Safe Throw

Safe Throw (Passing)

This player is an expert at throwing the ball in a way so as to make it even more difficult for any opponent to intercept it. If a pass made by this player is ever intercepted then the Safe Throw player may make an unmodified Agility roll. If this is successful then the interception is cancelled out and the passing sequence continues as normal. In addition if this player fumbles a pass on any roll other than a natural 1 then he manages to keep hold of the ball instead of suffering a fumble and the team does not suffer a turnover.

Overview:

Safe Throw has changed from being a straight 2+ roll to an agility roll, mostly this is because the old version negated nearly all interceptions, especially if you used a reroll which was saved for such occasions. While it obviously makes the skill less effective I believe it was a good change. The knock on from it though was to give something back to the skill in the guise of decreasing the chance of fumbles for longer range throws.

That isn’t to say that it isn’t worth taking for the chance to negate successful interceptions, it is still a valuable asset to have and will still work 50% of the time for an AG3 player without a reroll. Sometimes your plans don’t work out and you can’t always make passes that avoid interception attempts, especially against a team with Pass Block players.

The new ability of avoiding some fumbles is a great addition and offers up some new tactical options. The most obvious time this will come into use in when making the longer throws that have a negative modifier. Whilst previously you may have had to chance the throw as your last action in case of a turnover, you can now gamble a bit and leave players to move after attempting the pass. Of course you can still fumble the ball on the roll of a 1 but the chances are a lot lower, especially if you have Pass or a Reroll to use. This is tactically very useful as you can then move your remaining players based on either the success of the pass to protect the receiver, or the failed pass to protect the passer who is still holding the ball. Without Safe Throw you will have to decide how you are going utilise your players with less information, effectively having to gamble more.

Safe Throw also comes in useful for less fumbles when playing in the rain and also can let you attempt a pass if you are bogged down in tackle zones. Assuming you can’t get the thrower out in the open, the fact you can just try and pass the ball out even if you need to get a 6, Safe Throw lets you attempt that with you still keeping hold of the ball should you not get lucky. This is a very situational and rare thing you will probably see in a game but it is worth pointing out.

Benefits:

• Negates successful interceptions
• Lowers chances of turnover
• More tactical flexability for team mates

Useful to:

As a passing skill there is some limitation about who is likely to take it, I can’t see many players selecting it on a double roll as there will usually be a lot of more useful skills to take. That means it will only likely be selected on players with normal access to passing skills. Clearly it is of most use to players who are going to be passing the ball, so anyone built as an attacking thrower who will be making long passes. It is also useful for defensive throwers as well as they will usually be in around lots of traffic and if passing the ball away there is a higher likelihood of an interception attempt. Any of the Elven Throwers and Dark Elf Runner, Human, Orc, Norse, Amazon, Skaven and Underworld Throwers. A Chaos Pact Marauder built as a Thrower is also a likely candidate.