Thursday, 28 September 2017

Orcs and Humans

I thought I’d start my team reviews with the 2 teams in the box set as these will probably be the most used teams.

Ill mention ways of playing during this so ill briefly outline these below then ill crack on.

Caging – Surrounding the ball with players and marching down the pitch.

Running game – no passing or catching just picking up the ball and running through the opponent

Passing game – Getting players into the opposing team’s half then throwing that killer pass to score.

These aren’t the only tactics but there the three main ones. They mix and match, an orc can run down one side of the pitch in a cage then break from the cage and throw the ball to the other side of the pitch for example.




So without further ado….


ORCS

Orcs are the best beginner team in Blood Bowl…

There I said it and I can’t take it back. I mentioned last week about what makes certain teams better than others. Orcs cover all these bases. An orc team has 10 positionals and 1 big guy. They have access to a lot of good early skills as a basis (Sure hands block dodge). They are AV 9 so you won’t be losing many per game normally. Any skill up will be going to a good player as well as you might start without any linemen at all.

As such because they have so many special players they are much more forgiving than a normal team. Have you got it so a black orc is isolated against 2 players? That’s ok because he’s strength 4. Are you blitzing with 1 dice? That’s ok because your Blitzer has block.

The best part about Orcs is that it teaches you how to do the basics of the game without being overly harsh on you. You will learn that leaving your ball carrier on his own will usually mean you lose the ball. You’ll also learn about when to throw your blocks and who with.

The best part of Orcs is they also include the option of playing a variety of ways. The easiest way is to form a cage and run down the pitch with big bruising black orcs. But when the time arises you can break away with your blitzers and throwers and play a running game using your big bruising front line to tie up the enemy.

Want to try a throwing game? That’s possible too. Send a pod of blitzers into the opponents half protect your thrower with the big screen of high strength players and throw to one of the to score.
To sum up this is a team that will introduce you to blood bowl gentle teaching you all the do’s and don’t’s without inhibiting your enjoyment. It allows you to try different game styles all within one team.

Mike Starter team:
4 Black Orcs
4 Blitzers
1 Thrower
2 Linemen
3 rerolls

Tips: after this save up for a troll, goblin then another thrower. Try and score with your blitzers and black orcs. Easiest way to get SPP in blood bowl is by scoring touch downs a hand off to a Blitzer is a 3+ and a black orc 4+. Suffice to say only hand off to a black orc if scoring is nearly certain and you have rerolls in the bag! Don’t just score with your thrower. You don’t want a really skilled thrower and nothing else!

HUMANS

In every game system, be it table top or computer games, Humans have always been the same… I mean that they are the jack of all trades. Never as strong as say a dwarf or orc. Never as fast as an elf. But someone in between. Blood bowl humans are no exception.

The team has the excellent blitzers and comes with possible the best big guy in the game (Ogre). Whats more you can start with a team with everyone one of the positional and big guys.

What lets humans down is that they don’t excel at anything. Unlike orcs who are brilliant at caging and ok at passing and running plays. Humans are ok at everything. In some ways this means you can exploit the weakness of every team you play. However, plays will never be as easy to complete. 

What’s more the stats on the all players (Expect maybe the blitzers) are well…. Average. Ag 3 across the board and mostly strength 3. Without stat increases the players are never going to be brilliant they are just going to be pretty good. A human catch for example will never be as good as a gutter runner or wood elf catcher.

As a beginner team they are harder to use than orcs as its easier to find yourself punished for being out of position. However, they do come with good starter skills which allows you to play how you like so in that respect they aren’t a bad choice if you like a steep learning curve.

Mike Starter Team:
Ogre
4 Blitzers
Thrower
Catcher
4 Lineman
3 rerolls

Tips: Get an apothecary off the bat then a thrower followed by a catcher. I don’t think catchers are brilliant however I think one or two has its purpose (Catching?!) and their speed assists cage building and blitzing. Try and score with your blitzers and your throwers. You can tailor one thrower into a ball carrier (Block and fend) and the other as a pass specialist (Accurate and nerves of steel). The catchers don’t need much other than block.

There you have it! Until next time!

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