[Team Blog] Darkmire Raptors

[Valokiloren]

While I'm hardly brilliant at the ol' team blog, seeing as the last one fell through and all that due to work issues, I'm perfectly happy to set up Darkmire Raptors a team blog. Why? It isn't going to be nearly as intensive as the Lemmingz one was, simply because I don't have the enthusiasm every time to write it down.

Simply put, this is both an opening post, and a tentative query:

I have some players which hopefully will not get injured and therefore cut from the team. As they have some rather... useful skill choices so far, or at least, for my playstyle, what should I pick up next on the following:

Skink w/ +MV; Block
Saurus w/ Block (planning to be Main Blitzer than anything else, for both niche and character development)
Saurus w/ Block; Guard
Skink w/ +AGI

Include normal, doubles and stats, but try to be serious and not something silly like Kick on a Skink, or avoid any Dodge on a Saurus.

My own personal thoughts on it are these:

Super-Move Block Skink should pick up Side-step as they tend to blast up the pitch. Obv. any stat-up is useful on it, but I'm not sure what to pick up on a Doubles.

Blitzer Saurus should pick up Tackle/ Juggernaut on Normal, Dodge on Doubles, but I'm not sure which stats would be beneficial. Agility rarely is and wouldn't be on this one, but the others are a bit of a maybe.

Block Guard Saurus (20 SPP; 4 MVP; My Face: -_-") should look at another helpful skill on a Normal, prob. Tackle, Dodge on Doubles and prob. just +STR. Not 100%, but it seems pretty accurate.

Agi-Skink is fairly straightforward. Catch/ Diving Catch are both useful, and Doubles would inc. Wrestle, Fend or Sure Hands. In stats, only another +AGI or a +MV seem to be useful, but that's just me.

Other than that, I somehow need to manage to salvage an annoying mis-click which resulted in a Strip Ball Saurus instead of a Dodge Saurus. T_T I'm thinking it'll be a straight-forward, if long-winded, affair, but he'll be cut and replaced if he gets injured - no point bloating the team with an injured out-of-place skill-toting player.

[jrpeart]

Skink: +MV/Block : normal (SS/Sure Feet/Sprint) doubles (Sure Hands)
Saurus: Block : if he's going to be the blitzer then normal (BT/MB/Tackle) doubles (Dodge)
Saurus: Block/Guard : normal (SF/BT) doubles (Dodge)
Skink: +AG : normal (SS/Sure Feet/Sprint) doubles (Block/Wrestle/Pass)

Saurus: Strip Ball : normal (BT/Wrestle/Tackle) doubles (Dodge) you have to turn this guy into a blitzer type to get maximum ball retrieval chances.

[Lebe666]

Strip Ball w/ Wrestle... ball hunter.

[Valokiloren]

Thanks for the replies guys, I'll be sure to actually use the advice when I finally skill-up. ^^"

Anyway, first match of the Cup has just been played, and I got slaughtered 3-0. While only two injuries occured, one due to a rock and the other a solid blow to my Agi-Skink's leg, taking him out for the next game with a MNG, it was fairly even-sided. My luck was the compounding factor which tailored my loss - I had nothing but poor luck and Barm was able to easily take advantage of it.

SPP-wise, I pick up the MVP on my 0SPP Saurus, and that's it. But it's not bad, I have 80K + my winnings, so I'll be able to purchase anything I want if need be. The victory will, hopefully, merely be a poor start rather than a sign of things to come.

EDIT: I've worked out my TV for the next game. If I don't buy a new player, I'm sitting on 1330, having hemorrhaged away 100 with the MNG of my Agi-Skink. Fortunately for myself, this means, provided that Mico chooses not to field more Goblins and replaces his Pogoer, that I won't be facing Ripper, though between Ripper and bribes, I'm more likely to see bribes.

[Valokiloren]

Finally! A win, after 7 losses I get a victory. Unfortunately, it came at the expense of a failed dodge on Mico's part, costing him the game and his Wrestle Goblin, but a win is a win is a win.

It was a highly contested and even-sided game, though luck favoured the brave, and today that was me. I made a number of Saurus-dodges, and most of them succeeded, while the ones which didn't weren't damning either. That coupled with a stupidly high number of Goblins tripping over their own feet caused more mishap than can be initially thought.

His choice of Ripper over 3 Bribes + Merc. Gobbo, leaving 60K of inducements, was a bit suspect, IMO. From my POV, it revolved around two things: 1) Mico thought Ripper had Block; 2) It was a scare tactic.

Unfortunately for him, I have 6 Saurus and a Krox, so it's hardly a fear-inducing sight to see 3 Trolls, though it was a shock at first. Ripper did allow Mico to control the centre of the pitch, and while all of his Trolls stayed together in a wall, there wasn't much I could do. When they split up for whatever reason though, I was able to punch holes and hound his Goblins.

Still, I wasn't without issues of my own. I found myself down to 3 Skinks very quickly, as my Rookie Skink who picked up the MVP was KOed for the entire match, and then my Side-step Skink followed before the end of the 1st half, BH. My Super-Block Skink then followed in about Turn 10/11, and it left me with my Sure Hands Skink, who saved my game for me.

In the end, Mico's game collapsed after losing one too many Goblins, and I was able to take the win, though the throw-in after I hit his Pogoer definitely helped - the ball got thrown in 3 times, ending up in Mico's half after starting dangerously close to my endzone.

I didn't pick up a level-up, but the win allowed me to get my Agi-Skink back as well as giving me two players which are just 1SPP away from a level-up. I'm currently annoyed at the lack of progress my Krox is having though - he's caused one injury and that's it, and after taking on those two Block Trolls of Mico's, I'm worried he'll need some sort of skill soon.

[Mico Selva]

Nah, I do know Ripper has no Block, I just kept forgetting about it during the match. Besides, I usually try to engineer 3D blocks with him, but the damn Saurii are too strong for this.

My favourite moment of the game was around turn #14 when I was running the ball towards Your endzone, with one of my Trolls left behind alone in my half (he was earlier moved there to guard the ball, which ended in a nearby spot after a throw-in). I've decided to move him to mark two Saurii, thinking "why not, he's useless here and it's a 50% chance". Of course he failed the Really Stupid roll. Next turn, ball scatters off the pitch AGAIN, ends up in exactly the same spot as before and is promptly stolen by a Sure Hands Skink. Thanks, Nuffle.

[Valokiloren]

Ah - Sure Hands Skink. You are my friend~

In all seriousness, it is a frankly underestimated skill on Skinks, in my opinion. While I acknowledge that Block is an awesome protection skill, a Skink shouldn't need it. Ever. You have easily enough STR4 on the pitch to hassle most if not all teams, and because of that and the natural MV8 of a Skink, he shouldn't be taking Blocks unless it's absolutely necessary. Plus, I like to have a dedicated ball retriever, even if I end up Handing the ball off later.

[Tsicafrou]

Totally agree with you on sure hands. It's my double skill of choice for skinks until two of them got it (or +Ag), and then I switch to block/wrestle.

On a side note, why do you dismiss so easily kick on skinks (first post) ? It doesn't seem so bad to have kick on a speedy team able to easily fetch the ball and score in two turns in case of a failed pick-up or a blitz ! event.
And where to put it except on skinks as saurus' skills are so rare and precious ?

Ok, I've never given it to a skink myself as I've not rolled too many doubles on my lizardmen teams (or it was on already specialized skinks) but I see myself giving it to a lvl2 skink on an already developed team.

[Valokiloren]

I dismiss Kick on Skinks because as they have GSP on Doubles, to use a Double on Kick seems a little silly, unless it's on a piece who is a dedicated defence piece. But at that point, I'd be used to not using Kick/ wouldn't need Kick. I tend not to take a dedicated piece on a team which is low on positionals, because often you need to create faux-positionals.

I mean, if I needed Kick, sure, but I don't often need it. Kick is very much a useful skill, but it's somewhat superfluous on a lot of teams. A bit like Frenzy - useful, but it's not needed.

[Valokiloren]

My Agi-Skink is DEAD!

Killed in action, only five squares from the Endzone by a hulking menace known as a MB Block Chaos Warrior. Oh, and I lost 2-1.

-sighs- While I have got a Lvl up on both a Skink and a Saurus, so my newest Skink is Lvl 2 and I have 5 Skilled Saurii, as well as some more SPP for my Krox finally, it's a huge disappointment that I wasted my Apoth earlier in the game in an attempt to save a unskilled Saurus.

Inj: MNG Apoth'd: MNG

I don't know what good he'd have done if he'd survived, but I do know that the Apoth was wasted, and the chances of another Dead roll were low, so it would have probably been more useful if it had been saved for the Skink.

Hopefully the confirmation hasn't lowered my winnings of 70K by a huge amount, as I want to really boost my current treasury of 150K before I decide on potential new purchases.