Undead Mummy Overview:
Mummies are unparalleled in Blood Bowl when it comes to reliable high strength players. They aren’t as good as they used to be as they no longer have normal access to general skills. However this isn’t really a massive deal and Undead are still one of the best teams despite this set back. Obviously given their slow speed but high strength and armour they make brilliant blockers. They are also hard to get past for other teams and provide a great front line to protect their team mates. This all adds up to using them for a slow grinding cage down the pitch. Their high strength makes it hard for other teams to knock them over, high armour generally keeps them protected and Regeneration lets them shrug off a lot of injuries as well.
Obviously the key skill for any blocker would be Block, though Mummies now need a doubles roll in order to take it. This has hit their reliability a bit (until they get block that is) and you need to bear this in mind. If you can maximise assists to get three dice blocks instead of two, then it is well worth doing. You also need to consider the effect falling over on a block will have before you do it. If they are holding a valuable position and you have already used a reroll that turn perhaps you might be best off doing nothing with them for that turn.
Mummies are really good in the thick of it and for supporting the ball carrier in providing protection. Be careful with their slow movement not to get them separated from the main action revolving around the ball. Free them up with a block from a team mate so they can move (at least until they get break tackle), after getting Guard, they can also help a team mate get a two dice block instead of a one die block. If the team mate has Block as well, then you should probably hit with them first as the turnover risk is lower. Obviously SPP for Mummies are pretty much all going to come from casualties or MVPs, so you do need to be hitting with them and Mighty Blow will help with getting those SPP or at least opponents off the pitch.
For defence it is usually best not to set them up on the LOS as may seem the sensible thing to do. They will just get tied up easily and their slow movement will keep them away from the action if you do manage to get them free. Setting them back a few squares will give you a greater coverage range and they are fantastic players for standing in the way of a cage. The opponents will usually have to go around rather than through the path of a Mummy. They can also hit their way through a ruck of players if needed to head towards the ball carrier. If they are within blitzing range of a receiver on a more agile team then you can hopefully cause some pain. They will usually be more isolated or low strength so you can get the three dice hits on them and Mighty Blow will be great against their low armour. So against both styles of play setting them up back a bit makes sense. Leave the LOS for Zombies as that is what they do best.
Mummy Blockers:
- Normal: Guard, Break Tackle, Stand Firm/Grab/Piling On
- Doubles: Block, Side Step
- Stat Increase: +ST +MV
Being as you can’t take Block unless you roll doubles (and if you do then you should, there is no better alternative) your first skill choice should pretty much always be Guard. It will help out your team mates loads and make caging the ball a lot easier and successful. Their high strength will also make it hard for the other team to push them out of the way as well. Break Tackle is my next recommendation, mainly so you can stop them getting tied up by cheap opposing Linemen and keep them in the action where you need them. By your third skill hopefully you have a double for Block but if not there are a number of skills to choose from. Stand Firm will really help with holding positions for both offence and defence and also combine well with Guard. Grab will give you lots of targets to keep in contact, set up chain Blocks in case you only get a push, lastly you can really open up spaces to move a cage into easier.
You can consider Piling On to get more casualties, though your slow movement makes it troublesome to keep up with the rest of your team. Mummies are of more use to the rest of their team when they are on their feet. Being prone will render Guard useless, weakening the position of the team mates around them, deny the protection they provide by screening team mates and also makes life easier for the opposition by not having to try and knock them over. The final issue I have is the potential foul possibility you have granted the other team to one of your key players.
After Block for further double rolls I may be tempted to skip them as there are so many useful Strength skills, though Side Step can be really great, but don’t take it if you already have Stand Firm due to the overlap in abilities they both provide. Tackle could be worth considering in Dodge heavy leagues and will also help against other teams blockers who took it on a double roll.
Stat Increases point towards +ST being great, ST6 is really tricky for most teams to deal with and as they can use rerolls unlike most high strength players there is less of a reason to use the double for Block. I wouldn’t bother with +AV as you don’t get knocked over a great deal and have high armour to start with and Regeneration as back up. +MV is really helpful to give you extra range and also to keep up with a cage. It will also mean you can blitz a player standing next to you if you do get knocked over, without the need to do a Go For It to hit them.
Undead Mummy Summary:
I would build both Mummies the same way, most the players on Undead teams are fairly well defined in their roles and it makes sense to build them to maximise that potential. I can’t really see many alternative ways to build Mummies which would also keep them most useful to the team strategy as a whole. Another outside skill to perhaps consider is Pass Block, the extra movement could be fantastic and you can perhaps get them in the way to block a path, or exert another tackle zone on the receiver.
Something has to be said about a break tackle, multiblock mummy.
One can easily pile up assists on a corner of the cage, the mummy then break tackles (4+ into 3 tackle zones… save your reroll) and blocks both the ball carrier and the corner player, ripping the cage apart.
This is even better with grab, as it allows to push the corner player away and grab the ball carrier into his now empty spot, in contact with all your assists, which is great if the carrier didn’t go down, or if he did, it gives decent chances of a good bounce for you than if the ball had been dropped on the opposite side of the cage.
I’m not really a fan of attempting to dodge into cages on a 4+, even with a reroll. It fails far too often for my liking and my more conservative cage breaking style works well enough. I also think you need to get Guard as soon as possible and then if you are taking Block on any double it will take a long time to get all those skills. If it works for you though then fair enough and thank you for the comment, certainly an option for people to think about.
Unfortunately, I don’t think you can use multiple block on a blitz action. If, for some reason, you found yourself inside a cage at the start of your turn then yeah it would be nasty.
Ah that is a very good point.
I hadn’t realized the tiny change in wording from the lrb4 to the new ruleset.
Since multiple block went from “The player is allowed to block two opposing players at the same time” to “At the start of a block action…”, so my post has no bearing under the current rules.
Still, multible block on a Mummy can be a great skill choice, provided your team has ample guard to provide assists to give you two dice versus strength 3. I wouldn’t do it unless that Mummy got Block early on in it’s development. Too risky otherwise.
I think if your mummies are lucky enough to get two doubles, tackle is the skill to take. The slower you are, the more valuable CC skills become. Mummies in particular struggle to keep softies adjacent to them.
Skilled up 2 players in my first match, a ghoul and mummy. Rolled a 7 for the ghoul and gave him block. The mummy got a 12. While I hate to turn down a +str, I took block instead. Mistake?
Not really, Block makes them more reliable and harder for opponents to knock down. You can argue either way which is better. You may kick yourself though if his next skill roll is also a double!
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I prefer to take Break Tackle first on my mummies, instead of Guard (unless I roll doubles. Then block). Here is why.
Mummies tend to get tagged down by a lineman pretty easy. Sure, it’s great to just wail on one lineman, but it neutralizes such an expensive player by placing an 0-16 position next to them. In order to deal with this (and make it easier to push into cages), I go with Break Tackle first.
It makes it a bit easier to get a few more SPP on the mummy early on. Guard is great… it really is… but I like the mobility break tackle affords you.
I can’t stress enough how moot this point is on doubles… on doubles you get block… who knows when you get it again.
the problem with that is that you’ll probably really struggle to level up zombies until you have guard on mummies. Zombies really need the assist to get those 2 die blocks and level up, and depite claims that zombies are merely cannon fodder, a leveled up zombie makes a great contribution to your team.
How about Frenzy on a second double? 2x 2 or 3 dice gives a great chance of taking a player down even v.s. Blodge, and pushing yourself into the cage to stand right in front of the Ballcarrier with your Str 5, Block, Guard, and probably StandFirm as well, is pretty sweet.
Frenzy can indeed work very effectively on Mummies.
Wouldn`t dodge be the best choice for second double? Not really that experienced coach to say for sure, but neither big guys on other teams (that could hit you down) or rookie linemen to tie you up generally have tackle. Of course, in the case linemen tieing you up, you would also need break tackle to get any use for dodging.
Dodge is generally always a useful skill to have, your thinking is correct, just really depends how much tackle the other teams in the league have and which players have it.
The trouble comes when you roll doubles early and really you may be better off just ignoring it and taking Block. As a later skill choice I would give it some consideration.
Yeah, as mentioned at my post, the idea is for dodge as second double. As my mummy got block as first skill, just already contemplating future choices: Say, I roll normal on second level up, take guard, and then roll double on third: in this case I might regret taking guard instead of break tackle. Or not, not really sure.
Contemplating this here is probably not the right place, I will ask advice on forums, when the situation arises.
I’d never regret taking Guard on a Mummy. It enables all the players around him so much more and makes caging so much easier. So you can always take Break Tackle later after Dodge if the team plays enough games. You may not even roll any doubles!
I’d go as far as saying that Guard is more useful than Dodge will be anyway.
Guard and block great first choices, I like grab and tackle for 2nd. Mainly because I feel my opponents tend to try to avoid hitting my mummies anyway.
Grab and stand firm both help with positioning however I feel grab is vastly superior for a player that is unlikely to be near a sideline.
Tackle is great for keeping players nearby and increases damage output.
Hi, sorry I get this is really old but I’m just about to revisit my undead team… trying to plan out skills advances. Is juggernaut worth taking as a second skill after guard if no doubles are rolled? Psuedo block defence, at least on the attack.
Juggernaut only works when you are blitzing, so it really depends on how often you use your Mummies to blitz with. You would be far better off more of the time with Block ime.