Norse - Advice/Criticism

[ShriekBob]

After my last team thread was very very popular (The never ending Nurgle thread of death that took me to a league win with the smelly gits) I figured I might stick up another, for another team I'm planning on picking up.

The Norse.

Yep, ArmyDave getting most Casualties at the NAFC has inspired me to take the little blighters and give them a shot.

I have however noticed that LRB6 advice for the Norse is a little thin on the ground.

So....what am I wanting?

Hopefully some links to some PDFs through the web, peoples thoughts on the team, how they perform, what mistakes I should avoid etc.

So, without further ado, my own thoughts:

I want to kill things. Dead!
I've been playing Lizards for two seasons now to great success (Un-defeated going into the Semis of this league).
I don't care about my final record that much as long as people die in disgustingly large numbers, obviously I want to win, but preferrably with a nice full D&I box. To that effect, my initial thought is that I'm going to want a deep roster in the long run, all the better to put the boot in with.

I'd like to get the positionals early, but while I'd run a Snow Troll in a tourney (and have some ideas for what mini I would use, but I'll get to that later) I'm not sure I'd run him in league. If I did, MB, Juggernaught are both must haves IMO, Block on a double if you don't have Jugs, at the time.
I think the Blitzers look amazing as slayers, get some MB/PO on there (though I've not done the math yet, I THINK MB generates SPP faster than PO and should thusly be the first skill) followed probably by some Guard, maybe some Juggernaught incase you both have Block, probably Stand Firm to help you ensure your crowd surfs once they're set up. Once I've got MB/PO and a tentative Stand Firm, I kinda dry up on ideas, I would normally say Tackle, but it seems a tad redundant with Frenzy.
The Ulf-Werf-Nerfs look like fun as well, clearly Block is the first skill, but what the hell comes after that? Do you go the same root? Or do you use there Str4 to do some tieing up, going for the Block/Guard/Stand Firm route, does Tackle go here? I'm thoroughly unsure in regards to the nerfs.
The Catchers/Runners/Whatever workshop calls them look boss. Dauntless is a fun skill, and I had considered building one as a back field safety piece. They get GA so I figured you could get Strip Ball on there, maybe some Diving Tackle & Side Step, throw Tackle in too, Dodge if they ever get that far, just make them sticky and annoying. Maybe pass block to get you to a reciever? (not that anyone really passes) How do you go about building a safety for that kind of roll? The other one would be a runner, Dodge, Sure Hands, Side Step, Sure Feet, Sprint, that sort of thing, maybe Diving Tackle to assist the other safety on defence.
The throwers? I have no idea. Your buying a lineman with pass. He doesn't have Sure Hands like a human lineman, and your catcher doesn't have Catch...so.....why do I care? An excuse to get Leader? Seems a waste. For me these seem the definite NO pick.
With the lineman I think things get a lot easier. I would say the first lineman gets Kick, the 2nd gets Dirty Player and you make sure you always have one of each, maybe two Dirty Players for when the first gets sent off. Other than that, Fend. I figure it helps you not give away free blocks against bash teams, and maybe Tackle against Elves/Skaven/Amazons etc.
What do people think? I'm curious to get other peoples ideas and see what people think of mine.

So....lets talk lineups.
I'm not convinced an 11 man starting Roster is any kind of plan if your AV7 and can avoid it (sorry Wood Elves), unless you have an Apoth. That means either taking an Apoth or an extra lineman. In my case, I think I take the lineman. That way I have that extra positional so I have a spare to but the boot in early and often. While Block means I shouldn't be chewing through too many re-rolls on my blocks, the Frenzying Wolves, and Snow Troll are gonna be re-roll hungry till the Wolves get Block, as will be picking up the ball till you get a Sure Hands piece. So....with that in mind, I feel 3 re-rolls are a must, at minimum. I think I'd like 4 in the long run, but 3 is probably sufficient to begin with.

6x Linemen 300k
1x Runner 90k
2x Berserker 180k
2x Ulfwerener 220k
3x Rerolls 180k
Total 970k

This leaves me 30k to buy an Apoth or a 2nd Lineman/Catcher after my 1st Game. This looks more than a little hair raising tbh, but, might be the best idea. The other idea I thought, which gives you more reserves, but less positionals was:

8x Linemen 400k
2x Runner 180k
2x Berserker 180k
3x Rerolls 180k
1x Apothecary 50k
Total 990k

I think, if you can survive the first game without getting totally mugged the first roster would be the better choice. Your going to be spending a lot of money replacing dead players, which means you don't really want to be trying to save 220k to buy the Wolves, more if you want the Troll too.

Finally, miniatures. I figured I would purchase one Workshop team, this will provide me with 2x Throwers, 2x Runners, and 8x Lineman (using the Blitzers as Lineman). I will then purchase 2x Willy Miniatures Ulfwerener to act as Blitzers (they're a little large for Str 3 till you realise thats as strong as an Orc Blitzer, and they are meant to be partially transformed), and 2x Willy Miniatures Werewolf for the Ulfwerener. Finally, for the Snow Troll, the toss up is between the Wily Miniatures Snow Troll (Click Me), the Hordes Snow Troll (Love everything but the left arm pose, Click Me), the Hordes Dire Troll Mauler (probably too big, Click Me), or finally the Hordes Dire Troll Blitzer (also probably too big, and without the gun thing on the back obviously, Click me). Currently the winner is either the Mauler if its small enough, or the Willy Miniatures if it isn't (cos the Blitzer would also be too big).

So yes, thats the stream of consciousness I've just trundled through about Norse.

Pre-emptive thank you's to any who contribute.

[Edit 1: Fixed some dumb spelling mistakes]

Bob out!

[Hitonagashi]

I'm no norse expert, but Carnis's playbook makes a lot of sense to me.

http://www.plasmoids.dk/bbowl/playbooks/On_Rampage.pdf

[Urb]

You should check out bbtactics. A lot of good advice there.

Currently playing norse myself and absolutely crushing my league. Personally wouldn't start with the yheti unless you need to take care of other str and high av. They are so unreliable that you won't want to throw blocks unless it's the last of turn actions which means they'll skill slower.

My only real advice. At the end of your turn try and NOT be in base contact with the other team. Bad things tend to happen then.

[nick_nameless]

My starting norse build was:

1 Yhetee
2 Blitzers
2 Catchers
1 Thrower
5 Linemen
3 Rerolls

I was pretty happy with it. I am working my way up to Ulfs.

[Drool_bucket]

I play in the same league as Nick_Nameless and if/when I start up Norse I will be stealing his build.

Like Carnis states, I think the Yhetee is a pretty important player for them against AV 9 and getting him to one or two skills ASAP is really good and needed.

Plus, if seems as Ulfs can be unreliable enough, so slowly adding them in should be a nice thing.

Plus, I like the Thrower because he gets you Leader quickly.

Plus I like the team speed that Catchers offer.