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A system for Slann (World Cup)

Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 11:08 am
by Smeborg
Slann are very strong at TV110 in a format which allows doubles skills. So it was an easy decision to take them for the World Cup. I have a simple system, no Krox, no Blitzers, lots of re-rolls. This allows the team to attack the ball relentlessly. Here is the roster:

Catcher: Guard (day 1)
Catcher: Dodge (day 1)
Catcher: Guard (day 2)
Catcher: Dodge (day 2)
Linefrog: Wrestle (day 1)
Linefrog: Wrestle (day 1)
Linefrog: Wrestle (day 1)
Linefrog: Wrestle (day 3)
Linefrog: Strip Ball (day 3)
Linefrog: -
Linefrog: -
Linefrog: -
Apothecary
5 re-rolls

DAY 1
---------
WIN against Chaos Dwarfs 2-1 (CAS: 1-2). Got intercepted for the first but not the last time. A jammy turnover and score on turn 16 (5+, 4+, 6x2+, no RR)..

DRAW against Undead 2-2 (CAS: 0-5). Made all the running, had excellent chances to go 2-0 up and then 3-1 up. Ran out of players.

LOSS against Dark Elves 1-2 (CAS: 1-6). Nearly won on turn 14, but the pass was intercepted (6 required). Sacked the ball-carrier 7 or 8 times.

DAY 2
---------
I felt in my bones that day 2 was the strongest roster for Slann, with 2 Guards and all 4 Catchers having skills.

WIN against Wood Elves 2-1 (CAS: 1-0). A scramble at the end, he nearly scored, I scored the winner on turn 16.

WIN against Wood Elves 4-1 (CAS: 3-0). Faced same roster as game 4. Dropped a Catch in the end zone on turn 2 (double 1), got duly surfed, a long scramble saw me score on turn 8. Opponent failed a 1-turner with a triple skulls. 2 men up for the second half, I got a turnover score. Then a pair of double 1s, he scored. I scored for a 3-1 lead, then got a Blitz! to win 4-1.

WIN against Dark Elves 2-1 (CAS: 2-3). I was 0-1 down with 5 turns to go. I scored, then had to chase down the ball in a scramble. Seemingly out of reach on turn 16, I managed to nick the win with an elegant chain push.

Possibly my best ever day of tournament Blood Bowl, with wins over 2 x WEs and 1 x DEs.

DAY 3
----------
WIN over Chaos 3-2 (CAS: 0-4). Scored on turns 2 and 8 to go 2-0 up at half time. My opponent narrowly failed to get a turn 8 TD in 1 turn plus a Riot (I defended badly, he needed only a 3+ dodge and a GFI, the dodge failed). He scored on turn 13, then I got a Touchback against an asymetric set-up, which allowed me to score a runaway decider, leaving my opponent with only a consolation TD at the end.

LOSS to Wood Elves 0-5 (CAS: 0-0). Whoops. Made a minor positional blunder on turn 1, which meant I had to make 1 more 2+ roll on turn 2, it was 1 too many, the catch failed. After that I failed most 2+ rolls I made for the rest of the game. 8 or 10 scoring attempts failed accordingly.

LOSS to Dark Elves 1-2 (CAS: 0-2). Another game which was all scramble. I had a good chance to win on turn 14, but yet again the pass was intercepted (6 required). This was enough to ensure a win for my opponent.

SUMMARY
-----------------
5 wins, 1 draw, 3 losses. TDs: 17-17. CAS: 8-22.

Nearly all games were very wild. The Slann sacked the opposing ball carrier some 40 or 50 times (I lost count), that's an average of 5 or 6 times per match, once it was 7 or 8 times (in a match I lost). Mostly the ball scattered into multiple Tackle Zones and could not be retrieved. I gave my opponents 4 intercept chances in the tournament (all needing 6s), the interceptions succeeded 3 times. A most enjoyable, wild and typically Slannish set of matches.

I hope that is of interest to the froggy coaches out there. All the best.

Re: A system for Slann (World Cup)

Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 11:44 am
by Pedda
Smeborg wrote: Catcher: Guard (day 1)
Catcher: Dodge (day 1)
Catcher: Guard (day 2)
Catcher: Dodge (day 2)
Linefrog: Wrestle (day 1)
Linefrog: Wrestle (day 1)
Linefrog: Wrestle (day 1)
Linefrog: Wrestle (day 3)
Linefrog: Strip Ball (day 3)
Linefrog: -
Linefrog: -
Linefrog: -
Apothecary
5 re-rolls
Quick question, why did you go for strip ball on day 3 and not 1?

It seems like some rosters would go for sure hands later in the tournament and by then your strip ball would be countered, no?
Why not go for it earlier and having a higher chance of getting the ball on the floor?

Re: A system for Slann (World Cup)

Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 4:10 pm
by Smeborg
Good question, Pedda.

The main reason was because I wanted 3 x Wrestle for days 1 and 2, if Ihad had only 2x Wrestle I think I would have struggled. My record on the first 2 days was 4/1/1. Even 3x Wrestle is 1 short of what the Slann need, really.

Strip Ball was very good on day 3, despite the day 3 results (1/0/2). It had both indirect and direct effects. Against Chaos, it forced my opponent to carry the ball with a Sure Hands Beastman, who was easy to sack. Without Strip Ball, my opponent could have given the ball to a Chaos Warrior, meeaning he needed only to get one of my Guard Catchers off the pitch, and I would have only had uphill blocks on the ball carrier (he had 2 Guarders).

Against the Woodies, it meant my opponent had to be very careful who he gave the ball to, and where he tried to hide it.

Against the DEs, the Stripper got 2 balll sacks that I remember, the last one of them nearly won me the game (the pass was intercepted).

All the best.

Re: A system for Slann (World Cup)

Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 5:21 pm
by Smeborg
Pedda - why I think you need Wrestle more than S-Ball is because you still have to play a blocking game, you can't afford to burn a re-roll before you take the main chance of the turn (i.e. moving or attacking the ball). 4 x Wrestle is ideal, then you can take your 3 blocks and 1 blitz on the first turn of offense with little risk. But 3 x Wrestle is a workable compromise, it means you have to take 1 block or blitz without Wrestle, but with the protection of a re-roll. Similar on defense.

Hope that helps.

Re: A system for Slann (World Cup)

Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 5:39 pm
by babass
in this case, why not 2 wrestle on day3 ?

great results by the way :)

Re: A system for Slann (World Cup)

Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 7:23 pm
by Pedda
Thank you for explaining that Smeborg. What you say makes sense.
I'll have to remember that when I come around to playing Slann

Re: A system for Slann (World Cup)

Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2015 8:40 pm
by sladko.san
Congratulations on Top Frog, Captain. ;)

Re: A system for Slann (World Cup)

Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2015 6:21 pm
by Smeborg
babass wrote:in this case, why not 2 wrestle on day3 ?

great results by the way :)
Thanks for your kind words, babass.

4 x Wrestle is the perfect minimum, it means (while the team is still alive, of course) that you can take your 4 blocks on turn 1 of offense with minimum risk. Once you have the 4 x Wrestle, it gives you the "luxury" of taking Strip Ball.

I toyed with the idea of taking a player with Wrestle+Strip Ball (day 3 allowed skills to be stacked), but decided it was better from a risk management point of view to spread the 9 skills among 9 players (instead of 8 skills among 7 players).

A curious side-effect of having 9 players with skills is that you have to put one on the LoS on defense (a Wrestler). The Ball Stripper can stay protected (hidden) at the back (this pretty much takes the option away from your opponent to use an upfield receiver as ball holder).

Hope that helps.

Re: A system for Slann (World Cup)

Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2015 2:07 am
by SunDevil
Congrats, Smeborg! Thanks for the write up. :)

Re: A system for Slann (World Cup)

Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2015 9:49 am
by Vanguard
Nice write-up and congrats on the award. I'd be curious to hear more about how you attack the cage with Slann. Is is as simple as leaping in a Guarder then leaping in to Blitz?

Re: A system for Slann (World Cup)

Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2015 10:23 pm
by Thespian
Loved reading this write up. Thank you for posting it! I like playing Slann, but I don't think I ever really understood just how important it was to get constant pressure on the ball carrier. It makes me want to take the frogs back into our next tournament. It's also heartening to see that even the best Slann players get their butts handed to them from time to time! ;-)

Re: A system for Slann (World Cup)

Posted: Sat Nov 28, 2015 7:50 pm
by Thespian
BTW, in the event that you are bored one day and feel like typing up a storm, I would love to hear how you approach your offense with Slann. The defense seems to fall into the "watch, respond, and blitz the ball" kind of mentality. My biggest failing is that I don't have any "go-to" kinds of plays. Any advice would be cool!