[Dwarf] Early dwarf team development

[Ian]

Specifically, the spending of money.

I've started a new league in the Blood Bowl game as a dwarf team, which is something almost entirely new to me. I love bashy teams but I'd never really tried a dwarf one as I was concerned about how I'd cope with their lack of movement. Regardless, the league was being thrown together and nobody else had gone dwarves so, in the interest of league race diversity, I dived in.

My team thus far is like this:

• 2 troll slayers
• 2 blitzers
• 2 runners
• 5 line-dwarfs
• Apothecary
• 2 re-rolls.

Only two games in so far, with a 2-1 win and a 1-1 draw under my belt and I have 100,000 in the kitty.

After the first game (the 2-1) I'd been thinking of saving up for a deathroller. I know they're only good for one drive before they get sent off (right?) but my thinking was to have him on in whichever half I receive the ball first as the plan is very much to hold onto the ball for that entire half if possible and drive one in at the end, with the deathroller getting a lot of time on the field to hopefully hurt some opponents and give me the numbers advantage.

However, in the 1-1 game I began to have a rethink. The wood elves I was playing took a very fast 1-0 lead, which suited me. But thanks to their treeman I couldn't progress as fast up the field as I would have liked, and one of my runners had gone down badly hurt on a failed dodge which didn't help. That all added up to me relying on a turn that involved two blocks, a blitz, a pick-up, a hand-off to a blocker (this is where I failed) so he had to then try two GFIs to run the ball in. Before this I hadn't seen an urgent need to get up to 3+ re-rolls as my tactics don't tend to involve dodging as much as I can help it* and all the Block a dwarf team comes with should reduce the number of times I have to prevent skulls, but now realise that they can still be a huge help when I need to try something less-dwarfy to get a game back in my favour.

* I'd much rather stall for a turn or two to keep my cage together and force them to break through it rather than expose my ball-carrier without good reason) than try to dodge anywhere with dwarves.

The other consideration in the short term is that the guy creating the league has turned on the game's 'extended inducements' (which I wasn't keen on, but not enough to argue) so buying a deathroller will push my team value up and so giving opponents an opportunity to buy a number of bonuses that might not do much on their own but could stack up to cost me games.

So, now I've clearly rambled on far too long, should I:

1. Keep saving, get the deathroller and trust it to turn games in my favour.
2. Get another re-roll or two as soon as possible
3. Get a re-roll and/or keep saving money for the future.
4. (Other option I haven't mentioned)

[Coach]

I'd have started with 3 rerolls, so that is where my money would be going!

[VoidSeer]

I second that, dwarf are sturdy enough to start without an APO.

I'd be getting a 12th player however, then saving up for rerolls.
I hate playing outnumbered with dwarves, and I don't like the roller. It's too much of an investment for the good it brings.

[Ian]

Thanks guys, I'll probably do that then.

And I agree that playing a man down, particularly with a team as slow as dwarves, is a pain in the tonsils so perhaps the deathroller will be a longer-term (if ever) target. Or I could start a dwarf team in single-player and get a death roller to see what I think of it after extensive play and see if I even like it.

Any other thoughts on my monies or deathrollers in general are welcome.

[Agamon]

I've played a dwarf team for a few seasons in a TT league, so some obersavations:

Yep, that 3rd reroll should've been bought instead of the apo. So get that first.

Then a 6th blocker, yes. Dwarves are tough, but they'll lose the odd guy from the pitch often enough to need a #12. You don't really need anymore than that though.

I'd then go for the 4th reroll.

The DR is a big investment, but it is worth it. Like you say, it's a good idea to use it during a half-long cage grind. My rule is this: If you don't get doubles in the first 2 skills, fire and rehire him. Dwarves don't use a lot of money, so this is pretty easy to do. He's a lot more useful with Block.

I'm not too sure about the PC game's "extended inducements", but we use the TT inducement system, including the cards, which is far more extensive than the PC's game's normal one star, bribe, apo, reroll, and, yeah, inducements help make the game more competative, but the more skilled team is almost always much better off. So don't give that much consideration.

[Ian]

Thanks for the input so far guys. I've got my 4 re-rolls now, so that's that done and I may now think of saving for the deathroller.

Anyway, another question relating to the same team as I made a bit of a boo-boo.

One of my dwarf blockers levelled up and didn't get anything special on the roll, so I just went to pick Guard as, well, Guard's great. However I accidentally clicked Grab and, having been through this process so many times before, quickly moved down and confirmed it before I could do anything else. It takes you back to the screen where your team list is so I tried exiting without saving, but alas my decision was set in stone.

I can see why Cyanide do it this way, it's because they don't want people abusing the skill system and trying to get better skills. But it's a shame that you can't, if a game hasn't been played, go back and change the skill selection (within the same limits determined by that levelling dice roll, obviously) in the event you've messed up like I did.

Anyway, I'm rambling again. The question is, is Grab as much of a wasted roll as I might think on a simple blocker? And what are the best ways for me to get the most out of him?

I'm thinking my best bet will be to try and ensure that blocker is always part of the cage so he can help remove any particularly tricky players who might come within his range but you guys'll know more than me so I'll throw myself at your feet (again) and beg for wisdom.

[RedDevilCG]

I think there is a whole article on grab. Check it out:

Grab | Blood Bowl Tactics

[Coach]

Grab is a handy skill to have on them, I covered it on the Offensive Dwarf Blocker build that is on page two of the Lineman article. I do see it as more of a choice on a well developed team than a relatively new one, but it isn't a terrible miss click to get Grab.

[Ian]

I'm just glad it was on a blocker as they start with a fairly handy set of skills anyway.

Sounds like it can be a pretty good utility skill having read a bit more in the article from the front page.

[Agamon]

Hey, at least you didn't click Juggernaut, or worse, Multiple Block. Grab, you'll get some use out of. Especially after he levels and gets his intended Guard skill.