Playbook 1000 Losses

8/20/2019 Playbook 1000 Losses

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ccc) pen Corners - Quality '

This is a bad idea.$ith the open %orner& the %orner player (wight" is si ply issing. The ( isguided" argu ent is thatthe two Fo bies still su,,i%iently blo%k the path with their two ta%kle-Fones. But as you %an see it is

possible to si ply walk in there and out again with no ore than a dodge in 0 ta%kle-Fones. 7n topo, it a blitF here %an %reate a ,atally huge opening.The open %orner essentially ruins the point o, the whole tight s%reen. t is too assi2e o, aweakness. , you end up realiFing you ade su%h an error& si ply add another player nearby to%reate higher stru%tural integrity. =on5t lea2e it like that.

bb 2(Dimensional ide creens

aaa) Corner-Setups - Quality 0

n wide s%reens %orner players are u%h ore i portant than in tight s%reens. 9ou %ould ,ield the%orner player slightly out o, pla%e i, you want& but your player %onsu ption will still be the sa e inthe end.Hsing a %orner or %orner-like player ,or a solid wide s%reen is re%o ended.

bbb) Soft %isplace$ent - Quality #

9our players are slightly out o, line now. 9ou %an5t really take a ,ull %orner on like this withouttightening it up so ewhere. This is probably the least solid 2ariant that still akes so e sense. Anagile opposing player will be able to dodge through it& i, he wants to. #reating an opening with a

blitF should be no issue at all but at least you %an5t 6ust walk through and e2en dodging isn5t without

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risk either.

ccc) 3ard %isplace$ent - Quality

The hard displa%e ent is de ,a%to open. The opponent %ould risk e2en sending ag< players throughhere i, it gets hi so ething. De has to si ply anage a dodge into 0 ta%kle-Fones. Hnlessso ething 2aluable is behind there to blitF he is probably still going to blitF a part o, the line to%reate an opening. Dard displa%e ent should only be used against 2ery unagile tea s or in%o bination with a se%ond line o, de,ense so ewhere near behind it.

3. Co,er trategies#o2ering and %aging your players is ainly interesting in regard to your ball %arrier& but you will,ind that any ore 2aluable player is worth prote%ting ost o, the ti e. , you ha2e done a solids%reen with the ethods des%ribed abo2e& prote%tion shouldn5t be an issue but so eti es yousi ply don5t ha2e the resour%es in players a2ailable to build a proper s%reen. U Covering" atte ptsthe opposite o, ,ield %ontrol. nstead o, trying to o%%upy the entire pit%h& you are ,o%using on erely

prote%ting the bare ini u o, players you need to prote%t.

nstead o, a s%reen& you build a %age now.

A %age is u%h ore e,,i%ient than a s%reen when it %o es to ,ending o,, BlitFers& si ply be%ause as%reen %an be %ir%u 2ented a %age is always right in the opponents ,a%e. t5s i possible to get anassist on a guy in the iddle o, a %age 6ust like that. 9et& %aging is no alternati2e to solid planning.#are,ul %onsideration o, all the options your opponent is going to use akes the s%reen the ,ar

better %hoi%e than the %age. The %age is essentially ,or those who are too laFy to think about how tostop an opponents ad2an%e otherwise and ,or those who don5t ha2e the resour%es in players to builda s%reen.

a) Classic Cage - Quality 0The ter inology o, the %age is al ost as old as the ga e itsel,. uidelines about how to you use itwere around when started to play the ga e in 1 ?.The %lassi% idea is that you o2e a set o, ? players o2er the pit%h ideally without rolling any di%e.The %enter player is the ball %arrier while being surrounded by (ideally bully" other players on allhis diagonal %orners.The opponent who %an5t get past the bully players will ha2e no %hoi%e but to let you pro%eed.

/o ,ar the theory. n pra%ti%e the %age is o,ten a sub6e%t o, assi2e assault ,ro the other tea andunless you play el2es and %an dodge out anywhere& you will need ore than 6ust ? players to o2eanywhere. Dowe2er& that is ore o, a Ta%ti%s issue& this will be dis%ussed in the Ta%ti%s se%tion

under* Scoring in greater detail. This se%tion will ,o%us on the alternati2es to the %lassi% %age andwhy they are good or not.

The %lassi% %age is still the ost solid and the ost pra%ti%ed ethod today to prote%t a ball %arrier.

b) Cross Cage - Quality 2/o e beginners tend to think it won5t atter whether players stand 2erti%al or straight to the %arrier

but this is not true at all. The %ross %age is not a %age at all. t pro2ides ini u prote%tion si ilarto a straight line were you %an5t ,ield assists without guard and where you ha2e to deal with a lot o,

bodies 6ust standing in the way.Besides that there is no real bene,it in building a %ross or partially %ross %age.The ,our %orners o, the %ross are %o pletely e3posed and %o pared to a straight line it is easier to


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surround and by si ply adding a player in one o, the %orners it is e2en possible ,or the opponent to%ause unpredi%table %hain-pushes ,or you and lea2e you %o pletely out o, position.=o not use a %ross %age. t is a bad idea.

c) *ide Cage - Quality 7#ontrary to the %lassi% %age& the wide %age uses the sa e ' s4uare distan%e setup you are ,a iliarwith ,ro s%reening by now.=odging into a %age usually re4uires only one dodge to get to the %arrier rather than two or three ona s%reen. That akes a wide %age so ewhat tri%ky i, you are up against agile BlitFers& leapers or thelike. The wide %age pro2ides plenty o, spa%e ,or assists and o,ten allows a dodge into only twota%kle-Fones. That is a risky dodge but 2ery well worth it i, it allows you to get to the %arrier.To %o pensate ,or the stru%tural de,i%its& it is bene,i%ial to pla%e ultiple players in the iddle& toin%rease the ta%kle-Fone nu bers when so ebody is dodging in.The se%ond weakness o, the wide %age lies in what happens when one o, the %orners is blitFed. Theopponent has now a ple a%%ess to the insides o, the %age and %an use spe%ialiFed tagging players torender ost o, the %age i obile and trap you on the spot.

The plus side o, the wide %age is the higher aneu2erability on the uno%%upied side %o pared tothe %lassi% %age. t is not that easy to lo%k so ebody in ,ro all sides at on%e. And while one sideight %ause you serious trouble there will be al ost always a way ba%k unless you were building it

so ewhere on the sideline.Another reason to resort to a partially wide %age is be%ause it ight sa2e you so e ; whilead2an%ing./in%e you %an5t really a,,ord to ,ail in the pro%ess o, building a %age& any di%e roll while building itis a huge risk when it %o es to winning the ga e.Another aspe%t to %onsider is the s%atter o, the ball i, it gets lost. n an open %age the ball will s%atter likely within the %age ne3t to so e o, your other players. A pi%k up atte pt will be relati2ely hard,or the opponent. A s all %age that gets %ra%ked open usually has a lot o, people standing on 2ery

tight spa%e whi%h eans the ball %an easily s%atter ' or < s4uares out o, pla%e and end upso ewhere 2ery un,a2orable ,or you. , that is worth it to risk dropping the ball in the ,irst pla%e is,or you to de%ide.

The wide %age ba%ked up with a wide s%reen are y ,a2orite tools in playing a proper o,,ense.

d) Bi4arre Cage - Quality 1-0There are too any ways to %reate a biFarre %age to list the here all. n a sense they are odi,iedwide %ages. There is really no need ,or you to build a proper %age. $hat really atters is that thereare no stru%tural weaknesses. , you %an do that without thinking in a bo3* ore power to youI

e) The /ull Body Cage - Quality 'The ;ull Body #age is a 2ariant were players o%%upy all s4uares around the ball-%arrier.

n regular ga e this is established as a terrible te%hni4ue*1. 9ou ake it easy ,or your opponent to surround you and to gain %ontrol ost o, the pit%h.'. 9our opponent will be able to %hain-push your ball-%arrier ,ro 2irtually any angle into a spa%ewhere he wants hi to be and what he is going to do is going to be in%redibly hard to predi%t and to

prepare ,or.


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play.Dowe2er& there are 2alid points in %ertain situations& ost i portantly to ention ULeapersU.Hsually a player who is 6u ping in your %age doesn5t pose that u%h o, a threat to you. /ure& hewill be able to get to kno%k the %arrier a little around but assu ing your one is at least a Blodger&he5ll still ha2e a hard ti e to get hi down when he is surrounded by your support players./o e leapers are howe2er so spe%ialiFed with /trip Ball and $restle and other skills& that you

ight ,eel this is the answer ,or you. /in%e the body %age is a%tually se%ure ,or the ne3t turn it is asuitable solution to hold the ene y o,, ,or a turn. t will howe2er hardly help you to get through ahal,. 7n better ways to handle leapers& %he%k the Advanced Strategies se%tion at the end ,or*

Handling leapers .

4. 'agging Tagging dis%usses any situation where a player o, the own tea stands ad6a%ent to a player o, theopposing tea . Tagging is a topi% %o ple3 enough to ,ill an entire book on its own. This se%tionwill only introdu%e the ost basi% %onsiderations with whi%h new %oa%hes o,ten struggle*

1. $hen do ,ollow up'. $hen do use y players to tag y opponent


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c) *hen do I use $y players to tag,Besides wanting to go to war the probably ost %o on %ase is to disable a players obility.=isabling so eone obility isn5t usually a healthy strategy ,or the reasons entions under 8@ 1 o,this se%tion. t does in ,a%t usually e4uate a hal, hal,hearted atta%k. Dowe2er you will ,ind yoursel,in i possible situations so eti es where you won5t know how to help yoursel, di,,erently.

aa 'agging to disable opponents

enerally i, your opponent is ti id and rather dodges than blo%ks& there is no reason not to%onstantly go a,ter hi . 9ou %an5t lose and only win. ost opponents will howe2er be s art enoughto pla%e blo%ks on you i, you let the . ;or disabling opponents you should there,or use a player onyour tea that is o, little 2alue to you. ;urther ore* The ore reser2e you ha2e the oreworthwhile is this strategy. , you don5t ha2e any reser2e you really should be %are,ul. Da2ing to

play a at%h with only ten =war2es ain5t a pretty thing., you try to disable a player with high agility and potentially dodge and no blo%k you will ,ind that

your disabling atte pt is o, little 2alue. But as long as he doesn5t blo%k you& that shouldn5t reallyatter to you* 9our opponent will ha2e all the risk and you will ha2e none& e2en i, the risk is 6ust 1

,ail in rolls.Then there are %urious players like the saurian. The saurian %o es with a > 1 stat-line. De is a5to-tag5 player by design. De is 2ery strong& 2ery ,ast& 2ery robust& but he %an5t dodge ,or his li,e.Although you %an disable al ost all stronger players with a tagging& this one is probably the oste3tre e e3a ple ,or its uni4uely high speed and the ability to get 2irtually anywhere i, you let hi

6ust walk around. The pre2iously said applies to these types e2en ore. 9ou do really do want toa2oid tagging the . t5s pointless to get in a ,ight with the & but i, you don5t %o e a,ter the & theywill probably %o e a,ter you. i2e the as little sur,a%e to penetrate as possible& disable thewhene2er you ,eel it akes a di,,eren%e and try to keep the ga e running i, ne%essary. Be awarethat there is no ,aster way to deplete your own player resour%es than by tagging saurian like playertypes. /o i, you ha2e a tea with the proper strength& you ight e2en try to pi%k a ,ight with the(i, you ,eel like they would %o e a,ter you otherwise". , you are agile& you 6ust stay away and the

iddle ground tea s are probably done ,or.

bb 'agging $or war

There are a lot o, situations were it is worth to pi%k a ,ight. ost o, those howe2er aren5t worth it,ro a tea de2elop ent point o, 2iew.The proble is& i, you tag so ebody& you don5t get to throw pun%hes at hi & he gets to throw

pun%hes at you. But i, your opponent throws a pun%h it is enough ,or hi to roll a push-ba%k to berid o, you again and suddenly you will ,ind that no atter how o,ten you tag hi & he is the only onewho is throwing pun%hes. Although ost blo%ks ha2e only a s all probability to in6ure you& the

a%%u ulation o, so any hits will e2entually ruin your ga e./o& approa%hing your ene y is all about a2oiding that e3a%tly that happens. eaning* Always akesure that his blo%ks will ha2e really bad odds when he hits you. Dow %an you do that*The ost i portant indi%ator is strength. A stronger player o, yours is ne2er bad o,,& going 1*1 witha weaker player o, the other tea .Dowe2er& i, your opponent %an easily pla%e two assists on that player o, yours& this won5t be aworthwhile strategy. /ubse4uently it is e4ually i portant that you either %o2er the ,lanks o, the

player you send into battle& or at least ake sure that no-one o, the other tea %an support the player he is %urrently tagging. 8ote that this is %lose to i possible to do whi%h is e3a%tly the reasonwhy you should a2oid %o bat in the ,irst pla%e. 7ther issues you are going to ha2e deal with areguarders ,or instan%e. They ruin any support ratio& although ha2ing your own guarders ob2iously

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Then you should only send Blo%kers+$restlers+Blodgers against blo%kers and players with no Blo%k skill and only =odge skill against players with no Blo%k skill& as was e3plained in the probabilities se%tion.


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I5. Setups

1. De$ensi,e et"ps

a) Standard Setup Group/tandard /etups ,o%us on the pla%ing players in the iddle with a lot o, %o2er and prote%tion. Theyare worried less about a%tually stopping the opponent ,ro ad2an%ing in his ,irst turn. The argu entis that you %an5t predi%t what your opponent is going to do. $ith this setup type e2ery player is inthe %enter and obile in e2ery dire%tion and the %oa%hes options re ain open to rea%t to e2eryrespe%ti2e play appropriatly.

aa '&e tandard et"p ide '&ird ine


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aaa) Closed /rontline -e-

The standard setup e ploys a %ouple o, %hara%teristi%a you will want to use al ost all the ti e.ost i portant part o, it is the all-line en ,rontline e" arked with the gray arrow. The argu ent is

that the ,rontline %onsists o, the players that take the ,irst hits and the %o petent opponent will ,inda way to get e2erything down that is put up there. A,ter e2aluating so e o, y tea s noti%ed that

players dedi%ated to ,rontline duty ha2e a ?0N higher ortality rate than the rest o, y tea s.The three players ad6e%tan%y ser2es the purpose o, ini iFing the nu ber o, blo%ks possible to

per,or against the and to %reate so e sort o, %o2er ,or the %enter. Putting a 2aluable player onthe line and losing hi in your ,irst turn is de,initely so ething you are going to regret so e ti ein the ,uture.

bbb) 2 6 S(uare - %istance -a-

oing on to the s%reen in the iddle. t is pla%ed two s4uares away ,ro the ,rontline as displayedwith the yellow arrow arked with an a". 9ou don5t want those players on the ,rontline be%ause itwould 6ust in%rease the nu ber o, potential targets ,or your opponent ,ro < to !. 9ou only want togi2e hi a ini u nu ber o, targets. @e e ber you got the whole ga e ahead o, you and you

don5t want it to be o2er in Turn 1 already. There would be al ost no reason not to 6ust put those players in a 1 s4uare distan%e i, it wasn5t ,or the :i%k-7,,-@esult Cui%k /nap. n this e2ent allopponent players %an o2e one s4uare into the other hal,& e,,i%iently getting ad6a%ent to e2eryone inthe se%ond line. t ay be so eti es ore ad2antageous to 6ust use the se%ond line i, you ha2e to%ounter-s%ore ,or instan%e and o2e into the opponent hal, 4ui%kly but assu ing you are not underany kind o, pressure third line is 6ust sa,er. 7n your ,irst de,ense setup you %an al ost only lose sono point in pushing your lu%k and taking %han%es unless you ha2e an abundan%e. Cui%k /nap is oneo, the rather %o on :i%k-7,, E2ents with a + %han%e o, o%%urren%e

ccc) 2 6 S(uare - Screen -b-

The iddle s%reen is pla%ed wide with a ' s4uare distan%e o, ea%h player ( arked with a green b"".A 1 s4uare distan%e would su,,i%e too and the iddle %ould be e2en un%o2ered assu ing that thethree players on the ,rontline %reate enough o, a s%reen to ake it unappealing to blitF so ebody

positioned 6ust in the iddle. The ' s4uare distan%e is ideal be%ause it still ser2es as a wide s%reen&i possible to get through and i, the opponent sends out players to get the one on one& he has tospread the out potentially lea2ing openings. Third row players %an swoop in in the ,irst turn andgi2e assists to en le,t in ta%kle-Fones. ;or e3a ple i, a Du an BlitFer was put in a Fone by a /tBla%k 7r% Blo%ker& ' third line players %ould assist the BlitFer and 'd-blo%k the Bla%k 7r%.Dowe2er& sin%e the 7r%s ha2e the ability to blitF ,irst they %an easily tare su%h a wide s%reen apartand walk right into the iddle. /o this setup is ore build to assure short ti e sur2i2al 6ust to the

point where you are a%tually in the ga e and %an do stu,,. The se%ond line is still sub6e%t to player

re o2al as one o, these players will be targeted by a blitF and there is a %han%e that you are going toha2e to play the ga e with one o, those guys less& so be %are,ul to not put anything here that %ould be easy prey like a 2aluable player with lower ar or. 9ou %an be al ost be %ertain that he will betargeted. (9our opponent isn5t going to blitF so ebody rando ly& he is going ,or the weakest you

present to hi ".

ddd) Sideline %istance -d-

$ith d" arked in orange+red you see the two s4uare& respe%ti2ely < s4uare distan%e all playersaintain ,ro the sideline. /in%e they are so e3posed and alone you don5t want the to be e2en

only ' s4uares away ,ro the side be%ause the opponent %ould use his blitF to push one o, theagainst the wall in his turn and put you in a 2ery bad spot* Either to take %are o, the player at theside ,irst by eans o, blo%king or dodging to pre2ent hi getting pushed out o, the pit%h and to


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ignore so e i portant situation so ewhere else on the pit%h or to take %are o, other stu,, ,irst andlose the player at the side as a result. Be espe%ially %are,ul o, ;renFy players and always %he%k youropponent tea be,ore you plan to set so ebody ' s4uares %lose to the side sin%e an i ediate anda2oidable re o2al o, one o, your players in turn 1 would be 2ery ,atal ,or you and your %han%es.(Probability wise that loss would 6ust go on top o, the other losses you ight ha2e in the sa e turn."

, you possess /tand ;ir players or /ide /tep players you %an o, %ourse easily ignore all that and

there is no real reason to not 6ust %o2er the sides entirely to pre2ent the opponent ,ro 6ust walkingthrough there. The /tandard /etup doesn5t really stop your opponent ,ro ad2an%ing at all. t only,or%es hi to ad2an%e o2er the side rather than the iddle. That isn5t e2en ne%essarily good ,or you

but i, he does so your players will be ostly inta%t and in the iddle o, the pit%h ha2ing the widestarea o, o2e ent to rea%t on e2erything the opponent does.

eee) Protected Players -c-

arked under %" in blue you see the third s%reen or rather last line o, players& usually %onsisting o,the weakest ar ored or ost 2aluable players. This line is ,or those& you don5t want to be targeted

by a blitF right o,, the bat. 9our play- akers& spe%ial positions and redu%ed ar or players. Be awarethat i, you ha2e an a2 tea and anage to keep a distan%e ,ro the other tea but %onstantly gi2eyour opponent a blitF on the one a2! player you ha2e& you are going to ha2e e,,i%iently al ost noad2antage o2er an a2! tea until the point where all your own a2! players are re o2ed.Be aware that a s art opponent with ,ast players ight try to outrun the se%ond line. Be aware o,the speed potential o, the opponents BlitFers. n the e3a ple shown abo2e& the passer and thele,to2er line en are sub6e%t to blitFes by eans o, o2ing s4uares ,ro the opponent side o, theline o, s%ri age.

, the opponent bash %apabilities are li ited and the e3posed players aren5t too 2aluable like both isthe %ase on rookie tea s& it %an be worthwhile to 6ust ignore the potential threat and let theopponent risk a %ouple o, ; ,or a hit& e2en i, 6ust ,or purposes o, draining his @e-@olls. But he

probably won5t go ,or it anyways unless he thinks it is worthwhile. /o be 2igilant

The %han%e that your opponent will %rash right through the se%ond line 2ia dodges is al ost 0. ;or both o, you the hal, has 6ust started and there is a signi,i%ant risk in the health o, isolated players inthe opponent territory

$eaknesses* =oesn5t stop the opponent. solates the players on the ,rontline and akes the2ulnerable in the ,ollow up turns.

/trengths* Pro2ides a3i iFed prote%tion ,or the tea s players and still aintains a highaneu2erability

bb '&e ide rontline '&ird ine et"p

The $ide ;rontline basi%ally uses the sa e approa%h as the standard setup but only o2es the ,ront


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apart. The point is to either ,or%e the opponent to put all his players on the line o, s%ri age to getsu,,i%ient assists to get e2erybody down and to e3pose his own ba%k ,ield in the pro%ess or be%ausethe opponent has a lot o, guard he %ould utiliFe on should the three players on the line o, s%ri ageend up in a big %rowd in the ,ollow up turns.

$eaknesses* The iddle is 2ery e3posed. t is easier to get ore blo%ks on the ,ront line players

and they all end up in 2ery isolated spots.

/trength* uard is useless. The opponent has to use up a lot o, resour%es in strength and assists.@edu%ed 7ne-Turn-/%ore ability.

cc '&e tandard et"p 7 Big "y tyle 'ig&t '&ird ine

The %hoi%e between putting the big guy in the iddle or a line an is o,ten o, little di,,eren%e.=etails like your opponents tea and your own options should be the de%iding ,a%tor. Basi%ally the

big guy / the pun%hbag o, your tea . De is the one player with usually higher ar or and hisstrength will gi2e the opponent a hard ti e to break through. De is usually o, higher 2alue and you

ay not want to lose hi right away& on the other hand& getting beat is e3a%tly his 6ob des%ription.

/o i, you %owardly hold hi ba%k like did in the ,irst standard e3a ple& he ain5t doing his 6ob. ,you ha2e a troll. there is al ost ne2er a situation where you don5t want hi in the ,ront be%ause heis a" %heap and b" has regenerate and lets ,a%e it* Big uys aren5t good ,or u%h else. , they gethurt it won5t really ess up your ga e be%ause you %an5t really use the due to their inability to

properly re-roll.9ou do not really want to %o bine a big guy with a $ide-/%reen-;rontline be%ause a tight line

pro2ide his ,lanks with li ited %o2er and i, they aren5t kno%ked o2er& the opponent ay ha2eso eti es a hard ti e to e2en 'd-blo%k the ogre. , you isolate the ogre he is 6ust s%rewed. They%an swa p hi ,ro all sides and he will only get out o, it by the ti e the dri2e is o2er. , he islu%ky. , all three o, the stay in the iddle they all %an get up again and easily keep ,our or ,i2eopposing players busy ,or a %ouple o, turns and all sorts o, things %an happen.

n this e3a ple added a %ouple o, other things. /in%e had now ' ,ree5d up line en used the to%o2er the sides. /in%e the opponent will ost likely atta%k the sides be%ause that is the route he hasto go through i, he wants to enter y hal,& the players ne3t to the side are the ost e3posed and

basi%ally ake hi use his blitF up on another line an. A proble with that is that the one blitF yopponent has& will %ertainly be per,or ed with a player who has the Blo%k skill and y line endon5t ha2e that pri2ilege There,ore they get kno%ked down on a ?0N %han%e per di%e while ,or theBlitFers it would be only 1+< per di%e. n this e3a ple si ply de%ided %ould rather take the losso, a line an than the loss o, a BlitFer despite the higher in6ury %han%e.

%ould ha2e kept the ' re aining BlitFers in the third line but sin%e they aren5t any ore 2aluablethan the other ' BlitFers in the iddle de%ided to ake a tighter se%ond line with the .


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The two blue arrows point towards the weak spots o, a tight se%ond line* An aggressi2e opponent%ould take his own big guy to tie up two guys on one ,lank& then ,orti,y his position with additionalsupport players& eanwhile he takes the entire line o, s%ri age out and uses his blitF on yet theother side getting all your weak Du ans into a big brawl and ar%hi2ing %o plete ,ield supre a%y.That is o, %ourse assu ing your opponent is stronger than you. /o be %autious. The ,irst e3a ple

ade really has the ad2antage that you %an use it in al ost any situation without u%h thinking.

$eaknesses* Big uy is potentially e3posed to %law atta%ks. Big uy is a ore 2aluable loss. t iseasier ,or the opponent to tie e2eryone up in one big bad brawl.

/trength* The ,rontline has now enough strength to put up a little resistan%e and tie so e opponent players up. The se%ond line is u%h harder to penetrate and it will be al ost i possible+not worth pursuing ,or the opponent to use a blitF to try to get a Fone on so ebody le,t in the third line.

dd #"le o$ i,e et"p

This is one o, the ost ad2an%ed setups in the ga e and there is really no alternati2e to how it %an be build. The three players on the ,ront-line and the three players in the third line pro2ide %o2er ,orthe ? players behind the . The player in the iddle o, the third line is a reasonably di,,i%ult target.Be%ause o, that it is 7: to ha2e hi e4uipped with a skill. The general idea is that you shouldn5tha2e ore than ? de2eloped players and %onstantly hold the behind a se%ure line o, si3 rookies.This is a %lassi% anti-#P7 B setup. E3%eption is the :ro3igor& he shouldn5t be so %lose to ene ylines. n the sa ple ga e ,ro this pi%ture he wasn5t ,ighting %lawpo bers& tough.

/trength* a3i u possible a ount o, players get prote%tion without losing u%h obility to%harge ,orward.

$eakness* The players in %o2er are at a low risk to be targeted by 2ery ,ast blitFers. t is there,oread2isable to rein,or%e both e3posed sides a ongst the ? with ore sturdy players. To reallyi pro2e prote%tion o2e e2eryone ,ro the third and ,ourth line one line ba%kwards to in%rease thedistan%e ,or opponent BlitFers.

b) %eep Standard Setups$hile regular /tandard /etups try to retain all players ability to o2e in all dire%tions& the =eep/tandard /etups try to address proble s ranging ,ro being tagged a,ter a blitF to li iting theoperational range o, a re%ie2er.


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aa ide 2(D

This is pretty u%h the standard odel ,or the =eep /tandard. ost other setups o, this type %an be produ%ed 2ia odi,i%ation o, this one. #uriously the outer players deeper into the ,ield are at thegreatest risk to be blitFed here be%ause they threaten the ability to ,or a %age ,or the o,,ense.Pla%ing Blo%kers here or e2en /tand ;ir ers is probably help,ull. t is generally possible to 6ustwalk past the but it is an s4uare distan%e 6ust to ake it away ,ro the sideline without a blitF.That eans to walk a re%ie2er down that side& he probably has to ; . , the opponent goes ,or anassisted blitF instead and he ,ails& there is also the %han%e that you ight be able to %rowd-push theassister.

The ,our third line players are all also likely sub6e%t to blitFes. /in%e they are so ,ar apart& anopponent %ould ,or a %age ,urther up and bring a a or in unsuspe%ting range there. A ta%ti% ha2e per,or ed %ountless ti es utiliFing Digh-El, #at%hers. /in%e two %an5t be blitFed at on%e& onlyli ited operational range %an be attained here ,or the opponent.

The two players deep inward are relati2ely sa2e but with these setups there is always a %han%e the,ront-line gets torn and a blood thirsty %oa%h sends so eone through the iddle ,or a kill. All in allthe %han%es ,or that are sli and the two ost 2aluable and ,ragile players should be pla%ed here.

/trength* Poor %age ,or ation %han%es ,or the opponent. Trap potential.

$eaknesses* /i3 players are e3posed. ;our ha2e a long way ba%k to the iddle. 8eeds a sturdier player type deep and he is still 2ery e3posed.

bb 8n,erted pi es

n2erted /pikes odi,ies the deeper positions to gi2e the better %o2er. The deep outward playersha2e o2ed a bit aside to ake it easier ,or the opponent to ,or a %age. The essage here is a bitthat they don5t want any trouble. t is now 2ery attra%ti2e to run down the side and %reate a %age.9ou essentially gi2e your opponent here a way to s%ore ,ast and with reasonable to low risk.

The deep inward players are 2ery poor targets to blitF now be%ause there is only one s4uare ,or an

assist and a ,ollow up would put the BlitFer e2en in a ta%kle-Fone. The possibilities to double utiliFe

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a BlitFer a,ter that is there,ore 2ery li ited and he needs a lot o, o2e ent and lu%k with the ,ront-line to ake it there to begin with. /o the inward players are really sa2e now. /in%e their position isa little higher they ha2e a shorter range to the Line o, /%ri age and still the ability to o2e ba%k4ui%kly. $hen a %age ,or ation happens in the area o, one o, the blue ro busses the player deepinward needs a lot o, o2e ent to sort o, %ir%le around the %age and get ahead o, things downward.

/trength* The deep players both %o2er ea%h other better& the deep inwards are al ost i possible toget. @e o2ing the third line players is still o, li ited strategi%al use.

$eaknesses* A deep %age ,or ation is now possible at the side. 7pponent ight e3ploit this to stallin your end-Fone.

cc 'riangles

The Triangle ,or ation basi%ally only repositions the deep inward players . /in%e they aren5t reallye3posed either way there is no real reason to ha2e the stand ba%k. This way they will be ,aster inthe opponents hal,.

/trength* u%h better obility ,or the deep inward players.

$eaknesses* The ost likely blitF target& the deep outward players are now pretty isolated and i,

re o2ed& the opponent has a wide area to set up a s%reen to prote%t a re%ie2er.

dd lattend 'riangle

The ,lattend triangle is basi%ally an atte pt to o2e the ,our botto players a s4uare %loser to theline o, s%ri age to be ore operational into the opponents spa%e. The disad2antage is that withthis type o, setup the distan%e to get past those players is shorter and it is easier ,or so ebody to 6ustuse the side to run past e2eryone in s%oring range. /in%e the inward botto players ha2e little,un%tionality on their original position& it akes ore sense to use the in a%%ordan%e with theTriangle ,or ation and o2e the e2en %loser to the line o, s%ri age. The ha2e %o2er a,ter all.

/trength* ood balan%e between ability to o2e ,ourth and ba%k. 8o strategi%ally really good blitFing targets.

$eakness* @elati2ely easy to walk past on the side and in di,,eren%e to the /tandard /etups the

players on the wrong side o, the pit%h ha2e a larger distan%e to %ross to get ba%k in a%tion. t should

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be hard ,or the to rea%h the other side while the players on the side abo2e a brea%h %an be oreeasily out anu2erd with a s%reen. /till the opponent has to ha2e 2ery ,ast players ,or that.

b) ine Co&ering Setups8

aa '&ird ine "ll Co,er

The Line #o2ering /etups ha2e the purpose to pre2ent the opponent ,ro breaking through andgetting into the other hal, at all %osts. . t is usually a %onsiderable strategy i, the opponent has only,ew turns to s%ore le,t and you need to only hold hi o,, ,or the ti e being. t should be said that itis %lose to i possible to really prote%t the sides without proper skills. This parti%ular build has thedisad2antage that it is 2ulnerable to the sides and the only real solution to that issue is to eithere ploy /ide /tepper or /tand ;ir er to ,i3 that. There,ore the sides are the ost likely target ,or

blitFes. As you %an see in this e3a ple use BlitFers to %o2er the sides instead o, line en. The%onsideration is that i, need to stop y opponent that badly to use su%h a setup& at least the bothdown result should be able to stop hi o,,. Please be aware that player ne3t to the BlitFer is 2eryi portant in this e3a ple. ;or one it stops ;renFiers to outright push y BlitFer out o, the ,ield by%o2ering the angle ,ro o, whi%h he would need to atta%k to push hi %loser to the wall but it alsostops the opponent ,ro any atte pt to nail e down at the wall. , he blo%ks e& he needs to push

e away ,ro the wall and he needs either a /t or a uarder to land a ' d blo%k. ( , the only threatis so ething like a Bla%k 7r% Blo%ker with a you ay wanna %onsider o2ing the whole line alittle ,urther ba%kwards so that he has to take ; to e2en rea%h you. But be %are,ul not to ,all to ,ar

ba%k so that he doesn5t e2en ha2e to bring a s%orer behind your line any ore." Be%ause yopponent is li ited to a a3i u o, ' players on his own sidelines hi sel,& he will ha2e a hardti e getting any players through a,ter he has blitFed a passage ,ree. /o he needs to be rather ,astor at least agile players to dodge around e. The proble is that on%e he has gotten enough playersthrough& all y re aining players are too %lose to the iddle and hal, o, y own tea is e2en onthe other side o, the pit%h entirely. /o will ha2e a hard ti e to get %lose enough to hi to nail hisad2an%es down in the ne3t turn on%e he gets past e. /o botto line is* This isn5t e3a%tly a goodsetup to stop a ra%e like /ka2en ,ro a '-turn-s%ore.

The other proble with this setup is that it 2irtually e3poses e2ery single player ha2e. 9ou see the%at%her arked with the red+orange arrow. tried to keep hi %lose to the iddle but an opponentwho wants to target hi %ould easily do so sin%e he is not only less prote%ted but also with /t' alsoweaker. An opponent who isn5t planning to s%ore any ti e soon ay rather e3ploit on thatopportunity. This is 6ust one o, any other disad2antages o, this de,ense.

$eaknesses* All players are e3posed. , the opponent outruns the s%reen at the side& it is hard to get ba%k into the ga e. t isn5t that hard to outrun the s%reen at the side.

/trength* All players are e3posed but nobody is at a serious risk. n situations with little turn ti e

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le,t it is al ost %ontrollable that the players %losest to the sideline will get blitFed. , the players atthe side ha2e /ide /tep or /tand ;ir the setup be%o es al ost unpenetrable. There is a 2ery good

possibility to utiliFe on the :i%k-7,,-E2ent* BlitF with this setup be%ause all players are so %lose tothe iddle. Also the :i%k-7,,-E2ent Per,e%t =e,ense %an lea2e the opponent in serious troublesin%e he has to put all his ,or%es on one side and is done ,or i, that side gets shut o,,.

bb '&ird ine Co,er 7 9,en e,el lan s

This setup %an be best des%ribed as a beginners istake. t is basi%ally disad2antageous to the pre2ious setup in any possible way. The two ,lanking players %an now be pushed in both dire%tions

gi2ing the potential to abuse a ,renFy player. Apart ,ro that a player %an be still pushed in theopposing dire%tion like in the pre2ious e3a ple. #reating an opening to the side. A guarder %an now be pla%ed head on ne3t to both o, those players and tie the up later on. n the pre2ious e3a ple theguarder would end up in a 2ery bad spot standing hi sel, 6ust ready to be pushed against the wall

by the support player. 8ow he5s 6ust in the way. 72erall not a re%o endable de,ense.$eakness* n,erior to the pre2ious build in al ost e2ery way.strength* The ,lankers are one s4uare ,aster into the opponent hal,. , /tand ;ir +// is a2ailable itdoesn5t ake too u%h o, a di,,eren%e tho.

cc "ll econd ine Co,er

This is a pretty straight ,orward %o2er that uses the se%ond line instead o, the third and has thead2antage that it %an ,ully utiliFe on the three ,ront liners as part o, it. $hile it is is still possible to

break through a Third Line #o2er on any point in the s%reen with a pow (%he%k pre2ious pi%ture"& inthis 2ariant the iddle is utterly shut down. There is a s all %han%e to push the ,ront line to the sidein di,,erent angles and to %reate an opening in the iddle but there are serious risks with that playand your opponent ight not e2en know about the possibility. The proble with this build is thatthe sides are as e3posed as e2er. Additionally& let e put it bluntly* , there should be a :i%k 7,,E2ent* Cui%k /nap you5ll be 6ust s%rewed De5ll kno%k your players all o2er the pla%e and you willlea2e a hole wide open and no %han%e to e2er get ba%k into the ga e ,or the ne3t %ouple o, turns.Dell& he %ould easily sneak past you and stall ,or the rest o, the hal, i, that happens. /eriously it5sonly a s all risk& but it is usually only worth taking i, you desperately need to %hase into theopponent hal, and steal the ball be%ause you5re la%king behind.

$eaknesses* /ides are still e3posed and i, so ebody gets through anyways& running ba%kwardstakes e2en longer. Very serious e3posure to Cui%k /nap that %an nulli,y the point o, the whole

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strength* E2eryone is 2ery %lose to the iddle and players %an 6ust %harge in ,ro e2erywhere intothe opponent hal, to steal the ball. Apart ,ro the three ,rontliners the iddle is u%h less

penetrable.

dd 8mpro,ed econd ine Co,er

This looks 2ery di,,erent ,ro the pre2ious e3a ple but is 6ust a ni%e 2ariant that pro2ides %o2er ,or two players& in this %ase the %at%her and one o, the BlitFers. A 2ery good %o pro ise under seriousti e %onstrains. The %at%her will be ob2iously slower now into the opponent hal, but his speedwould be o, little use anyways i, he had been targeted.

$eaknesses* /till 2ulnerable to Cui%k /nap although it doesn5t right out end e2erything any ore.Tea loses a bit speed to %ounter s%ore.

strength* ' players %an be a%tually prote%ted while aintaining a de%ently solid de,ensi2e line.

ee '&ird ine ides oc ed

6ust wanted to show one last Third Liner you %an hybridiFe with any o, the other builds that isn5ta%tually bad but poses a lot o, risks. The ain ad2antage is that this build a%tually akes it u%hharder to s%ore in ' turns. This build is howe2er 2ery un%o on sin%e %oa%hes are told to stayaway ,ro the sidelines and rightly so. Dowe2er the sideline %an a%tually be ore prote%ti2e inso e situations than a 1 s4uare distan%e ,ro it& si ply be%ause the opponent will ha2e di,,i%ultiesto get the right angle to per,or a %rowd-push and %an5t get so ebody behind the BlitFer easilyeither. /o any nu ber o, skills %an get you in trouble here* Dypnoti% aFe& Leap& /tunty& highagility& ad opponents and e2en i, you ha2e to deal with none o, this& the se%ond best play is still togo ,or the guy ne3t to the sideliner ( arked with the blue arrow".The good news is* De needs to get pow5d to %reate an opening& but i, he does get pow5d yoursideliner is still in trouble. The opponent %an still rush through& build a ni%e prote%ti2e s%reen ,orhi sel, and on top o, it stand so ebody ne3t to your BlitFer and threaten you with a %rowd-push.And e2en i, he doesn5t do that you will still be in the un%o ,ortable position to o2e the sidelinerin the ne3t turn 2ery early or risk that he gets drawn into a turno2er.

$eakness* The player at the side su,,ers ,ro a 2ery serious e3posure in his se%ond turn.strength* An a%tually i pro2ed de,ense o, the sides.


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$$ 2 /ills

This is also a 2ariant that %an be used in ' or < s4uare distan%e ,ro the iddle. t 5s a 2ery de%entsetup and de,iantly re%o endable to people who don5t want their opponents to right out rush intotheir hal,. The setup %an be penetrated at the sides and in the iddle but it is generally a bit harderto blitF the ' players positioned in the inward s4uares. Additionally they are deep enough to a%tupon opposing players who break through su%%ess,ully.

$eaknesses* 7nly ' players a bit prote%ted. 8obody really prote%ted. 8ot that di,,i%ult to penetrate.

strength* Very solid hybrid setup that %an prote%t and rea%t and %ounter s%ore.

Another 2ariation o, this is to draw the two inside players e2en ,urther inside and to gi2e the%o2er ,ro the other players. They gain ore prote%tion that way but the s%reen be%o es de ,a%toonly < players wide and it will lea2e the iddle 2ery wide open.

gg -a0im"m De$ense

7ne last option want to show is this one. ts de,ensi2e 2alue %an be e2en in%reased with the /idesLo%ked 2ariant. Dere e3pose ' players to the %han%e o, Cui%k /nap but in return %lose the gap tothe ,rontline and %an integrate it into y build without putting e2eryone else at too u%h risk.

8aturally in this e3a ple ha2e to o2e the ore robust players in the se%ond line and the weaker players (the %at%her and the passer" are o2ed inwards to the spot with the least strategi%al 2alue to

blitF. , the sides are lo%ked too& the only possible 4ui%k play le,t is right through the iddle and i,that is the play& Du ans %an swoop in ,ro all sides.

$eakness* /till su,,ers ,ro Cui%k /nap and is sort o, hal, hearted./trength* Das a 2ery solid iddle de,ense and e2en with Cui%k /nap not that easy to o2er%o e. Thesides will al ost %ertainly re ain the only 2alid option to get through.

hh" a3i u =e,ense + Lo%ked $ings

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pretty u%h %o2ered this one with the a3i u =e,ense setup but ,igured it5s i portant enoughto add a pi%ture ,or it too. Just like in setup ee" Third Line+ /ides Lo%ked& the blitF pressure shi,ts,ro the ost outward players to the se%ond outward players. n this e3a ple the blo%kless line anon the right side would be the best target to penetrate this de,ense& assu ing that a penetrationthrough the iddle ,ails.

c) pen 9iddle Setups

aa Open -iddle oc ed ings

The open iddle strategies ha2e the purpose to %hannel e2ery penetration o, the line towards theiddle. n return o, utiliFing this& additional resour%es get ,ree at the sides. 9ou %an put ' players on

ea%h side and %o pletely lo%k it down. E2en a su%%ess,ul blitF wouldn5t let you get through there

any ore. t has any ad2antages to bait an opponent towards the iddle. ost i portantly in theiddle he is in rea%h o, all o, your players on%e the hal, starts. Both wings ha2e a relati2ely shortway towards the %enter. A proble with lo%king down the sides entirely is the 2ulnerability o, thetwo players arked with the yellow arrows. /in%e two players %o2ering a side is the a3i u%o2erage you are allowed to e3tend to a side& the upper player ne3t to the side is 2ery e3posed. ,the opponent has a ,renFy player this setup is outright sel,-da aging. 9ou %an5t ake it any easier,or hi to %rowd one o, your players right o,, the bat. (Although it ight seriously slow hi down."

, the opponent doesn5t ha2e ;renFy& he %an still push the guy standing there alone against the wall.At the sa e ti e the iddle is open enough that he %an swoop through e2en without using a blitF. t%an %reate 4uite the dile a ,or you. 9our opponent ay end up in a good spot to outplay you.Dere again i, the players arked with the yellow arrow ha2e /ide /tep or /tand ;ir the setup is

u%h ore solid.

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The ain reason to use this o2er a setup that entirely lo%ks your opponent down and stops hi ,road2an%ing is that that is rarely e2er a suitable goal. Hnless he has 2ery li ited turn ti e you don5twant hi to 6ust build a %age in his own hal, and lo%k up but gi2e hi the spa%e to spread his

players out and %reate an opening ,or you to steal the ball.

$eaknesses* Very e3posed players on both sides. Easy to get through in the %enter. 7nly the two

players positioned both at the sides in the lower s4uares are ,ully prote%ted ,ro blitFes.

strength* Very tight lo%k-up o, the sides. The only possible play ,or a ,ast ad2an%e o, the opponent isthrough the iddle.

bb Open -iddle Cage +re,ention

This is another 2ery solid setup you ay want to utiliFe on rather o,ten. The sides are both opennow in e3%hange ,or the sa,ety o, your players and in the iddle is another opening and it is rathereasy ,or a single re%ei2er to swoop through. The real ad2antage o, this build is that there isn5t reallyanywhere enough spa%e ,or a whole %age to ,or while ad2an%ing. 7r at least the %age won5t

anage to ad2an%e 2ery ,ar into your hal,. This setup allows both to ,all ,urther ba%k or go %loserto the id-line. :eep an eye out ,or the two lower positioned players at the sides. They are now%enter stones o, this ,or ation be%ause kno%king one o, the down ay lea2e a side wide open.9ou want to ake sure they are positioned deep enough in your hal, that your opponent %an5t 6ustwalk right by the . n this e3a ple a a> player trying to go that route would end up 6ust ne3t tothe wall i, he wanted to a2oid har to hi sel, by walking right ne3t to your lower side player. Dewould ha2e to use up ' ; to position hi sel, in a good spot. $hate2er you %an do to ake youropponent ake ore rolls is probably a great idea.

$eaknesses* All players are e3posed& no one is really sa2e. Three openings allow plenty o, spa%e

,or re%ei2ers to swoop through e2erywhere. /topping one o, the ,ro s%oring should be 2ery

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di,,i%ult.

/trength* .The opponent will ha2e a 2ery hard ti e stalling in your hal,. t is a good setup to ,or%ehi to s%ore ore 4ui%kly or to take the ball ,ro hi what is usually what you want. (But oreabout that in the strategy part."

d) nti-Bash-Setups

There are less e3tre e and any hybrid solutions to this but you get the idea. The point is to stand,ar enough ba%k to ake it hard ,or the opponent to e2en blitF you or at least to be ,ar enough ba%kto blitF you with a parti%ular player or to at least ake hi sweat on so e ; . Typi%al e3a ple isdealing with the ,our To b uardians o, a :he ri Tea by ,alling or ? /4uares behind to be 6ustout o, their rea%h.

$eakness* Too ,ar behind to utiliFe on a :i%k-7,,-E2ent* BlitF or anything that goes wrong duringthe opponents turn. , the opponent doesn5t %o e to you& you5ll end up either 6ust standing therewaiting while bad things happen around you or ha2ing to approa%h hi head on anywayse2entually. ;rontline players are abandoned.strength* Very low 2ulnerability.


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e) nti ne-Turn-Score Setups

aa tandard ast '"rn et"p

The risk o, an unnatural one turn s%ore usually o%%urs during the last turn o, a hal, and you really 6ust don5t want to let this happen. The %han%e ,or su%h a%tions to work is low and the ,allout too bigto try in regular play so the last turn is really what you ha2e to wat%h out ,or.The standard unnatural one turn is a threat posed by a player o, a speed o, a> or ,aster whoutiliFes on %hain-pushes to get a player into s%oring range. A realisti% %han%e only e3ists ,or playerso, a speed o, a or higher. E3a ples %an be ,ound here* https*++,u bbl.%o +help*7TT.The setup here is the setup you will want to use 0N o, the ti e in a last turn sin%e all your 2aluable

players will be out o, rea%h ,or a blitF and the straight s%reen you ,or will ,or%e your opponent toake a %ouple o, nasty dodges i, he should get into s%oring range. Please be aware that i, you are

one player down you %an5t properly hold a s%reen like that be%ause you will only be able to %o2erea%h side with one player aking ,or so e slightly easier rolls to get past. n that %ase you aywant to go ,or another approa%h& 5ll dis%uss in a inute.

8ow& the 2-Square- istan!e o, the players at the ,ront is 2ery i portant. , you ha2e %he%ked theone turn strategies ,ro the link %an5t %o2er here you will noti%e that they hea2ily utiliFe on <

players standing ad6a%ent to ea%h other. 9ou will ,ind su%h setups being used 4uite o,ten si ply ,orthe laFiness o, your opponents to %are enough.

8ote* , you ha2e < /tand ;ir er+ /ide /tepper ,or the ,rontline& you %an put the on the ,rontlineand easily redu%e your opponents s%oring %han%es to 0.

$eakness* 7ne turn s%ore is still a possible threat.strength* ini al e3posure o, players. Very low risk ,or health and sur2i2al.

https://fumbbl.com/help:OTThttps://fumbbl.com/help:OTT


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bb Ad,anced Anti coring

The purpose o, builds like this is to pre2ent the opponent to swoop in ,ro below and to pushso ebody upwards. The pri%e howe2er to ake this possible is to use up three players ,ro belowthat %ould be otherwise ,ielded in the endFone. This setup is ost suitable i, you ha2e a oreendurable ,rontline in ter s o, guard + stand ,ir but 6ust not enough to to stop a one turn s%ore. 7r

i, your opponent has really ,ast players and you %an5t e2en a,,ord to ha2e hi push so ebody 6ustone or two s4uares. This isn5t entirely se%ure either and it doesn5t really work with ra%es that %an%ir%u 2ent ta%kle-Fones so ehow. 5ll show a way to handle su%h setups later on in the strategy

part. 8oti%e that it is 2ery i portant to ha2e the players one s4uare away ,ro the endFone as opposed todire%tly at the end Fone be%ause that 6ust akes ,or additional dodge the opponent has to o2er%o eto get there.

$eaknesses* ore open last line. ore players and there,ore ore 2aluable players %an be targeted,or blitFes.

/trength* A bit harder to get the initial %hain-push going.

This ay be a better approa%h. 5 not really sure. t see s ore solid. (The angles below are now physi%ally o%%upied with players and it is really 6ust i possible to blitF ,ro there." t ,eels to e

like it is easier to e3ploit those two ,or a %hain-push but ay be wrong about that. =e,initely a

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good 2ariant with ' /tand ;ir ers and a non /tand ;ir er in the iddle. Also in both 2ersions be2ary o, ;renFy sin%e it %an push a player ,ro the se%ond line o2er the line o, s%ri age.

cc Anti '&row('eam(-ate De$ense

Dandling TT best is so ewhat tri%ky. 9ou %an use the de,ensi2e line ,ar ba%k as always. But thereare a %ouple o, reasons why you don5t ha2e to do this. ;or one* ? players are plenty to prote%t a line

against a /tunty be%ause it doesn5t ake any di,,eren%e ,or hi to dodge past one or two players.But why o2e the whole line ,urther to the iddle The point is to si ply inter,ere with the TTa%tion whi%h is always an ina%%urate pass. , the Dal,ling+ oblin ends up near one o, the players itadds K1 to his landing roll. 7b2iously there are two a6or risks in2ol2ed* ;or one& the opponent

ay blitF and ,ree a passage. /o ake absolutely sure that the ? players standing behind are out o,rea%h ,or his BlitFers.;or another the TT player ay atte pt to throw 6ust o2er both s%reens and get lu%ky. That is ana%%eptable risk i, the opposing player s%atters like < s4uares in the wrong dire%tion and ends uplanding in a ta%kle-Fone but you shouldn5t ake it any easier than that. Be aware that your opponentusually will ha2e enough trouble to hand o,, the ball to the right player to be bothered with blitFing.But you ne2er know& e2erything is a ga ble.

Just to ention the three players ,urther ahead. pla%ed the < s4uares apart si ply be%ause i pre,er the to %o2er the sides a little and to ,o%us and their ability to 6ust stand in the way.The ' s4uare distan%e 2ariant has ob2iously the ad2antage o, ,or ing a ,ull s%reen and i, so eoneends up s%attering to the iddle he is going to be in a really bad spot. Anyways pre,er the 6ust

being in the way. A,ter all* i, the TT passes too ,ar to the side& his player ight e2en land outsidethe pit%h.

Last but not least spreading the ,rontline isn5t su%h an i portant thing here. The point is to ,or%e theopponent to ha2e an additional player ready to per,or a blo%k to ,ree up the Big uy he needs ,orthe TT or to pla%e hi 2ery ,ar at the side what %an be a proble ,or hi i, your ki%k o,, ends onthe opposing side o, the pit%h.

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dd in 7 De$ense :wit& 3 tac lers

/kinks need a spe%ial %hapter on their own. But ,or %o pleteness 5d like to show a setup againstthe here. /in%e they are /tunty there is little point in lo%king the endFone with a ' player build up.

nstead you %an ,o%us on gi2ing the opponent a %hoi%e* Either run into the ,ew Ta%klers ha2e& ordodge through ore ta%kle-Fones. $orks e2en better with ta%klers. This strategy is also 2alid tohandle 1 turn s%orers. whi%h 2ariant is better in that %ase %an5t really tell but you won5t usuallyha2e enough ta%klers and players ,or that anyways.

f) Special %efenses

aa ;ose Bleed De$ense

any things %ould be said about this patheti% de,ense but 5ll try to narrow it down to* t usuallyhurts. 5ll dis%uss later how to deal with su%h a thing but ,or now want to dis%uss its a%tualstrategi%al 2alue. The reason why %all this 8ose Bleed =e,ense lies in its ob2ious purpose.

t is 2ery easy to kno%k e2ery single guy in this line down. But it takes a lot o, rolls. /o wedis%ussed odds be,ore and you should know what huge di,,eren%e the absen%e or presen%e o, Blo%k

akes in those. /o i, you ha2e to per,or 'di%e blo%ks per turn without blo%k you %an ,igure odds

are that this ight end in a turno2er. 9ou %ould use su%h a setup when your rookie Du ans had to

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deal with lets say a %haos tea and you ight win be%ause you use it. 9ou still won5t see anygood %oa%hes e2er use it 6ust be%ause it is so destru%ti2e in ter s o, long ter tea de2elop ent.Basi%ally you put your ,a%e right in ,ront o, your opponents ,ist and hope he breaks his ar tryingto bash your nose in.Apart ,ro that there %an be a signi,i%ant 2alue the 2ery o ent you ha2e a assi2e nu eri%alad2antage on the pit%h. Basi%ally the ga e is o2er but your opponent has one last %han%e and he is a

sneaky guy. , he has like ? strength < players le,t and he has to put three o, his players in theiddle and needs a ,ourth player to do the pi%k up& su%h a de,ense will seriously put hi in trouble.

To be able to e2aluate the situation %orre%tly and to deter ine whether or not your opponent will beable to handle the line howe2er is 2ery i portant. Be%ause i, you wrongly assu e he won5t be ableto handle your line you5ll 6ust get a lot o, bloody noses.There is another proble with this de,ense. The players are all 2ery %lose to the iddle. /o the

o ent there is pun%hed a hole so ewhere between the players& re%ei2ers %an rush through and i,they are 4ui%k they won5t be e2en in your rea%hI

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a) /rontline

This is a pretty standard e3a ple how you ay want to build your o,,ense. As you %an see in youro,,ense you 6ust want to ha2e all your players out there& ready to start pun%hing so e ,a%es. That show do it anyways& but there are a %ouple o, proble s with that. But ore about this later. Let it

6ust be said that you really build this up with your ,irst turn in ind.

8ow pay so e short attention to y notes. As you see i ha2e a %ouple o, Bla%k 7r% Blo%kers with/t but rather use the BlitFers to kno%k down the ,rontline si ply to a2oid the higher ,ail %han%e,ro not ha2ing Blo%k. The assist to get on the sa e strength as the B7Bs is easy enough to get.As you %an see by the blue lines drawn& the st players will a%tually get in so e brawl with theBlitFers. That is not how i usually like to play with ost ra%es but 7r%s are really a uni4uely strong

tea and Du ans are uni4uely weak. Botto line is* , you ha2e a st and you %an put hi upagainst a st< and ideally e2en ,ind a way to %o2er his ,lanks* =on5t hesitate to do it.

b) Bac"yardBringing e2eryone to the ,ront has any disad2antages. But lets begin with the ost ob2ious one*The ba%kyard is disbanded. 8obody is here. 7nly one loneso e Passer and he happens to be a a?.

sn5t that a really du b idea to set up like this aybe it is. But its the standard way to set up withany ,aster ra%e. /o lets look at it ore in detail.

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The goal o, thrower should be as soon as possible to get to the ball& pi%k it up and eet up with therest o, the tea so that they %an build a ni%e %age around hi and the 7r%s %an do their stallingthing they lo2e so u%h to do. As long as the thrower is isolated he is in serious danger be%ause heis slow and unagile and doesn5t ha2e anything that would help hi out being alone. 7ther ra%esha2e less o, a proble there but that 6ust akes 7r%s a better e3a ple ra%e.

8ow lets look at the blue area* , the ball lands within that area it should be no proble ,or the passer to ake it to the ,rontline within the sa e turn and build a %age there.

, the ball ends up there and you anage to pi%k it up its all good.

The yellow area gi2es you an idea where you %ould pi%k up and build a %age but would aybe need

to utiliFe ; or ha2e so e o, your 7r%s walk ba%kwards.The red Fone allows you to pi%k up with little e,,ort but you won5t ake it to the ,rontline. o2erlapped it with parts o, yellow line beyond whi%h you aybe %an build a %age but you5ll still bein a bad spot& E at the side.

The purple Fone ,inally sy boliFes the area you %an only rea%h with ; & it won5t allow you to %age but at least it isn5t the sideline. 8eedless to say that the ball ending up at the walls so ewhere isreally bad. agine you ,ail the pi%k up. t %ould s%atter anywhere. And then your opponents turnstarts and who do you got ba%k there anyways

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The bla%k line shows the e3tend o, the rea%h o, the Du an BlitFers in this e3a ple. Be aware thatthey are pla%ed a good bit behind and %ould go easily u%h ,urther with another setup. Also otherra%es utiliFe on u%h ,aster players that %an ake u%h larger ground. Anyways& The area in the

iddle between the two bla%k lines is also rea%hable ,or the BlitFers but it isn5t that easy to do ,orthe . The entire ba%kyard area is unrea%hable and the area arked in gray is a%%essible to theBlitFers without ha2ing to ake any ,urther rolls. 7n the :i%k-7,,-E2ent* BlitF& i, the ball was to

end up in the gray areas& the Du ans would be easily able to %ontrol the ball. /o this also gi2es youa pretty good idea why you rather want to ki%k in the short %orner using the :i%k skill e2en i, theki%k ,ar ba%k ight be a proble to retrie2e.

/o the point is* , the ball ,alls in the red area& you won5t end up in a se%ured position but at leastyour opponent %an5t get to the ball ,or now either.

n any %ase i, so ething like that happens you really ha2e to shi,t your ,o%us ,ro o2ing ,orwardto o2ing ba%kwards be%ause otherwise the Du ans ight outrun the rest o, your tea to take the

passer on in a on 1 and ake hi potentially e2en pass. 9ou don5t want to pass. , you ha2e to pass you are doing so ething wrong and 5 not 6ust talking 7r%s here. talk any ra%e.But lets ha2e a look at what di,,eren%e speed %an ake.

n this pi%ture we see a Du an tea with a Passer and a #at%her standing ba%k. The light blue areaarks in whi%h area the ball would ha2e to land ,or the Passer to be able to pi%k it up and build a

%age in the iddle without help o, ; .The dark blue area arks the sa e area ,or the %at%her who is %loser to the id-line and has alonger way i, he has to run ba%k and ,orth. This is 6ust to de onstrate to you how i portant

o2e ent %an be. Dowe2er ,or ing a %age is not as i portant ,or Du ans so early on be%ause aDu an %age is u%h less se%ure. t 6ust la%ks players that %an pro2ide so e stability. n addition

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single players do better on their own. But e2en i, you hang ba%k ,or a turn longer& you will ha2e toe2entually utiliFe on %aging ta%ti%s anyways. There is 6ust no way around it.

/o& sin%e we ha2e %o2ered that. $hat alternati2es do we ha2e ,or the ba%kyard ,or a slow tea

This here would be a 2ariant o, ini u pre%aution usually related to handling the :i%k skill. nthis 2ariant the upper sides are still e3posed but one o, the BlitFers ,ro the iddle %ould be used tostabiliFe the sides i, the ball shi,ts too u%h in one o, the dire%tions there.

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This one is an old s%hool %lassi%. The goblin %o2ers one side& the passer the other. n older ti es people would so eti es use two passers ,or su%h a strategy. t has the ad2antage that either o, thewill ake it to the iddle by the end o, turn '. The goblin is a%tually better at %arrying in anyrespe%ts. E3%ept ,or that he has no inbuilt re-roll in /ure Dands. As you %an see these things areo,ten about getting a little ore %han%e out o, these early pi%k up a%tions be%ause i, one o, those,ails it 6ust eans a world o, trouble.

/o ore likely you are going to want to use or ? players in the ba%k until you ha2e a de%entskilled %arrier. That is espe%ially true ,or 7r%s sin%e they are 6ust that slow. And i, you happen to

ha2e to run ba%kwards you already got the support ready*

#ould be any other 2ariants. 9ou rather would want so ebody else than ' bobs as supporters up

there. /o e ag< that %ould pi%k up the ball i, ne%essary but in this %ase the tea is 6ust la%king the

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ne%essary ag< base. (The three other BlitFers ha2e to re ain at the ,rontline be%ause you really needthe to do the blo%ks. =o 87T use the bobs unless they ha2e Blo%k. "

c) :sing Better ffense ; To Be PreparedA a6or ,law in all the o,,ensi2e setups ha2e used so ,ar is that they entirely don5t bother with thes%enarios o, the :i%k-7,,-E2ents* BlitF and Per,e%t =e,ense. Those two are always going to be your

biggest obsta%le in winning your dri2e. /o& i, you are in a good spot and don5t really ha2e otherworries you ay rather want to ,o%us on prioritiFing to de,end against those e2ents.

7r%s are truly a agni,i%ent ra%e. Just look how tightly they %an %lose up both sides. 8ow this isore o, a de,ense against blitFes. But it does 7: well against Per,e%t =e,ense too& espe%ially i, the

other ra%e is weaker. , you are weaker you ay want to take a step ba%k with so e o, your guyshere.The really good news is& that this is really a solid way to start up into the hal, be%ause although the

passer is again the only one le,t behind& i, you 6ust hold the line you %an probably get the Passer ba%k to the iddle be,ore any o, the Du ans %an break through and rea%h hi .This is all a going to say about this kind o, setups and 6ust keep in ind that they are situationaland that there are a lot o, things you need to %onsider.

5ll put so e ore setups into the strategy part sin%e they are 6ust part o, playing the ga e.

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I5. Tactics

1. O$$ensi,e +lay The ,irst turn is usually the e3pense o, the o,,ensi2e setup& there,ore it is only logi%al to %ontinue

here.Lets set so e ain ob6e%ti2es ,irst* 1. /e%ure the ball and ,orti,y its position. '. Tare the opponents,rontline apart. . #ause ,urther ha2o% with a blitF. ?. et a player in s%oring range.

Those are pretty u%h the standard %onsiderations you ha2e to go through in a ,irst turn. The ordero, a%tions here is prioritiFed based on i portan%e but in reality you will o,ten ,inish with doing the

ball a%tion last& si ply be%ause it is the least likely one to su%%eed. But re e ber that ball a%tionsser2ing to se%ure the ball prior to the pi%k up do not re4uire a roll and %an be done ,irst. The risk-less so %alled 5 o2e-a%tions5. ad2ise you to ,all ba%k on this row o, a%tions i, you are not sureabout the ,ail-%han%es o, %ertain rows o, a%tions.

Anyhow taking into a%%ount what usually has the highest su%%ess %han%e& we get this order o,a%tions*

1. , the ball is a%%essible to the opponent& o2e ,ree players ne3t to the ball. n the e2ent o, aturno2er a pi%kup will be harder ,or hi . This is unne%essary i, the opponent %an5t rea%h the

ball but i, your ball-%arrier is slow o2ing you ight ha2e so ebody ready ,or this taskanyways. =o not yet atte pt the pi%k up sin%e it is not likely to su%%eed. , you use an agtea and ha2e a @e-@oll ready ,or the a%tion you ay want to atte pt a pi%k up a,terse%uring the ball. Dowe2er& aking '-di%e blo%ks ,irst is pre,erable sin%e you %an re-rollthe .

'. , it is easy to do& o2e a %heap player into s%oring range without rolling anything.0


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that you only ha2e 11 players a2ailable and you ha2e to plan ,or both s%enarios* that yousu,,er a turn o2er and that you will anage the pi%k-up later into the turn. A,ter the pi%k-upthe situation on the pit%h shi,ts and you ay want to use your players ,or another purpose./o keep in ind* A su%%ess,ul turn is u%h about player anage ent. Hse the ta%kle-Foneand the assist o, the un o2ed player to your ad2antage.

Lets ha2e a look at the ost %o on ball landing s%enarios*

aa '&e ball lands in t&e bac $ield

This happens ore than hal, o, the ti e and is %o only not a reason ,or %on%ern. n this s%enariothe upper ,lank is shut but the lower ,lank %an be blitFed open. The blue area shows about what areaa BlitFer %an rea%h i, so ebody rolls a Pow on the blitF against the line an./in%e the passer is ag< he should a2oid ending up e2en in a ta%kle-Fone o, a BlitFer. But sin%e thatis ne3t turns proble you& shouldn5t really take too u%h risk ,or that now.Botto line is* The ball is out o, the dangerous area& the ball %arrier %an ake his way ba%k %loserto the line o, s%ri age and stay out o, har s way.The line en in the iddle are already positioned well to stop an opponents ad2an%e so there is no

point in putting the out o, position.@esult* ;urther se%uring the ball is not ne%essary. Just lea2e e2erything as it is and start blo%king.

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bb Ball lands be&ind sec"red $lan

This s%enario is not u%h di,,erent ,ro the ,irst one. E2en with a blitF it would be i possible toget through to the ball. All that is le,t to do is an atte pt ,or the pi%k-up.@esult* 8o additional e,,ort in se%uring the ball is ne%essary. ;o%us on step '.

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cc Ball lands be&ind an "nsec"red $lan

This is a 2ery dangerous situation e2en against slow o2ing tea s. Assu ing one o, the two players ad6a%ent to the ball %an be taken out& the 7r%s %an pour a lot o, support in.

Best %ase s%enario a big brawl is %reated and you will ha2e to ,ight ,or getting the ball ba%k. The proble in this pi%ture is that you don5t ha2e anybody near who %an really help out se%uring the ball. Dowe2er the %at%her on the other side is ,ast enough to gi2e a bit ore stability./olution* o2e the %at%her on the other side.

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The two 4uestion arks sy boliFe two alternate resting pla%es where the %at%her ay want to stop.The pla%e right at the ,rontline is the best option ,or hi here. The ,rontline would be shut prettytightly and the ball would be hard to obtain. The proble is that e2en i, nothing goes wrong the%at%her akes hi sel, 2ulnerable to blitFes there. Losing hi early on in the ga e 6ust to se%ure the

position ay %o e ba%k to haunt you later. The other 4uestion ark shows how to best %ir%le the ball. , the %at%her stands there it would be 2ery hard to pi%k up the ball but i, it s%atters in thewrong dire%tion& it ay end up with the 7r%s.

n this e3a ple de%ided to go with the iddle s4uare. t stabiliFes the inner line an the best and,or%es the 7r%s to blitF the outer line an to get to the ball. The ad2antage o, that is that only a ,ewo, the 7r%s %an walk past su%h a distan%e and i, they would happen to get the ball it %ould be

probably re-obtained a,ter that. t is by no eans a se%ure solution but it keeps the %at%her sa2e andis a bit o, a help in i pro2ing the odds towards your ,a2or.

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dd Ball lands be&ind t&e $rontline in t&e middle

That is usually a 2ery se%ure spot. The opponent %ould di2e in ,ro the unse%ured side butwould ,ind a lot o, resistan%e at the ,rontline. The best approa%h here is to do the ,rontlinea%tions to ,ree the players up that stand there. This will help to se%ure and stabiliFe the ball

best. , the ball ends here and you ha2e a %o pletely open side& o2e one or two o, yourline an to ,or a pro2isional %age behind the ball*

/olution* Either build a %age or rela3 and pro%eed to step '

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ee Ball ending "p in t&e end=one

A ball ending up at the sides or in the end Fone needs i ediate attention. A ,ailed pi%k up herewould ha2e se2ere %onse4uen%es. n this e3a ple the passer is barely e2en in rea%h. , he wouldhappen to be rendered i obile or e2en be taken out& the ball would be entirely out o, range. The7r%s %ould easily be there ,irst with a %ouple o, 4ui%k sprints.

, the passer would o2e to the ball but ,ail the pi%k up& he %ould end up getting pushed o,, the pit%h. (:eep in ind that although the opponent is out o, rea%h you ay still su,,er a turn o2er inthe ,ollow up turn and you are generally under se2ere pressure to o2e players at the side ,irst. Thatis bound to ess with your probability ga e order."

/olution* Lo%k one side shut so that you %an retreat there later. o2e all players ,ro the other sidetowards the iddle. They will be essential support. 7n%e you ,reed up ore players o2e the alsotowards the iddle. t doesn5t hurt to also o2e so ebody in s%oring range to draw attention onhi . The way ba%k is long and you should ake sure you ha2e plenty support.

$$ Ball ends at t&e ideline

/i ilar %onditions apply as with the ball in the endFone. 9ou need to seriously se%ure the ball position and get the hell out o, there.

gg 'o"c&bac > w&o to gi,e t&e ball to?

n %ase o, a tou%h ba%k you usually want to hand the ball to the %arrier you pla%ed ,or that purposein the ba%k,ield iddle. 9ou ight be te pted to hand it to so eone ,urther ahead. But unless youha2e to s%ore 2ery 4ui%kly be%ause you are running out o, turns there is little point. /e%uring the

ball is your priority. o2e the %arrier in a se%ure lo%ation and pro2ide %o2er ,or hi be,ore starting

any other rolls.

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/olution* Dand the ball to the ball-%arrier and o2e hi towards the iddle o, the pit%h where heshould be well se%ured. ($at%h out ,or leapers. , there are any you ight want to stand ba%k."

b) 9o&e a player into scoring range/o ething you will usually only see in ga es between top %oa%hes is the awkward re%ei2erstanding alone and ,orgotten in range to s%ore. $hile the rest o, both tea s are ,ighting it out on theline o, s%ri age.

, you want to s%ore it is 4uite ob2ious that you ha2e to bring so ebody in range to s%ore ,irst./in%e your %arrier should be prote%ted and you will ha2e proble s to o2e hi with your entires4uad ahead without rolling di%e& it is 4uite ob2ious that this is i portant.7n the other hand you5ll ,ind that a single player is usually o2errun. /o why e2en bother And

aybe (probably" you want to stall anyways& so you5ll wonder* $hy bother with bringing a playerin range;or one it is good to ha2e options in a ga e o, %han%e. 9ou %an5t predi%t how the ga e will look

like on%e your opponents turn is o2er. t is always better to s%ore than to re ain in a state where you%ould lose the ball.;or another i, your opponent de%ides to take that player out& it will usually %ost hi ' o, his own

players to ake a blitF. That relie2es pressure he %an put on the line o, s%ri age. aybe you5ll beable to o2e your entire s4uad ,orward instead. The player in range will be probably the target o, a blitF.There,ore the player in s%oring range should be ideally one o, little 2alue to you with de%ent enoughagility to be able to s%ore i, he has to. A loner %an be 7: as a te ptation ,or that but lets be serious*9ou and your opponent both know you5ll not risk a hand-o,, to a loner.

, your opponent de%ides to ignore the guy (like the pros do"& it is still good ,or you be%ause youretain that s%oring option as an a%tual possibility. n addition you %an use the player to o2e on

%riti%al pla%es on the ap that %ouldn5t be rea%hed otherwise.

c) T+o-%ice-Bloc"s

aa) 3andling the /rontline think ade this %lear in the probability part but 5ll write it here again*

Players with Blo%k are the %enter stone o, any proper blo%king and blitFing. Players without Blo%k 6ust %an5t ake the 6ob. t doesn5t atter i, they are /t or /t? or e2en /t!. , they don5t ha2e it they,ail 1+ instead o, 1+. That is too u%h. ( n %ase o, !


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your players in a way that they %o2er one side with ' di%e blo%ks and the other with a dodger to stopthe ,ro doing so ething in %ase o, a blitF. , you don5t ha2e a player with proper agility& 6ust letit go and dedi%ate to one side.

bb Ot&er Bloc s

n general you get assists where you don5t ha2e so e. o2e a player to the aid o, another player inneed. , ne%essary e2en '. :eep in ind that you need enough players le,t in the end to ,or a %age.Best is i, you %an double utiliFe the ,or support and as part o, a %age. , you don5t ha2e any playersle,t to assist& there are aybe ways to =odge or BlitF to get so eone ,ree and support so ewhereelse. @e e ber to uphold the order o, a%tions in that %ase. The general %ase will be that i,e2erybody is in a ta%kle-Fone you will ha2e to dodge with one hal, to support the other hal,&allowing the to do '-di%e blo%ks. $ho you should use to dodge and who to blo%k should not only

be de%ided by who has the Blo%k skill but also who is ne3t to ultiple opponents and who is 6ustne3t to one. 9ou don5t want to end up in a %rowd i, you already ha2e to dodge around.

n the end ,ollow the strategy that see s to suggest the highest %han%e o, su%%ess.

d) Blit4ingBesides strategi%al blitFing there is a lot o, erit in si ply targeting so eone ,or %arnage. 8e2ergi2e up& in6uries ay take their ti e to show but i, you keep it up& there will be so e tra%es o,da age e2entually. Target the opponents key-players and those with little ar or. =on5t ,or%e things

by targeting Blodgers i, you don5t ha2e Ta%kle. Hnless your opponent has a large roster& reallygetting rid o, any player will help. , your opponents roster is large& you ay want to a2oid easy torepla%e unskilled players as blitFing targets.

/trategi%ally on o,,ense your priority should be to get the %arrier ,ree i, tagged. BlitFing so ebodyne3t to the %arrier is ,a2orable to a dodge e2en i, the dodger has only a 1+ ,ail %han%e be%ause you

%an re-roll the Blo%k and you %an5t re-roll the dodge and you ight lose the ball i, you ,ail. 8e3t priority is to %reate openings. There need to be su,,i%ient spa%e ,or a %age. There need to beenough players ,ree to build a %age. A blitF ight spare you a dodge here. @e e ber that a se%ure%age needs to take your absolute priority.

;inally you ay want to blitF a path ,ree to the endFone ,or a player ,ro your tea to slip throughor e2en to o2e the entire %age through. Hsually your opponent will gi2e up on atte pts o,%o pletely blo%king you o,, on%e one o, your guys ade it through.

e) Secure your position

9ou essentially ha2e to always a%%ount ,or both situations& that you ,ail the pi%k-up and that yousu%%eed the pi%k up. That you ,ail to dodge with the ball and that you su%%eed to dodge with the

ball. That you ,ail the pass and that you su%%eed the pass. But be aware that the pre%autions shouldalso re,le%t on their likeliness. , you only prepare ,or ,ailure you won5t be able to ad2an%e yoursel,in a way that you are able to keep up with your opponent. t5s 7: to take so e risks as long as youdo it within a indset o, a2oiding risk.

9ou ust at least take enough risk e2ery turn to ake sure that your ball %arrier is sa2e and %an5t be blitFed ,ro any angle. , you ha2en5t se%ured that& you ha2e to take ore risk. 8e2er stop& ne2ergi2e up be,ore that isn5t assured. Best is you ar%hi2e that without risk& but i, you %an5t 6ust do ore.

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f) /ouling;ouling re4uires a %ouple o, para eters to be right. 9ou need to ha2e a repla%eable player a2ailable.@eading up on General Strategy in regard to player nu bers ight help here. 7,,ensi2ely your

ain targets will be anyone who %ould threaten your o,,ense on his own& any #P7 Ber and any player that %ould ake your own ne3t de,ense i possible. ; you ha2e repla%e ents you %an ,oul pretty u%h anybody by turn ! but be sure its at least so ebody your opponent %an5t repla%e.

2. De$ensi,e +lay 7n de,ense you usually ha2e u%h less to %onsider. Essentially you %o2er your key players& do your

blitF and hope ,or your opponent to ess up.

The ,irst opportunity ,or hi to do that is usually right a,ter the ki%k-o,,. De didn5t ha2e ti e to,or a %age yet and his %arrier has probably pi%ked up and is isolated. 9ou %ould now send a largera ount o, players into his hal, and try to pressure hi or you %ould wait ,or hi to %o e %loser.$aiting has the ad2antage that you don5t ha2e to use up your @e-@olls yet and you5ll get so e ti eto keep your tea ali2e. 9ou still %an rea%t to anything that happens.

, you approa%h hi the ga e will go 4ui%ker. The pressure you put in ight result in hi ha2ingtrouble holding on to the ball. t ight get loose or it ight get under your %ontrol. Either way&you5ll probably lose a %ouple o, @e-@olls. 7n%e he es%apes& there will be little resistan%e ,ro youand he5ll be ho e ,ree.

, you take that risk has to be really a %ase to %ase de%ision. 9ou %an5t ignore good odds i, you wantto reliably win ga es. , your opponent plays solid& you5ll ight ha2e proble s to e2er penetratehis %age later. By the ti e he gets into your hal, with his %age& it is ti e to start a ,ull assault.

deally the pressure will either result in hi s%oring or losing the ball. , he loses the ball in yourhal,& you5ll ha2e ore 2ariants to es%ape ,ro hi and still prote%t your own T= line.

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3. A more practical e0ample o$ O$$ense

7r%s are one o, the ost di,,i%ult tea s ,or Du ans to handle. This akes this at%h-up ideal toshow how a regular o,,ense %an be played.

8ote* This isn5t an a%tual ga e. t erely ser2es edu%ational purposes. The di%e rolls and di%eresults howe2er& ha2e been authenti%. t is assu ed that the Du an tea %o es with an a ount o,

@e-@olls here& the 7r%s with


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The blitF to pla%e a support player will re4uire ' support players as well be%ause the only two possible targets ,or it are both B7Bs.

Dowe2er& 5ll not pla%e the supporters dire%tly on the line be%ause they ha2e enough o2e ent torea%h the B7B without proble s and in %ase so ething goes wrong a,ter the ki%k-o,, (Per,e%t=e,ense ,or instan%e" 5ll be in a better position to be able to o2e the in the ba%k ,ield.

8ote that you ha2e to ake all these %onsiderations during the setup. 7n%e it is done& it is alreadytoo late.

c) TacticsThe ball lands. t lands pre%isely in the %orner where was planning to hit the B7B. That is a

proble be%ause now ha2e to de%ide whether don5t rather want to use the players had reser2ed,or the blitF to %o2er the ball instead. But on the other hand& i, ,ield those supporters in the path o,the B7B they are blo%king the path ,or hi and the other 7r%s o,, at the sa e ti e. /in%e want to%ause as u%h da age as possible& go ,or the blitF. noti%e that %an5t pre2ent the BlitFer behindthe B7B to rea%h the ball that way& but 5ll 6ust ,ind a way to address that a,ter see the out%o e o,

the blitF. The risk is only 1+ and ha2e a @e-@oll& so should be ,ine.

aa 90ec"tion o$ t&e +lan

The yellow nu bers show in what order o2ed the players.

The blitF turns out to be a push-ba%k but the two blo%ks on the ,ront-line are a %o plete su%%ess.Both B7Bs there hit the ground. The #at%her %o2ers the ,lank to prote%t ,ro the 7r% BlitFer. Thatis a bit o, a tri%ky de%ision be%ause AV! akes ,or a 6ui%y target. But in this %ase the %at%herhappens to ha2e Blo%k. , the 7r%s were to go ,or hi they ight easily waste their blitF. nretrospe%ti2e ight be better o,, to put the #at%her in the position o, the Line an o2ed se%ond

but it is already too late and the reason why initially a2oided that spot was be%ause he has too

u%h e3posure there and won5t be o, as u%h help being /t'. 7n the other hand he happens to be a

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Blodger. 7therwise wouldn5t be so %ontent about his odds to handle that BlitFer.

bb Odds Vs 8mportance

An interesting dile a is %reated between the order o, the e3e%ution o, the 1d-blo%k (a%tions and" against the se%ond B7B and the pi%k up with the passer (a%tion 10". The pi%k up has a 1+ ( +"

,ail-%han%e& %o pared to the 1+> (>+" ,ail-%han%e o, the blo%k. , end up without the pi%k-up andwithout any player e2en standing ne3t to the ball A8= the 7r% BlitFer in range o, the ball with onlyan /t' player between hi and retrie2ing it& ight end up in a world o, trouble. 7n the other hand

ha2e to be %are,ul. This ,rontline buisness started is serious. The 7r%s are u%h stronger and %aneasily negate all y ta%kle-Fones i, gi2e the the ti e to do it. But in the end it is really no hardde%ision at all be%ause* ;or the 1d-blo%k still ha2e a @e-@oll. , happen to use it there& the passerstill has /ure Dands. There is really no way to i pro2e the odds ,or the passer and the ,ail %han%e,or the blo%k with re-roll is 1+& there,ore ti es as likely to su%%eed as the pi%k up.

cc 'o act or not to act

9ou aybe noti%e already why the Line an ne3t to the Troll would ha2e been better pla%ed in theiddle. $e5ll ,ind out in the 7r%s turn. Theoreti%ally %ould dodge with that player and pla%e hi%orre%tly but there is no garantee ,or su%%ess& the dodge ight in6ure the player and 5d be o,, worsethan doing nothing. , had planned y setup better %ould ha2e a2oided this. rather ha2e hi

6ust stand there and i obiliFe the Troll. $ith all y other players out o, ta%kle-Fones ,eel goodabout the situation and end y turn.

d) *hat it $eans to be stronger

The 7r%s ean serious buisness. =ue to the sheer supre a%y they don5t really ha2e to worry aboutanything. They %an 6ust as well shut the hu ans o,, entirely. 8ote that this is not a ta%ti% ha2ere%o ended u%h in this book so ,ar. Hsually you don5t want to go so u%h into so ebodies ,a%e.9ou %ould %all it war& but it is ore sheer utter do ination. At the upper ,lank there are ' superior

B7Bs against ' line an& %o pletely out a%hted. n the %enter we ha2e < 7r% players take 1 BlitFer

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on. 7nly the iddle o, the three holds a line an. /o& i, the BlitFer is going to blo%k so ebody it5seither the player in the strategi%al position o, the least 2alue or he won5t get u%h out o, his ownBlo%k skill.

$e ha2e the lower ,lank with a B7B and a BlitFer to shut the side o,,. 7pposed to the are twohu an line en. To %rush any hopes ,or the hu ans one o, those two line en is being blitFed by yeta third BlitFer. 8ow we ha2e a no good ,or anything Loner on the ground& unable to assist. A#at%her who %an5t blitF on par and a line an against a B7B and the BlitFer who did the blitF. 7,%ourse the BlitFer is stu%k where he was and it would ake little sense to risk a dodge roll and getout o, the spot where he is& but he doesn5t ha2e to be%ause it is a ni%e spot to be in.

/o who is le,t The ball-%arrier& but the hu ans %an5t really put hi into a%tion be%ause i, he gets introuble they are done. Then there is a se%ond loner who is supposed to %reate ild %o2er ,or the%arrier and the players in the iddle.

And here we get to see the de2astation o, pla%ing the line an ,or the Troll in the wrong s4uare. TheTroll blo%ks& rolls a pushba%k and ,ollows up. The Troll is now ne3t to three Du ans with st< andne3t to hi is the B7B who 6ust got blo%ked in the turn be,ore and is now up again on his ,eet. Anst and st? against < st< and here we ha2e yet another e3a ple o, utter do ination.

, the line an would ha2e been ,ielded %orre%tly& the Trolls ,ollow up wouldn5t ha2e tagged twoa

Playbook 1000 Losses

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