Today’s puzzle comes from a playoff match in the Chorley League where Sidestep404 is living up to his name and playing Elven Union vs my Undead. It’s 1-0 to the onion boys, T11 and miraculously there are still 11 elves on the pitch. The Undead have pressed forward trying to generate some momentum but in so doing have left on some options. What would you do?
Purple = EU. Z = Blitzer (Dodge, SS, player L has Tackle), C = catcher (Dodge, Sidestep), T = thrower (Dodge), L = Linos (naked).
Orange = Undead. M = Mummy (Guard), Z = Zombies, W = Wights (Guard/Dodge), G = Ghoul (Block SH ball carrier, Block), S = Skeleton.
As usual, I’ll ask you what you would do then talk through the options and dice required, then ask you again what you think is best.
I should say there is a -2D on the ball option, but as it is into a blodge ghoul I don’t think it is particularly strong so have left it out.
Mummy Surf Option 1
Getting one of the large gentlemen off the field looks relatively easy.
Stand up Thrower F, and move to beside J. Dodge Catcher K around to the sideline (2+ with dodge). Then 2D hit South with Blitzer J (2D), On a push (55%), we chain the Mummy South West. On a pow, we probably go Mummy SE away from the catcher.
If we got our pushes, we move Lino D around to in front of H to provide an assist and then Blitz with Lino E into the Zombie box and follow, pushing the Mummy next to the sideline in front of Catcher K. We want a pow here (55%). If we get a push, then the mummy surf will be -2D.
If we got a pow, we can now move Lino H next to Blitzer Z and have a 1D block with the blitzer to surf the Mummy, otherwise it’s a -2D.
For the Dodge, 2D pushes, 2D pow, 1D push+ is about 20%, whereas Dodge, 2D pushes, 2D pushes, -2D is about 13.5%, Overall, ~1/3 to surf the Mummy without needing a RR.
Final position, as drawn above, linos A, B, C can move and dodge x2 + 1 rush to form a bit of a screen in front. It’s not great and I’d likely feel I’d need to put in at least one RR if the first dodge failed. The Undead’s next turn (12) would likely be to blitz through B and could break through entirely if A didn’t make his dodge/rush. If A did get in position, likely would crab forward and set up camp a square or two further forward.
But is there a better alternative?
Surf front Zombie
The front zombie isn’t as juicy a target, but can go off the field more easily and, without as much space given up.
Lino H stands up straight away, then Thrower F blitzes the Zombie. The zombie pushes into the catcher K and chains it NW back toward your own lines. The thrower continues its move, stepping back into a screen position.
This already feels better as players are on their feet. You can more readily accept bad dice without having to use a precious RR (playoff conditions, so it is overtime format we want to keep RRs for late equity).
Pushes here (55%) and we continue with surf, pow we abandon and screen.
The Blitzer J 2D pushes (55%) the Zombie and Blitzer L finishes the job (1D, 67%). After he’s gone, Catcher K can move more centrally and the two downed players can dodge and complete the screen. The only dice we’d consider rerolling is the 1D at the end.
Overall ~20% to get the surf, most likely the zombo is on the ground and we’re in a pretty solid screen.
The final two 2+ lino dodges now aren’t critical, but if everything is successful you’d end up with something like the situation below. You aren’t super happy about the blitzer taking a mummy hit next turn, but it’s the only additional hit being given up and likely it would be 30% 2D as final action of the Undead turn.
As the Undead, I’d likely blitz lino D and take a square forward, make the hit 3D on the Blitzer and then might multi-assist foul player X (a downed catcher). The variance profile of that potential foul has increased now owing to the loss of the zombie; being down to 9 on the field vs 11 elves could spell disaster. So I might not risk it. Zombies aren’t exactly top drawer players but being down numbers vs an elf team is tricky!
Blitz back left Ghoul.
This option is about taking a chance to get a 2D with tackle hit on a vulnerable and important piece. It starts similarly; H up, Thrower up, Blitzer J hits Zombie and forces Mummy back except this time you go SE to clear a route around the side. Then Catcher K comes around to assist from SW and you dodge blitz with the dodge tackle blitzer L into the Ghoul.
Depending on the outcome and your preference you could chain the Wight, Mummy or ball carrying Ghoul from here and might choose to follow to base the ball, if you did go in, the 5 remaining linos would also need to pile in to to give the Undead something to solve next turn.
Final position, could look something like the below Or could be Blitzer L next to the ball and the wight moved away. The advantage here is you now have pressure on all sides of the ball and are squeezing in between. You will take hits, but some of those a blockless 1/9 and the squeeze means there isn’t much space for caging with anything less than perfect dice.
Screen.
This option feels very standard elfing and doesn’t really need an explanation. You’d stand Lino H and Thrower F, then punch the front Zombie, chaining the Mummy back, likely SW to limit it’s movement options. Then you’d dodge out the catcher and blitzer (both with dodge). You’d move linos D and C such that you could eat a failed dodge with linos B and A and then and finally dodge out linos B and A. to get fully in the way.
To get to the position below (before A and B dodge) is ~90% and you could eat the A/B dodges without worrying too much. A and B could even blitz the end Zombie (A up, B dodges, blitzes and then retreats) to keep the undead narrow.
Final option; blitz skeleton.
This one is much the same as the general screen but invests some pieces in putting closer pressure on the cage, while also hitting one of the lower armour pieces.
As above except probably D bases the skele NE then catcher K comes and smacks the skele. K could go and base the ball (dodge, SS catcher) as way of controlling what options the Undead have bur I’d likely not want to risk my best one-turn TD piece. Pic below is what the final position could look like.
Post-explanation Poll
Now you have seen the options, which position would you prefer to be in as the Union player?
What actually happened.
Dave went for the rear ghoul hit. He got pushes for the first Blitzer (J) 2D, so had to dodge both the catcher and Blitzer L for the hit. He got a 1/9 BD/BD and chose to RR into a pow. No armour break. He pushed in to base the ball with the blodgestepper and screened rather than basing in front. I can’t remember exactly whether both or just one of the A/B lino dodges worked or whether he left them in to tie up the Zombies.
My next turn I was able to use the Wight’s with their tackle to deal with the two sidesteppers and then had enough free pieces to dirty player foul out the downed catcher while advancing the cage. There were a couple of removals around this time and the defence largely collapsed.
My feeling was that there wasn’t enough pressure with this line of play as I had too many free pieces available to solve the situation. I wasn’t really in a rush yet, so getting free hits on valuable pieces didn’t surrender too much tempo. It would have been more interesting on T14/15.
In the end, not many Elves survived the drive. We levelled on T16, the 7 elf one turn didn’t get very far and then the Undead won the toss in overtime and ground out the win vs a depleted union team.
Personally, I would have found it hard to resist taking the opportunity to surf the Mummy. However, I don’t think the field position afterwards would be very strong. It’d give up too much space. On reflection, I think surfing the Zombie was the best option in my opinion.
Other options – comment below
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