How to beat Dwarves & Chaos with Orcs?

[DoubleSkulls]

I like wrestle-tackle line orcs because they are then better at putting those blodgers on the ground than your blitzers are - and if you've got tackle on line orcs then you don't need as much of it on blitzers.

[Ullis]

I like wrestle-tackle line orcs because they are then better at putting those blodgers on the ground than your blitzers are - and if you've got tackle on line orcs then you don't need as much of it on blitzers.

This does sound like a good idea, especially after just playing a game against some supremely annoying Dark elf team with bucketloads of blodger sidesteppers.

My own - very limited - experience with Orcs centres around the frustration on how slow they are as a team. This seems to be mitigated to a large extent by the teams ability to easily cement a part of the pitch on defence (and offence) so that even a concerted effort isn't likely to break through in 2 turns so that the rest of the team can reposition accordingly. And for that to work I think that it's important to keep the orcs upright. Basically I'm seeing the lineorcs' main function in exerting TZ's.

[mattgslater]

To me, the line-orc is a strict benchwarmer/specialist. On paper, he's a good player, but he doesn't bring anything to the pitch. I'd only field a lino if I was down to 12 men or less (including perhaps on a starting team), or if the lino had some very compelling skill, and if I had 12 players exactly I'd only field the lino if the other guy was the wrong kind of specialist, like an offensive Thrower on defense. Sadly, line-orcs aren't fast enough to make Wrestle a good bargain, or it would be a no-brainer. But still, it seems like an ok option to me, as sometimes it will make him worth fielding when Block would just make him a better version of a chump Blitzer.

[DoubleSkulls]

Well normally I'll aim to make throwers offensive specialists and line orcs defensive specialists. So they do play every game, just not every drive. Of course if players are KOd Cas they are more likely to play too.

I really don't see the MA thing being a big deal. The whole point is to have a player who can more reliably get a block opponent on the floor. That's really important for taking down blodgers IMO. More block is nice, but mature teams are largely full of block players anyway - so having some wrestle (and I'm talking about two players!) is handy to have for the variety as much as anything.

[Lord FlashHeart]

An update.

Played my first game against 1 of these teams since posting.
Last night I had a game vs. da stunties.

This is what I did with your advice:

I bought a gobbo and now have a 14 orc roster. I don't have the intention to increase the squad further but if skilled up, I'll like the versatility. Will post the squad again in the future when there are more skill-ups.

For the game itself:
- Da stunties inflicted more casualties than me because of their superior Mighty Blow in the team. This confirms what you guys have said. Action -> Put more Mighty Blow on my team ASAP!
- I chose to Kick so I could defend with 11 players. This worked out well as I kept targeting his slayers (he kept Blitzing with them), sacrificed a line-orc to keep the Deathroller busy and eventually I was able to knockdown his ballcarier. By some miracle Black Orc 1 (AG1), who was assisting, 'picked up' the ball and very slowly Blitzed his way to the TD.
- The gobbo was on the field in Offense (there was a Black Orc injured anyway) and I must say, he performed rather well considering his rookie status. I tried to protect him from so much Block, Tackle, Mighty Blow and Frenzy but he sure got the opponent's attention. I used him as a potential bomb and receiver. This enabled me to score again in my drive. Hurray !

So, the stunties won the casualties war but the Orcses won the game: 2 - 0.

Lord FlashHeart