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Strategy and Tactics - Help for new Orc player
MadDog - Sep 16, 2004 - 11:29 AM
Post subject: Help for new Orc player
Hi all
I just started playing Blood Bowl. I bought and painted the Orc box set, the Troll and a pack of Goblins. Can anyone offer me some advice? Should I try and buy a star player? I'm starting in a league where everyone else has been established for about four years. I know I'm probably going to have my butt handed to me but I still want to have fun 
Thanks in advance for all the advice
Mad Dog
Zombie - Sep 16, 2004 - 11:37 AM
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Forget star players. Just make sure you have enough minis to field maxed out positional players (i.e. 4 black orcs, 4 blitzers, 2 throwers and 4 goblins). You might want to use the plastic minis that come in the game for that purpose.
If you want to learn the game fast, try asking questions to your opponents, like "did i make the right decision in blitzing this guy?" or "did i make any glaring mistakes this turn?" I'm sure your opponents will be happy to share their thoughts with you and so you can learn from their experience.
If this hasn't been done yet, you should also ask someone to teach you basic tactics like chain blocking, playing and stopping the cage, doing and stopping two-turn scores, etc.
Melifaxis - Sep 16, 2004 - 11:43 AM
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Talk to the commish about how they try to encourage some semblance of parity. What's the average TR?
Are there eague House-Rules?
MadDog - Sep 16, 2004 - 12:15 PM
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The guy that I am playing against has a TR (whatever that means) of 293. He has offered to bring down teams of TR 110.
Thanks
Mad Dog
coach_McGinty - Sep 23, 2004 - 08:14 PM
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MadDog like Zombie said max out on Blitzers, Black Orcs and Throwers don't worry about Goblins to start with. Being orcs all your players will be extremely hard to hurt so concentrate on learning the game. Also I highly recomend playing against teams no higher than TR150-180 to start with. Thats if you have a choice.
kwailung - Sep 23, 2004 - 08:43 PM
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Zombie wrote:
If this hasn't been done yet, you should also ask someone to teach you basic tactics like chain blocking, playing and stopping the cage, doing and stopping two-turn scores, etc.
Man, Zombie, I like the way you lay that out. I've been playing for a few years now, but only among a few friends, which was very, very NONcompetitve. I just moved and am playing in my first league now, and I could use some of these lessons myself, especially stopping the cage and doing and stopping two-turn scores.
Zombie - Sep 23, 2004 - 09:08 PM
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These aren't things that can be taught online really. Try and find people in your area who can teach you these things face to face. Or come to the Death Bowl three weeks from now and i'll give you a few quick lessons if you want!
kwailung - Sep 23, 2004 - 09:20 PM
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Zombie wrote:
Try and find people in your area who can teach you these things face to face.
Oh they're teaching me, all right. Through brutal, painful experience! 
Zombie wrote:
Or come to the Death Bowl three weeks for now and i'll give you a few quick lessons if you want!
Would that I could! I'm just starting a new job and can't get that kind of time off right away (plus, since I've been unemployed since June, I don't really have the cash!) But there's always next year.
Besides, I pick up a lot just reading what you and many of the others here talk about. Always a pleasure to read your posts, Zombie. Thanks for the reply.
Zombie - Sep 23, 2004 - 09:56 PM
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kwailung wrote:
Always a pleasure to read your posts, Zombie. Thanks for the reply.
Here's a guy who hasn't known me for long enough! 
You'll probably change your tune after a while... 
KarlLagerbottom - Sep 24, 2004 - 07:45 AM
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Maddog-
I can't get to the area of the site right now that would be help, but you may want to check the following site for articles on Blood Bowl. http://www.specialist-games.com
You could also get a hard-copy of the mag, but it is not dedicated to Blood Bowl and may only have one BB article per issue. The article on Blocking in Fanatic #1 should help you quite alot...it deals with the tactics a nuances of maximizing your blocks.
It may not be available on-line anymore, but again I can't really poke around. If it's not there PM me and I'll see if I can find it later. (From home.)
Hope this helps. -Rob
Spazzfist - Sep 24, 2004 - 08:36 AM
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I agree with Lagerbottom, in that you should look to tactics tips through the main Blood Bowl website. Sometimes they will talk about things like Special Play cards, but just disregard these unless the league is using Vault rules. But overall the tips are very sound.
The big tip to remember is to always have as high a Fan Factor as possible when starting a league. This will allow you to buy back any players who are killed relatively quickly. Players can be bought with a high fan factor, but fan factor cannot be bought after the team has started playing.
I would hold off on star players to begin with. Build a solid team and go from there. My preferred starting league team is:
2 blitzers - 160000
4 black orcs 320000
2 lineman 100000
1 thrower 70000
1 goblin 40000
1 troll 100000
9 fan factor 90000
2 rerolls 120000
Total: 1000000
This gives you a solid base on which to build. Having a high armour means that you can go without the apothecary in the first game without too much worry. But do get him/her/it ASAP!
The goblin/troll is also too good of a combo to miss out on. It can give you the one turn touchdown, so is good when you are in a tight spot.
After that I would focus on maxing out on blitzers, as they are probably the best players on the orc team. For skills to choose, look to the articles on the specialist games site or PM me.
Hope this helps,
Spazz
Zombie - Sep 24, 2004 - 11:23 AM
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For good articles, forget http://www.specialist-games.com and go to http://www.blood-bowl.net
Spazzfist - Sep 24, 2004 - 12:13 PM
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Zombie wrote:
For good advice, don't listen to Zombie! 
Seriously though, the articles are older, but do contain a LOT of useful information and insight. I liked them anyways.
Spazz
Zombie - Sep 24, 2004 - 01:00 PM
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All right, i've just gone to check the specialist site. It contains a grand total of 1 tactics or strategy article (the art of blocking). Blood-bowl.net has about 50. So go check out the lone article at specialist, then make sure to visit Galak's site. It's a must for anything Blood Bowl, be it history of the game, strategy, house rules, new races, or whatever you fancy.
I did write an orc article a few years ago, but sadly i've lost it. I'm pretty sure it's still floating around on BBC or TBB. You can probably find it through a search if you're interested. It was called "Orcs are agile".
Grumbledook - Sep 24, 2004 - 01:23 PM
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the articles on bb.net are good but are suffering from a being a bit dated
zombie does talk a good game, i think he should listen to his own advice heh ;]
While gobbos are kinda handy, no self respecting orc wants a goblin on his team, won't be seeing any on mine!
Zombie - Sep 24, 2004 - 01:30 PM
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I've played orcs many times in the past and always followed the guidelines in my article. The only time i've done badly with them is in a playoff game against chaos where he put 10 or 11 players on the line on defense, and i decided to leave my 4 goblins on the bench and hit everything in sight. The other coaches in the league were going "wtf", including the coach in front of me who had been told to beware of my goblins. I lost that game because i left the goblins on the bench.
Of course, this is not good advice for a rookie coach, which is why i didn't mention it earlier in this thread. But in the hands of a good veteran coach, and especially under 3rd ed rules where hand offs were free and not an action, this kind of setup could do wonders. I haven't tested it under LRB yet though.
Grumbledook - Sep 24, 2004 - 01:37 PM
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i'm just ribbing you for your spike! performance, which of course is a whole diff game
anyway enough thread hijacking
Spazzfist - Sep 24, 2004 - 01:37 PM
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My bad.
Zombie is right, I thought I had seen the articles from the blood-bowl.net link from the spsiclist game link. Oops!
But don't listen to Grumbledook - the gobbos are key players! They can get into the tight spots with their stunty ability, can score the one turn touchdown, and make good troll food when you are low on cash! Never underestimate the little guy!
Spazz