Rookie Chaos Dwarves first skills question

[Hegel]

After a couple of matches my CD team now got its first three skills. Normal skills on a bull and a hobgoblin, double on a dwarf. The dwarf will get claw, although I wanted to give the first dwarf to skill guard. But claw is too tempting and will hopefully help him get his second skill quickly.

Now the other two is tough. Most sources say break tackle then block or vice versa for the bull and sure hands for the hobgoblin. WHy not sure hands on the bull to make him ball carrier, score more often and get the other skills more quickly ? Maybe wrestle on the hob then ? Next match will be dark elves followed by slain and pro elves…

thanks a lot !

[spubbbba]

Both Block and Break Tackle make the Bull a lot more reliable and are likely to get used much more than sure hands. If the ball is kicked deep you can get a few attempts to pick it up vs slow teams or even burn a re-roll, meaning it's not too difficult to skill him up. Sure hands is a decent 3rd pick though.

Sure hands is good on the hobgoblin and he can then hand off to the bull near the TD line if it's safe to do so. other options are block or DP along with wrestle.

[Heff]

You fail to give break tackle to a bull and he will get tar pitted. On Fummble I gave one bull block and the other break tackle. Block boy just got marked off every game every turn. break tackle boy raced away to 3 skills.

[Smeborg]

Hegel - my normal plan for CD development is as follows:

Bulls: Break Tackle first, then Block. I like the mobility that comes with Break Tackle; without it I consider them glorified Black Orcs. Having said that, you will of course have situations and games where Block first would have been better.

Chaos Dwarfs: Mighty Blow, followed by Guard. Claw on doubles. Guard can also be taken as first skill, but I prefer Mighty Blow first as it allows the Dwarfs to carry on skilling up (Guard first is therefore better in a short format).

Hobgoblins: The first one to skill up takes Sure Hands. Although I try to pick up the ball first with a Bull, the Sure Hands Hobgoblin is there for when the pick up by the Bull fails, or for when you need to score in (say) 2 turns. Other Hobgoblins get Block, follwed by Fend (this combo keeps them standing and increases their mobility, especially when they are in a Receiver position). I don't bother with Wrestle any more on Hobgoblins; not only are the CDs the most Tackly team, the Bulls with their Break Tackle are the prime candidates for taking blitz actions, so Wrestle on the Hobgoblins loses its bite. Dodge is my usual doubles pick on any Hobgoblin.

Lastly, although you didn't ask, I don't usually bother with the Minotard on this team; I like the lean TV without him. Of course you will find situations where you wish you had him. You can take one as a Mercenary inducement (sometimes with a skill).

Hope that helps.

[El_Jairo]

I do agree on the Break Tackle on the Bulls and Dwarfs development with you Smeborg.

But I play my CD the other way around in ball handling: the hobgob becomes the prime ball handler as I don't want to lock down one of my two best blitzers in the role of ball carrier. They can't really blitz as long as the lack Block and thus not make use of their main strengths: speed and ST4.
While using them as prime blitzers to keep you cage moving, they can double as a catcher to dash off for a TD. Sure 50% missed catches sounds bad but with TRR it goes down to 25%, still acceptable. And with bulls helping the dwarfs out, also the dwarfs can shuffle around for better positions and maybe even a TD if you can grind the cage up to the Endzone.

I use my Bulls as a back-up solution for pick-ups to be able to move the ball quicker by running.

I also quite like the Minotard, I prefer Meano as nickname, because he brings frenzy and real fear for surfing on the pitch, so people tend to defend the side-lines less. Which will create routes for a Bull to run in. Or if they do you just push the hapless defender into the crowd.
What if the do set up a decent defence on the sideline to cash in on you Meano stuck on the sideline, after the crowd push: well than probably the other flank is weak or even better the centre.
Sure he tends to be rather squishy for a Big Guy but you shouldn't go to-to-toe with the opponents BG. You only try to blitz loose players and hide him behind your line again. Like this you can keep him mobile and your opponent might get frustrated that the need to punch through dwarfs before they can touch him.

That's what I like about skills like frenzy, leap, stunty, TTM: they make the opponent react to your possible plays, which you can cash in on if you plan for it.
And the real strategy game begins: trying to get into your opponents head.

For Hobgoblins I like to take Kick first as you can afford to have one on the bench as Hobgobs always needs substitutes and being able to decide to kick deep or short, is quite important if you have the speed to put you opponent in a bad spot.
I do think that second Hobgob should aim for Wrackle to be and additional sweeper that can handle blodgers as it typically takes a while before I consider Tackle on a bull. After Block and Break Tackle, Sure Hands, Frenzy and MB seem a lot more appealing as they will earn more SPP and bring that 4th skill: SH -> Fend, Frenzy -> Stand Firm, MB -> Frenzy/Tackle.