Wood Elf Thrower Overview:
Wood Elves are the fastest of the high agility teams and rely a lot on moving the ball around the pitch quickly. This makes Wood Elf Throwers a great addition to their teams as they can move the ball the furthest in the most reliable manner of any player in the game. This is down to the fact they have high agility to be able to pick the ball up easily (or catch a hand off or pass from a team mate) and they also have high movement to cover the pitch and close the distance between them and the target of their passes.
Their high agility means that they can also help skill up team mates who pick the ball up from the kick off and do a quick pass to the Thrower for a completion SPP. The lower agility Throwers of other teams don’t give this asset, it also means that if you pick the ball up with someone else, you can skip taking Sure Hands on the Thrower if you wanted. Then the following turn the Thrower will move up the pitch, their high movement allowing them to get around a single opponent placed in the way and then launch a pass up the pitch to an awaiting receiver. That player can then either go and score themselves or run it to another team mate to hand off for the score.
The more advanced your Thrower is the further you can move the ball in a turn in a reliable manner, stretching the play and forcing the opposition to cover more of the pitch. A Wood Elf Thrower also has access to take Leader on a normal skill, which can be great on a team with such expensive and fragile players.
Deep Passing Wood Elf Thrower:
- Normal: Accurate, Safe Throw, Catch / Sure Hands, Sure Feet, Dodge
- Doubles: Strong Arm
- Stat Increase: +AG +ST +MV
This build creates a Thrower who can pass the ball a long way in the safest possible manner, so Accurate is the first choice, this enables him to pass the ball at short and quick ranges on a 2+. This can open up more targets to pass too easily and also be more forgiving with positioning as it can eliminate the need for go for its to get in range of your receiver. Safe Throw comes next as you can now risk passing the ball over opposition players if you can’t avoid doing so, I still advise that you position the pass so that you don’t allow an interception attempt though. Catch can be handy next if you pick up with other players to pass to the Thrower, or set the Thrower further up the pitch and hand the ball off to him before he does a pass. Alternatively you can go for Sure Hands and pick it up with the Thrower in the first place. Sure Feet is great for letting you move further by increasing success on go for its, creating shorter passes for your player. Dodge is also a worthwhile option as it can open up shorter paths rather than running around opposing tackle zones all the time.
For doubles Strong Arm should be taken as when combined with Accurate you can make 2+ passes all the way up to long range and long bombs become a 3+ pass. Being able to move the ball that far and reliably can be very hard to defend against. Stats wise +AG can make longer passes easier though doesn’t decrease your fumble chance like the passing skills. You can also pass, catch or pick up the ball in a tackle zone and not worry about it. +ST changes things and will let you be a bit more aggressive with the Thrower, I’d look to turn him into a more defensive build from that point though. +MV is handy for just generally getting around and making passes shorter.
Wood elf is my all time favorite roster. After playing them extensively, I do think that taking sure hands as your 1st skill is the best way to go.
The main reasons are:
You will fail that 2+ roll to pick-up the ball on offense. While it’s not a big deal when having 11 players on the pitch, it may put you in a bind when you are outnumbered (and you will be).
Any stat increase is a great combo with sure hands letting you choose whether you wish to develop the guy as a defensive or offensive player.
Accurate is a solid choice as 1st skill, but considering the thrower’s mobility, you can do without it early on.
I don’t start with a thrower however on long leagues. I’d rather have lineelves get the SPPs first. Throwers are my 2nd purchase (starting with 2 dancers and buying APO 1st).
I’m very much a fan of picking the ball up with Linemen to pass to the Thrower, though plenty of Elf coaches disagree with me and do go Sure Hands first. Either works fine though so it is down to personal taste.
I’m very fan of that as well Coach on a rookie team. This is why I do not start with a thrower.
By the time my 1st thrower hits the pitch, I’m done with this quick pass (+1 SPP) routine because the natural selection process has already skimmed my lineelves. This is why I go sure hands first.
I’ve seen your comment about having a lineman to pick-up the ball all around thrower analysis. While it’s a perfectly valid tactic and you seem to put it in good use I’d like to note it create one more roll that can be failed and lead to a turnover, its not critical but should be considered.
Also you say it skip taking sure hand on the thrower but at the same time he will have to catch the short pass or hand-off from his pick dedicated team mate often which create a need for the catch skill on him in the same way you’d want to give him sure hand in the first place so I don’t think it’s really a gain but just a trade-off.
That say it’s still a good way to help levelling some linemen and effectively improve your pass range if you place yourself well for the classical hand-off then pass.
I’m fairly new to the game so I give those thoughts more on instinct than experience back-up and playing high elves I tend to rely on safe pass to create more direct and shorter pass route so I might be biased here.
As with any roll in Blood Bowl you need to assess the risk of a turnover and if you want to use a reroll if you do. If the situation for failing will leave the opponents with a good chance of getting the ball then I wouldn’t do it. This will mostly depend on two things, where the ball is going to land and how well you can cover it if you fail. The second is what team you are facing, if you are against a fast agile team, they are far more likely to have a threat to recover the ball if you mess up. Against a slow low agility team, this threat is far less likely, so you may decide to try it more often against them.
What would you think of using a Thrower as an interceptor? Unlike throwers they don’t have catch nor the even greater mobility, but they have the benefit of strength 3 and the capability to get the ball out of the backfield quickly. Here’s a build I’m considering: catch, pass block, safe throw, dodge. And then potentially nerves of steel, block/wrestle, tackle or accurate.
While an Interceptor can be handy to have a lot of teams just don’t pass the ball, especially against Wood Elves. Catchers would still be better, they start with Catch and Dodge already and with their high movement they can get the ball out of the back field just as quickly.
If you were to try and use a Thrower I would adapt one from a passer build with their later skills.
All this information is good but what is the cost to buy a thrower?
All the roster stats included prices are at the end of the rulebook. You can download a pdf version from http://www.thenaf.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/CRP1.pdf
I cannot download the rulebook PDF on my phone so could you please tell me the qmount it costs to buy a thrower?
Rolled a 10 on my first level up with my Thrower, can’t decide between +Mv or Strong Arm. +Mv is harder to roll again but Strong Arm gives an immediate bonus to my team that I feel is more valuable than that granted by +Mv short term. Thoughts?
Either are good, typically with high movement you aren’t throwing it far anyway. Strong arm doesn’t work on quick passes, though you are already throwing those on a 2+. I would think the movement is more useful overall, you’ll do a lot move moving than passing.