[Lizardman] 6 Sauri or a Skink on the bench?

[Gio]

Hi guys,
I'm entering a TV 1 Million Resurrection Tourney. The rules are very simple: you always play with your TV 1 Million team (so no worries from injuries or deaths, but no skill-ups either), that's it.
I decided to enter with Lizzies, but before I hand in my roster (deadline is this coming saturday) I just wanted to double check my thoughts with you guys.

So I have thought of 2 possible rosters:

6 Sauri 480.000
5 Skinks 300.000
3 RR 180.000
2 Assistant Coaches 20.000
2 Cheerleaders 20.000
1.000.000
or

5 Sauri 400.000
7 Skinks 420.000
3 RR 180.000
1.000.000

The logic behind the first Roster is that having more Sauri means having more strength and less stunty low-armor guys on the pitch, and having those 2 Cheerleaders and 2 Assistant Coaches almost guarantees getting extra RR from the Kick-off table when a 6 or an 8 is rolled.
The logic behind the second Roster is more simple, it allows having 1 Skink on the bench... might be good if a player gets injured and I need a sub.
I think both options are solid... but I'm leaning more towards the first one.
Let me know what your thoughts are and many thanks in advance.

Gio

[Murkglow]

While I can't imagine what possessed you to pick Lizardmen for a tourney like that, I would definatly go with list #2. You'll lose at least 1 skink each game so the reservist won't be wasted in that format but much more importantly you'll have a 3rd reroll which is going to be vital as you have basicly no skills on this team and strength or no strength saurus are not the most dependable guys even only considering blocking.

[Gio]

Well, another restriction was that no race may be repeated and I was the last one to find out about the tourney, leaving me only able to participate with my Lizardmen team.
Thanks Murk, I just want to point out that the first Roster also has 3 RR and conveys the possibility to get a 4th (or even more) if a 6 or an 8 is rolled on any kick-off table result.
Thing is that having 6 Sauri means only 5 Skinks... which is one less fragile player on the pitch... I know they will try to anihilate as many as they can anyway, but more Sauri can protect them better... I understand that the sub will see play, but I might be outnumbered anyway, thus having more muscle might be better... weird logic, I know, but I just don't think it is a good enough reason to not throw all the muscle I can...

[Murkglow]

Ah, my mistake, for some reason I saw the rerolls as a 2.

In that case I'm still not sure. I honestly don't really like Saurus that much when you first get them. They are just begging to roll double skulls or get both down vs a dwarf. I suppose there isn't much you can do about that but still...

Yeah I almost think I'd still go with team 2. Your Saurus will get tied up much too easily to be sure of protecting anything and your skinks are going to be the ones who will have to do most of the lifting.

Of course that's just me, hopefully coach will come weigh in on the subject and then you'll get a better answer.

[Coach]

Have you tried playing with only two rerolls? I know they don't have Block or much in the way in ball handling skills but if you pick the ball up you can get away with two at a push.

Rerolls don't really make up for being outnumbered though. If you swap one reroll from the first roster and get an extra Skink it could make all the difference. I would probably go for 2 Fan Factor and 1 Cheerleader 1 Coach.

[Gio]

Sounds like a plan. I guess I'll just have to make sure the ball is well protected before picking it up, which sounds more feasible with the muscle from 6 Sauri and a Skink on the bench. 2 Fan factor 1 Cheerleader 1 Coach sounds good too, since there are other Kick-off table rolls in which it may be good to have the edge on Fame. Funny though, the answer to the question "6 Sauri or a Skink on the bench?" was actually choose both (although it also means drop a RR).
Thanks to both of you, I'll try and keep you informed of the outcome.

[Coach]

Obviously there will be times when you roll double both down with your Saurus, don't automatically reroll those and consider just falling over instead. Of course this depends on how much cover you have if you do that, but you should be considering that before doing the block!

Good luck.

[Gio]

So my first game was yesterday, Tongue Twisters (my Lizzies) vs. Timberwatchers (Wood Elves).
Timberwatchers win the toss and choose to recieve.
I set up 3 Sauri 1 square appart on the LoS, 3 more in a triangle formation 1 square behind the first ones protecting the Skinks.
The ball scatters close to the LoS on the right and the Kick-off roll brings a change in the weather and it's now Very Sunny. The Timberwatchers' coach seems very intimidated, both from the weather change and from seeing 6 Sauri on the pitch and close to the ball.

Turn one, the elves secure the ball before attempting the pick up. A LineElf picks it up and takes it halfway into their own half handing it off to their thrower. The LoS dodge away from the Sauri, but their last man rolls a 1 and falls on his face, leaving all the Sauri free to move on my turn (he chose not to "waste" his few RRs, thus foregoing his blitz and forgeting to move his WarDancers to a better position).
My turn one, I manage to form two columns of sauri, splitting his team in two and maximizing tackle zones. Skinks form a 3rd column in between. 1 Saurus Manages to GFI twice, blitz and BH the only LE that was protecting the thrower. He is next to the thrower with a big grin on his face.

WE's turn two was catastrophic (for them). As their first action, their coach decides to dodge the thrower away from the Saurus only to roll two 1s in a row, wasting 1 of their 2 RRs, leaving 5 of their LEs in contact with Sauri, and with 3 Skinks in range of getting to the ball and securing it next to the remaining saurus.
My turn two, I did just that, knocked-out two more LE , blitzed a WD next to the sideline with a skink assisted by a saurus and another skink. Ball is secure but I choose not to pick it up just yet, I only have 2 RRs, and maybe the Timberwatchers will make more mistakes while trying to recover it.

WE's turn three, they are down 3 men and only 5 Elves are standing up. One of them breaks free and sprints as deep as he can into my half to act as a possible reciever... or decoy. 2 LEs and both WDs go as near to the ball as they can. (again, he didn't blitz)
My turn three, completely ignore the decoy, Blitz one of the WD, then block her twice until she finally bites the dust Badly Hurt, swarm the elves with all the Lizards. Still haven't picked-up the ball.

Rest of the first half, pounding elves to the ground and scoring on turn 8 (after only one skink got stomped on and using both RRs to try and pick up the ball )

Second half

Timberwatchers can only field 4 LEs and 1 WD, I have a full team thx to the sub Skink. I recieve, ball deep in my half, Kick-off roll cheering fans I get a RR.
Turn one, all 5 skinks along with a saurus buy popcorn to watch the massacre, then get to the ball and pick it up burning the xtra RR. The other 5 Sauri create havock in the LoS injuring yet another LE. Blitzed a LE stunning him. the rest of the half was very similar to this one turn. Scored on turn 8 again, when there were only 3 remaining elves on the pitch.

Final score: 2-0 for the Tongue Twisters!!!

The game was really over after turn 3 of the first half. The WE started playing as if this was a different format, overprotecting their elves, then switched to making careless mistakes and then the snowball of Knock-outs and injuries just kept getting bigger and bigger. I also think that attitude had a deep impact on the outcome of the game, I was always positive whereas the other coach was overthrown by the first roll on the weather table. Having only 2 RR really makes you play to the best of your ability with lizzards, there is no room for mistakes, and I think I didn't make many.
I hope I get as lucky on the next match: Headbutters (Dwarves)
Any thoughts or suggestions??
As always, many thanks in advance.
Gio

[Coach]

Nicely done, Wood Elves are a horrible match up for Lizardmen.

For the Dwarfs, obviously keep the Skinks away from his Blockers. Tying up his players with the Saurus will cause him problems. They are hard to hurt, so think before blocking as they have will all pretty much have Block and even if you get the down they will usually be fine. Sometimes just tying them up can be good enough, especially compared to the risk of turnover which happens 1/9 times without Block on two dice.

If it is near the end of the half and you still have all your rerolls then you can be a bit more frivolous. That doesn't mean be timid and don't block at all though!

[Gio]

That was a bizarre game yesterday. It resembled a bar brawl I once witnessed. I will be brief since I have some work to do.

Tongue Twisters vs. Headbutters

First half:

Dwarves choose to recieve, Kick-off result high kick. They cage the ball and slowly move towards my end zone while hunting for skinks. In the meanwhile, 2 Sauri are hunting down Troll Slayers, 2 other Sauri are hunting down Blitzers, and the remaining 2 are slowing down the cage backed up by the skinks (I know this sounds crazy but the idea was to kill his ball handlers since he was sporting only 1 Runner, it paid off in the end). By the end of the half, he managed to score, badly hurting 4 of my skinks and knocking-out the other one. On my part, I managed to badly hurt both Troll slayers and both Blitzers . It was really great luck to split their armor with 10s and then get those 10s again for injuries. I was happy as a clam though I was also in quite a tight spot.

Second half:

KOed skink comes back and the sub hits the pitch. I have the numbers on my side, 8 Lizards against 7 dwarves (though the 2 skinks have to stay away from the brawl in order to attempt to equalize). Kick-off is Brilliant Coaching and a RR for me. Ball lands close to the LoS. The Sauri break the Dwarven wall and one of them goes after the Runner, blitzing and killing. Skink fails to pick up the ball after using a RR. Dwarves stand up and send a Longbeard on a crazy dodge after the vulnerable skink; they get lucky after using a RR and manage a 2D blitz, badly hurting the skink. Situation is tense, the Sauri start man marking the Longbeards, blitz results in push (towards the ball unfortuantely), skink goes after the ball anyways and fails to pick up wasting yet another RR (only one left thx to that brilliant coaching roll). Headbutters stand up to create TZ but they don't dare to block the Sauri. The skink finally picks up the ball and sprints away from the battle zone while the Sauri choose to hold their ground (I know 2D blocks are quite safe but it's better for them to make a mistake at this point). A dwarf tries a dodge that fails even after using a RR. Skink scores. The remaining turns are quite dull, as the longbeards can't pick up the ball. I did send the skink after it (with no saurus to back him up... silly me ) but he got squashed by the longbeard protecting it. So after that it was all a big brawl where no one cared about the ball.

Final score: 1-1 but it felt like such a victory for me.