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Strategy and Tactics - Skills on Orc Teams
Welshy - Mar 09, 2009 - 02:13 PM
Post subject: Skills on Orc Teams
With current a roster at TR116 (after three games) that looks like:
3 Black Orcs - no skills
4 Blitzers - no skills
3 Line Orcs - no skills
1 Thrower - with accurate
2 Gobbos
I'll be looking to add another Black Orc and a Troll when I can.
I've wondering what skills to stick on them as they 'level up'. My current thinking is:
BO's - Block and Mighty Blow. Dodge on doubles.
Blitz - Mighty blow and tackle. One with sure hands, one with stripball.
Line Orcs - Block and Guard.
Thrower - Leader and kick. Strong arm on a double.
Gobbo's - Diving catch, Catch and Surefeet with Block on doubles.
Troll - Pro, MB and Guard.
Let me know if I've missed anything and/or any other good combo's you know of.
Doubleskulls - Mar 09, 2009 - 02:39 PM
Post subject: RE: Skills on Orc Teams
BOBs - Guard on the first two or three to skill up, then block (so they are all guard/block or block/guard) then either stand firm or mighty blow for the 3rd skill. Ignore doubles.
Blitzers - a lot depends on league composition. If you need lots of tackle these are the boys for it. If not then mighty blow and guard are good choices too. I don't normally bother with strip ball because I find it very difficult to ensure that the blitzer with it is in a position to use it. I'd not take sure hands at all since that's what throwers have for free. Doubles - I like diving tackle. Dodge is okay so long as you always take it on doubles.
Throwers - runners get Block, Kick off return and Fend. dodge on doubles. Passers get accurate, kick off return and leader. Strong arm on doubles.
Troll - Block on doubles. Guard & Stand firm. They start with Mighty Blow and multiple block is a bit high risk if you don't have block.
Line Orcs - wrestle first, then kick, fend, tackle or dirty player. Guard or diving tackle on doubles.
Gobbos - Catch, Sure Feet & Sprint. Diving Catch is only worth it if you are playing the experimental rules. Doubles early on I'd be tempted by Dirty Player to follow up with sneaky git, or strip ball.
Spazzfist - Mar 09, 2009 - 03:17 PM
Post subject: RE: Skills on Orc Teams
The black orcs can benefit from a combination of Block and Mighty Blow on two of them and then Guard and Stand Firm on the others.
Tackle on the blitzers is only useful if there is a strong presence of Dodge in the league. Otherwise you are better off with skills like Guard and Frenzy. Strip Ball is a good choice on one of them, but I would not bother with Sure Hands on them at all.
To give the troll Pro it is is going to require a double. I would take Block as the first double on this one - no question! Grab is a fun skill to rty out, and will nto eat up one of your doubles. But if you want to go the typical route then Guard and Stand Firm are your best choices.
With the thrower's low movement, I have found Kick Off Return to be an excellent skill choice for this player. I would not give him Kick. Kick is a skill for a lineman.
Unless you are planning on giving a thrower Hail Mary, I would not be so quick to give the goblins Diving Catch. A better choice would be Diving Tackle. One of my personal favourite for the stunties however, is Side Step.
Welshy - Mar 09, 2009 - 06:48 PM
Post subject: RE: Skills on Orc Teams
Cheers both,
We are using the LRB5+Experimental here in Christchurch, so Diving Catch is till probably my favourite over the normal catch currently. Sure feet looks like a must and both Diving Tackle and Side Step look pretty good too.
I should have gone for Kick-off return as the first skill to see how my single thrower develops really... never mind. In the long run I'd like to get two, one PASSER (if they get +AG) and one RUNNER (+MA or +ST). having Kick-off return looks real good esp with their low natural MA.
I stuffed up on the Troll skills, I meant Mighty Blow, but he comes with already. I agree with Guard/Stand Firm with Block on a double... Grab is tempting to 'bust a hole' but perhaps better on a Black Orc so it's not stuck on the LOS?
I like the idea of Wrestle on Linemen... a real funky trick for LOS duty.
Guard/Frenzy Combo's on blitzer's for assisted crowd pushes seems like fun as there's only two Human and one Elf team (i.e. 'Dodge' teams) at current. Mightly Blow Also seems to work well, but we'll see how the League's skills develop perhaps.
Thanks again, more comments/guidance welcomed.
Spazzfist - Mar 09, 2009 - 07:21 PM
Post subject: Re: RE: Skills on Orc Teams
Doubleskulls wrote:
Line Orcs - wrestle first, then kick, fend, tackle or dirty player. Guard or diving tackle on doubles.
Curious. Why would you suggest Wrestle as a first skill? I had always figured that Wrestle was more for the faster teams. Orc linemen are kinda slow.
Doubleskulls - Mar 10, 2009 - 04:50 AM
Post subject: RE: Re: RE: Skills on Orc Teams
Wrestle is useful to have... Blitzers start with block so aren't going to take it. BOBs are slow and want to stay on their feet more - especially because I load up on guard with them. Throwers want block if anything for safer ball carrying. So if you want it (which I do) then its good to have - you'll normally only have one or two line orcs on the pitch anyway so its good to have variety.
Line orcs who don't get block or wrestle first up really struggle to get any extra skills.
Frantic - Mar 10, 2009 - 01:12 PM
Post subject: RE: Re: RE: Skills on Orc Teams
Ok some quick thoughts. I havent have the time to read what Ian and Spaz has given for tips but here is my....
Kick of return on the thrower is very useful. I have it and never regret that. I dont like the leader skill, the AV for Orcs makes them a team that dont loose players and after a while you can buy youre own RR. I rather go with block
Give one liner Dirty Player and after a couple of games when he got his 2:nd skill you give him kick. I dont see the point to have the thrower given the kick skill. I rather have him as a substitute player in defence. Give the 2:nd liner Wrestle and the last one block (My guess is you will only play with three of them) Its allways good to have one wrestler guy on the team.
Double on a Blitzer then I prefer Diving Tackle. Make one Blitzer MB/P-On and if he got a double then give him J-Up.
In my orc team I have given a BOB Block/Frenzy and find that very useful.
The Troll I think Block on a double is better then Pro. But if you got a gobo with AG4 then I could change my mind and go with the Pro skill. No double = Guard, It allready has the MB skill so Break Tackle or stand firm is very nice skills choice after guard.
GL!
Doubleskulls - Mar 10, 2009 - 03:02 PM
Post subject: RE: Re: RE: Skills on Orc Teams
I'd take Leader because it's 40k less TV than a purchased reroll - although its a 2nd or 3rd skill on the thrower who takes it.
Welshy - Mar 10, 2009 - 03:45 PM
Post subject: RE: Re: RE: Skills on Orc Teams
That's awesome guys, cheers.
So to summarise what I'll probably run with:
Line Orcs: Wrestle or Block, Kick, fend, tackle. (Guard/Diving Tackle on doubles)
Blitzers: Guard, Frenzy, Mighty Blow (Diving Tackle on Doubles)
Black Orcs: Block, Mighty blow, Guard. (Ignore Doubles)
Thrower - PASSING: Accurate, Kickoff return, Leader (Strong arm on doubles) <-This one already has accurate.
Thrower - RUNNING: Kickoff return, Block, Fend. (Dodge on doubles)
Gobbos: Diving catch, Surefeet, Sneeky Git. (Dirty player on doubles)
Troll: Guard, Standfirm (Block on Doubles).
Frantic - Mar 10, 2009 - 04:08 PM
Post subject: RE: Re: RE: Skills on Orc Teams
Well it depends how meny RR he got. In my league we play with the free FF and that gave me a start of 3RR another RR insted of a skill, hmm nope dont like it. When my thrower got his third skill I allready bought the fourth RR. But I got lucky though, only one player has died so far.
EDIT: I have The frenzy skill on a Black Orc Blocker. Try it. Most of the time you dont need any assist.