(Un-)Living NecroTacticum: Necros vs the world of Blood Bowl

[Fassbinder75]

I agree, the wights won't gain any SPPs with guard, but it helps the rest of the team and that's why I'd go for guard.
With guard, you can use the frenzy on the wolves a bit better.

Yep, agree - just I'd go MB, then Guard. I guess you can Guard up the first Wight and take MB on the laggard.

[MKL]

I agree, the wights won't gain any SPPs with guard, but it helps the rest of the team and that's why I'd go for guard.
With guard, you can use the frenzy on the wolves a bit better.

Yep, agree - just I'd go MB, then Guard. I guess you can Guard up the first Wight and take MB on the laggard.

By the way, it's an interestig debate to me.
On a perpetual league I would go for MB, for development reasons.
In leagues of up to 24 games, I think I would choose Guad, for the reasons explained by Pedda.

By the way, I tried giving MB in a 24-games league and I found it underwhelming: simply put, I discovered that I rarely block/blitz with the Wights.
Wolves and Golems take most of the blocking dices, apparently. Even my zombies block more than the Wights: Wights got the speed and the durability to bring assist where needed (places that zeds cannot reach and where Ghoul/Wolves cannot be risked).
Clearly, a 24-games league is a limited sample, yet it's worth keeping in mind.

[Digger Goreman]

Had, possibly, my best game ever against "Vegas D" (the luckiest guy in the world) and the best of my life. I took a starter Necro team against a three game, all skeleton team that was 2-0 with wins vs gobbos and Ogres. For once D's dice (actually my dice) rolled on the curve, and the game was one of skill instead of dice.... Amazingly neither side double skilled and D only single skulled once.... He had a single skilled sh skellie.... He also insisted his team was worthy and induced sinnedbad on top of his four rolls.... I started with no ghouls and two rerolls.... The newly named "13th Element" tore them a new one, doing eight casualties (four regens and four badly hurts) and scoring two defensive touchdowns,,,, Better yet, EVERY positional ended the night with points,,,, Both wolves got skills....

13th Element

5 zombies 0-0-0-2-0 spp
2 wights 2-4 spp
2 golems 5-2 spp
2 wolves 8-7 spp (+Ag & block)

1ff, 1ac, 1cl, 2rr, 60k

What a game!

[squirrelfanatic]

In the end I went with Guard on the Wight, as my next couple of match-ups are against bashy teams where MB wouldn't have made as big of a difference as Guard (AV9 and such). Player removal is going to be the Wolfies' job anyway.

[Digger Goreman]

I don't think there is a wrong choice, even tackle being good, though a speedier wight would match my playstyle and cover two problems: ghoul attrition, and wight stagnation.... There is also the problem of who gets the ball if the wolf doesn't succeed in downing its opponent.... Having a speedier wight spreads the spps better....

YMMV....

[Fassbinder75]

In the end I went with Guard on the Wight, as my next couple of match-ups are against bashy teams where MB wouldn't have made as big of a difference as Guard (AV9 and such). Player removal is going to be the Wolfies' job anyway.

That's really the rub with Necro, two shiny fanged eggs in a rotting basket. If your wolves don't fire or they get removed, the rest of the roster is pretty much gash. So taking Guard makes sense from that angle.

[squirrelfanatic]

You think it's really that bad? I mean, the Wolves are the bread and butter of the team, but even with one removed or both taken out of play (marked or something), there is quite a bit of team left. The Golems are good if the get Block/Guard, the Wights are solid players too, and Ghouls aren't bad either. Zombies are a bit hit and miss I guess, they can't catch up with a running game and need the doubles for Guard to make a difference on the LoS.

Anyway, had a couple more games with my team and am now sitting at ~1300TV. The Zombies keep eating the MVPs, a bit unlucky, as I really could use them on the Golems for sure. Here's my current team:

Wolf #1 - Block, MB
Wolf #2 - n/a, 1TD away from the first skill
Golem #1 - n/a, 2SPPs (Hello, yes I'd like a MVP on this guy, thanks!)
Golem #2 - n/a
Wight #1 - Guard
Wight #2 - Guard
Ghoul #1 - Block
Zombie #1 - Block
Zombie #2 - Wrestle
Zombie #3-5 - n/a, 2 at 5SPPs (guess where those came from), 1 at 2SPPs

My next game is against Chaos Dwarves. As was my last one which I actually had some issues with, still won 2-1 though. The upcoming team has a BT and a Block Centaur, 1 Guard on a Blocker and a Leader and one Block Hobgoblin. Amazingly efficient with a TV of only 1250, I have to say.

As usual, first my initial thoughts on the gameplan. Usually, I like to receive first, but with this match-up I'm actually not sure if it wouldn't be smarter to receive and try to score quickly while trying to rip apart some Dwarves and possibly a Centaur with my Wolfie. The idea would then be to try for a second (defensive) TD. Question is, am I good enough of a player to pull it of (hint: probably not).

Irrespective of the setup, I'd like to stick my Wrestle Zombie near the Guarder, the Block Zombie near his Hobgoblins, and possibly blitz with my MB Wolfie every turn, keeping it behind a screen of Golems and Wights the rest of the time. If I can, I'd like to score with Wolfie #2, just to get him Block and make him more useful for the upcoming games. I'll probably refrain from fouling as a means of player removal. AV9 is too high to make it work reliably and the AV7 players are probably not worth it either.

Any ideas and/or links to helpful FUMBBL replays would be much appreciated.

Edit: Update! Played the match and actually won, 2-1. My MB Wolfie did some work on the Dwarves, he by himself caused 3 injuries, 2 of which were initially deaths, one re-rolled into a -MV on a ChD Blocker. Raised one as a Zombie. I worried about having to face ChDs again so shortly after the tough game against my last opponent but that one killer player really made a huge difference. First time I've got to experience Claw+MB (not even PO) tool first-hand and I can see why that kind of player is so prevalent in most environments.

[squirrelfanatic]

Since the Christmas holidays have sent me on a forced break from BB I've used the time to ponder a bit about coming match-ups. Of the few remaining games to play this season a Lizardmen side appears the most problematic opponent to me. My own team has picked up a couple of skills along the way but I am still a tad unhappy with the pace their development is progressing with. After ~6 matches still no skills on the FGs, one Wolf 1/2 skill, while lots of SPPs went on my Zombies (MVPs, mostly, all but one of them went on a Zed). Add a bonus Zombie to that and I can see my TV skyrocketing while the actual value is left lying in the dirt.

Anyway, I wanted to leave some thoughts on the coming match against the Lizards (so the match after the next one). 6 Sauri, most likely 5 Skinks (currently 4, the coach will have enough money for the extra one after the next match) as well as the Krox. So far only 1x Block on a Saurus, but others might level come the next game. A couple of skills scattered across the Skinks, Sidestep, Diving Tackle, I think a +MV as well. 3 RRs.

Plan A: Tie up the Sauri with players, hopefully Zombies, go hunting for Skinks with the MB Wolf and Blodge Ghoul. Try to get that Wolf near his single Block Saurus. Stay away from the Krox.

Plan B: Go for the Skinks but stay out of contact with the Sauri. Gives my opponent potentially more room for maneuvering his ST4 but reduces the number of free blocks. Might be tricky to do this with my MV4 dudes.

From these two options I think Plan A might be the safer one. I'd very much expect the Lizards to kick first if they get the choice, which means that I need to make quick work of his Skinks. Regarding inducements, I don't think that there is a lot that I need to worry about. He might get enough money to get Babes, which I could prevent by dropping a Zombie (6 on roster at the moment, 13 players in total). Right now I still haven't picked up the 2nd Ghoul, so that would happen somewhere down the line anyway. The advantage of doing it now would be that one of the Zeds is still at 0 SPPs, so reducing the risk of him eating an MVP would be a plus.

For some reason I feel a bit ridiculous being worried about facing an underdeveloped team like this but the coach has proven to be quite capable of taking out bashy sides, so I think that I'm well advised to prepare accordingly and of course keep my Wolfie out of blitzing range.

Input? Thoughts? Please say yes!

[Jimmy Fantastic]

Just take what he gives you. If he lets you hit skinks hit them, if he lets you hit saurus hit them.

[squirrelfanatic]

That reads almost like a Zen phrase, simple and to the point. Honestly, I've thought about what type of target to prioritise and taking out the Skinks came up as #1 objective. Sounds reasonable to go for whatever doesn't put me at a positional disadvantage though.

[Digger Goreman]

Give the block zombie to the block saurus and tie up the other saurus (and krox), preferably in isolation to other players, with zeds and golems.... Hunt the skinks with your blockers, being happy to take double downs, as he is totally gimp without the slinky-dinks....

The dive tackler should be a primary target if possible.... Do keep him away from your ball carrier and unskilled Wolf....

[Jimmy Fantastic]

Hunting Skinks is all well and good but he only needs one on the pitch to win. It's much harder to play down Saurus than down Skinks so smashing them with Claw MB can be brutal.

[MKL]

Really, I don't know what's the best tactic for Necro against Lizards: if someone got a good tactic, I'm all ears.
What I know is that a lizardmen team was my personal bugbear. A bugbear that I was able to win against only when I went total-nuclear-war against them.
Jimmy wrote about blocking what you can. Looks zen, but I feel the same. I won when I stopped playing nice, or smart, or conservative, and simply applied Claw+MB+Frenzy every turn to every damn reptile that dared stand before me.
I understood that I had won that game when my opponent refused to stand his kroxigor for fear of another clawing.

Not much useful, I know, but AV9 coaches love to think they got durable players: you have to show them that a Saurus is as durable as a skink when subjected to claw+Mb.

[Digger Goreman]

I was reviewing lizardmen strategy and came upon the concept of the half-cage.... The author put forth the necessity of a side-stepping ball carrier and the wish for stand firm on the sauri.... The arrangement would be a "V" with the ball carrier touching the sideline....

Intriguing....

Given that we Necromancers have strength 4 Golems starting with stand firm, and easy access to side-stepping wolves and ghouls, would the initial selection of sidestep on a wolf/ghoul not provide a further weapon in strengthening the two-turn score...? Admittedly, it is tougher with the lack of speed on the Golems (requiring one to double gfi to get the wolf/ghoul in scoring position), than for the lizzies....

Still....

[MKL]

I was reviewing lizardmen strategy and came upon the concept of the half-cage.... The author put forth the necessity of a side-stepping ball carrier and the wish for stand firm on the sauri.... The arrangement would be a "V" with the ball carrier touching the sideline....

Intriguing....

Given that we Necromancers have strength 4 Golems starting with stand firm, and easy access to side-stepping wolves and ghouls, would the initial selection of sidestep on a wolf/ghoul not provide a further weapon in strengthening the two-turn score...? Admittedly, it is tougher with the lack of speed on the Golems (requiring one to double gfi to get the wolf/ghoul in scoring position), than for the lizzies....

Still....

Hi Digger!
I know the half-cage. Used a lot when I was "younger", nowadays I try to avoid it unless I'm forced.
IMO, half-cage got two problems (at least):
1-once in it, you are advancing in such a narrow front that it's really easy for the opponent to halt you (or force you to make multiple dodge rolls. Not a problem for a Skink, but for a Ghoul...)
2-even an ag3 player got roughly 50% chance to enter an half cage hugging the sidelines (with dodge or rr). There is the threat of the crowd push, but if the ball was spilled, there are good chances you are chasing some throw-in across the field. A nasty situation for a Necromantic team (few ag3, few ma>4)

That said, if the going is getting rough, it's time for desperate measures: a Stand Firm Wight is good for the front of the half cage. Sometimes I added a sidestepping Ghoul to "widen" and reinforce the opening, but usually it requires some more gfi...