(mix of 5-6 Blitzers/Witch Elves, mostly with Blodge/Wrodge, with some Tackle or Guard thrown in depending on the tourney rules)
One Runner with Leader
(11 players total)
2 Rerolls
No apothecary.
I'm not saying this is a bad idea, because most of the coaches that I see fielding this roster are a lot better than I am (not really saying much), and end up placing higher than me. That said, I've had decent success against this roster by going after that runner. He's the weakest player on the team, no defensive skills at all, AV 7 ... it just seems like a lot of eggs to put in a very fragile basket. If I can take out that runner early (and he's by far the easiest guy on the team to take out), the Dark Elf coach is down to 10 players for the rest of the game, loses the leader reroll, and the entire team becomes less effective.
One time I fouled a Leader Runner out of the game early in the first half, before he'd even used the Leader reroll. My Khemri skeleton got caught (boxcars on the injury roll), but I was obviously happy to make that trade. Judging by my opponent's face at the time, he definitely wasn't. The only "downside" was that my opponent started using a Blitzer to carry the ball, who was harder to knock down. But the fact that the Blitzer was by far the better ball carrier made me question the choice of a Runner Leader even more!
Disclaimer: I haven't played Dark Elves in a tournament, only in a league. And I've always taken Dodge on them as the first skill and never even thought about Leader. It just makes him so much better as a ball carrier, improves his mobility, keeps him on his feet some of the time. And if I ever use a Dodge reroll when I would have used a team reroll otherwise (a common situation with a ball carrier), Dodge was just as good as Leader for that half.
So I guess I'm asking more experienced Dark Elf coaches to explain what I'm missing? Why is a Runner with Leader better than, say, a runner with Dodge? Or an extra lineman and 20k more in the bank and another valuable skill to give to someone else? I plan on bringing Dark Elves to a tournament for the first time later this year - with Dodge on a Runner. I'd love to hear some feedback from someone who's already made that decision
![:-D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)