Hitonagashi
Joined: Apr 09, 2006
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 Posted:
May 15, 2010 - 00:14 |
 
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Lizardmen in BB7s - Hints 'n' Tips
Well, I've been playing quite a few lizardmen games with 7s, and I've always wanted to try my hand at a tactics post, so I thought I'd sit aside and actually write some of what I've learnt down. I'll be the first to admit I'm a pretty poor coach, so take all of this with a pinch of salt  .
7's Lizardmen are not 11s Lizardmen
I quite frequently see 11's lizardmen players attempting to transition to 7s. One thing to bear in mind is that Lizards are quite possibly the race affected most in playstyle due to the 7s rules(no rerolls except those granted by leader, all positional limits halved, no big guys). They go from 7 st 4/5 players + 4 st 2 to 3 st 4 players + 4 st 2. If you try and play them as you would an 11's team, you will lose very quickly. Whilst your saurii may be able to play a bashy game when they are skilled up with mb blockle against elves, attempting to play a devoted bashing game with them is pretty much suicide. In terms of raw strength, a team of basic human linos has more strength than you. The fact that most of the time 4 out of your 7 players will be wandering around with stunty and without block means that casualties are going to be a fact of life, as will be repeated team rebuilds.
Don't overskill Skinks
At low tr especially, the skinks can seem very potent. The lizardmen strategy guide mentions skinks being like goblins and flings, but better. True! You can pull some amazing plays with skinks, especially when you get +ag ones. That said, they are av 7 stunty players. In 7s, people skill fast. From about tr 80 onwards you'll be running into blockle players, or maybe block mb. This will accentuate fast at higher TR's. It is very very easy to just use your saurii as speedbumps and score repeatedly with the skinks. If your skinks get too far ahead of your saurii, your team will crash and burn against bashing opposition.
Use your apo carefully
I very very rarely apo a skink unless the game is already decided. For one, your saurii are far more valuable, and for a second, the skink will probably get injured anyway. In addition, your main and only way of slowing the opposing team down is your saurii. Most teams will need 2 players to tie up a saurus and stop him causing carnage. With 7 players, and you having 3 saurii, while all 3 remain on the pitch, your skinks can be used as distractions, flitting in, giving assists, gangfouling the poor unlucky blitzer who thought the backfield was safe. With 2 saurii on the field, there's now 3 players chasing your skinks. They WILL have block, and at least one will probably have tackle/mb as well. Under these circumstances, the rest of your skinks will go missing very fast.
I would seriously consider apoing an early bh on a saurus(first half). In my experience, once the first saurus falls, the remaining 2 will follow him very quickly. If you have a blodging saurus, this might not be the case...which leads onto the next section
My recommended skill choices
Skink:
Normals - SS/DT. If you have no DT, DT first, else sidestep then dt. You won't score as many as you will with the sprint/sure feet, but you will let your saurii keep up. IF you are lucky and have all 3 saurii over 50 spp, then feel free to ignore this advice and go for sprint/sure feet to score loads. In my experience, ss/dt is good against elves, but best against bashy teams. In 7s, it is very frequent they could really do with a blitz/dodge for a touchdown, and if your ss/dt skinks is marking them, triple pushes do happen with a reasonable frequency!
Doubles - DP. While lizards are frequently at a man disadvantage, if you get players up, you will usually slaughter them. First turn putting a player down on the LOS with a saurus followed by a gangfoul can sometimes turn matches, and you'd be surprised how many coaches(especially orc ones) will send a lone 50+spp blitzer into the backfield after your 4 skinks. 4 skinks = 2d block + 1 gangfoul.
If you aren't the fouling type(and not everyone is), then I'd go with block. If only because he'll be chased around the pitch and it'll distract attention for you. Personally, I rate DP much higher though. Trading a skink for pretty much any opposing 7s player is usually worth it.
Saurus:
While I do develop the saurii as accords the needs of the team, this is my usual skill order:
Normals - Block, MB, Tackle/BT/Guard (in that order)
Doubles - Dodge, Frenzy, Leader (again in that order)
At the 3rd skill, if it's not a double, I'll spread tackle/bt and guard around the 3 of them. If I've already got the blockle mb, I'll go with a block bt and so on. I tend to pick block/bt first for the mobility. You need to have a devoted blitzer. On doubles, while I am aware how good leader is, dodge is amazing. If you get 3 blodging saurii, you can quite happily sit there taking a huge amount of punishment against most teams, and even one can be a huge threat. Not least because blodge/bt is nasty, and if they are concetrating their tacklers against your saurii, they are not concentrating it on your skinks! In addition, in emergencies, you've actually got a greater than 50% chance of making a dodge with ag 1 dodge(for those emergencies where people haven't really thought about more than sticking a zombie next to a saurus).
If you haven't experienced the damage a frenzy block tackle mightyblow saurus can do...it's amazing. Especially when coupled with dirty player skinks.
I'll actually take any stat up going with saurii and skinks. The skinks with +movement hit that very useful movement 9, and +ag and +st actually turn them into very potent players. Saurii with +movement make great blitzers if they can be freed(and got break tackle) and +ag is very useful when all your skinks lie bleeding on the turf. I don't think I need to explain how good +st is for a saurus.
Tactics:
Setup
Usually an easy one. 3 saurii on the LOS. Space them as appropriate for the team. If they've got a mummy, as far apart as possible(don't get 2 saurii tied up by one mummy), if they are all st 3 opposition, one square apart. The 4 skinks I generally line up in diagonals pointing towards the middle, with my dp's protected by the other 2 skinks.
Sometimes, you might want to keep a saurus back(for example, block tackle frenzy mightyblow: don't want him getting tied up by a zombie when you are kicking), and put 3 skinks around him tightly(come and get that juicy skink mr blitzer), while keeping a rookie on the LOS between 2 saurii.
There are quite a few more, but those are the two I normally go with.
Offense
If you are even or down on players, it's a loose caging game. Typically, your ball carrier is a skink, and you use saurii(one freeing himself with a blitz) and diving tackle skinks to provide a nice cage to stop anyone dodging through. With skink movement, you can easily score in 3 turns.
Do NOT pass/handoff unless it's absolutely vital to your goal(like, skilling another skink, or saurus for example might be a valid reason). AG3 with no rerolls is not good odds. Take a 3 turn score with a loose cage over a 2 turn score with a handoff.
Stalling is useful. Remember, every time you score is a chance for them to put all 3 saurii down(making the armour rolls), foul a saurus and blitz a skink. If you can take less damage than that by stalling, then it's probably a good tactic. Of course, friendlies are friendlies, and you may not want to stall. 7s is all about the banter and friendly chats, and to be honest, if I play my opponent a lot, and I know he hates stalling(and I'm not going to get my team destroyed by it), I'll probably score. In tourney games, I'm stalling for the 2-1 win unless I'm absolutely certain I can score a 3rd. Skinks with diving tackle and sidestep make ideal loose cages in 7s. If they get marked, they can easily slip away to restablish the cage. Use that fact to your advantage while you still have all your skinks.
Fouling is also very useful. While you have to be somewhat cautious about it(say, because 1/7th of your team going on a 1 is a LOT worse than a 1/11th of your team), it can turn the game. In 7s, men advantage is absolutely massive, and if you can use a dirty player to crock an opposing player do so. I usually actually give preference to fouling either a lino, or their mvp. The mvp, to try and ko/bh him, and the useless lino because he doesn't get apo. You want to take a player off the pitch. Foul once early and try and get a man advantage. Be careful against bashers though, as clustering your players together is a sure way to get those squishy skinks blitzed and held in place. You REALLY don't want a single tackler being able to cover multiple skinks, and tentacled chaos warriors are just wrong for that...
If you are ahead on players, a slow grind down the pitch is good. Don't let them get blocks back, keep them down, mark them with saurii and place diving tackle skinks waiting for them to try and dodge away. Also; savour it. It don't happen often. You'll find that with decent saurii and diving tackle skinks, you can hold even elves in place with good positioning.
Finally, when it comes to desperation plays, remember the skinks have stunty. They dodge through 1 tz on a 3+ rred, and if you happen to have an ag 4 skink, they can dance through tackle zones like they weren't there, steal the ball, dodge out, pass/handoff and the ball can be outside anyones reach before they can react.
Defense
If your opponent wants to score early, let them! Your skinks can easily score in 2-3 turns, so it gives you a chance to bash their LOS. If you meet a cage, don't be afraid to try and 'persuade' them to stall with some hard fouls. Also, remember stunty dodges! If you have sidestepping skinks, dodging them through a tz or two to mark the ball carrier can be really quite potent.
What you want to avoid doing against most races is keeping your saurii close to each other. Their strength is their mobility. Most bashy 7s races work well as a team, but the saurii can all be individual powerhouses. If they are marking your saurii, your skinks should be able to run rings around the ones that are not being marked. With stunty, you can quite happily usually slip through holes in their defenses. If they form their entire team into a cage, I'll usually go 3 saurii against one side, 2 skinks hanging in the back field, and 2 skinks harassing the back of the cage(or wherever the weaker players lie). If they decide to move the cage forward and leave the back players in place, your skinks should be able to leave them standing as they dart forward to harass the remainder of the cage. You are paying a lot for that mv 8/6. Use it. Orcs and dwarves are the ones to play a slugfest, with lizards, you should expect to be able to play an elf style hit and run game, with the option of using your saurii for a durable barrier.
This is where your saurii skills excel. A blodging break tackle saurus makes a fearsome blitzer. Breaking away from one player to harass the other side of the pitch, and put pressure on a cage. A guard saurus sitting next to a frenzy block mb saurus as they pummel the players supposed to tie them up into stunning before racing over to join their buddy in slowing the cage. With poorly skilled saurii, you'll find you can't trust them to do anything. Blocking without block is an exercise in frustration, as they put themselves down frequently, and getting them to block even more so. It is on defense that you'll appreciate the skinks not being the vast majority of your tr.
Finally, remember that ag 1 != cannot dodge at all. It's a 1/3 chance. If you have no better chances, think of all the times you tried and failed a 3+ pickup or dodge. Sure, it'll fail most of the time, but when it does, it can be devastatingly effective. Emergencies only.
Finishing stuff
Lizardmen are not for the faint of heart. If you try and play a game where you protect your players, and play for long life...well, you'll play them until you meet the first claw/rsc/block/tackle beastman, at which point, over the slaughtered corpses of 4 skinks, you may change your mind.
You will get nuffled. If a saurus gets BH on the LOS block on turn 1(or a foul), sigh, shake a fist at nuffle and wave goodbye to the game. It's very very rare to recover from that. You can't win all games. Chaos tend to be tough like that, as claw is the bane of a saurus.
Lizardmen can be lethally effective, or destroy themselves remarkably efficiently. If you want to win most games, play HE/DE. I find that you can really make a characterful team with Lizardmen, precisely because you need specialists, and....what's better to write fluff about!
Anyway, long rambling post over  . Hope some people found it useful, and I'm always up for tips/hints ...I'm aware I'm not the best player ever.
Oh, and cheer the Invaders whenever you see them play! . For Lustria!
[edit] Title changed by request by Asgovic[/edit][/quote] |
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