Saturday 18 November 2017

Tree Huggers and the paupers – Elves and Wood Elves in Blood bowl

Completing the run through of the elves is the order of the week this time. Elves are very different from most factions in that their high agility focus’s them solely on agility based plays. More so with these teams as they both have armour 7.

Both teams are pretty different from their armour 8 cousins the high and dark elves. In different ways.
Wood elves are like their fantasy counterparts. I imagine Orion is a coach and he’s called forth every spring to teach the wood elves different blitzing plays.

Elves on the other hand are the epitome of the Blood bowl alternate universe. It represents Poor Wood elf, Dark elf and High elf players who can’t afford the expensive armour or aren’t arrogant enough. So, they have to borrow their team uniform from others…. Millenniums of hatred and now there in the same team because they can’t afford armour but still want to beat people up! Very blood bowl!

A Reminder about elves is on the previous blog…. Catch that here! http://deathorgloryblog.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/dark-or-light-high-elves-and-dark-elves.html


Wood Elves

Wood Elves are unique amongst their Elvenkin in that they have a big guy. Those who remember old Warhammer fantasy will remember the treemen as the forest dwellers allies. Well here he is again. 

With a strength higher than your usual big guy he represents a massive issue for the opponent and a savage cage breaker. His lack of speed and take root ability means he’ll need to be well positioned. 

He also needs helping up by friends if he’s knocked over although this will be rare (he probably won’t be targeted!)

The linemen are skaven linemen with AG4. So yes, these guys aren’t just nippy but agile as well. AV 7 makes them slightly fragile on the line however.

A thrower is a lineman with pass. There access to passing skills however make them very welcome additions to a wood elf team.

Catchers are the same as human catchers with an additional agility and sprint. The extra agility here is excellent as it is easier to catch while in a tackle zone which works into the team’s strengths. I’m not sure if I’d take the whole allocation of 4 because it would make the team very fragile in defence and the availability of blodge is a little offset by the fact people can get a 2-dice block against them without assists.

Finally let’s go onto the best starting player in the game. It’s the wardancer! A movement 8 elf with leap, block and dodge. This player can get anywhere and with block is an excellent cage breaker. Trying to stop this character, especially initially when teams don’t have a lot of tackle, is very difficult.

Wood elves play exactly like both dark elves and high elves but are great at both. The throwers extra speed means that throwing plays are easier, probably easier than the high elves. Their catchers aren’t as good however, their initial skills make them useful from the start.

They are probably also better than both of them at running plays although the lack the grunt of dark elves they make up for this with the wardancers. A wardancer with strip ball can single handedly win most games on its own.

Although this team is one of the best actually keeping it healthy will be difficult. You will take an awful lot of casualties and keeping your positionals healthy will be the key. Therefore, although this team is one of the best, it’s difficult for a new player to get to grips with. An experienced player will however find this team a joy to use.

Mikes starter team

2 x Wardancers
1 x Thrower
8 x Lineman
2 x rerolls

As I’ve said before I’m not a fan of less than 3 rerolls however the team has A LOT of inbuilt rerolls. Get an apothecary then two catchers then finally the treeman. Replace crippled lineman with new postionals. Level three linemen to have dodge and then your wardancers will do most of the SPP which is fine as they are brilliant.

Elven Union

Elven union are a very strange team. On paper they are the weakest. However, that is a very deceptive assumption. Early on elven union teams have an edge over all other elf teams. Seems a bit strange but it is true.

Elven union teams are identical to high elf teams in personnel. 2 throwers, 2 blitzers 4 catchers with identical stats except they are av 7. Linemen are your standard elf mv 6 str 3 and ag 4 with a av7. So, the way they are used are the same as wood elves above.

Throwers are just linemen with pass and access to pass skills as mentioned before these players are key but at only an extra 10k to linemen there’s actually no reason not to have them really. On attacking plays these guys will be essential.

Catchers are the same as high elves ones in every way other than starting with nerves of steel. This I believe is the teams secret weapon. Catchers will allays catch a ball on 3+ no matter how many players are in their tackle zones. This adds a massive advantage in attack especially in passing plays where a catcher with 2 people in his tackle zone doesn’t need to dodge in order to throw or to catch.

Blitzers again are the same as there high elf colleagues but with sidestep. Anyone who has played a sidestep player will tell you how annoying it is to play against for cages for scoring TD’s. They also have av 8 which means they are quite survivable.

The reason this team edges the other 3 will become apparent is because they have players that are great without needing a skill up. High elf catchers need a skill before they become good. Human catchers certainly need it.

Elven union players are already great extra skills make them better but they start at a high level already. Use this initial advantage and make sure your making use of nerves of steel

What’s more because the linemen are 10k cheaper you can get more of the better players at the start.
I’d use that advantage by using the nerves of steel as much as possible using your speedy players to score. Defence will be harder but using a loose defence using your blitzers to be irritating with sidestep is the way to go.

A great team for experienced players but again the armour 7 and lack of big guy may make this team challenging for new players.

Mikes starter team

6 Linemen
1 Thrower
2 Blitzers
2 Catchers
3 Rerolls

As you can see the team starts with 5 positionals rather than the 3 for the other elven teams which gives them an edge over them initially at least! As always, an apothecary first then gets the remaining catchers. Level the catchers for the most part. The blitzers just need one skill to be very useful indeed so focus on the catchers. Their speed will prove difficult for the opponent to manage.

 Until next time!

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