Sp00keh
Joined: Dec 06, 2011
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 Posted:
Jun 26, 2025 - 12:26 |
 
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I've been playing Gnomes in BBT squad and struggling with them
So would like some feedback / thoughts on how to use them
First, some observations from 10 games
- They suck, the winrate is low, and I'm generally playing tier 1/2 teams so it's a shift to get used to, and frustrating
- Wrestle / Jump Up is a nice combo in theory, but the Jump Up is more useful than the Wrestle a lot of the time
If you get hit by a 2dice, you're only going to get the option to Wrestle 3 times in 36
Whereas Jump Up gives you more mobility on your very slow MA5 guys after they get knocked around, which you badly need
- Wrestle does have the minor benefit in that you can choose to not use it, in order to end opponent's turn and force both players to take armour rolls, but your armour is usually worse
- Offensive Wrestle sounds nice, opening up the pitch and such, making space for fouls etc. But in practice I found myself outnumbered on-pitch a lot, so taking players to the ground wasn't always a benefit. Better than a turnover though
- Illusionist has Trickster which often catches even good coaches out. They'll send in assists to get 3dice on your positional, but then you step away and they only get 2dice.
Or you can also use it to step next to Treeman so they won't want to follow up
- Trickster is also pretty good on the sidelines, as they're basically impossible to crowdsurf, and sometimes you can step such that the opponent blitzing you is stuck in contact. It's like Sidestep in a lot of ways
- Gnomes have their One Main Trick on defence which is dodging the Beastmaster's Guard into the cage, sacking the ball, and escaping with the fox
This is great, but it's a lot of 3+ and will drain rerolls and leave your players in contact and then they will suffer for it. So you can generally only attempt this once, maybe twice per half
- Gnomes can need an awful lot of rerolls. Taking even 4-5 on roster is not always enough. There's been games where I could have used 4-5 per turn
- Gnomes can need an awful lot of bench. The removal can be brutal. Fortunately they're cheap, and you can get 14-16 players fairly easily
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I think a mistake I've made on defence is Trying Too Hard
I've tried to stop the score, tried to go in for the sack repeatedly till the Beastmasters get taken out, and generally engaging too much and giving away too many blocks
It means lots of the team is in contact, so then end up needing 3+ dodges and inevitably failing those and burning more rerolls, suffering a lot of removal, which then limits the opportunities to foul
On defence, I think the better approach is probably:
- Try and ensure the Treemen stay relevant for as long as possible. Block opponents towards them, blitz with them, try and keep them ahead of the opponent's pus
- Generally just 'poke', ie take a blitz per turn, a foul per turn, and otherwise disengage and keep your Beastmasters safe until you need them
- Assume the opponent will score on their drive, so keep 1-2 rerolls for the TTM score attempt
- Keep poking and then pick one turn for the sack attempt, hopefully unexpectedly. If it doesn't work, disengage again
On offence, again need to keep the Treemen relevant. Ideally cage up behind them, march slowly forward with blitzes, foul a lot, get into scoring range by turn 6-7, then breakaway to score
Any other wisdom please? |
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Grod
Joined: Sep 30, 2003
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Jun 26, 2025 - 13:02 |
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Rodney Roachbait can make Fling / Gnome OTTDs unstoppable. In the SWL (Australiasian) league, we are starting to see some Halfling teams dominate by using a stat-freak fling (typically +Ma +Ag as may times as possible) along with inducing Rodney Roachbait to receive the ball. The +stat fling and Rodney only ever play on offensive drives. It's close to OP -> Rodney is close to guaranteed to get the ball to the player near the LOS with his skill set. And a suitable +stat fling or gnome is very likely to land and score. The teams in question take it a step further with Strong Arm and Pro on the trees. If you can almost guarantee a TD every drive, the game is half won already... |
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I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying.
Oscar Wilde |
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MattDakka
Joined: Oct 09, 2007
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Jun 26, 2025 - 13:17 |
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| Grod wrote: | | If you can almost guarantee a TD every drive, the game is half won already... |
The SWL league could use the following rule alterations to make the 1TTD harder:
1) 1 rr per turn;
2) pitch dimensions: 28 x 15 squares instead of 26 x 15. End Zone dimensions: 15 x 1 squares. Touchback if the ball lands on End Zone at Kick-Off;
3) High Kick: -1 to catch the ball if it was kicked by a player with Kick skill;
4) Rush: first square 2+, second square 3+, third square 4+ (with Blizzard 3+, 4+, 5+).
5) Max 1 stat boost per characteristic. |
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Chingis
Joined: Jul 09, 2007
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Jun 26, 2025 - 13:25 |
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| Sp00keh wrote: | | Whereas Jump Up gives you more mobility on your very slow MA5 guys after they get knocked around, which you badly need |
And to blitz if they survive a crash landing from being used as chance missiles to try and break enemy cages! It's genuinely annoying that positionals are not missile fodder.
I really don't know the answer to your question, but I reckon any answer that's predicated on significant numbers of your gnomes not dying seems futile, so throw them at people and deny them the SPP I say! 
My sense is that re-rolls are mostly for take root. If a gnome dies to a non-critical failure, meh, it was only a gnome and would probably have died next turn anyway. A stranded tree often seems worse than that. |
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Sp00keh
Joined: Dec 06, 2011
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Jun 26, 2025 - 13:30 |
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- Please don't sidetrack with rules discussion
- Rodney is good yes, sadly I'm in BBT for 15 games only, so generally playing around 1100k and not getting inducements
Playing with a good 1-turn option does definitely help.. the base team isn't particularly good at it, and they're not going to develop much in a 15-game run
- TTM as missiles, yes I've used that a few times, it's low percent though
It's sometimes useful to reposition gnomes for assists the other side of a screen, as they're just so slow
- Reroll on Take Root, yes. It's way too easy to burn them all on dodges. So, disengaging more, trying the sack less, means freeing up RRs for the trees
Cheers |
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