How to break a cage with newbie Agi teams

Winged_Human · Post by **Winged_Human** » Wed Apr 03, 2013 8:17 pm

Hey guys,
As the subject line says, I enjoy playing the Agi teams, Skavens, Elves and so forth. Well one of the biggest problems I have is breaking an opponents cage, especially with underskilled elves/skaven. If anyone has any advice of knows of an article on how to successfully break a ball out of a cage, I would greatly appreciate it.

thanks for the advice!

Jimmy Fantastic · Post by **Jimmy Fantastic** » Wed Apr 03, 2013 10:36 pm

Winged_Human · Post by **Winged_Human** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 2:41 am

Jimmy Fantastic wrote:Wait

I'm sorry but allowing them to stall or inch their way to the endzone isn't really a viable option especially if they've managed to get a 1-0 lead on me.

Smurf · Post by **Smurf** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 8:30 am

With the unskill there is not much you can do.

Skaven you could clip a corner off the cage with a Rat Ogre and the man up on the other corners. Hoping that the Rat Ogre's tail makes the ball carrier hard to dodge away. Also position players if the RO is blocked that he is pushed back into a position next to the ball carrier.

Dark elves you have 4 blitzers to do a similar thing plus a witch. The witch could with diffculty perform a 5+ dodge with a reroll... desperation IMO.

Elves have side stepping blitzers to keep contact with the ball carrier.

High Elves have a harder time because of the 2 standard blitzers and access to many fast moving catchers.

Wood Elves have a Treeman if you choose and may get close enough to prevent a cage's movement in a certain direction. The Wardancers can leap and have 1 die blocks against the ball carrier (remember to remove the assists on the corners), remember not to follow up if you want to get the WD out. And hopefully the ball will bounce out.

In a nutshell the cage for the unskilled team is a tough nut to crack.

An alternative method I am going to try is to get behind the cage and push it to score an early TD.

outcast · Post by **outcast** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 8:35 am

Here's an article I found on cage breaking a while ago.

http://bbtactics.com/cage-breaking/

Hope it's useful!

Jimmy Fantastic · Post by **Jimmy Fantastic** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 9:06 am

The mistake that new players make is attacking the cage too early.
You can safely block away and stall it from moving until the time is right to swarm it.

Sandwich · Post by **Sandwich** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 1:02 pm

Keeping it slowed right down will help, just get bodies in front - preferably in stacked columns so they can't be pushed through easily. Plus my favourite is to keep a player - elf catcher, gutter runner - in range of the endzone... and make sure from time to time you count those squares out, so they're sure that you can score if you get the ball. Build up the pressure like that and something will crack.

Oh, and the trick is to not let them get 1-0 up first

Hitonagashi · Post by **Hitonagashi** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 1:26 pm

Jimmy Fantastic wrote:Wait

I love this advice. It has the advantage it's not actually trolling either!

WingedHuman, the best way to break a cage is to force them to take chances. If they aren't rolling dice then you won't break that cage. Very careful tactical play can sometimes open a cage against a weaker opponent, but the off/def game is all about forcing them to take rolls, and hoping they fail one of them.

The thing is, you can rarely completely swamp a cage, so the backfield is usually a viable retreating option. This means, if you hammer the cage too early, then they'll just withdraw into their own half and concentrate on bashing you. This is a BadThing.

However, if you only let them get one square a turn, by turn 6, they'll still be 8 squares away from the holy TD land. If you hit contact with everyone at this point, they suddenly have to move the entire cage *and stay safe*. By definition, you just hit everyone, so if they want to protect the ball, they need to make some dodges. If they fail one, they are stuffed. It also means you can channel them, as they no longer have the time to fall back, so they have to drive forwards, which usually means splintering a small group of their players off from the main mass to cover the run of the ball carrier.

That's when you strike. You form a quick screen in front to prevent them moving further, and then try a risky dodge into the cage to sack the carrier (leap can sometimes be nice here). The thing is, it isn't about sacking him as it is forcing them to make rolls. Your objective isn't to necessarily turn over, it's to stop them from scoring.

Elves love the 1-0 against bashers.

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