Lizardman Kroxigor Overview:
Kroxigors are a great addition to Lizardman teams and can be developed to be one of the least reliable yet still effective Big Guys in the game. They have the usual high strength and armour of Big Guys but are also one of the faster ones, Bonehead is one of the least problematical negative traits and they have the handy skill, Prehensile Tail.
The high strength and armour are obviously of great help for doing a similar role to an Ogre on the Human team and building them into a road block. This is great for being in front of cages, especially as you also have six ST4 players to go along side him. Trying to get a cage past that line is a rather tough proposition. The key thing that really sets them apart is the Prehensile Tail, the bashing teams will typically have low to average agility and this can really cause them problems if they have to dodge the ball carrier away, or have to hand it off. It can also make the difference against the higher agility teams as well.
The biggest problem is that they are slow to skill up and their high starting cost, combined with the overall lack of skills on the team can be an issue. If you take one early on it may mean taking less rerolls which the Lizardman team could really do with, though Prehensile Tail is of greater effect against other teams that are early in development.
Road Block Kroxigor:
- Normal: Stand Firm, Break Tackle / Grab, Guard
- Doubles: Block / Pro
- Stat Increase: +ST +AV
As the Lizardman team already has a lot of high strength players there isn’t really the need to take Guard as early as you might on other Big Guys. Stand Firm makes the best use of their Prehensile Tail as he can’t be pushed away from players you mark, this can really tie up a lot of opposing players. Break Tackle is probably the best next skill as it will allow you to move him to tie up the most players and keep him where the action is. Grab is also a nice choice as you can keep anyone you block next to him. Guard obviously has some use later on, especially in a bash heavy environment.
For double rolls Block is probably best, without it they are easier to knock over, which negates any advantage Stand Firm provided in keeping opponents in their tackle zone. Pro is the other choice as it will mean less losses of the tackle zone from going Bonehead. Often it can be sensible to not Block with him if you get him in a rather advantageous position as losing his tackle zone at that time would be a disaster. +ST is great as blocking him becomes even harder and you could consider +AV though I think I would prefer to take a skill instead.
Anti Agility Kroxigor:
- Normal: Break Tackle, Stand Firm, Grab, Guard
- Doubles: Pro / Diving Tackle, Block / Dodge
- Stat Increase: +ST +MV
This is a less common build but can be really nasty for agility teams and is of use vs bash ones as well. You need Break Tackle first so you can get next to any receivers you want to mark up and then follow it up with Stand Firm. Agility teams typically have lower lower strength so will have more problems with being able to block you to get a push away, hence Break Tackle first. Grab for the reasons mentioned above and Guard can help if you end up needing to blitz with a Skink and can still mark two or more players at the same time.
Double rolls are the biggest difference, Pro is perhaps better than Block as you can use it for not only Bonehead but Break Tackle as well. Or if you want to be really nasty take Diving Tackle, combined with Prehensile Tail players will have -3 to dodge rolls to get away. Elves with Dodge (or a reroll) still get away at just over 50% of the time but it isn’t something they will like to attempt and that causes more than enough turnovers in my book. If you can cover the nearby routes that they would use to dodge out with Skinks as well then they are pretty much stuck there. If you keep rolling doubles then you can get Block to let you hit them (useful against bashing teams as well), or Dodge to help with Break Tackle rolls and also keeping them on their feet more. You may decide to skip +ST in favour of the double roll and +MV may be handy to cover more of the pitch or again go for a normal skill.
Lizardman Kroxigor Summary:
Kroxigors are fantastic players if you manage their Bonehead well and you can really surprise some teams if you go the Diving Tackle route. It isn’t often taken so will set your team apart from others and in my opinion players like that make teams more fun to play as well!
Wow, you’re really working hard of late, and adding many more great articles. Thanks for all your hard work Coach!
These guys are definately one of my favourite Big Guys, though they do suffer from the fact that they are basically just a Saurus +1.
Worth buying when you can afford it but not something for the starting roster.
I love the Lizard big guy. I just started this team and finally earned enough credits to have him on my roster. He got 3 casualties in his first game on the pitch! I took stand firm first. What an epic little lizard he is now. 6 casualties in his second game and leveled up again wow and he even got MVP! Rolled 12 so had to take strength because you never ever roll 12’s.
Can’t disagree more here, about the order to take the skills on a Krox.
This guy skills really slow, even slower than the Saurus, so every skill he gets has to be important.
He’s not much better with BT, only thing is he will produce turnovers a lot.
SF is nice, but the key Skill is as always: Guard
Because your Saurus need so many other skills before someone gets guard, against bashy opposition, you will always have less guards then them, additionally the BigGuy is always in the middle of the heat, which is even better for the guard.
After that, I would take Grab, but i always try to play with 2 Frenzy/BT Saurus, which Grab nicely supports.
If one don’t like Frenzy-Saurus, StandFirm would be best 2nd skill.
On double: Always Block, then close tie between Dodge/Pro.
NEVER DivingTackle, sure on paper +3 dodge looks great, but
Skinks can take DT on normal roll and they don’t have many other useful skills to take.
Let them do the anti-agility work.
Let the Krox do what he does best: Bash and be a roadblock, which can suprisingly fast reposition 😉
As PhoenixxX says, guard should always be the first skill on a kroxigor IMO. Guard is one of those skills you can never have too much of, and getting it on the Krox frees up the Sauruses to get skills like break tackle. Because it’s hard to get away from him he’s usually in the middle of the action and those extra assists can be game winning.
My typical krox build is:
Guard, Stand Firm, Grab
This is similar to what is suggested here: http://www.plasmoids.dk/bbowl/playbooks/Lizardmen.pdf but they go break tackle instead of grab.
I don’t rate break tackle very higly at all. A 2+ roll with loner? Far too risky to do mid-turn, though perhaps you could do it as an end-of-turn action. Why take it on a Krox when you can take it on a Saurus.
“Kroxigors are a great addition to Lizardman teams and can be developed to be one of the least reliable yet still effective Big Guys in the game.”
Do you mean most there, Coach? As the idea that the Krox can be a great addition but then develops into one of the least reliable Big Guys is a bit odd.
Anyway, with my, admittedly limited, experience with the Lizards, the Krox is fairly useful as Saurii support, though he’s best off trying for casualties when you can afford to lose him if things go wrong. If you are relying on the Krox to do something, he’s likely to Bonehead or roll Double Skull and you won’t be able to re-roll, either due to using it up earlier in the turn or Loner will eat it upon attempt.
Upon skilling up, consider how often and how soon you’re going to have 6 Saurii on the pitch. Then choose Skills as necessary. A Krox on a team with 6 Saurii is unlikely to need to Block often but support more, so Guard is much more useful than any other singles skill. A Krox on a Str-light Lizard team is going to be needed in more situations, so Break Tackle would be helpful there, provided you are Dodging into 1 or less tackle zones. Without Dodge, you are risking your most powerful weapon, fear-wise, to something highly risky and temperamental.
Something to consider: against Strip Ball-light teams, you might wish to allow him to carry the ball if it goes to a touchback after the kick. While he is admittedly unreliable as a ball carrier, with a little support he is unlikely to lose the ball – who after all is able to successfully block a mobile Str 5 player who carries the ball, and then take it without Strip Ball? Who is going to be insane enough to try?
Obviously this only works against Guard-light teams, but it can help at the starting stages of a team to develop SPP. That said, it’s one of those plays which is for when you have somehow gained Nuffle’s favour and you are winning 2-0 or better, as I’ve played it literally once when my opposition had 7 men, mostly rookie Linemen, to set up with.
I cannot think of a time you wouldn’t have all Saurii on the pitch by choice myself…
I have my Kroxigor at level 4 with +2 on move ability with block and i must say he is probably the player on my team. i have even scored a couple touchdowns with him.
So far my Krox seems to think he is a receiver…I’m seriously considering actually taking catch on the bugger if he gets the chance. Ending up with so many “desperation plays” in my current league – but for some odd reason, he keeps managing to pull them off. So far he has three TDs to his name…the most recent and spectacular being a turn 8 one where a skink ran in through 2 3TZ squares, grabbed the ball, passed it from where he stood under 4TZ over the dark elves heads, to be received by my Krox successfully – who then dodged away from the +AG DE Blitzer he had been covering without even needing his break tackle, ran his full move and then added 2 more squares with GFI to score the first TD of the game. Really not sure whether the Skink grabbing and passing the pall to him successfully, or his dodge away and then full run to the TD was the more amazing feat – especially considering that I was out of rerolls so they were all natural dice…