Halflings

Fouling Halfling:

• Normal: Sneaky Git
• Doubles: Dirty Player

As Halflings are fairly poor at blocking gang fouling is a popular tactic for the little chaps. Sneaky Git means you can foul with abandon without needing to get all the fouling assists. On doubles Dirty Player is the key choice for maximum damage potential. If you just have the latter without Sneaky Git on your Halfling, then you need to make sure you have the assists in place to have a high chance of breaking armour to get the Dirty Player bonus on the injury.

+ST Halfling:

• Normal: Side Step / Sure Feet
• Doubles: Wrestle

If you get a strength increase on a Halfling they are probably going to be your main blitzer. With Dodge and Stunty letting them dodge fairly easily into a cage, or past a screen, they can usually get to the ball carrier assuming they are in your limit range. Side Step and Sure Feet are the best follow up skills in your own preference of which order. For doubles I would get Wrestle to counter Block on opposing ball carriers and to help with keeping this asset alive.

+AG Halfling:

• Normal: Sure Feet,  Catch / Sprint
• Doubles: Block

A Halfling with an agility increase is very useful to have. They can suddenly dodge anywhere they like on a 2+ (most of the time) and are much better at handling the ball. An AG4 Halfling is also much better at hitting his landing roll if you throw him. I would only use this if you need to score, he shouldn’t be used as a living missile to throw at opponents! Follow the agility up with Sure Feet to increase their reliable range. This helps with scoring range and also the threat of being able to run through to get to a loose ball. Catch can be helpful to save on rerolls or Sprint to get that range even slightly further. For doubles I can’t see past Block mostly for protection reasons.

Halflings Summary:

There are still quite a few skills I’ve not mentioned. Covering the last stat increase options, going to armour six isn’t going to be much of a difference. With the team being so slow as well movement is clearly the better choice. Diving Catch might get some use, though with Stunty passing the ball isn’t a great option. Jump Up can help negate the slowness of a Halfling, the trouble is that a Halfling that has gone down can quite often not be getting back up. For that reason I prefer Sure Feet over Jump Up. You don’t need Leap as you have Stunty to ignore tackle zones when dodging and your agility isn’t great for leap rolls.

Some double options that could be useful, though perhaps more likely as a second double on a Halfling who already has one: Guard can go really well with Block + Dodge + Side Step. Some people may consider Leader though I think there are far more useful options and you can grab opponent rerolls using a Master Chef. Going a bit outside the box I’ve seen people take Hail Mary Pass which enables you to just throw the ball down the other end of the pitch which can be golden on defence. Dauntless could also be handy for a Block or Wrestle Halfling to be able to fight back a bit. A last suggestion would be Strip Ball, if you are facing a non Sure Hands ball carrier and you can get to them, then you might fancy your luck trying a two dice against blitz.

Halflings are a tricky team to play and that is by design. They do break easily and not just when being hit. Avoid leaving them in base contact with opposing players to prolong their lives. Use them to support each other to have a nice defensive screen and gang fouling opposing players is certainly encouraged by some proponents of Halflings!