Strategy and Tactics - HELP VS ORCS jimmyl - Jul 28, 2009 - 10:58 PM Post subject: HELP VS ORCS
my high elves are about to come up against an orc team in our league.
i have a thrower, 1 inexperienced blitzer (my side-stepping blodger is MNG), 3 catchers (1 x blodge, 1 x dodge, 1 x inexperienced) and the rest are uninspiring linemen including 2 x journeymen (beside a Strength 4 lineman)
his team features a thrower, 4 blitzers (2 x tackle, 1 x piling on), 4 x black orcs ( 2 x block) plus 3 x inexperienced linemen.
AND SOMEHOW I ONLY GET 50K OF INDUCEMENTS????!!!
this is how it will go: his thrower will pick up the ball and move into a 4 blitzer cage while his black orcs beat the snot out of me.
i get that i have to keep my guys out of contact so he can only blitz but what else should i do to stop this juggernaut?
any and all game plan advice will be considered
HELP!smeborg - Jul 28, 2009 - 11:23 PM Post subject: RE: HELP VS ORCS
You have at least 4 tactics available to you in defense (which need to be combined):
(a) At the right moment (as soon as reasonably possible), launch a violent assault on the cage, using your Blodge Catcher (or your Dodge Catcher). With a Team Re-Roll in hand, the Blodger has a 5/9 chance of dodging into the cage, followed by a 3/4 chance of sacking the ball carrier, for a net 5/12 chance of popping the ball loose. That is good odds, especially as you can repeat the manouevre. Make sure you move one or more players into position first to cancel any assists your opponent might get from the cage corners.
(b) At the right moment, simply mark the 4 corners of the cage (ideally with Blitzers and/or Linemen, but anyone will do at a pinch). This can be surprisingly hard for your opponent to deal with, especially if he can only get a 1 die block.
(c) When appropriate, simply stand off, forming a double line, which means that the Orc player should only be able to advance his cage by one square per turn (not enough to score on a normal drive).
(d) When kicking-off, put immediate pressure on the ball, so that your opponent has to either take risks moving the ball, or has to form the cage deep in his half.
In my experience, Orcs vs. High Elves tends to favour the High Elves. So have the courage to realise that you may have the advantage.
All the best and let us know how you get on.jimmyl - Jul 29, 2009 - 11:03 PM Post subject:
that sounds like solid advice
my main concerns are:
1) his 2 tackling blitzers negating my dodging, even if i do mark them
2) while my linemen stand 1 square away from his cage, whats stopping the black orcs hitting them from the side/behind?
3) once a few of my elves are off the field, this is not an orc coach who is scared to throw a pass to a runaway blitzer, so my defence becomes very thin
would u ever suggest taking a 50k card over a babe?DarkDancer17 - Jul 30, 2009 - 02:50 PM Post subject:
You still dodge on a 2+ into open territory.
And black orcs are slow... notoriously so.
I love Orcs, don't get me wrong - but there are plenty of ways of getting around them. smeborg - Jul 31, 2009 - 10:28 PM Post subject:
jimmyl - you have a big speed and agility advantage over Orcs. As soon as the ball is loose, you ought to score. So you need to be aggressive in order to pop the ball loose.
If your opponent has a lone receiver upfield, then you have the option of blitzing the receiver, while standing off the cage for a turn.
Doing nothing against a cage is not an attractive option, unless the Orcs are short of time to score.
Hope this helps.smeborg - Aug 02, 2009 - 03:27 PM Post subject:
Your opponent has only 2 Tacklers. He needs both of these as (opposite) cage corners for the cage to be "Dodge-proof". So to the extent that you can tie up or distract the Tacklers, you make teh cage much easier to sack.
Hope this helps.jigplums - Aug 07, 2009 - 02:55 AM Post subject:
mark the tacklers with linemen who don't have dodge. Make sure everytime he fumbles the ball someone is around to pick it up and make him pay. dodge out of tacklezones wherever you cant get 2d blocks.jimmyl - Sep 14, 2009 - 09:00 PM Post subject:
What a game!
Kick is the greatest team skill ever! ok, maybe i exaggerate, but it was bloody awesome!
he elected to receive, i put the ball deep in the corner away from his catcher, sent 2 catchers down there and pressured the ball.
this worked 3 times! and when i got on offense had no problem scoring for a 4-0 win!
the orcs nearly managed an end to end TD with a pass, run, handoff, run move, but i blitzed the ball carrier and kept my clean sheet
he just didnt set up enough deep support for his catcher, so when he failed to pick up i was there in his face.
equally as good was that he caused 5 casualties, but only an unskilled lineman will miss next game
High Elves Rule!Bjorn9486 - Sep 15, 2009 - 06:09 AM Post subject:
Nice job!Welshy - Sep 20, 2009 - 02:44 AM Post subject:
As an Orc coach I concur with Smeborg. The lack of TACKLE on the side is ther big weakness. Exploit and distract the two tacklers as much as possible.
