Norse Werewolves / Ulfwereners

Norse Werewolves / Ulfwereners Overview:

When the Norse side lost two of their Berserkers which looked like a bad hit, they gained Ulfwereners instead. This is a pretty good trade off despite the fact they don’t start with Block like nearly all the rest of the Norse team. Their upside is that they have ST4 giving some more muscle to the team and AV8 making them more resilient than the average Norseman. They also start with Frenzy which is unusual as ST4 players usually don’t have any skills to start with, they are also fairly quick for a stronger player as well. They are expensive players though but I can’t see any Norse team not having both of their allowed Ulfwereners on their side.

In a similar role to the Berserkers, these guys are even more perhaps suited to a hitting, damage causing roll, given that they have low agility and high strength. Frenzy will also encourage this role for them as well and typically these guys may tend to get stuck in the thick of it a bit more than their more fragile team mates. That doesn’t mean you should get overly reckless with them and still be aware of the down sides to Frenzy. They can be quite slow to skill up though so once they start to develop they are a player you want to try and keep alive as long as you can.

Killer Norse Ulfwerener:

• Normal: Block / Mighty Blow, Piling On / Guard, Stand Firm / Juggernaut / Tackle / Break Tackle
• Doubles: Dodge / Side Step
• Stat Increase: +ST

Being that they are the only player on your team (apart from the Snow Troll) to not start with Block, that seems like a good place to start and is probably the route I would take. They aren’t going to be scoring touchdowns too often so if you want to hit with them I prefer to boost their reliability. With most of your team having Block it can be more tempting to hit with them given a choice, but you want to try and get the SPP on these guys. The other alternative is to take Mighty Blow first in order to cause more damage when you get those knock downs and rely on team rerolls to negate the lack of Block. Which ever you don’t take first though, the other is probably the best second skill choice. For the third upgrade either Piling On to maximise the damage potential or go for Guard as any team relying on hitting is going to need it and you only can have a maximum of five players with normal access to it.

Later skill selection I would look at either Stand Firm to help with safety after crowd pushes and to remain in base contact to get more blocks in. Juggernaut to cancel out Fend and Wrestle and make sure you can get the most out of Frenzy. It will also help with crowd pushes as well, though as it can only by used on a blitz it will lose value the more players you have with it. Tackle also worth considering, especially in Dodge heavy leagues. Break Tackle can also be worth consideration to make them more mobile and to help prevent getting marked out of the game. This can be a disaster when combined with Frenzy as you can get really dragged out of position.

Doubles are the fairly usual choices between Dodge and Side Step, I may be tempted to ignore it as the first or second skill increase in order to get the more useful skills to help with his role on the team. As far as stat increases go +ST is the only one I would consider as all the others mean taking one less skill and don’t really add too much compared to the standard skill choices. A strength increase can make them more mobile if you get Break Tackle which raises in stock if you get one at ST5.

Norse Ulfwereners Summary:

One thing I haven’t really touched on is taking Wrestle on one of the Ulfwereners. Due to the similar nature of effects between Wrestle and Block it can be hard to fit the former in on a team that starts with so much Block. This means you can perhaps consider making one a more defined ball carrier hunter. With ST4, Frenzy and Wrestle you have pretty good chances of getting the ball carrier down. Combine it with Tackle and Break Tackle your odds are scary to the other team. It does mean giving up on developing a player who can cause quite a bit of damage and a clever opponent will look to keep them away from the ball altogether. These guys are very useful to a Norse team so getting them is a priority. Don’t be scared to try and feed them touchdowns (only a 4+ for them to catch or pick up the ball normally) in order to speed up their development. As a rookie they can be a bit of a liability too, but past that they are perhaps your best player.