Jensen
Joined: Aug 21, 2004
|
 Posted:
Mar 20, 2005 - 23:44 |
 
|
IMHO leaving your flanks open in your defence (ie. not putting players in the wide zones when you setup for defence) is pretty crappy defence. Yet I see so many coaches doing it.
I recon that it is done to concentrate your players in the middle of the field and protect the favorites, but it leaves your opponent every chance to score.
Do you think that there is any way to justify such a defensive setup in a strategic way (other than to minimize the risk of your players, maybe saving them for a later drive)? or is there something I have missed entirely (secretly thinking: Me, never, not in a million years  .
Jensen |
|
|
Mezir
Joined: Aug 02, 2003
|
| Posted:
Mar 20, 2005 - 23:47 |
|
The good part about such a set-up is that you can move your en-tire team onto the flank your opponent is moving across in his attempt to score. With a defence that covers both flanks, your wide players on the far side won't be able to cut across.
The downside is that you let your opponent make a lot of headway completely uncontested. Personally I always cover my flanks. |
_________________
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day; set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life. |
|
CircularLogic
Joined: Aug 22, 2003
|
| Posted:
Mar 20, 2005 - 23:58 |
|
Hmm... guess I run a pretty crappy defense then...  |
|
|
albator2001
Joined: Aug 02, 2003
|
| Posted:
Mar 20, 2005 - 23:59 |
|
It is useful when you haven't sidestep or stand firm skills and when your opponent has frenzy skill ... |
|
|
Jinxed
Joined: Jul 04, 2004
|
| Posted:
Mar 21, 2005 - 00:02 |
|
Or vs slower teams. |
_________________
Nuffle sucks |
|
Laviak
Joined: Jul 19, 2004
|
| Posted:
Mar 21, 2005 - 00:06 |
|
i have found it to be pretty effective against slower teams ... but it has lost me a lot of games against skaven/elves. It seems to be pretty ineffective against teams that can run a good passing play. Generally they will score in 2 turns against any defence that leaves the field open ... unless you get lucky. |
|
|
CircularLogic
Joined: Aug 22, 2003
|
| Posted:
Mar 21, 2005 - 00:12 |
|
Even against woodelves it works. You just have to know what you are doing and need the right skills. |
|
|
Cloggy
Joined: Sep 23, 2004
|
| Posted:
Mar 21, 2005 - 00:17 |
|
I always cover my flanks when playing with a full squad. I find on the other hand that if for any reason you can't field 11 guys it pays off to defend from the center. |
|
|
AFK_Eagle
Joined: Mar 12, 2004
|
| Posted:
Mar 21, 2005 - 00:21 |
|
I personally employ this strategy with my skaven, although I have a strong anti-passing game. If you let one side open, the speed teams will stretch themselves pretty thin, hoping you won't be able to cover all potential targets. You're not trying to; just target the guy who'll most hurt your chances of a return score, stay next to a couple likely targets to force blitzes/dodges (something requiring dice) and then pressure the ball boy, who likely isn't as protected since his blockers are all downfield waiting for the score. Add a few passblockers, and even if he does spring somebody open, he'll have to be careful in his passing to avoid your boys. Who cares if you never make an int, nor even get near the ball, if you force him to alter his own gameplay in taking account of you?
Vs the bashers, he'll choose which side he wants to go down, and then you can employ your entire team (as previously mentioned) to slow him down, instead of being outnumbered at the point of attack and two turns later bringing reinforcements, when it might be too late to set up 2d blocks in your favor. Plus, the temptation for him to go all-out on one flank will spread him thin on the other side, allowing you to punch through a guy or two to pressure his backfield and force him to make hurried and risky dice rolls to get the ball up to the cage. Kick is an invaluable skill for this to work... |
_________________
Listen to Eagle! Eagle is good, Eagle is wise!
Founder of the E.L.F.--These elves will play anybody! |
|
MiBasse
Joined: Dec 04, 2004
|
| Posted:
Mar 21, 2005 - 00:37 |
|
It's a great tactic when your playing a faster team (as in a few 7+ MA guys/girls) vs a team with MA 6 or less on their players. The opponent usually doesn't have the speed to commit to a full flank-attack allowing you to spread out where you want your players to be. If he <i>does</i> attempt to rush your flanks you should be able to surround his splintercell and pick of the players you want.
Works wonders with my human team. Against faster teams however I recommend guarding the flanks with your life. |
|
|
Colin
Joined: Aug 02, 2003
|
| Posted:
Mar 21, 2005 - 00:59 |
|
One thing I have noticed with such a defence is that, even with a fast team, the players are often too far back to press ball-handling mistakes or exposed ball-carriers. If quick teams invite a stronger team onto them by sitting back, clustered in the middle, they'll get beaten. Anybody who leaves flanks open to elven teams, Skaven or even Humans is an imbecile - it's virtually handing them the TD. I have seen it work by not leaving too much space and having lots of strong Tackling, Guarding players handy, but I'd rather make them go through the middle than a flank.
It's easy enough to protect against crowd pushes in the wide zones. Just position the wide players like this (left flank in this case):
| Code: | _____ LOS
|.....
|.....
|..X..
|.X... |
You can push up one row too, if you feel like risking a Quick Snap. |
_________________
Join The Cult of Tzeentch, mutate randomly! | Hug a newb! Join the Faculty of Academy Instructors! |
|
Prymja
Joined: Feb 25, 2005
|
| Posted:
Mar 21, 2005 - 01:05 |
|
I find this tactic works great against speedy teams, expecially with a speedy team. You sit back, allow his guy to run up the sideline, get the ball, think he has a TD, and then hit him, knock the ball out of his hand, then use another guy to pick it up, after which you pass to the side with the most guys on your team, hold the line, and start your own drive down field, if the opponent picks up on this, he will try to sit back and wait a turn and get his guy ready for a pass, just knock him down. Now he is still in the back field, with no one to pass to, and you pushing your way to him. |
|
|
MiBasse
Joined: Dec 04, 2004
|
| Posted:
Mar 21, 2005 - 01:11 |
|
That only works if the opponent leaves his ball-carrier open and if he passed the ball to the guy before it was time for a TD in the first place. Both are usually mistakes in my book. |
|
|
thmbscrws
Joined: Aug 02, 2003
|
| Posted:
Mar 21, 2005 - 01:14 |
|
It works fine if you don't care if your oponent scores. Sometimes it is best to let a fast team score as quickly as possible so you have the maximum amount of time for your won drive. That said i almost never leave my sides open if i can help it but i do see the strategic benfit in some cases. It also works fine if your playing bash on bash and you want to concentrate your players for the brawl in the middle of the field. |
_________________
"If God really existed it would be necessary to abolish him." - Mikhail Bakunin |
|
Mithrilpoint
Joined: Mar 16, 2004
|
| Posted:
Mar 21, 2005 - 01:18 |
|
Colin wrote:
| Quote: | | Anybody who leaves flanks open to elven teams, Skaven or even Humans is an imbecile - it's virtually handing them the TD. |
I guess that makes me an imbecile. 
I normally set my defense up as a response to which skills my opponents players have. Does he have a strong arm, accurate, ag4/5 thrower? Has he got an insane st5 frenzy whatever? Which kind of offense does this team play? And i find that my strategy actually works sometimes. Of course, it all depends on which team i´m coaching..and which team i´m facing.
My rats rarely defend the flanks as they have the speed and hitting power to get to the ball almost anywhere. Almost anywhere.
My orcs always try to guard the flanks as heavily as they can. They are slow and haven´t got the uber-players to make the amazing plays that my rats have.
And so on...So i don´t have a fixed defense for any of my teams (so i take that little while longer to setup), but just som base ideas on how i want them standing.
M |
|
|
|
|
Gnomes are trash
Search
