LRB 5 Starting League Rosters

[odinsgrandson]

I've had tons of success with a vampire build in which I took Three Vampires.

Vampire
3 Vampire
8 Thrall
5 RRs

Starting out with the more expensive selections (vampires and re-rolls) allowed me to easily purchase an apothecary shortly after starting. Five re-rolls can work pretty well for the three vamps as well.

[stashman]

UNDERWORLD

2 Blitzer
2 Thrower
2 Linerat
9 Goblins
3 Rerolls
10K Cash

15 players is a BIG roster in a rookie league!!!

Opponent will just give up trying to get your players of the pitch.

[mattgslater]

I've had tons of success with a vampire build in which I took Three Vampires.

Yeah, that's the common starting build. That, or drop a RR for a reserve and 30k cash toward more reserves. I think the peak Vamp roster runs 4 Vamps in tight formats (Box/MM, where you need to keep reserves down) or 5 in high-value formats where you can run 15 men with no problem. But to start, when you can't afford any reserves at all, 3 is optimal, yeah.

Here's a Pact roster I won a rookie rumble tournament with:
12 Marauders
1 Dark Elf Renegade
4 Re-Rolls
Apothecary

13 menz and an Apoth at AV8 means you'll have an easy time keeping a numerical edge; if you get 'em man-down early that bench turns into a weapon as you can then start fouling for pure numbers, which is normally a no-no in CRP if you don't have Bribes. Conversely, fouling you is stupid, unless you take a lot of damage. No skills? 4 Re-Rolls and a +AG guy. Apoth is for early KOs, poor man's Thick Skull; you could bank 50k for a Dirty Trick if you prefer, but Apo is better than Babe. For the last game of the 4-round KO tourney, I took a Minotaur, and he was killer with this roster. I'm normally not a big Minotaur fan, but it went really well, he added punch.

If it's good in a rookie tournament, its Human counterpart can't be that bad either. I take back the bad stuff I said about that no-Blitzer Human build on the last page, in short-running formats only. I'd take 13 men, no Ogre. Just:
1 Thrower
1 Catcher
11 linos
3 re-rolls

The 160k that you'd have left over can either give four of your linos +MA, Block, and S access, or can give you a Wizard in your first game. In a rookie tournament, that would be good fun.

A while ago, I started playing a team of all Journeymen Human Linemen, hiring them after one match (Ranked Amateurs). In TV-matching environments, they're surprisingly effective. A few guys rack up some really good skills, and the other guys are all cheap. I just lost most of my best players, been playing a while with no Guard, but I've still got two of the top ten Human Linemen on FUMBBL. So you can make Human Linemen work….

[mattgslater]

I won a tourney also with this Orc roster:
Orcs: 4 Blitzers, 3 Blockers, 4 Linemen, 4 Re-Rolls

Here's a cheesy roster that's not legal on FUMBBL but you could do somewhere else:
Orcs: 4 Blitzers, 4 Blockers, 3 Goblins, 4 Re-Rolls
Put the Gobs on the line, then after 1 game fire all the Goblins and take Journeymen until you can afford to build up to 12 menz.

Here's a formula for Humans:
1: Assume 11 menz, with 4 Blitzers, 1 Thrower, 1 Catcher: 900k
2: Pick two (*you may double-up)
- a) 2 Throwers/Catchers*
- b) Reserve*
- c) Re-Roll
- d) Apothecary
- e) Ogre (counts as both picks)

[Darkson]

Here's a cheesy roster that's not legal on FUMBBL but you could do somewhere else:

Out of interest, why is that not legal on Fumbbl?

[mattgslater]

Here's a cheesy roster that's not legal on FUMBBL but you could do somewhere else:

Out of interest, why is that not legal on Fumbbl?

Journeyman abuse. You're expected to take reasonable measures to try to maintain 11 rostered men. You can't cut healthy players without replacing up to 11, you can't fall below 11 if you have enough to rebuild and keep a cushion*, stuff like that.

You could build the roster (I did, for giggles; Goblins are actually not too bad when nobody's got Tackle), and not replace the Goblins if they get hurt (until you can afford it). You could also replace them as you could afford to, which would also let you get some reserves going. But you couldn't fire all your Gobs after match #1 unless somehow you earned 150k in one game (FAME ±2, take a concession, roll boxcars, it's the only way).

*This is a hot topic on FUMBBL. Not as hot as ClawPOMB and the perversities of the Blackbox scheduler, but it comes up. The line is clearly north of "barely enough to replace my lost menz" and south of "mad cash, but I just don't feel like it." It's somewhere around, "when an admin thinks you have enough cash he'll send you a PM."

[Darkson]

So another houserule for the website that says it won't use houserules?

[mattgslater]

There aren't that many. But yeah, there are a lot of us who feel that this rule is unnecessary. Really, it almost never comes up, and when it does it's mostly like this:
Admin: [form letter]
Coach: "One more game. I'm saving up for 12 men and a 50k+ cushion."
Admin: "K"

[Fassbinder75]

I'd imagine Nurgle would be another offender for running 9 man rosters. Rotters are a waste of hard earned crowns, and everyone knows journeymen are made of rubber!

[MattDakka]

So another houserule for the website that says it won't use houserules?

That is an off-game houserule , i.e. it doesn't affect skills, modify rosters, players nor alters any in-match aspect of the game, it just prevents journeymen abuse.
Anyway, some time ago I asked an admin a clarification of the rule and he replied that if you've got a team with a pile of cash and not rostering 11 permanent players then you're in violation of this rule:

"Teams in competitive divisions are expected to strive for at least 11 players on the roster. While this doesn't mean that any team below 11 players must immediately hire a new lineman, coaches are expected to not let the team deteriorate on purpose."

You may ask where that line is - you can save up some amount of money toward new players, but if you find yourself with 200-300k+, then you'll have to hire some players toward the requirement of 11 permanent players.

[Fassbinder75]

I don't see what the issue is. You're trading off having reserves and limiting your team's ability to use re-rolls against having 2 to 3 expendable players. I'd hardly call it 'abuse', more a solution in search of a problem.

[Darkson]

So another houserule for the website that says it won't use houserules?

That is an off-game houserule , i.e. it doesn't affect skills, modify rosters, players nor alters any in-match aspect of the game, it just prevents journeymen abuse.

Still a houserule, and of course it alters the in-match aspect. The rules allow for a coach to run a team with 11 journeymen if they wish, so if Fumbbl is not allowing that they're houseruling.

[mattgslater]

1) I agree, and I think they should change it.
2) They're not ready to get rid of it yet, but eventually they may.
3) They're pretty liberal around the edges with this rule.
4) Why the heck would you run all Journeymen? That's my main complaint with this rule, actually, that it doesn't really stop any significant kind of cheese. There really aren't any successful strategies that don't ultimately (ultimately) result in a full roster anyway. If you're running below 11 and not broke, you're probably hoarding cash to … buy moar menz. And that's supposedly okay, right?

[MattDakka]

Still a houserule, and of course it alters the in-match aspect. The rules allow for a coach to run a team with 11 journeymen if they wish, so if Fumbbl is not allowing that they're houseruling.

Never said it isn't a house rule, but it is there for a purpose.
You could run a team of 11 journeymen even on FUMBBL, by just wasting all your money by buying and firing cheerleaders, a.coaches, rrs etc. then, if you have not enough money in the treasury to buy a player you can legally have 11 journeymen.

[mattgslater]

Never said it isn't a house rule, but it is there for a purpose.

Do tell. I haven't figured it out.