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Night Elf Playbook
//By Bouncergrim*//


 * Warning this play book is completely theoretical and has only been tested twice or so, feel free to edit it as you find useful strategies*

The Night Elf team are the fastest and most mobile team in the game. They excel at quick scoring, and the Imps can cause all sorts of headaches for your opponent as they're frustratingly difficult to slow down.


 * Team Strengths**
 * Very High JOG, All players 6+ jog, the fastest team (access to 8 7-JOG players)
 * High Dodge, majority of team has 4+ DODGE
 * Consistant ball handling, majority of team has 3+ SKILL


 * Team Weaknesses**
 * Low Grit, these guys are very vulenerable to attrition
 * Low Might, only 4 players available with 3 MIGHT, so vulnerable to the Shove game
 * Low Tackle only 2 players with TACKLE 4, rest with TACKLE 2

Getting Started
This team should have one goal in mind: THE GOAL. Night Elves and their imps are going to very frustrating to a coach who wants to hit and tackle. But they are slipperly and their low GRIT and MIGHT is made up for by their high DODGE. They are better than average ball carriers overall, so you need to think about positioning to move the ball quickly to the goal and aviod unnessesary conflict. Focus on this teams strengths, trying to shore up their weaknesses will result in frustration.


 * 1) Roster Choices:** First max out your hunters, you only have two and you will need both of them. Next you need at least 3-4 imps they are the heart of the team. The strikers of this team are almost optional. They have two attributes that shouldn't be overlooked though: extra SKILL over the other players of this team and 3 MIGHT, this allows them to push other players more reliably than the imps. I recomment one striker just to allow a few more options to push and open up the skill STEAL


 * 2) Support Items:** This team will be taking casualities and the hunters are actually easier to pin and injure than the imps, this leads to needing to take 2 potions or even possibly 2 kegs (potions are about a 50/50 shot, but have added benefits), kegs though more reliable need successes already to be of much use and the GRIT 2 of this team means you will probably use all of your kegs on one player to keep them in. Save your kegs/potions for skilled imps and hunters. Cheerleaders are really good for this team if they have skills so I would take at least 2 (especially when playing with the 2MW cards where some of these girls can get refreshed). I would use cheerleaders on turns when I am going to use TAUNT, SWARM, or maybe even SPRINTER to help have extra momentum for rerolls or to move/taunt more opponents)


 * 3) Abilities:** Imps are excellent candidates for the STEADY/SPRINT combo this makes the easy to position for goals. But don't overlook TAUNT/SWARM for this team. TAUNT can help turn oppenents to make better angles for you hunters to attack and SWARM can increas the speed and positioning of this team even more. GRAPPLE/PSCHO can be great for the Hunters to help the move opponents out of position to tackle your imps and then take out opponents if nessesary. For the Striker I would recomment STEAL to give you a shot at removing the ball from monsters and other tough to tackle players, without having to worry about actually tackling them, BURST could then be good to get away after retreiving the ball


 * 4) Reserves:** This will consist of imps, think of the unskilled ones as replaceable fodder and when they are injured just brin in a fresh one and use swarm to get him into position faster the turn after he comes in.

__**Player Types**__ This section is a quick review of the player types available on the team. They are one of the few teams who don't have access to any of the 'standard' player types.


 * Imp: Little Guy**


 * **JOG** || **MIGHT** || **TACKLE** || **DODGE** || **SKILL** || **GRIT** ||
 * = 7 ||= 2 ||= 2 ||= 5 ||= 3 ||= 2 ||

Imps are highly mobile and great for positioning to be ready to score or move in as distractions. Very tough to tackle when they are not holding the ball and great to bring in for assists when you do need to hit someone. Also using SWARM can help position them better and then SPRINTER can make them fly across the feild in a turn or two. Don't discount them as tacklers either - with their superior JOG it's easy to get them in range for a tackle against a ball carrier, and you also have a reasonable chance of passing an impact challenge required.


 * Ability picks:**
 * Scorer/striker imp: STEADY/SPRINTER
 * Support imp: TAUNT/SWARM


 * Hunter**


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

Use the Hunters to move opponents out of position or tackle them (if nessesary). These guys are here to open holes in formations and take out opponents valuable pieces, remember to use your support imp to bring in help for these Hunters to better tackle opponents


 * Ability** **picks**
 * GRAPPLE/PSYCHO combo, use this combo instead of cut block to make a powerful shover (5 dice shoves) and competent tackler (reroll 1 tackle die)
 * CUTBLOCK - as long as you move, you can take out high MIGHT players and also stay on the floor to avoid being tackled.


 * Striker**


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

Strikers are actually your most vulenerable players, their dodge can be negated from a rear tackle if they are holding the ball, so keep these ball handlers supported or dump of that ball. Strikers can be used as shovers and a way to get the ball from high MIGHT, low DODGE players if you give them STEAL. Their high SKILL makes them ideal to use as passers, while they can also make reliable Shove specialists.


 * Ability** **picks**
 * STEAL/BURST This combo lets your striker get the ball then head to a safe location far from where he just got it
 * BUFF to make them better at Shoving
 * AGILE to improve ball handling

__**Setting Up**__
Put an imp (with swarm) in the circle, tough to tackle and will allow you to use SWARM to move your players closer to him and start the drive towards scoring. He can get the ball and then disengage to build momentum and draw his buddies towards him. Keep either a striker with STEAL or a Hunter in your goal circle.
 * 1) Basic Face-Off Rules:**

Put your striker here, get the ball, fall back with it and pass to an imp. Then try to start moving imps enmass towards the opponent with Swarm.
 * 2) Advanced Face-Off Rules:**

__Play Style__
Night Elves are one of the fastest teams around with consistent ball handling ability, however, they lack much in the area of MIGHT and TACKLE. This team can be played well as a running and short pass team with the majority of players having SKILL of at least 3 and JOG of 6/7 (depending on how you run your team). The Hunters are one of your most valuable assets with only 2 of them you should try to keep them either protected or with support nearby. These will be your only real tools to be able to tackle efficiently. This being the case a coach should really make sure to only tackle with this team when absolutely necessary or a specific tactical advantage occurs. Yet the heart of the team is the nimble and disposable imps, their speed and numbers are what really makes this team and gives it flavor. (mmm...imp meat on a stick)

Where the Night Elves really shine in in their JOG and DODGE. The imps are some of the best speedsters in the game, they can occasionally push average strength opponents, but truly shouldn't be used to tackle unless it is your only hope or provides a massive tactical advantage because with only 2 MIGHT and GRIT, even with the high JOG once they are down you have reduced their usefulness greatly. Also usually the best you can hope for is a slide tackle, this puts your imp down and really reduces his range. It is important at this point to discuss how to use the imps in positioning and ball handling. The imps are very tough to tackle if they are not holding the ball (it requires 4 successes from the front and 3 from the rear for just a slide tackle). They can be safely positioned in your opponents side of the field with in striking distance of the goal if you remember to not leave them close enough to the edge to be pushed out. This safety in the open feild dissappears if an opponent can get an assist on your imp and then hit him from behind, so watch out for when imps start getting double teamed, if you can keep a buddy nearby guarding the rear of your imp. This way they can be waiting for a pass or hand off from your striker, sometimes it is good to even pass to right in front of them so they are not holding the ball for your opponent to try to tackle them. Also never position an imp in the facing of an opponent's player, because this gives them an easy assist to try to take down your slippery players.

__**General Positioning Strategies**__
For defense either put a hunter or a striker in the goalie circle. I like to field the striker in the goalie circle because he can push an opponent out of range of a score, and if you develop him with steal he can get the ball more easily than tackling an opponent who is left "holding the ball". I like to keep my hunters more mobile to try to assist the imps in keeping tougher (high MIGHT/TACKLE) players from man handling the imps. Also I like to keep at least 3 imps usually 4 on the field at all times due to their speed and ability to avoid tackles. Remember with this team and with all games of Elfball your goal is to score not mutilate the competition, but beware of teams with lots of high tackle, for they are the imps worse nightmare. Again this is were you use your hunter from behind to try to remove these threats when they arise, but focus on scoring more than trying to strategically knock players out. The Night Elves can score with their imps pretty quickly if a opponent just SIMs a couple of turns in a row. Try to plan for your opponent failing some rolls to be able to capitolized on this, but also keep some stronger (MIGHTier) in your backfield to protect you from your own SIMs

Also don't forget to use SWARM to help move and position your players. With SWARM (and activating your Swarmer) you will never have leftover momentum that you couldn't have used to do something. Also with TAUNT every SiM is an opportunity to use TAUNT, so these abilities can be used more than most and can come in handy for a team that has to worry about positioning more than hitting.

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