Dark Elves - Lords of Westeros

[Barristan]

Hello everyone,

I have been reading all kind of interesting threads around here for a few months now and I thought I'd give a go at making my own team blog, although I am not participating in any competition hosted here.

First off, I'm French but I have been living in Ireland for nearly 5 years now, so I believe my English is acceptable, although feel free to disagree and forgive me if I misuse Shakespeare's beloved language

I played for long months in MM, then joined a league hosted by a French website (called Francobowl, I believe Bintz is also part of it). I started off the championship S6 in D4 (lowest one) with an Orc team, alas partly due to Nuffle snorting haughtily at my puny efforts and also to my somewhat average mastery of the Orcish playstyle when confronted with skilled opponents, I ended up with a poor 2-1-6 in 8th position (out of 10) of my group.

Due to a lot of coaches dropping, I was miraculously promoted to D3 anyway. I started S7 with a Dark Elf team, which had already 7 games (5-0-2) played in a warm-up league. I fared reasonably better this time, being tied with 2 other coaches in second place of my group before the last game with 4-2-2, and needing only a draw to access the play-offs. This was not to be though as I took a good beating at the hands of an Undead team and lost 0-2, ending up 6th of my group in repayment of my efforts (the group was very tight). Ah well


So now S8 started last week and I'd like to share it with you guys. I am not an expert Delf coach like Danton, Bintz or Anglakhel and would appreciate any advice given on my team/playing style. Thanks a lot in advance.

This season there are only 8 coaches in each group, and I was pitted against quite a bashy selection, meaning 3 Orcs, 1 Chaos, 1 Necro, 1 Undead and 1 Dark Elf. One thing I was very lucky with during S7 was injuries, I lost a single lvl1 player during all the season. At the start of S8 the team looked like this:

Lords of Westeros (named them while I was reading the last book of Game of Thrones, not very original I know, but I love them all the same )

Ser Barristan Selmy - Blitzer : Tackle - 15 SPP
Renly Baratheon - Blitzer : Dodge, Guard - 16 SPP
Ser Loras Tyrell - Blitzer : Dodge, Tackle - 29 SPP
Jaime Lannister, Kingslayer - Blitzer : Dodge, Strip Ball, Side Step - 32 SPP
Oberyn Martell - Runner : Strong Arm, Pass - 19 SPP
Asha Greyjoy - Witch : +1 AG - 7 SPP
Brienne of Tarth - Witch : Block - 11 SPP
Robb Stark - Lineman : Wrestle, Dodge - 29 SPP (MVP hugger this one)
Sandor Clegane - Lineman : Wrestle, Dodge - 27 SPP
Jorah Mormont - Lineman : Wrestle, Dodge - 17 SPP
Rhaegar Targaryen - Lineman : Kick - 13 SPP
Brynden Tully - Lineman : Dodge - 12 SPP
Daemon Blackfyre - Assassin : 0 SPP

3 RR, 1 Apoth, 1 CL, 6 FF, TV 1850, 120K in the bank (as requested pre-season).

So I would say quite a balanced squad, lacking in Guard unfortunately and also quite poor on +stats. I believe I turned down 6+4 twice on Linemen as I thought they'd be better off with protection skills and Nuffle probably took offence. Ah well, I love my 3 Wrodgers on the LOS, they are quite annoying Again, feel free to comment on my choice of skills.


First game of the season was against the Undead team, which happened to be the very same that deprived me of the play-offs on the last game of S7. I was burning with hatred AND... ahem. His most notable player was a S6/Block/Break Tackle/SF/Guard Mummy that caused 3 cas. in my ranks during the first game. Apart from that he was quite low in tackle (which didn't matter in the first game as he rolled after on my blodgers) and I was giving away 240K in inducements. He hired Nekbrekereh (izzat it?) like he did for the first encounter, which was fine by me as I didn't want to face a wizard.

I won't give a full account of the game as it happened 10 days ago and also... well you'll see

He elected to receive, which I found odd (probably hoping to lower my numbers). The kick-off event saw two rocks flying from the crowd and stunning one Witch and his star Mummy! He had chosen to bench 2 ghouls, including the one with Sure Hands (!). That would prove to be a mistake, as his blocking on the LOS was quite ineffective and cost him a reroll, meaning he failed his pick-up. I had setup asymetrically on the left and kicked deep on the right, allowing me to inflitrate my AG5 with and a blitzer to threaten the ball while the rest of the team tried to cut off reinforcements. He managed to mark my players but couldn't down them and failed yet another pick-up. Asha dodged to allow a 2 dice blitz from Loras, Who picked-up after pushing the Ghoul away and scored T2. 1-0.

I effectively managed to stall his cage for the rest of the half (helped by a Blitz!) and even recovered the ball T7 but couldn't score a second one. He hadn't KO or injured a single player while I KOed a skeleton (he was obsessed with getting rid of my Assassin for the second time, which is a good reason for me to keep him although he has done nothing so far).

Second half started, and I was feeling quite confident. I managed to score in 3 turns although it wasn't pretty, as I had to transmit and then make a short pass for a player in a TZ. I had burnt my 3 rerolls in the process as well. Still, 2-0.

He proceeded to cage again while his star Mummy was blitzing up front and finally managed to KO my Assassin. Deciding this Mummy was a pain, I gathered 6 players to take it down, burning the RR I had just won in the process, and chanced the foul with 2 assists as he prudently disabled SF. Result --> Dead, regen roll is a 2.

Although quite exhilarated to be honest, I immediately apologised to my unfortunate opponent in the chat. To no avail, he did nothing during his next turn and disconnected savagely during mine. I still believed he might have been disconnected by accident and turned to the league admin, but it turned out he did it on purpose and even dropped his team from the league after the game! I was feeling slightly guilty (although this wasn't polite/fairplay in any way and also quite stupid as his team wasn't made of this single player) but more to the point disappointed as I was going to beat him fair and square and now I gave a free win to all my other opponents.

To cut a long story short, I was awarded the win but the SPP was given randomly to my players. Both my Witches were awarded a TD which was nice enough, and the MVP landed on two Linemen who both levelled-up (my blitzer Loras had scored both TD in the real game, so I thought this was a good deal after all). Sandor rolled a normal skill and I gave him Side Step (wasn't sure but I read here SS was always a good choice) and Brynden rolled +AG, which I felt compelled to take.

My next game is against the Necro team and is due to be played on Tuesday. He has a TV of 2000 (5RR). A single tackle piece in the shape of a Zombie and some peculiar level-ups (a FG with +AV and +AG!). I feel quite confident but he has beaten the Chaos team 3-0 during his first game and he was facing some nasty players there, so caution is required.

My own TV is 1910 now, so I thought I could drop my CL to get 100K inducements and get a bribe, a RR or two babes. Alternatively I could purchase my 4th reroll since I feel like I need it for a long time now. Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated.

Please feel free to share your thoughts on the team as is stands as well, any input would be welcome.


Well, I am a glad to join the community and I hope you will not be bored to death by this quite heavy first post

Cheers!


Barristan

 

[Gallows Bait]

Great to see a new log and a new writer - welcome to the forums. Nice to see and hear more about Francobowl too.

 

[Barristan]

Thanks a lot Gallows!

Maybe I should give more details about my next opponent's team. From memory as I'm at work:

2 FG, 1 naked, 1 with +AG,+AV and block
2 Wolves, 1 Blodge and 1 Blodge/SS
2 Ghouls, 1 Block/ +1STR /NoS/-AG/-AV, 1 +AG/Block/SS/Leap
2 Wights, 1 +AG/Dodge and 1 naked
5 or 6 Zombies, 2 with Block/Dauntless, 1 Block/Tackle and 1 with +AV

5RR, 40K in the bank, higher FF than me I think.

So as I said only one tackle on a MV4 player, no MB. Basically I should mostly worry about getting rid of the Ghouls and Wolves.

A Bribe could be useful there, although 2 Babes to help with the KO's done by the Wolves as well.

Then again, a 4th RR helps with risky plays, which I tend to do a lot with Elves.

Any thoughts on this?

 

[Captain Thorrek]

Personally, I'd go for the babes or reroll. Both can keep your team alive, or help score a touchdown if it looks like you're going to get bashed in his next turn. If I were playing his necro team, your guard would be my number one target...

With fouling, you might not ever need the reroll, or you might get ejected without breaking the armor. I wouldn't even risk fouling, due to the dark elves' fragile nature, and the possibility you might get outnumbered with KO's and casualties. I'd only risk fouling if I outnumbered the necros... or to try and get ejected to save a piece from possible destruction.

In regards to your use of the English language, you write with an eloquence I find lacking in this country's youth. I enjoy your posts for the aesthetics as much as the content, and look forward to your future posts. If my French were half as good as your English, I'd consider it quite an accomplishment.

 

[Lebe666]

Your English is impeccable. Don't worry about that.

I'd just argue against your putting Brienne as a Witch ! She is way more warrior than some of those blitzers... and zero sexy...

Nice Theme !

 

[Barristan]

Thanks a lot for your kind words, much appreciated! I fear I can make illusion only in writing though, my accent would betray me a mile away Maybe if I give it another 20 years...

Thanks for your comments Captain T, I actually never considered fouling as a mean to remove an endangered player from the pitch! Quite wicked, I like it I also lean towards the purchase of my 4th reroll, despite my reserve regarding my TV increasing way too fast. My next opponents have much lower TV I believe but I guess this cannot be helped and I will suffer a few MNG here and there as well.

As for fouling, I normally use it quite rarely, although it can really be worth it as in my last game. He has about the same bench as me, so I will consider it only if I lead in KO/injuries. You're probably right concerning him targeting my Guard piece as well, he spends a lot of time lying down on and off the pitch (he was actually apoth from death following a foul last season). I hope he might target my Assassin as well, what with his AV6 Ghoul, this could spare my other players a good deal of blitzes and at least he doesn't fear Claw.


And Lebe, I'm with you regarding Brienne (although my Blitzers have been named after quite skilled fighters I'd say), but Asha and her were the only female warriors fitting my theme She's actually the second of the name, the first one gained a smashed collar bone during her second game with no Apoth available, but I expect she will live to her not-so-sexy alter ego!

 

[Rusty]

I can't believe you only made Robb Stark a Lineman... for shame!

 

[Lebe666]

Brienne with something smashed actually makes sense... poor ugly girl !

 

[Barristan]

Oho, I sense there are a lot of fans of GoT around here and I am at risk to offend a few of them

I agree with you Rusty, but I was really looking for great fighters for my Blitzers (Selmy being my favorite one as you might have guessed) and the Young Wolf is never really shown as one. Maybe I should have swapped with Renly though. Ah well, he's hugging MVP's and once he gets to lvl4 will be a real annoyance, so at least he is showing worth.

I'll let you guess what my dead Lineman was called...


Beric Dondarrion of course!

 

[Lebe666]

If you had made a "Mountain that Rides" you'd have a +1 str blitzer by now...

 

[Barristan]

MD2, Lords of Westeros vs Welkome Issiba (Hicks35)

What a game... still can't believe it.

First off, technical incident, I cannot start the game, it splutters something about 'unable to write licence data'. WT*? I restored a Windows backup in the afternoon and it didn't like it. Reinstall --> same. I quickly found a MS-DOS command line on the web and yay! it worked. Pfiuu.

He wins the toss and elects to receive. First turn, he fails to down any of my players but forms a block of players on the right of the field. My blocks are equally disappointing and I try to surround his guys the best I can. He then manages a pass to a Wight guarded by his kin and a Golem. I wall the front and at 20 secondes left, sort of panicks and blitz at -2D. Double , the ball is down (way to go Loras!), exactly between the two Golems. Cue a long brawl in which I KO two zombies, but looses Jaime after a failed dodge (BH) and reroll a / to get / (only reroll used first half...). I finally manage to extract the ball and score T7 with Brienne (lvl-up).

T8, his blocks are still ineffective and his foul gives only a stun. My T8, showtime. I blitz with Brienne and kill a Zombie (regen failed), then make a foul with my Assassin on a Wolf, slaughtering him outright (regen failed!). My opponent takes the blow on the chin but I feel sorry for him.

2nd hald, he gets a blitz! and positions his remaining Wolf under the ball, catch succeeds. Blitz from Loras, guess what? Dead Wolf, regen cannot save his skin... :s

Feeling guilty but not forgetting to play, I pass to a Witch who goes through with a guard. He cannot stop her and it's 2-0 turn 10, although he BH my Guard Blitzer and forces me to use my Apoth on Selmy to prevent -1AG.

He then scores in 2 turns with his Ghouls; one of my linemen is BH by a rock at kick-off and I engineer a blitz on his ST4 Ghoul carrying the ball, but it's a / rerolled in... , once again.

I manage to score a 3rd one after he gets a perfect defence and the ball lands in 2 TZ (thanks AG5). Asha scores her 2nd and levels-up.

He narrowly gets a 2nd one but fails his GFI after having burnt his reroll on the pass. I manage to move the ball midfield but Asha trips on a GFI and drops the ball, KOing herself in the process. He fails his last pass (2+) and it's over.

Final score 3-1 Dark Elves.


I feel sorry for my opponent, the league rules state that you cannot have more that 120K banked at the start of the season and he had to replace a Golem before this match. Meaning he won't play with any Wolves next game and it will take him some time before he gets two again.

As for the game, leaving aside the 3 dead, I haven't really been that lucky, what with two rerolls giving double skulls and him getting Blitz!, Perfect Defence, Rock in my face (MNG) and two extra rerolls. I also got two MNG, one of my LOS Linemen and my AG5 Lino. He was really missing more Tackle (1) and Guard (0) to pin down my guys.

On the plus side, I get 3 lvl-up (the 2 Witches and a Blitzer).

Next game is against the first of the 3 Orc teams, I expect it to be difficult with no bench.

I will post the team roster once I have rolled my level-ups and had a chance to look at the roster of my future opponent. I might have some questions then.

 

[bintz]

Always nice to leave those regen guys down

And yeah, as you pointed out in your first post I also played in FrancoBowl but the last changes they added didnt suit me so I left after geting eliminated in the semis of my D4.

About your lineman, Id have given him fend instead of SS, it would add survivability. Maybe you should consider it for your next one.


PS: Im also reading GoT so please please please, no spoiler like "this guy died on the field as he did in the book"

 

[Lebe666]

PS: Im also reading GoT so please please please, no spoiler like "this guy died on the field as he did in the book"

Get ready to see many dead... the book doesn't pull punches and the heroes don't always survive...

 

[Viajero]

Get ready to see many dead... the book doesn't pull punches and the heroes don't always survive...

+1, yeah. Judging by the books (just finished Dancing with Dragons, the last one so far) in terms of who is still alive I d venture to say Barristan team has lost already.

 

[Lebe666]

Hey ! Careful with the spoilers ! Haven't read the last one !

 

[Barmution]

Yeah, it's sort of telling when the author of the series has described the possible last scene in the filmatization as just the camera sweeping over a graveyard.

 

[Lebe666]

Just hoping this rather old and obese author manages to finish the book before he hits the graveyard himself !

 

[Kolat]

Enjoying your write up quite a bit, especially as I am a HUGE fan of the Martin series!

Though you should have named your Assassin after Arya Stark. Just saying...

 

[Barristan]

About your lineman, Id have given him fend instead of SS, it would add survivability. Maybe you should consider it for your next one.


PS: Im also reading GoT so please please please, no spoiler like "this guy died on the field as he did in the book"

I considered Fend but I have to say SS is awesome and helped me a lot this game. I think Blodge/SS makes for a hell of an annoying player. Of course if you are good at getting snake eyes Fend is way better


Seems like I have to be really careful about not spoiling here (some people are dropping huge enough hints as it is )

+1, yeah. Judging by the books (just finished Dancing with Dragons, the last one so far) in terms of who is still alive I d venture to say Barristan team has lost already.

Thanks for your optimism! But I have to say so far I have been incredibly lucky with the casualties. Probably shouldn't brag about it as it is bound to change quickly enough without teasing Nuffle...

Just hoping this rather old nad obese author manages to finish the book before he hits the graveyard himself !

+1 Lebe, had the same feeling when I saw his picture and knowing he took 7 years to write the last one. Can we chain him to his desk with a Snotling on the shoulder to feed him? Hmmm...

Enjoying your write up quite a bit, especially as I am a HUGE fan of the Martin series!

Though you should have named your Assassin after Arya Stark. Just saying...

I see you coming there, but I wanted characters from all different Houses. And I loved the name Daemon Blackfyre even though he is a very minor character. By the way I am considering giving the Red Kiss to Ser Beric Dondarrion for my next game

Match hasn't been validated yet. Barring doubles or stat increase, I think I'll go SS on the Block Witch and the Blodge/Tackle Blitzer, Wrestle on the 5AG Witch. Still playing with the idea of Tackle first for the Block Witch, but having to face 3 Orcs and a Chaos... not so sure. Any advice?

 

[Barristan]

So I rolled 3 normal rolls (statistically I am not doing great on doubles methinks) and here is the team as it stands now :

Ser Barristan Selmy - Blitzer : Tackle - 15 SPP
Renly Baratheon - Blitzer : Dodge, Guard - 21 SPP
Ser Loras Tyrell - Blitzer : Dodge, Tackle, Side Step - 31 SPP
Jaime Lannister, Kingslayer - Blitzer : Dodge, Strip Ball, Side Step - 31 SPP
Oberyn Martell - Runner : Strong Arm, Pass - 20 SPP
Asha Greyjoy - Witch : +1 AG, Wrestle - 16 SPP
Brienne of Tarth - Witch : Block, Side Step - 16 SPP
Robb Stark - Lineman : Wrestle, Dodge - 29 SPP
Sandor Clegane - Lineman : Wrestle, Dodge - 27 SPP
Jorah Mormont - Lineman : Wrestle, Dodge - 17 SPP --> MNG
Rhaegar Targaryen - Lineman : Kick - 14 SPP
Brynden Tully - Lineman : Dodge, +1AG - 17 SPP --> MNG
Daemon Blackfyre - Assassin : 0 SPP

4 RR, Apoth, 7 FF, TV1780 without the 2 MNG, 130K in the bank

My next opponent is Carklor and his Orcanica team, who is at 1-0-1 so far. He has an 11 players roster and his best Blitzer (Tackle, MB, Strip Ball) is MNG. So he has for now:

Troll - Block, Guard, skill pending
4 BOB - All with Block, one with Guard/MB, one with MB/+AG, one with +AG.
Blizter - Tackle, +ST, -1MA
Blitzer - + ST
Blitzer - Tackle, - ST
Thrower - Block, Accurate
Lino - Block, Fend, +AG

3 RR, 6 FF, TV 1610 without the MNG, so at least 1680 with Merco and normal roll on the Troll, more likely 1660 if he was to replace his injured blitzer (he has 230K banked).

Both of us have no bench, but he will more or less 100K in inducements to play with. He will have only 2 Guard and 1 Tackle (barring double on the Troll) but 7 players with ST4+. I pondered taking Dauntless instead of SS on Loras but I believe I can outmanoeuver him enough to get my assists where I need them.

Unless I suffer from KO/injuries early on, I believe I can outskill him as he has no Wizard. It could be a pain if he gets Grab on the Troll but again he is not reliable and too slow. Downside is the likely event of having a ST4 ball carrier, although with MA6 at best. I think I should try and remove his Tackle piece as early as possible, maybe I can trick him on the sideline with SS and crowdsurf him. Worse off I can foul him (seems all my fouls are lethal this time around ) but I'd like to avoid it unless I have a shedload of assists.

Any advice on this match-up? So far I have encountered 3 Orc teams, won twice (once thanks mostly to my Wizard but then again I was down to 9 players after his first turn) and lost once, as much due to the skill of my opponent as to Nuffle spitting on me at every turn (his Troll even grabbed a rebound...).