[Orc] 3rd season Ork team

[Balthalonius]

My buddies and I have been playing Blood Bowl for the past couple of years now. We have a pretty good match up of teams in our league. There are ten teams, and all but two are playing different races. We've got everything from the agile Skaven and Wood Elf to the bashing Nurgle and Ogres. Not to mention everything in between.

I, personally, am playing the orcs. Currently I have a TV of 1 630K and my team consists of the following:
Black Orc: Block, Tackle
Black Orc: Block, Mighty Blow
Black Orc:
Blitzer: Guard
Blitzer: -1 movement, Guard, Mighty Blow
Blitzer: Pro, Frenzy
Blitzer: Tackle
Lineman: Tackle, Diving Tackle
Lineman: Strip Ball
Thrower: Leader, Strong Arm
Gobbo: Catch, Dirty Player
Gobbo:
Troll: Guard

Where do I go from here? I gotta take on bashers and dodgers. Any suggestions?

[Ian]

I'd have probably taken Guard on the Black Orcs (unless it's not available as a normal... I lose track of the different rulesets) and I'd also try and get Block (or dodge, if you get the dice) on the thrower so he's a more suitable runner if need be.

[Metalsvinet]

How many games have you won in the last two seasons?

I would never take tackle on black orcs, they need block, guard and mighty blow. You need mobile tacklers, therefore the blitzers are prime candidates for that. I would also try to build a killer blitzer with mighty blow, piling on, frenzy/tackle. Pro is not a good skill for anybody except big guys. You need the last black orc too.

[Balthalonius]

The First two seasons didn't go so well for me. I was a new, inexperienced coach. The mantra "Live and Learn" comes to mind. This season though, I'm off to a strong start: Two wins, a tie and a loss.

Yeah, I realize now that tackle isn't the best option on the black orcs. It's just too much of a pain to level a new guys since they can't do anything with the ball. (That third black orc without any skills has been on my team since the first season and he hasn't been able to do anything to justify getting MVP.)

The Pro and Frenzy guy is great. Re-rolling frenzied blocks is fantastic. He's great at taking down linemen and blockers, especially with an assist. He also makes a decent catcher late in the half once my re-rolls are gone.

Thanks for the tips. I hope more people offer their suggestions.

[Zweistein]

Hm ... bit difficult to reshape the team in the direction i like for orks.

first. buy an blackork! if you can spend the money ... today.

the fist blackork is depending on your league. if you got a dwarf or a guardheavy bashingteam in it, take guard. You can also take mighty blow if your league is not that Strenghtfocused.
the second needs guard. for sure.
For the third and fourth block is the obvious skill. then guard or mighty blow similar to the first one.

with the blitzers. Tjo. the first stand firm + mighty blow. fpr the second i' would like piling on. the third needs a tackle or mighty blow. better both. and the last one guard..

the lineman are interesting. block for the first. than he's mean.
wrestle for the second. then he can hunt for the ballcarrier. he's a bit slow for this job but wrstle combines good with the alrdy taken skill and with wrestle alone he still might cause some trouble for the blockheavy teams.

the thrower can make good use of block. but kickoff-return is nice too. thats up to you.

two gobos and an troll. hm ... strong arm for the Troll! ... if he cant take block that is. the coolest orcmove i'd ever seen was an thrown gobo in the oposing half on first orcoffence turn! the gobo running wild behind the lines tied down 2 defeners and messed up half of the defenceline.

[Balthalonius]

So a quick update:

Black Orc: Block, Tackle
Black Orc: Block, Mighty Blow
Black Orc:
Black Orc:
Blitzer: -1 AG, Guard, Mighty Blow
Blitzer: -1 MV, Guard, Mighty Blow
Blitzer: Pro, Frenzy, Mighty Blow
Blitzer: Tackle
Lineman: Tackle, Diving Tackle
Lineman: Strip Ball
Thrower: Leader, Strong Arm
Thrower:
Gobbo: Catch, Dirty Player
Gobbo:
Troll: Guard

I decided to keep the BO with tackle for my games against Ogres. He's able to run into the fray and pound the snot out of snotlings without much fear of an ogre barreling down on him. He's also not bad to have to throw down tackle zones along the sidelines where Gutter Runners love to try and sneak by.

The Blitzer with pro has turned out to be a nasty devil. He's charged down Bull Centaurs, Ogres, Trolls and everything else. On the odd occasion he rolls a one with two dice against me but his Pro has on several occasions saved his green ass.

As always comments are appreciated.

[Coach]

15 players is quite a lot for Orcs. Does the Strip ball Lineman help you out much, I would consider getting rid of him and a Goblin to cut your TV down.

How many rerolls do you have? What is your TV like compared to other teams. If you are giving away inducements then I would really consider ditching the two players. Having them on the bench when they are hardly going to come into play is just helping your opponents.

If your tv is lower then perhaps you can induce extra rerolls if you need it (you mentioned Pro is helping at the end of drives when you have run out). Wizards are also great (Bloodweiser Babes and Apothecaries aren't as useful on a high armour team) if your league allows them.

If your TV is around average, then cutting those players will drop your TV in order to perhaps get those nice inducements.

I would also look to replace the -AG Blitzer at some point, hopefully after you get a couple more Guard on the team to replace the one you will lose by dropping him. Blitzers tend to make the team work and being AG2 really hampers their ability, though you can manage it to a certain degree, especially as he has some useful skills for hitting people.

I wouldn't drop the Block + Tackle Black Orc, they take ages to skill up and having that Tackle isn't terrible, just not really the best option for them.

[napking]

As Baltha is in the same league as I, I can say that the TV in our league greatly fluctuates right now. We've got a few teams up in the 1700s like Baltha, a few struggling at our starting point for the season of 1400 and a solid group in the middle around 1550-1650.
So, Baltha is at the top of the list in TV and in the middle of the pack in standings.

I wonder about losing the second Thrower and a gobbo. My 2 cents, but then again, I'm not an Ork player...

[napking]

Any body got some TV managing strategies for this desperate Ork Player?

[Murkglow]

I don't know if I have any specificly for Orcs but the general ones I follow are:

1) Make sure all of your men have a job. That includes your bench warmers. It's alright to have one maybe two replacements (though Orcs are pretty tough and thus really don't need them as much, especially early on) but try not to have guys there "just because" you can afford them. Early on with Orcs I stick closely to 11 and later I'll pick up 1 or at most 2 "replacements" with no skills just to fill in.

2) If you do have some extra cash, drop your injured players. Unless it's an experienced Black Orc or a Troll with great rolls (+Str or Block or something) a basic player is almost as good and will make sure that all that TV is good TV.

Other then that, just make sure you're happy with your skill choices and let the chips fall where they may. Since Orcs are pretty tough they are less likely to lose men and thus more likely to build up experience/excess players, you generally will have a higher TV then say a weaker team who has casualties often. There isn't alot you can do about that.

Edit: Looking specificly at Balth's recent list I would drop both Throwers (I personally don't like Orc Throwers and would rather have Orc Linemen on the field), the Gobbos (maybe keeping one and if I kept one it would be the unskilled one), and replace the two injured Blitzers (and if I had the time I'd replace a few other guys to fix some skills, not to say the skill choices are bad they just are not what I would like on my team). That's just how I play though.