +MV, Side Step
Linerat - Kick
Linerat - Wrestle
Linerat - Wrestle
Linerat
Linerat
4 RR
Apo

My next matches are vs Hi Elves, Halfings and Woodies, followed by 3 (!) Orc teams full of MB-Tackle. Uhoh.

Questions:
- MB or Guard on the Storm Vermin? I tend towards MB, given the next three matches are against squishes. Being able to hurt them might pay, though I will be missing the extra Guard against the Orc teams.

- Which normal skill for my Star Gutter Runner? With St 3 and Tackle, he does a lot of the team's blitzing. Options are currently: Leap, Side Step or Strip Ball. Side Step is certainly the safe bet and might prolong with life span. Leap on the other hand adds a new trick to my repertoire and screws with my opponent's math and positioning. I don't really like Leaping with AG4 pieces though, esp. when the have AV7. Strip Ball is yet another skill I don't have so far, but obviously a lot less spectacular.

- Should I keep the crippled AG 5 - Twoheads - Block GR (Broken Collarbone). He feel he could still be very useful as he can get whereever he wants. He low strength is irrelevant for snatching up lose balls or giving assists. On the other hand, every ST3 piece will now get a 3D block against him, so I'm afraid he will be very prone to further injury. At 170k TV he has a massive bullseye on his cloak. Keep him or fire him?

[Smurf]

Fire the ST 1 GR, I know your pain, as I have had 2 ST1 catchers and a ST 2 lineman which I thought - time to go!

SV with tackle... go MB, get some points for the next one. However, given that he has tackle try to blitz more with him as he will go through the dodgers quite easily.

GR/Blitzer... sidestep seems the option there.

BTW you are looking a bit thin on the ground, any cash to replace or get another line guy?