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Timberline Elves Playbook (WIP)
//By The Painted Goblin//

At heart the Timberline Elves are a skill team, and are best played with a speedy, short passing game. Where they score over other similar teams though is in the shape of the Dryads. These animated hulks of timber are game winning pieces and really give this team a distinct character.


 * Team Strengths**
 * Good mix of standard player types
 * Access to Strikers and Throwers provide a very strong passing game
 * Good speed and maneuverability – no player has less than 6 JOG
 * The only team with access to Dryads – fantastic players that can perform a variety of useful roles


 * Team Weaknesses**
 * Only two players available with TACKLE 4
 * Can be difficult to use for novice players, particularly against bashy teams

Getting Started
This section gives some views on how to compose a team

This is one of the harder teams to choose a decent working line up – access to 4 dryads almost begs you to take the maximum allocation. They are very good at what they do, but unfortunately they’re not so good at the basic things, such as making a tackle, or handling the ball. The problem with team choice is this.....load up with Dryads and you will have to compromise on choices elsewhere. You absolutely __need__ two hunters in order to compete, and you need at least two skill players to play the throwing game effectively. You will also likely need at least one midfielder to bring more TACKLE to the table. For these reasons, I would never take more than 3 Dryads, and 2 are probably enough in most situations.
 * 1) Roster Choices**


 * 2) Support Items**


 * 3) Abilities**


 * 4) Reserves**

__**Player Types**__
This section is a quick review of the player types available on the team.

Dryads are fantastic players, and most of your opponents will look at them with envious eyes and look to put them in the infirmary as soon as possible. They have a very unique set of attributes which gives them multiple uses, and for this reason this section will be a bit lengthy. Whatever you use them for, always be aware of how you position them, as a shove from the rear will only need 1 success, and momentum gained from that shove will surely be followed by a crunching tackle. Bye Bye Dryad.
 * 0-4 Dryads**
 * **JOG** || **MIGHT** || **TACKLE** || **DODGE** || **SKILL** || **GRIT** ||
 * = 6 ||= 4 ||= 1 ||= 4 ||= 2 ||= 4 ||

Use no.1 – Shove Specialists. Where these girls really shine is in zone denial. With a JOG of 6 and a MIGHT of 4, one deployed each side of your half of the pitch can cover both sidelines and make the game very narrow, forcing all play down the middle. Your opponents will be cautious of the Shove threat these girls bring. The ability to field 4 of these means you can easily double team with them on both sides of the pitch. That’s a bit extreme and will restrict the amount of other player types you can field, but hey! If that’s how you want to play – who’s to stop you? You’ll certainly cause plenty of removals in your games and that can’t be bad.

Use no.2 - Face-Off Specialist. With a MIGHT of 4, they have a great chance of winning a face-off, then performing an initial Shove. If they happen to lose the face-off, their DODGE of 4 will give them decent protection from a tackle. On the down side, she only has a slim chance of bringing her opponent down in a tackle, and her ball handling skills aren’t great so you need to take these into account. Giving her the Buff ability will help her win the face-off.

Use no.3 - Annoying Receiver If you can run a Dryad forward within 6 hexes of the goal, she makes a great receiver – she will be hard to shove and hard to tackle from the front facing. Have a Hunter stand next to her (out of range of opponents) and she will be near on untouchable. Get your thrower or Striker to throw a skillfull pass to this Dryad and aim to bypass her low SKILL attribute with a perfect spiral – she runs in, you score! Give this girl the Steady/Sprinter abilities and she’ll be a game-winner all by herself.

Use no.4 - Goalie Although she only has TACKLE 1, she is a defender type, and so has access to the Clipping ability. This will mean anyone trying to break away from her will need to pass 2 seperate challenges in order to disengage, the first tested against her superior MIGHT, effectively negating her low TACKLE attribute. Coupled with her natural ability to shove goal-bound opponents around, the addition of this single Basic ability will also let her man-mark effectively.


 * Ability picks**
 * Steady/Sprinter – no.1 pick. No discussion needed.
 * Buff is a good safe pick, especially for a face-off Dryad, but also a safe pick for the shoving game in general.
 * Clipping for a goalie
 * Ignore Grapple/Psycho – these girls should only be used for tackling in the direst of circumstances, and they already get plenty of dice in a Shove challenge.

If you want to hurt your opponents, you will need both these players on your team. They are your only real means of protecting your weaker players – no one else has the ability to tackle as effectively. If you lose these players, you will need to fall back on your Midfielders to take up the main protection roles. For this reason, you must position the Hunters with absolute care, and make sure your opponent doesn’t get the chance for a cheap tackle. Since you need to rely on these players for their tackling ability, I would strongly recommend getting the Grapple/Psycho abilities on them as soon as you can!
 * 0-2 Hunters**
 * **JOG** || **MIGHT** || **TACKLE** || **DODGE** || **SKILL** || **GRIT** ||
 * = 6 ||= 3 ||= 4 ||= 3 ||= 2 ||= 3 ||


 * Ability** **picks**
 * Grapple/Psycho – it’s getting old now, but it’s still one of the best ability picks out there for almost every Elfball player. Absolutely invaluable when you only have access to two TACKLE 4 players.
 * For monster hunting, give one of your Hunters Cutblock if you can spare the points

As has been said above, these will form your second line of protection should your Hunters fall. However, this is playing down the usefulness of Midfielders far too much. They really are able to turn their hand to anything, and no other player is as versatile. With the right pick of abilities, any Midfielder can be turned into a force on the pitch. I would always put a Midfielder in the face-off circle – Dryads have more chance of winning (or surviving the first hit if they don’t win), but their options are very limited after this. A Midfielder can shove, tackle, pick the ball up, run away.....anything!
 * 0-2 Midfielders**
 * **JOG** || **MIGHT** || **TACKLE** || **DODGE** || **SKILL** || **GRIT** ||
 * = 6 ||= 3 ||= 3 ||= 3 ||= 3 ||= 3 ||


 * Ability** **picks**
 * Grapple/Psycho on one Midfielder - really nasty combo that many opponents won’t be looking out for.
 * Buff is a cheaper pick of the above, giving a re-roll on any shoves (and in the face-off)
 * Agile will increase their ball handling capability, but in all honesty you probably already have enough skill players
 * Rally/Teammate will basically make your midfielder immune from being dazed, and Teammate is one of the most powerful “momentum move” skills available

Throwers are generally held in low esteem, and at first seem inferior to Strikers in every respect. They have less MIGHT, less DODGE, and not much chance of using that TACKLE 3 when the inevitable Impact challenge is likely to fail. If you can have Strikers, why pick a Thrower? Well....it’s all in the abilities, see? As soon as your thrower gains 5 experience points, they start to shine...and my oh my, do they shine brightly. Due to them needing abilities to really be useful, I would advise against having more than 1 on your roster.
 * 0-2 Throwers**
 * **JOG** || **MIGHT** || **TACKLE** || **DODGE** || **SKILL** || **GRIT** ||
 * = 6 ||= 2 ||= 3 ||= 3 ||= 4 ||= 3 ||


 * Ability** **picks**
 * Scramble – it’s almost a crime to call this a Basic ability. It is so powerful, it makes you want to cry. Take it on your thrower as soon as you can! I would even advise taking this before Agile. In fact Agile/Scramble is a fine choice all round.
 * Scramble/Lead Pass – on paper, very very powerful abilities that let you run, throw a long pass then let your receiver run additional hexes equal to your momentum. I would argue that this is more situational though, and would prefer the above combo in favour to this one.


 * 0-2 Strikers**
 * **JOG** || **MIGHT** || **TACKLE** || **DODGE** || **SKILL** || **GRIT** ||
 * = 6 ||= 3 ||= 2 ||= 4 ||= 4 ||= 2 ||

DODGE 4, SKILL 4 – for most teams these are the main forward players. For the Timberline Elves, the Strikers are a little bit overshadowed by the Dryads when it comes to playing in forward positions. Although they have superior skill, they are less able to look after themselves if they get into bother. However, they work great in tandem with a Dryad. At some point your thrower will need to pass the ball forward. Your Strikers are best employed as relay players, receiving the ball near the middle of the field and running it forward to the Dryads. If you can pass to a Dryad in range of the goal circle, your victory is almost assured. View these players as midfield skill players, and keep them handy near the centre of the field so they can capitalise on any mistakes from your opponent and grab the ball.


 * Ability** **picks**
 * Agile/Nimble/(Focused) – if used in a central role as advised above, they are likely to be disengaging lots, or picking up/throwing the ball under pressure. The addition of Focused is expensive, but your opponents will be terrified of dropping the ball near this player.
 * Steal/Grapple – Nasty Striker-only combo that can catch opponents unawares. Especially sneaky if you can grab the ball then chuck it forward to a waiting Dryad.
 * Steady/Sprinter – despite what’s said above, you should never forget that Strikers are very very capable receivers and scorers in their own right.

__**Setting Up**__

 * 1) Basic Face-Off Rules**


 * 2) Advanced Face-Off Rules**

__Play Style__
General information on how the team plays here

__**General Positioning Strategies**__
Specific points & examples on how to get the most out of the team here

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